Viet-Justice

News was released today that Diamond Pet Foods was not properly testing for aflatoxin in the dog food they were manufacturing.  Many beloved pets died from the contaminated food.  I wonder if the executives at this company utter the slogan “We eat our own dogfood here”

Four pharmacists in IL are suing Walgreen’s because they were fired for not dispensing the morning after pill.  They allege that being forced to dispense the medication is a violation of the Illinois Health Care Right of Conscience Act, which allows health care providers to opt out of procedures they object to on moral grounds.  Now Walgreen’s does allow pharmacists to not dispense drugs, but they must find another pharmacist who will.  These four were working a night shift and the only ones on duty so they did not have anyone else to fill the prescription.  By refusing to fill the prescription they cost their employer money and thus deserved to be fired.  This is not an pro-choice or pro-life argument.  It’s about 4 people who refused to follow company policy.

Now we’re getting crazy and congress wants to create a position of Health Czar.   People are suffering from health problems and some have died from complications related to the 9/11 attacks.  The falling world trade centers resulted in glass, concrete, metal, and other debris to be inhaled by many people, including the cleanup crews.  Congressman Vito Fossella thinks that it’s a job for the Federal government to get involved in solving the crisis.

“Their deaths should be a clarion call to the entire Congress and the entire country to once and for all put somebody in charge to help those who need our help,” Fossella said.

This is not a Federal problem but a New York problem.  The people of New York State should be the ones footing the bill for this.  Then again the people of Louisiana should be footing the bill to rebuild New Orleans too.

This is a truly sad story. For years ago Paulette Anglin married Denver Stepp. They had known each other since middle school, but were hooked up by a mutual friend after a failed marriages. It sounds almost like a fairy tale at first, but then the truth comes out. Stepp’s first wife died of AIDS and he neglected to tell Anglin that he is HIV+. Fortunately the bastard is in prison now.

Looking back, Anglin sees her “I do” as a death sentence. She despises Stepp, who has been sent to prison for giving her the virus that causes AIDS. She’s also angry because she thinks the government hasn’t done enough to punish those who knowingly spread HIV — or to protect citizens from the epidemic.

Anglin hopes her story might influence the Georgia Legislature to reconsider mandatory premarital blood tests — the state never mandated premarital blood tests for HIV — and to stiffen the penalty for spreading the AIDS virus.

While I do feel empathy for Anglin, why is it the government’s place to get involved with premarital blood tests? Had Anglin been more cautious she would not be in this situation today. Just because the government doesn’t require something does not mean you should avoid a good idea. According to the article they wanted to have more children. A good idea would be to have the usual blood screenings for STDs but also for any history of hereditary disorders. The government doesn’t require testing for them, but if you are getting into a relationship to have children it is irresponsible to take that step without determining if you will be bringing a child into the world who may have a difficult time surviving. Anglin made the choice to have unprotected sex and attempt to conceive children because she was in love. Love is a wonderful thing, but it can cause us to lose judgement as well. I hope her case will open the eyes of people across the world and guide them to do the right thing regardless of whether or not the government actually requires you to do it.

I am also against toughening the law on people who deliberately spread HIV. 10 years in prison is a reasonable sentence for a person who knowingly infects others. Some may say that they should get life in prison, but in reality changing the law would allow politicians to posture and claim they’ve done something good for society without creating any good for the people. In fact most people wouldn’t make it past 10 years with HIV. I do support some minor changes to the law which would increase its effectiveness. The first thing that should be done is that prisoners who knowingly spread HIV shall not receive any medication to treat HIV while they are incarcerated. This will have the advantage of making the 10 year prison sentence an effective duration. I would guess that without treatment one’s lifespan would only be 2-3 years which would have numerous advantages. By not paying for HIV treatment the state would save thousands of dollars. Saving money is good. The convicted would die a slow painful death. People who knowingly spread HIV dieing in an unpleasant manner is good. Finally the victims and their families would get closure by watching the convicted die painfully and hopefully before the victims succumb to the disease as well. Closure is good.

Sonnette Ehlers of South Africa has invented the most evil device ever. I believe it should be made the invention of the decade. Rapex is a female condom that has barbs that hook into a rapist’s penis. The only way to remove it is at a hospital. Well, I won’t say the only way since the Ginsu knife can cut through anything. The advantage of Rapex is that it also acts as a real condom protecting women from HIV and other nasty diseases. The device does not have full support and has already managed to garner some detractors.

“If a victim is wearing such a device it may enrage the attacker further and possibly result in more harm being caused,” said Sam Waterhouse, advocacy coordinator for Rape Crisis.

Other critics say the condom is medieval and barbaric

One thing about any violent crime that Sam Waterhouse doesn’t understand. You are 50% likely to be killed by your attacker no matter what level of cooperation you provide. This is true with carjacking, rape, armed robbery and other crimes. If one is to die anyway, then why not inflict a little pain on your killer? The fact that Rapex requires surgical removal almost ensures that the perpetrator will be caught the moment he steps into the hospital. If he is also a murder as well as a rapist then he will serve time. In other situations he may never be caught.

I really like this device. I hope it becomes widespread. As a matter of fact I believe every Taliban should wear one. Now that’s real justice.

MSNBC is reporting that laser hair removal is becoming popular among both sexes. Even Miami Dolphins linebacker Junior Seau had laser treatment on his legs to keep tape from pulling the hair out. This operation can be seen as practical and as cosmetic. There was a down side to the story where Shiri Berg had a bad reaction to Lidocane while driving on her way to have a procedure done.

There is no formal certification, says Geronemus. But patients can look for local doctors on medical Web sites, like those run by the American Academy of Dermatology, the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons or the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.

From what I’ve seen on Discovery Channel The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery is the most elite group of surgeons in the country. Supposedly there can only be 1500 of them at any given time. It’s certainly better to go to the best and pay more rather than end up looking like Michael Jackson.

Not too surprising that someone has made the argument that abstinence programs favored by the administration aren’t cutting it.

Regardless of the issue, common sense should lead everyone on both sides of the issue to understand that having only one way is never the right way. Too bad the administration can’t see that their way is not the only way.

New studies have shown that for some unknown reason people who drink diet sodas are more likely to become obese.

“If you offer your body something that tastes like a lot of calories, but it isn’t there, your body is alerted to the possibility that there is something there and it will search for the calories promised but not delivered,” Fowler says.

“People think they can just fool the body. But maybe the body isn’t fooled,” she says. “If you are not giving your body those calories you promised it, maybe your body will retaliate by wanting more calories. Some soft drink studies do suggest that diet drinks stimulate appetite.”

This would appear to explain a lot about our eating habits and why some people have difficulty losing weight. Since it is widely been discussed that starving the body does not assist in the loss of weight due to the slowdown in metabolism, it would make sense that people who consume large quantities of soda and switch diet soda would essentially be starving themselves. A noticeable reduction in 600 to 900 cal per day might be enough to trigger metabolic slowdown resulting in greater difficulty for the person to lose weight

In the past few weeks the news has been flooded with various states determining that sex offenders have been getting Viagra on the taxpayer’s dollar. A typical mistake by the government that is now being corrected. The question I ask is should we stop giving Viagra to sex offenders?

News this week is that Viagra and other drugs may cause blindness. The medical community should research this more to pinpoint exactly when it happens so we can better determine which sex offenders to give these drugs to. Think of the benefit to society by blinding the sex offenders. It should tip the scales in favor of any potential victim in the future for obvious reasons. It can also give some sense of justice to the victims of these creeps since the criminal justice system doesn’t issue harsh punishment compared to what the victim endured. Yes, an eye for an eye and two for a tooth. Viagra induced blindness is an ironic punishment for sex offenders since they’re trying to enhance themselves, but end up blind and less able to use their enhancement. The best part is they did it by their own free will. Much less messy than friends and relatives of the victim gouging the offender’s eyes out when he is released from prison and in some ways more satisfying.

At first I was outraged that sex offenders were receiving Viagra with my tax money. Now I’m less outraged and more amused. This also opens the market for more seeing eye dogs, which is bad for criminals and good for capitalism. I’m sure there will be a big market selling seeing eye Pit Bulls to blind sex offenders.

The US government has withdrawn a controversial clause requiring countries and organizations seeking US AIDS assistance to publicly condemn prostitution. The clause applied not only to groups hoping to receive direct US AIDS aid, but also to those receiving funding from multinational organizations to which the US contributes.

If the anti-prostitution pledge had remained intact, it would have meant that 3,000 groups working in 128 countries would have had to condemn prostitution in order to continue receiving financial support under the Bush initiative.

Fortunately the US decided to withdraw this silly measure. If this country intends to offer aid an assistance to others we should not be basing it on how they run their internal affairs. Charity is something that should be given freely, not with strings attached. Too bad certain conservative groups don’t see the true meaning of charity. Perhaps they should go back to church and study Christ’s message of love thy neigbor.