Moue Magazine

In a 5-4 decision, SCOTUS has reversed the Ricci case that has become a talking point for those opposed to Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination. Those in favor were Justices Kennedy, Alito, Scalia, Thomas and Chief Justice Roberts. The crux of their decision, per Justice Kennedy:

Fear of litigation alone cannot justify the City’s reliance on race to the detriment of individuals who passed the examinations and qualified for promotions.

This isn’t to say that the 2nd Circuit Court (which voted unanimously on its Ricci decision) made a mistake. They followed precedents that were available at the time, which is precisely what they should have done. The Supreme Court exists to make this type of decision and even their conclusion had a narrow margin.

Bernie Madoff has been sentenced to 150 years. Unless Madoff has Nicolas Flamel as one of his co-conspirators, that’s going to be a life sentence.

Target Ovarian Cancer, a UK charity group, surveyed 400 GPs (general practitioners) and 1,000 women about their knowledge of ovarian cancer. The results were not promising. Of the GPs polled, only 51% identified “increased abdominal size” as the “most important symptom” and a scant 2% identified “difficulty eating” or “feeling full” (other common symptoms). 93% of the GPs acknowledged that diagnosis is often delayed.

The most disturbing results came from the 132 ovarian cancer survivors that were polled. 88 of those women “felt their doctor did not take their concerns and symptoms very seriously”. 44$ of that group had to wait more than six months to get a correct diagnosis.

Ovarian cancer has such a high fatality rate because doctors are not properly (or swiftly) diagnosing the disease. With early diagnosis, there’s a 90% survival rate. But without that, there’s only a 30% chance that the survivor will make it past five years. Doctors need to realize that there can’t be a “wait and see” approach when symptoms align with those of ovarian cancer.

Paul Krugman charted the average annual global temperatures since 1880 to show that while there are fluctuations, the overall temperature trend is very much on the increase. That line is going to keep curving upwards until we start to take global warming seriously.The curve is also going to be happening faster, meaning that actions need to be taken now rather than later.

Gov. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.) went AWOL for a week, forcing his staff to scramble to cover for him, and then had to admit that he was out of the country to see his mistress and had charged the trip to the taxpayers. The infidelity part of the story is irrelevant as they were consenting adults and it is disappointing to see outlets like TPM publish exerpts of private communications between the lovers.

That isn’t to say Sanford should keep his job. The going off grid and misappropriation of funds are serious issues and signs that Sanford is unable (or unwilling) to adhere to the most basic of expectations for political behavior. If he wants to regain the trust of the voting public, comparing himself to King David (and thus evoking shades of Blago) may not be the best way to do it:

Where does one go with cigarette advertising as more and more litigation requires more and more transparency about the dangers of smoking?  Perhaps in the direction of these designs by DJ Stout, which manage to be both lovely and gruesome.

If you’re considering a run for presidency, the campaign for which would start in less than two years, maybe it isn’t prudent to disappear for a number of days while leaving conflicting reports in your wake. Gov. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.) apparently didn’t get that memo.

Sanford has had a rather interesting week. Last Thursday, Sanford drove off in a black SUV and fell out of contact with his wife, lieutenant governor, staff and security. Sanford’s office initially said they’d spoken with him and then backtracked. His cell phone signal was tracked to Atlanta. Monday night, his office released a statement that said Sanford was hiking the Appalachian Trial.

The Appalachian Trail runs along the eastern United States. The eastern U.S. is quite far away from Argentina, which is where Sanford was returning from when reporters caught him at the Atlanta airport:

S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford arrived in the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport this morning, having wrapped up a seven-day visit to Buenos Aires, Argentina, he said. Sanford said he had not been hiking along the Appalachian Trail, as his staff said in a Tuesday statement to the media…

…

Sanford, in an exclusive interview with The State, said he decided at the last minute to go to the South American country to recharge after a difficult legislative session in which he battled with lawmakers over how to spend federal stimulus money.

Sanford said he had considered hiking on the Appalachian Trail, an activity he said he has enjoyed since he was a high school student.

“But I said ‘no’ I wanted to do something exotic,” Sanford said “… It’s a great city.”…

…Sanford said he was alone on the trip. He declined to give any additional details about what he did other than to say he drove along the coastline.

I’m sure that it is exceptionally stressful to be a politician, especially one who operates on the national stage. But that’s a part of the job and if someone can’t handle it without going irresponsibly off the grid on a somewhat regular basis, maybe they should look for another line of work.

Amy Perrotti’s art is bright, bold and often cheerful. There’s also a slight kitsch factor via the inclusion of subjects like Russian dolls. The prints would be great for rooms with a lot of sunlight or a place where you’re likely to be stressed.

Posting has been light from all of us for a variety of reasons.  For my own part, no, I did not forget the vow I made a mere three weeks ago to post more regularly.  I’ve been traveling for work and am just back in from the Dominican Republic this weekend, and spent most of yesterday recovering from the exhaustion and sicknesses that traveling often entails (for me, anyway.)

I’ll be posting more about my trip later this week, and about other things after I catch up on the news.  For now, I just leave this advice for anyone traveling to tropical climes soon: always, always make sure there are no bugs in your bed before you tuck in the mosquito net.  Otherwise you face the problem of having a very annoying June bug flying around your head, and a reluctance to open the net to throw it out because it is very likely that the tarantula is still in the room and just waiting to climb into bed with you.  It makes for a long night.

The only excuse I can offer for my childhood obsession with the film Dream a Little Dream is that it was the 80s and there was LSD in the water supply. I wasn’t a fan of the Coreys (Feldman and Haim) so I think I rented this movie for the first time because it had a bit of a scifi element to it. That element is Jason Robards and Corey Feldman switching bodies in a situation that I could not possibly describe. If you’re craving a night of LOLs, the movie is available for instant viewing on Netflix.