Voluntary Fascism?

A recent paper in the Pacific Northwest Medical Journal describes a new state sponsored sterility program in California.

The state of California, taking their cue from the city of San Francisco, is offering state funded vasectomies to obese men. The goal of this effort is the voluntary reduction in "inferior" genes from the California gene pool.

My question: what's next? Shall we offer free vasectomies to other groups of people with "undesirable" qualities? If that's the case, it seems that obesity is the least of our problems, especially in California.

World Government: Not Yet

The post-modern Supreme Court has taken, again, a leadership role in public policy. This time they've decided that applying the death penalty to juveniles is "unconstitutional."

Now let's get something straight here: I don't think we should be executing minors. In fact, I'm not even sure the death penalty makes sense in an era of DNA testing and 25 levels of appeal.

But is the Supreme Court the government body to make this decision? Nine people divorced from accountability, however enlightened, can't consistently make sound public policy.

The larger issue here is not juvenile executions: they're very rare. What bothers me about the decision, much like abortion, is less its effect than its reasoning. Justice Kennedy cited "international opposition" as part of his assent. This is a very dangerous precedent.

Of course our government has to consider the effects of its policy on the world at large, but this is the sole responsibility of law makers and the executive branch. If the International Court of Justice rules that we have to provide social services to illegal immigrants, is it the role of the Supreme Court to force Arizona into compliance? No.

The only constitutional method for international compliance is the treaty. Treaties are signed by the executive, ratified by the Senate (by a two thirds margin, no less) and interpreted by the Judicial branch. That is, the Judicial branch gets the last (not final) opportunity to interpret our compliance with international law or precedent.

No, we're not ready for a world government. In fact, any broad, central government in a diverse society is destined to fail. Federalism (or international Federalism) is the key to governing diverse peoples. The day nine unaccountable citizens become a gateway for international governing of the U.S. is a scary day indeed.

Talking Baseball: 03/28/2005

As the Western world prepares for Opening Day, I think it is appropriate to talk about this day and the hope and bitterness that it means for baseball fans everywhere.

Every year, all fans from the New York Yankees to the Brewers have a ray of hope, that this will be the year for their team. Larger market teams talk about the big show, the World Series, but smaller market teams like the Brewers have the hope that it will be their year to break a .500 record. It represents everything that is good in baseball, and that is certainly needed in the current state of baseball. Eventually, Bud Selig will retire in shame, and a more qualified and honest Commisioner can be appointed, and baseball will once again inspire hope in the kids. Because isn't that what it is all about? The kids.

And now on to the bitterness, which is represented by the inevitability of certain truths. The Brewers will never break .500, let's be serious. The Red Sox, will not will this year, and that team will go down in history as the team that gave hope to an entire nation late in 2004. But what makes me bitter as a Yankees fan, that the Red Sox will be receiving their rings in Yankee Stadium. Bud Selig, you are responsible for this. You could have blocked this move so devoid of any amount of class, that it is disgusting that this team plays in the American League. Get a haircut you bunch of hippies, and some respect.

So with spring in pretty much full kick, and basketball slowly being covered less in the Post, my days are looking up.

Final Freakin' Four

After three heart-stopping overtime games and (I'll say it) the best weekend of NCAA tournament action ever, the Final Four matchups are set. A recap:

- UNC looked unstoppable, and not just because they were the only team to win in regulation. Sean May went for 29 and 12 (!) and Raymond Felton and Rashad McCants scored at will against the overmatched Wisconsin Badgers. Final score, 88-82.
- Louisville, down 20 late in the first half, rallied against a West Virginia attack that shot a ridiculous 67% (18/27) from 3-point range to win by 8 in OT. WVU was tossing up shots from 30 feet and they were dropping in off the glass. Kevin Pittsnogle (yes, Pittsnogle--can you say coal miner?) led all scorers with 25. Pittsnogle, a 6'11" center, shot a lights-out 6 of 9 from downtown. Louisville, led by 24 from Larry O'Bannon, won 93-85.
- Michigan State held off Kentucky in double overtime. After Kentucky missed two desperation threes at the end of regulation, UK guard Patrick Sparks put up a shot from thisclose to the line, which banked off the glass, rolled around the rim, and dropped for the tie. Still tied after a back-and-forth extra time, MSU held off UK in the second OT to win 94-88.
- Despite two other thrilling finishes, Illinois and Arizona played the most exciting game since Duke-Kentucky in 1992. Channing Frye dominated the paint for the Cats, scoring 24 with 12 boards, but a "husky" Deron Williams shut down Arizona sharpshooter Salim Stoudamire, who finished 2 of 13 from the field (1 of 7 on threes). Arizona was cruising, up 13 with 2:40 to play, when Illinois went on a 17-4 run, keyed by steals from Luther Head and big shots by Williams, who were good for 20 and 22 points on the game. In extra time, Arizona stayed close despite losing all its momentum, and had possession down one with a few ticks left. Inexplicably, neither Stoudamire nor Frye touched the ball on the final play of Arizona's season, as Hassan Adams tossed up an ugly three as time expired and the Illini fans in Chicago went ballistic for a 90-89 win.

Looking ahead:

- UNC/MSU: UNC has the most raw talent in the country, and they've been playing like it. As surprising as MSU has been beating Duke and Kentucky, you'd be a fool to pick against a team that starts three lottery picks (McCants, May, Felton)... and has another coming off the bench (Williams). No way can MSU match up with UNC's firepower inside or outside. Prediction: UNC in a walk.
- Illinois/Louisville: Both teams have outstanding backcourts. Francisco Garcia will have to step up, since Deron Williams has been playing great defense and will neutralize Taquan Dean. This game will probably come down to inside presence instead of the run and gun games these teams played in the last round. Prediction: Illinois squeaks through.

Live or let die?

As polarizing as the Terri Schiavo case is, I still find myself on the fence. One reason I wrote this was to get my messy thoughts out, so that I could organize them for myself.

No doubt, this case would have been emotionally easier to handle for all involved if Schiavo had simply died of her heart attack. I would not want to remain alive in a "persistent vegetative state"--which is not a coma nor brain death--if for nothing else than out of a desire not to inflict more pain and suffering on friends and family. And I think if I were a surviving husband, I would do the same thing as Michael Schiavo if I felt it was in accordance with her wishes, and there was no chance of recovery. Terri has no higher brain function: she flatlines an EEG, and the vast majority of her grey matter is destroyed, although she retains the ability to maintain the bodily functions necessary for life. She is not on true life support, which normally would involve circulatory or respiratory assistance. In her state, which has not improved for nearly 15 years, she lacks the ability to respond to any stimuli. She is not dead, but to call her "alive" runs against any common sense, useful concept of what it means for a human to live.

If she is technically alive, in the sense that her heart beats and she breathes, is removing her feeding tube assisted suicide, or worse yet, homicide? She cannot give consent, so it can hardly be termed assisted suicide, even if as her husband contends, she would have consented if able. But I still can't bring myself to think of this as the taking of a life, despite that I can't think of a good way to distinguish the legal meaning of homicide from this action--which would end the life of someone who is, technically, alive. If there were a slight chance that Terri could recover and live at least a semi-normal life, I think the law, and our ethics, would require everything possible be done to keep her ticking. But her brain is destroyed--she is a body that breathes and sweats but can do nothing else. She has no volition. I don't see that there is any "life," in the sense of a life worth living, not just "being alive", at stake.

You might say, is it right for man to choose who lives and dies? But this is, with today's science, a question we answer every day in the affirmative. Without modern medical technology, Schiavo wouldn't have lived five minutes after her initial collapse. We made the choice to keep her alive, but consequently we have trapped her in the grey area between human life and the next. Schiavo did not give consent to pull the plug, but she also did not give consent to be kept artificially alive in a situation where any recovery is nearly hopeless.

Medical advances have made it possible to keep people alive long after they would normally have died, or after they would have been considered, for all purposes, dead. Future medical advances might make it possible to keep people alive in a vegetative state indefinitely, or even to reverse situations like Schiavo's--although growing an entirely new neocortex would preclude considering the resulting person "Terri Schiavo". Because, ethically, this really is an impossible dilemma to decide on a broad scale, I'm willing to defer to the authority in Schiavo's case--and on legal grounds, the authority is her husband.

Not only did Michael Schiavo probably know Terri best and probably would be most in tune to what her wishes in this situation would be, he is, by Florida law, her legal guardian, and therefore the only person allowed to make this call. Whether or not you think his call is correct, or whether you think he has the right to make the call at all, is a side issue. According to myriad decisions, orders, and opinions this case has produced, as far as legality is concerned, Mr. Schiavo is running the show. And since taking someone off life support has long been legally accepted, even if it is ethically controversial, his decision is one I believe we must live with.

Talkin' Baseball 03/18/2005

Yesterday's baseball was cancelled due to inclimate weather. I drowned my sorrows in whiskey and beer, which made me feel better. Today's NY Post has McGwire on the cover of Sports Extra, because of the Congressional hearing about steriod use.

This is the biggest waste of taxpayer's money aside from the Terry Shiavo case. This is not a political blog, so I will say no more about the reasoning behind the hearing, but rather focus on the content. McGwire said it best that "asking me, or any other player, to answer questions about who took steroids in front of television cameras will not solve this problem." He is absolutely correct, people will always have their opinions on players, and their answers will not change that. Changing baseball leadership will. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) suggested this during the hearings saying "maybe it's time for new leadership in baseball." Considering Bud Selig took the job about 11 years ago, on a temporary basis, owns a good amount of interest in the Brewers, gets baseball to pay for the new Miller Park, and is an overall douche bag, this is a great suggestion. At the hearing, Congress parades the fathers of dead high schoolers, who directly address these ball players. These kids committed suicide, but how can they say that steroids caused this, or that Major League Baseball caused these students to inject themselves. It is re-goddamn-diculous.

Seriously.

Destroy the Earth

Hilarious site.

The Earth was built to last. It is a 4,550,000,000-year-old, 5,973,600,000,000,000,000,000-tonne ball of iron. It has taken more devastating asteroid hits in its lifetime than you've had hot dinners, and lo, it still orbits merrily. So my first piece of advice to you, dear would-be Earth-destroyer, is: do NOT think this will be easy.

Harvard Breeds Idiots

I haven't been this frustrated with academia in a long time. An industrious Harvard student has created a cleaning service dubbed Dormaid, and the Crimson is pissed.

The Crimson argues that Dormaid has "divisive implications." It fears a situation where one student might want to subscribe to Dormaid while his roommate can't afford it.

Horrors!

This kind of idiocy needs not explanation, I feel like I'm whipping a dead horse here, but there's a reason I'm writing about it: this is how liberals want to handle every disparity in life.

There will always be haves and have-nots (especially with liberals in power), but the answer is not to take away those things that people may have or not have. You don't level the playing field by chopping everyone off at the knees; you do it through development, hard work and patience.

Liberal sociology often preaches the impossibility of Utopia for fear of some kind of brown shirt resurgence from the right. The real problem with Utopia is that it's subjective: one person's idea of Utopia is different from another's. The word is a synonym for "oppression," and modern leftists are its champion.

Most colleges believe they can create Utopia on-campus, but as hard as they try to re-engineer this society, it is what it is. The mentality of a person who wants to take away a service because everyone can't afford it is so dangerous that it's hard to believe this ideology is fostered at America's elite schools.

Birthday

Yesterday was my birthday: 23. I couldn't really care less about this one, but check out the guy that got me so drunk that I was two hours late for work.



Friggin' McGuire.

Talkin' Baseball 03/16/2005

Tony Womack is my new favorite pinstripper. In the Yankee loss today, Womack shined going 3-3 with a triple against the Pittsburg Pirates. Today's performance is just another day at work for my pick for second baseman. In the past two days, Womack has been putting up big numbers for a second baseman, going five for six with two triples, three runs, three RBIs and a stolen base. It is only middle March and he is looking like he has clenched the starting position.

It's not a surpise that Womack is in the lead for the starting spot. During spring training, he has gone thirteen for twenty-six. In the one more game than Sanchez, the former Met, he has eight more hits. Not only that, he has three more hits in less at bats than Rodriguez, who is a Grade A Douche Bag. I can't give you numbers but I just don't like him. He was a rotten addition to the Rangers, and after attempting to slap the ball from Bronson Arroyo in the ALCS, I lost all respect for him.

Being my first article, and that it is still Spring Training, I will end with a format for this column, and a story that touched my heart from Tuesday. First, I will be making a serious effort to provide commentary on the New York Yankees everyday, and using the line provided by the New York Post, I will tell you who I like for the day.
Finally, on Tuesday, the Yankees met with two youngsters from the Make a Wish Foundation. I think this is what baseball is truly all about. Unfortunately, these two kids' candle will be snuffed before their time, but baseball has given them a reason to live and through the Make a Wish Foundation, they are able to meet their heros whatever team they may be on. The Make a Wish Foundation website can be found here.

Prediction: Sin City

Quentin Terrintino's new project, Sin City looks like a real piece of crap. I know it's star studded, and I know he has some good movies out there, but I think this one looks too cool for school.

Let's get serious here: Quentin is a huge nerd. I mean, he practically ruined Kill Bill 2 with the bizarre, awkward, just... sodomizing comic book dialogue, and now he's got a half-color, half-black and white action movie.

I mean, this is not Schindler's List over here, and I think it's going to go the way of movies like Spawn and.. well, Kill Bill 2.

Hell, even Kill Bill 1, as beautiful and impressive as it was, tried to do a little too much.

This guy needs a huge wedgie and maybe a face pounding to sober up his movies.

TV Review: House MD

Just watched House MD on Fox for the first time, and it's ER on steroids. This is a great show. In tonight's episode, he was chastising a patient for cutting herself and he asked her if she "...has some kind of ritual. You know, listening to the same Alanis Morisette song over and over again?"

Funny, edgy and smart.

Movie Review: Beautiful Girls

"You go out and buy a colored diamond for a girl you're not even seeing? Man, you've been eatin' retard sandwiches again."

This is a classic movie, especially for a hick from upstate New York like myself. Beautiful Girls is a gritty, emotional comedy that really makes you think. It's tough to return home and see a place you loved as a really depressing caricature of itself, but it is often the case after years away.

Beautiful Girls reminds me of garage parties in Johnstown, NY at 21 years old: it's great to see everyone, but it's hard to think about how much things have changed.

Four stars.

First Post

This site will eventually be worth reading.

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