Monday, October 31, 2011

Vote NO on Initiative 26: Terrible amendment no solution to terrible Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade

    Mississippians will vote on three constitutional amendments in the upcoming November election. Two of these amendments are great; the third is sheer jackassery.
    I’ll leave the two amendments I support to others. I just want to talk about Initiative 26, the “Personhood Amendment.” This amendment is going to pass with a huge margin; it is a disaster.
    There is no question that Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), is one of the most poorly reasoned acts of judicial activism in the past 100 years. Prior to Roe, the nation as a whole was moving towards the notion that abortion should be legal in at least some circumstances. In a few short years abortion had gone from being illegal in every state to legal in 10.
    After Roe people who had never given abortion a second thought suddenly were against it – as well they should have been. It’s not only an issue of life, but an issue of state sovereignty, which involves millions of lives.
    I support the repeal of Roe v. Wade. It’s terrible law. The federal government has no business sticking its nose into the business of the sovereign states. I support most efforts to frustrate the implementation of Roe. Now make no mistake, were Roe to be repealed tomorrow I would support some legal abortion in Mississippi (I do believe a woman who has been raped or who is not able to give legal consent has a federal right to an abortion under the 13th Amendment, but that there is no general right to abortion on demand under the 9th Amendment as provided for in Roe). My guess is that my position would lose, particularly given past federal interference in our affairs. But I don’t mind losing, so long as we as Mississippians are allowed to make the laws under which we live.
    Now we come to the “Personhood Amendment.” In order to attack Roe, abortion opponents have been willing to do things that will throw our entire legal system out of kilter.
    The Personhood Amendment is going to declare every embryo a person from the moment of conception. Virtually no rational person considers an embryo to be a human being.
    It will almost certainly put a stop to in vitro fertilization, where several eggs are fertilized so that a few may be implanted. Yet in vitro fertilization actually promotes life, because without it many children would not be born.
    And if we are now to declare all embryos persons, does that mean that next friends will be able to bring false imprisonment suits on behalf of all the frozen embryos of Mississippi? Will we need to appoint a guardian ad litem to every fertilized egg, and have a court hearing to hear arguments of whether or not it is in the best interests of the embryo to be implanted or not?
    What are we to do about women whose life is endangered by their pregnancy. Note that I said that their life was actually endangered, not merely their “health,” the federal catch-all. Will a doctor be able to perform an abortion to save the life of the mother? What if there is an estranged husband who orders the doctor not to perform the abortion, even if the pregnancy will almost certainly kill his wife? Doctors shouldn’t have to put up with this, and it is going to affect all aspects of medical care that we receive.
    And what about inheritance? If an embryo is declared a person, then when a pregnant woman dies her fetus will inherit a portion of her estate, throwing a real monkey wrench into our current system of descent and distribution. It’s quite possible that some cad who refuses to marry a girl could nevertheless inherit through a month-old fetus. The nutcases out there may not have a problem with this, but I do. And the above scenario only scratches the surface of the wills and estates problems that this amendment will cause.
    The fact is that the Personhood Amendment will likely outlaw various forms of contraception. For example, IUDs often work by preventing a fertilized egg from implanting on the uterine wall. Once this amendment passes, any woman having sex while wearing an IUD will be guilty of attempted murder.
    A lot of people who support this amendment give a wink and a nod and say it’s only going to be used to outlaw abortion. Well I’ve got news for you. Laws are made up of words and the laws mean what the words say. It’s a sorry judge indeed who doesn’t enforce the laws as they are written, whether he agrees with them or not.
    There are a lot of poorly educated preachers going around supporting this amendment, and I’m sure they will carry the day. But friends, may I suggest when it comes to the issues of law and medicine that you might listen to lawyers and doctors. They actually know something about this, and they know this amendment is a terrible law.
    Please vote NO on Initiative 26. And should anyone supporting this amendment want to pass an initiative seeking a national constitutional amendment repealing Roe v. Wade, I’m all in.

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Three Ole Miss freshmen killed in I-55 car accident

    Three Ole Miss freshmen were killed in a 9 a.m. Sunday morning car accident on I-55 near the Vaiden exit.
    They have been identified as Charles Walker Kelly (left), 19; Samuel Clayton Kelly (middle, 18; Bryant Mason Wilbanks (right), 19, all of Madison. Ole Miss Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Sparky Reardon said all three were Kappa Alpha pledges.
    "The University is always saddened when we lose even one student, but when we lose three freshmen who were such great young men, it is particularly devastating. All of us in the Ole Miss family are heartbroken," Reardon said.
    Preliminary reports indicate no alcohol or drugs were involved and the three were wearing seat belts at the time of the accident.
Link:
Three Ole Miss freshmen killed in car accident

ADDENDUM: As I was cutting as pasting this news item I saw the name of one of the freshmen and thought there was a chance it might be the son of a fraternity brother of mine, just based on the name. It is. My heart and prayers go out to Sam Kelly and his family.

Friday, October 28, 2011

I've added two Mid-East Newspaper links

    You will find two new newspaper links on the upper right-hand side of this page, the Jerusalem Post and Al Arabiya. The Jerusalem Post is self-explanatory. Al Arabiya was introduced some years back as a slightly less radical network than Al Jazeera.
    For what it's worth, I find the Al Arabiya new coverage pretty balanced. I think it's important to get news from time to time from sources other than the U.S. Government War Machine.
    Oh, and when I refer to a "war machine," it is not just a dig at Obama and the Democrats. It's both parties. All they can think about is war, war, war, attack, attack, attack, kill, kill, kill. Kind of makes me want to go watch "Full Metal Jacket."
    If you think I'm exagerating, consider the fact that Sen. John McCain (thank God he got beat) took the occassion of America's murder of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to issue what amounts to a death threat against Russian Prime Minister Vladamir Putin and other world leaders. He told them they better be "nervous" because they might be "next," implicitly suggesting that NATO bombers might soon be flying over Moscow. What an idiot, but an idiot who is representative of the U.S. War Machine.
    These people are now trying to beguile the American public into a war against Iran, either with U.S. troops or with Israili proxy soldiers. The fact is the Iranians on the street love the United States even if the country's leaders don't. We ought to try to win these people over. We're told that we must stop the Iranians from developing nuclear weapons, but current events prove that Iranians need nuclear weapons to protect themselves form an attack by NATO. Look what happened to Libya when they gave up their weapons!
    Quite frankly, I don't care if you support murder or oppose it; support war or oppose it; want to keep millions of our troops abroad or bring them home. But I would suggest that you should be informed from sources other than the U.S. propaganda machine. I hope these two newspaper links -- one Jewish and one Arab -- will give you an easy portal to additional information.

Mainstream media mystified about the success of Herman Cain

    Steve Sailor over on the iSteve blog has such a good, short post that I am just going to steal it in its entirety. His blog can be found on the left side of this page on my blog roll.
What's the secret of Herman Cain?

The NYT has a column quoting various pundits puzzling until their puzzlers are sore over the mystery of Herman Cain's rise to the top of the GOP presidential polls. How can some random corporate executive emerge from nowhere?

It's almost as mysterious as how some random state legislator / part time law school lecturer can rise to the White House in a few years. Maybe Cain and Obama have something in common? It's crazy to think that, I know, but there's something about the two of them that seems similar. But what could it be?

    It's funny how the mainstream media are mystified -- mystified I say -- about these types of things!

Here's the link.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Amid athletic woes, the world sees Ole Miss as a beautiful and gracious place to be

    While we've all been squabbling over athletics, Ole Miss has gotten an awful lot of good press lately. The old saying goes, "We may not win every game, but we've never lost a party." Some of the news stories are of that theme, but in a good way.
    There have been so many stories this year about tailgating in the Grove that it is almost comical. Newsweek magazine has rated Ole Miss the most beautiful campus in America, apparently grading on a combination of both campus grounds and student attractiveness.
    Just a few of the Grove Stories:
Birmingham News, 10-15-11: Greetings from the Grove
The Crimson White, 10-17-11: Grove v. Quad
New York Times Travel Section, 10-14-11: Of Parties, Prose, and Football (Faulkner and Football in Oxford, Mississippi)
The Fresno State Collegian, 9-30-2011: Tailgating the Rebel Way
Foxnews.com, 10-9-11: Football Fans Never Lose the Party at the 'Holy Grail of Tailgating'
    There's some even better press about Ole Miss having nothing to do with looking pretty or having a nice cocktail party atmosphere. I'll save that for another post.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

New Forward Rebels release devastating to Pete Boone, Dan Jones

    The Forward Rebels organization has come out with some new information that is absolutely devastating to Ole Miss Chancellor Dan Jones and Athletic Director Pete Boone. To say this newly released info paints them in a bad light is an understatement.
    In the newest post on its website, called "The Case Against Pete Boone," Forward Rebels presents an actual letter written in 2009 by a major donor to Ole Miss Chancellor Dan Jones, in which he carefully outlines problems with the Ole Miss athletic program. I'll get to some of the contents of the letter in a minute, or you can read it for yourself. But after the letter was written the donor got an email from John Hartwell, Senior Executive Associate Athletics Director, informing him that because of his letter he would not be allowed to travel with the team for the upcoming year, even though his large donations apparently entitled him to.
    Also included is a letter written in March 2011, from 161 major supporters expressing similar concerns. This group in particular wanted the physical education major to be immediately restored, as all coaches have requested, and for an outside consulting firm to do a thorough review of the athletics department. Jones gave them a hem-haw about the phys-ed major and told them he had already done a thorough review when he took office, and Pete hires consultants all the time. Of course, the idea is not to have consultants hired by Pete!
    When Pete Boone has acted so maliciously towards a major donor, how can Dan Jones claim that he is the victim of "malicious" attacks -- of which he has been unable to identify one? How can Dan Jones say that the demands of Forward Rebels are being made by anonymous people when he's met with them and exchanged correspondence with them?
    There are a couple of things in the lengthy letter to Dan Jones that just pop off the page. One is that Pete Boone apparently interferes with and tries to micro-manage all of the coaches. Relations between Boone and football coach Houston Nutt are so strained that John Hartwell was hired specifically to work as a go-between to smooth things out. It hasn't worked very well. Boone is by all accounts a jerk, and sending a proxy over to do his jerky meddling doesn't make things any better.
    You might remember the lawsuit filed a couple of months ago by former Ole Miss Coach David Saunders. See Former Ole Miss coach serves notice of claim. Saunders claims that he was offered a job by Nutt and that the job fell through because Boone didn't like him. He says in the suit that the reason Boone didn't like him was because he wanted to recruit students with severe learning disabilities.
    Now I pointed out in my earlier post that a "severe learning disability" is often a fancy way of saying "low IQ." And if Saunders' claim is true, I might very well side with Boone, in that I would rather try to recruit really smart players than really dull ones. But in the end I would want to recruit players who could play football, regardless, and if that means recruiting a struggling player, so be it. And the AD shouldn't be going around behind the coach's back undercutting his decisions.
    What the David Saunders story tells us, if true, is that Boone is getting heavily involved in all of Houston Nutt's decisions. This is backed up by the letter from the big donor to Chancellor Jones. This is no way to run a football team! We have a problem and it is Pete Boone.
    There is a second tib-bit of information in the letter from the big donor to the chancellor. This is really only a rumor or concern that the big donor had, but he had apparently heard that checks were being written from the athletic department to the academic department, possibly taking funds that were legally allocated or donated to athletics and improperly transferring them to academics. Obviously just a concern, but sunshine is the best disinfectant, and it's time for a complete audit of the athletic department budget to properly account for these funds. It's a matter of public record, and we deserve to know where this money is going.
    There was one more bit of bad news for Pete Boone on Monday. Former Ole Miss standout and current K.C. Chief Jerrell Powe, who struggled for two years to gain academic admission to college, posted a letter on his Facebook page which is highly critical of Boone. Said Powe: "While you would think Mr. Boone would want me to go to school, and even more to play for Ole Miss, he was, if anything, discouraging to me during my struggle. Although many are familiar with Mr. Boone's desire to keep me out, I have held it back for a while." You can read the entire letter on the Forward Rebels Facebook page, as it has been reposted.
    If you read the David Saunders Notice of Suit, it's pretty obvious that Jerrell Powe was likely one of the players that Saunders was recruiting and working with.
    There are a lot of threads to this whole affair, but they all come back to point zero: Pete Boone needs to go.

Monday, October 24, 2011

Commercial Appeal, Apple iPhone conspire to stick it to the customer

    The Commercial Appeal has erected a paywall for those wishing to access its website from mobile phones; and they've gone about it in a particularly nasty way.
    Visit the CA website from your iPhone and you'll encounter a log-in screen with an option to register. If you aren't registered, you'll be prompted to give them a log-in name, password, and lots of personal information, such as your PHONE NUMBER. Then they send you an email to make sure they have a live one.
    Only when you click on the link in your email to activate your account do you learn that you will be expected to pay a substantial fee, either 99 cents a day or so much a month.
    Now I have no objection with the Commercial Appeal charging for its services. It's their product and they can do with it what they will. But I do have a problem with them deceiving me into providing all sorts of personal information and then telling me that I can only get access if I pay. "Oh, and if you don't pay, one of our pesky operators is now going to start calling you regularly on the phone in an attempt to brow-beat you into subscribing to our left-wing rag."
    Obviously I'm peeved with the CA, but I'm also peeved with our dear friends at Apple. The Commercial Appeal site remains free when I access it from my desktop. But my iPhone insists on sending code that tells the CA to please format its site as a mobile site. And so I'm expected to pay.
    In fact, the Safari browser does this with every site. I have never once seen a website that I liked better in the "mobile" format. I end up searching around for the button that allows me to view the full website. This is often time consuming, and I often press the wrong button because many mobile sites won't let me zoom in to make the button large enough to press accurately. The iPhone screen is plenty big enough to see a webpage; all you have to do is zoom in and out.
    Some web pages have no "button" giving access to the full site. For those situations I paid 99 cents and downloaded the Atomic Web Browser, which allows me to specify what code it will send out to the website I'm accessing. Usually this allows me to get the full webpage, but not in the case of the CA. With the Atomic web browser I'm still hitting the mobile phone pay wall even though I've got it set to emulate Internet Explorer 6.
    I'm probably going to be switching away from my iPhone in the near future. But what really annoys me is that iPhone refuses to give us what we want. They know many of us hate web pages formatted for mobile devices, yet they give us no choice in the matter. They know we want to read laying down, but they cause the screen to rotate so we can't. It's an anal-retentive control thing that just drives me nuts.
    I really didn't visit the CA site all that often; perhaps three times a week just after waking up. I certainly don't need to get their news on my iPhone.
    But it annoys me that my iPhone tells strangers that I am using a mobile device. That's my business. If I want the world to believe I'm sitting at a desk, that's the message my iPhone ought to send out. It's my iPhone, I want it to do what I tell it to do.
    Whether it's the Commercial Appeal or whether it's our cell phones, we want products that will serve us. Those who refuse to serve us out of a sense of pettiness will soon find that we aren't customers anymore.
    So Apple iPhone and Commercial Appeal, it's been good knowing you, but I can probably live without you.
    (Galaxy Nexus, I hear you calling!)

Friday, October 21, 2011

Eagle story tells of Wild Bill Schneller thumbing nose, starting fight at 1938 Arkansas game

    Jack Lamar Mayfield tells the story of the massive fight at the 1938 Arkansas-Ole Miss game played at Crump Stadium in Memphis in the Friday, Oct. 21, Oxford Eagle.
    The story, entitled 'Wild Bill' Schneller thumbs nose at Arkansas defender is, unfortunately, behind a paywall. You can pay $5 and read the Oxford Eagle over the Internet for a month.
    I had not heard of this fight until a couple of months ago, when I read about it on a football chat board. I sent my good friend, Holly Springs attorney Bill Schneller an email asking if he was any relation. His response was simply "You must live under a rock, that was my dad." I didn't know for sure. I didn't think his dad had gone to Ole Miss until a few years later. The photo, however, does give it away for anyone who knows the younger Bill.
    At any rate, according to the Oxford Eagle column, Arkansas was losing pretty badly when Schneller intercepted a pass on the 50-yard line. He ran it back for a touchdown and when he saw no Arkansas players were near him he slowed to turn and thumb his nose at the Arkansas crowd, not once but twice, once while he was running and once as he crossed the goal line. There was no such thing as excessive taunting back in those days.
    The game ended shortly thereafter and Arkansas players sought justice. A huge fight erupted amongst the players which was eventually brought under control, but as for the fans they went at it for quite a while.
    Schneller played both offense and defense. Primarily a blocking back, he apparently carried the ball as well. An Associated Press story recapping the year said he scored five touchdowns in 19 plays in which he ran or received passes. Presumably his interception was one of these.
    It's a fun story and I'm glad I had a chance to read it. You can do a Google search on "Wild Bill Schneller" to learn more.

Ole Miss players just ordinary boys, like our brothers

    The following editorial column appeared on Oct. 16, 1987 in The Daily Mississippian. I suppose I never would have written it had I not visited with football tackle Jay Schimmel, who submitted a letter to the editor a few days before and visited with me for 10-15 minutes.

Football Players Are Just Ordinary Boys

    The year was 1970. Ole Miss was playing Southern here in Oxford. I had a dog named “Archie” and was wearing an “Archie” button. Archie was on the field. It was truly the heyday of Ole Miss football.
    It was, however, a sad day for the Rebels. The Rebel football team, drunk on nine straight victories, had gone to Holly Springs the night before the game and gotten drunk at Bessie’s Lounge.
    Momma and Daddy were not pleased, because they knew, as did everyone else from Holly Springs, that the team had spent the better part of the night at Bessie’s drinking beer. Nevertheless, they dutifully cheered for the Rebels, even though they did so disgustedly.
    At some point a Southern player went down. I don’t remember how badly he was hurt but I cheered. That’s when Daddy turned to me and loudly gave me a lesson in football etiquette.
    “Son,” my daddy said, “Those boys out there are just ordinary boys like your brother. Would you like for your brother to be in a game and for someone to cheer when he was hurt?”
    Forget the fact that my brother would never be in a football game. Daddy’s message hit home, and I hung my head and said I was sorry. While I have perhaps unlearned some of the football manners my parents taught me (I “boo” the opposing team and all Democrats) I don’t think I’ve ever cheered again when an opposing player has fallen.
    These days things are looking much worse for the Rebels than they were back in 1970. We are, simply put, doing horribly, and everyone has their pet theory as to why.
    It might do us well to consider the words my Daddy told me. “Those boys out there are just ordinary boys like your brother.” They are trying, and while they deserve our honest criticism, they also deserve the same support we would give a brother.
    The Rebels, for the past several years, have been notorious for having slow starts. This year, they haven’t even started. Hopefully this weekend will be different.
    Let’s face it. Southwest Louisiana is not a great team. The Rebel team has some talent, if everyone can just manage to use it at the same time. We will probably win this weekend, and I, along with my perfect date, will be there to witness it.
    This doesn’t mean I don’t have some criticisms of the Ole Miss team and coaching staff. I do. At the same time, I also respect people who are at least trying to accomplish something.
    In deciding to play football, players give up a lot of what makes Ole Miss fun for the rest of us. They put up with a “dumb jock” image which, while sometimes true, unfairly overshadows the fact that some of the best students on this campus are athletes.
    These athletes will be on the field Saturday trying to win a game for Ole Miss and some pride for themselves. The students should be in the stands showing their support.
    If your brother was on the field, you would be at the game. And these are just ordinary boys, just like your brother.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

My GOP presidential picks, from best to worst

    I’m not sure anyone cares where I stand on the Republican presidential race, but on the off chance someone does I’ll share my views.
    Here’s my ranking of the candidates from favorite to least favorite, as well as my general comments.
    1. Ron Paul: Okay, he’s a bit goofy, and I don’t always agree with him, but he is one of the few people I am willing to actually change my opinion for; that is, if Dr. Paul says it, I’m willing to reconsider. Most importantly, he is the only candidate, and I do mean the only candidate, who supports peace. Obama ran supporting peace and started two new wars. All of the other candidates are admitted warmongers. Unlike most presidents, Paul actually wants to weaken the office of the presidency and return power to the Congress and to the states. I guess he’s the next best thing to John Ed Ainsworth, who ran for Mississippi’s State Land Commission on a platform of seeking to abolish the office. This man could change America, and for the better.

    2. Newt Gingrich: When most of Newt’s campaign staff quit him six months ago everyone thought he was finished. I thought he knew exactly what he was doing. The Republican field is weak, and he has just been there week after week, a steady, strong, and incredibly smart and informed candidate. Make no mistake, Newt can be full of himself, but intellectually he makes Nancy Pelosi look like a birdbrain.
    Everyone talks about Newt’s personal life. He’s on his third wife. Wife number one was his math teacher and reportedly started dating him when he was 16. In most states such teacher-student relationships would be a crime akin to rape, but apparently not in Georgia. But certainly he can’t be held responsible if such a relationship ended in divorce. By the way, his daughter says the story of him going to the hospital while his wife was sick to ask for a divorce is absolutely false; she says her mother had already asked for a divorce and Newt was merely taking her to visit her mother.
    His second wife, Marianne Gingrich, apparently abandoned Newt for six years after he was elected to Congress. They got back together, but I think she refused to move to Washington. Eventually he had an affair, which is certainly to be expected when he’s living in Washington and she’s living in Georgia. He asked for a divorce. Suddenly she was hurt to the quick. It was all fine and good for her to leave him for six years, but let him decide he wants a divorce and suddenly she is the woman scorned full of bitter and hateful things to say about him. What a horrid woman.
    Admittedly he has shown bad taste in women a couple of times, but presumably the third time will be a charm. And quite frankly, when I hear him talk about public and foreign policy, I don’t care if he’s been married a hundred times. The man is a genius.

    3. Mitt Romney: Okay, Romney was a liberal Republican when he was governor of the most liberal state in the union. He supported universal health care in a very wealthy state, where more people were already insured than the rest of the nation. But I think politicians listen to the people who elect them. It’s not always a “flip-flop” to change one’s position when running for office representing two completely different constituencies.
    I do think Romney’s Mormon religion is going to be a problem in the South. Four years ago my brother was talking to two influential Republicans who were raving over Romney after hearing him speak. They suggested they might be supporting him in the upcoming primaries. My brother asked whether they thought his being a Mormon would hurt his chances in the South.
Both of them said something along the lines of, “He’s a Mormon? Oh, Well then he won’t have my vote.”
    I don’t have a problem voting for a Mormon; I think they tend to be more moral than the rest of us and that we might learn a lot from them. Furthermore, they believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God, that he died on the cross for our sins and was resurrected. As such they are Christians as that’s all it takes. The fact that they also believe some rather outlandish things about spaceships, Christ visiting with the Indians, golden plates, and such is of no consequence. They believe all that matters, and the persecution by small-minded people just needs to stop.
    At any rate, I like Romney. If he gets the nomination I will support him with gusto. By the time the Mississippi primary comes around he might well be my first choice.

    4. Herman Cain: Every decent person likes Herman Cain. He’s a true-blue conservative. A lot of people say his 9-9-9 tax plan is too regressive, but if it is, modify it a little to make it fairer, maybe by adding a point-nine percent annual tax on estates exceeding $9 million. Right now we have high corporate taxes and all the corporations are sending their profits to Ireland, then to another Irish Company, then to the Netherlands, then to the Bahamas, and thus paying no tax. Tax them at a low rate and the money stays here at home, putting money in the treasury and creating jobs for Americans. I do think it says something for the changes that have taken place in the South that Herman Cain is the favorite Republican in most Southern states, where mostly whites vote in Republican primaries. Of course, desperate liberals say that whites who support Cain are “racist.” You’ve got to love it!
    The only reason I don’t rate Cain higher is that he just doesn’t seem ready for prime time. He keeps saying some pretty wacky things that he has to take back, and I think he has an incredibly poor knowledge of foreign policy.

    5. Michelle Bachmann: I was impressed enough with Bachmann a few months back to “like” her on Facebook. I’m just not so impressed anymore. I do still like her, but I like her just where she is.

    6. Buddy Roemer: Not sure what he’s for, but he’s from Louisiana and against the big corporations. Every man a king!

    7. Rick Santorum: We’re going to have to burn all the gay people at the stake, which is going to use a lot of natural resources in gathering firewood. But he’s a good Catholic; if you don’t believe it, ask him.

    8. Gary Johnson: I don’t know who this man is, but I prefer him to Rick Perry.

    9. Rick Perry: The slime of the earth. Ended the investigation into a man’s execution because the commission was to report that the executed man was probably innocent. Accused Mitt Romney of hiring illegal aliens because a lawn care company he paid to mow his yard employed one. LIAR! And when Mitt tried to set the record straight he broke the rules and refused to let Mitt speak. He supports totally open borders, which is totally destroying this country. In short the only person worse than this terrible man is Barack Obama. So if he gets the nomination I will support him – reluctantly.

We can thank Dan Jones and Pete Boone for new Delta State ad

ADDENDUM 10-22: A reader comments that the ad below looks like a Photoshop production rather than an actual newspaper ad. It's been posted on Facebook and no doubt sent by email, but hopefully hasn't made an appearance in print. Plenty will see it, however, as Facebook is as good as any newspaper these days.

    If you don't believe Chancellor Dan Jones and Athletic Director Pete Boone are harming Ole Miss, just take a look at this ad, apparently placed by Delta State University. Delta State has been enjoying remarkable success with their Division II football program and is currently ranked first in the nation.
    Jones is known for his remarkably uncivil discourse, which is harmful to the Ole Miss family. His refusal to do the right thing and either have Boone resign or fire Boone is harming not only the athletic program but the entire school.
    The quality of a football team shouldn't matter when students decide where they will attend college, but it does. Everyone enjoys the thrill of victory. Ole Miss has been getting a remarkable amount of good press as the most beautiful campus and the best tailgating school in the nation. Unfortunately, Ole Miss was also rated as having one of the worst 10 football teams in the nation by ESPN.
    Pete Boone is harming our school by his inability to manage an athletic program and his refusal to resign. Chancellor Jones is harming our school by his refusal to do his job and fire Boone and his uncivil behavior. While these two prance and bray like jackasses, the Ole Miss family -- and our football team -- continue to lose.

(Click on the photo, perhaps twice, to enlarge)

Unsettling news from the Ole Miss law school

    Philip Thomas reports some unsettling news from the Ole Miss Law School in which he cites the national Above the Law blog. It seems the placement director at the law school has decided that it is not her job to help students find jobs!
    His post begins:
The Director of the University of Mississippi Law Schools Career Service Director has garnered national attention--and not in a good way. The hugely popular Above the Law blog reported this week on the director sending an email to students taking the position that the career services office is not in the business of finding students jobs.

    Thomas' Mississippi Litigation Review Blog is featured in my Blog Roll on the left side of this page. Here's his post: Ole Miss Law School's Career Services Director Abdicates Her Job Duty

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Reminder: Balko panel discussion to include showing of Mississippi Innocence

    I reported back in August that civil libertarian Radley Balko would be speaking at Ole Miss on Tuesday, Oct. 25. My original post said he was speaking at the law school, but in fact he is speaking at the Overby Center for Journalism and Politics in Farley Hall at 5:30 p.m. More information about the panel discussion can be found right here.
    Balko is going to be part of a panel discussion that will follow a screening of "Mississippi Innocence," a locally made film about two innocent men who were convicted of murder based on junk science and arguably false testimony. For example, the dentist who testified against the men has sent one woman to jail with testimony that he can tell a lesbian bite mark from a heterosexual bite mark. Steven Hayne, another witness, has testified that he can tell from a bullet hole whether a gun was held with one or two hands.
    I saw Mississippi Innocence at the Oxford Film Festival. It is a powerful film. I also heard Kennedy Brewer and Levon Brooks tell their story. They both had sadness over their experience, but an amazing lack of rage or anger.
    I provided a short biography of Balko in my original post back in August. I see no need to repeat it here. You can just read the original post. As I said then, I hope I convince my children to come with me; I think it's important for them to understand how our criminal justice system works -- and doesn't work.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

How illegal immigration perpetuates the student debt trap

    One of the complaints of many of the "Occupy Wall Street" protesters is that they have mounds of student debt that they can't possibly repay.
    As a society we now encourage everyone to go to college. Not only that, we send a message that the more education, the better. So after college, why not grad school?
    Not very bright? No worry there; there are plenty of colleges for the not so bright. And whatever college one wants to go to, the federal government stands ready to pay with a guaranteed loan. After all, no one should be shut out from attending an expensive private school. So lots of marginal students are attending very expensive colleges, with loans that can never be discharged in bankruptcy.
    There are a couple of reasons we are encouraging everyone to go to college. One big reason is that policy makers confuse correlation with causation. For example, in jr. high smart children have started taking algebra in seventh or eighth grade. Studies show that children who take algebra in seventh or eighth grade all go on to do well in college. Therefore, educators (in California, for example) decide that all children should take algebra in eighth grade, on the assumption it will cause them all to do well in college.
    Of course, it doesn't work that way, because correlation isn't causation. When only a few children take algebra in eighth grade it means they are taking it because they are really smart. Their later success in college has only a little to do with having taken algebra early and a lot to do with the fact that they are just plain smart. Meanwhile, forcing a bunch of average and below-average kids to take eighth-grade algebra actually harms them -- they just aren't ready for it.
    The same is true for college. Having a college degree is associated with having a higher income. But much of this is because smart people earn more, and smart people have tended to go to college. As part of trying to send everyone to college, most schools now offer "remedial" classes. Nobody bothers to tell these marginal students that their chance of earning a degree is roughly one in six -- that might discourage them. All most of them will earn is a mountain of debt.
    This is where the illegal aliens come in. One of the reasons people are so desperate to go to college is because the elites have adopted policies that have encouraged millions upon millions of illegal aliens to enter the country and work at low-skill jobs for low wages. This has depressed wages for low-skilled Americans, which has led many people to think their only option is to go to college. The problem is that many can't make it; others get their degree and still aren't all that hireable -- except that they now have to try to pay off tons of educational debt with a low wage job.
    Get rid of the illegal aliens and wage levels would have to rise dramatically. All the jobs that "Americans won't do" would have to offer wages high enough to make Americans want to do them. Marginal students would be able to take a job doing manual labor and make a decent living.
    Make no mistake, for many people college is a great choice. But it's not for everyone, and by pretending it is we perpetuate a cruel hoax on millions of Americans who end up facing a life of debt peonage while receiving few benefits from their expensive college sojourn.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Too much regulation cause of current banking, economic mess

    It's accepted as an absolute article of faith among most Americans that the current banking crisis -- and it certainly is not over -- is the result of too few regulations. More regulations, the liberals tell us, we prevent this type of thing from ever happening again.
    Here's a news flash for you: It wasn't too little regulation that has caused this mess, but too much. And more regulation is just going to make the problem worse.
    Now make no mistake, I support breaking up the really big banks. These banks are a threat to our economy. They should be forced to pay substantially more in deposit insurance than smaller banks. This alone will break them up into smaller pieces in pretty short order.
    But the constant pressure on banks to make minority housing loans, regardless of the quality of these loans, is what has led to our current quagmire. The federal government and groups like ACORN were constantly bringing court actions to force banks to increase their number of bad minority loans. And of course any bank wanting to merge had to be able to show a portfolio of risky minority loans or their merger simply wouldn't be approved.
    And then came George Bush and Karl Rove, who wanted to court the Hispanic vote by easing loan requirements to make it easy for minorities, i.e. poor peope, to purchase homes. Lenders were encouraged, and sometimes ordered, to make loans to people with marginal credit, with little or no money down. To facilitate this, Fannie Mae stood ready to guarantee this pile of fecal matter.
    Now it should be noted that the overwhelming majority of these bad loans didn't go to minorities. When the government lowered or eliminated down payments, these programs applied to everyone, not just minorities. The rest is history.
    In hindsight, how in the world did anyone think it was a favor to minorities to encourage banks to make relatively high-interest loans to then that they couldn't repay? How does this help anyone?
    With this as a backdrop, it is a bit more understandable why many of the banks feel they are entitled to a "bailout." They did what the government forced them to do and then everything turned to crap.
    What's important to understand is that the only banking regulation we need is to try to force big banks to get smaller, so no bank will be too big to fail. Aside from that, banks need fewer regulations, not more.
    Unfortunately, we're still going in the other direction. In June of this year the Obama administration forced a St. Louis bank to open a branch in a slum in order to make loans to people who don't have the income to repay them.
    As long as banks are being forced to make bone-headed decisions like that, it's a sign that we have too much banking regulation, not too little.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Mammaw Moore's Chicken and Rice Casserole

    Here's another handwritten recipe, this one from my grandmother, Lessye Moore. It's for Chicken and Rice Casserole and has, among other things cream of chicken soup, cream of mushroom soup, cream of celery soup, and a stick and a half of butter. Makes my heart skip a beat just thinking about it!
    Rather than retype the recipe I'll just publish the handwritten version. Just click on it, and maybe click on it a second time to enlarge it.
    I'll cook this in the next few days and will report back on how it turns out!

ADDENDUM 10-18: I cooked this last night. Talk about SALTY! I do not recommend seasoning with the Lawry's or Season All. Use a seasoning for the chicken that has NO salt. Also, for your cans of soup, consider using one can of low-sodium soup.

I used almost a full soup can of water, and strongly suggest doing so. I also only used one stick of butter to pour over the top instead of a stick and a half. Also, it does need the full 1.5 hours cooking time, maybe a bit longer for the rice to get fully done. Next time I may cook it covered for the first 45 minutes to let the rice get steamed a bit more. Placing the chicken on top does let it get nice and brown, so I wouldn't want to have it covered for the whole cooking time.

Friday, October 14, 2011

Sara Hurdle's dirty rice recipe

    We're having grilled chicken and dirty rice for supper.
    I'm using my mother's recipe for dirty rice, which doesn't include sausage, as some recipes do. It's easy to make and was always a favorite of mine. With that said, I don't believe I've had it in 10 or 15 years. I pulled out mother's cookbook, there it was, and I decided to have a taste of the past.
    It's really easy to make -- the only work is chopping an onion and some celery and then sauteing them in some butter. It doesn't take long. Here's the recipe, followed by a scan of mother's handwritten copy. There's a certain electricity about the handwriting of loved ones who have passed on, don't you think?

Dirty Rice Casserole

1 large onion, chopped
Some celery, chopped fine
1 stick oleo or butter
1 cup raw rice
1 can beef consomme (to this add enough water to make 2 cups of liquid)
1 small can mushrooms -- stems and pieces

Saute onion and celery in butter and add to remaining ingredients in a casserole dish. Cook at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to one hour.

Dinner is in the oven even as I type, but my guess is that you could get by just fine with three-fourths of a stick of butter and a couple of extra tablespoons of water. Consult your cardiologist on this.

    Oh, and I'm labeling this "Sara Hurdle's" recipe. I'm sure she got it from somewhere else, but I remember it as hers and that's all that matters.

Oxford Middle School band coming along just fine

    The Oxford Middle School band does a pretty good job, particularly since it is made up of some young kids who have just started playing.
    Shown in this video are the 7th and 8th grade members of the band at the Oxford-Greenwood Jr. High game on Oct. 11, playing Louie, Louie. Oh, and the Oxford 7th graders defeated the Greenwood 8th grade second string team 26-6, as I recall.
    Ash was in the band last year and was doing pretty well with the French horn, but decided to go for football this year.
    I shot this with my iPhone, so don't expect great quality; but it's good enough for you to see they are doing a good job!

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Drudge report draws all aces

    I love the Drudge Report! You've gotta love this photo of three world despots, all sharing the same pose. Hit this on a slot machine and who knows what the payout would be. Hit this in real life, and just face of lot of misery!

Conservative blogger Taggart calls it quits at Clarion-Ledger

    Republican political operative Andy Taggart has quit writing for the Clarion-Ledger's "Red-Blue" blog with a final, "I've-had-it" posting criticizing that liberal newspaper.
    The blog, which featured posts by Taggart and liberal Democratic insider Jere Nash, has been active for several years.
    Taggart said he was fed up with the Ledger's liberal bias, and cited a recent headline in which the paper claimed that 46 Senate Republicans somehow magically transformed themselves into a group of more than 50 and killed President Obama's job bill. Said Taggart:
Tonight's headline on the C-L wire story is, "Republicans kill Obama jobs bill."

Horse harnesses.

Once upon a time, Sid Salter provided at least some balance. Now you people have gone over the edge.

Forty six, count them, 46, Republicans voted against Barack Obama's tax hiking bill. That's a minority of the United States Senate.

That means that Democrats -- members of the President's party -- also opposed what he was trying to do to Americans and the American economy.

The left wing crowd at the Clarion-Ledger blamed a minority of Republicans for the failure of Barack Obama's bill.

I'm done with them.

Here's the link: My Last Post

Religion of Obama downgraded from denomination to mere cult


    These photos were already posted on The Drudge Report, but I found them worth reposting, if for no other reason than to have them in my "scrapbook."
    The top photo is of Barack Obama campaigning in Pittsburgh in October 2008. Since he never had really done anything to qualify himself to be president, he had never taken a position that would make anyone angry. As a state senator he tended to vote "present" instead of voting for or against legislation. The result was that Americans could imagine him to be whatever they wanted him to be. Oh, and they could prove to themselves that they weren't racist by voting for a black man. The public adored the man and multitudes turned out to worship him wherever he went.
    The second photo is of Barack Obama campaigning in Pittsburgh a few days ago. He's now taken positions on things, and the doltish American public has suddenly realized that they voted for a far-left socialist when most Americans are slightly right of center. Most people want this disaster out of the White house. They still don't know who they want to replace him, but in the meantime they would rather stay home and rearrange their sock drawer than turn out to listen to another pablum-puking liberal make his case for more taxes and bigger government.
    Does it bring to mind the saying attributed to Abraham Lincoln: "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time."

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

99-percenters right to protest crony capitalist bankers

    While the 99-percent movement is a bit ridiculous at times, it also makes some valid points. One point in that a few large banks are essentially destroying this country.
    Make no mistake, the government encouraged these banks to make risky loans to marginal borrowers. When they found out they could make a dollar they went at it full tilt. Much of the blame for our current problems belongs with the belief that every citizen just has to own their own home, a mantra still being chanted by some in Washington.
    But the real problem is the same one we had several years ago: Banks which are too big to fail.
    If the economy is functioning normally there will be bank failures from to time. And some bondholders might get their fingers burned just a bit. But in the end, no problem.
    But in today's economy we have a few large banks that can seek profits without regard to risk, because they know they are too big to fail. The government gives them all kinds of sweetheart deals, including unlimited money at one-half percent interest, in order to fatten their bottom line. Don't you think you could make money if you had unlimited funds at half-a-percent interest?
    So the government and the federal reserve are shoveling taxpayer money into these big banks, which now are recording record profits. And since they are profitable they are paying their top executives lots of money, which is fine when they are earning the profits on their on, but not so great when the government is essentially just handing them the treasury.
    The solution is the same today as it was four years ago. Force these big banks to get smaller.
    All we need to do is tax banks based on their size and charge bigger banks higher FDIC premiums. Leave the small banks alone, but hit the bigger ones with a progressively larger tax. These banks are run by businessmen who will soon see the benefit of breaking up their banks into smaller firms -- the kind of banks that helped build this country.
    And if a few of them fail, so what? We will have created an economy where banks are free to be successful -- or to fail. For the rest of us, life will go on.

Friday, October 7, 2011

Perhaps the biggest bid day in Ole Miss history

    Last week was Rush week at Ole Miss. There was an increase in the percentage of freshmen going through Rush, although the percentage still a fraction of what it was back in the days when Rush was the week before school started.
    But Ole Miss is a bigger place each year, and I think this year's rush group was the highest in Ole Miss history. 1,082 men signed up for rush and 804 received bids. 1,215 women signed up for rush and 1,073. received bids.
    The Daily Mississippian reports that sorority quota this year was 117, with an additional quota of 10 for upper-class rushees (that's upper class as in sophomores, juniors and seniors, not rich girls). It is reportedly the second-highest quota in the history of the American Greek system. The highest was also this year at the University of Arkansas, which was higher by three.
    After the girls get their bids they walk or run down Sorority Row to join their new sisters. I decided to take my 11-year-old daughter, Lucy, to observe the proper way to squeal. When you view the video below you will hear that I have created a squeal-instruction masterpiece!
    To any high school kids out there, if Ole Miss looks like a fun place, that's because it is. But there is plenty of school work going on. The Barksdale Honors college just announced that the average ACT score of its roughly 1,000 students is almost 31.
    But Sunday wasn't about studying, it was about having fun. And there was plenty of that to go around!



Oh, and by the way, feel free to post a link to my blog, but don't steal my video, as poor as it is!

Eminent domain scholar to speak at UM law school Monday

    Ilya Somin, a professor at George Mason University and a scholar on issues involving constitutional law, property and eminent domain, will speak at the Ole Miss Law School Monday, Oct. 10 at 12:30. The lecture is sponsored by the University of Mississippi Federalist Society. As usual there is no publicity for this as Ole Miss does not publicize campus events.
    Somin is a regular contributor to Eugene Volokh's "Volokh Conspiracy" blog, a libertarian-leaning blog which I feature on the left side of my blog page.
    Rather than write a long story, I'll take the easy way out and reprint Somin's post from the Volokh blog:
On Monday, October 10, I will be speaking at the University of Mississippi School of Law on a Mississippi eminent domain reform referendum initiative, Measure 31 (which is on the ballot this November). The talk is sponsored by the University of Mississippi Federalist Society, and will begun at 12:30 PM in Room 2094.

Mississippi is one of only a handful of states that have not enacted any eminent domain reforms at all since the Supreme Court’s controversial 2005 decision in Kelo v. City of New London, which ruled that the Constitution allows government to forcibly transfer private property to other private entities for purposes of “economic development.” Forty-three other states have enacted new laws, though many of them are likely to be ineffective.

Mississippi has a considerable history of dubious takings. Republican Governor Haley Barbour is a prominent advocate of massive condemnations that transfer property to big business interests such as auto manufacturers. In 2009, he vetoed a legislative eminent domain reform billIn this article, I explained why the kinds of economic development takings Barbour supports generally create more economic harm than benefit.

Although Measure 31 is not perfect, it would be a major improvement over current Mississippi law, which allows a wide range of economic development takings for big development projects, and also defines “blight” so broadly that virtually any area can be declared blighted and condemned. The initiative precludes economic development takings almost entirely by forbidding the transfer of condemned property to private interests for at least 10 years after the taking. It does create an exemption to this rule for property that is unfit for human habitation or poses a “direct threat” to public health or safety. But that is much more restrictive than the state’s current blight law. Broad definitions of blight that license abusive takings are a serious problem in many other states, including New York.

I will have more to say about Measure 31 at my presentation, and probably in a follow-up post that I will write after the talk for readers interested in the issue who are unable to attend.

    According to the George Mason Law School website, Somin's research focuses on constitutional law, property law, and the study of popular political participation and its implications for constitutional democracy. Somin currently serves as Co-Editor of the Supreme Court Economic Review, one of the country's top-rated law and economics journals. His work has appeared in numerous scholarly journals, including the Yale Law Journal, Stanford Law Review, Northwestern University Law Review, Georgetown Law Journal, Critical Review, and others. He has also published articles in a variety of popular press outlets, including the Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal OpinionJournal.com, Newark Star Ledger, Orlando Sentinel, South China Morning Post, Legal Times, National Law Journal and Reason. He has been quoted or interviewed by the New York Times, Washington Post, BBC, and the Voice of America, among other media. In July 2009, he testified on property rights issues at the United States Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
    For anyone who cares about property rights, regardless of their position on the proposed eminent domain amendment, this should be an interesting presentation.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

McEwen's on the Square has upscale lunch at reasonable price

    Jinny and I went out for lunch yesterday and decided on McEwen’s, on the Square in Oxford in the old Waltz location.
    I had always wanted to eat at the old Waltz, but everything was priced a few dollars too much for me. McEwen’s had their menu posted and their prices seemed quite reasonable, particularly for lunch.
    I’ve posted a copy of the lunch menu below. Jinny took a look at the “small plates” dinner menu on the way in and said, “They all look so good I want one of each.” So McEwen’s does have a good menu.
    Jinny and I both got the lunch special for the day, which was stuffed pork loin. It came with two sides. I got garlic mashed potatoes and squash casserole; Jinny got the squash casserole and fried okra.
    The food arrived and was beautiful on the plate. I wish I had snapped an iPhone photo. I thought the pork loin and potatoes were good. Jinny and I both thought the squash casserole could have used some more cheese and butter. Jinny said her fried okra was outstanding.
    Jinny really didn’t like her pork loin as she felt the stuffing had too much sage, and so she only picked at it. Sometimes there will be a dish that some customers will like and others won’t. It’s probably a good idea when trying new things not to have two people ordering the same item. That way if one person is disappointed they can swap.
    Of course, one of the problems with restaurant recipes is that if McEwen’s adds less sage to their stuffing and more cheese to their casserole some people will say they are using too little sage and too much cheese. Well, maybe; does anybody ever complain about too much cheese?
    One of the best parts of the meal was the check – it came to just over $23; that’s with Jinny getting tea and me getting water. For that $23 we had one of the most upscale lunches once can experience in Oxford. We’ll be back and I wish this restaurant well!

Note: You may need to click on this menu twice to read it! The first click will open it in a new window. The second click will magnify it.
McEwen's on Urbanspoon

Monday, October 3, 2011

A nearly free genetic test that just might save your life

    Today I’m going to tell you about a nearly free genetic test that could save you a lot of medical grief and in rare instances might even save your life. In fact, chances are you’ve already performed this test on yourself, you just don’t know what the results mean.
    As always, my disclaimer: I’m not a doctor, although I play one at cocktail parties.
    Everybody loves a story about someone else’s grief and misery, so I’ll share mine. Several years ago I saw a weight-loss ad in the paper and decided to go see a fat doctor, who I will call “Dr. Aflac.” For any of you who might be hard of thinking, what’s the Aflac duck say? Quack, quack!
    Dr. Aflac prescribed me phentermine, generic Prozac, and pig thyroid for weight loss which makes sense. Prozac, an SSRI, does promote weight loss for some patients, although not as effectively as the banned fenfluramine. Phentermine, a mild stimulant, has long been known to cause weight loss. And thyroid supplements will increase metabolism, although the body tends to resist efforts to increase thyroid levels by reducing production.
    The drugs were effective, but after a week I started having trouble sleeping and my legs and arms would have spasms, particularly at night. After two weeks it was much worse, and I could only get to sleep by taking some Ativan, which I had in reserve for airplane rides.
    I reported my problem to Dr. Aflac and he assured me it would go away, and that Prozac never caused these types of problems. So I continued two more weeks. By this time I was totally sleepless and could not hold a fork steady enough to get it to my mouth. I had to hold a drink cup with two hands.
    I must say I had lost some weight, though. The inability to keep food on one’s fork is highly conducive to the loss of weight.
    At this point I decided to take my case to the Internet, where I soon found that Prozac is processed by a liver enzyme known as CYP2D6. Somewhere between three and seven percent of the white population suffers from a severe deficiency of this enzyme. I suspect I produce virtually none of it. At the other end of the spectrum are a few people who produce a lot of this enzyme.
    It’s possible to take a genetic test for the CYP2D6 enzyme. These tests can cost hundreds of dollars. If you don’t want to spring for a test right away, you can just ask yourself one question: What do you think of and how much do you like dextromethorphan? That’s the drug in Robitussen DM. Chances are if you take a good slug you either hate it, feel nothing or perhaps find it mildly pleasurable, or absolutely love it.
    If you really love dextromethorphan you are an ultra-metabolizer and have a lot of CYP2D6. It is from this group that people who use dextromethorphan as a drug of abuse come from. So if you have heard of someone “Robi-running” and asked yourself “Why?”, the answer is because they are getting something from the drug that most people don’t.
    If DM is only slightly pleasurable to you, or not particularly pleasurable at all that’s good news. It means you’re normal, and a whole bunch of drugs are going to work for you just like they are supposed to work. Congratulations.
    If you hate dextromethorphan it is likely because you are a poor metabolizer and have little or no CYP2D6. On a personal level, it makes me feel too bad to stay up, but I can’t go to sleep either. My brain feels likes it’s laying atop a razor blade. Ouch!
    So what does all of this mean and why is it important to you? Well, if you have little or no CYP2D6 dozens of drugs – as many as 25 percent – simply aren’t going to work properly for you. In some cases there will be only a slight loss of efficacy, but in others it can be dangerous. When the doctor prescribed me Prozac for weight loss, my lack of CYP2D6 meant that the drug wasn’t being broken down and removed from my system. Not only wasn’t the drug not working exactly properly, but it was building up in massive amounts because by body couldn’t break it down. Codeine, as a cough syrup, is absolutely ineffective on those without CYP2D6, as the body can’t convert the codeine into the morphine which actually suppresses the cough. (Hydrocodone uses CYP2D6, but provides some but lessened effect in those who don’t have the enzyme). SSRIs don’t break down properly without CYP2D6; a few, such as Paxil, can be downright dangerous. Tamoxifen, the breast cancer hormone drug, doesn’t work well or at all without CYP2D6. Obviously knowing whether or not one has the enzyme to process this drug is pretty darn important when deciding on a cancer treatment.
    Many doctors are amazingly unaware of the important of individual liver enzyme profiles in the treatment of patients. I’ve never had one ask me how I felt about dextromethorphan, and I suspect few know of this shortcut to expensive genetic testing.
    Make no mistake, if your life depends on getting the most out of a particular medicine you ought to pay for genetic enzyme profiling. But everyone’s health could be much improved if they would ask and consider their answer to one simple question:
    How does dextromethorphan make you feel?

Saturday, October 1, 2011

A football thumping likely ahead, but Alabama has already beaten us for innovation

    The Ole Miss-Alabama game isn't for two weeks but Alabama has already beaten us.
    Two Alabama conservation enforcement officers have started a company called Holy Smoke LLC to fill the need of people who wish to be cremated and then have their ashes mixed with gunshot and used to shoot things. What a concept!    For $850, one pound of ash will be loaded into 250 shotgun shells. The ash is mixed in the cups that hold the shot, not the powder. The person you designate can then go out and shoot things. blowing your ashes around the countryside. Experts suggest not eating any meat from around where the shot enters, though.
    "This isn't a joke. It's a job that we take very seriously," he said. "This is a reverent business. We take the utmost care in what we do and show the greatest respect for the remains."
    Okay Mississippi businessmen, it's time to put your thinking caps on!
    Here's the link: Company will load loved ones' ashes into ammunition