Social Commentary

Maybe I will turn on the TV next week: face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"> href="http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003574260">'Devastating' Moyers Probe of Press and Iraq Coming By Greg Mitchell April 19, 2007 NEW YORK (Commentary) The most powerful indictment of the news media for falling down in its duties in the run-up to the war in Iraq will appear next Wednesday, a 90-minute PBS broadcast called "Buying the War," which marks the return of "Bill Moyers Journal." E&P was sent a preview DVD and a draft transcript for the…
From Reuters Health Information, via Medscape (free registration rquired): href="http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/555126">Jeb Bush Joins Board of Tenet Healthcare CHICAGO (Reuters) Apr 12 - Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, brother of U.S. President George W. Bush, will join the board of Tenet Healthcare Corp., the biggest publicly traded hospital company said on Thursday. The move to appoint Bush, 54, comes as Dallas-based Tenet continues its struggle to recover from a slew of scandals and lawsuits. Last year, it settled with the U.S. Department of Justice for $900 million…
From CNN, et alia: href="http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/04/12/white.house.email/">White House: 'We screwed up' on deleted e-mails POSTED: 4:35 p.m. EDT, April 12, 2007 WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The White House "screwed up" by not requiring e-mails from Republican Party and campaign accounts to be saved and is trying to recover any documents that may have been deleted, a spokeswoman said Thursday. Just ask the NSA for copies.  They probably have them.
According to the Corporate Crime Reporter, at least 257 companies have "backdating problems."  That refers to the shady practice of backdating stock options, resulting in larger payouts to those who receive compensation in the form of stock options.  But it isn't merely "shady:" CORPORATE CRIME REPORTER At Least 257 Companies Have Options Backdating Problems 21 Corporate Crime Reporter 14, March 26, 2007 At least 257 public companies have option backdating problems. That’s according to a report released today by Glass Lewis, the Denver, Colorado-based shareholder services and…
This is depressing.  Now the UK is misusing and distorting scientific findings.  I suppose it is contagious.  This pertains to the href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancet_survey_of_mortality_before_and_after_the_2003_invasion_of_Iraq">Lancet study that found an estimated 50% increase in the risk of death in the immediate aftermath of the Iraq war (2003-2004).   style="font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;"> I could understand Tony Blair or George Bush, or any other politician who does not know anything about research methodology, making an off-the-cuff statement questioning the…
"You go to war with the funding you got, not the funding you wish you had."
What can you say?   Arch Gen Psychiatry is one of those non-open-access journals that publishes one free-access article in each issue.  Usually the free article is not particularly interesting; they do not seem to make use of the open-access articles routinely to make material of general public interest available to all.  This is an exception. At first, I was almost offended that this article was published.  Why bother to even pose the question?  The question, in this case, being whether there is any scientific basis for distinguishing between torture and other bad things. href="http://…
I know people come here to read about psychiatry, mental health, neuroscience, and political/social issues related to those topics.  No, scratch that, I have not idea why people come here.  But this post is straight politics.  Well, it's politics and a little sociological musing and opinion. The cartoon came in an email from the left-leaning Center for American Progress.  They rarely send me anything, so I figure they figure this is a big issue.  The cartoon is window dressing.  The article they link to is not.   href="http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2007/03/now_you_tell_us.…
This is a bizarre headline: href="http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=2861168">Pentagon Says Pre-War Intel Not Illegal.  I found this item on Google News, and it is one of many headlines on the subject: href="http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/politics/16656221.htm" id="r-1_1113380245">Pentagon office produced `alternative' intelligence on Iraq; href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7289295" id="r-6_1113380245">Pentagon: Pre-War Intelligence Was Legit; and others.  But some are more to the point: href="http://ca.today.reuters.com/news/…
Post-game comments.  I understand the game was broadcast in 232 countries, and cybercast in six languages.  Maybe it is more than just another game, if it draws that much attention.  No, I take it back.  Money always attracts attention.  That is why everyone pays attention to the USA in the first place.  It is not "our freedom," or culture, or even our foreign policy.  It is just the money.
I almost never watch football.  But this year it is being broadcast in High Definition TV.  Looks great on my 36cm screen.  Pregame show was colorful and totally uninspired.  The coin flip: the Bears win.  That's the tenth coin flip in a row won by the NFC team.  Commentator notes that the odds of that are 1 in a thousand.  Actually, it is two to the tenth power, which is 1024.
This is just strange.  Not profound, just strange.  The same newspaper on the same day carries two headlines on the same subject: href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/02/business/02cnd-jobs.html?ex=1328072400&en=c3b7312ad38409ce&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss"> Jobs Growth Slows but Remains Strong href="http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-Wall-Street.html?ex=1256184000&en=f75f0bb8b4799a79&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland">Stocks End Mixed on Lackluster Jobs Data Jobs Growth Slows but Remains Strong By JEREMY W. PETERS Published: February 2, 2007…
I tend to be skeptical of causes or organizations that include the word "truth,"  as in href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Swift_Boat_Veterans_for_Truth">Swiftboat Veterans for Truth. But I suppose that if one side does it, the href="http://scienceblogs.com/worldsfair/2007/01/this_is_all_about_the_truth_a.php">other can, too; so, here goes: "Truth".
Great idea: create a "volunteer civilian corps" that would give Americans the opportunity to contribute their valuable skills, to take the stress off the regular military. Translation: let's hire mercenaries, who'll think they're getting a good deal, making $100,000 a year, while getting shot at; even though their corporate bosses make millions, sitting in their executive leather chairs.  Great idea: increase the profit incentive for starting a war.  Move the Clock another minute closer to midnight. That is my strongest impression of the State of the Union Address.  Which, by the way, had…
"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" is one of those trite sayings that we've all heard "a million times."  Certainly, is is commonplace for persons to have differing opinions on matters such as the attractiveness of others.  Sometimes, though, I've noted a tendency for peer groups to work toward a consensus about what constitutes attractiveness. It turns out that there is a complex psychology behind this, and it has to do with social context. href="http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=scienceNews&storyID=2007-01-17T005428Z_01_L16822716_RTRUKOC_0_US-SCIENCE-ATTRACTION…
This thing has fascinated me since I was a teenager, when my father had a subscription to the href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulletin_of_the_Atomic_Scientists" rel="tag">Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.  I read it every time.  They are the ones who keep the famous href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomsday_Clock">Doomsday Clock. Now, we hear that href="http://news.aol.com/topnews/articles/_a/scientists-to-move-doomsday-clock/20070114093009990001">the Clock is being changed: Also the website for the Bulletin is being changed.   Right now, this is the only thing…
CNN has a href="http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/12/27/brazil.anorexia.ap/index.html">report about a cluster of deaths from Anorexia, in Brazil.   The subject has become a morbid fascination for Brazilians, and is even the theme of a popular TV soap opera. It has also touched off a debate within Brazil's fashion industry that has long presented the rail-thin model as the paragon of female beauty. The objection I have is that the article provides the heights and weights of the women at their time of death.  I don't think there is any way that the journalists or editors would know…
This adds to my respect for Gerald Ford.   Ford: Bush made 'big mistake' on Iraq justifications 11:07 p.m. EST, December 27, 2006 WASHINGTON (CNN) -- In an interview never before published, former President Gerald Ford said President Bush and his chief advisers "made a big mistake" with their justifications for the Iraq war. Ford made the comments in a four-hour interview in 2004 with Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward... Ford was regarded as a man with a quiet style who was not quick to criticize, Woodward and others who worked with him said on "Larry King." Ford requested…
I have a confession to make.  I once voted for a Republican Presidential candidate.  That candidate was Gerald Ford.   Why?  Several reasons.  For one, it was my first time voting, so I was not very good at it yet.  Two, even though I was upset about the pardon of Nixon, and unimpressed by his handling of the economy, I thought he was sincere and honest.  Three, I thought he had been chosen deliberately to be a noncontroversial "placeholder" president; not someone who was interested in a power grab.   One of the areas where some liberals and some conservatives agree is this: concentration…
So far, I have resisted commenting on the report of the Iraq Study Group.  But this is too good to pass up.  From href="http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2006/12/nothing_can_mat.html">DeLong, who got it from href="http://myalteregospeaks.blogspot.com/2006/12/s-r-t.html">Alter Ego, comes a precious quote from a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/12/20061207-1.html">Presidential press conference: Q Mr. President, the Iraq Study Group said that leaders must be candid and forthright with people. So let me test that. Are you capable of admitting your failures in the…