Where in the World is George W. Bush?

As Sunni forces seek to solidify power in Baghdad, and sectarian war looms on the horizon, it is ever more apparent that our success in Iraq was entirely and holistically dependent on the stability of the region - a stability that has been so transient and unpredictable since the Six Day War, that to have faith in it would be laughable. And lethal.

The Iraq War was a gamble. In the casino that is the US Department of Defense, George Bush, Cheney, & Rumsfeld rolled the dice with reckless abandonment. But it's Americans and Iraqis who are now in debt: 4 trillion dollars, 400,000 lives, and a generation of parent-less Iraqi children and American sons lost to PTSD.

So with this resurgence in doubt in the wisdom of our involvement, where is George W. Bush to weigh in? Clinton and Carter have become citizens of the world since they left office. Bush? Well, he is a citizen of Dallas, I think.

Turns out he has shut out politics all together for a life of recreational painting (he was inspired by Winston Churchill, who took up this hobby. Read more here) and golfing. He is quite the regular out on the Dallas greens and has even built a putting green on his property.

When in office, then President Bush actually gave up golf out of deference for the troops. See, I'm also sacrificing for our country. Yet, since retirement Bush has taken up golf with a religious devotion; his friend, Charlie Younger calls him a "golf-a-holic".

Bush drives the irony of his renewed golfing out far, past the target hole, beyond the realms of sound judgement and sense. Playing golf while most of the nation supports the war is bad. But playing golf while the nation - sons, families of lost sons, and taxpayers - are suffering most from the debt and futility of the war is perfectly fine.

I will give due credit - he did make a service trip to Africa and in 2010 he teemed up with Clinton to bring relief to Haiti after the devastating earthquake.

But Bush didn't cause the social problems in Africa or the earthquake in Haiti. While it is difficult to judge the morality or intentions of a president, we can fairly expect him to be more in tune with the lives he has so greatly impacted.

So Death is a Disease and the Human Body is Flawed...Right.

A riposte on anti-aging research. (Read my former post)

The average consumer with private insurance now spends more on anti-aging prescriptions than they do on medications to treat actual chronic diseases, according to the American Public Health Association.

The lengths we take to defy the natural effects of aging - slowing mental alertness, sexual dysfunction, menopause, aging skin, balding, etc.- signal a shift in the social perception of aging. These ailments are thought to be the symptoms of a progressive degenerative disease that without treatment can lead to *gasp* death.

This looming fear of death has justified a market for anti-aging research. Scientists our now looking within the human body to extend life.  We are treating the natural changes in hormone levels and gene expression as we did bad sanitation - as flaws worthy of manipulation. We frame life-shortening genes as though suspects of murder. When in reality, they are considerate executioners of a body about to suffer the ailments of inevitable death. 

I think it is extremely dangerous to challenge the wisdom of our body mechanics, whether you believe it has been created from God's perfection or from evolution's pursuit of perfection. 

Maybe as a young mind and body I am in no position to judge our changing perceptions of aging. But it just seems silly to me to spend billions of dollars worth of research to delay something as inevitable of death.  Maybe it is just the inner Camus (whom I am reading now) that is speaking. I highly recommend his classic existentialist novel, The Stranger, in which he states:

Bottom-line: the purpose of medicine is to manipulate the biochemistry of an unhealthy body so that it may become normal again. Death isn't abnormal or avoiadable. Let's stop treating it like a disease.

Does this Make me Look Insane? The College Essay I didn't Submit.

C’mon, try not to deplete the world’s water supply this time, I urged myself. Mechanically, I focused my eyes on the shampoo, picked it up, squirted some out, and started lathering. But the monotony and brainless nature of the task naturally caused me to lapse into thought. Deep, Brain-Hemorrhaging Thought. It was my enemy when I couldn't talk about it. 

 As I let the water soak my already soaked hair, my mind, for no conceivable reason, wondered to Darwinism. Humans, I reasoned, have to commit detestable actions to a certain extent. We have to kill animals and clear forests for energy and sustenance. In the same way, there are certain things we have to sacrifice to live in a structured society.  While I detest the application of Social Darwinism to justify the vices of human nature or the committing of atrocities, it is necessary to an extent, I reason with myself. Anyone who refutes the blessings of structured society would likely follow the fate of Chris McCandless, and the hundreds of transcendentalists before him. 

I recalled a book that an old English teacher had shown me when I had visited, just a few days ago. A book on the Metaphysics of Pain by a Female Harvard Professor. She was among the first of her kind in a sexist, male-dominated society. Her books – while quite full of jargon, convoluted language, unfitting metaphors, and far-fetched conclusions – were self-evident products that she could survive the harsh, unfeeling society that she was in.

I thought about my current English professor. He had written a couple a books…and maybe it was not an all together coincidence that his second book was coming out in the same year as his promotion….I found this immensely troubling. He was a great professor, but was he falling under the pressure of the institution? No, I reasoned with myself – he is to the heart a knowledge junkie. His very persona is professorial; he was simply meant to teach at university and do everything that being a professor entails. So maybe that’s the key, I thought. All careers have pressures and ramifications – one must just love the tangential tasks that a career demands, as well as the career itself.

            Well, this got me thinking about medicine. Doctors face pressure from insurance companies, pharmaceutical industries, and their employers. They perhaps may face the pressure to over diagnose, over-test, and overbook – all at the patient’s expense. However, these tangential tasks demanded of doctors directly contradict the precepts of the Hippocratic Oath: to heal and to care. Are practices that contradict an occupation’s initial purpose harbingers of a system that is broken? The healthcare debates of the past decades would suggest so; then again, nearly half the country is unconvinced of the need for healthcare policy change. Could one develop a mathematical relationship between the amount of contradictory practices and the policy change priority level? Would this objective logic system, if clearly explained, have any impact on public opinion of policy issues?

            I picked up the shampoo bottle and was about to squirt some into my hand before I realized I had already done this step. Fearing for my sanity, I shut the water, dried myself, and clothed in lightning speed.  I needed to talk to someone. But as I rushed out of the bathroom crazy-eyed and Medusa-haired, I remembered that I was home alone. My family had left to spend the day in Syracuse, whilst I was consigned to my room to complete college applications.

I guiltily assessed my lack of progress on the task. Resigned, I walked to my room, sat down in my chair, and wrote this – I’d much rather have a conversation with you, but for now, this will have to do.