Church or Jail?

Oct 022011
 
 October 2, 2011  Posted by  Tagged with: ,
Church or Jail?

Bay Minette, a city in my home state Alabama (woot!), recently launched “Operation Restore Our Community.” It sounds super legitimate, but I can’t say that I am too proud of it. Essentially, Bay Minette is now offering some offenders the choice between “Jesus time” and “jail time.” The ones who choose church over jail will have to check in with a local church of their choosing every Sunday for a year. This Operation aims to provide a more long-term solution to some offenses and is projected to save $75 a day per inmate. Only churches are participating in the Operation because there are no synagogues/mosques/temples in the region. And it is also being sued by the ACLU on the claims that the city government is forcing religious participation (surprise!?!?).

PETA goes explicit (more so than usual)

Sep 232011
 
 September 23, 2011  Posted by  Tagged with: , ,
PETA goes explicit (more so than usual)

PETA doesn’t beat around the bush. Rather, it is generally quite outspoken and direct about our questionable animal practices. And it doesn’t shy away from provocative advertising tactics, often with the help from scantily clad women. But it seems like the folks at PETA are kicking it up a notch. NPR reports that PETA is planning a website that will “feature ‘tantalizing’ videos and photographs” (read: pornography) leading to its usual animal rights messages. Never mind that “tantalizing” summons up images of that medium-rare filet mignon oozing with the last drops of life force, it’s easy to see why this new initiative is questionable. The obvious objection is that using an immorality to promote an ethical viewpoint reeks of hypocrisy. Moreover, from a practical standpoint, this new enticement is bound More…

As sly as a cow

Sep 222011
 
 September 22, 2011  Posted by  Tagged with: ,
As sly as a cow

Disclaimer: I love steak. I’m not just talking the occasional steak every now and then; I’m talking three days a week growing up I enjoyed a Porterhouse and a baked potato. It’s a South Dakota thing. Now that we have any potential conflicts illuminated, meet Yvonne. Yvonne is German cow who stuck it to the man and ran away moments before she was to be slaughtered. It seems quite ordinary that a cow would get frightened as it is being ushered to its death. What is out of the ordinary is that Yvonne’s escape was successful. Moreover, she wasn’t just able to finagle her way out of the slaughterhouse line; Yvonne has managed to evade: “Hunters on a shoot-to-kill mission (since called off); Search parties of volunteers trying to find More…

Your Apple Juice May be Killing You…Seriously

Sep 192011
 
 September 19, 2011  Posted by  Tagged with: , ,

TV host, Dr. Oz, and the FDA have gone to war over apple juice after he claimed on his show that the arsenic levels in many brands are poisoning consumers.  According to a recent Atlantic Wire article, the FDA is failing miserably to debunk this latest health hysteria despite its best attempt.  It looks like in this battle royale between a bureaucratic governmental agency and a charming TV personality, the TV personality is winning.  The FDA just doesn’t have the same adoring legion of (mostly) female fans. The deeper issue (believe it or not) lies beyond whether your apple juice is killing you.  Rather, I think this latest incident calls to question the intentionality and the repercussions of Dr. Oz’s proclamation.  Is it morally reprehensible that Dr. Oz is fanning More…

Revisiting often questioned TSA practices

Jun 302011
 
 June 30, 2011  Posted by  Tagged with: ,
Revisiting often questioned TSA practices

A few days ago, the TSA received flack for invading a 95-year-old woman’s privacy beyond the capability of an X-ray machine or a pat-down. Lena Reppart was one of the three percent of airline travelers pulled aside for a pat down through airport security to fly from Florida to her native Michigan June 18. As if the process of being groped by a stranger wasn’t awkward enough, the security agent encountered a dilemma–Reppart’s adult diaper was full, and they couldn’t let her through the checkpoint without knowing for certain what the liquid was. To make her flight, Reppart removed her diaper in the bathroom and went through security again, this time without a hitch. Even more so than 8oz of shampoo or a water bottle, the prospect of a terrorist More…

Side effects of capitalism

Jun 072011
 
 June 7, 2011  Posted by  Tagged with:
Side effects of capitalism

In recent years, Duke Medicine has toed the line on an ethical issue that has come into the spotlight this week. Dr. Victor Tapson – a researcher and faculty member here at Duke – has been unfavorably singled out in a report produced by the Senate Finance Committee because of his financial ties to pharmaceutical company Sanofi. It’s definitely not out of the ordinary for a medical researcher to act as a sort of pharmaceutical sponsor – giving presentations on behalf of certain drugs in return for large sums of money. In fact, as the Duke Chronicle reported last December, the University is proud of its policies regarding such relationships. However, in a presentation to the Federal Drug Administration, Tapson allegedly did just what these policies try to prevent – More…

Reasons for a Rapture

May 312011
 
 May 31, 2011  Posted by  Tagged with: ,
Reasons for a Rapture

A couple weeks ago, I saw a series of billboards a near my house so strange that they warranted a Google search. In almost no time, I found that these fiery displays, threatening the end of days, belonged to Harold Camping, the almost 90-year-old Family Radio preacher who was certain that God would make his final judgments last Saturday. With the exception of his few loyal followers, Camping was probably the only one of us who was disappointed when he opened his front door Saturday morning and realized the world wasn’t enduring any sort of rapture. After a weekend of silence, Camping emerged from his California home Monday to concede that the 21st was simply a “spiritual rapture” and that the world will really come to an end this October. More…

The Man Who Cried Radiation

Apr 252011
 
 April 25, 2011  Posted by  Tagged with: ,

The boy who cried “wolf!” met an unfortunate end.  Last week, the man who cried “radiation!” did too. According to a recent Reuter’s article, a Chinese man in the Zhejiang province, Chen, was jailed for 10 days and fined 500 yuan for spreading online rumors that Japanese radiation had contaminated Chinese waters.  Chen posted a note via an online-message board to urge his family members and friends to stockpile salt, to avoid seafood, and to spread the message. Censorship and individual liberties are clearly the defining issues in this case; however, the more interesting question is whether is posting “RADIATION” on the internet is the same as screaming “FIRE” in a crowded theatre.  Is one more morally “okay” than the other?

I know where you were last night…

Apr 222011
 
 April 22, 2011  Posted by  Tagged with: ,
I know where you were last night...

I don’t have an iPhone or any other kind of smart phone, not for any real reason. I just never felt the need to get one; I already have a decent cell phone. Now, however, I think I’ve found a reason to avoid them. Last week, two developers found that iPhones log their users’ locations to a file called “consolidated.db,” each detailed with longitude-latitude coordinates and a timestamp. According to Time magazine blogger Erica Ho, Apple has been collecting this data for over a year in order to better assess where its users need service. Although it seems to be a mild enough excuse, I can’t shake the thought that this is more than a little bit creepy.

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