Recent News Articles of Interest

I haven't blogged much on current affairs since Bush got elected. With Bush in charge, the immediate future is grim, dark, and evil, as black as the inside of an Iraqi burqa.

Today, for example, the Wall Street Journal editorial page lambasted laws - any laws, that is, that may be inconvenient to the Administration, or to Wall Street, or to anyone they agree with. It's nice to know the Masters of the Universe feel secure enough that the serious law-breaking can get underway now without delay.

Nevertheless, law-breaking or law-abiding, society rolls on regardless, so it's time to look around:

• Troubles with Accutane: USA Today reported on how marketing strategies led Hoffmann-La Roche to downplay Accutane's role in causing suicidal depression. The anti-acne drug first hit the market in 1982. I remember in 1986, or '87, the Univ. of AZ hospital in Tucson absolutely rejected my effort to get Accutane for my serious acne. Liver problems were already being reported, and they were clamping down on the drug's use. In addition, Univ. of AZ absolutely-positively wouldn't put women on the drug, for any reason, because too many birth defects were already being reported. I'm shocked that Univ. of AZ's foresightful in-house ban wasn't part of a nationwide ban: birth defects attributable to Accutane occurred through the 90's, and still occur today! Such a shame, and all that tragedy totally preventable!
• San Francisco viola player recovers her stolen instrument (though not yet the bow), through investigative determination. Terrible crime, but hard work succeeds in the end!
• Honeybee mites just get worse and worse, threatening the pollination of many plants in California, including almond trees.
• Shabby but classic, even emblematic, exploitation of illegal janitors by supermarkets: the lawsuit gets settled.
• Tavis Smiley leaves NPR. Smiley is an excellent interviewer. Even better than Charlie Rose (Rose flatters his guests too much: instead, Smiley methodically skins trophies and nails them to the wall). I hope I see more of him, and more interviewers like him!
• Hilmar Cheese in Merced County flouts clean water laws with impunity, because of its excellent political connections in the Davis/Schwarzenegger administrations.
• Strom Thurmond's African-American daughter's new book is out, with tales of a remote, loving, and seriously hypocritical father.
• Davis is having trouble opening a new elementary school in Mace Ranch, because of an unexpected drop in the number of students (I wonder if it's all those home-schoolers having an impact: a lot of people like to home-school these days).
• Oregon's Measure 37 may sound the death knell for aggressive efforts to saddle property-owners with the costs of maintaining greenbelts and other amenities for urbanites. Much as I sympathize with the environmentalists, the property owners have a point too. I hope society can come to a reasonable compromise between preservation and use, for the sake of all of us!