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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in the "Daniel B. Holzman" journal:| March 31st, 2005 | |
|---|---|
| 12:40 pm [Link] |
[politics] The last Terri Schiavo entry? Terri Schiavo's body has died. Terri herself, of course, has been long gone, because spinal fluid and scar tissue don't make such a good medium for thinking. Now that this is over, let's review the bidding, as summarized in this timeline. Terri Schiavo was a bulimic. Bulimia is an unhealthy state for a number of reasons, one of them being that it leads to things like nutritional imbalances. Nutritional imbalances lead to things ranging from scurvy to heart attacks. In 1990, Terri had a heart attack, and lost oxygen to her brain for ten minutes. You may recall that brain damage begins at 4 minutes of oxygen deprivation. Michael Schivao was appointed her guardian because he's her husband. Buzz, click, whirr. When Terri gets out of the hospital, her family takes her home but after 3 weeks returns her to a rehab facility because they can't cope with the requirements of caring for someone in Terri's state. In the meantime, Michael is having doctors try everything they can do, including experimantal treatments to try to heal her. Keep note that this is happenning in 1990, the timing is important. In 1992, money enters the picture -- a malpractise suite against the doctors who somehow managed not to notice that Terri Schiavo had far too little potassium in her system scored over a million dollars. Now look back to the previous paragraph. Michael Schiavo was having treatments done before there was any settlement money. Experimental treatments are not covered by insurance, therefore he was paying for that out of his own pocket. 3 months later, the Schindlers and Schiavo have a falling out over how to proceed with Terri's treatment. Michael says the Schindlers started asking about sharing the settlement money at this time. A few months after that, the Schindlers sue to have Michael Schiavo removed as Terri Schiavo's guardian. Keep a note of this timing as well, it's important, too. Once doctors advised him that Terri Schiavo would not recover, Michael Schivao petitioned the court to allow him to remove Terri's feeding tube in May of 1998, five years after the Schindlers had first sued to have him removed as the guardian. I highlight this because this timing is inconsistent with a theory that the Schindlers sued Schiavo in order to prevent Terri's feeding tube from being removed.. In the intervening time, the settlement money has gone to pay medical and legal bills, there's only about $50,000 left. After that money was spent, Michael Schiavo turned down a $10,000,000 offer for his legal right to direct Terri's medical treatment. This refutes any theory that Michael Schiavo was motivated by seeking access to the dwindled court settlements. (3 talking | Talk to me.) |
| March 30th, 2005 | |
| 01:39 pm [Link] |
[politics] Pharmacist morals and patient rights There's alot of talk these days about whether or not Pharmacists should be permitted to choose not to fill perscribed medicines if they have a moral objection of some sort to the drugs used. The American Pharmacist's Association has a code of ethics which I quote in part here: I. A pharmacist respects the covenantal relationship between the patient and pharmacist. Considering the patient-pharmacist relationship as a covenant means that a pharmacist has moral obligations in response to the gift of trust received from society. In return for this gift, a pharmacist promises to help individuals achieve optimum benefit from their medications, to be committed to their welfare, and to maintain their trust. II. A pharmacist promotes the good of every patient in a caring, compassionate, and confidential manner. A pharmacist places concern for the well-being of the patient at the center of professional practice. In doing so, a pharmacist considers needs stated by the patient as well as those defined by health science. A pharmacist is dedicated to protecting the dignity of the patient. With a caring attitude and a compassionate spirit, a pharmacist focuses on serving the patient in a private and confidential manner. III. A pharmacist respects the autonomy and dignity of each patient. A pharmacist promotes the right of self-determination and recognizes individual self-worth by encouraging patients to participate in decisions about their health. A pharmacist communicates with patients in terms that are understandable. In all cases, a pharmacist respects personal and cultural differences among patients. [Emphasis original] I do not see how placing one's moral judgements above a doctor's medical judgements or a patient's autonomy complies with any of these three (of eight) rules. I don't know if this code of ethics is binding in the way that Doctors' or Lawyers' respective professional codes of ethics are, but I respectfully submit that someone who has a moral prohibition (as opposed to a medical or legal one) against filling any perscription a patient presents is not in a position to become or remain a pharmacist. I don't single out pharmacists here -- people with moral prohibitions against maintaining patient or client confidence are not in a position to become or remain doctors or lawyers, either. People who want to indulge a habit of breaking into computer systems illegally are not in a position to become or remain CISSPs. (6 talking | Talk to me.) |
| 12:50 am [Link] |
[politics] More on Schiavo's parents I try very hard to be sympathetic to Terri Schiavo's parents. It is hard to lose a daughter. It is also hard to learn that one's child does not share one's religious convictions. People often get irrational at such times, and it's a reaction to pain. But this is just scummy. If you sent money in, guess what? Your contact information is being sold to people who want to get money from you. Did someone ask you if they could do that? Didn't think so. (3 talking | Talk to me.) |
| March 28th, 2005 | |
| 01:27 am [Link] |
Visiting Grandma Every time I visit Grandma, I come back with more information about my family. This time, the biggy was learning of the "A.J. Mirkin Service Award" issued by the American Assoiciation of Automotive Medicine. A.J. Mirkin was my Great Uncle Abe. Apparently, he was one of the doctors did the research that was used to get mandatory seat belt laws passed. (6 talking | Talk to me.) |
| March 24th, 2005 | |
| 02:34 pm [Link] |
[politics] On the basis of the power of the Supreme Court. It's been fashionable for a while to pretend that the Supreme Court of the United States is some group of interlopers who have taken upon themselves an authority not granted them under law, rather than the highest court of the land. The pretense is that Justice Marhsall made up the principal of judicial review in the landmark case Marbury v. Madison. By some odd coincidence, this argument tends to be put forth by people who don't like the rulings the court makes from time to time. Let's take a moment to lay this particular pile of dingo's kidneys to rest. The basis of the power of the Supreme Court of the United States is found in Article III, Section 1 of The United States Constitution: The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behavior, and shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services a Compensation which shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office. [Emphasis added] And in Section 2: In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party, the supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make. There it is clear and unambiguously: The Supreme Court holds the judicial power of the United States, and all other courts are inferior to it. The only way to argue that the Supreme Court has not always had the power of judicial review, and simply asserted it for the firtst time in Marbury v. Madison is to argue that judicial review was not intended to be a part of the judicial power of the United States. ( Unfortunately, that assertion is similarly doomed. ) It could not possibly be any clearer: The specific and deliberate intent of the founders was to create a supreme Court in which was vested the whole of the judicial power of the United States, including the power of judicial review. Anyone who says otherwise doesn't have a quarrel merely Chief Justice John Marshall, but with Alexander Hamilton, President James Madison, and Chief Justice John Jay. The next pile of dingo's kidney's is that this power places the Supreme Court above the Executive and Legislative branches. Refer once again to the 78th federalist paper, and you'll see this is debunked as well. Congress has the power to impeach Supreme Court justices -- and it is instructive to note that they did not impeach Marhsall. The President has the power to appoint additional Supreme Court justices -- nothing in the Constitution specifies the number 9. |
| March 23rd, 2005 | |
| 12:22 pm [Link] |
There's this white shit falling out of the sky. The last time I saw snow falling this week in March of the year, a friend of mine was killed in an accident when an oncoming driver lost control of her vehicle on icy roads. Please be careful. |
| 08:16 am [Link] |
[politics] The Schiavo case Have you noticed that a whole bunch of folks who all cheered when Kevorkian was convicted have suddenly figured out that starvation and dehydration are a rotten way to die and it isn't terribly humane to force someone to endure that once the decision has been made not to keep them alive? Somehow, I wound up on the AFA's mailing list, so I get to see how they present issues. The way the issue is presented is quite fascinating. On planet AFA, this isn't about "pro-life" or euthanasia. On planet AFA, Terry Schiavo isn't in a persistent vegetative state. On planet AFA, she doesn't have a mass of spinal fluid and scar tissue where her cerebral cortex used to be. Rather, she's merely "disabled" -- very much aware of her surroundings, can communicate clearly and unambiguously, etc. They're not even acknowledging the factual details of the situation that would allow them to take a "pro-life" position. If the facts were as presented on planet AFA, I might even think they had a point. On planet AFA, this is about punishing Michael Schiavo for not remaining sexually faithful to a woman who was in a persistent vegetative state for the last fifteen years. On planet AFA, he didn't offer to divest himself any inheritance from Terry Schiavo's estate. On planet AFA, the insurance settlement wasn't eaten up by medical and legal costs. On planet AFA, Michael Schiavo didn't tell someone where they could stick a literal million-dollar offer for the right to make Terry's medical decisions. On planet AFA, they're sure that there's a big pile of money somewhere that Michael Schiavo is out to murder his unhealthy-but-not-vegetative wife for, and one of the reasons they like seeing an endless legal battle is that they want him to have to spend all that money and have no inheritance from his wife's tragic death. On planet AFA, the fact that it took seven years to reach the point where it was time to remove the feeding tube is evidence that he's making her wishes up rather than evidence of the lengths he was willing to go to in order to exhaust all medical options first. (6 talking | Talk to me.) |
| March 17th, 2005 | |
| 11:58 pm [Link] |
Bragging New York City Health and Hospitals has put up a short article about my father. It's amazing that I can read something public like this and learn stuff I didn't know about him -- I had no idea that was what got him into epidemiology. (2 talking | Talk to me.) |
| 10:53 am [Link] |
[Politics] Disbar Alan Dershowitz The Rude Pundit relayed this joke a while back: A man is sitting in a bar grousing. "You spend your whole life building bridges, they don't call you John the bridge builder. You spend your whole life baking, they don't call you John the baker. But you fuck JUST ONE GOAT!!!! From this we derive the notion of the "goat-fucking moment." This an act so horrible, so egregious that it is something that can never be overlooked, it is what defines you now and forever, and nothing you ever do or say will make up for the fact that you did this thing. I assert that supporting or defending torture is such a goat-fucking moment. Rule 1 is there is no excuse for torture. Rule 2 is if you think you have an excuse, see rule 1. Alan Dershowitz recently said: But placing a sterilized needle under somebody’s fingernails for fifteen minutes, causing excruciating pain but no permanent physical damage - is that torture? Frankly, if he really isn't clear on the matter my suggestion to him is to have a go at it and report back to the class on whether he found it torturous. It's rather clear that his intent is to follow in Abu Gonzalez footsteps to define away some at least some torture. Matthew Hale was disbarred on the grounds that his bigotry made him morally unfit to practise law. I submit that trying to excuse or permit torture renders one morally unfit to practise law as well. Alan Dershowitz fucked the goat. |
| March 16th, 2005 | |
| 08:29 am [Link] |
[politics] Putting "originalism" / "strict constructionalism" / etc. to bed once and for all Liberal Oasis has an excellent, definitive, and concise debunking of the bogus "orginal intent" / "strict constructionalist." Check it out, and feel free to pull it out the next time someone tries to tell you that judges have to be crypto-historians trying to figure out what the Founders had in mind when they wrote the Constitution rather than, well, judges vested with the Judicial Power of the United States. |
| March 8th, 2005 | |
| 12:38 am [Link] |
[politics] If the sheet fits... So Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina thought there might be an appropriate way for a United States Senator to state that their state hadn't "gotten over Lincoln", presumably for putting down the slaver's uprising of the 1860s. You can bet your bottom dollar he doesn't understand why Blacks weren't over slavery in 1866, though. (7 talking | Talk to me.) |
| March 4th, 2005 | |
| 11:30 pm [Link] |
That which does not kill me just makes me cranky and tired. I'm getting older. Beats the fuck out of the alternative. It's obvious in a number of ways: my hair and beard have more grey, I have to worry about things like kidney stones[1], blood pressure, etc. But the thing that has always been most obvious to me is my sleep requirements. When I was 16, I could stay up 4 days straight if I didn't have to go to school. That's part of the secret of my success for reading as many books as I did that summer. In my early 20s, I'd take THE VOW[2] when Larping, or if I was too broke to afford a hotel room at a con. In my mid 20s, 48 hours became 24. It's become less and less. Nowadays, I get tired pretty much daily. Coffee has less effect, but that could be a matter of building tolerance. Just sitting and working my noggin' for an RPG gets me nodding off. The marathon 12 or 24 hour tabletop sessions I used to think nothing of appear to now be a thing of the past. It's frustrating. I've always known this sort of thing could happen -- how could it not? It's frustrating. But I already said that. It bears repeating. Of course, age may be only one factor. How hard I work in the day may be a factor, or a million other things. [1] The good news is that X-rays showed I have no more kidney stones sitting around. The bad news is that they happened to notice that I have gall stones waiting to happen. The good news is that gall stones can be vibrated into manageable bits. [2] No food, no sleep, just THE GAME[3] [3] OK, I could go no sleep, but I had to eat. (4 talking | Talk to me.) |
| February 23rd, 2005 | |
| 01:09 am [Link] |
filklet... share the pain Ignore your C-I-S-S-P Forget your network security There is a hack A hack For everything. That's how the '1eet get in. That's how the '1eet get in. (2 talking | Talk to me.) |
| February 13th, 2005 | |
| 11:06 pm [Link] | ![[info]](http://library.vu.edu.pk/cgi-bin/nph-proxy.cgi/000100A/http/web.archive.org/web/20050403105729im_/http:/=2fstat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} jadegirl and I are now officially engaged, as in I've put a ring on her finger. As we're more interested in finding the right jewelry than simultanity, I'm still looking for my own.The ring is an heirloom, being the ring my Grandfather Stan used to propose to my Grandmother Shiffie. We called her to let her know this had been done -- she had passed the ring on to my parents years ago, and they offered it to us when they knew we were getting ready to get engaged. I have a very magickal family, though they don't often know it. When I say that Grandma gave her blessing, I should be taken quite literally -- her exact words were, May your years be as bright as that diamond. I am the child of a great romance -- Dar Williams, paraphrased. Actually, I'm fortunate enough to be a child of alot of great romances. Bob and Clare, Rose and Sid, Stan and Shiffie -- and it's clear from looking at the pictures of their ancestors that they were simply carrying on family traditions through times good and bad. In Stan and Shiffie's case, she even kept the cards he sent her. They don't make them like that anymore. Stan tended to be a reserved man, letting his family see his warmth and passion. Shiffie saw it unbridled, though. Wow. I only hope I manage to live up to those traditions. Funny story about my father proposing to my mother: Because one did such things in those days, he asked Grandpa Sid's permission. Sid asked, "Are you prepared to support a family?" Dad answered, "I can take care of Clare, but you two have to fend for yourselves." Had there been any doubt, that answer would have clinched it. Current Mood: romantic, happy, awed |
| 12:02 pm [Link] |
[politics] Social Security I just thought that this was a particularly eloquent response to the notion that we should "privatize" social security because individual people can invest more wisely than the government. Mr. Confident Investor was 27. I couldn't help noticing that he looked like the "before" half of a Hair Club for Men commercial. Which has nothing to do with anything, except that I doubt premature baldness was part of his life plan. But get rear-ended on the freeway and end up paralyzed? Have a stroke or disabling heart attack? A child with cerebral palsy? Work for a company that crashes, voiding his stock options? Lose his 401(k) in the next Enron or WorldCom fiasco? Not him, no way. He's a winner. Social Security's for losers. Look, punk, it's an insurance policy, not an IRA. Thanks to The Sideshow for pointing it out. |
| February 11th, 2005 | |
| 12:51 pm [Link] |
[politics] So much now makes sense! After reading about the current spate of Republicans aspiring to be the new Poet Lauraette, I've reached a conclusion I should have reached long ago: The Reppublicans have been taken over by space aliens. Only now are they revealing themselves. Vogons, to be precise. I mean... what else explains Ashcroft's "Get a Regal Bore?" I did get some chuckles from Ray Moore's "Our American Bullshite:" One nation under God was their cry and declaration No, it wasn't. "Under God" didn't come after "One nation" until the 1950s. I’m glad [the Founders] not with us to see the mess we’re in, How we’ve given up our righteousness for a life of indulgent sin. For when abortion isn’t murder ... Our founders never outlawed abortion. Abortion laws were passed in the 19th century. Maybe we could raid a few bathroom walls on at a highway rest stop somewhere for some lines to hold up as a superior example of poetry. (3 talking | Talk to me.) |
| February 8th, 2005 | |
| 01:48 pm [Link] |
It's funny what stays with you When I worked at Sony, one of the products that kept coming into my life was the Puppy. It was a spiffy gadget, being a 64 MB flash drive with encryption capabilities and a fingerprint reader. They had such great plans for it over the 3 years I played with it as a beta tester. It was ging to be secure data storage. It was going a single And now it's a mezzuzah. Lexar has these gadgets taking up plenty of high-profile shelf space at Best Buy. They have four times as much storage capacity as the Puppy. (I had told them that 64 MB storage was pretty wimpy, but they thought there was no need to go larger because they were positioning it as a SSO tool.) It costs about a third of what the Puppy does. I've no idea what the back end's like. What bugs me about it is that I know several of the engineers, marketers, and managers who have worked their asses off four five years and more to get this thing out there, and I'm pretty sure that's now all gone down the toilet. The thing that killed it? The business plan. The decision was made to position it as a SSO tool rather than a finger-print protected flash drive. Too little investment went into developing the back end to support an enterprise SSO. They never articulated a problem for which they were an excellent solution. Someone fell in love with the technological spiffiness of sticking a fingerprint reader onto a flash drive and forgot that lots and lots of people needed to think, "This is something I really need." But damn, they spent time finding the cute dog for the mascot. (6 talking | Talk to me.) |
| January 25th, 2005 | |
| 02:03 am [Link] |
An axe wielding maniac comes to Dan's Friends List I've been spending way too much time reading live journal. I've pared down my friends list. If I took you off, please don't take it personally, it's just that there's only so many hours in a day. (7 talking | Talk to me.) |
| January 23rd, 2005 | |
| 11:38 am [Link] |
Today's Catch-22 "I don't think we should research X because X hasn't been proven successful." You can't make this stuff up. (4 talking | Talk to me.) |
| January 21st, 2005 | |
| 04:35 pm [Link] |
Plan B I thought I'd be driving to Arisia yesterday. My very first kidney stone had other ideas. I won't go into TMI, but the stone itself finally passed a long 15 hours after it dropped from my kidney. I shudder to think that sometimes it can take days. I would like to thank everyone who followed up to jadegirl's post with their well wishing and support. I would also like to thank Jadegirl publicly for the excellent care I received at her hands.I'll be talking to a doctor ASAP about it to get the bloodwork done and find out what I need to do to keep that from happenning again. In the meantime, my water intake is through the roof. I humbly suggest everyone consider increasing their water intake as well. Now that it's over, I'm still a mass of residual aches, but I'm better enough that I can type (that's how badly my ass was kicked!). I can even now crack some jokes about the experience:
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