A woman's body is at its fertility peak between the ages of 17 and 23. So when young women advertise or flaunt their sexuality they are being driven by a force far stronger than the Judeo-Christian ethic. They are driven by the power of peak fertility and a million years of evolutionary biology. Nature has programmed them for pregnancy, genetic diversity and keeping the species going. A big job.

I have no argument with this premise. However, he seems to completely miss the mark as he heads towards his conclusion.

A healthier society would allow women to have children earlier than they do now. At 32, no matter what people want to believe, the reproductive system is far less robust than it was 10 years earlier. Our aim should be to have children born into a culture where there is plenty of support for child care in addition to the mother, thus liberating mothers to more fully exploit the possibilities that advanced society can offer them.

Guess what culture gives a lot of support to young mothers and children and has worked for thousands of years? The culture of marriage. Indeed, the best predictor for poverty isn’t the age at which one has children, but whether or not one is married when the children are born.

And this isn’t just some tired old Judeo-Christian ethics thing. Not only are women biologically programmed for desiring children at the age of their peak fertility, but they are also biologically programmed for wanting to keep the father around. Men are the ones who are typically seen as wanting to sow their seed far and wide, while making sure that their partners don’t. Marriage is and has been an almost universal method across nearly all cultures for dealing with the competing biological urges of the sexes.

But, instead of promoting marriage, the tried and true method of making sure children have the support they need, Mr. Sheehan lauds the recent expansion of parental leave rights in Australia.

One of the objections I am getting to my previous post about Ian Stoakes, author of “A New Dawn” and his past as a scam artist, is that I haven’t read his books and so I don’t really know the information. Well, given my last post, I am certainly not going to spend $25 on them to find out, but I have been reading some other stuff about PCOS and inflammation that is of some interest to the issue.

From the other information provided on Mr. Stoakes’ website, it appears that he is making 3 premises:

1. PCOS is caused by inflammation.
2. That inflammation is caused by food.
3. Mr. Stoakes test can accurately test which foods cause the inflammation in each person.

The previous post certainly casts an awful lot of doubt on premise #3, but while we’re at it, let’s take a look at premise #1 – that PCOS is caused by inflammation.

Inflammation and PCOS is something that has been in a lot of research papers lately. In fact, these studies have found increased levels of inflammatory markers in women with PCOS.

Gonzalez F, Thusu K, Abdel-Rahman E, Prabhala A, Tomani M, Dandona P. Elevated serum levels of tumor necrosis factor alpha in normal-weight women with polycystic ovary syndrome. Metabolism 1999;48:437-41.
Kelly CC, Lyall H, Petrie JR, Gould GW, Connell JM, Sattar N. Low grade chronic inflammation in women with polycystic ovarian syndrome. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2001;86:2453-5.
Kelly CJ, Lyall H, Petrie JR, Gould GW, Connell JM, Rumley A, et al. A specific elevation in tissue plasminogen activator antigen in women with polycystic ovarian syndrome. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2002;87:3287-90.
Atiomo WU, Bates SA, Condon JE, Shaw S, West JH, Prentice AG. The plasminogen activator system in women with polycystic ovary syndrome. Fertil Steril 1998;69:236-41.
Atiomo WU, Fox R, Condon JE, Shaw S, Friend J, Prentice AG, et al. Raised plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) is not an independent risk factor in the polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Clin Endocrinol (Oxf) 2000;52:487-92.

However, unlike what many seem to think, just because two things are related, doesn’t mean we can immediately assume that one causes another. While Mr. Stoakes and others who think inflammation is the cause of every disease on the planet might think that these studies prove that inflammation causes PCOS, there are in fact three possibilities:

1. Inflammation causes PCOS.
2. PCOS causes inflammation.
3. Some third problem (such as insulin resistance, for example) causes both inflammation and PCOS.

This process can be carried out by an elimination diet (which Ian does not recommend) or a $1500 blood test. (Of course no one was told about the test until after they already spent $25 on the book.)

I have looked around his website. He references no research papers that either discuss the issue of whether or not PCOS is caused by inflammation, or the issue of whether this inflammation is caused by allergies to certain foods. (In fact, nearly half of the articles referenced in his PCOS article are from dental journals that discuss a disease that causes inflammation of the gums.) He also provides no information about his credentials, his research, the test name, or the technical process whereby food allergies are found.

After spending a few hours searching the web, I happened upon some interesting information. In an article in the July 1998 issue of Positive Health Magazine, this information about Ian Stoakes appeared. (All the many misspelled words were left as they were.)

Ian Stoakes trained as a teaccher, concentrating on behaviourally disturbed children. After running a unit for mentally handicapped children he was employed by the Home Office as principal of a secure unit. He has worked for a number of charities, primarily involved with children and nutrition. He was Chief Executive of the Dietary Research Foundation, which conducted research into the relationship between nutrition and intelligence. He is now Chief Executive of NuTron Analytical Limited.

A teacher, not a doctor. Now that’s certainly sounds like someone I’d trust to give me expensive medial advice without a single iota of pertinent backup research.

The article itself, of which only an abstract is available, discusses a blood test that detects which foods cause an inflammatory response.

Days before the event, [David] Lash, a construction worker, suffered a job-related injury in which he lost a quarter of his right index finger, the suit says.

About 3 a.m. on Jan. 11, he suffered an allergic reaction to medication at his stepdaughter's house, the suit says, and his son, David Lash Jr., came to the house to restrain him, said Lash's attorney, Stephen Wyse.

Since when does an allergic reaction to medication make it necessary to restrain someone? What, were they trying to stop him from scratching himself? (After all, as Mom always says, “scratching it just makes it itch more.”)

In all seriousness, I suspect it was most likely some other sort of bad reaction (I hate it when the word allergic is tossed around like that) to a medication, probably one of the psychiatric sort, or else that’s just some sort of weird excuse.

Lash Jr. had his father pinned to the floor when Moberly police arrived, Wyse said. When Lash Sr. moved his shoulder, two officers, whose names are not given, shot both the father and the son with a Taser, the suit claims.

Then, after Lash Jr. was taken to another room, the officers continued administering the shocks to Lash Sr., kicked him in the groin and neck, reinjured his finger and caused him to lose two front teeth, the suit says.

"Reinjured his finger?" So did he lose the previously reattached portion of his finger, or did a new quarter fall off?

"I'm an ex-cop, and I'm familiar with the use of force and when it's necessary and when it's not, and they had no reason to use force here," [Stephen] Wyse [Lash's attorney], said. "They had no reason to start Tasering his son and him."

I’d be interested to see what the officers’ version of events is. However, if the guy was going so crazy that his son had to drive over, restrain him, and call the cops, it seems likely that they did indeed have a reason to start tasering him. I wonder what injuries Lash Jr. and the police officers sustained at the hands of Lash Sr.

After the officers put a stranglehold on Lash Sr., he began to vomit, and an ambulance was called to take him to the hospital, Wyse said.

At the hospital, he was unconscious for most of 10 days, Wyse said. He suffered kidney failure, and he received dialysis treatments for two months, Wyse said.

Hmm. I searched all over and couldn’t find any connection between Taser guns and kidney failure. People who claim Taser guns are dangerous seem to think they can cause damage to the heart, lungs, or skin, not the kidneys.

Again, I wonder what drug he had an “allergic reaction” to and what other side effects it has. What other medical problems does he have? Could something else have caused his kidney failure and/or hospitilization?

Not only does the lawsuit seek unspecified damages from the police department, it also seeks to cash in on $5 million from Taser International Inc. because “Taser, the police department and other defendants failed to train the officers properly.”

I didn’t know that Taser was responsible for ensuring the training of every single officer who uses their product. Does anyone more familiar with this subject know if similar tactics have been used against gun manufacturers?

It could turn out differently, but it certainly seems like a frivolous lawsuit so far.

Henrico County [Virginia] has 24 full-time bus drivers, plus 20 supervisors and others pulled in to cover routes, transportation supervisor Harold Grimes said. The average driver turnover is between 10 percent and 13 percent a year; there are now 23 driver vacancies.

Grimes said that besides balking at the starting salary of $13,920, or $10.69 an hour ($14,153 annually and $10.87 hourly for the upcoming school year), potential bus drivers also consider the responsibility involved, especially after recent bus accidents and violent incidents on buses.

"They're in charge with those children," Grimes said. "Plus it's hard to watch for the traffic. When it's added together, people say, 'Whoa, why am I trying to do this?"'

Virginia has had two fatal accidents this year -- a teenager was killed in February and last month two children died after their bus collided with a truck. And in Tennessee, a 14-year-old was charged with fatally shooting bus driver Joyce Gregory in March because he "hated her," according to a recorded statement played in court.

Earlier this month, a security camera on a school bus in Punta Gorda, Florida, captured a fight between a substitute driver and two teens. The driver was charged with misdemeanor battery and the teens with assault.

Behavior problems that affect teachers also affect everyone else who comes into contact with the kids.

At the end of the article, someone puts the blame where it belongs.

Megan Williams, a mother of four, thinks potential bus drivers don't want to put up with disrespectful children, for which she blames parents.

"I am part of the problem. I have four boys. They are the kind that don't sit still and say, 'Yes, ma'am, no, ma'am,"' Williams said. "I drive my van with my four kids in it and that's enough. I can't imagine a bus full of them."

Er, ok... At least she's not in denial.

More than half of those responding to a new poll said they would be at least somewhat likely to vote for Sen. Hillary Clinton if she runs for president in 2008.

But those saying they are virtually certain to vote against her topped those virtually certain to support her by 10 percentage points in the CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll.

The poll found 29 percent were very likely to cast a vote for Hillary Clinton for president and 24 percent said they were somewhat likely.
Seven percent were not very likely and 39 percent said they were not at all likely. The margin of error was plus or minus 5 percentage points

Some note that

Clinton commands as much strong support as George W. Bush did in a Newsweek poll in November 1998, two years before the 2000 election, though also more strong opposition.

The amount of strong opposition is going to be a big obstacle for a presidential run. I think the Democrats would be foolish to immediately nominate her without considering that factor.

CNN also notes that there is “overwhelming support” (67%) among her New York constituents. However…

Among Democrats [] 65 percent surveyed want her to pledge to serve out a full term if she runs, negating a 2008 White House bid.

Given that, this next piece of news is interesting.

Senator Clinton is believed to be ready to drop a pledge to serve a full six-year term when she seeks re-election as senator for New York next year.

This will be the clearest sign of her intention to run for the White House, since she pointedly told New York voters in 2000 that she would not curtail her term in order to try for the presidency.

The official line from her advisers is Senator Clinton is keeping options open. But The Washington Post reported: "In 2000, she repeatedly pledged that she would finish her term without seeking the presidency. Aides say she will not issue such a pledge this time."

So it isn’t confirmed yet, but then again if she were going to issue the pledge you’d think they’d just say that she was.

It still amazes me that so many of our politicians, on all sides, are spending the majority of their time campaigning for other offices rather than doing their jobs. If anyone else spent 4 hours at work every day working on hig resume and reading the classifieds, he'd get fired for sure. But I suppose that’s just the way it is.

While New York Democrats want her to pledge to serve a full term, I doubt that her not doing so will prevent her from winning the 2006 senate run. I often read stories about so-and-so considering running against her, but no good candidates are coming to the forefront. I am sure she will win re-election. The White House is not at all a certainty though.

Back at the CNN article, I enjoyed this quote from her

"My view is that life unfolds in its own rhythm. I've never lived a life that I thought I could plan out."

Yeah, that’s believable. Hillary Clinton reads like she has a detailed 500 page manuscript of her future, including sketches of the clothes she plans to wear to each inauguration, as well as her carefully considered last words.

In other news, Newsday manages to print the stupidest opening line to a story that I’ve ever heard.

Conservatives may strive to portray New York Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton as a polarizing figure, but she unified Hollywood Democratic political donors at a series of fundraisers that netted an estimated $1 million in a single evening, hosts estimated Thursday.

Imagine that! A politician unifying political donors at her fundraiser? That'll show those conservatives.

(Check out the Hillary Watch catagory for more stuff Hillary Clinton has been up to.)

SSRIs are a class of antidepressant drugs that include paxil, prozac, effexor, cymbalta, celexa, zoloft, and many others. The abbreviation stands for “selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor.” Serotonin is one of the neurotransmitters that help to regulate mood. It is released by neurons and activates receptors on other neurons, then is reabsorbed, (a process which is called reuptake.) SSRIs work by preventing serotonin from being taken back up from the synapse, which increases serotonin levels in the brain and makes serotonin signals stronger. This helps people with depression because they generally have lower serotonin levels. (Some of the drugs also work on other neurotransmitters, such as Norepinephrine.) A similar thing happens when you take cocaine.

Over time, the brain chemistry adjusts as the body tries to go back to what it sees as “normal.” The neurons actually produce less serotonin than they did originally. This means that the body develops a tolerance to the drug: the same amount no longer works as well and more of the drug must be taken to have the original effect.

This also helps explain the effects of withdrawal. If the user all of a sudden stops taking the drug, reuptake will no longer be prevented but the brain will still be making less serotonin, meaning that the serotonin levels will actually be lower than they were before the user started taking the drugs. In some people this causes severe side effects, ranging from flu like symptoms to more “mental” problems such as nightmares, suicidal thoughts, anxiety, hallucinations, and just a general sense of being “f’d up.” This can often be worse than the depression was in the first place.

I can’t even begin to describe how scary it is to go through this. The first time it happened to me, it was because I had missed a few doses. I was having dreams about raining blood and I felt disconnected from reality. I had no idea that missing a few doses of your antidepressant could cause this, so I thought it was all me. I seriously thought I was going crazy.

The second time it happened, I had run out of my medication on a weekend and had no way to get any more. I knew what was happening and I thought I would be able to handle it, but after a few days I just couldn’t hold out anymore and had to go to the ER and pay them exorbitantly amounts of money just to get a few pills. This time I felt like a drug-seeking junkie.

Regulators Thursday ordered Internet telephone carriers to provide full 911 emergency calling services to customers later this year, after hearing from people who were unable to get through during life-threatening crises.

The Federal Communications Commission voted unanimously to require carriers to ensure that 911 calls from Internet phones will reach live emergency dispatchers instead of being connected to administrative lines. In addition, the carriers will have to provide callers' numbers and addresses.

The FCC approved the order at an open meeting attended by families who had trouble reaching 911 operators when they dialed for help with Internet phones.

This is good news. Of course I'm sure this will mean one more random charge on my cell phone bill that helps to practically double the contract price...

A pregnant student who was banned from graduation at her Roman Catholic high school announced her own name and walked across the stage anyway at the close of the program.

Alysha Cosby's decision prompted cheers and applause Tuesday from many of her fellow seniors at St. Jude Educational Institute.

But her mother and aunt were escorted out of the church by police after Cosby headed back to her seat.

"I can't believe something like this is happening in 2005," said her mother, Sheila Cosby. "My daughter has been through a lot and I am proud of her. She deserved to walk, and she did."

...

"I worked hard throughout high school and I wanted to walk with my class," she said.

If I were making the decision for the school, I probably would have gone the other way with this one, depending on other circumstances. I certainly have respect for their decision though. It is a private religious school, and preventing public flouting of their morals is not something all that outlandish, discriminatory, or unexpected. I mean come on, it's a Catholic school! If I were the student or the student's family I surely would have respected the decision.

On the other hand...

Cosby was told in March that she could no longer attend school because of safety concerns, and her name was not listed in the graduation program.

The father of Cosby's child, also a senior at the school, was allowed to participate in graduation.

I have a lot less respect for the school for not coming out and saying their reasons and instead coming up with some crap about "safety concerns." What, were they afraid she'd trip and fall down the stairs on the way up to the stage?

And I damn well have a lot less respect for the school for allowing the other culpable party to walk when his partner was not. He may not have a big pregnant belly, but he's just as responsible and should recieve the same punishment.

Number 2 Pencil has more.

Customer Service Representative: All right then, I've put that into the computer and the line should be deactivated sometime today. Now I just need to...

Phone: *click*

Me: Ha ha! That sure was quick.

(And yes, the phone had just been shut off, it was not a disconnect or anything.)

Griffin’s approach is interesting and effective, but I’m afraid it’s logically flawed for two reasons.

First of all, people calling in to a conservative leaning talk radio show who are already resistant to gay marriage are probably not going to be the ones who would feel the effects of society’s redefinition of marriage. They most likely already have a clearly defined definition of marriage in their heads that is not so dependant on society’s whims as others’ may be. Obviously they are willing to defend that definition, both against Griffin and against things that happen around them.

Secondly, the question assumes a rather simplistic view of peoples’ objections to gay marriage. No opponent to gay marriage who is saying it would affect marriage as an institution is seriously suggesting that once two gay people get married, other marriages across the country will immediately drop dead for that reason and that reason only.

That would be like a doctor reading a study that says rheumatoid arthritis suffers are 10% more likely to have consumed lots of red meat, and then telling each patient that comes in that they got the disease because they ate lots of red meat. Diseases of the body are a little more complicated than that, and so are diseases of marriage.

Can you imagine someone objecting to the doctor telling people to eat less red meat because the doctor can’t come up with an example of someone who ate a steak and then woke up with rheumatoid arthritis the next day? There may be other reasons to not agree with that plan of attack, but the one given here ain’t one of them.

Any societal occurrence that affects traditional marriage, for good or for bad, takes years to show its effects in any statistically significant way and even then it’s going to be pretty hard to measure because of all the other factors that also have influence. Does this mean that we, as a society, should stop asking ourselves what possible effects, subtle or not, any change might have? I think not.

Marriage as a societal institution isn’t a right, it’s something society has around to benefit itself. If gay marriage supporters actually want to change peoples’ minds, they need to stop insisting that marriage is a right and refusing it to them is outright discrimination, and instead try to convince the public that gay marriage helps society. And “well, it doesn’t really hurt anyone” just isn’t going to cut it. It’s absurd to say that gay marriage will have absolutely no effect on marriage itself. Indeed, the only question that should be up for debate here is “how.”

This all reminds me of the flurry of commentary from supporters of gay marriage after Britney Spears’ 55 hour marriage.

I did some research on it, and was amazed to find that the estimate for the number of people who jumped to their deaths from the World Trade Center on 9-11 runs from 50 to 200 people. I knew that there were some jumpers, but I didn’t realize that there were so many. I certainly didn’t know that the media under-reported that story. (Obviously they did a good job.)

I have a hard time understanding the objections of those who didn’t want the pictures to be published. From what I’ve found, none of them were ever positively identified, although (somewhat insensitive) attempts were made, so it’s not as though the death of any specific person is being capitalized on.

Apparently another reason given was that pictures would lead to violence against Muslims.

Some seem to think it was merely sick voyeurism for the papers to print them.

I would think, though, that the reason people really objected was that they are just too disturbing to deal with, especially with the wound so fresh. The image of the towers collapsing combined with the words that thousands of people died is nothing compared to the image of even one of those people falling to their deaths. The first is academic, the second forces me to wonder what it must have been like to have to choose between two deaths, one long and agonizing; one immediate but requiring a step over the edge.

Likewise, the pictures of starved and abused holocaust victims stacked like so much refuse bring home the realities of the horror in a way that the words “millions dead” never can.

I suddenly find myself thinking more about the people who died and were injured this week.

that reserve the first 10 slots in an 18-student class for minority students, while requiring others who want to get into the class to arrive on the morning of the first day of class and meet with an adviser before being allowed to register for the remaining eight slots. The OMAS pays for and controls three lower-division math and three lower-division English classes that allow fewer enrolled students and provide more individualized instructor attention. While other sections of Math 242 and Math 243 this term have an average of 115 students for lectures, 29 students for discussions and 35 students for integrated classes, the OMAS classes had a maximum of 18 students. The general Writing 121 and Writing 122 sections had an average of 25 students per class, and the OMAS sections were again restricted to 18 students.

Linda Liu, advising coordinator and academic adviser for OMAS, said the classes are meant to offer a safe haven for minority students and give struggling students a chance to work more closely with professors.

This issue was brought to the forefront when a white student attempted to enroll in one of these classes because it was the only one available. This certainly seems like blatant racism to me. What’s the reason given for these classes?

University Senior Instructor Michel Kovcholovsky, who teaches the OMAS's math classes, said the classes were created to foster a comfortable environment for minorities. "That was the basic idea, so that they don't feel afraid to raise their hand and ask something."

Ahhh, the same condescending claptrap you always hear from these sorts of people. Minorities might feel afraid to raise their hands to ask a question if there are too many white people in the class. (This makes me wonder what they are going to do if they get a job in the real world where less than half of the workforce is non-white.) Let me just say, as a female engineering student I attended many a class where I was one of 2-3, if not the only, female in the class. It never caused me a moment of trouble.

I might also point out that, seeing as how American engineering programs attract a lot of students from different countries, there were also times when white students were in the minority in my classes. And yet no one ever made any concessions for us. Indeed, see my article from last month about unintelligible foreign instructors. On that subject many were saying that this problem was the fault of the white American students who just weren’t willing to suck it up and learn “worldly listening skills.” So what if it took them half the semester to learn how to understand the instructor and they were unable to catch up?

He said students enjoy interacting with him one-on-one.

Gee, you think other struggling students would enjoy interacting with you one-on-one?

The course material he teaches is exactly the same. "To lower the standards for people of color would be racism," Kovcholovsky said.

That last sentence there is pretty darn funny.

On a happier note, I see that I hit 10,000 hits while I was gone. Not all that special compared to some blogs, but I'll take it.