right to refuse service?

Recently, there have been more and more reports of pharmacists and doctors refusing to treat certain patients or prescribe certain medications because of their religious beliefs. What's going on here? Isn't everyone entitled to medicine and medical treatment?

I can understand not wanting to do abortions if you truly believe that it's murder (and quite frankly I'm not sure that I could perform an abortion myself), but then where do you draw the line? It's not right to deny an unmarried person birth control pills or a lesbian couple artificial insemination services.

More on that issue here

- Jean Chen

Labor Division

"I'm for the AFL-CIO," is a stance I took a long time ago-- despite their past.

Now that the Teamsters and SEIU have decided to disaffiliate, I'm wondering about the larger role of workers' unions in the global economy. The situation, if left to our administrations, (small "a" intended) is bleak. Corporatist policy is neither Democrat nor Repug-lican.

Still, I'm hopeful (and aware that) the Labor Movement's dealing with the challenges of the global economy. In the same way they brought us the weekend-- one of my favorite bumper stickers!-- they may bring us a new era of assurances and rights for people around the world who want to earn a decent wage for a hard day's work.

Teamsters, SEIU-- I hope your move moves a worldwide agenda for unionized labor. Please, please and double-Thank You.

To Lie For

Frank Rich connects the dots in what seems to be an even darker murkier problem than anyone thought:

"On that evening's broadcast of ABC's 'World News Tonight,' American soldiers in Falluja spoke angrily of how their tour of duty had been extended yet again, only a week after Donald Rumsfeld told them they were going home. Soon the Drudge Report announced that ABC's correspondent, Jeffrey Kofman, was gay. Matt Drudge told Lloyd Grove of The Washington Post at the time that 'someone from the White House communications shop' had given him that information.

"Mr. McClellan denied White House involvement with any Kofman revelation, a denial now worth as much as his denials of White House involvement with the trashing of the Wilsons. Identifying someone as gay isn't a crime in any event, but the "outing" of Mr. Kofman (who turned out to be openly gay) almost simultaneously with the outing of Ms. Plame points to a pervasive culture of revenge in the White House and offers a clue as to who might be driving it. As Joshua Green reported in detail in The Atlantic Monthly last year, a recurring feature of Mr. Rove's political campaigns throughout his career has been the questioning of an 'opponent's sexual orientation.'"

Death To Newspapers?

From Media Notes

"John Carroll, who is stepping down as editor of the Tribune Company-owned LAT, was asked by Columbia Journalism Review : 'Is it possible for a great newspaper to thrive under the umbrella of a publicly traded corporation?

"'JC: This is one of the penetrating questions about our business. Can corporations that are not family-controlled produce excellent newspapers? The returns aren't in, but it's not looking good. Newspaper-owning corporations -- and I mean all of them, not just my own employer -- have an unwritten pact with Wall Street that requires unsustainably high profit levels. Each year, newspapers shed reporters, editors, photographers, designers and newshole. Each year, readers get less. Each year many of those readers turn elsewhere for their news. . . .

"'It's important that the Los Angeles Times remain firmly in the top tier -- important to the community, important to journalism, important to the national conversation. There's no other newsgathering engine this formidable west of Manhattan. The nation's voice should not be monopolized by New York and Washington.'"

Yay for Costco

Ok, yes, they are big business and I'm sure they have forced out smaller independent stores. But at least they treat their workers right with decent pay and health benefits. They even allow unions!

Click here for the NY Times article

What's striking about the article are all the quotes from business consultants who are just interested in short term profits and who criticize Costco for being too kind to employees and spending too much on them. What's wrong with treating people like human beings instead of costs of doing business? I hope the consultants burn in hell.

- Jean Chen

Where's Dick?

Hey, what's up with Dick Cheney these days? Where is he and what is he doing?

- Jean Chen

Hope Edith Wasn't Practicing Her Acceptance Speech

There he is, Mr. New Supreme Court Justice. Will Bush's candidate John Roberts threaten the hanging-by-a-thread Roe Vs. Wade? Will he give a thumbs-down to gay marriage? Will he ban back-row snuggling at the movies? I'm not sure, but I do know that his his history is a little troubling--as a Justice Department lawyer in 1990, he argued that Roe Vs. Wade "should be overruled." But then again, in 2003, he said that R v. W was "the settled law of the land" and "there's nothing in my personal views that would prevent me from fully and faithfully applying that precedent." So...I'm gonna mull that one over until my head explodes.

In more shallow news, you gotta feel sorry for Edith Clement--up until this afternoon, news websites were featuring her picture on their front pages as the likely next SCJ. DENIED! I can only hope moderate (sob) Edith Clement is hatching some diabolical revenge plot against mean old conservative (sob sob) John Roberts, perhaps by ringing his doorbell and running away before somebody opens the door. But whatever works.

Say It Ain't So, Heathen Hollywood!

Damn it, Los Angeles! I rely on your films to show me shirtless honeyz, car chases, and lots and lots of 'splosions. Don't tell me you're getting all Johnny Churchgoer on me!

New York Times: The Passion of the Marketers

Is Hollywood trying to market its film to the flock? That's what this New York Times article says. Because of increased awareness of the Christian dollar, studios are hiring Christian consultants to bitch-slap some religion into scripts--or give the thumbs down to the occasional "Jesus!" or "Goddamn it!"

This bugs me on two levels. First off, while many films are just time-pass brain suckers, many are intended as art and shouldn't suited to fit one particular group.

Second, I'm not thrilled with the idea of religion being cheapened by folks who just want to make an easy buck off it. Sure, the gleaming God Gear on this page was made to make money too, but those folks who make velvet Jesus paintings have to make money somehow. As a Catholic, I'd be terribly offended at a film in which a muscleman just kneeled down for a few Lord's Prayers before some big action scene.

Not that I don't mind seeing religion used in not-so-reverent ways. When John Woo blew up a Virgin Mary statue with a hail of bullets in "The Killer" I hope I wasn't the only thinking "rock and roll!"

Ordinary Lads

There's an article in the SF Chronicle talking about how 3 of the suspects of the London bombings were "ordinary lads," kids of Pakistani descent who were born in Britain, played cricket, hung out, and had no arrest records.

I hope this doesn't justify racial profiling and crackdowns in Muslim areas. And I also can't help but wonder if the police are pointing the finger at the wrong suspects.

Check out the full article

-Jean Chen

Corporate Cops

Bernard Ebbers, CEO of WorldCom just got sentenced to 25 years in prison for his 11 billion dollar accounting fraud. Justice has been served! But with all these CEOs getting busted, I think they should start a reality tv show called "Corporate Cops." It would be just like "Cops," except it would focus on Ebbers, Martha Stewart, John Rigas, etc.

And check it out. There was some drama outside the courthouse:

"On Ebbers' way into the courthouse Wednesday, photographers and cameramen crowded in front of him, and he reached out and pushed one of them out of the way."

Bad boys, bad boys...

Check out the news article

-Jean Chen

Football: Not a Sport for Sissies. Or People with Common Sense.

An interesting story straight out of Sao Paulo: Apparently, the mothers of Brazilian soccer players have become popular targets for ransom kidnappings.

SFGate.com: Kidnappings target Brazil's soccer moms
Gangs seek ransoms from star players

It's a solid article, but violence in football is hardly new. In 1994, Colombia defender Andreas Escobar was shot to death after making a fatal autogoal during a critical World Cup 1994 match. And of course, we have the phenomenon of the football hooligan. A proud English tradition dating back to the 1950's, football hooliganry involves frenzied loyalty to your local football club, picking fights with opposing fans, fire-setting, rowdiness and just general mayhem. Yeehaw!



Football hooliganism is a serious problem that has begun to spread to other countries, but...(looks around) I must confess I've always harbored a secret desire to get out there and throw some chairs through windows. I mean, somedays you wake up just itching to suit up in your Man City gear, listen to "Supersonic" on repeat and throttle Juventus fans. D'ya know what I mean?

Intelligent Design

This site is too funny:

http://www.venganza.org/index.htm

I hope Kansas has to start teaching theories on the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Well, actually I don't.

-Jean Chen

Hey! What about Novak??

Ok, so can someone please explain why Robert Novak wasn't arrested? And why is Judy Miller going to jail?

This is from AP:

"[Judge] Fitzgerald is investigating whether a crime was committed, and by whom, in the Bush administration's leak of the name of undercover CIA officer Valerie Plame.

Columnist Robert Novak first published Plame's name in July 2003, days after her husband, former U.S. Ambassador Joe Wilson, publicly disparaged President Bush's rationale for invading Iraq. Administration detractors said the leak was designed to punish Wilson for his criticism by ending his wife's undercover career.

Time magazine reporter Matt Cooper, who identified Plame after Novak, avoided the same jail term given Miller. Also held in contempt by Hogan for refusing to testify before Fitzgerald's grand jury, Cooper shocked the packed courtroom Wednesday by announcing that his source had contacted him just hours earlier to give him specific, unambiguous permission to tell the grand jury about their conversations.

Miller never wrote a story naming Plame, and there's been no official explanation why Fitzgerald wants Miller's testimony. The court rulings upholding his effort have blacked out details of his reasons. New York Times' attorney Floyd Abrams speculated Wednesday that "most likely somebody testified to the grand jury that he or she had spoken to Judy.""

Angelina Jolie

I don't care whether or not she's dating Brad Pitt -- what I care about is that Angelina Jolie is publicizing what's going on in developing nations. I usually hate celebrity antics and the media coverage they get, but I have to say that I'm grateful for the work Jolie is doing.

Oh, and this was in the SFGate.com celeb gossip column:

Angelina Jolie wishes her childhood therapists had just arranged to drop her off in Africa because such a trip would have ended years of self-abuse.
The actress insists her experiences as a charity worker in the world's trouble zones have taught her to be less selfish and to realize there are people far worse off than she is.

But doctors who tried to get to the bottom of Jolie's personal teenage problems when she was in high school insisted on linking her behavior to the fact she came from a broken home.

She says, "The doctor was probably going on about my father and mother while I was doing acid on the weekends and bleeding underneath my clothes.

"I think now that if somebody would have taken me at 14 and dropped me in the middle of Asia or Africa, I'd have realized how self-centred I was, and that there was real pain and real death real things to fight for. I wouldn't have been fighting myself so much.

"I wish when I was thinking about suicide, I'd have seen how many people are dying each day that have no choice in the matter. I would have appreciated the fact that I had a choice."

- Jean Chen

Backpedal! Backpedal! The Public Opinion Polls Are In!

Yep, the guv'ment has realized that folks are majorly angry about this whole eminent domain hubbub. "You mean folks don't like the idea of having their ancestral homes yoinked and razed to make room for a superTargetcaliWalmartexpeCostCodocious? Damn, we need some good PR, stat!"

Congress is already trying row backwards on the Supreme Court's eminent domain ruling. Hopefully they won't lose an oar and end up rowing in a circle.

New York Times: 'Republican Lawmakers Fire Back at Judiciary'

San Francisco Chronicle: 'Foes in Congress Unite in Defense of Property'

Not Just "Flog" Spelled Backwards!

Women in Tehran are taking up a new hobby--GOLF! With a few relaxations in the dress code, more Iranian ladies are flocking to the links. Apparently, it was really, really tough to swing a wedge while wrestling with your chador.

Iranian Women's Dress Code Is Modest but Golf Friendly



Is anybody surprised by how modernized Islamic dress is looking these days? It's still pretty damn constricting/utterly unfashionable but it looks a lot different from the dress worn by most women in Iran just last decade. You can see the ladies' sneakers! Yes, I know the feminist movements in the Middle East have bigger things to worry about than clothes, but...sneakers!

Solve World Hunger Whilst Rocking Out, Hopefully

For the past few weeks, Bob Geldof's grim visage has been popping up everwhere as he extolls the virtues of his Live 8 concert. Well, folks, your fevered waiting is about to pay off--Live 8 (Lord, I hate that cheesy name. It's Live Aid 20! 20!) is finally going down this weekend.

CNN: Geldof Sees Live as 'Final Push'

I don't know how effective a pop concert will be in curing the World's Ills. I will merely present the following quote from charmingly cheeky Oasis frontman Noel Gallagher

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but are they hoping that one of these guys from the G8 is on a quick 15 minute break at Gleneagles (in Scotland) and sees Annie Lennox singing "Sweet Dreams" and thinks, 'F**k me, she might have a point there, you know?'

"Keane doing "Somewhere Only We Know" and some Japanese businessman going, 'Aw, look at him... we should really f**king drop that debt, you know.'

"It's not going to happen, is it?"