Category: Other People

In the past, I’ve wondered whether bariatric surgery is a good idea because it’s a surgical solution to a psychological problem. As former overeaters switch to alcohol, casual sex, and shopping, they’re having the same questions. Ultimately, the fact is that the surgery can be really helpful, but it has to be part of a comprehensive treatment. All too often, it’s not.

Nobody wants an abortion. But sometimes, it’s the least-bad option. And all the complicated rules surrounding it don’t exactly help a bad situation.

A lot of people say it ought to be banned with “exceptions in the case of rape, incest, and danger to the mother,” which seems to make some people feel better. But if you think it through, it entails hostile police saying you’re lying and delaying the process until it’s too late.

People suck.

A few articles on Republican candidates for the US legislature follow below the cut.
Continue reading “Information about Key Political Races”

I know I said just last week and that being dismissive of religious faith is a real mistake. But some people think Obama is the Anti-Christ.

Of course, the original thread that sparked this whole fuss is locked and hidden, but even so it’s one of those “I can’t tell if they’re doing this to be funny” moments that happen so often on the Internets.

I just KNEW Elmo would turn on us some day. The TMX (“tickle me until I cackle like a madman”) Elmo doll was probably a sign.

Salon’s got a nice profile up about Richard Dawkins and his bulldogging for Darwin. He’s not just a defender of science, though– he’s added in attacks on religion in general. I disagree.

Faith is not a bad thing– and that it is, in fact, quite important in the world, even though I’m not a believer myself. A lot of good things get done because of faith. A lot of people are able to endure a lot of hardship because of faith. Faith gives you a reason to exist. Faith in bad things is bad, faith in good things is good, but faith without reason is not always bad.

What I’m arguing is that things don’t have to be true to be good. Same with the belief that children are wonderful. Statistics show us that people are happy before their kids are born, and after they leave the house, and that they look back on their children with fondness– but that for 18 years, children are mostly drudgery and hard work. Nonetheless, it’s important to believe that children really are bundles of joy — otherwise humanity would die out. Faith works the same way: even if it’s not true, it makes the world go round.

I agree with Dawkins that fundamentalism is dangerous to our society, that evolution over millions of years is the only reasonable explanation of the world we see around us, and that God does not in fact exist. Where we differ is his line that religion is always a bad thing. Religious faith — blind faith in anything, religious or not– has done plenty of harm. But it’s also done plenty of good. He reels off examples of terrorism, the crusades, and so forth. But he neglects examples like Stalinism (faith in secular falsehoods that led to evil) and Mother Teresa (religious faith, religious good).

Of course, I am still annoyed that a lot of people think a lack of faith is always a bad thing. Apparently, few Americans think the country would be ready for an atheist president (heck, only sixty percent think a woman could win). That’s foolishness. If you respect faith you must also respect doubt.

Paris Hitler covers Huey Lewis. And it’s fun.

But I find it hilarious that Boston’s managed to get this weekend’s first homicide out of the way before 5PM on Friday, leaving time for one more tonight.

Boston: we start our weekends early.

As far as I can tell, Baltimore is the center of a Roller Derby resurgence. Maybe not– I mean, there’s defintely a resurgence. And it’s happening in Baltimore and New York and Boston and Philly and San Francisco.

It seems a lot like the early days of stock car racing: hard-drinkin’ rough-and-tumble folks with slapped-together equipment and sponsors like “the nice guy from the coffee shop” and “Ray from the gas station” build a small competition into a national sport. They discover drafting and supercharging and find ways to overcome a restrictor plate, a bad bearing, a hangover.

This is awesome. I want TV coverage.

My grandmother’s eldest sister took up with goyim. Married a Catholic or something. Grandma remembers being not very old when she came by one day and Poppa wouldn’t let her in the door. He said, “You’re dead to me. Never come back.” He came to regret it later, but that’s another story.

Say it once or twice: “you’re dead to me.” It’s an odd phrase. It almost makes you feel dead.

[Photo: Flickr, DashingYankee]

Are you dead to anyone? I know I am, but I’m not entirely sure to whom. When you’re dead to someone, you don’t always get a formal statement, a doorway confrontation, a goodbye ceremony with bell, book and candle. I’d say, rarely. You just stop calling and they stop calling and nobody picks up the friendship and it dies.

No bedside vigil. No funeral. No sobbing relatives, no memorial service. Just… gone.