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Saturday, Nov 7, 2009
Serious Notebook
Published Letters: 69 Editor's Choice: 22
I've been a big fan of Target since before it was fashionable, but no more. Here are a few questions I'd like answers to:
1. When did pharmacists get veto power in making decisions about appropriate health care? Don't patients get to make decisions about their own health care in conjunction with physicians?
2. Would any of the Target-supported pharmacists who "object" to performing their basic job responsibilities in relation to a woman's health "object" to filling a prescription for Viagra for a single male?
3. How does a pharmacist's inner conflict about professional behavior trump the company's legal obligation to offer its services to all customers, regardless of their demographic data? Would Target support a pharmacist's right to refuse to fill prescriptions for Hispanic or Asian shoppers? How about shoppers over the age of 65? Then how does Target get away with refusing to serve women with legitimate medical needs?
Target, you're part of my past, and you always will be, but it's time for us to part.
OK, Farhad -- so Oprah fills you with hope and energy. What are you going to do with it?
Oprah's mission in this world is only half-accomplished if you're hopeful. You have to use that hope for some purpose. Your purpose.
Demand accountability from elected officials. Read to your child, or someone else's. Hug someone living with HIV, or Alzheimer's, or an abusive spouse. Over-tip. Unplug. Park in the far lot and enjoy your walk. Call a spade a spade. Learn to speak in complete sentences yourself. Rise to the challenge. Raise the bar.
Hope, like anger, is energy -- but hope is positive energy. When you use it, it mulplies. So use it, and breed more hope.
It's called "contraception." If you don't like the contraception options that are out there for men, lobby for getting research dollars into developing birth control that puts the onus on the man, not the woman. Meanwhile, wear a condom.
Rights bring with them responsibilities. Take care of the responsibilities, and the rights become more clear.
I became a permanent resident of Canada in November. Although I didn't leave the U.S. because of George Bush, his first term and subsequent election didn't encourage me to stay, either. I feel as if I'm being followed (or haunted) by conservative values that pass themselves off as tolerant and just.
My friends here aren't too concerned. They believe Harper will be forced to govern as he ran, because he'll need significant cooperation from the other parties to get anything done. They think this will keep him from trying to bring up controversial issues, such as reproductive rights and gay marriage.
I hope they're right.
With hunting buddies like Cheney's, who needs quail?
Can you see the headline? "Quayle Shoots Hunter." Now there's a story.
What I don't get about the whole thing is why this story has sent the White House Press Corps into attack dog mode. Where have they been for the past, oh, five years, during which people have been lying about issues of substance?
I don't understand how anybody can claim that anything about the Patriot Act is any kind of win.
I'll continue to vote for Democrats, but my feelings about it were best summed up by Aaron Sorkin. On The West Wing, he had John Spencer's Leo McGarry say, "I'm tired of voting for the lesser of who cares."
Consistent, principled action. That's what I want to see. Senator Feingold, keep it up.
C'mon, Video Dog, get your facts straight -- at least listen to the first few seconds of the audio. Unless toddlers are now having infants of their own, the video's audience is parents who want to communicate with pre-verbal children.
The video is probably intended to be used much as the group parent/kid scenes in the video are set up, with adults and kids learning a few ASL signs together. It's not insulting or disturbing to parents or kids.
In fact, the whole setup is no more scary than storytime at the library. Mimic the Monkey isn't any weirder than a "live" Minnie Mouse at Disneyland or Barney on TV. You may not like Mimic, J.D., but the kids in the video aren't creeped out.
Lucky Achiever is right that ASL is a complete language, and this video tries to teach only a few isolated signs. However, it's hard to argue with helping children learn language, just as it's hard to argue with helping parents of infants communicate with their children more easily. Let 'em learn some signs. What's the harm?
For more information about American Sign Language, see www.gallaudet.edu or http://clerccenter.gallaudet.edu/. I'm not affiliated with either entity.
Really, I do.
But is this what it will take for Democrats to win more Senate seats? A strategy that relies on "I'm rubber and you're glue"? What's next, "I know you are but what am I?"
Does anybody else find it depressing that Democrats have sunk to this level? And what if it's a successful strategy -- how depressing would THAT be?
Maybe he could go to some, like, classes there, you know, about laws and stuff. He could read that French guy's thing, that book thing that French guy wrote. Yeah, he could read that. Or just the Cliffs Notes.
And his friends from Texas could show up there, too, and they could all hang out together, and maybe talk about the job description of the President of the United States. And practice making decisions about stuff.
It's the stuff that's really deadly. The stuff and, you know, laws and stuff like that. Makes it hard to be educator-in-chief.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The Maine fight was supposed to be the dress rehearsal for repealing California's Prop. 8 -- but gay marriage lost
Once one obtains Seriousness credentials in the Washington media, they are irrevocable no matter one's conduct.
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