the glory and the horror

Is it just me, or does this picture not seem a bit weird-looking and feeling?

Also, not that I’m trying to be insensitive to the Witmer girls, but how come they get to decide if they’re going back to Iraq, and others don’t? Has it always been SOP for the military to grant those sort of options for siblings who are KIA?

So I’m not exactly trying to pick a fight, but the more and more I think about US history, the more I am convinced that the war for American independence was not justifiable, scripturally. In terms of what little I know of just war theology, it just doesn’t seem to fly. In terms of the standard “no taxation without representation”-type stuff, well, that sure doesn’t seem like a reason for open rebellion against the standing authorities. I mean, how many of us would start an open violent rebellion if they started to tax us without representation? How many of us would go to foreign countries where the government impinges on a lot more freedoms to foment such rebellion?

Anyone have any thoughts?

I forgot to mention my birthday last weekend (the 17th). Kathleen and Alice F. put on a little party for myself and Joel, at my apartment complex. A cookout, with good meat, chips, drinks, and the rest of it. Including a toss in the pool, too. Except that she waited until fairly late in the evening, after the sun goes down, so that the water is particularly frigid. She’s going to get it on August.

Kathleen had a great idea tonight over dinner. We would both do an away rotation 4th year at the Mayo Clinic, and she’d do pediatric infectious diseases, or something along those lines, and I’d go to write a paper comparing philosophies of medical education between a large, state school attached to the busiest public hospital in the nation, and that of a small, private school where medical students are trained in a facility that provides care for the elite of the world, such as former President Ronald Reagan and King Hussein of Jordan. The idea is still quite rough, but the more I think about it, the more possibilities it has. Some questions could include:

How does the institutions differ in focus? How are they similar?
How do those differences influence their philosophy of medical education, if at all? How do the students perceive these differences?
Is there a difference when you’re being trained by the state, presumably to practice in that state agin, compared to being trained in a private institution, presumably not just for the state of Minnesota? What are they being trained for? For the sake of medicine, in and of itself?
Both institutions are famous in other countries, but for remarkably different reasons – one is well-known for its high-profile patients, while the other is well-known because of the amount of care provided for anyone and everyone who comes.

All of those questions have profound implications, I think, especially when it comes to their medical education and the subjects and topics that are emphasized, at the expense of others. There are also underlying themes and biases that undergird the choices that someone has made in deciding what’s more important to focus on and what’s less important. How does that impact the students’ experience and perception of the practice of medicine? How does that help and how does it hinder? Does it even help (or hinder)?

Yahoo! News – Vatican Clamps Down on Abuses in Mass

Oooooh boy. The Vatican threw down, finally, after letting so many “Catholic” politicians get away with stuff directly contradicting Church teachings. Interesting.

Check it out. Because I’m a faithful user of blogger.com’s services, I get to try out Google’s Gmail service. I know there are some privacy issues out there, but to be honest, there’s not much for me to worry about, since I don’t think there’s anything said in my emails that would somehow threaten national security, or anything like that. I don’t give out my SSN, bank account info, credit card info, etc. over email either, so really, it would just be some embarassing stories and random stuff like that. I suppose there are security concerns for my fellow Christians in closed countries, but in general, I don’t think I have much to lose in terms of privacy. Besides, it’s not like my “right to privacy” is all that important anyway…. At least that’s what I think so far.

Stomping on Free Speech by John Leo from this week’s US News and World Reports

Some choice quotes:

“The Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission ruled that a newspaper ad listing biblical passages that oppose homosexuality was a human-rights offense. The commission ordered the paper and Hugh Owens, the man who placed the ad, to pay $1,500 each to three gay men who objected to it. In another case, a British Columbia court upheld the one-month suspension, without pay, of a high school teacher who wrote letters to a local paper arguing that homosexuality is not a fixed orientation but a condition that can and should be treated. The teacher, Chris Kempling, was not accused of discrimination, merely of expressing thoughts that the state defines as improper.”

“In Sweden, sermons are explicitly covered by an anti-hate-speech law passed to protect homosexuals. The Swedish chancellor of justice said any reference to the Bible’s stating that homosexuality is sinful might be a criminal offense, and a Pentecostal minister is already facing charges. In Britain, police investigated Anglican Bishop Peter Forster of Chester after he told a local paper: “Some people who are primarily homosexual can reorientate themselves. I would encourage them to consider that as an option.” Police sent a copy of his remarks to prosecutors, but the case was dropped. In Ireland last August, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties warned that clergy who circulated a Vatican statement opposing gay marriages could face prosecution under incitement-to-hatred legislation.”

So the only free speech of a moral nature that is allowed is that which calls other types of moral speech illegal?

Ok. It’s done. My blog is officially hosted at http://philber.codeffects.com/otde2

I’m still publishing this back at blogspot, so that everyone knows, but that’s it. I’m permanently at the above URL.

I think I’ve decided to move my blog. An old college friend of mine has graciously offered me some space to put my stuff, and so I’m going to move to http://philber.codeffects.com/otde2, probably by the end of this week. I’ll let you all know when I do it, so that you can make the appropriate changes to your bookmarks and whatnot. The reason for this is so that I can have a little more flexibility in what I put in my blog, such as pictures, and so on. Plus, I can keep my archives accessible directly, instead of through blogger.com, and I won’t have any ads on the page

Hola! This is the future Mrs. Fung! Ahhh! I’m going to be a Mrs.! This is all quite exciting to me! I wish you all a very happy Easter. This year, I think I’ve understood the celebration of Easter as I have not in the past. It has been a wonderful weekend, filled with friends and the joy of remembering the goodness of our Lord. Hmmm, the blogging thing may really grow on me….

Announcements:

From time to time, and hopefully increasingly more often, there will be contributions to off the deep end 2 from the one and only future Mrs. Fung. You’ll know when it’s her.

Also, just so people know, I may be migrating my blog to a different URL in a bit. I’ll give you enough notice to change your bookmarks and such.

Finally, I have a request from that same future Mrs., asking that readers, please comment and just say hi. And free to talk back to me, and talk to each other.