C. Diane's blog

This time it's Orange County.

Apologies in advance if this is disconnected. I picked up a cold on vacation, and these are some thoughts I had.

Newsweek ran a story on the politics of fear about 2 weeks ago. They discussed the (right-wing, though unspecified as such) tendency to disseminate fear of terrorists, immigrants, gay people being allowed to get married, and the like. And the Othering that allows it to happen.

An audit released Thursday found the pharmacy director at UNC Hospitals, which also provides service to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, received travel and phone reimbursements from the hospital and the school for the same expenses.

Maybe he's feeling the pressure to do something right or useful!

Or: Orange County is not just your twin cities. Please to be remembering that in future.

Warning: foul language and ranting ahead.

I went to a reception for my cousin and his new bride last weekend. My aunts asked me when I was going to have kids, since I've been married a whole 7 years now (well, in 10 days.) I told them I wasn't going to, which brought on the "but who's going to take care of you when you get old?" line of questioning.

Weddings are big business. Should they be?

Yes, people still get TB. In fact, we currently have about 20 cases of active TB in Durham. MMWR this week is all about TB. It's got a lot of words, but if you scroll down, there are tables and graphs.

I mentioned in a comment recently that I'd just finished reading Richard Dawkins' book The God Delusion. Religion and faith and lack of faith have been hot topics recently, and I've, naturally, been thinking about religion.

As long as I can remember, I've had books to read. Usually they'd be books my grandma had picked up on sale or at the used book shop, but I'd read just about anything I could get my hands on. This is how I discovered science fiction.

Robert P pointed me to a proposed bit of legislation that would permit not only physicians, but also pharmacists to refuse to participate in any medical procedure or dispensing medicine relating to abortion. This is what's known as a "conscience clause," because the refusal is on moral or religious grounds, rather than scientific.

What started this all was a pair of pharmacists in Illinois who were suspended by Walgreens for refusing to dispense Plan B because they believe (note that word) it is abortion.