Redeye Update 11/18/2008

I have a lot to write about, but I've got to make this quick.  My job has gone from "SHITSTORM" to "VORTEX OF PANIC," so that's why the scant posting.

1. I'm a little late with it, but I'm glad Obama won.  This topic could be Volume I of a huge series of posts, so I'll just leave it at that.

2. I'm still not over UT's loss to Tech.  I've watched replays countless times and studied what happened in great detail.  I have no explanation for what in the hell Gideon and Earl Thomas were doing on the last play, especially Thomas.  A whiff on the most important play of the fucking season?  It was the most Joe Walker-esque play I have seen since the Anti Victory's playing days.  Seriously.  To say nothing of Gideon's open vagina demonstration non-catch of the INT.  My gawd.  Fuckers are going to be the death of me.

3. Despite the loss, I stand by the assertion that UT was the most physically gifted team with the best football players on the field that night.  Tech won on emotion and superior focus (and the legend of Joe Walker).  Texas is the best team in the country 9 times out of 10.

4. The BCS is ridiculous.  I go back and forth on the issue, but right now I'm all for a playoff.  The college presidents and their marketing plan of keeping the regular season as "the most exciting in sports" is a compelling argument, but the truth is that it's all about money.  The "monopolizing the student-athletes' time" argument is farcical.  These dudes haven't been treated like student athletes since their sophomore year in high school.  The presidents have also stated as a primary objectiove that they have to "consider all of the constituencies," which really means "The bowls and the networks have got their hooks into this deal and they got to get paid."  The only thing that will change this is a serious and sustained drop in ratings and attendance due to several years of worst case scenario BCS pairings.  Odds are that's not going to happen.

5. I won the biggest trial of my short career last week.  My trial record is now 3-0.

6. My current favorite song is "Old St. John" by the Cold War Kids.  Cool name for a band too.  Check out a video for the song here.

7. Recently joined Facebook.  It's been a trip to connect with people I haven't seen or talked to in ten or fifteen years.

8. My fiance' and I went through our Catholic Engaged Encounter last weekend.  It's mandatory to get married in the Catholic church.  I am not currently a practicing Catholic.  In fact, I would classify myself as a secular humanist.  Let's just say that the Catholic church didn't do much to sell me during the weekend.  I'm going to try not to be a hater because my fiance' has asked me to try to be more tolerant of people who I disagree with.  This is a worthy goal.  Predictably, the times when the needle on my fight or flight gauge was in the red were when birth control and abortion were discussed.  I have no problem with people believing what they believe as long as it is grounded in some semblance of logic and sound reasoning, or better yet, clearly established fact.  But, most of us just do the best we can based on incomplete information and lack of contemplation.  What I take issue with is deliberate misinformation aka lies.  Natural family planning (NFP) is not as effective as contraception.  It's just not.  And don't be a fear mongor by telling people that the pill will cause cancer and render women infertile.  Give the objective facts and tell people that the church insists that the faithful use NFP in spite of those facts.  The only problem that I have with the church's stance on abortion is that they want to impose their beliefs on the citizenry at large through the government.  No.  The basic foundation of our country is built on an absolute separation of church and state.  Any crossover of moral issues has got to be coincidental and decided by the policies of the people as expressed through politics (meaning the ouija board of what people want expressed as a whole), the democratic process and elected officials.

That's all I've got for now.  I'll try not to be away so long next time.  Thanks for stopping by.

Comments

[Snake Diggity]

1. Agree. Dude's got a chance to be special.
2. Agree.
3. Disagree. Tech beat us fair and square. On a neutral field, I think Texas wins 6 out of 10.
4. Variable playoff system. Everybody wins.
5. Red Eye in the house. Get some, bitch.
6. No youtube at work.
7. Already have MySpace, may do Facebook. Haven't been on there since I was single.
8. LMAO thinking about you at a marriage encounter.

Post more.

[llogg]

1. I'm glad he won, but I still feel like living in a fiery red state renders my voice completely mute. It's like screaming at a hurricane.

2. *sigh* What might have been?

3. I agree. Texas played total ass the first half. Greg Davis spotted Tech 2 points and field position to start the game. The refs refused to call blatant holding by Tech all game. Colt didn't have his primary receiver out there. And still, with 8 seconds left Texas had the lead. Play that game again and texas wins at least 7 of 10.

4. I actually like the BCS now. It actually does make the regular season more exciting. No way a playoff system could incorporate enough teams to eliminate the beauty contest aspect of all this completely anyway.

5. Damn, Ojo don't be trifling with fools.

6. Pretty cool. I'm currently liking the black keys. Too lazy to link.

7. I just can't do Facebook or Myspace. I guess if I did I might keep in touch with folks better. But mostly I'd probably just waste more time on the internet.

8. I didn't think Audra was even Catholic. Is this strictly a deferential nod to the prior generation or what? For the record, the pill actually reduces risk for ovarian and endometrial cancer, has little or no effect on breast cancer risk, and may increase cervical cancer risk. See: http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/oral-contraceptives
I'm down with Jesus, the Pope and the whole bit, but religion should focus on preaching a skill set to the masses rather than a list of specific rights/wrongs. Teach somebody to do unto others as you would have them do unto you rather than teaching them not to steal a car stereo. If you are successful at the former then the latter isn't an issue. Same thing with whoring and creating bastards. Lay the foundation, let the people build on it.

[Ojo Rojo]

Yeah, Audra's Catholic. In fact, she is the only one of her siblings that did not attent Catholic school. There are several reasons for the church wedding and most of them are complicated. My line of thinking was that we needed a venue and an officiant, so why not do it this way and accomplish some other goals/reduce explanations and hassles/shield ourselves from the judgments of others all at the same time. The worst part of it is that I basically have to lie to people and keep quiet about things when I really, really don't want to.

I've been forced to think about this a lot lately and one important thought that I've had about the nature of belief is that people seem to need to fill the gaps and voids in human knowledge and understanding. For example, because we don't know the answers to such fundamental questions like, "Who or what are we? Where did we come from? What in the hell is going on here? What is our purpose?", we use religious faith, mysticism, astrology, the supernatural, new age ideas and a host of other things to answer those questions and fill in the gaps. The difference with me is that I allow those gaps and voids to continue to exist and instead of trying to fill them with some bullshit to make me feel less confused or hopeless or whatever, I try to get comfortable with the voids. I try hard not to fault people for filling in the voids for themselves, but that's a work in progress.

[John Kippley]

You have it wrong about the founding principles of this country and abortion. The right to life is stated in the Declaration of Independence. Further, the separation of church and state originally meant that the State could not impose any particular religion. It did not mean the exclusion of the Ten Commandments as relevant to civic life, including respect for life at all its stages. It does not mean the imposition of the "religion" of secular humanism.

You also don't have it right about breast cancer and the Pill. See http://www.bcpinstitute.org/booklet4.htm.

Cordially, John Kippley

[Ojo Rojo]

A quick google search on the commenter's name turns up that he is a published author on these subjects:

http://www.nfpandmore.org/ourbooks.shtml

Mr. Kippley, I am afraid this is a classic case of The Way Things Are vs. The Way You Want Them To Be.

The law of the land is not the Declaration of Independence. The current laws concerning abortion arise out of the Supreme Court's interpretation of the Constitution.

There are competing statists regarding the association between breast cancer and the pill.

The 1st Amendment's prohibition on the "establishment of religion" has been interpreted to mean that the government also cannot sanction religion. That is why prayer is not allowed in schools and why replicas of the ten commandments cannot be displayed at courthouses. That does not mean that the ten commandments are irrelevant to the formation of our laws. But, they are simply one of the many push-pull forces that goes into the political system that creates them.

No one is suggesting that the government impose secular humanism on anyone. Secular humanism is separate from just plain secular. The word "secular" means not religious. Believe me, you want the government to be secular. If you had your way, we would have a Christian version of the Taliban running the country.

A secular person interested in the true freedoms envisioned by the founding fathers would fight for your right to practice your religion and preach your views. Would you fight for mine?

[llogg]

1. I hate internet explorer. It has crashed three times now while trying to refute Mr. Kippley. Clear evidence that God (who may or may not be Bill Gates) favors his view.

2. The pamphlet that Mr. Kippley links to contains some curious interpretations of the relevant data regarding oral contraceptives and breast cancer risk.
First, in the preface the authors state that "changes in reproductive patterns as well as other lifestyle changes can account for most, if not all of the increase in breast cancer." They ignore the fact that incidence of disease also will increase the more one looks for and as one's tools for looking improve. More women get screened for breast cancer and breast cancer screening tools have improved, accounting for at least some of the increase in incidence of breast cancer. By failing to observe this alternative explanation for a complex issue the authors reveal their reactionary agenda.
Second, the pamphlet provides no reference supporting the idea that oral contraceptive use in women of child-bearing age increases breast cancer risk. As the link in my previous comment details, the relationship between OCP use and breast cancer is murky at best.
Third, the authors utilize data from published reports of hormone replacement therapy in post-menopausal women to push the idea that estrogen causes breast cancer. The physiologic differences between pre- and post- menopausal women could have a huge impact on the effects of estrogen on cancer risk. The data cited is really not relevant to the question of increased risk of breast cancer with oral contraceptive use in pre-menopausal women. (N Engl J Med. 2006 Jan 19;354(3):270-82.)
Fourth, The last study which indicated an increase in the risk of breast cancer with oral contraceptive use actually was designed to differentiate risk factors for breast cancer diagnosed in very young women from other women. In women older than 35 OCP use was not associated with an increased risk of breast cancer. (Cancer Causes Control. 2003 Mar;14(2):151-60) A study designed specifically to determine the effect of OCP use on breast cancer risk in general did not find an increased risk. (N Engl J Med. 2002 Jun 27;346(26):2025-32.)
Fifth, Ojo is right about the efficacy of natural family planning. See: http://www.contraceptivetechnology.org/table.html
Please note that only "perfect use" rates are reported for the NFP methods. Most people aren't perfect.