Interesting twists

I watched Agents of SHIELD last week and one particular scene keeps sticking with me.  When Coulson and Ward are questioning Skye, Coulson gets out the truth serum.  Then is a really nice twist, he gives it to Ward and lets Sky question him.  Why do I like this so much?

1. Lois McMaster Bujold uses a substance called FastPenta in her fiction.  Her protagonist (male) acknowledges at one point that interrogation with it can be a form of "mind rape".  
2. Ward is just the sort of power-happy creep who needs to get smacked down hard when he's young in order to grow up into a decent human being.
3. The truth serum with all its ugly implications comes out, Ward looks excited (yuck) and then the power dynamic is gleefully subverted.

Later in the week another new show, The Blacklist twisted the dynamic a different way when Liz is asked to profile herself.  There were several moments in the pilot, including this one, that reserved agency to Liz  even when it was uncomfortable.  The Liz character could have been a Mary Sue.  She's not.  I hope it continues.

Why contraceptive coverage matters...

...its about a woman's right to privacy.  No woman should have to detail to anyone except her doctor, whether she is taking birth control pills for acne or contraception.  Your employer should not have the right to decide what kind of medical care you get.  And it is important because if you empower the bigots, they get worse.

When I was a young resident, a patient came into the ER in the throws of a miscarriage.  I had some lab and imaging reports that supported the diagnosis and she was bleeding fairly profusely so  I wanted to give her medication that would complete the process more quickly and hopefully avoid a trip to the operating room.  (D&C is not an entirely benign procedure in either the moment or the effects on future pregnancy, it is however very safe.)

A nurse informed me, in self righteous tones, that she would not administer the medication as her religious beliefs prohibited abortions.  As a sleep deprived second year I simply goggled at her.  I've honestly forgotten how I worked it out. All I remember is my wrath that my poor patient, who was loosing a wanted pregnancy, had to deal with the narrow minded bitch.

Also, go see Pope Francis on uncertainty in my last post.  I'm a Buddhist, have been for over 20 years.  That soft open uncertain mind is one of the goals I seek.

The most important thing Pope Francis said:

I have taken these from different parts of the interview, but I think I retain his meaning:

" If a person says that he met God with total certainty and is not touched by a margin of uncertainty, then this is not good. For me, this is an important key. If one has the answers to all the questions—that is the proof that God is not with him. It means that he is a false prophet using religion for himself. The great leaders of the people of God, like Moses, have always left room for doubt. You must leave room for the Lord, not for our certainties; we must be humble. Uncertainty is in every true discernment that is open to finding confirmation in spiritual consolation."

“The risk in seeking and finding God in all things, then, is the willingness to explain too much, to say with human certainty and arrogance: ‘God is here.’ We will find only a god that fits our measure."

This captures what makes me so uncomfortable about many fundamentalists.  They are so certain that their understanding of God is complete and correct, that they create a God in their own image, instead of seeking to recreate themselves in God's.

(I am neither supporting nor refuting that there is a God, to me the case remains open.)

What is wrong with our world that Jon Stewart makes more sense than anyone else?

I have re-ordered these quotes for effect.  Daily Show 9/10/2012

I get that Fox opposes the Syria peace plan because its modus operandi is to foment dissent in the form of a relentless, irrational contrarianism to Barack Obama and all things Democratic to advance its ultimate objective of creating a deliberately misinformed body politic whose fear, anger, mistrust and discontent is the manna upon which it sustains its parasitic, succubus like existence, BUT ...
Who cares how we avoided a war and got a dictator to give up his chemical weapons if we avoided a war and got a dictator to give up his chemical weapons?

Day of Fasting and Prayer for Syria

I am very sad about what is happening in Syria.  The Pope, who runs a church I do not belong to, has very sensibly suggested a day of Prayer and Fasting on September 7th.  I don't know what he intended to mean by fasting, but since Syria is a predominantly Muslim country, I am going to try and abstain from food and water from sunrise to sunset.  I have nothing big to do that day, so it should be possible.  I encourage anyone who reads this to do whatever seems right to you.