Ariel Sharon, the Israeli Prime Minister that seems to be
sincerely interested in bringing peace to the area has had a serious, possibly
life ending stroke.

One of America’s
strangest, most powerful and most dangerous religious leaders, Pat Robertson
has said this is God’s punishment for Sharon
wanting to divide Israel
in the peace process.

The reason I bring this up is because we all know there is
going to be a rush to blog when Robertson has his eventual stroke or death, and
I will strive to be first.  If you ever
hear of something bad happening to Robertson please quickly read my blog so I
can be the first.

Basically it will say that at the time of Pats misfortune
several people heard God say “Pat, I have smote thee because you’re a dick.”

In a related story of, at first glance, apparent religious kookiness;
three ministers snuck into the room where the committee hearings will be held
for judge Alito’s confirmation and anointed the seats with holy oil because “God
is interested in the outcome of these hearings”.

I say apparent because I believe this works.  The last time I sat in a seat that had been anointed
with something oily/ sticky was in an X-rated theater on 14^th street in Washington D.C.
and god was the first of two words out of my mouth and I was definitely moved .
. . to find another seat (but not out of the theater).  So don’t scoff at this.

Christians are getting scary.

First anatomy class is Monday night.  Will post how the class goes.

To any xangan's that read this site:  Happy New Year!  Keep
writing.  Keep living and thinking.  Kick a little ass this
coming year.  Get your ass kicked this year, and know that pain in
your ass means you're alive!  Here's a toast to living and
breathing and hurting and laughing in 2006!

Odds and Ends:

I haven’t been on line much lately.  On top of the general frenzy of the holiday
season, most every free minute has been spent developing lesson plans to teach
human anatomy next semester.  A few
things have happened that I feel the need to comment on though.

A federal judge in Pennsylvania
ruled, quite strongly, that intelligent design can not be taught in that school
system.  I support this decision with
multiple high-fives.  The push to
insinuate “intelligent design” into the public school system is not about a
controversy in science.  It’s about a
lack of faith in the majority of Christians in this country.  They can’t believe that God might have a
larger imagination/vision/plan than they can comprehend so they try and shrink
God into something they can reconcile in their small minds.  This is not a crisis of science; it’s a
manifestation of shallow faith.

The preliminary results of the Iraq
election point toward an Iraqi government being similar to and having strong
ties to Iran.  Isn’t that a wonderful thing for our country
to have spent the lives of thousands of its finest citizens and hundreds of
billions of dollars to have accomplished?

But hey, we did depose Sadham Hussein.  Can you imagine living in a country where its
citizens could be spied upon; their phone conversations and emails monitored
purely at the whim of the leader, citizens subject to arrest, taken to an
undisclosed prison and possibly tortured without being charged with any crime
and not allowed access to legal representation?   I’m not talking about Hussein’s Iraq; I’m talking about the U.S. today.

I imagine that few individuals or countries sell their soul
outright in one deal.  I suspect the
selling of ones soul happens gradually.  You
sell it bit by bit until one day you realize that the devil owns it all.

This is what is happening to the U.S.  We’re selling our soul bit by bit. 
We don't realize how far down the road we've travelled but will be
astonished when we actually turn around and look back.  I won’t do it.  I won’t sell my soul or my balls to anyone.

I think generally, the rich and powerful have more
to lose by allowing electronic eavesdropping without a warrant. (Don't
want those emails about the illegal business practices accidently
intercepted!) So perhaps this more than anything will bring action and
wake the country from its stupor.

P.S.  I urge you to contact your
representatives concerning this matter.  This is the letter I
used.  Feel free to cut and paste it.

Dear Senator Bayh,

I urge you to initiate or support an investigation into
possibly illegal spying on US citizens by the NSA.

It is time for Congress to begin acting as a co-equal branch
of the United States Government and provide the checks and balances intended by
the authors of our constitution.

Robert A DeWeese, M.D.

Someone wrote a letter to the editor supporting the war in Iraq and
attacking those that oppose it.  Despite the fact that I'm trying
to cut down on letters to the editor I just couldn't stand not
responding.  My letter was published today.  The other guys
comments are in quotations.

In response to Mr. Gray and his letter published Nov. 23:

Its official, I’ll be teaching Human Anatomy at Indiana
University/Purdue University Columbus next semester.

I’m looking forward to it . . . the opportunity to take young
impressionable minds and fuck with them.

Just kidding; well, not really.  I’ll fuck with them.   My goal is to make human anatomy so interesting
that they learn it in depth despite their apathy.

When I worked full time at our local hospital I had a
reputation for giving a hard time (fucking with, in a non-threatening way) to
the radiological technology students learning their craft there.  Once, after asking a new student a question
that there was really no correct answer to, she pointed her finger at me and
said “I’ve heard about you!”  (I was also
the only radiologist that was ever asked to speak at one of the graduation
ceremonies by the students.  The
administration reluctantly agreed despite their fear of what I might say.  I didn’t disappoint the students that asked
me to speak, or fail to cause the administration the discomfort they were
anticipating during the talk).

Yep, I’m gonna fuck with them and hopefully teach them
something.

I’m excited, but sweating it too.  I already know this stuff, but I bet I’ll
spend four hours preparing for every one hour the students invest in studying,
just to try and make this course one they’ll remember.  (Hey, one of these days, one of these
students might be putting a catheter in me so this is not completely altruistic).

Bertrand Russell said: “Man is not born stupid, he’s born
ignorant.  He’s made stupid by that which
he’s taught.”  My goal will be to not
make anyone stupid.  Anything beyond that
will be golden!

“Life holds severe penalties for being stupid”.  Bob DeWeese

I’ve told this to my daughters many times during their lives,
trying to convince them of the need to acquire both book and street smarts.

I think one could make a corollary statement concerning
nations: “Life holds severe penalties for being apathetic or uninformed”.

The thing that got me thinking about this was my daughter
telling me that a friend of hers, a Marine, had just started his third tour in Iraq.  As a nation we are asking so much from so few
while being asked to contribute nothing in return.  I believe that we were eager to go to war, or
at least apathetic about pressing for reasons for doing so because the majority
of the nation knew it wouldn’t be asked to contribute.  The relatively few that had volunteered to
serve would shoulder the physical burden for the war and we wouldn’t even be
asked to pay for it.  That would be left
to some future generation.

When an investment is at risk for loss one tends to pay
close attention.  When there is no risk
one tends to be cavalier in their judgment.

For the above reasons I believe the United States needs to
pass law that will force the nation to become, if not well-informed, at least
not apathetic when it comes to going to war.

If our nation chooses to go to war and that war lasts over
one year,

1: A draft must ensue so that the nation shoulders the
physical risk and burden equally.

2: Fiscal measures must be enacted either through budget
cuts or tax increases to pay for the war.

I think these two points are fair.  If a nation deems war necessary then the
nation should be willing to share the human and fiscal burdens.

Put everyone at risk, make everyone pay, and people will
become less apathetic and better informed and they will demand the flesh of any
that deceived them into war.  Knowing
that voter’s children and tax dollars will be directly and quickly directed to
the war will make them think twice and then again before going to war for the
wrong reasons.
 

I intend to put together a letter to my
representatives urging them to draft such a law today.

A few minutes have passed:

I just put the letter together and have sent it to Senators Lugar and
Bayh and Congressman Pence.  Feel free to use this letter to send
to your representatives if you are so inclined. If several
representatives get this message and decide to act upon it and pretend
it was their own thought . . . who knows?

Dear Senator Lugar,

I urge you to introduce legislation that would require the
following if the United
States decides to go to war and that war
lasts longer than one year:

1: A draft is instituted so that the nation shares equally
in the risk for the physical burden of the war.

2: Immediate fiscal measures, whether they are tax increases
or budget cuts that will pay for the war.

If the nation deems war necessary, the entire nation should
be willing to shoulder the human and fiscal burden incurred.

This measure would have the added benefit of getting the
majority of Americans, including its politicians, sincerely and critically
interested in the justification and need for war.

Sincerely,

Robert A DeWeese, M.D.

 "A female teacher pleaded guilty Tuesday to having sex with a
14-year-old middle school student, avoiding prison as part of a plea
agreement."

I used to dream about this kind of thing when I was in middle school
and I didn't even have a teacher this hot.  It's been at least a
week since I've had that dream though.

What the hell was she thinking and why the hell did he tell?

Just kidding, I know it's wrong.  But I wasn't kidding about those dreams.

I just re-read my previous entry.  Hah!  What a rambling
piece of crap.  Note to self:  Don't write letters after
drinking beer through a Colts game.  It came back anyway;
undeliverable because his mailbox was full.

Driving back from Evansville, I came upon this right wing radio host
that was justifying the US invasion of Iraq.  He compared Hitler
to Hussein.  I don't dial and drive so I didn't call in during his
show.  I've sent him an email which is posted below.
In fairness to him, his sight is: http://www.michaelmedved.com
I think these right wing entertainers are funny.  I just wish Americans realized they are entertainers, not reporters.
Anyway, here's my response to his stance that Hitler and Hussein are the same:

Dear Mr. Medved,

While on a road trip, tiring from music from my ipod, I
scanned the radio stations and came upon your program.  This was a program where listeners called in
and talked about their problems and differences with your point of view.

I’ve never heard of you and I doubt I’ll ever listen again
unless I’m bored on a road trip again and stumble upon your program.

I was intrigued (laughed) when you successfully nailed down
a caller about the need to invade Iraq
based on the similarity with France’s
lack of response to Germany’s
aggression in the early and mid 1930’s.

First, let me congratulate you on your dialectic skill.  You are a master of taking a completely
unrelated topic and turning it into a yes or no question that will bring your
opponent down.  You seem to be a good debater,
even when your position lacks reason.

The way the world responded to Hitler, or Genghis Khan or
Alexander the Great has no relevance to the way we should have responded to
Saddam Hussein.   In fact, your argument
destroys your stance.  But let me take
your point of view for a moment and defend your stance.

You seem to imply that if France or any other nation had
stood up to Hitler’s violation of the Treaty of Versailles in the mid 30’s that
we could have escaped the ravages of world war two.  For the sake of argument I’ll give you that
(though I wouldn’t have given you that in such simplistic terms as you were
looking for on your radio program).  I’m
not so easily trapped in unrelated arguments.

So yes, maybe if they had, Hitler would not have invaded and
occupied other countries.

So let’s take this unrelated argument about Hussein (and by
the way, the only relation they have as far as I can tell is that their last
name starts with an H).

Hitler invaded several countries and occupied them before
the world took a stand.  Hussein invaded
and occupied one before the world took notice and banded together and drove him
out.  Clearly, the world responded to
Hussein differently than the world responded to Hitler in the mid 30’s.

Hussein was the leader of a small country with a castrated
military in 2002.  He presented no threat
to the United States and he
had no part in the attacks on the US on 9-11.

The world responded differently and more aggressively to
Hussein than they did to Hitler, but it’s still unrelated (though it does
destroy your contention that Hitler parallels justify our need to invade Iraq).

But let me take your side for a bit longer.  You argue that Hussein had repeatedly
violated promises, treaties and such and therefore the world should no longer
tolerate him and was therefore justified in invading Iraq.  O.K.  Let
me give you that argument for a moment. 
But then, I assume that since the United States repeatedly lied, broke
promises, treaties, etc with Native Americans that if there had been a body
such as the UN in those days that they would be justified in invading the US to
force us to live up to those treaties. 
We killed many Native Americans to achieve our goal and destiny.  Substitute Kurds or Shiites for Native
Americans and tell me how we differ? 
Tell me how we didn’t deserve to be invaded and occupied by the larger
military forces of England
and France.

O.K. I took your side for a moment and I feel slimy.  Consider me no longer taking that side.

You then told a caller that George Bush was a “visionary
leader that got things right more often than he got them wrong.”  I’m still laughing about that.  I’m not even going to comment on that because
it’s like shooting fish in a barrel.  It’s
too easy.  It’s such a target rich
environment.  I’ll leave that one to your
brain dead callers.

I still respect your abilities to debate the unprepared and
I think you’re a good entertainer.

Until we meet on a lonely highway again,

Bob

Today is a beautiful fall day in south-central Indiana.  It's
perfect for felling one more ash tree, which is what I figure I need to have
enough lumber to complete the transition from carpet to hardwood floors in our
house.
But I'm feeling lazy today.  So I plan to grill some steaks, pop a 10 year
old bottle of Bordeaux,
eat and drink till I'm full, and then sink into the couch to watch the Colts
play the Bengals.   I've found that in life it's usually wise to
listen to those voices that say "this is a day to rest".  It's
especially important to do that when the downside to not listening is having a
large tree fall on your head because you were really supposed to be relaxing
that day.
Speaking of ash trees: the emerald ash borer is now in Indiana.  It's a pest that may wipe out
ash trees from the forest just like the chestnut blight.  Indiana and Michigan
are now quarantining, felling and burning infected trees.
I can't say that I know a lot about those borers.  But I do know that the
race to fell every chestnut tree before the blight took them was a big
mistake.  Some of those trees would have certainly been resistant to the
blight and would have repopulated our forests with chestnuts.  If the
borers reach my part of the state there will be a court fight (and maybe more)
before they take my trees.   Maybe a tree or two in my woods have the
genetic wherewithal to beat the borers.
As any reader that's read this site for sometime knows; I'm growing and
nurturing American Chestnuts here too.  I'm always hopeful, sometimes delerious, and not afraid of a bloody nose.
But today I'm feeling lazy.
Go Colts!