Recycled Diatribes

My friend Barbara, attorney by trade and agent provocateur by disposition, has a wonderful blog, Women on the Verge of Thinking (see link at right). Everyday she poses a different question and we take up our posts on either the left or right and start whacking on each other.

Sidenote: One of Barbara's favorite topics is The Penis (ok, I admit it. I kind of encourage her in this hobby) and she occasionally devotes a whole section of her blog to the Penis Chronicles. Fun!

But mostly B poses questions about life and politics, morality and justice. I was just nervy enough to go swimming back in blogwater to retrieve my answers to a few of her past posts. Here are my recycled diatribes (and remember, in my case, no logic is promised. Just unreasoned emotionalism, my specialty):

Supreme Court Rules that U.S. Can Ban Medical Marijuana
I'm stream of consciousnessing on this one: it seems a cruel morality, a modern take on the punitive Calvinism of the 1600s that punished those who became ill, because surely their illness was evidence of immorality. What harm could come of providing analgesic marijuana to those
whose cancer has so invaded their bodies that they are in constant pain? What harm? Can you honestly say there is a link between this highly regulated compassionate use of a controlled substance and the peddling of crack cocaine in ghetto streets? That halting one will have any effect on the other? Why does this feel so self-righteously punitive, this additional invasive intrusion in private life by conservative legislators of morality? And no, I do not use marijuana for any purpose, recreational or otherwise. I actually believe its street use can be a gateway to harder drugs. But this is not what we're talking about. We're talking about taking away a physician's ability to prescribe a controlled substance for pain relief for cancer patients. Why limit a physician's arsenal of pain relief available for a terminal cancer patient when there is absolutely no provable causal relationship between this regulated use and use of street drugs?

Should the Bush Administration Be Held Accountable?
Yes, they should be held accountable ... as they demand accountability for human rights abuses from every other country they criticize. I can barely form words around my anger about this. Yesterday, as I watched the horrific tape of murders in Bosnia, used as evidence in the Serbian
leader's trial, I thought how this administration should be giving deep thought to their legacy, and how they may be judged by history. Even if they refuse to judge themselves today.

(additional post) Yeah, we're pretty sure Clinton enjoyed more than one extramarital blow job ... but, as you know, the comparison is impeachment for extramarital oral sex versus no apparent judgement for(at last count) 1600 American soldiers dead (edited to add: and 12,000+ wounded) in a war entered into under a falsified pretext. And, yes, there is a war against terror. But it should be a global war conducted by collaborative allies, a true coalition, not an empire-building effort spearheaded by neocons who rarely if ever served in the armed forces they are so eager to deploy.

Trial of God
B, first -- thank you for a thoughtful forum in which you have maintained civility while encouraging spirited discussion. Second, no, I don't blame God. His ways are so far beyond my limited human reason that, to me, it is foolish to even think of blaming Him. In my emotional immaturity, I may
question Him, though. I may ask "Why?" In the face of tremendous loss and pain, I cannot blame others for losing their faith. But in the words Jung placed on his lintel: "Bidden or Unbidden, God is Present." I believe He doesn't leave us, even when we attempt to leave Him.

Please ... visit Women on the Verge of Thinking. It's good exercise for your mind. And tell her Miri sent ya.

Today's fragrance: Agent Provocateur, of course. Dry-scented saffron, with a faint undertone of sweetness (the rose, jasmine and magnolia). Coriander then comes in and takes over and I'm ok with that. I think it's the sharpness of the coriander -- playing against the floral sweetness -- that gives it mystery until the final musky drydown.