Saturday, December 31, 2011
“Someone doesn’t have to weaponize the bird flu—the birds are already doing that.”
“Someone doesn’t have to weaponize the bird flu—the birds are already doing that.” This is one of the best lines in the movie Contagion.
[1] Despite this truth revealed in fiction, a group of virologists managed to create a deadly airborne version of H5N1 (Bird Flu) with just five mutations of two genes. Skeptics pointed out that the flu has failed to mutate this way naturally so far and was unlikely to do so.
[2] However these researchers had figured out a recipe to weaponize H5N1. "In an unprecedented move, a government biosafety advisory panel has asked the Dutch and U.S. teams, as well as editors at two prestigious journals where their work has been accepted for publication, to omit crucial details about the research 'that could enable replication of the experiments by those who would seek to do harm.'" [3]
[4]
Door Slammer leaves your house
December 31th, you can sleep well without being awaken by your doors.
Friday, December 30, 2011
The White House and Merry Christmas
WEEKLY ADDRESS: The President and First Lady Thank our Troops for their Service as we Celebrate the Holiday Season (You will notice that this came from the "Office of the Press Secretary", "Briefing Room", and "Statement and Releases".)
This was not enough for right wing blogger Jim Hoft who released a blog, Obama Skips Christmas Statement But Issues Statement for Fake Holiday Kwanzaa. This was then tweeted by Donald Trump.
However if you will notice, the Weekly Address is an official statement. He even tweeted it.
Jim Hoft responded with It Figures. Leftie Blogs Say Trump Is a Dog-Whispering Racist For Tweeting About Obama’s Christmas Gaffe. He states,
"Evidently, TPM can’t tell the difference between a video and a statement. And, of course, if you point out this latest Obama error you’re a dog-whispering racist."Again the Weekly Address is a statement. There is this summary that is not even contained in the video.
WASHINGTON— In this week’s address, President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama came together to wish the American people a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, and thanked our troops, military families, and veterans for their service and sacrifice. President Obama and Michelle Obama encouraged everyone to visit JoiningForces.gov to find ways to give back to our brave men and women in uniform and their families during the holiday season as we work together in the spirit of service.What can you expect from a guy who is still claiming that "Obama Tripled Deficit"? I am not going to say that this is dog whistle racism. I think this is just knee jerk reaction to perceived liberal attacks. I leave you with the Kwanzaa statement and the President celebrating Christmas with Kermit at the Christmas Tree lighting.
Statement by the President and First Lady on Kwanzaa
Bowl Licker leaves
December 30th, the Yule Lad that hid under your bed and licked your bowls leaves.
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Pot Licker or Pot Scraper leaves your house
December 29th, You know longer have to worry about your pots being stolen.
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Favorite verse in the Quran
Abraham argues with a pagan about the supremacy of God. Abraham notes that God is so powerful that He causes the sun to rise in the East. Let us see if you can get it to rise in the West.
~ Surat Al-Baqarah (The Cow) 2:258[1]
Favorite Verses from the Wisdom of Solomon
These are my favorite verses from the Wisdom of Solomon, Wisdom of Solomon 11:15-20. An omnipotent creator God does not have to use created creatures to punish, He can start from scratch.
which led them astray to worship irrational
serpents and worthless animals,
thou didst send upon them a multitude of irrational
creatures to punish them,
[16] that they might learn that one is punished
by the very things by which he sins.
[17] For thy all-powerful hand,
which created the world out of formless matter,
did not lack the means to send upon them a
multitude of bears, or bold lions,
[18] or newly created unknown beasts full of rage,
or such as breathe out fiery breath,
or belch forth a thick pall of smoke,
or flash terrible sparks from their eyes;
[19] not only could their damage exterminate men,
but the mere sight of them could kill by fright.
[20] Even apart from these, men could fall at a single breath
when pursued by justice
and scattered by the breath of thy power.
But thou hast arranged all things by measure
and number and weight. [1]
Spoon Licker leaves your house
December 28th, You no longer have worry about a strange tongue licking your spoons.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Ouija Boards Debunked
The take away quote is by Jillette. The same brain that can create a Smallpox vaccine can also be tricked by cardboard.[1]
Rutgers has the largest library of Glossolalia in the world
Medically glossolalia is thinking that you are speaking another language, but you are not. Xenoglossy is speaking another language that you do not know. These people think they are doing xenoglossy, but they are actually doing glossolalia.
Of Mosques and Mormons
Mosques are plenty, churches are plenty, graveyards are plenty, but morals and whisky are scarce. The Koran does not permit Mohammedans to drink. Their natural instincts do not permit them to be moral. They say the Sultan has eight hundred wives. This almost amounts to bigamy. It makes our cheeks burn with shame to see such a thing permitted here in Turkey. We do not mind it so much in Salt Lake, however.
~ Mark Twain The Innocents Abroad Chapter 7 originally published 1869
Note: Mormons had not abandoned polygamy at this point. Today, they have abandoned polygamy for over a century.
Monday, December 26, 2011
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Sheep-Cote Clod or Sheep Worrier leaves your house
December 25th, Merry Christmas!
Your sheep can now sleep peacefully.
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Yule Lad #13 Candle Beggar
The thirteenth was Candle Beggar
- ‘twas cold, I believe,
if he was not the last
of the lot on Christmas Eve.
He trailed after the little ones
who, like happy sprites,
ran about the farm with
their fine tallow lights.[1]
Friday, December 23, 2011
Yule Lad #12 Meat Hook
Meat Hook, the twelfth one,
his talent would display
as soon as he arrived
on Saint Thorlak's Day.
He snagged himself a morsel
of meet of any sort,
although his hook at times was
a tiny bit short.[2]
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Yule Lad #11 Door Sniffer
Eleventh was Door Sniffer,
a doltish lad and gross.
He never got a cold, yet had
a huge, sensitive nose.
He caught the scent of lace bread
while leagues away still
and ran toward it weightless
as wind over dale and hill.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Yule Lad #10 Window Peeper
The tenth was Window Peeper,
a weird little twit,
who stepped up to the window
and stole a peek through it.
And whatever was inside
to which his eye was drawn,
he most likely attempted
to take later on.[1]
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever.
Eight-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon wrote a letter to the editor of New York'sSun, and the quick response was printed as an unsigned editorial Sept. 21, 1897. The work of veteran newsman Francis Pharcellus Church has since become history's most reprinted newspaper editorial, appearing in part or whole in dozens of languages in books, movies, and other editorials, and on posters and stamps.
"DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.
"Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
"Papa says, 'If you see it in THE SUN it's so.'
"Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?
"VIRGINIA O'HANLON.
"115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET."
VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.
You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood. [1]
Whosoever against Holly do sing?
In this 15th Century hymn you could hang for speaking against "Holly".
Alleluia, now sing we.
1. Here comes Holly that is so gent,
To please all men is his intent.
Alleluia.
2. But Lord and Lady of this hall,
Whosoever against Holly call.
Alleluia.
3. Whosoever against Holly do cry,
In a lepe he shall hang full high.
Alleluia.
4. Whosoever against Holly do sing,
He may weep and hands wring.
Alleluia. [1] [2]
Lewis and Extreme Calvinism
[C]ould one seriously introduce the idea of a bad God, as it were by the back door, through a sort of extreme Calvinism? You could say we are fallen and depraved. We are so depraved that our ideas of goodness count for nothing; or worse than nothing…Now [in this system] God has in fact—our worst fears are true—all the characteristics we regard as bad: unreasonableness, vanity, vindictiveness, injustice, cruelty. But all these blacks (as they seem to us) are really whites. It’s only our depravity that makes them look black to us. ~ A Grief Observed - C.S. Lewis
[1]
Vatican Declares Boy's Recovery A 'Miracle'
In February 2006, 5-year-old Jake Finkbonner fell and hit his head while playing basketball at his school in Ferndale, Wash. Soon, he developed a fever and his head swelled. His mother, Elsa, rushed him to Seattle Children's Hospital, where the doctors realized Jake was battling a flesh-eating bacterium called Strep A.
"It traveled all around his face, his scalp, his neck, his chest," she recalls, "and why it didn't travel to his brain or his eyeballs or his heart? He was protected."
Jake was protected, she says, by Kateri Tekakwitha, a Mohawk Indian who lived 350 years ago. She had converted to Catholicism and was considered holy enough by the Vatican to be elevated to "blessed" — one step before sainthood — in 1980. The Finkbonners are Lummi Indian, and their family and friends prayed that Kateri would intercede with God for Jake.
But the doctors' efforts to get ahead of the infection were unsuccessful, and Jake was given his last rites. Then, suddenly, the infection stopped, stunning the doctors. The Rev. Paul Pluth, of the Archdiocese of Seattle, says that was the day an acquaintance placed a "relic" of Kateri — in this case, a small pendant — on Jake's pillow. Pluth believes the timing was not coincidental.
"You can pinpoint the exact date on which this relic was brought to Jake's hospital bed," he says. "He was expected to die at that time, and after the relic was brought and placed on his hospital bed, he did begin to improve."
Of course, Jake did receive the best medical treatment from expert doctors.
Still, for nearly five years, Pluth has headed a tribunal investigating Jake's recovery. And now, after considering testimony by the doctors and others, Pope Benedict XVI has declared it was a miracle, meaning that Kateri is expected to become a saint next year.
"I think it's pretty great that she's becoming a saint," says Jake Finkbonner, who is now 11. "And not only that she's so far the only Native American saint, but that I'm pretty much part of it. I don't know anybody else except for myself who's included in the process of becoming a saint."
Jake has fully recovered, although he's had more than 25 surgeries to reduce the scarring on his face. In the short term, he says, he might celebrate with a milkshake. In the long term, he says, he plans to be a plastic surgeon, so he can help children like him. [1][2]
Yule Lad #9 Sausage Swiper or Sausage Thief
The ninth was Sausage Swiper,
a shifty pilferer.
He climbed up to the rafters
and raided food from there.
Sitting on a crossbeam
in soot and in smoke,
he fed himself on sausage
fit for gentlefolk.
Monday, December 19, 2011
Yule Lad #8 Skyr Gobbler
Skyr Gobbler, the eighth,
was an awful stupid bloke.
He lambasted the skyr tub
till the lid on it broke.
Then he stood there gobbling
- his greed was well known -
until, about to burst,
he would bleat, howl and groan.
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Gingrich might dispatch US Marshals after judges
ATLANTA (AP) — Newt Gingrich continues to level harsh attacks on the judicial branch, saying as president he would consider dispatching U.S. marshals to force judges to appear before Congress to explain controversial decisions.
Gingrich made the comments Sunday in an interview on CBS' "Face the Nation."
As he courts conservatives, the former House speaker has stepped up his attacks on the judicial system in recent days as the Iowa caucuses near. Gingrich helped fund an effort last year to oust three Iowa judges who upheld a law permitting gay marriage in the state.
Gingrich said Sunday that he is disturbed by the "steady encroachment of secularism through the courts to redefine America as a nonreligious country and the encroachment of the courts on the president's commander-in-chief powers which is enormously dangerous."[1]
Gingrich, with his penchant for citing history, told reporters Saturday that there is plenty of precedent to support his idea, going all the way back to Thomas Jefferson, who, as president in 1802, led the abolition of three federal circuits and 16 judgeships that had been created — and filled — by his political foes before he and his party took power.
“It’s clearly constitutional, and Jefferson did it,” Gingrich said. “. . . I raise that issue not because it’s necessarily something that we would do but to indicate to the justices that there are clearly powers that historically have been used.”
Asked whether such an act would provoke a constitutional crisis, Gingrich replied: “Actually, the courts are forcing us to a constitutional crisis because of their arrogance and overreach. The courts have been trying to impose an elitist value system on a country that is inherently not elitist.”
Gingrich’s critics say that it is one thing to abolish newly created courts and not replace them, as Jefferson did 200 years ago, but that it is another to remove judges and then replace them because of specific judicial decisions.
Michael W. McConnell, director of theConstitutional Law Center at Stanford University and a former federal appeals judge appointed by Bush, also observed that conservative audiences “should not be cheering” and “are misled” if they believe Gingrich’s proposal is in their interest at a time when Republicans are looking to the Supreme Court to declare President Obama’s health-care law unconstitutional.
“You would think that this would be a time when they would be defending the independence of the judiciary, not attacking it,” he said. “You can’t have it both ways. It can’t be that when conservative Republicans object to the courts, they have the right to replace judges, and when liberal Democrats disapprove of the courts, they don’t. And the constitution is pretty clear that neither side can eliminate judges because they disagree with their decisions.”[2]
Yule Lad #7 Door Slammer
The seventh was Door Slammer,
a sorry, vulgar chap:
When people in the twilight
would take a little nap,
he was happy as a lark
with the havoc he could wreak,
slamming doors and hearing
the hinges on them squeak.[1]
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Wallace's take on the Quirinius problem
This was the first registration, taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria. ~ Luke 2:2
Before you read this, you should know that Quirinius was governor of Syria from AD 6-9. Herod the Great died in 4 BC.[1]
One of the greatest difficulties in the Bible, in terms of its accuracy, is the census mentioned in Luke 2:2—a census that purportedly led Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem, where Jesus would be born. The Greek text reads as follows: au{th ajpografhV prwvth ejgevneto hJgemoneuvonto" th'" Suriva" Kurhnivou. This text casts serious doubts on Luke's accuracy for two reasons: (1) The earliest known Roman census in Palestine was taken in AD 6-7, and (2) there is little, if any, evidence that Quirinius was governor of Syria before Herod's death in 4 BC. In light of this, many scholars believe that Luke was thinking about the census in AD 6-7, when Quirinius was governor of Syria. At the same time, Luke demonstrates remarkable historical accuracy overall, and even shows both an awareness of this later census (cf. Acts 5:37) and an understanding that Jesus was not born this late (cf. Luke 1:5).
This issue cannot be resolved with certainty, though a couple of views are unlikely. First, it is rather doubtful that prwvth here is used superlatively: “first of at least three.” Not only is the usage of prw'to" for a comparative well established in the NT (cf., e.g., Matt 21:28 [“a man had two sons; he came to the first. . .”]; John 20:4 [“the other disciple came first to the tomb”]), but it is unnecessary to compound the historical difficulty this text presents. A second census is hard enough to find!1
Second, it has sometimes been suggested that the text should be translated, “this census was before the census which Quirinius, governor of Syria, made.”2 It is argued that other comparative expressions sometimes have elided words (as in John 5:36 and 1 Cor 1:25) and, therefore, such is possible here. In spite of the ingenuity of this translation, the basis for it is insufficient, for the following reasons: (a) In both John 5:36 and 1 Cor 1:25, the genitive immediately follows the comparative adjective, making the comparison explicit, while in this textKurhnivou is far removed from prwvth and, in fact, is genitive because it is part of a genitive absolute construction.3Thus, what must necessarily be supplied in those texts is neither necessary nor natural in this one.4 (b) This view presupposes that au{th modifies ajpografhv. But since the construction is anarthrous, such a view is almost impossible (because when a demonstrative functions attributively to a noun the noun is almost always articular);5a far more natural translation would be “This is the first census . . .” rather than “this census is . . .”
Third, prwvth is sometimes regarded as adverbial: “this census took place before Quirinius was governor of Syria.”6 The advantage of this approach is that it eludes the historical problem of Quirinius’ governorship overlapping the reign of Herod. However, like the previous view, it erroneously presupposes that au{th modifiesajpografhv. Further, it ignores the concord between prwvth and ajpografhv, making the adjective most likely to function adjectivally, rather than adverbially. Actually, the adjective functions similarly to John 1:15, 30, but in both places a genitive immediately follows. Also, if this governed the participial phrase, as Hoehner believes, a number of other constructions would be far more natural (and we might justifiably expect Luke's grammar to be somewhat “natural,” especially in his editorial sections [since such sections are not from other sources, but are in Luke’s own words]).
In conclusion, facile solutions do not come naturally to Luke 2:2. This does not, of course, mean that Luke erred. In agreement with Schürmann, Marshall “warns against too easy acceptance of the conclusion that Luke has gone astray here; only the discovery of new historical evidence can lead to a solution of the problem.”7
Postscript
Evangelicals often have a tendency to find implausible solutions to difficulties in the Bible and to be satisfied that they have once again vindicated the Word of God. On the other hand, critical scholars tend to find errors in the Bible where none exist. At bottom, our belief in the infallibility and authority of scripture is a faith-stance, just as our belief in the Deity of Christ is a faith-stance. This does not mean that we have no basis! Nor does it mean that we are obligated to solve all problems to our satisfaction before we can believe. As B. B. Warfield argued long ago, we believe in the accuracy of the Bible, first of all, because the biblical writers themselves both held and taught this view. And if we consider the biblical writers to be trustworthy as doctrinal guides, then their doctrine of the Bible must also be trustworthy. Certainly we need to make many adjustments in how we define that accuracy (allowing the biblical writers themselves to shape our understanding8); but if we were to deny their accuracy at one point, then we must either (a) deny that they held and taught such a view of the Bible, or (b) assume that they might not be trustworthy in other doctrinal areas as well. There is much to be done in this aspect of bibliology, not just in terms of vindication, but also in understanding.9 Responses that are implausible on their face certainly do not help the evangelical faith in the long run.[2]
Yule Lad #6 Bowl Licker
Bowl Licker, the sixth one,
was shockingly ill bred.
From underneath the bedsteads
he stuck his ugly head.
And when the bowls were left
to be licked by dog or cat,
he snatched them for himself
- he was sure good at that![1]
Friday, December 16, 2011
Saudia Arabia Executes Another "Witch"
A Saudi woman has been executed for practising "witchcraft and sorcery", the country's interior ministry says.
A statement published by the state news agency said Amina bint Abdul Halim bin Salem Nasser was beheaded on Monday in the northern province of Jawf.
The ministry gave no further details of the charges which the woman faced.
The woman was the second person to be executed for witchcraft in Saudi Arabia this year. A Sudanese man was executed in September.'Threat to Islam'
BBC regionalist analyst Sebastian Usher says the interior ministry stated that the verdict against Ms Nasser was upheld by Saudi Arabia's highest courts, but it did not give specific details of the charges.
The London-based newspaper, al-Hayat, quoted a member of the religious police as saying that she was in her 60s and had tricked people into giving her money, claiming that she could cure their illnesses.
Our correspondent said she was arrested in April 2009.
But the human rights group Amnesty International, which has campaigned for Saudis previously sentenced to death on sorcery charges, said it had never heard of her case until now, he adds.
A Sudanese man was executed in September on similar charges, despite calls led by Amnesty for his release.
In 2007, an Egyptian national was beheaded for allegedly casting spells to try to separate a married couple.
Last year, a Lebanese man facing the death penalty on charges of sorcery, relating to a fortune-telling television programme he presented, was freed after the Saudi Supreme Court decreed that his actions had not harmed anyone.
Amnesty says that Saudi Arabia does not actually define sorcery as a capital offence. However, some of its conservative clerics have urged the strongest possible punishments against fortune-tellers and faith healers as a threat to Islam.[1]
Feds spent 666,000 dollars to see if distant prayer cured AIDs
A couple of months ago, I shared a story that I dubbed a Prayer Fail. Three people died when they went off of their medication, because they were convinced that God healed them of their AIDs. (In fairness, the mother church teaches that people should not go off their medication and that people should only consider themselves healed when medical tests prove their healing.)
The prayer failed in that it did not heal their AIDs like they believed. Interestingly, the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, or NCCAM, tested "distant prayer" as a cure for AIDs. It also failed. Medicine is more reliable than prayer, because medicine operates according to naturalistic principles. Prayer relies on God who may or may not (depending on His desires) heal you.
...Briggs, a respected NIH researcher and physician who has headed NCCAM for nearly four years, said in an interview that she is dedicated to evidence-based medicine and that the center, under her leadership, is committed to rigorous scientific studies.
The center's recently adopted strategic plan focuses on studies of supplements and other natural products along with the effect of "mind and body" therapies like yoga, massage and acupuncture on pain and other symptoms. In fiscal years 2008-11, NCCAM funded more than $140 million in grants involving mind-and-body therapies, including $33 million for pain research in fiscal 2011.
The new strategic plan "reflects real change or an evolution in our mission," Briggs said. "We are not your grandmother's NCCAM."
Studies of energy healing or distant prayer probably would not get funded by NCCAM today, she said....[1]
Yule Lad #5 Pot Scraper or Pot Licker
Pot Scraper, the fifth one,
was a funny sort of chap.
When kids were given scrapings,
he'd come to the door and tap.
And they would rush to see
if there really was a guest.
Then he hurried to the pot and had a scrapingfest.[1]
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Timing (I had forgotten how crazy that spring was)
This is the quote that is on all the anti-Perriello signs. He is arguing that Congress will only stop stealing from social security and medicare when mandated by law. He said it on March 16, 2010.
Um so uh…Social Security and Medicare are being in the red. I think the question of whether these things can be managed successfully, obviously part of what has happened with Social Security and Medicare is that when they were set up life expectancy was such that people weren’t expecting to be on it for two or three years, not fifteen or twenty years. That, that is good news obviously that we are healthier. It is also in trouble, because politicians raided the cookie jar over and over again. That’s a problem. If there is one thing that I have learned since I have been up here, and I didn’t need to come up here to learn it. It’s the only way to get Congress to balance the budget, it’s to give them no choice. The only way to keep them out of the cookie jar is to give them no choice. Which is why, whether it's a balanced budget acts or pay as you go legislation or any of that — it's the only thing. If you don't tie our hands, we will keep stealing.
If anyone has the entire quote, I would be grateful. The video cuts him off.
The gas line was cut eight days later after a certain Tea Party "citizen" posted the wrong address on the Lynchburg Tea Party website. Maybe someone really did not like that quote. The next day the Lynchburg Tea Party disowned the poster and made a statement against violence.
“The Tea Party does not suggest, condone, promote, incite, overlook or tolerate violence against persons or property. Our movement believes in, and abides by, the rule of law as expressed and embodied in the Constitution of the United States. It is that very Constitution which provides for the proper and peaceful means for the expression of political opinion and the transition of political power.
Yule Lad #4 Spoon Licker
The fourth was Spoon Licker;
like spindle he was thin.
He felt himself in clover
when the cook wasn't in.
Then stepping up, he grappled
the stirring spoon with glee,
holding it with both hands for it was slippery.[1]
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Can Pregnant Suicide Be Murder?
INDIANAPOLIS — Since suicide isn't a crime, there's no way a Chinese immigrant could have known she would be charged with murder and feticide for trying to kill herself while she was pregnant, her attorney told the Indiana Court of Appeals on Tuesday.
Bei Bei Shuai, 34, was 33 weeks pregnant when she ate rat poison Dec. 23 after her boyfriend broke up with her. Attorneys say she was attempting suicide in the midst of major depression. Shuai was hospitalized, and doctors tried to treat her for the poison. Court records show doctors told Shuai they detected little problem with the fetus until days later, when the premature baby girl was delivered by cesarean section on Dec. 31.
The child, named Angel Shuai, died three days later from bleeding in the brain after she was removed from life support. Shuai was charged in March.
Her attorney, Linda Pence, who had filed a pre-trial appeal, asked the three-judge panel to order the charges dismissed or at least allow Shuai to be released on bail.
"While it was a tragic decision, it was not unlawful," Pence said. She argued that Indiana's feticide and murder laws were written or amended to protect fetuses from violence from third parties, not from their own mothers. She said suicide isn't a crime and Shuai couldn't have expected to be arrested for attempting to kill herself.
"No pregnant woman has been put on notice that if they are depressed and try to do harm to themselves that they would be charged with feticide," Pence said.
Judge Edward Najam said that raised the argument that Shuai's due process rights had been violated. But he said the court would try first to decide the case on statutory, not constitutional, issues.
"At the heart of your case is due process," Najam said. "Your argument is that she only found out it was a crime after the fact."
Deputy attorney general Ellen Meilaender said that the case wasn't about suicide. She told the court that Shuai was charged because she "took another viable life."
"The crime is harming someone else in the context of your suicide," Meilaender told the panel, which included one man and two women.
The state has contended for months that Shuai intended to kill her unborn baby, not just herself.
Meilaender refused to concede that the statute might be vague. "It's very clear that just because you're trying to commit suicide at the time you take another life that that doesn't excuse you of liability," she said.
Pence argued that similar cases in other states had been decided in favor of the mothers. "Other states' courts seem to come to the conclusion that this is wrong and they get rid of it however they can," she said. "They realize this is a bad, bad action to charge and it doesn't belong in the criminal system." She questioned how murder and feticide laws could apply to pregnant women without also applying to legal abortion.
The judges also questioned both attorneys on how the law could apply since the infant was a fetus when Shuai allegedly ate poison, but didn't die until after she had been delivered. But Meilaender said the fact that the child was born alive didn't lessen the crime, and evidence showed without medical intervention the fetus would have died.
Najam said the judges would decide the case as soon as possible. He warned both sides not to interpret the judges' questions as a sign of which way they were leaning. "We don't know what we're going to decide," he said.
Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller said in a statement issued after the hearing that the charges should remain intact so Shuai's trial could proceed.
"This case generates strong opinions but the state's position adheres to the longstanding principle that a jury must weigh any facts, even those that go to the defendant's intent, and therefore the trial court is where this case belongs," he said in the statement. "The defense can argue its interpretation of the facts to the jury but the county prosecutor need not accept at face value the defense's assertions."
Groups including the American Medical Women's Association, National Advocates for Pregnant Women and the American Civil Liberties Union have filed legal briefs on Shuai's behalf.
Pence said afterward that she thought the hearing had gone well and the judges had asked pointed questions. "The judges had clearly read, really reviewed the briefs," she said.[1]
Yule Lad #3 Stubby, Shorty, or Pan Scraper
Stubby was the third called,
a stunted little man,
who watched for every chance
to whisk off a pan.
And scurrying away with it,
he scraped off the bits
that stuck to the bottom
and brims - his favorites.
[1]
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Bismark Vs Beveridge
We are fed up with a federal government arrogant enough to declare it knows more about our health than our doctor and that is willing to risk the best health care system in the world while blatantly lying that it is not on the path to a single-payer, government-run system.[1]
However the trend is to leave Beveridge models (single payer systems) for Bismark models (individual mandates). As far as I have been able to tell, the United States would be the first Bismark model to become a Beveridge, if the fears are true. Some British are thinking about moving from a Beveridge to a Bismark. Here is an argument that I found on AdamSmith.org.
Bismarck beats BeveridgeWritten by Tom CloughertyThursday, 01 October 2009 06:030 Comments and 0 ReactionsThe Euro Health Consumer Index (ECHI) 2009 was released this week, and got lots of media coverage in the UK because it ranked the NHS 14th out of 33 countries and said the British health service was let down by waiting lists and "uneven quality performance". Only 4 counties in the EU15 (Western Europe, roughly speaking) got lower scores – Italy, Spain, Greece and Portugal.
The report is full of interesting information, but one point (on p9) particularly interested me. In their words, "Bismarck Beats Beveridge – yet again!" To explain:Bismarck healthcare systems are "based on social insurance, where there is a multitude of insurance organizations... who are organisationally independent of healthcare providers." They are named after Otto von Bismarck, who founded the German welfare state.Beveridge systems are "systems where financing and provision are handled within one organisational system, i.e. financing bodies and providers are wholly or partially within one organization." They are named after Wiliam Beveridge, who founded the British welfare state.
Anyway, the point the reports makes is that, "Looking at the results of the EHCI 2006 – 2009, it is very hard to avoid noticing that the top consists of dedicated Bismarck countries, with the small-population and therefore more easily managed Beveridge systems of the Nordic countries squeezing in. Large Beveridge systems seem to have difficulties at attaining really excellent levels of customer value."The following list shows the rankings of Western European healthcare systems according to their 2009 score. TheBismarck countries are in bold:(1) Holland, (2) Denmark, (3) Iceland, (4) Austria, (5) Switzerland, (6) Germany, (7) France, (8) Sweden, (9) Luxembourg, (10) Norway, (11) Belgium, (12) Finland, (13) Ireland, (14) UK, (15) Italy, (16) Spain, (17) Greece, (18) Portugal.Clearly there is something in what the authors of the ECHI say. They suggest two points which could explain the comparative underperformance of Beveridge systems:(1) Managing organizations of this size (the NHS employees 1.5m staff) requires management skills which just don't exist in the public sector. (I'd say they are extremely rare in the private sector too.)(2) The primary loyalty in Beveridge organizations tends to be to politicians and other top decision-makers, rather than patients.Adopting a competitive social insurance system like Holland's would be a huge step forward for the UK, even if – in an ideal world – I would prefer something based on medical savings accounts. You can read more about it here, in our excellent 2002 report NHS Reform: towards consensus?[2]
P.S. - A couple of obvious things need to be stated. Obama Care is not a true Bismark model in a couple of ways. One, we have many single payers systems in the country already: Indian Health Service, Medicare, Medicaid, and Veterans Administration. Medicare also has a Medicare Advantage with a private insurance option. These private insurers charge the government 14% more per senior, basically what the Republicans thought the public option would do. Two, in Obama Care the employers pick the insurers for most Americans. In a true Bismark model, the individual would pick their own insurer, thus forcing more competition.
Cigna CEO: Don't repeal U.S. health law (CATO calls it "ObamaCare = A Bailout for Private Insurance Companies") Cigna will do just fine. Also remember Cigna once blackmailed a hospital into not performing a surgery on a child. This is still legal under Obama Care.[3]
Yule Lad #2 Gully Gawk
He hides in your barn and slurps the foam off of the milk in your milk pail....
The second was Gully Gawk,gray his head and mien.He snuck into the cow barnfrom his craggy ravine.Hiding in the stalls,he would steal the milk, whilethe milkmaid gave the cowherda meaningful smile.[1]
Monday, December 12, 2011
Krampus Kristmas
This is how Anthony Bourdain's Travel Channel show, No Reservations tried to explain Krampus.http://gawker.com/5867091/travel-channel-pulls-touching-christmas-special-about-a-child+licking-demon
Yule Lad #1 Sheep-Cote Clod or Sheep Worrier
The first of them was Sheep-Cote Clod.He came stiff as wood,to prey upon the farmer's sheepas far as he could.He wished to suck the ewes,but it was no accidenthe couldn't; he had stiff knees- not to convenient.[1]
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Krampus Bruisers
In Central and Eastern Europe, parents used to ask a Catholic Priest to come beat their children with a rod for Christmas.[1] Some think that this was the origin of Krampus. I did not think that this still continued.
IRVINE, Calif. -- An Irvine couple who suspected their 15-year-old son of smoking turned to a man believed to be relied on in their church to violently discipline children, authorities said.
The parents asked Paul Kim, 39, to discipline their son after finding a lighter in his possession, dropping the boy off at Kim's Chino Hills home with permission for the beating, San Bernardino County sheriff's spokesperson Cindy Bachmann said Saturday.
Kim hit the child with a metal pole about a dozen times, causing severe bruising on his legs, according to Bachmann. The pole was about an inch in diameter, investigators said.
An adult at the boy's school saw the bruises and called Irvine police, who in turn informed San Bernardino County officials, she said.
Kim was arrested Tuesday at his home and released Thursday after posting bail. He faces a felony charge of willful cruelty to a child. No court date has been set, according to jail records.
The San Bernardino County District Attorney's office was reviewing the sheriff's department report and will decide whether to charge the teen's father, Bachman said. It wasn't immediately known whether the father was present at the time of the beating.
The names of the boy and his parents were not released.
Investigators believe Kim has been used in this way by other families in the congregation, and asked for victims and witnesses to come forward.
The name of the church was not released but Bachman said it was located in La Habra.
It wasn't immediately known whether Kim had hired an attorney. A message left at a Chino Hills listing with his name was not returned Saturday.[2]
PS - Just because Europeans formerly used a Catholic Priest to beat their children with a rod for Christmas time and a Californian church used a church member to beat their child with a rod around Christmas time; does not mean the two events are connected. Context matters, but if they were Muslims someone would cherry pick the connection.
Imagine if a Republican President had said this
When Giants Built Churches :)
No description of Innsbruck, however brief, could be deemed complete without at least a passing reference to the famous Abbey of Wilten which stands on the outskirts of the south-western portion of the town. The present Abbey belonging to the Praemonstratensian Order was founded in the eleventh century upon the site where stood the Roman settlement of Veldidena. The Abbey and Church of that day, however, have been so frequently damaged by fire that during the centuries it has been practically reconstructed. The story of its foundation forms one of the most remarkable of Tyrolese legends, and exhibits in its incidents with extraordinary clearness the conflict taking place in those times between the doctrines of Christianity and Heathendom.
Certain authorities state that the Romans, when they entered the country, found a town already existing, which they adopted as one of their most important stations, and re-named Veldidena. This settlement, however, was, according to tradition, destroyed by Attila on his way back through the country after the desperate Battle of Chalons; but it nevertheless continued to be a largely frequented station in the stretch of country lying between the Po and the Rhine owing to the convenience of its situation and the existence of the famous Brenner Road. Afterwards came the expedition of Theodoric of Verona against Chriemhild's Garden of Roses at Worms;[about AD 500] and we are told amongst those who enlisted in Theodoric's service and distinguished themselves at the taking of the famous Rose Garden was one Ilaimo or Haimon (now believed to be the Heime of "the Heldenbuch") who, after the expedition, came through Tyrol in his master's victorious train. This Haimon was a giant, taller and more powerful even than Goliath himself; and as he approached Veldidena he found barring his progress another giant named Thyrsus (now identified as Schrudan) living near Zirl. This latter giant having heard of Haimon's prowess, and as his own supremacy had hitherto remained unchallenged, determined to force Haimon to fight him.
Theodoric's giant proved willing enough for the encounter, and scarcely, indeed, waited to be challenged. Thyrsus, although the bigger and more terrible of aspect, with a skin bronzed by the open-air life he had led, and his muscles developed and kept in condition by constant exercise, was not so skilful and wily as his opponent, whose every movement showed him to be a master in both the arts of attack and defence.
We are told that Thyrsus grasped in his hand a pine tree which he had torn up by the roots to serve as a weapon, and that at every movement of his the ground shook under his tread, which made a noise like thunder. Rushing impetuously to attack Haimon he found the latter cool and collected, watchful of his antagonist's every movement, and waiting patiently for the opportunity of striking a decisive blow. As the Titanic struggle went on, Haimon merely acting on the defensive, Thyrsus became weary, and then Haimon gathering all his force together fell upon him and slew him.
The story goes on to tell how a Benedictine monk of Tegernsee, passing whilst Haimon was still flushed with victory, stopped to reason with him on the worthlessness of mere brutal strength and all that he had hitherto deemed of value, and succeeded so well in painting the attractions of a better life that the giant was converted on the spot, and thenceforth abandoned his life of battle and bloodshed, and devoted his time and strength to the service of God. One of his first acts was to start building with his own hands a church and monastery on the site of ruined Veldidena on the banks of the Sill.
The legend tells us that he quarried the stone necessary for this undertaking with his own hands, and at last the day came when he had sufficient to lay the foundations of the church. He found, however, that the work he did in the day was always undone at night, so that he made no progress. This, though he did not know it, was the work of the devil; who, in the form of a huge dragon, had hidden himself in a cave with the express purpose of thwarting Haimon's pious intentions.
At last the latter realized that he must watch and discover what happened. This he did, and after a little time one evening the dragon emerged from his cave, lashing the ground with his tail in his fury, and filling the air with the sulphurous smoke and flame which he breathed out . Great as was his strength, Haimon at once realized that he could not overcome so terrible an enemy easily; so commending his soul to God he waited with a brave heart. Soon dawn began to break over the mountains, and at the first glimpse of light the dragon turned and fled back to his lair. Haimon, taking courage at the] sight, set off in pursuit, and by-and-by they both arrived at the cave in which the dragon was accustomed to hide during the day. The entrance was so narrow that when the monster had got partly in it was impossible for him to turn, and so Haimon, seeing his opportunity, raised his sword, and calling on God to strengthen him, cut off the dragon's head with a single blow. Then he cut out the tongue or sting of the monster as a trophy, and eventually hung it up in the sanctuary of the church. Nowadays one is shown at Wilten a representation of this dragon's tongue, which we are told was above two feet in length.
The dragon once dead the building progressed rapidly, and when it was finished Haimon, no doubt in an ebullition of joy, seized a huge rock, which he had quarried, but did not need to use for the foundations, and threw it with all his might into the valley. It was a good throw, for the rock, after nearly two miles of flight, struck against the hill of Ambras and fell into the valley, where it may yet be seen! Haimon endowed the Abbey with all the land which stretched between its site and the stone at the foot of the hill of Ambras.
Now it only remained to colonize the monastery, and ultimately the Benedictines came to inhabit it, and here the giant lived amongst them a life of penance and good works, dying in the year 878. His body, so tradition states, was buried on the right-hand side of the high altar in the church. But although many searches have been made for his remains during the period which elapsed between his death and the middle of the seventeenth century, they have never been discovered. But the last search in 1644 was disastrous as well as unsuccessful, because it undermined a great part of the wall of the church, which collapsed. The popular belief in the two giants is kept alive by the huge wooden statues representing them, which are placed at the entrance of the church. The interior of the building is in the form of a basilica, and contains not only frescoes by Caspar Waldmann, but also some good pictures by Grasmayr, Busjager, Andersag, Egid Schor, and other artists.[1]
Mentioned in another account, Thyrsus' blood sprinkled over the land which became the oil springs.[2]
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