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Never forget!
I ran for Idaho state senate in 2008--didn't win
I've written a number of history books, as well as scholarly and popular articles, (see my web page).
Sorry, high pressure isn't included.
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Gun Laws Don't Work
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Dissecting Leftism -- By John Ray
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Amitai Etzioni's Blog
Scrappleface -- Dangerously Clever Satire
Michael Williams -- Master of None
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A Group Blog By Iraqis
THE MESOPOTAMIAN: TO BRING ONE MORE IRAQI VOICE OF THE SILENT MAJORITY TO THE ATTENTION OF THE WORLD
Specializing in discussions of discrimination and affirmative action
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Promoting children being raised by their own parents
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Impearls: a blog as electic and interesting as mine
Proving that the United States military does more than kill people and break things.
May not agree with this group on everything, but stopping the ACLU is high on my list
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Sex, Crime, and Corruption in the Democratic Party
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Maggie's Farm: Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.
A blog dedicated to "Documenting Saddam Hussein's support of Terrorism"
The blog of one of my fellow bloggers on the Civilian Gun Self-Defense Blog
J. Norman Heath's Blog--a circus rigger and Second Amendment scholar (really!)
Buckeye Firearms Association, for you Ohio gun owners and activists
Click here for a FREE NEWSLETTER on Ohio Gun Rights from Buckeye Firearms Association!
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Neocon Blues
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Embarrassing Things You Might Have Done When You Were Young...
Donkey Cons has an item about one of the candidates trying to get the Democratic nomination for the state house of representatives in Texas. Yeah, he used to work as a male prostitute. Now, we all have some embarrassing moments in our past, and I agree that what someone did many years might not be completely relevant to what they are today--and anyone that disagrees with that claim must be a Democrat still upset that they couldn't use any of Schwarzenegger's embarrassing statements from the 1970s to prevent his election.
Of course, there's a difference between, "stupid things you did a long time ago" and "stupid things you did which had a webpage." This Dallas Morning News article tells us that "a long time ago" isn't really quite the right expression: The Web page touts the "hot uninhibited" services of a male escort identified as Todd Sharpe, displaying a blurry beefcake photo and listing a Dallas phone number.
But not to worry, he's still gay.
But the number belongs to a salesman and former actor named Tom Malin, a Dallas Democrat who is seeking election to the Texas House.
Mr. Malin acknowledged Thursday that he once worked as a prostitute.
"I've made mistakes in my life, and I've stood before my Creator and I've accepted responsibility for my behavior," Mr. Malin said. "I've also accepted his grace and his redemption and his love and his forgiveness, and that's what's important."
Web pages that have been used to advertise the sexual services of "Todd Sharpe" say he previously worked in the New York City and Los Angeles areas. His rates ranged from $200 to $600, according to graphically detailed reviews from men whom the pages described as satisfied customers.
Mr. Malin said he no longer works as a prostitute.
"I knew that if I continued on with that, I would die," Mr. Malin said. "God spoke to me, and I knew I had to make a different choice in life."
...
All the "Todd Sharpe" Web sites are now defunct. The Dallas Morning News found archived versions online after receiving a tip this week that Mr. Malin might have worked in the sex industry.
I find that the Dallas Morning News story about Mr. Malin, however, fits into a model of homosexuality that regular readers of my blog know I believe explains why at least some people end up as homosexuals: Mr. Malin's biography identified a few Dallas-area theater productions in which he has appeared, including the well-reviewed When Pigs Fly, presented by the Uptown Players. Co-producer Jeff Rane said Wednesday that Mr. Malin subsequently went on their "do not cast" list.
"He had anger management problems," Mr. Rane said, declining to elaborate.
Mr. Malin said that he was addicted to alcohol after growing up in an abusive household. He said he's been sober for 13 years.
"My mom was drunk when I was born," he said. "I grew up in a family where I saw my mother beaten by my father." He said he was abused physically, emotionally and sexually as a child.
House Project: Lead Filtering
I've mentioned previously that the lead filters clogged rapidly, so we had to put in additional housings for five micron and one micron filters to grab more of the crud first. So last week, I went up and took water samples, to make sure that we hadn't messed anything up. Remember that before putting in the lead filters, I had tested the water twice for lead, getting 15 parts per billion (the EPA action level) in the first test, and 37 ppb in the second test. That's part of why we put in the lead filters.
Well, interesting results! I had taken a water sample from inside the house (which runs through all the water filters), and a sample from the outside faucet, which runs straight from the water tank. I had the lab test the inside sample for both lead and iron, and the outside sample just for lead.
The inside sample was .26 milligrams/liter for iron--which is below the EPA action level of .30 mg/L. Good.
The inside sample for lead was <.002 mg/L for lead--which means unmeasurable. That's good, and exactly what happened when we first put in the lead filters.
But the outside sample--which has no filtration at all--also shows <.002 mg/L for lead. It appears that whatever was putting lead into our water supply a few months back isn't putting it there now.
Several possibilities:
1. The lead was a contaminant that was introduced into either the well or the water tank during the construction process--and all of this elaborate filtration was unneeded, as the contaminated water has been used.
2. The lead in the well water is dependent on changes in pH, temperature, or underground water flow rates or directions. In that case, the lead may come back.
I think for the moment my plan will be to continue to test the lead content of the water (unfiltered) every month for the next year. It only costs about $10 to have the lead test run. If the lead reaches a measurable level again, I will have to assume that I need these rather expensive lead filters.
If lead never reappears in the unfiltered water, when the lead filters finally clog up, I can just remove them, and allow the system to operate with one less restriction on water flow. Of course, I will still have the water tested every six months for lead, coliform bacteria, and iron.
Last house project entry.
What Al-Qaeda Has Taken From Us
I mailed out a couple of packages on Friday. One was a gift to my daughter in Moscow, Idaho; the other was some ScopeRoller components to a customer who is my guinea pig for the casters going under a Celestron Super Heavy Duty tripod. In both cases, I needed to send these through the post office, not UPS. I took them over to the UPS store, since there is no post office conveniently near my home--and the UPS store said, "No problem, the mailman comes by about 3:30 PM."
Well, this morning, both packages were delivered back to me by my mail carrier, with the notice below on them, and a "ground transportation only" sticker.
It turns out since 9/11, the post office has a policy that if you want to mail any package that weighs more than one pound, you have to hand it to a post office service counter employee, or a mail carrier. (I guess my mail carrier didn't know that he could have just verified that the return address was mine, and get my confirmation that I had actually mailed it.)
The reason isn't hard to figure out: while a package under one pound might be a letter bomb, potentially maiming or killing its recipient (as happened to some of the Unabomber's victims), it is very unlikely to bring down an airplane carrying U.S. mail. A package above one pound, depending on the explosive, might. By requiring such packages to be personally handed to a post office employee, it discourages a terrorist from sending such a package. I suspect that if my name were Mohammed, or I looked Middle Eastern, the package might have received somewhat greater scrutiny. Just the prospect that you might get asked about the package should be a strong deterrent.
I understand the reason for this policy. I completely agree that it is necessary. It is still a bit sad that a freedom that we used to take for granted--the ability to just put stamps on a package, and mail it across the country--now has this complexity added to it. Al-Qaeda operates on the principle that freedom is a bad thing, and so any action that they take that causes us to curtail our freedoms is a good thing in their eyes. Think of the aphorism, "Be careful who you pick for an enemy, because you will become like them."
I've mentioned before that civil libertarians should be very interested in seeing a quick victory against al-Qaeda, and for a very simple reason. There are petty nuisances like this that we accept. There are also much more serious concerns that we recognize as being dangerous, but necessary, such as expanded, perhaps warrantless NSA surveillance. There are civil liberties concerns that may not be necessary, such as some of the unpleasant interrogation techniques, and "extraordinary rendition" of suspected terrorists to friendly but brutal countries. Under the circumstances, most Americans either turn a blind eye to them, or rationalize that they may be pragmatically necessary for our security.
The longer we feel that these worrisome practices are necessary, the less likely we are to demand the end of them when we finally win the War on Terrorism. If this war is still going in twenty years, a generation will have grown up that does not remember the days before 9/11.
I think you can even make a case that worrisome violations of civil liberties, for a very short period of time, predicated on the necessity of winning the war, are better than less than severe violations that stretch out forever. That's part of why I have been willing to accept many worrisome aspects of the PATRIOT Act as temporary measures--but making all of it permanent seems like a serious mistake.
We need to win this War on Terror before one or two generations of Americans grow up thinking this is normal. During World War II, the expression, "There's a war on, you know," became a way of reminding people that certain situations were necessary to win the war--but implicit in that saying was the idea, "And some day, this war will be over, and we won't have to keep doing this."
UPDATE: Different River believes that this policy was not caused by 9/11, but by the Unabomber, and points to this evidence of it. Oddly enough, both the post office and the mailroom at my employer believe that it was started after 9/11. I wonder if the policy was abandoned or ignored after the Unabomber's arrest, or if the postal employee I talked to just assumed that it was 9/11 related?
Boring UHMW Polyethylene
I mentioned yesterday the struggle that I was having boring UHMW polyethylene--very slow process. Today I was making parts to put casters under a Synta EQ6 telescope mount--and while the bore is much smaller (only 1.75" diameter), I was using Delrin today--and it was much faster. Delrin is actually a somewhat more rigid and harder plastic, but I'm told that it is a form of polymerized formaldehyde, and during the cutting process, some of it turns back to liquid state, making it a self-lubricating plastic.
The Delrin is about three times as expensive as UHMW polyethylene--but the labor difference alone justifies spending the extra money for the Delrin.
Machining Question
Boring out some of these chunks of plastic is turning out to be a lot slower than I expected, because the volume of material to be removed goes up with the square of the increase in diameter. With a 2 3/8" Forstner bit, you are supposed to run the drill press at the lowest possible RPM--in my case, 620 RPM. It takes a very long time to cut through 1.5" of UHMW polyethylene, and cutting oil makes very little difference.
Yesterday I figured out how to automate the process a bit, by hanging a small bag filled with lead on the operating handle of the drill press. By adjusting the weight correctly, I could put enough press on the handle to keep it cutting. It isn't quite as fast as pressing the handle myself, but I can safely leave it boring while I am doing other work in the shop.
Is it possible that using a more powerful drill press would speed up this process? I am using a cheap Chinese-made tabletop drill press--I think rated at 1/3 horsepower. Would a more powerful drill press speed up the process? I have an intuitive sense that it would, but I would like to hear from those who know.
Alternatively, can anyone suggest a faster way to make smooth, clean non-through bores in plastic?
Canadian Long-Gun Registry in the Crosshairs
The Conservatives had said during the election campaign that they were going to do something about the long gun registration program that was supposed to cost $2 million (Canadian)--and has now cost at least $1 billion (Canadian)--and still not complete. And they seem to mean it: OTTAWA — The Conservative government has created a committee of two cabinet ministers and a backbencher to figure out how best to kill the long-gun registry as soon as possible.
One billion Canadian dollars--boy, that would pay for a lot of police officers. Or a lot of prison cells for convicted felons. Or a lot of mental health treatment for people with serious problems--before such a person goes on a rampage.
Registry critic Garry Breitkreuz, who is working with Justice Minister Vic Toews and Public Security Minister Stockwell Day, said he has been given wide leeway to deal swiftly with the registry.
"I wouldn't be fighting for what I'm fighting for if I didn't think that would be the case," the Saskatchewan MP said in an interview.
"We couldn't have had two better appointments because they're giving me the opportunities to put in place whatever is needed to stop the flow of money right now."
Prime Minister Stephen Harper promised voters during the election campaign that the long-gun registry would be scrapped and money redirected to public safety.
Thanks to Alphecca for the pointer to this article in the Toronto Star. He has a bunch of other interesting material on this subject, too.
Why The ACLU Is Evil
The ACLU's beef with the Boy Scouts is because it has made a serious effort to keep child molesters out of its organization--admittedly, using a meat axe approach, by prohibiting openly homosexual Scoutmasters. Most homosexuals are not molesters, and there are molesters who pretend to be heterosexual, but there is a sufficiently disproportionate number of homosexuals who are molesters that the Boy Scouts exclusionary policy has the net effect of making Boy Scouts a bit safer than they otherwise would be. The Boy Scouts are concerned about this not out of any abstract concern, but because they have had a problem with this. I've talked to guys who were molested by Scoutmasters.
This lawsuit against the City of San Diego and the Boy Scouts is just part of the ACLU's continuing anger that homosexuals (some of whom are pedophiles) don't have access to little boys. As one of the recent articles on this suit points out: The Boys Scouts has been the target of preferential treatment lawsuits since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June 2000 that it has a constitutional right to exclude openly gay men from serving as troop leaders and because it compels members to swear an oath of duty to God.
The suit itself is about the claim that the Boy Scouts are a religious organization, and that therefore the City of San Diego shouldn't lease land to them on an unequal basis. However: In their appeal, the Scouts' lawyers contend that the city has leases with 100 groups for public land, and that some of those are religious organizations with restrictive membership rules.
I would like to know more, but I don't find this hard to believe. But because those other organizations aren't trying to keep child molesters away from children, I suspect that the ACLU isn't much interested in those other leases.
UPDATE: A reader tells me that he has read of lawsuits that the Boy Scouts have lost because of child molesting Scoutmasters. I am not surprised, and if you can demonstrate negligence in failing to screen Scoutmasters, or failure to act when Boy Scouts had reason to suspect something improper was going on, such suits seem perfectly legitimate to me. So Boy Scouts of America has good reason to take reasonable steps to exclude those who are at higher risk of being molesters.
You could argue that excluding homosexuals is unfair, because most homosexuals aren't interested in little boys. Yes, it is unfair--but if you have to choose between being unfair to an adult excluded from being a Scoutmaster, and the unfairness of a child being molested because Boy Scouts failed to exclude someone in a high risk category from being a Scoutmaster, I know which way makes the most sense.
Same-Sex Marriage Suit In New Jersey
It has gone to the New Jersey Supreme Court. The trial court and the appellate court have both ruled that the state's current law defining marriage as "one man, one woman" is constitutional. You can read the appellate decision here.
In some ideal world, you could count on judges to laugh at the arguments the plaintiffs have advanced here. As the appellate decision points out, the argument is advanced on the claim that Art. I, sec. 1 of the New Jersey Constitution, adopted in 1947, requires the state to recognize same-sex marriage under both due process and equal protection grounds--a position that would have been completely incomprehensible to the drafters of the 1947 state constitution!
I call this the "Aladdin's magic lamp" theory of a constitution: rub it the right way, and it will grant your fondest wishes.
A Market Opportunity
One of the arguments for gay marriage is that gay couples want all the benefits of marriage. I've pointed out in the past that many of these benefits can be obtained by unmarried couples (same-sex, opposite-sex, or no-sex).
Just about every benefit of marriage (other than filing joint tax returns) can be had by a gay couple with a little more work. I think there might well be a market opportunity out there for some clever person to put together the, "Everything But The Certificate Marriage Kit," with all the appropriate forms for Durable Power of Attorney, wills, and so on for each state.
Now, there's no way for an unmarried couple to get the benefits of filing joint tax returns--but realistically, this is primarily a benefit to a traditional couple where one of them is a breadwinner, and the other has a substantially lower income. In that case, Mr. A and Mrs. B combine a $75,000 income with a $12,000 income, and fall into the lower marginal tax bracket that each of them would get if they made $44,000--the two incomes are averaged out. But if Mr. A and Mrs. B both make $75,000 a year, they aren't really getting any dramatic advantage over filing separately. [UPDATE: A reader familiar with the tax code tells me that filing separately actually saves two people making the same income a few hundred dollars a year in taxes. Obviously, this is yet one more reason why most gay couples don't gain anything from being married.]
I'm sure that there are gay couples out there where one of them makes dramatically more money than the other, but I would think that is more the exception than the norm. It isn't like Mr. A is working and Mr. B is home raising their newborn children.
Idaho Marriage Amendment Passes State Senate With 2/3 Vote
At least five members of the state senate changed their position from previous years: Five Idaho senators switched their votes from last year and the Senate endorsed a proposed amendment to the Idaho Constitution to ban gay marriage.
The proposal will be on the November ballot, where it will need a simple majority to pass.
After about three years of lobbying and two hours of debate, the 35-member Senate finally endorsed the proposal with the two-thirds majority needed to place the amendment on the ballot.
Republican Sens. John Andreason of Boise, John Goedde and Dick Compton of Coer d'Alene, Brad Little of Emmett, and Tom Gannon of Buhl voted for the memorial this year after voting against a similar proposal last session.
How To Make Yourself Hated
There was a time when homosexuals would have preferred to be left alone and ignored--figuring that if they weren't going to be accepted, they could at least not be subject to the sort of abuse that led pioneering computer scientist Alan Turing to take his own life. Continual cultural pressure of this sort might turn America from tolerance of homosexuality to something a bit less tolerant: NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Country music outlaw Willie Nelson sang "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys" and "My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys" more than 25 years ago. He released a very different sort of cowboy anthem this Valentine's Day.
"Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly (Fond of Each Other)" may be the first gay cowboy song by a major recording artist. But it was written long before this year's Oscar-nominated "Brokeback Mountain" made gay cowboys a hot topic.
Available exclusively through iTunes, the song features choppy Tex-Mex style guitar runs and Nelson's deadpan delivery of lines like, "What did you think all them saddles and boots was about?" and "Inside every cowboy there's a lady who'd love to slip out."
A New Constitutional Right: Sex Change
The ACLU clearly doesn't have any serious civil liberties cases in Wisconsin to worry about: The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against the Wisconsin Department of Corrections Jan. 24, challenging the constitutionality of a state statute that prohibits inmate sex changes.
Refusing to pay for sex changes is "cruel and unusual punishment"? What about refusing to pay for penis enlargement, or cosmetic surgery? Why is the state allowed to not pay for those completely elective (and some would say, completely unnecessary) procedures, but required to pay for sex changes?
The lawsuit came in response to the complaints of four Wisconsin prisoners currently undergoing hormonal sex changes, who were temporarily forced to discontinue hormonal therapy after the passage of Assembly Bill 184.
The bill, signed into law early last month, mandates that state funds cannot be used to fund the hormone therapy or sex-reassignment surgery of prisoners or forensic patients.
Although AB 184 lead author Rep. Scott Suder, R-Abbotsford, backs the current law’s legitimacy, the ACLU views it as a form of cruel and unusual punishment.
“Prisoners have a constitutional right to reasonable and necessary medical care,” said Attorney Larry Dupuis, who is representing the ACLU of Wisconsin. “If the state provides care that is deliberately different to serious medical needs, that violates the Eighth Amendment … and that’s unconstitutional.”
According to the ACLU, the law also violates the Equal Protection Clause, as it specifically targets an identifiable minority and treats it differently.
If the Department of Corrections is required to pay for sex changes as "reasonable and necessary medical treatment," can states and local government health insurance plans refuse to pay for sex changes? I rather doubt it.
Yeah, I have "ACLU Derangement Syndrome." I see the ACLU filing suits like this, and it just demonstrates that their notion of "civil liberties" is completely deranged.
Thanks to Stop the ACLU Coalition for the link.
Idaho Marriage Amendment
I am always impressed with the need that some people have to engage in petty insults. The blog at LiberalIdaho.org is discussing the proposed marriage amendment: Unfortunately, if we fail the test we will alienate a minority of our population, and prove once and for all that; yes, the majority of Idahoans are bigots.
Actually, the proposal is to allow the voters to define marriage--not some judge, overriding current state law.
Now this isn't the first time that the bigots and hate mongers have come out of their little caves, they've tried it before, but our state government has worked, this time it didn't.
...
So who gets to define marriage? The religious leaders? The people that are so insecure in their own marriages and sexuality that they feel they need to safeguard "their" definition of marriage?
Local wingnut king Bryan Fisher of the Idaho Values Alliance....
The personal insults continue: One could argue that if some of the Right had their way, we'd all be tested, those who can have kids (genetic free of course) can marry, those who cannot have kids or who would produce dysfunctional kids shall not be afforded the "Right" to a legally recognized marriage. Yes, that's right Clayton, the "Right" to marry.
I'm 49. Too old for military service. When 9/11 happened, I thought about it (partly because my job evaporated at about the same time)--but I was too old for military service.
Idaho blogging, Instamoron wannabe Clayton Cramer (who has a rather large chip on his shoulder when it comes to Gay marriage, might I add)
...
Clayton, who notably feels so strong about the issue even decided to take the day off and fight the craziness of downtown Boise just to offer up his testimony against marriage (notice, the testify "against" part? Yeah, I can spin like any ardent grade right winger too).
Clayton is a proud foot soldier in the war on marriage, after all, it's the only kind of war proud (read: yellow belly) Republicans sign up for; ones that can be fought while sitting on their asses typing at a keyboard. I've heard bullets have a hard time coming through computer screens.
On more substantive matters, LiberalIdaho.org seems to not see that he is promoting two contradictory positions, with no apparent awareness that there needs to be some way of resolving the difference: In the past the proposed amendment has been shut down in committee. Legislators, some Republicans included, knew that if the bill was to pass committee and make it to the full Idaho House and the Idaho Senate, and then on to the ballot it would most definitely pass.
IdahoLiberal.org doesn't seem to understand that there is a fundamental conflict between "right of the minority" and "representing the majority." At some point you have to have some rule for deciding which takes precedence. If something is truly a "right of minority," then the majority doesn't have the authority to deny that right. But IdahoLiberal.org is assuming that there is a fundamental right of same-sex couples (or polygamists) to marry--a position with which a majority of Americans do not agree, and as he acknowledges, with which a vast majority of Idahoans do not agree. IdahoLiberal.org needs to spend a little time thinking a little harder about what defines a right of a minority.
This is where our Government prevails; or used to prevail, this time the Legislators have for some reason or another been convinced otherwise. Now I realize that a lot of people think that the purpose of our Government is to act out the will of the people, in essence creating an air of mob rule, but alas it does not, one of the greatest responsibilities of an elected Representative is to protect the rights of the minority, all while representing the majority.
From a legal standpoint, rights are defined in the federal and state constitutions, and they end up there as the result of either constitutional conventions or supermajority actions. In the federal constitution, 2/3 of both houses of Congress and 3/4 of the states must approve amending the Constitution. That's how the Bill of Rights ended up there, and how we abolished slavery, granted the vote to women, blacks, 18 year olds, and a host of other ways in which we have explicitly recognized various rights that were considered important.
State constitutions vary on this, but Idaho is pretty typical: to add a right requires a 2/3 vote of both houses of the legislature, and a majority vote of the people at the next election. Again, it is a supermajority requirement--one that it is not easily met.
From a philosophical standpoint, you can argue that a right might well exist even if only 10% of the population believes that this right exists. But from a practical standpoint, what makes something a right when 90% of the population says that you are wrong? That 10% might well impose their will on the people, but it is rather difficult to distinguish that from tyranny, isn't it?
It Is Time To Admit This Is An Unwinnable War
No, no, I'm not talking about Iraq. I'm talking about this other war: The Democrats and progressives have been waging a war on Bush for years now. It started out for admirable reasons - getting Bush out of power using any means possible - but now it has become obvious that this can no longer be accomplished. Instead, the only ones losing power are Democrats. This war has to end.
Read the whole thing.
How many Democrats have lost office in this fight against Bush? While people seem to care about the death counts in Iraq, no one takes note as the number of Democrats who have lost office increases. Not only that, but there is the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder from losing against Bush. It is obvious that Al Gore will never be able to live a normal life again and will require constant supervision for the rest of his days. Just check the internet for more instances of people having lost their minds trying to fight against the ethereal foe that is the Bush Presidency. And, to what end is this?
It is riotously funny--and here's a serious side. If the Democratic Party can't win against a President that they consider an ignorant fool, fighting a war that even his supporters agree has not been well thought out or well fought, perhaps they need to ask why? It is because the Democratic Party has become a captive of groups with an agenda so profoundly contrary to the values of a strong majority that even with the mainstream media ignoring major news stories that would help Bush's credibility, with news stories whose facts don't put the Bush Administration in a very good light (such as Scooter Libby's lying to federal investigators)--the Democrats still aren't a shoe-in to take control of either house of Congress this year.
The Democrats have already effectively jettisoned one of these special interest groups that aren't popular: gun control extremists. Perhaps it is time to jettison some of the other special interest groups that at least irritate the center, when they don't actually infuriate the center:
But of course, if the Democratic Party jettisoned this bunch, it would wipe out much of their core fundraising capacity.
Unneeded Surgeries
This is one of those stories that makes me both want to laugh and to cry: Penis-enlargement surgery doesn't measure up, according to a survey of 42 men. Average length increase: half an inch. Percentage of patients dissatisfied with results: 70. Researchers' conclusions: 1) Don't believe the spam. 2) Don't try the surgery. 3) Get help for the organ at the root of the problem: your brain.
One of the signs that it was time to leave the San Francisco Bay Area--that the place had become hopelessly focused on sex regardless of the risks--was that radio stations were starting to run ads for this surgery. The first few times I heard these ads, I thought they were some sort of tasteless satire. Then I realized that, no, there was obviously a significant market for men prepared to undergo a potentially very dangerous surgery for very questionable purposes.
Would You Like To Be My Neighbor?
Unfortunately, the house up the hill from me is expensive enough that it will probably be a Michael Moore liberal who ends up buying it: $975,000
If that seems pricey--well, it is adjacent to the airstrip, and has a view that is even a bit more impressive than mine.
3 Bed, 3 Bath
2,980 Sq. Ft.
5.63 Acres
To Err Is Human, To Really Foul Things Up Requires a Computer
This is one of those news stories that reminds us of how rapidly one human error, through the miracles of technology, can wreak havoc on a massive scale: VALPARAISO, Ind. (AP) -- A house erroneously valued at $400 million is being blamed for budget shortfalls and possible layoffs in municipalities and school districts in northwest Indiana.
An outside user of Porter County's computer system may have triggered the mess by accidentally changing the value of the Valparaiso house, said Sharon Lippens, director of the county's information technologies and service department. The house had been valued at $121,900 before the glitch.
County Treasurer Jim Murphy said the home usually carried about $1,500 in property taxes; this year, it was billed $8 million.
The homeowner, Dennis Charnetzky, declined to comment about the situation to The Associated Press on Friday.
Lippens said her agency identified the mistake and told the county auditor's office how to correct it. But the $400 million value ended up on documents that were used to calculate tax rates.
Most local officials did not learn about the mistake until Tuesday, when 18 government taxing units were asked to return a total of $3.1 million of tax money. The city of Valparaiso and the Valparaiso Community School Corp. were asked to return $2.7 million. As a result, the school system has a $200,000 budget shortfall, and the city loses $900,000.
Hunting Accidents
There is no excuse for the vast majority of hunting accidents. Do you hear me, Mr. Cheney? But he's not the only person being stupid out there: GOLDEN TOWNSHIP, Michigan (AP) -- A man was shot and injured when his hunting partner mistook his elbow for a squirrel, authorities said.
I'm glad that they explained about the clothing--I was going to suggest that it was time to start shaving his elbows.
Michigan State Police said George Arthur Sikkenga, 64, of Muskegon, Michigan was wounded Sunday morning in Golden Township, in Michigan's west-central Lower Peninsula.
Sikkenga was wearing camouflage clothing except for an orange hat, which he had covered with a hood after sitting down behind a tree, The Muskegon Chronicle reported.
His clothed elbow was all of him that was visible when his friend, Gregory Scott Wood approached from behind the tree and fired his weapon, which the Ludington Daily News described as a .17-caliber rifle.
One of Those Stories That Makes You All Warm and Gushy
I wouldn't ordinarily point to a story like this, but it is St. Valentine's Day--which contrary to some of the ads that I am seeing on television, used to be primarily about romantic love, not sex: ADRIAN, Mich. (AP) -- Willard Mason and Ilah Ost are giving new meaning to the phrase: "Love is patient." More than 60 years ago, the couple were engaged to be married, but life's circumstances got in the way.
Now, after they each married others, raised families and their spouses died, the two are together again.
"Ilah was my first girlfriend," Mason told The Daily Telegram. "I first met her when I was a sophomore at Blissfield High School."
The two began dating and got engaged.
But in 1941, Mason moved to Ypsilanti to work at the Willow Run bomber plant. There, he met a woman named Helvi, and broke his engagement to Ost. He married Helvi in 1942.
Ost later married her husband, Marvin, and had three children before he died in 1974.
Mason's wife died in 2003, and by chance, he ran into Ost's brother in Blissfield in 2004, and he encouraged Mason to call Ost.
The two started dating, with Mason driving from his home near Houghton Lake to Adrian, where Ost lived.
Wife Beating
It is an article of faith in feminist circles that wife beating was lawful, or at least not taken very seriously, until modern enlightened thinking took over...oh, about 1970. I was hunting for references to whipping in the Archives of Maryland, and I found this rather interesting statute from 1882 (vol. 389, p. 463): 14. Any person who shall brutally assault and beat his wife, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon presentment and conviction thereof, by any court of competent jurisdiction, shall be sentenced to be whipped, not exceeding forty lashes, or be imprisoned for a term not exceeding one year, or both, in the discretion of the court.
Now, I will agree that the law may provide for a severe punishment (and forty lashes is quite painful), but if prosecutors don't indict, or juries won't convict, it doesn't mean anything. But the presence of this statute does suggest that whatever actually happened (or didn't happen) at trial, the Maryland legislature regarded wife beating as a bad thing.
I recall reading an Indiana frontier memoir in which one particular guy was in the habit of beating his wife. When this started to become a pattern, all of his neighbors showed up one day, grabbed hold of him, lifted up the fence rails on his property, and turned them into stocks. Once they dozen or so men involved had dropped the fence rails, he was unable to leave. They left him in this uncomfortable position for the afternoon. There were no further problems with him striking his wife, according to this account. That was the frontier equivalent of what many police departments do today--if they get a domestic violence call, the accused goes to jail for the night.
I think it would be a worthwhile effort to investigate how domestic violence has historically been handled in America. My guess is that there were distinct regional differences. Some of the discussion in David Hackett Fischer's Albion's Seed suggests that the Scots-Irish backcountry was especially bad about domestic violence, and for the same reasons that it was especially bad about violence of all sorts.
I Don't Think This Was Quite The Effect The Director Expected...
This is really vulgar behavior, and as much as I disapprove of homosexuality, I disapprove of this sort of childish insult also. But I don't think this was quite the effect that the producer of the movie wanted to have on America: SPOKANE, Wash. -- Fans of No. 5 Gonzaga have been asked to stop yelling "Brokeback Mountain" at opposing players.
One of the reasons that homosexuals insisted that they should be called "gay" was that they thought the word homosexual was too clinical--almost like there was something wrong with them! So what happened? Just like Newspeak didn't abolish Winston's desire for freedom in 1984, and abolishing all singular first person words in Ayn Rand's Anthem didn't abolish the idea of individuality, stealing the perfectly fine word "gay" didn't solve the problem.
The reference to the recent movie about homosexual cowboys was chanted by some fans during Monday's game against Saint Mary's, and is apparently intended to suggest an opposing player is gay.
The chants were the subject of several classroom discussions over the past week, and the faculty advisers for the Kennel Club booster group urged students this week to avoid "inappropriate chants" during the Bulldogs' Saturday game against Stanford, which was nationally televised on ESPN.
When my daughter was in middle school--in a fiercely liberal community--the common way of saying that something was stupid, or dumb, was, "That's so gay!" I explained that this was an inappropriate way to express the idea--rather like saying, "That's so black" would similarly be an unnecessary insult. Changing the word didn't change, even in a liberal community, the revulsion at homosexuality, because the word wasn't the source of the problem.
Mickey Kaus makes the point that the high hopes that the left had for how Brokeback Mountain was going to change America (just like Fahrenheit 911), is delusory: But this B.S. falls into a special category: the sort of gratifying myth that in the past has helped lull liberals (and gay rights activists who may or may not be liberals) into wild overconfidence. Remember when Democrats actually believed that Fahrenheit would help push Bush out of office? It didn't work out that way. Moore's film didn't change many minds in part because, as York puts it, it "never reached audiences that had the power to defeat the president at the polls." Despite all the "heartland" hype, it was a blue-state movie. York notes that Mel Gibson's Passion of Christ--a mirror-image "red state" movie that did well where Fahrenheit did badly, badly where Fahrenheit did well--prefigured the 2004 results, in that it attracted an audience roughly roughly three times the size of Fahrenheit's (or six times Brokeback's!).
One of the difficulties is that America is now so polarized that the left hasn't a clue what conservatives and centrists think. Alas, we have no problem knowing what the left thinks--they are the ones shouting through the media megaphone.
Much of Democratic politics seems to now consist of embracing and fanning similarly comforting, but ultimately deceptive, liberal memes. Enron has fatally damaged Bush, Abu Ghraib has fatally damaged Bush, Katrina has fatally damaged Bush, Abramoff has fatally damaged Bush, the Plame investigation will fatally damage Bush--you can catch the latest allegedly devastating issue every day on Huffington Post or Daily Kos (and frequently in the NYT). If you believe the hype--if you don't compare Michael Moore's box office with Mel Gibson's box office, in effect--you'll believe that Democrats don't need to change to win. They just need to push all these hot memes forcefully. If you don't believe the hype--if you think that netroots Dems are too often like the Iraqi Sunnis who think they're a majority--you'll look for a Bill Clinton-like alternative with greater red-state appeal.
Global Warming Again
More records being broken: NEW YORK (AP) - Road crews scrambled to clear highways for Monday's commuters and thousands of travelers stranded at airports still waited to get home as the Northeast dug out from a record-breaking storm that dumped 2 feet or more of snow.
...
The weekend storm blanketed the Eastern Seaboard and Appalachians from western North Carolina to Maine, dropping 26.9 inches of snow in Central Park - the heaviest since record-keeping was started in 1869, the National Weather Service said. The old record was 26.4 inches in December 1947.
...
Some passengers also were stranded on the Long Island Rail Road east of New York City, where trains got stuck on snow-covered tracks, officials said. One train was marooned for five hours. Limited service into Penn Station in Manhattan resumed Monday morning but some branches on Long Island were still out of service.
"Usually the trains never stop. It's never been like this," said Rebecca Karpus, who was waiting to return home Monday morning on the LIRR after being marooned at Penn Station since 6:30 p.m. Sunday. "It's really paralyzed us."
France Prepares For Nuclear War
I'm dead serious. They are clearly preparing for either first strike or retaliatory strikes on Iran: France has secretly modified its nuclear arsenal to increase the strike range and accuracy of its weapons. The move comes weeks after President Jacques Chirac warned that states which threatened the country could face the "ultimate warning" of a nuclear retaliation.
I'm glad that I'm not living in a major population center.
A military source quoted yesterday by the Libération newspaper claimed France had tinkered with its nuclear weapons to improve their strike capability and make this threat more credible.
The source said there had been two major changes: the bombs can now be fired at high altitude to create an "electromagnetic impulsion" to destroy the enemy's computer and communications systems; and the number of nuclear warheads has been reduced to increase the missiles' range and precision.
During his surprise speech, which was made in January, President Chirac said: "The number of nuclear warheads has been reduced in certain of the missiles in our submarines".
Military experts said this was not a step towards disarmament, but a move to improve the performance of the weapons. Until now each submarine carried 16 French-made M45 missiles, each fitted with six nuclear warheads. After being fired, each warhead would separate to hit a different target, in effect giving each submarine 96 nuclear bombs.
In reducing the number of warheads, down to one per missile in some cases, the weapon is lighter and has a longer range. It can also be targeted more accurately.
Al Gore Pandering To People That Can't Even Vote Here
Michelle Malkin has a detailed discussion of Al Gore apologizing to Saudis for the fact that we arrested hundreds of people for immigration law violations right after 9/11. Al Gore is part of the Michael Moore wing of the Democratic Party--and it wasn't that long ago that Michael Moore was attacking Bush for being a tool of the Saudis. Instapundit captures the full inanity of this: Only Al Gore could come up with the idea of criticizing Bush for not sucking up to the Saudis enough. Sigh.
I just realized: Gore is part of the effort to get us reduced to dhimmitude--the legal status of non-Muslims living in the Muslim world. Perhaps they can persuade their party to change their name, from the Democratic Party to the Dhimmitude Party.
An Amazing Tool
As Michael Williams puts it: a site that blends a Google-Maps-like interface with a database of county real estate records and provides a bunch of tools for estimating house values. I could waste all day browsing the site.
This is the site. It doesn't have any data for Idaho right now--but I am frustrated to see that the house I sold four years ago for $430,000 is now estimated to be worth $802,000.
Idaho Marriage Amendment
I understand that the full State Senate will be voting tomorrow on whether to put HJR2 on the November ballot. This is going to be close, and I am not quite sure why. This is a very conservative state, completely dominated by Republicans, and HJR2 is expected--even by opponents--to be passed by the voters by a huge landslide. Even gay activists have admitted that they expect 70% of the voters to approve it.
So why are Republican state senators like Brad Little, who represent very conservative farming communities, opposed? You can contact him here. (It would help if you were in his district.) Not sure which district you are in? Click here for a map of districts.
I fear that a lot of Republicans here are being trapped by the combination of:
1. Fear of being called a bigot.
2. The belief that 10% of the population is homosexual. This isn't true in the nation as a whole--where about 3% to 4.5% of men are homosexual or bisexual, and about 1-2% of women are homosexual or bisexual--and it is even less true in Idaho. Homosexuals are far more common in big cities. I don't know if this is because the circumstances there encourage it, or if homosexuals move to big cities where they can be out of the closet. It would be surprising if even 2% of Idaho's population is homosexual or bisexual, and much of that is probably in Boise and Moscow (where the University of Idaho is)--and that's just not enough to decide an election in most districts.
House Project: Filtration System Complete
I went up to the house Thursday night. As I mentioned, we were putting some finer filtration stuff upstream of the lead filters--which had clogged within a week of installation.
The blue housings contain a five micron and then a one micron filter.
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I then installed some new lead filters, and took water samples, both inside the house, and outside, from a faucet that runs directly from the water tank. I should have results in a week or so.
I notice that the water, which was murky and brownish without any filters at all, is now clear, with just the faintest yellowish tint--probably iron.
I just love the view out the front door of the garage.
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The only major piece of interior work is the baseboards in the laundry room. I need to annoy the builder to finish this up. The baseboards are painted--they just need to be put in place.
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I just love this view from the driveway, headed down the hill.
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Last house project entry.
The Nicene Creed
I mentioned a few days ago a controversy brewing concerning the Idaho Prayer Breakfast's invitation of a speaker who is an Iranian convert from Islam to Christianity. In the course of that discussion, I explained that are certain core values that define various faiths, and trying to gloss over those differences is silly. I gave as an example of a core value of Christianity--really, a lowest common denominator definition--the Nicene Creed. At least from my reading, the Nicene Creed is one that the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, and nearly all Protestant denominations, accept. (I don't know about the Unitarian-Universalist Church. "Is it true that if you are a Unitarian, bigots burn a question mark on your lawn?")
In the last thirty years, I will admit, you can find some of the more liberal denominations awash in theologians and clergy who deny significant portions of the Nicene Creed. For example, denying "Jesus Christ" was "the only-begotten Son of God" and at least reluctant to admit "He suffered and was buried, and the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures...." These are pretty much the exception, and I think you would find that most members of even these liberal denominations, to the extent that they have thought about it, would not take these positions.
One of my readers took exception to my claim about the Nicene Creed being a core definition of Christianity. He pointed out that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons) do not accept the Nicene Creed, and therefore the Nicene Creed is not the core definition of Christianity. I would say that a more accurate statement is that the Mormon Church, whatever you might want to think or say about it, is not a Christian church in the sense that Christians (and that's pretty much all divisions of Christianity) define it.
I'm not looking to pick a fight with Mormons. I have friends who are Mormons. I have a Mormon neighbor. I can tell you that if my choice is living in a community that is 70% Mormon, or 70% liberals, I would much prefer living in the 70% Mormon community. I can be pretty confident that Mormon parents will not be supplying marijuana, alcohol, or crack to their kids, or to my kids. I can be pretty sure that Mormons aren't going to be showing up at city council hearings demanding that the city license a lap dance joint, or asking the state to recognize gay marriage, or demanding that the government make enforcement of gun control laws a higher priority than rape. If my ten-year-old goes over to a Mormon home, I can be pretty sure that he and his playmates aren't going to find fur-lined handcuffs and pornographic movies in the mother's dresser. And that is what separates Mormons from liberals (at least, the kind that I had to live with as neighbors in Sonoma County).
Still, Mormon theology is different from Christianity, as defined by not only the Nicene Creed, but nineteen centuries of consensus. Let me start out by saying that I have worked with Mormons in the past who really did not understand Mormon theology. One of them had married a Mormon gal, attended Mormon churches, but did not go through the LDS educational system that effectively all Mormon young people attend. (And by the way: I wish that evangelical Protestants were this committed to educating their kids in our religion. They aren't. Not even close.)
Now, if you are LDS, and are comfortable with the LDS theology, fine, I'm not looking to pick a fight. I've had a few too many discussions with Mormon missionaries, and the whole notion that people can become gods, populating their own planets, is well outside Christian belief. If you are comfortable with it, fine, but it is as far outside of Christianity as Islam is outside of Christianity.
Now, I am not just accepting the claims of those Protestants who criticize Mormonism. Mormon missionaries with whom I have talked have made statements that fit exactly into these claims--for example, that God lives on Sirius B. (Sirius B is a star, not a planet.)
One thing that does bother me quite a bit is that the website of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints presents their basic beliefs in a form that is profoundly mainstream Protestant. Yet, when you read websites defending Mormonism, you start to see that there many of Mormonism's positions are radically different from Christianity--and there has been a long history of Mormonism entertaining or internally debating positions that are, as I said, well outside the mainstream of Christianity. For example: Question: Didn't Brigham Young teach that Adam is God?
Now, if you want to argue that Brigham Young's position was not, and is not, that of the Mormon Church, that's fine. But why have I run into Mormon missionaries spouting beliefs that are uncomfortably similar to it?
From a number of sermon reports, diary entries, minutes, letters, artides and statements, it appears that Brigham Young held the view, at least for part of his life, that as God the Son came to earth and went through mortality to redeem mankind, God the Father also went through mortality to become the great progenitor of mankind.
It also appears that Brigham Young taught more than once that God the Father was known in this role as Adam, who came to this earth and brought one of his wives, Eve, with him. Simply stated, he once believed that God the Father became Adam to begin the human family; God the Son became Jesus Christ to redeem the human family.
President Young's first and strongest statement of this idea is found in an April 9, 1852 sermon (Journal of Discourses 1:50). In his subsequent comments on the subject, he emphasized that it is "considerable of a mystery," "that should not trouble us at all," and was not "necessary for the people to know" (see D 4:217; 7:238, 285; 11:43, 268).
Brigham Young's discussions of this subject were rare in comparison to his sermons espousing the traditional concept of God's role. His above theories were probably unknown to most Saints living at that time, as they are to most Latter-day Saints living today.
...
It is certain that neither Brigham Young nor any of his successors ever considered the Adam-God theory to be an official or unofficial doctrine of the Church. It was never presented in priesthood councils, nor did Brigham Young declare that it was a direct revelation from God. There is also no evidence that general authorities of the Church ever supported actions taken against anyone who disbelieved the Adam-God theory.
Anti-Mormons have generally raised this theory to argue that Brigham Young believed in a different God than the God of the Bible, or even another God than that of current Latter-day Saints. This, however, is at least a partial misunderstanding of the issue.
Brigham Young frequently spoke of his God as the God of Israel, the God of the Bible. His point of difference was not who is God, but rather what God has done. He was simply claiming that God did something which most other Christians and Latter-day Saints believe He did not do.
This entry is an attempt to defend the position that there is not one God, but many: Question: Why do Latter-day Saints teach that there are many Gods when the Bible states in Isaiah 44:8: "Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God: I know not any." While it is true that Mormonism accepts the Biblical teaching that there are many Gods, it is equally true that it teaches there is but one Godhead which rules and directs the affairs of this earth. It is comprised of God the Father, his son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost.
Christianity recognizes that God is not a physical being. Mormonism denies this, quite directly. Click here to read a paper in which Mormons defend their belief:
In that Godhead, as Jesus clearly and repeatedly taught, God the Father hold ultimate power and control of earthly events. Jesus Christ serves as his executive to carry out his instructions and divine will. This relationship was clearly and repeatedly taught by the Savior during his mortal ministry (see Jn. 4:34; 5:17-20, 22-27, 30-36; 6:29, 38-40, 44, 57, 65; 7:16-18, 28-29; 8:16-18, 26-29, 38, 41-42, 54-55; 10:14-18, 25-38; 11:4, 41-42; 12:26-28, 44-50; 13:3, 14:1-21, 26, 28-31; 15:10, 16, 23-27; 16:2-16, 23-24, 27-32; 17:1-26; 20:17, 21, 31). The relationship was succinctly summarized by John the Baptist, who testified that "The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand" (Jn. 3:35).
The Latter-day Saints recognize the role of the Godhead in directing the affairs of man, and give full worship and allegiance to God the Father, whom they regard as their God. Joseph Smith taught,
Paul says there are Gods many and Lords many. I want to set it forth in a plain and simple manner; but to us there is but one God--that is pertaining to us; . . . I say there are Gods many and Lords many, but to us only one, and we are to be in subjection to that one, . . . (History of the Church, Vol.6, p.474).
With this position clearly defined and established, let us deal with the question of the existence of other Gods. The following extract from the writings of a well-known Mormon apologist summarizes a portion of the Biblical evidence that many Gods exist:We believe God has a body in human form simply because our scriptures and our prophets unanimously testify on this point.
Now, believe what you want, but this is not Christian doctrine, and never has been. I could keep going if I wanted, but why bother?
I know some really good people who are Mormons. My overall experience leads me to believe that Mormons are a big step up in how morally they live their lives compared, unfortunately, to most Americans, Christian, Jewish, atheist, or agnostic. There are a lot of reasons that I can see for this behavior. But Mormonism isn't a Christian denomination.
Some People Are Too Clever; Others Are Too Stupid
Four days after 9/11, the City of New York hired a photographer to document their efforts at saving lives, and the record information for future use. They neglected to have him fill out the right forms--and now all the film and pictures that he shot from a city-owned helicopter belongs to him. He'll sell pictures, of course, and he has used some of the footage for a documentary involving how woman feel about their breasts.
If you want to know where your tax dollars went--it was to paying this guy to get rich off the disaster. Read the whole sad story here.
Meth Is Bad For You--and Others Around You
I've mentioned before that while it is very fashionable in some circles to deny that meth abuse is a serious problem, the evidence is pretty clear on this. I mentioned this guy Matthew Hale a few days ago who has plea bargained down to a 25 year prison sentence (before he is eligible for parole). Here's a bit more about Hale from today's Idaho Statesman: Harlan Hale says he's a lucky man.
Should drug abuse be an excuse for not being punished? No. But you have to be an intellectual to not see that some drugs turn enough people into beasts that it would be wise to try and keep such drugs difficult to obtain.
Not lucky that he's going to prison and may never get out. And not lucky to miss seeing his 10-year-old daughter grow up.
No, Hale says he's lucky that his methamphetamine-fueled crime spree last year didn't end in his death or the death of an innocent person after two gunfire encounters with police.
"I feel like I am lucky to be alive," he said. "I don't know how I made it through being shot at that many times. I'm lucky nobody (else) is dead."
Speaking Friday from behind a glass wall in a high-security cell in the Ada County Jail, Hale said he was too stoned to care about what he was doing in a series of violent showdowns with police last year: an early-morning shootout Feb. 28 with Boise police after a traffic stop on Broadway Avenue; a car chase that ended in Hale's surrender under gunfire in Garden City a week later; Hale's escape from the Ada County Jail in June; and his capture on a Wyoming hilltop 10 days later.
"I wasn't running around looking for shootouts with the police," Hale said. "I wasn't trying to get the neighborhood shot up. But I wasn't trying not to either. I don't think I was thinking about it.
"The police were only trying to do their jobs and almost died for it. My friends in the car (in the Feb. 28 shootout), I put them at risk. The whole neighborhood in Garden City, I feel terrible for them.
"I am guilty, hands down, to almost all of it."
...
In his interview with The Idaho Statesman, Hale said he lost his compassion and inhibitions when he took drugs. "I can't offer any excuse for what I have done. I can only say meth is a very addictive drug. ... It alters your mind."
If there's a lesson from his troubles, he said, it's to stay away from meth — "unless you want to end up in my spot."
Hale, 40, will be sentenced to life in prison Friday as part of a plea deal with Ada County prosecutors. For pleading guilty to attempted murder of and assault and battery on a police officer, escape and robbery, Hale will be allowed to ask for parole in 25 years.
Not every illegal drug is equivalently dangerous to the society--and just because alcohol is legal doesn't mean that it should get a free ride. But just because marijuana's harmful effects are relatively mild doesn't mean that every currently illegal drug should be on the vending machine schedule.
You won't be completely successful, of course, at suppressing drugs like meth, and there are particular suppression strategies that may generate other, perhaps more harmful side effects than having the drug available. But that's an argument for intelligence in developing suppression strategies--not pretending that meth isn't a serious hazard to both the user and the surrounding society.
Pragmatic Arguments Against Incest
It is unfortunate that we are increasingly dependent on pragmatic arguments against depravity, because the legal community seems to have bought into the idea that moral disapproval doesn't cut it as a sufficient reason for the government to prohibit something. Hence, this news item: SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- A rare, severe birth defect is on the rise in an inbred polygamous community on the Utah-Arizona border, according to a doctor who has treated many of the children.
I'm not quite sure why steps haven't been taken on this, but I would suspect that because these communities are so dominated by members of this church, it is difficult to get a jury to convict.
Intermarriage among close relatives is producing children who have two copies of a recessive gene for a debilitating condition called fumarase deficiency. The enzyme irregularity causes severe mental retardation, epileptic seizures and other effects that often leaves children unable to take care of themselves.
Dr. Theodore Tarby has treated many of the children at clinics in Arizona under contracts with the state. All are retarded, the neurologist told Salt Lake City television station KSL-TV.
The children live in the twin polygamist communities of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz.*
Tarby believes the recessive gene was introduced by one of the community's polygamist founders.
Community historian Ben Bistline said most of the community's 8,000 residents are in two major families descended from a handful of founders who settled there in the 1930s.
"Ninety percent of the community is related to one side or the other," said Bistline, a former member of the sect, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
"They claim to be the chosen people, the chosen few," Bistline said. "And their claim is they marry closely to preserve the royal bloodline, so to speak."
Isaac Wyler, also a former follower of the church led by fugitive Warren Jeffs, told KSL that he was related by marriage to some of the victims.
"I've seen some children that can talk and communicate a little," Wyler said. "And I've seen others that are totally laid out. They have no movement. They can't do anything by themselves. Literally, if they're 8 years old, it's like taking care of a baby."
Many years ago, when I first lived in Sonoma County, the town of Cotati had a problem where one extended family was such a large part of the electorate that they were privileged from arrest for minor crimes. This was not a secret. I didn't just hear this as scuttlebutt. One night, my mother-in-law, who worked in Cotati, called the police because a bunch of drunken adults were throwing rocks at the office. The police showed up, talked to a number of the rock throwers, and explained to my mother-in-law that because of their family, they were under orders not to arrest them for anything but the most serious of crimes.
