Archive for April, 2007
Genn’s Candidates: Rudy Giuliani
“You never agree with any one candidate 100%. I don’t agree with myself 100%.” — Rudy Giuliani
Seventh of a series of leading Presidential candidates by illustrator Roman Genn. Copy at will but please credit Roman Genn and Pajamas Media.
Previously: Fred Thompson, John Edwards, Mitt Romney, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Barack Obama
The Scolder of France
The battle is heating up between Royal and Sarkozy as they hustle for support for the second round of voting in the French presidential election, while centrist Bayrou is playing his hand. PJM Paris editor Nidra Poller has all the details....
Empathy Ends Where Political Correctness Begins
There is interesting discussion at both a href=”http://althouse.blogspot.com/2007/04/psychotherapists-confidence-in-his-own.html” Ann Althouse’s /aand a href=”http://neoneocon.com/2007/04/24/feeling-too-much-of-your-pain-therapists-and-clients/”Neo-Neocon’s /ablogs about an article in emThe New York Times /em entitled, a href=”http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/24/health/24beha.html?ex=1335067200en=4d40eb8b7b8a4e8fei=5124partner=permalinkexprod=permalink”"Understanding Empathy: Can You Feel My Pain?”/a Richard A. Friedman, a psychiatrist, asks an important question, “Is shared experience really necessary for a physician to understand or treat a patient?” In answer to that question, he states:br /br /blockquoteWhat is critical to understanding someone is not necessarily having had his or her experience; it is being able to imagine what it would be like to have it. Thus, I do not have to be black to empathize with the toxic effects of racial prejudice, or be a woman to know how I would feel about being denied promotion on the basis of sex./blockquotebr /br /So Friedman believes that empathy is the most important factor in treating someone, not the race or gender of the therapist. “In the end, empathy is what makes it possible for us to read each other. And it is the reason your doctor can understand your problem without actually having to live it.”br /br /Yet, as I read over the emNYT/em piece, I get the sense that Friedman does not seem to take his own advice to heart; he seems to think that empathy and help should only be available for those he deems to be politically correct. He mentions a gay man who wants a gay therapist. Friedman helps him find one, although he does mention feeling “uncomfortable” about it. In another case, he sees it as appropriate to give the patient the therapist she asks for:br /br /blockquoteSometimes, though, patients should get exactly what they ask for in a therapist. One of my residents once saw a young woman from Africa who had survived hideous torture and rape and said that she didn’t think she could see a male therapist. br /br /That struck me as entirely appropriate. Given her trauma, she simply could not have put her trust in a male therapist, no matter how empathic he might actually be./blockquotebr /br /He does not extend this assistance to a man he deems politically incorrect:br /br /blockquoteWhat about patients whose demand for a particular therapist springs from nothing more than everyday prejudice? I remember a patient who once stormed into my office and demanded a white therapist to replace his therapist, who was black.br /br /That’s a request I turned down, even knowing that this patient’s biased beliefs were an appropriate target for treatment. To do otherwise would have vindicated his prejudice and fundamentally compromised the therapy from the start./blockquotebr /br /For a psychiatrist who mentions how empathetic he is, this did not seem like a very empathetic response. I remember a case I had years ago in NYC–a male in his 40′s just out of prison. In our first session, he told me that I would not want to see him for long.”Why?” I asked. “Because I am angry at blacks.” He was hesitant to say more, stating that the culture did not allow him to voice his feelings. I told him that I was willing to hear his feelings. I saw a tear roll down his cheek as he told me about being raped in prison by several black gang members and watching helplessly as other younger men were raped. He had built up years of anger and resentment and felt he had no dignity left. Had I simply told him that I could not hear what he had to say because internally I deemed it “prejudiced” I would never of heard his story and been able to help him with understand what had happened to him, and subsequently, to heal the trauma that he had lived with for many years. br /br /I will leta href=”http://neoneocon.com/2007/04/24/feeling-too-much-of-your-pain-therapists-and-clients/” Neo-Neocon’s words /asummarize my post, for I think she says it better than I could:br /br /blockquoteAs referenced in the Friedman article, patients often come with pre-existing prejudices and preferences about what they want in a therapist. Some of these are considered therapeutically valid, such as a woman whose been severely abused by men being more comfortable with a woman therapist. Some are arguably less so, such as a request for a therapist of the same race. I disagree with Friedman that the latter request should be refused; if a client is that uncomfortable with someone of a different race, whether it be a black person uncomfortable with someone white or vice versa, than the therapy can and should deal with the issue. But it’s not best dealt with by placing the client with a therapist who makes him/her acutely uncomfortable at the outset.br /br /A lesser-known issue is that of therapist discomfort with certain clients. Theoretically, therapists can work with anyone, but in actuality they tend to specialize and refer out those patients who press their buttons (such as, for example, child molesters). br /br /And, although this sounds like some sort of bad joke, I know quite a few therapists who say they would have difficulty treating a client whom they know to be a Republican. So it’s not just clients who want therapists who are as much like themselves as possible—some therapists return the favor./blockquotebr /br /If therapists only want patients they deem to be “deserving” of empathy, how empathetic can they really be?
The John Edwards snips but does not score.
By The ManoloInvoluntary Commitment
Can dangerous behavior really be reliably predicted? If so, what should be done about people judged dangerous when they haven't yet committed a crime? What is the role of mental health professionals and involuntary commitment in balancing the need to protect society with the need to champion the liberty of the individual? Get the answers in this week's podcast by The Sanity Squad.
Healthy? Don’t Click!
Economist (and PJM columnist) Max Sawicky looks at the two trillion dollar cost of US health care and wonders if we are getting sufficient bang for our serious bucks.
by Max Sawicky
Police Pay-Wagons of Iraq
US dollars and Iraqi dinars
How Do Iraq's Finest Get Paid? Not exactly the way New York's finest get paid, as Richard Miniter - on assignment for PJM in Iraq - discovered. Since so few have a bank account, Iraqi cops (and other public officials) are paid in cash - just as they were under Saddam. And they like it that way.
By Richard Miniter, PJM Washington editor
Stalking Wild Truffles in Oregon
Jack Czarnecki, Professional Truffle Hunter
Very scarce, really expensive, hidden under the muddy floor of the forest.... and delicious. What's not to like about truffles?
by Nancy Rommelmann
Baghdad Dispatch: The Wall
The decision to build security walls around some Baghdad districts is getting a lot of attention in the local and world media. It's creating many questions and even more rumors. Here's some background straight from Baghdad, just as protests may be making both Iraqi and American officials reconsider the plan, according to some press reports.
by Omar Fadhil, PJM Baghdad editor
Dollars for Dictators
Add another outrage to the list that contains the UN Cash-for-Kim scandal in North Korea, or the UN Oil-for-Food scandal in Iraq, before that: “The military junta in Myanmar [Burma] has embarked on forced labour, extortion and land confiscation in several projects funded or supported by United Nations agencies, the Karen Human Rights Group claimed today.”
Claudia Rosett fills you in on the latest, but certainly not the last, UN-funded abuse in the 3rd world @ The Rosett Report
Campus Danger
The emWashington Times /empicked up a href=”http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20070424-123511-1502r_page2.htm”one of my posts /a on the shooting at Virginia Tech in their “Inside Politics” section.
Grand Rounds is Up
a href=”http://medvalleyhigh.blogspot.com/2007/04/grand-rounds_13.html”Grand Rounds is up /aat Med Valley High this week. There are some interesting posts on the shootings at VT.
Support Pajamas’ Energy Program
Regardless of where you stand politically, energy conservation and/or energy independence probably is important to you. In order to do our share, Pajamas Media is working on a broad energy initiative that you will be hearing more about shortly. As the first step in this initiative, we are pleased to announce that we have acquired a program and website called One Billion Bulbs (OBB). Read....
We are all Responsible for Preventing Violence
Here is a href=”http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110009977″a terrific op-ed /aby Jonathan Kellerman that makes some great points about the problems within our mental health system (Hat Tip: a href=”http://proteinwisdom.com/index.php?/weblog/entry/22936/”Dan Collins, Protein Wisdom):/abr /br /blockquotebr /Talk to anyone who’s tried to commit a dangerously violent child or parent for even a few days: A stranger with a law degree will show up at the hearing and paint you as a fascist. So it’s far too much to expect anything resembling a decisive approach to those whose level of threat remains at the verbal level.br /br /Given the excesses of the past–husbands committing troublesome wives, involuntary sterilization of those judged defective–extreme caution is warranted. But like drunk drivers, we sway from one side of the legal road to the other and find the sensible center lane elusive.br /br /Unless we confront the unpleasant fact that the brains of a small percentage of our citizens incubate dark, disturbed thoughts that can blossom into vicious behavior, we can look forward to repeats of last week’s outrage./blockquotebr /br /It is these disturbed and dark thoughts that the majority of people do not want to think about. As one who in the past, has listened to countless hours of the most disturbing of thoughts, they no longer bother me except to understand what they mean and what I can do about it but my hands are often tied–by the system, by legalities and by denial. I think the words of Gavin De Becker, the author of a href=”http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0440226198?ie=UTF8tag=wwwviolentkicomlinkCode=as2camp=1789creative=9325creativeASIN=0440226198″emThe Gift of Fear/em/aimg src=”http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=wwwviolentkicoml=as2o=1a=0440226198″ width=”1″ height=”1″ border=”0″ alt=”" style=”border:none !important; margin:0px !important;” / are warranted here: br /br /blockquoteWe don’t need to learn about violence, many feel, because the police will handle it, the criminal-justice system will handle it, experts will handle it. Though it touches us all and belongs to us all, and though we each have something profound to contribute to the solution, we have left this critical inquiry to people who tell us that violence cannot be predicted, that risk is a game of odds, and that anxiety is an unavoidable part of life. br /br /Not one of these conventional “wisdoms” is true./blockquotebr /br /Amen, Mr. De Becker, for if we all stick our heads in the sand and say that violence is not preventable, like so many are doing, then we are truly lost.
Iran’s Parliament vs. Ahmadinejad
"Hold it right there, Mr. President!"
In a bold move last year, Iranian legislative body, known as the Majles, made a failed attempt to cut their President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's term in office. Now they are trying to do it again -- and this time they just might have a shot.
by Meir Javedanfar
Power Line at 4 1/2
The blogosphere isn’t so new anymore. The popular, highly-respected Power Line blog is already 4 1/2 years old. Pajamas Media’s Roger L. Simon caught up with one of its founders and writers – John Hinderaker – at Dartmouth College, where they were both participating in a panel on (what else?) blogging, for this exclusive Pajamas interview on the history of Power Line and where they’re headed.
By Oleg AtbashianWeek 14 ongoing… Results of Week 13 basically unchanged with Fred Thompson leading Republicans and Bill Richardson Democrats
Over 100,000 votes have been cast in the weekly PAJAMAS MEDIA PRESIDENTIAL STRAW POLL. The fourteenth week has officially begun. The thirteenth week saw basically the same pattern as the twelfth with Fred Thompson well in the lead on the Republican side and Bill Richardson ahead on the Democratic side by a substantial margin.
Genn’s Candidates: Hillary Clinton
“If I want to knock a story off the front page, I just change my hairstyle.” — Hillary Clinton
Fourth of a series of leading Presidential candidates by illustrator Roman Genn. Copy at will but please credit Roman Genn and Pajamas Media.
Previously: Fred Thompson, John Edwards, Mitt Romney
Pajamas Weekend Review
The best of the week @ Pajamas:
Inside the Green Zone: Rich Miniter Interviews Mithal Al-Alusi
Paris Blues: A Cop Killing at the Carnival
Wake Up and Smell the Medium Roast – Everything subtle about the coffee in it has been burned to the ground. Here’s why. – Nancy Rommelmann
The Glenn and Helen Show: Michael S. Malone on the Past and Future of Silicon Valley
Book Review: Bill and Dave – Bill Hewlett and David Packard started in a garage and created the modern world. – Glenn Reynolds
Baghdad Report: Sadr Ministers Out, Now What?
UN Attack Helicopters. Debate from Above! – Be afraid. Be very afraid. – Jules Crittenden
Sanity Squad: What Went Wrong at Virginia Tech?
A Threat to Their Own Campus? – Round two in the battle between Daniel Pipes and radical Muslims in the California university system. – Aaron Hanscom
The Al-Qaeda Protection Racket in Iraq – Who’s funding al-Qaeda terror in Iraq? – Richard Miniter
Blog Week in Review: Finding a Way to Lose
A Hero Is Laid To Rest – Professor Liviu Librescu is buried in Israel.
The Corn & Miniter Show – Episode 6
Paris Blues: Predicting the French Presidential Elections — Sarkozy by 5
“300″ Reasons to Watch the NBA Playoffs – Rick Moran
Another Blogfest
Last night, Glenn and I attended another blogfest for Tennessee bloggers at Calhoun’s. The turnout was smaller than the last one, but the bloggers in attendence were an interesting bunch and a couple of new people showed up whom I had not met before. I joined Glenn in talking with gunblogger, Tam, who has a terrific blog at a href=”http://booksbikesboomsticks.blogspot.com/”View From the Porch blog/a and her friend, who is a gunsmith. Most of the discussion centered around a href=”http://shotsacrossthebow.com/archives/002673.html#002673″zombies and shotguns /a as well as various strategies for dealing with school shooters. The gunsmith had a good strategy to avoid a mass shooting, don’t go to universities where you can’t carry. Fine for some folks, but not all of us can avoid them. My thoughts: shouldn’t a “free society” that allows the mentally ill and others–a href=”http://jscms.jrn.columbia.edu/cns/2005-12-13/fullerton-collegesafety/”even criminals/a–to attend colleges without constraints (or at most, a form asking the student to vouch for whether they have a criminal or disciplinary record–yeah, criminals etc. generally answer truthfully) also allow others to freely protect themselves or be liable for injuries if they do not? br /br /It was a fun evening and as always, I learned a little bit more about my fellow bloggers, their personality quirks (in a good way, of course!) and their individual interests in blogging.
The Cool Water of the Koran (Part V)
Say: 'I take refuge with the Lord of men, the King of men, the God of men, from the evil of the slinking whisperer who whispers in the breasts of men of jinn and men.' -- Koran 114: 1-6
by Salim Mansur
I’d rather be called a "ho"
So Hillary Clinton went to Rutgers to kiss up to–I mean support–the women’s basketball team. a href=”http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-ushill0421,0,3464673,print.story?coll=ny-top-headlines”She addressed 700 students and faculty /a(the actual women players were too busy to meet with her–good for them) and urged the crowd to take a “Rutgers pledge,” to say, “Enough is enough, when women or minorities or the powerless are marginalized or degraded.”br /br /My thoughts: As a woman, I would rather be referred to as a a href=”http://www.nypost.com/seven/04212007/news/nationalnews/cbs_dumps_imus_producer_for_ho_no_no_nationalnews_michael_starr.htm”"nappy-headed ho”/a by Don Imus than called “powerless” by Hillary Clinton.
“300″ Reasons to Watch the NBA Playoffs
Sixteen victories to glory. Sixteen wins will be necessary to win what, in recent years, has truly become a World Championship.
by Rick Moran
Krazy Kampuses
Professor Victor Davis Hanson looks at the reality of American colleges in the wake of a bad fortnight for higher education:
- Duke — “Why won’t the Duke president or the culpable faculty apologize? Because deeply entrenched among the Left is a notion of moral justice that transcends the law and is now to be adjudicated by elites versed in race/class/gender theories.”
- “Obama’s recent speech linking mass murder at Virginia Tech to everything from Darfur to outsourcing and Imus was about as pathetic an exegesis as one could imagine.”
- On Virginia Tech: “I don’t believe that the university can protect any of them. Its mentality is therapeutic.”
Get the details at Hanson’s blog on PajamasXpress, Works and Days.
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