There's been a lot of debate over the years about the possible adverse effects of television on children. A recent study suggests that viewing lots of sexual activity on TV prods sexual exploration in children. The study jives with common sense and my intuitions, but Ill hold off on using it as a rallying cry for less must on TV because I haven't yet read the study for myself to see if the statistics are trustworthy.
Fabian of Report from Greater Tokyo has responded to Jerry's stem cell primer.
"On the medical science issue, once upon a time, it was considered sacriligious to cut open a human corpse. Early doctors' methods were notoriously unreliable, and early post-mortems were unlikely to either find the exact cause of death or provide immediately useful data for medical research.
However, although no one knew exactly how that research might be beneficial in the future, we know now that it was invaluable to almost every modern surgical technique.
Similarly, although we don't yet know which way stem cell research may take medical science, and we don't even know of any specific benefits, but it seems reasonable to believe that there will be some tangible medical benefit in the future. If the anti-stem cell research people had won back then, modern medical surgery would still be at the amputate and cauterize stage. Stuff as basic as resetting a broken bone would be life-threatening, and almost certainly result in long term problems.
Comments? Criticisms? My gut reaction is to say that cutting open a corpse is not the same as destroying a living creature. Whether killing that creature is killing a person or not is a matter for debate, but that a living thing is killed is not."
Thoughts?
Sed Contra has an interesting piece on the Roe Effect’s impact on this and future elections. For those who don’t know, the Roe Effect is the name for the reduced numbers of people in the 18-29 age bracket. Had abortion been illegal for the last 31 years, there would be more liberal voters alive today. Dean’s defeat was attributed by some to this effect.
"Regardless of the emotion and political activism that led to Bush pushing 'Terri's Law,' there is a system of checks and balances in place to ensure that no one person makes a decision that could be a matter of life and death."
Isn't that the power Michael Schiavo wants? Anybody want to respond to this Pitt News op ed?
Here’s an article about reaction to teachers dropping red correcting pens in favor
of purple ones.
According to the teacher, red may be a startling color, but the important thing is that it gets results. Jago notes, just as a red stop sign is the best way to get drivers to pay attention to a potentially dangerous intersection, making red marks on a pupil’s paper is the best way to get the student’s attention focused on a learning or comprehension problem that needs to be corrected.