The long and the short of it

My older sister, the lawyer, used to have the habit of starting almost every comment with the words "the long and the short of it". Even though she and I had a lot of differences while growing up (me being perfect and all), she is by far and away my favorite sibling. Still, after a while I wanted to throttle her when "the long and the short of it" came out of her mouth…… (Sorry, sis.) By the way, she's moved on from that phrase!  But here's a real long/short story from Israel. A "doctor" has been convicted of running a clinic that promised clients to increase their height. Or increase the length of their penis. The clinic promised a gain of up to 3.9 inches in height or 2.4 inches of length in the organ in question. The method for increasing height included suspending the patient in the air by their arms and legs and/or stretching them with weights. I shudder to think what the penis enlargement routine entailed. But, since they promised only 3.9 inches in height and 2.4 inches in length, one assumes the treatment was - er - extreme……… (Note: Any guys out there who felt their skin crawl; that is a normal reaction. Any woman who was rolling on the floor laughing; that was cruel).

When real life catches up with fiction

Anyone who has read Larry Niven’s science fiction will appreciate this little story.

A convicted serial killer from New Jersey has been given permission to donate a kidney to the relative of a friend. Charles Cullen has admitted killing 29 patients during his 16 year career as a nurse. He avoided the death penalty by agreeing to help identify his victims.

One of Niven’s recurring story lines was a possible future where condemned criminals became forced donors for organ transplants. Taking it to it’s logical conclusion, Niven postulated that as demand for organs grew, capital punishment would be imposed for lesser and lesser offenses. One story told of a man sentenced to death for reckless driving (running a red light, I believe)…….

Could this be the start? Hmmmmm. Drive safely folks!

Having it both ways

The media has made a lot of noise about hurricane Katrina. Many others have pointed out the distortions, half-truths and outright lies the media indulged in. But they all made a lot of noise about the slow response of FEMA.

So now FEMA is making some efforts to prevent more tragedies by redefining the flood-vulnerabilty maps for some areas in Louisiana. This will make it more difficult to get flood insurance and mortgage money to build in flood-prone areas. This is a preventive step in the right direction, right?

Not according to this article. While on the surface, it appears to be just straight reporting, the tone of it is bemoaning the decision to force these poor folks away from their way of life. While I have sympathy for folks who are going to have to leave homes their families have owned for generations, I can’t see the rest of us subsidizing their way of life. (Federal flood insurance is a massive boondoggle we all pay for).

So the media can have it both ways - again. They can bitch and moan about FEMA taking steps to avert problems while still harping on FEMA’s poor response to problems. Nice!

 

 

The Silence of the Lambs

One of the reasons I was frankly surprised that the NYT had published the piece by Irshad Manji was that they routinely surpress information about terrorism. Mike’s America has a prime example.

The guy who drove a rented SUV into a crowd of people at the University of North Carolina believed (in his own words) that he was justified in an act of jihad. The NYT managed to never mention that at all. How they can report the event and completely ignore the man’s own words on why he did it speaks volumes about the weird world of the New York Times…..