Distracted Mind

Fred Clark at [slactivist](http://slacktivist.typepad.com/slacktivist/) links to [this Newsweek article entitled "Cut, Thrust and Christ;
Why evangelicals are mastering the art of college debate"](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11078887/site/newsweek/). Yes, Fred, the article is creepy, but more than that it’s a wake-up call to those of us that don’t subscribe to Reverend Jerry Fallwell’s brand of Christianity.

Falwell’s Liberty College has a varsity debate squad that’s beating Harvard (yes, the Harvard with the Ivy and the Skulls). Conservative Bible colleges all over the United States are spending more on their debate squads and concentrating on winning the argument, but not on being right. Perhaps it’s time the rest of us remind them that talking the fastest and loudest doesn’t convince everyone that they’re actually saying anything.

Today’s edition of [The Washington Post](http://www.washingtonpost.com) has an [interesting article](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/29/AR2006012900869.html?sub=AR) about legislation that will allow healthcare workers “who do not want to provide care that conflicts with their personal beliefs” to refuse to provide their services without consequences. This means that several states will allow pharmacists to refuse prescriptions for the morning after pill and they may even (in extreme cases) be allowed to refuse care based on a patient’s sexual preference. It also means that they will be able to refuse to fill birth control prescriptions, and in some cases they may even be able refuse some vaccinations.

Doctors opposed to fetal tissue research, for example, could refuse to notify parents that their child was due for a chicken pox inoculation because the vaccine was originally produced using fetal tissue cell cultures, said R. Alto Charo, a bioethicist at the University of Wisconsin.

“That physician would be immunized from medical malpractice claims and state disciplinary action,” Charo said.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for the freedom to believe whatever you want, but I feel that anyone who goes into the field of medicine or pharmaceuticals takes a calculated risk. They may be asked, in the course of their career, to do something that they do not believe is right but that is completely legal, such as filling a birth control prescription or performing selective reduction on a woman pregnant with multiples. They need to assess their comfort levels with such procedures and, if they find that they cannot in good conscience perform such procedures, they may need to find a different profession.

I’ve talked about Rod Parsley before, and I’ve talked about Kenneth Blackwell. These two are scary, scary individuals, and it’s even more frightening that the republican Blackwell is running for governor and is a good buddy of Parsley and is very much a favorite of the religious right. He’s one of the big supporters of Reformation Ohio, a “religious” movement to recruit voters and bring Ohio “back to Jesus”. I’m worried about their perceptions of bringing Ohio “back to Jesus” and I’m concerned about their collective predisposition toward legislating behavior.

Jesus and the Woman Taken in Adultery, Gustave Dore

Blackwell is a contender for the governor’s seat in 2006 and his backers will definitely call in their markers if he wins. These people were behind the defeat of equal rights in 2004’s Issue 1, they claim to be the “moral majority”, and they claim to know God’s plan for this state and this country.

I’ve been thinking about this one for a while, and I’m not sure that Blackwell, Parsley and the rest of them are on the right side of the coin on this. I haven’t found anywhere in the New Testament that specifically says that everyone has to follow the same rules and laws, but I have found several spots that have said that Christians are called to follow Christ’s teachings. In other words, Christ’s law is separate from the law of the land, and those that follow him are called to follow Christ’s law _in addition_ to the law of the land. Christians are called to be set apart from non-Christians by following Christ’s law, not by forcing non-Christians to follow the same laws. This is how Christ called his followers to be examples for everyone and to be forces for good in a not-so-great world. Read the rest of this entry »

I should have listed another eccentricity in that previous list: my compulsion to change my weblog’s design. It’s been a seasonal thing, but the whole snowflake and snowman thing was just a tad too cutesy for me. It’s hard to write a good rant when you know that there’s going to be snowflakes on the page.

Because the last design was just _so_ saccharine, I decided to go a different way with the whole thing, creating _Distracted Anatomy_, which uses medical illustrations from the 14th, 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries. Why? Because I love medical illustrations, which is strange since I’m pretty squeamish when it comes to the whole blood and guts thing.

This design is still somewhat in progress, since I’m figuring out some new and fun ways to do things (CSS Shorthand, anyone?), but at least there’s no snowman!

[Chris](http://www.ctmiller.net/chris/wp/2006/01/24/weird-habits/) tagged me for this one and forced me out of a writer’s block. The meme is five weird habits. I was sad that I had to narrow it down to five, but rules are rules….

The Rules: The first player of this game starts with the topic √¢Ç«®≈Ïfive weird habits√¢Ç«®¨? and people who get tagged need to write an entry about their five weird habits as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose the next five people to be tagged and link to their web journals. Don√¢Ç«®Ç—¢t forget to leave a comment in their blog or journal that says √¢Ç«®≈ÏYou have been tagged√¢Ç«®¨? (assuming they take comments) and tell them to read yours.

1. Whenever I order a frosty at Wendy’s, I have to order fries. I dip the fries in my frosty and eat them. Now, I don’t think this is that weird, but my spouse swears that it is both strange and disgusting.

2. I keep glasses of water by my bed. _Glasses,_ plural. I’m like the little girl from [Signs.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0286106/) I must have a glass of water by the bed at night, just in case I wake up dying of thirst. I also forget that I already have a glass of water by the bed, so I bring up another every night. When I’ve accumulated three or more, I take all the glasses to the kitchen and empty them.

3. I must have the closet door closed in any room that I sleep in. This comes from reading too much Stephen King as a child — I’m still afraid of the bogeyman and his vast closet network.

4. I pace while talking on the phone. Pace may not be the right word, since I actually do laps around the house, or around whatever room I’m in. It’s an unconscious habit, but I’ve been told it’s a little maddening to witness.

5. Almost any movie I see after 7p.m. turns into an expensive nap. I don’t mean to, but I almost always fall asleep, no matter how good the movie is. I’ve tried drinking very strong coffee, I’ve tried deliberately making myself a little cold (not uncomfortably so, but just so that I am awake longer), I’ve tried different sitting positions. Nothing works. I think the last movie I stayed awake for was [Land of the Dead.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0418819/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnx0dD0xfGZiPXV8cG49MHxrdz0xfHE9TGFuZCBvZiB0aGUgRGVhZHxmdD0xfG14PTIwfGxtPTUwMHxjbz0xfGh0bWw9MXxubT0x;fc=1;ft=20;fm=1)

There you have it: five of my strange habits. Now, as stated by the rules, I must pick five victims who must also bare their souls. Tagging [Geoff](http://www.inkblotsmag.com/voice/totq), [Becca](http://blog.myspace.com/crockettroth), [Gloria](http://www.gloriaferris.net), [Daniella](http://americanpinkcollar.blogspot.com/) and [George](http://www.brewedfreshdaily.com)

irony 1 |√„¿‹√—¨¥r√‚Ç—¢n√—ǃ?; √„¿‹i√‚Ç—¢rn√—ǃ?| noun ( pl. -nies)

the expression of one’s meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect : √¢Ç«®≈ÏDon’t go overboard with the gratitude,√¢Ç«®¨? he rejoined with heavy irony. See note at wit .

a state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often amusing as a result : [with clause ] the irony is that I thought he could help me.

(also dramatic or tragic irony) a literary technique, originally used in Greek tragedy, by which the full significance of a character’s words or actions are clear to the audience or reader although unknown to the character.

ORIGIN early 16th cent.(also denoting Socratic irony): via Latin from Greek eir√÷¨Áneia √¢Ç«®¿?simulated ignorance,√¢Ç«®Ç—¢ from eir√÷¨Án ‘dissembler.’

In a brilliant and massive example of irony, yesterday was National Sanctity of Life Day. Our country, which still supports the death penalty, that allows corporations to _relax_ safety standards in the workplace, that is currently at war, cherishes human life. A tiny little coincidence, yesterday was also the thirty-third anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Our President, he’s a sneaky one.

Read the rest of this entry »

The salon got off to a rocky start, being that Pearl of the Orient was closed, but we ended up at Beachciff Tavern. Once we got all sorted out, we ordered drinks and got started–here’s a bit of the discussion that ensued.

Present: John Ettorre, Tim Ferris, Gloria Ferris, George Nemeth, Daniella Lindquist, McKala Everett and Tina Vance Read the rest of this entry »

Greater minds than mine have hypothesized about what our “Founding Fathers” would think if they were alive today, and how the Constitution would be different if they knew about the technology and tools we now have at our disposal in this modern world. The Constitution would be a much different document–I have a feeling that the second amendment would look a little different if [George Mason](http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/B/gmason/mason.htm) had known about automatic weapons, the fourth amendment may have been significantly altered if he’d had a glimpse of how things could possibly be with all the technology we now have at our disposal.

This current debacle, with all the spying and the tapping and the posturing over what we still don’t know… well, it’s a SNAFU that could have been prevented if our Founding Fathers had super magical psychic powers of precognition. We’ve got to deal with reality though, and that reality is that it wasn’t, they didn’t, and we have to deal with the current situation. Read the rest of this entry »

Normally I’d just post this as a sidebar link through [del.icio.us](http://del.icio.us/distractedmind), but this one is too nice to relegate to the sidebar. [Kokblog](http://kokblog.mw2mw.com/), by Johanna Kindvall is a fabulous cooking blog with a definite Swedish flavor, but more than that it’s an absolutely gorgeous website.

Johanna is a Swedish expat living in New York who has married her love of cooking and her awesome artistic talent to create a cooking blog full of interesting recipes, many of which I will be trying (just a warning for my husband, who gets to play guinea pig for my culinary experiments). Some of the most appealing:

* [Rum Apple Pie](http://kokblog.mw2mw.com/57/), because adding alcohol to anything creates a chance for the extraordinary….
* [Matcha Pistachio Chocolate Cake](http://kokblog.mw2mw.com/44/), because it sounds fascinating
* [Creamy Bacon Pasta](http://kokblog.mw2mw.com/55/), minus the chanterelle mushrooms (accommodations for the mushroom-allergic in my household)
* [Fresh Shrimps with Lime](http://kokblog.mw2mw.com/27/) — this one is such a simple recipe, but it sounds absolutely delicious
* [Doggie Bag Stew](http://kokblog.mw2mw.com/32/) _waste not, want not_

Of course, if you try any of Johanna’s recipes, leave her a comment and let her know how it was. Also, if you try the gravlox, let _me_ know how it was — I’m curious, but not brave enough to try it in my own home (I’m a coward like that).

This scary little gem was pointed out to me by [Chris at Unquiet Desperation](http://unquietdesperation.com/):

[AmericaBlog: AMERICAblog just bought General Wesley Clark's cell phone records for $89.95](http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/01/americablog-just-bought-general-wesley.html)

Damn! If this is true, it’s very scary. According to AmericaBlog, CBS will be doing a story on this tonight (January 12) on the evening news.