Archive for 2013
December 1, 2013
DANIEL CALLAHAN IS A LIVING EXEMPLAR OF WHY THE PROFESSION OF BIOETHICS IS STUPID. Here’s his latest effort. Some related thoughts here and also here.
I THINK WE SHOULD DRAFT PEOPLE TO BE BELTWAY PUNDITS, AS RANDOMLY-CHOSEN AMERICANS COULD CLEARLY DO JUST AS GOOD A JOB: Dana Milbank: Restore The Draft.
UPDATE: Michael Lotus emails: “Can you imagine if the same thugs who are using the IRS to harass and intimidate their political enemies had the power to conscript people? There is zero prospect it would not be politicized and used to punish opponents of this administration. These people cannot be trusted at all, about anything. It would be insanity to grant them further power.” True.
CHANGE: Revolutionary Zeal Returns To The Streets Of Ukraine.
The future of Europe’s second-biggest country was hanging in the balance last night as hundreds of thousands of people flooded cities across Ukraine, demanding revolution in protest at the President’s decision to snub the European Union for Russia.
In the biggest show of anger yet against President Yanukovych’s decision to pursue a deal with Vladimir Putin, protesters defied a hastily passed law banning demonstrations. They gathered in huge numbers, with 500,000 believed to have taken to the streets of the capital, Kiev.
A half-million people at an illegal pro-Western protest is a big deal.
FALLEN ANGELS WAS JUST A SCIENCE FICTION TALE, RIGHT YOU GUYS? RIGHT? Scientists increasingly moving to global cooling consensus.
AT AMAZON, New Deals on Luggage.
MEOW: Norwegian soccer player’s wife criticized for post birth body. “Caroline Berg Eriksen posted a picture of herself in her underwear four days after giving birth. Some were outraged by the picture but one doctor advises ‘life is unfair.'” We must have a government program to remedy that, or at least to ban publication of photos that might make other women feel bad about themselves.
CHINA PREPARES TO LAUNCH ITS first Moon-rover mission.
A LOOK AT Google’s new anti-aging company, Calico.
STOCKING STUFFER: Getcher Handmade Leather Saps Right Here.
WAR ON SCIENCE: Muzzling of federal scientists widespread, survey suggests. “Twenty four per cent of respondents said they ‘sometimes’ or ‘often’ were asked to exclude or alter technical information in federal government documents for non-scientific reasons. Most often, the request came from their direct supervisors, followed by business or industry, other government departments, politically appointed staff and public interest advocates.”
Luckily, this is in Canada. I’m sure nothing like this could happen in our federal government.
EASY ASIAN RECIPES at RasaMalaysia.com.
THE STARS MY DESTINATION: Plotting the Destinations of 4 Interstellar Probes.
READER BOOK PLUG: It’s A Wonderful Death. Set in Bedford Falls.
FASTER, PLEASE: Black silicon slices and dices bacteria. “Originally discovered by accident in the 1980s, black silicon is silicon with a surface that has been modified to feature nanoscale spike structures which give the material very low reflectivity. Researchers have now found that these spikes can also destroy a wide range of bacteria, potentially paving the way for a new generation of antibacterial surfaces. . . . This represents an exciting prospect for the development of a new generation of antibacterial nanomaterials that could be applied to the surfaces of medical implants, making them far safer.”
IS IT TIME TO ditch the keys and get a smart lock?
WHAT DO MILLENNIALS WANT?
IN THE MAIL: From Oren Litwin, The Best Congress Money Can Buy: Stories of Political Possibility.
TAXPROF ROUNDUP: The IRS Scandal, Day 206.
MEGAN MCARDLE: A Fight Over Contraception Won’t Help ObamaCare.
I gather that both supporters and opponents of the mandate think the Supreme Court will probably rule that corporations (at least closely held ones such as these two) are going to be granted an exemption from the mandate if they have clear religious objections.
Social media was on fire over this when it happened, and I confess that I am struggling to see why. There was a lot of outraged talk about how corporations aren’t people, of course, but a lot more about employers trying to control their employees’ sex lives, treating women as second-class citizens and so forth. To judge from these reactions, you would think that birth-control pills were a scarce resource that could only legally be obtained through employers. In fact, generic birth-control pills are available for $25 a month through a Costco pharmacy, $50 if you want a brand name.
“But that’s expensive for a young woman on a budget!” you are about to cry. And I am about to answer that it doesn’t get less expensive because an insurer buys it. Regular, predictable expenses such as birth-control pills cannot be defrayed by insurance; they can only be prepaid, with a markup for the insurer’s administrative costs. The extra cost is passed on by the insurers to your employer, and from your employer to you and your fellow workers, either by raising your contribution or lowering the wage they are willing to offer. There’s obviously some cross-subsidy from your fellow employees who don’t use birth control, but overall, there’s no particular reason to force insurers to cover a minor and predictable expense.
The administration didn’t force employers with a religious objection to offer contraception because it made financial or medical sense; they did it because it had great symbolic value to Barack Obama’s political base. And much of that symbolic value seems to actually come from the willingness to coerce people who object to buy the stuff.
Obama, and his supporters, quite clearly take joy in coercing those seen as enemies to do things they find objectionable. It is indicative of a deep psychological disorder. Call it the “smell the glove” presidency. . . .