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March 31, 2005
Editorial: Dr. Cranford/A powerful antidote to lunacy
Reprinted from the Star Tribune
March 31, 2005
In a column this week, the New York Times' Paul Krugman mused about the dangers inherent in the rise of religious extremism in the United States. Increasingly, he said, the Christian right wing is willing to bend the law, ignore the spirit of the law, rewrite the law and ultimately reinterpret the law by packing the court with fellow travelers. All this in order to impose upon the nation an extremist religious ethic that looks more Iranian than American.
You've seen this play out over the past few weeks in lurid, 24/7 coverage of federal meddling in the Terri Schiavo case. It's also affecting the classroom as more teachers come under pressure to teach "intelligent design" as a counter to evolution science. And it is coming soon to the U.S. Senate in the form of a Republican effort to prohibit filibusters against the most radical of President Bush's federal court nominees.
Now the Washington Post reports that increasing numbers of pharmacists, citing their conservative religious preferences, are refusing to fill physicians' prescriptions for birth control and morning-after pills. They thus overrule the wisdom of federal and state authorities who have decided these drugs should be legally available. They also reject the professional wisdom, not to mention legal authority, of the prescribing physician. In many states (including Minnesota), they also violate state law, although perhaps not for long: So-called "conscientious objector" statutes are popping up increasingly in state legislatures to give pharmacists an explicit right of refusal, on moral grounds, to dispense a medicine.
Krugman poses a question about all this: Where are the moderates willing to stand up to these extremists? Specifically, he wants to know, "Where are the doctors fiercely defending their professional integrity? I think the American Medical Association disapproves of politicians who second-guess medical diagnoses based on video images -- but the association's statement on the Schiavo case is so timid that it's hard to be sure."
Prof. Krugman, meet Dr. Ronald Cranford of Hennepin County Medical Center. He's your fierce man, but he could use more than a little help.
Cranford examined Terri Schiavo three years ago at the request of her husband, Michael Schiavo. Then, in court, he testified that she is in a persistent vegetative state. He has stood by that testimony through thick and thin, lots of it. On Monday night, he went toe-to-toe with Joe Scarborough on MSNBC's "Scarborough Country." It was not pretty -- for Scarborough.
The interview was opened by Lisa Daniels, an MSNBC daytime anchor. Soon, Cranford had to correct her misinformation: "Wait a minute. You are not accurate on a lot of things here. You're saying a lot of -- she's not starving to death. Do you understand that? She is dehydrating to death."
Daniels asked: "Well, why do you say that? Tell us how you came to that conclusion?
Cranford responded: "Can I tell you why? Because I have done this 25 to 50 times. I don't know how many times Joe has done it, but I've done it 25 to 50 times in similar situations. ...."
And so it continued, with both Scarborough and Daniels. At one point Daniels asked if a CAT scan had been done. Cranford responded: "The CAT scan is out there. It shows severe atrophy of the brain. The autopsy is going to show severe atrophy of the brain. And you're asking me if a CAT scan was done? How could you possibly be so stupid?"
As we said, it wasn't pretty. But someone has got to do this -- or rather a lot of someones have got to do this on a lot of topics. It's not pleasant, either, as Cranford could tell you. But it is absolutely critical that learned people stand up to the know-nothings and charlatans who are waging war on law and reason and science and medicine in the United States.
Posted by kermisch at 10:54 AM
March 24, 2005
DeLay, Deny and Demagogue
-- I have been thinking long and hard about the Schiavo case and have struggled to frame my opinion. In today's NY Times, Maureen Dowd summed up my feelings on the government's involvement in the case. Congress should have never acted on behalf of Terri Schiavo. They have singled out one person who's parent's lawyer had connections to Washington. Well, what about all of the other individuals who are battling for the right to healthcare? The message I received from watching Congress take this issue up is that if it is about life and death and the issue panders to the appropriate political groups that donate lots of money to political campaigns, Congress will pick-up the issue. Maureen Dowd makes a great point about all those people that are about to lose their Medicaid rights due to budget cuts! --
By MAUREEN DOWD
Oh my God, we really are in a theocracy.
Are the Republicans so obsessed with maintaining control over all branches of government, and are the Democrats so emasculated about not having any power, that they are willing to turn the nation into a wholly owned subsidiary of the church?
The more dogma-driven activists, self-perpetuating pols and ratings-crazed broadcast media prattle about "faith," the less we honor the credo that a person's relationship with God should remain a private matter.
As the Bush White House desperately maneuvers in Iraq to prevent the new government from being run according to the dictates of religious fundamentalists, it desperately maneuvers here to pander to religious fundamentalists who want to dictate how the government should be run.
Maybe President Bush should spend less time preaching about spreading democracy around the world and more time worrying about our deteriorating democracy.
Even some Republicans seemed appalled at this latest illustration of Nietzsche's observation that "morality is the best of all devices for leading mankind by the nose."
As Christopher Shays, one of five House Republicans who voted against the bill to allow the Terri Schiavo case to be snatched from Florida state jurisdiction and moved to federal court, put it: "This Republican Party of Lincoln has become a party of theocracy. There are going to be repercussions from this vote."
A CBS News poll yesterday found that 82 percent of the public was opposed to Congress and the president intervening in this case; 74 percent thought it was all about politics.
The president, who couldn't be dragged outdoors to talk about the more than a hundred thousand people who died in the horrific tsunami, was willing to be dragged out of bed to sign a bill about one woman his base had fixated on. But with the new polls, the White House seemed to shrink back a bit.
The scene on Capitol Hill this past week has been almost as absurdly macabre as the movie "Weekend at Bernie's," with Tom DeLay and Bill Frist propping up between them this poor woman in a vegetative state to indulge their own political agendas. Mr. DeLay, the poster child for ethical abuse, wanted to show that he is still a favorite of conservatives. Dr. Frist thinks he can ace out Jeb Bush to be 44, even though he has become a laughingstock by trying to rediagnose Ms. Schiavo's condition by video.
As one disgusted Times reader suggested in an e-mail: "Americans ought to send Bill Frist their requests: 'Dear Dr. Frist: Please watch the enclosed video and tell us if that mole on my mother's cheek is cancer. Does she need surgery?'"
Jeb, keeping up with the '08 competition, vainly tried to get Florida to declare Ms. Schiavo a ward of the state.
Republicans easily abandon their cherished principles of individual privacy and states rights when their personal ambitions come into play. The first time they snatched a case out of a Florida state court to give to a federal court, it was Bush v. Gore. This time, it's Bush v. Constitution.
While Senate Democrats like Hillary Clinton, who are trying to curry favor with red staters, meekly allowed the shameful legislation to be enacted, at least some Floridian House members decided to put up a fight, though they knew they couldn't win.
The president and his ideological partners don't believe in separation of powers. They just believe in their own power. First they tried to circumvent the Florida courts; now they're trying to pack the federal bench with conservatives and even blow up the filibuster rule. But they may yet learn a lesson on checks and balances, as the federal courts rebuffed them in the Schiavo case.
Mr. DeLay moved yesterday to file a friend of the court brief with the Supreme Court asking that Ms. Schiavo's feeding tube be restored while the federal court is deciding what to do. But as he exploits this one sad case, Mr. DeLay has voted to slash Medicaid by $15 billion, denying money to care for poor people in nursing homes, some on feeding tubes.
Mr. DeLay made his personal stake clear at a conference last Friday organized by the Family Research Council, a conservative Christian group. He said that God had brought Terri Schiavo's struggle to the forefront "to help elevate the visibility of what's going on in America." He defined that as "attacks against the conservative movement, against me and against many others."
So it's not about her crisis at all. It's about his crisis.
Posted by kermisch at 12:33 PM
March 17, 2005
Nikon D70
I recently purchased a Nikon D70 and entered the world of high-end digital photography. The most frustrating thing about the new SLR digital cameras is that most of the lenses from my old Nikon outfit do not work. Including my favorite lens, a 35mm 1.8 f-stop. What is even worse is that the old outfit is not even worth that much any more. The camera shop I got my D70 at valued my camera, lenses, and flash at maybe $500.00. It is not even enough money to really think about selling the outfit for.
The D70 is a great camera though. It is the first digital camera that operates like a good 'ol film camera. It takes crisp pictures, is fast, and easy to use. The auto mode is a bit lacking in quality in regards to how it balances the light metering (many pictures appear dark). The built-in flash is great for fill, but does not provide much more coverage than that. I ended up purchasing the more robust SB-600 flash.
In fact I am still pissed at having to purchase that flass too, as my SB-24 is just fine, but it is not compatible with the D70.
What is also interesting is that the new DX lenses do not have a f-stop ring. You control the aperature through a mechanism on the camera body, similar to the Canon cameras.
The controls of the camera including the digital menu are easy to use and access and I am able to switch the ISO, Aperature, and Speed quickly. I also like the fact that camera previews the picture on the LCD screen, but does not allow you to use the LCD as a viewfinder. I also like the fact that you can turn on a grid in the view finder for use in architectural shots.
Overall, I am excited about the camera and can't wait to get more pictures.
Posted by kermisch at 9:24 PM
March 3, 2005
New Poll Finds Bush Priorities Are Out of Step With Americans
Posted by kermisch at 10:30 AM