THIS MODERN WORLD

Has anyone bothered to point out that the righteous rage on the right over the flying of the Mexican flag by some attendees at the pro-immigration protests is coming from the same people who defended the confederate flag as a source of “southern pride” (as opposed to the rallying symbol for slave-owners and their defenders)? They were for taking pride in regional/ethnic differences before they were against it. Seems like a racist double-standard to me, but pretty consistent if you stop taking conservatives at their word.

This is funny. Atrios links to this survey of “a wide range of libertarian, conservative, and freedom-minded journalists and academics” and this is the response from Glenn Reynolds :

1. Did you support the invasion of Iraq?

Yes.

2. Have you changed your position?

No. Sanctions were failing and Saddam was a threat, making any other action in the region impossible.

3. What should the U.S. do in Iraq now?

Win.

Cute. It’s a good thing we’ve got Glenn around, because I’m sure nobody’s thought about trying to win yet.

I just shared an elevator with Stephen Hawking.

Amazing week. Thank you to all of you who made it that.

I am profoundly tired. More later.

I know my reaction to this story may be considered offensive to some religious people, but I think this is %$@#& hilarious :

The largest study of the medical power of prayer found secret prayers on patients’ behalf didn’t reduce complications in heart surgery and there was a 14 percent higher chance of problems when patients were aware of the prayers.

The research, appearing in the April issue of the American Heart Journal, followed 1,802 patients undergoing coronary bypass surgery at six hospitals. Of those, one-third weren’t prayed for, another third were prayed for without their knowledge by three U.S. Christian congregations, and the rest knew they were the subject of prayers by the church members.

The researchers, led by Herbert Benson and Jeffery A. Dusek of Harvard Medical School and Mind/Body Institute, found that people who knew they received intercessory prayers had the highest chance of complications of the three groups, 59 percent. Among patients who didn’t know whether they were the subject of secret prayers, complications occurred in 52 percent of those who were prayed for and 51 percent of those who weren’t.

The death rates for 30 days after surgery were similar across all the groups, the two-year study showed.

In other news, placebos aren’t as effective as medicine. Who knew?!

Seeing as this is an article critical of religion written in America, I expected this bit of backtracking at the end of the article :

Patients in the three groups had similar religious profiles and most believed family and friends would be praying for them. The researchers didn’t attempt to curtail those or the subjects’ own prayers.

“With so many individuals receiving prayer from friends and family, as well as personal prayer, it may be impossible to disentangle the effects of study prayer from background prayer,” co-author Manoj Jain, from Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, said in a statement released by Columbia University Medical Center yesterday.

Prayers from stragers don’t work, but prayers from friends and family might…yeah, that’s it. The closer to you are to the person praying, the more effective it is. Think of it as “six degrees of Jesus”.

There have been enough studies like this with different sample sizes and methodologies to pretty much please anyone, but it’s kinda sad to think that a study like this is required to temper its findings with a disclaimer to protect the feelings of those who might be upset by the results. Granted, when you’re studying prayer, the prayers of family and friends are an unknown quantity, but it’s not like this are factors “impossible” to measure.

Did you know high schools and even middle schools have started using tasers on students? I didn’t.

There’s a brewing controversy on this now in Wichita, Kansas, which I learned about from Jake Lowen of the excellent organization Hope Street Youth Development. Here’s the timeline he sent:

February: Wichita Police introduce tasers into schools.

Early March: Students at Wichita West High School discover this and are understandably concerned. Organized by Hope Street, they gather 250 signatures on a letter to the school district asking about health effects and the district’s use policy.

March 16th: A 15 year-old student is tasered during a confrontation at another high school, Wichita North. However, no one except those involved know at the time because the school district covers it up.

The next week: The tasering becomes public thanks to an anonymous tip from a teacher. The Wichita Eagle criticizes the school district for trying to hide it.

Today, March 30th: The Wichita Eagle reveals two other attempts to taser students, including a 14 year-old girl.

If you know anything more about schools using tasers, either where you live or elsewhere, I’d be very curious to hear about it—either in comments here or via email. And if you’re wondering why this matters, you can read Amnesty International’s 2004 report, documenting 114 (adult) deaths from tasers.