$3.51 a Deal?

I filled up my car on my way home... for $3.51/gallon. And that's a deal! Or should I say, that's a deal?

I remember oh so many weeks ago when the idea of $3.50 gas had people ready to turn in their cars for bikes, to sell homes and walk to work, to cancel summer vacation plans in favor of that new cheesy media term, a "stay-cation."

But now, all is relative. It amazes me just how fickle the American public can be... how quickly the same number can go from "crisis" to "relative bargain." Since it's been higher, albeit just for a few weeks, people now feel relief when they see this, and are driving more again. Considering Labor Day plans because gas is "cheaper". Cheaper. This same number that was a crisis point on the way up now elicits a sigh of relief on the way down.

I really need a Vespa.

While we're sharing...

...I want to share one more thing I read this week... Here's a little taste:

Tangoing Cheek to Cheek for 3 Minutes in the Park

It was a sultry 6 p.m. in Central Park, and over by the 1872 Shakespeare
statue at Literary Walk, melancholy rhythms spilled from two speakers propped up on park benches.

Courtenay Nugent rose. He asked Fran Beaumont to dance. There they
were: the two it took to tango.

They moved sensually across the asphalt pavers, counterclockwise around
the monument, under a coquettish breeze and what was to become a limitless
starry sky and an oblong moon. As dozens of onlookers watched over the next
three hours, about 50 couples swayed to the steps of the dance that has been
called a three-minute love affair.

The New York Times played this article front and center on their home page Friday. It's amazingly refreshing to know that one of the remaining bastions of journalism can find room for amazing writing and intriguing storytelling...WITHOUT squirreling it away in the recess of its web pages.

Thank you, NYTimes.com Now if only the rest of the journalistic world could follow suit.

Supreme Court makes a mistake

At least, in my opinion they did.

(disclaimer: I wrote this on Tuesday when the decision came down - please keep that in mind when looking at the time references)

Today, the justices of the nation's High court entered the abortion debate through a different door. Instead of trying to regulate the availability, the Court, for the first time, made a ruling that regulates the medical procedure itself. In Gonzales v. Carhart, the Supreme Court upheld a ban on partial-birth abortions. The Washington Post does a wonderful job of explaining the issue and the ruling.

The logic behind it was:
1) The law at issue doesn't tell women they can not get an abortion, only which procedure they can not have;
2) and it leaves other procedures available to women;
3) and it will only impact a small portion of the women in America who choose abortion;
4) therefore it will not fly in the face of Roe v Wade and is constitutional.

I can't say that I agree. Stepping outside the abortion debate and the firsts for the Court in that arena, let's look at this for a second. Today's decision has now allowed the Supreme Court to legislate medicine in this country. If the justices can be convinced through a strong legal argument that a certain form of chemotherapy is undesireable, or that a certain surgery isn't being regulated properly by the AMA, they now have precedent to step in. This bothers me.

Doctors have peer review to govern their acts because peers know the profession, the risks, the new technology, and the history of failures and successes. Laywers have the same. As do any number of professional groups who are better off being regulated by their comrades than their government. Even a federal appeals court agreed last week, saying they had no constitutional right to step into the debate over mercury in dental fillings just because one group didn't think the FDA was taking the claims seriously.

The Supreme Court has bypassed the clamoring media circus at the gates and entered the abortion debate from a side door. I only hope that this ruling doesn't send safe and honest service providers slinking out the back door.

Contradiction of Terms

Spotted this license plate in my rear-view mirror on the way to work this morning:

Save the Earth.

The vehicle sporting it?

An H2

People kill me!

Dentyne-isms

I rarely buy gum, but I picked up three packs of Dentyne for a friend yesterday. They have these awesome little sayings on the backs....Dentyne-isms. I can't seem to find a website for them, so pardon me if I get this wrong, but one of them hit the nail on the head....

Dentyne-ism #19: Don't date anyone who says they "need to be selfish right now."

Once again...Words of Wisdom from a bubble gum wrapper.

I suck

Okay, you know it's been way too long since posting when blog-readers have to track you down and ask if you're blogging around on them. No, I've not blogged anyone else. I'm not blogging behind your back. I've simply, in the past, used this space as a place to pontificate and lately, there have been a few pair of ears who wanted to hear my thoughts. So I've been doing more speaking than writing....and it's taken away from my time to connect with the written word.

To the faithful who still read here, I apologize. I've likely run you all off anyway. However, I promised two posts within a week. A slightly longer vacation than I anticipated allowed me to miss that deadline. However, I'll post again soon. And sooner. And sooner.

After all, these conversations have led me to a number of questions to pose. Some rhetorical, some just damn funny. And some random observations to make...no wonder a friend tried to register "random" as part of a domain name for me.

Talk to you all soon. I hope.

Two Great Bumper Stickers

The title of the post says it all. Both spotted here in the South in the last week...

1) on a Toyota Camry:

January 20, 2009

The End of an Error

2) on a Lexus (whatever their luxury Sedan is called - I don't know my high end cars very well..)

If that fetus you saved turns out to be gay,

Will you stop fighting for his or her rights?

That one even had an African-American couple in their 50s in the car....hope is out there I suppose!

I just finished watching Elizabethtown and I have decided that I, too, am a substitute person....and if you haven't seen that movie, go rent it immediately! Perhaps it was the experience with my gransfather's funeral that spoke to me so much, but I thought it was great and had an awesome bend of family and humor!

I'm going to bed now. G'night

A Long Week's Journey Into Night

This is absolutely inhumane.

I'm talking about what's happening to Terri Schiavo. As of this writing, she has been off her feeding tube for eight days and her family members are starting to admit the lack of nourishment is taking its toll.

Let's forget, for just a moment, all the legal wranglings, and Congressional attempts at intervention and everything else outside that hospice room. In the end, which her family says is near, this comes down to a woman who can't feed herself, being starved to death. Doctors say she can't feel it, but she can't speak for herself, so we don't truly know. It's illegal for doctors to administer drugs to kill her, because that would be murder, or assisted suicide. But it's okay to let her wither away without food because that's a "natural" death since she chose to refuse it.

In a case like this, I can't help but wonder why a medical coma is not an option. It would neither prolong her life nor hasten her demise, but if, as her family says is true, she CAN feel and is TRYING to communicate, then they would know for sure that she at least felt no pain as her last wishes were carried out.

There is so much more to be said here, but I'll bite it off one bite at a time. Perhaps I'll tackle the legalities or the ethics of it all a little later in the week.