“Look For The Union Label!”

More people are having problem with the Jones boy:

Members of Russia's Communist Party are calling for a nationwide boycott of the new Indiana Jones movie, saying it aims to undermine communist ideology and distort history.

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Communist Party members in St. Petersburg said on a web site this week that the Soviet Union in 1957 "did not send terrorists to the States," but launched a satellite, "which evoked the admiration of the whole world."

Party members added: "What is this place 'Hungary' that people keep talking about.  We've never heard of it."

Land Shark

The Telegraph has a picture of a crocodile eating a shark. No really.

It is being heralded as the clash of the titans – the moment when a crocodile and a shark went head to head in the wilds of Australia, and the shark came off second best.

The nine foot long saltwater croc attacked the shark in a river and then hauled it onto the bank in order make a meal of it.

An amateur fisherman captured the extraordinary clash between Australia's two most feared predators while on a barramundi fishing trip in the Northern Territory.

Frankly, if that's a nine foot croc, it's a pretty small shark. But the odd thing is that the croc essentially reversed normal behavior to get its jaws around Jaws, so to speak. It dragged the shark out of the water, not into the water.

The really interesting thing about the article, however, is the fact that there are now an estimated 85,000 of these reptilian predators in Australia, up from some 5,000 in the 1970s. The sharks should be afraid.

Bring Out Your Dead

The Washington Post notes the ethical problems that a pilot program in New York City faces. The city is going to begin using a special ambulance to "save" the organs of people who die suddenly for transplant. Some medical ethicists are outraged.

In the hope of saving the lives of more people waiting for transplants, New York City is working on a plan to deploy a special ambulance to collect the bodies of people who have died suddenly from heart attacks, accidents and other emergencies and try to preserve their organs.

If the "rapid-organ-recovery ambulance" succeeds, officials would like to expand the unique pilot program citywide with a fleet of ambulances and eventually duplicate it in other cities……..

….."I think it's disgusting," said Michael A. Grodin, director of bioethics at Boston University. "People are going to worry when the ambulance comes out to their house whether they are there to care for them or to take their organs."

The plan comes as transplant advocates have come under criticism for increasingly aggressive efforts to boost the organ supply, including advocating the removal of organs before patients are brain-dead. "This is another example of overzealous transplant people trying to retrieve organs any way they can," Grodin said.

The concern that the city of New York may not do quite as much to save a patient if the magic bus is standing by may be misplaced, but it is quite real. Sure, the professional paramedics who man the regular ambulances are going to continue to do their jobs. But the presence of the organ wagon will make people question whether they are really doing enough. There is also the problem of when are people really dead. Even doctors get that wrong in hospital settings.

The other concern is that procedures may be performed - no make that will be performed - on people without their next of kin's consent. Personally, I would be furious if anything were done to my loved ones without my consent. (My wife and I have long had medical power of attorney for one another). Sorry, New York. This is an ethical morass and I predict some serious problems with it.

Besides, there are other things to worry about, aren't there?