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January 31, 2006

28 Days to Darfur

I couldn't agree with this editorial more. The next 28 days offer an incredible opportunity for America to develop a little good will in the internationial community. It will be tough to deal with Russia and China on the security council, but a little fight for stopping genocide in Darfur would be a good way to prove we really mean it when we say "never again."

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January 27, 2006

Bill Gates is Rich

Nice to see him continuing his charitable work. He just pledged 600M more bucks to stopping TB. And I remember when people thought he was the antichrist. Teehee. Find out more about the campaign to stop TB here.

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Partisan Thought Is Unconscious

This study result is hysterical, although I also find it a bit sad at the same time.

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January 25, 2006

Down and Out on Super Bowl Sunday

When I saw the subtitle to this article I was outraged. But read on. It is an outrage that Detroit and other cities look on homeless individuals as less than human and want to hide them from view. But it's great there are some thinking of clever ideas to provide people will basic necessities.

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On Pills and Politics

Winds of change in the pharmaceutical industry? We can only hope so. This nature article is by a Novartis exec and discusses his companies recent attention committed to those diseases that kill the most but are researched the least, a la the 90/10 gap. This is the kind of thing I'm trying to raise awareness of through UAEM here at columbia.

Further along the lines of pharm, another issue close to my heart, gifts from drug makers to doctors that prescribe their products, is the subject of this Times article. Short and worth the read.

Finally, word on the internets is that Bush will make health care "reform" his central topic in the upcoming state of the union address. I put reform in parentheses because he'll talk about health savings accounts and consumer-driven health care. These are bad ideas in so many ways, but just take my word for it. Look hereandhere.

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January 24, 2006

We're No. 28! We're No. 28!

Makes you proud, doesn't it? The United States ranks 28th environmentally in a new study. How is it "Christian" politicians have so grossly ignored God's commandment to tend to creation?

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The Vatican and Intelligent Design

Good to see some encouragement toward good science coming out of the Vatican. This TIME article talks about how the Catholic Church is beginning to demonstrate views that intelligent design makes horrible science. I'm convinced evolution exists; I'd have to turn my back on years of scientific education not to. I'd also have to turn my back on years of theological education also. I appreciate how the pope has encouraged us from taking evolution too far. Evolution in and of itself does not rule out God. On the contrary, as both a Christian and a scientist, I find evolution a beautiful explanation about God's creation. I believe God created logic, the basis of science, so we should use this gift to explore God's world. I think evolution does just that, and its an error to question the faith of those not willing to consent to "theories" of young earth creationism.

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January 23, 2006

A Few Stories

Here are a few links to stories I found--two disturbing/thought provoking, one interesting/nerdy. The first is an editorial about racial discrimination in America's drug laws. I've read elsewhere that current drug laws arose long ago as a mechanism of prosecuting minorities in the south; it's sad to see drug laws are yet to become color blind. (But what in this country truly has?) The next is about the cities in America meanest to its homeless populations. I was a bit surprised San Diego didn't make the list. After seeing how homeless friends were treated there, I find it disturbing other cities do markedly worse. Finally, an article about dogs trained to sniff out cancer. When my grandfather died of prostate cancer last spring, the hospice nurse said cancer patients often have a certain odor about them. Apparently she was right. Maybe there's a future for Wahoo.

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January 19, 2006

Christians and Abortion: What's the Faithful Approach

I've been sitting on this post for some time. It's grown out of an editorial in the NYTimes that ran about two weeks ago concerning abortion in Latin America. I've sat on it for so long because I know how volatile this topic is, and I hesitate to throw my thoughts into the mix given my tendency towards hyperbole and my inclination to insist how right I am about things I say. However, I think dialogue on this matter is important, particularly in light of the Alito nomination that will likely demonstrate the national mood concerning this issue. Enough preface--here are my thoughts.

The editorial I mentioned above basically laid out Latin America as a study of sorts concerning the merits of criminalization of abortion. In a nutshell, the argument goes like this.... Politically active pro-lifers argue that abortion is wrong; therefore it should be illegal in order to stop it from occurring. In Latin America, laws are in place that make abortions illegal, much as pro-lifers would like in the United States, so abortion rates should be low given the law against them. This is hardly the case; Latin America has some of the highest rates in the world. The editorial seems to conclude that criminalizing abortion does not lead to the results those looking to outlaw it hope to bring about.

So that's the argument. What do you think? I've long thought Christians looking to be chaplains to the government in order to legislate morality are wrongheaded. That is a discussion for another time, but that mentality makes me think the authors of this article are right on in their assessment of the situation. Making something illegal will not make people stop doing that thing. I like to tell people about how, when I was living in Oklahoma, giving someone a tattoo was illegal. Yet making tattoo parlors illegal just got rid of tattoo parlors, not tattoos themselves. People still got inked up, only with needles often contaminated with Hepatitis, HIV, etc. by artists under no regulation. I know this isn't a pure correlate to abortion, but I think it makes the point. As crude as it sounds, if abortion remains legal it can be more appropriately policed. Women will still seek abortions if it becomes illegal. What will change is how they acquire them. Rather than the procedures being performed by a trained and licensed physician, they will be performed by black market providers or by the women themselves under filthy conditions.

The Latin America study is helpful, although it's difficult to show causality. Abortion laws are not the only things affecting abortion rates. Socioeconomic conditions, among other things, certainly affect these rates. I strongly believe the real way to go about reducing abortion rates is through financial assistance for those bearing children. The majority of abortions occur because the woman cannot afford another mouth to feed. Unfortunately, pro-lifers, through alliances made with political heavyweights, have frequently become indoctrinated by arguments against the so-called welfare state. Personally, I think if we diverted a small portion of the military budget to social programs for those expecting and raising young children, we'd see a dramatic drop in the number of abortions sought, as unlikely as that approach might be.

So I think that's all I have to say about that. What do you have to say?

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January 6, 2006

Good and Bad News

Just a quick post to point out a couple stories I came across in the Times. First the good news. Then the bad.

The good. It looks like a promising vaccine for Rotavirus is close at hand. Rotavirus is the leading cause of deaths from diarrhea among infants, killing around half a million children a year worldwide. It's certainly nice to see momentum behind a drug that can save lives of those afflicted by a disease not very common in the developed world. My preferential option for the poor approach to medicine surely smiles on this news. [Now, for a shameless plug.] This is a good spot for me to mention an association I've recently begun to get involved with, UAEM. In medicine there exists what is often referred to as the 90/10 gap--90% of the biomedical research is directed at ailments that affect only 10% of the world's population. Good to see Rotavirus might be controlled by fruits of research from that last 10%. I'm certainly praying this plays out and that Merck & Glaxo make it available cheaply for those in need of it.

Next link is to some bad news concerning Medicaid. (Sorry, it's an op-ed and thus only available through Times Select, so I'll summarize.) Looks like some Republican (surprise, surprise) congressmen want to make those wishing to receive treatment under Medicaid present some form of government identification to be eligible. The approach claims to eliminate the "problem" of illegal immigrants receiving the care they need under Medicaid coverage. In addition to the egregious insinuation that non-citizens in this country are secondary as humans and do not deserve medical coverage, this is troubling because there currently is no large problem of undocumented immigrants receiving health care under Medicaid. Yet government accountants indicate that this requirement will save $700 million. At the expense of whom? The poor in this country eligible for Medicaid unable to present newly required ID. Despicable. That's all for now. Back to studying on my thriller of a Friday night.

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January 5, 2006

Hello World

Okay, so here we go. I originally came up with this nifty idea to blog about theology stuff after I graduated with a philosophy/theology degree from Point Loma Nazarene University, and ericisrad graciously made it so. (Thanks Eric, the site looks great!) But now I've meandered academically and am now attending medical schools at Columbia. Needless to say, my attention has become a little diverted, although theology and philosophy remain near and dear. That being said, I hope to offer a my tidbits to the blogosphere. While I try to orient my life in a way I pray the Lord will judge faithful, I imagine I'll write more about politics, American civil religion, and health care policy more than pure theology. Sorry, but memorizing cranial nerves has shoved Milbank & friends to the back burner. Recently relocating to Manhattan from San Diego, and particularly from evangelical PLNU to hyper-secular Columbia, has been a quite a change, so hopefully I can glean insight from it. In all my meandering of the internets, I anticipate I'll do much linking to other stories (the NYTimes RSS feed is my latest addiction now that it's my local paper!), so I'll conclude this first post by linking to this video of recent comments by Pat Robertson. Interestingly, I learned today about developmental anomalies that cause the patent fossa ovale that caused his original stroke and subsequently led to his recent massive stroke. That in mind, and all critiques of Middle East politics aside, I'm quite certain it was NOT God smiting Sharon. More below the fold. Okay, not really; I just wanted to write that. : D That is all for now.

I told you there was nothing here. Teehee.

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