Lara Riscol writes on AlterNet: Bush Versus Smart Sex — ‘Like a pimply teenager smoking his first pack of Marlboros despite its

warning label, President Bush has soundly rejected the U.S. Surgeon

General’s latest advice.

Just one week after Dr. David Satcher issued the Call to Action to

Promote Sexual Health and Responsible Sexual Behavior, which aims

“to begin a mature, thoughtful and respectful discussion nationwide

about sexuality,” Bush’s Health and Human Services Secretary

announced $17.1 million in new abstinence-only funding.

By ignoring America’s top doc, Bush must have impressed his

conservative buddies. What a rebel! Ignorance of health options is so

cool. Comprehensive sex education is, like, so five minutes ago.’

Mental illness ‘at the root of jazz’? ‘The mental health problems of one musician

could have led to the creation of jazz.

Without his schizophrenia, Charles “Buddy”

Bolden – the man credited by some with

starting off the jazz movement – might never

have started improvisation, psychiatrists have

heard.’ BBC

Exposure to Suicide May Deter Suicidal Behavior; runs contrary to our assumptions about the significance of epidemics of ‘copycat’ suicides after a friend, family member or public celebrity has taken their life.

Levels of ‘Anti-Pain’ Brain Chemicals Vary Among People: “For the first time, researchers have examined in real time how different people feel pain in the brain. By monitoring healthy humans

experiencing sustained pain, scientists at the University of Michigan got to watch the brain’s painkiller system in action and determined that

not all brains handle pain equally well.” One of the most vexing problems I’ve faced as a doctor is the difficulty assessing pain complaints, especially when dealing with patients who appear to be “med-seeking.” Objective measures to assist in finding a middle ground between the healthcare profession’s dual tendencies to undermedicate legitimate pain (“pharmacological Calvinism”) and to be taken advantage of by scammers would be an enormous advance. Scientific American

Clerking for Dollars: “In this week’s The Talk of the Town, Jonathan Kay

considers the case of Circuit Court Judge Danny J.

Boggs, who administers trivia tests to prospective

clerks. Here is last year’s Boggs trivia test. The New Yorker [thanks, Walker]

L.A. County Targets Satellites in Out-of-This-World Tax Plan. The LA County assessor wants to impose property taxes on several highly-valued satellites owned by an LA-based corporation. The move is legal, say his tax attorneys: “While the satellites are in Earth orbit, they nonetheless have a situs for tax

purposes in Los Angeles County, California.” Hughes Corp., the satellites’ owner, counters that they were launched from Cape Canaveral or from French Guyana and never pass over California territory. LA Times

Donor Sues Clintons for Not Giving Pardon. What goes around comes around.

Defcon Keeps Hackers Hooked: Awkward run-ins as underground event swells to thousands of people; “…some old-timers decry what they call the growing bureaucratization of Defcon, marked by everything from noose-tight

security and paid security guards to daily press conferences for the dozens of journalists in attendance and a two-page

sheet of rules reporters are required to sign.” Wired

ACLU Action Alert on the Bush Faith-Based Initiative: “Despite repeated controversies and reports that President

Bush’s faith-based initiative has lost its momentum, the full

House of Representatives is expected to vote as early as

Wednesday on legislation that would implement the

President’s fundamentally flawed plan.

The legislation, (H.R. 7,), the “Community Solutions Act,” includes

provisions that sharply attack one of the oldest civil rights

principles — that tax dollars not fund discrimination. Because the

proposal removes restrictions on how religious organizations

incorporate their beliefs into the delivery of social services,

discrimination would be permitted in hiring decisions and in the

delivery of services.

The President has repeatedly claimed that the bill would include

sizable tax incentives for charitable giving and new funding for

social service programs, both are absent from the bill that will

be voted on-only the government-funded religion provisions

remain. Further, the legislation now includes a provision that

allows Cabinet Secretaries to turn any social service program

into a voucher program. This unprecedented move would allow

longstanding grant programs to be converted to voucher

programs without Congressional approval and would remove

legal barriers that now stop religious organizations from

proselytizing beneficiaries.” Send a free fax to your Congressional representatives in two clicks from this ACLU site. An added option is to send a fax to Li’l George to tell him how you feel about this issue. Feel free to customize the message they suggest for you, which is IMHO too diplomatic.

The Pentagon’s Trojan Horse. This In These Times analysis says that everyone knows NMD doesn’t make any sense, but that abrogating the ABM treaty over NMD is important to allow us to militarize space in other ways, especially theater missle defense.