Say Anything Blog

Sounds like the title of a Batman comic, no?

Reuters

DETROIT - Jack Kevorkian, the U.S. assisted suicide advocate dubbed “Dr. Death,” stepped free from a Michigan prison on Friday with few words but plans for a media blitz to support his cause.
Kevorkian, 79, had served eight years for a second-degree murder conviction after he videotaped himself administering lethal drugs to a 52-year-old man suffering from the debilitating amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Now, I know our society is all for preservation of life at all costs and his politics will ( I imagine) be viewed with disdain by most of the regulars here, however, there has to be some alternative to the slow debilitating deaths many people have to endure. I know (from my work within healthcare) and from studies I have undertaken that doctors (sometimes and at least in the UK) increase the dosage of morphine for terminally ill patients. They can get away with this, because the toxic dose does not show up against the background of regular morphine dosing - this practice is still illegal however.

So, if someone is of sound mind, but faces a long, slow degenerative death, should they have the choice to die (with dignity) at a time of their own choosing?

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Yesterday all the news was aglow with the story that a major spammer of your email was arrested.  That we are now protected from receiving information about our male members. 

There’s a dark side to this.  It’s not what it seems and it’s a power grab.  Remember after 9-11 the TSA?  TSA, a joke with no funny punch line.

Now when you buy an airplane ticket you see a charge for security.  Started out at $5.  Now $7.  Soon $10.  It’s a tax.  And it employs people who couldn’t find other jobs.  It’s control.  Take your jells and shampoos and toss them.  Off with your shoes.  Take out your laptop.  Remove your belt.  Stand in line.  And the bombers haul GUNS thru the scanners with abandon while grandma gets wanded down for nuclear devices. 

This is what kind of idiocy happens when the government begins to protect us.  We aren’t protected, just harassed and taxed.

OR

Remember Cell Phones?  Looked at your bill lately?  My cell phone bill is $45 per month.  But I write a check for $65.  Howcome?  TAX!

I would blame Clinton (he’s easy) but most of this happened in the last 5 years.  All in the name of security and equalization.  It’s all a lie.  My and your cell phone bill is the most taxed service we pay. 

NOW, we are going to be protected by some idiots against spam on the internet.  Really.  Is this going to be free?  Get real.  Every click, every email, every new page you open is going to carry a fee.  Oh, it hasn’t happened YET.  It will.  All in the name of protecting us. 

If you look behind the great Oz’s curtain you will discover that Mr really bad spammer mostly did tools, services and other things.  Not much about my male member.  He just did it better than most.

We are going to discover that most of this hoopla is just so much bulloney.  He didn’t steal identities, he didn’t cheat anyone.

This is about money, your money, this is about controlling the internet, this is about censorship, this is about the big shots using the power of the state to crush free expression.

I’m not fan of spam.  I am a fan of unfettered exchange.  I’m a big boy, I have spam filters.  I’m not easily fooled.  I don’t need to pay someone to protect me.

This is the dumbest thing since the Scooter Libby case.

Hang on to your pocketbooks and enjoy what’s left of freedom on the internet.  Life is about to change.

This paragraph puts the issue in the light, so to speak.

“First of all, I don’t think it’s within the power of human beings to assure that the climate does not change, as millions of years of history have shown,” he continued. “And second of all, I guess I would ask which human beings — where and when — are to be accorded the privilege of deciding that this particular climate that we have right here today, right now is the best climate for all other human beings. I think that’s a rather arrogant position for people to take.”

Go read the whole article.

And here is the NPR piece. Compare&contrast Friday, here at sayanything. Enjoy!

H/T to FOXNews and NPR, oh, and bloglines.

UPDATE; This just hit one of my news feeds.
This, "It is not NASA's mission to make policy regarding possible climate change mitigation strategies.", will get him eviscerated by the left and environazis.

There’s a new “controversy” brewing over NASA Administrator Michael Griffin’s comments about global warming in an interview on NRP yesterday.

NASA Chief Questions Urgency of Global Warming. I listened to this interview yesterday and again today. The exchange about global warming was only a part of the interview aired but this is the only text up on the NPR website. You can still click on the listen link to hear the whole broadcast of the interview. Here’s a part of the NPR text:

Do you have any doubt that this is a problem that mankind has to wrestle with?

I have no doubt that … a trend of global warming exists. I am not sure that it is fair to say that it is a problem we must wrestle with. To assume that it is a problem is to assume that the state of Earth’s climate today is the optimal climate, the best climate that we could have or ever have had and that we need to take steps to make sure that it doesn’t change. First of all, I don’t think it’s within the power of human beings to assure that the climate does not change, as millions of years of history have shown. And second of all, I guess I would ask which human beings — where and when — are to be accorded the privilege of deciding that this particular climate that we have right here today, right now is the best climate for all other human beings. I think that’s a rather arrogant position for people to take.

That seems like a reasonable response to me but at least one scientist is calling for him to resign because of his responses to the questions about global warming.

NASA Administrator Assailed for Climate Comments
Policymakers and scientists are strongly criticizing comments by Michael Griffin, the head of NASA, who has said he didn’t think global warming was something necessary to wrestle with. He made the comments on Thursday’s Morning Edition, saying that it’s arrogant to assume that the climate we have today is the best climate for all people.

You can just imagine people carrying on this way when scientists started theorizing that the world wasn’t flat or that the earth wasn’t the center of the solar system or that our solar system wasn’t the center of the universe. They were wildly out of step with the mainstream scientific views of their time too.

These scientist all sound scared that they might be found out for not believing in global warming, particularly the more outrageous claims such as sea levels rising by hundreds of feet (someone actually mentions this in the story above), hook, line, and sinker. They seem quite willing to throw Griffin into the firey furnace for his transgressions.

This all started with an interview with Greg Easterbrook where he criticized NASA for just about everything under the sun (pun intended).

Does NASA Still Have the Right Stuff?
NASA wants to build a new base on the Moon, but some argue it is costly and unnecessary venture. Spending taxpayer dollars on programs that are of little tangible value only hurts the agency in the long run.

Gregg Easterbrook, a contributing writer for WIRED magazine speaks to Steve Inskeep.

Somewhere in there he complained about NASA not doing enough to battle global warming which set us on the road to this current “controversy.”

*No I’m not talking about American Idol. I’m referencing the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from the Old Testament. Their colleagues were none to pleased that they wouldn’t go along to get along either.

The gravest terrorist threat in the world today is Islamophobia, foreign ministers of the Organization of the Islamic Conference said this week.

“The linkage of terrorists and extremists with Islam in a generalized manner is unacceptable,” the ministers said.

View Article.....

This is right in line with the hate-America Hollywood set and liberal Dems who believe that the terrorists are “freedom fighters” and equate them with Patrick Henry.-- “give me liberty or give me death.”

“Terrorists are mothers and fathers” Rosie O’Donnell railed against the United States on The View , implying that our country sponsors terrorism. Rosie also said that she doesn’t believe in the “trick” that there are “terrorists” who are out there “to get us.

Rosie:WE [U.S.] invaded and there’s ”655,000 Iraqi civilians dead. [So]who are the [real] terrorists?

Disclaimer:

Liberal left wing social scientists attribute Jihadi terrorism as a product of “labeling” and social causes including economic deprivation and interference of non-Islamic countries. They romanticize Jihadi terrorists as involved in protest against social injustice. In their eagerness to promote the irrational doctrine of “political correctness”, left wing armchair speculators see Jihadi terrorists as victims of reactionary, reductionist “conspiracy theories” that make the terrorists the real victim of unjust society. For phony, left wing, liberal social scientists, suicide bombing, mass murder, riots, arson and public beheading of non-Muslims by Jihadi terrorists are the negotiated product of formal responses to political injustices.

The best way to solve problems is to not have enemies.” -Sheryl Crow ...

Every time I see these useful idiots I can't help but be deafened by the hypocritical screech of their political statements.

A person like this puts on her pacifism much like they put on their performance costumes.

Opposing the war to many of them isn't so much a moral imperative as it is a popular fad, a feel-good lifestyle.

It's a way to show off their sparkling morality and their moral superiority over the rest of us.

Whenever an American pacifist and other anti-war demonstrators speak it's always wise to remember that their right to speak out is being guarded by people with guns.

That's an old cliché, but many clichés have their roots in truth.

These morons aren't faced with the realities of violence and they aren't perceptive enough to grasp the long-term implications of failing to act against the threat of terrorism.

They can exist in their Disneyland-like environment knowing that their commitments to non-violence will never be truly tested.

In other words, the time to put up or shut up never arrives.

Shocked, they say!

A gay gang that allegedly raped victims lured on the Internet, drugged them and infected them with the AIDS virus has shocked the Netherlands and raised questions over its liberal sex culture.

In the most gay-tolerant nation on earth — home of NAMBLA no less — they are shocked (Shocked no less!) that such things could happen!

Here in the U.S.A, they would undoubtably blame such a thing on “institutionalized homophobia”, and the mainstream media would accept it without question.

I’m not sure how they plan to spin this in the Netherlands, where homosexual pedophiles have their own political party.

In this photo provided by Odyssey Marine Exploration, Ground crew members unload more than 17 tons of silver coins Wednesday, May 16, 2007 at an undisclosed location. The Spanish government said Thursday May 31, 2007 it has filed a lawsuit in a U.S. federal court against the American treasure-hunting firm over a shipwreck the company has found laden with a colonial-era treasure. (AP Photo/Odyssey Marine Exploration, Jonathan Blair)

According to todays silver prices, 17 tons of coin is worth at least 7.5 million dollars.

Spain’s Culture Ministry has called that discovery -- one of the world’s biggest finds of sunken treasure—suspicious and said the booty may have come from a wrecked Spanish galleon

Yeah, no spit Senor Mr. Culture.

And after a couple hundred years of spanish treasure ships being considered “fair game” on the high seas, do you really want to say that you OWN this bullion in a court of law?  This day and age, I’d bet on the mexican and south american lawyers to have a far better claim to the proceeds of south american gold & silver… except for the obvious fact that EVERYONE seems to have left it lying on the bottom of the sea for a few centuries, with only the crabs to guard it…

Effin lawyers… lets make them all walk the plank and we’ll just split the booty, eh matey?

Either that, or we’ll just run em up the sword and take what we want.  Right, hombres? Like we did back in the good ole days? Santiago!

You can't make this kind of spin up. I surprised there isn't a blame Bush here or the evil republicans and the CIA are the reason there are riots in Venezuela. How about Hugo Chavez is a two bit thug that is trying to stifle free speech.

The Looney Left is at it again.

Tell Congress to Get the Facts Right About Venezuela

From the Venezuela Information Office:
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) released a statement today that criticized a recent decision by the Venezuelan government not to renew the broadcasting license of RCTV.

We strongly encourage you to email and call Speaker Pelosi to set the record straight. Please contact the following people:

Pelosi’s Chief of Staff/Policy Adviser:

Pelosi’s Media Staff:

Call Speaker Pelosi at 202-226-7616

When you call or email, feel free to use the following TALKING POINTS:

1. There is no “Suppression of Media in Venezuela,” nor was there a “closure” of RCTV. Instead its license to broadcast on the public airwaves was not renewed.

2. The non-renewal of the license prevents RCTV from broadcasting on open access channels, but the station will still be allowed to broadcast in Venezuela through the internet as well as cable and satellite TV. Neither does it affect the possibility of RCTV producing material for domestic or international TV programming. Moreover, RCTV may continue to broadcast using their two radio stations.

3. The non-renewal is due to RCTV’s failure to abide by legal norms established by the Venezuelan Constitution and the Law of Social Responsibility for Radio and Television. The law forbids public airwaves licensees from inciting political violence and civil unrest. RCTV’s violations involve conspiracy to bring down the elected government of Venezuela during the violent coup of April 2002 as well as the active promotion of an economic sabotage later that year, which cost the country more than US$10 billion in losses. RCTV also has a long list of sanctions imposed by previous governments for reasons ranging from pornography, violations of laws prohibiting publicity of smoking and alcohol drinking to transmissions of false information.

4. The non-renewal of RCTV’s broadcasting license is not an example of censorship, nor is it a strike against the private media in Venezuela. RCTV was part of a majority; 79 out of 81 TV stations and all 118 newspapers in the country are privately owned. Most are vehemently opposed to the democratically elected government of President Chavez. RCTV is unique only in its editorial excesses and its history of violating legal norms.

5. RCTV’s large share of the open-access airwaves was assigned, upon expiration, to a public broadcaster that is dedicated to presenting programming that features independent operators and producers.

As many here may not know, the editors at the Wall Street Journal have endorsed the compromise Immigration Reform bill currently pending in the Senate, while the editors at National Review are opposed to the bill’s passage.

Today, the folks at National Review have “suggested” a kind of public debate on the issue with their brethren at the Journal.

We hereby challenge the Journal’s editors to debate the immigration bill in a neutral venue with a moderator of their choosing — two or three of us versus any two or three of them. We propose to do it in Washington next week so it will have the maximum impact on the Senate’s consideration of the most sweeping immigration reform in decades (time and place to be worked out in a mutually satisfactory fashion).

It shouldn’t be a problem for the Journal’s editors to take up this challenge, since opponents of the bill aren’t “rational” on the question, have no arguments, and are “foaming at the mouth,” as they explained in a videotaped session of one of their editorial meetings last week….

We urge them to come out of the shadows, and hope defending the bill in this forum is not another one of those jobs that no American will do. (We would challenge President Bush himself to a debate on behalf of the conservatives he has maligned, but we fear he hasn’t read the bill.)

Stay tuned!  This could be an extraordinary event, the very essence of how a responsible democracy should conduct it’s policy discussions.

A gay gang that allegedly raped victims lured on the Internet, drugged them and infected them with the AIDS virus has shocked the Netherlands and raised questions over its liberal sex culture.

Health Minister Ab Klink on Thursday called the case “horrible”, as the press splashed the news across its front pages.

The matter came to light Wednesday, when police said they had arrested three seropositive homosexual men two weeks ago after four victims, men aged 25 to 50, accused them of rape and premeditated bodily harm.

Ronald Zwarter, the police chief in the northern town of Groningen, where the alleged crimes took place, said two of those arrested, a couple aged 48 and 33, had confessed.

“Their stated motive was that it excited them—and also that, the more HIV-infected people there were, the better their chances of unprotected sex,” he said.

“They considered unprotected relations to be ‘pure’.”

A fourth man who allegedly supplied the three suspects with several litres of the date-rape drug GHB and ecstasy tablets was also arrested.

The gang risks up to 16 years in prison.

According to police and prosecutors, eight more victims have come forward since the case was publicised.

Officials said the three seropositive men invited gays contacted on the Internet to private homosexual orgies.

When the victims turned up, they were allegedly given ecstasy and GBH (which is undetectable when mixed in drinks), leaving them helpless and, in some cases, with no memory of what happened.

The three suspects—one of whom is a male nurse—were said to have raped the men, and even injected some of them with a mix of their contaminated blood.

The case has deeply unsettled the Netherlands, and caused it to cast a hard look at its easygoing views on sex, with some figures suggesting that frequent homosexual orgies posed a public health risk.

“That homos organise orgies is nothing new, but this is something else. This is unimaginable,” said Frank van Dalen, the president of a gay rights group called COC.

He stressed that the illegal use of GHB (gamma-Hydroxybutyric acid)—known on the street by such nicknames as “Easy Lay, “Gay Home Boy” and “Liquid Ecstasy”—also posed a danger in heterosexual circles.

Said Henk Krol, the editor of a homosexual magazine titled Gaykrant: “These people were drugged, it’s therefore rape, pure and simple. It’s shameful, disgusting and terrifying. Those who did this are crazy.”

Health officials pointed to a recent rise in the number of HIV infections in Groningen—from 14 in 2005 to 25 last year, out of the town’s total population of 185,000—as significant.

“This doesn’t mean that the rise is entirely explained by the orgies… but it’s probable that part of the rise has been caused by them,” Marco Ter Harmsel, of Grongingen’s municipal health service, told the Dutch newspaper DRC.

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Pfizer, the world’s largest pharmaceutical company, used an antibiotic on Nigerian children and infants suffering from meningitis, but without their parents’ informed written consent. Approximately six children died, and all children given the study drug were left with one or more disabilities, such as blindness, paralysis, or deafness. Pfizer removed themselves and all patient medical records, suggesting that they were covering their tracks, before the study was completed.

The drug had not been FDA-approved for use in children in the United States but was cleared for adults and was already banned in Europe. The Pfizer trial in Nigeria was not regulated nor was it enforced to adhere to the same guidelines set forth by the FDA, hospital, research facility and/or pharmaceutical companies who conduct clinical trials in the United States. There was no regulatory commission, such as the Institutional Review Board (IRB).

An IRB is a committee comprised of physicians, statisticians, researchers and research nurses, patient advocates, and data coordinators, all of whom ensure that the ethics of the clinical trial, and the rights of the participants are protected throughout the study. Every institution that supports a clinical trial involving a human participant must have an IRB at the initiation of the study, and also to periodically review the research data to protect the rights of the participants. This is federal law.

Pfizer has conducted clinical trials in the United States and in other countries. They know the rules. Do no harm is the code in health care. In the United States, during a clinical trial, if a participant experiences any toxicities from the study drug, the research doctor and/or treating doctor is mandated by the protocol guidelines to remove the patient from the study and return the patient to the treatment of standard care. Pfizer had full knowledge of the life threatening effects this particular antibiotic posed to children, and the risks it took administering it to children and infants because this drug had never been used on children with meningitis. Pfizer never told their parents that an alternative treatment was available to the children, nor did they explain to the parents what the side effects were, thereby never obtaining an informed written consent. There is no excuse for what Pfizer did to these innocent children, their parents, and the Nigerian government. Pfizer should be held accountable for its unethical and criminal negligence.

The lawsuit says that the researchers did not obtain consent from the children’s families and that the researchers knew Trovan to be an experimental drug with life-threatening side effects that was unfit for human use. Parents were banned from the ward where the drug trial occurred, the suit says, and the company left no medical records in Nigeria. Pfizer and its doctors agreed to do an illegal act, the criminal charges state, and behaved in a manner so rash and negligent as to endanger human life. Joe Stephens, Washington Post

It could be watching you coming out of an adult entertainment parlour. I’m just saying…

h/t Boing Boing

I hadn’t noticed it myself but Bill Cara raises the interesting pattern of American economic appointments...quite a few GS honchos in there.

When Ann Coulter writes a reasoned discussion of the illegal immigration situation, and Linda Chavez(supposedly a mild-mannered conservative) accuses us of being racist if we don’t want to be invaded by illegals.  Sheesh!

Ann Coulter

Linda Chavez

Extraordinary rendition (i.e. the moving of terror suspects to states where less civilised interrogation techniques [torture] are utilised) is a contentious issue (one which the US government denies involvement in - at least the torture part).
The ACLU has filed a suit against a civilian contractor accused of assisting the CIA with this.

From Reuters

NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union is suing a Boeing Co. unit it accuses of helping the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency transfer foreign suspects to overseas prisons where it says they were held and tortured.
The New York-based rights group said it would file a suit against Jeppesen Dataplan Inc. on Wednesday, charging that the company provided flight and logistical support to at least 15 aircraft on 70 so-called “rendition” flights.
The suit, to be filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, is being made on behalf of Binyam Mohamed, Abou Elkassim Britel and Ahmed Agiza, who the ACLU said were abducted by the CIA, detained and tortured.

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