Friday, July 01, 2005
The Court, Cruise and Iran
A number of things happened this week which reflect the mood of this country. One of these was the retirement of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. She was described in the news tonight as the most powerful woman of our lifetimes. I would agree with that, as she was the swing voter on the Supreme Court over a hundred times, including the decision that "elected" George W. Bush President in 2000. At times it seemed that there was only one Supreme Court Justice, namely Ms. O'Connor, and the rest did not matter since they canceled each other out. With her retirement, Bush will pick a replacement. This is sure to cause a battle in the Senate, and I hope that some right-wing Christian-type judge does not get the nomination. The Court justices stay there forever, and it is hard to change their decisions. So this will be important for the future of our nation. I think these justices have too much power. If the Supreme Court overturns a law, perhaps allow Congress to repass it with 2/5 of the vote?
And then there is Tom Cruise, the actor in War of the Worlds. I want to see this movie. That was one of my favorite stories when I was growing up. He belongs to the Scientology faith, and he has made repeated comments saying that "psychiatry is a pseudo-science". He has criticized Brooke Shields for taking Paxil for postpartum depression, and today Brooke shot back that it helped her through this phase of her life. I have several comments on this. If it is true that there is ADHD and postpartum depression and post traumatic disorder, and so forth, why didn't we hear about them in the older days, say around the 1700s or before? ADHD did not exist when I was growing up. This to me puts some question on these ailments and makes me wonder myself whether there is such a thing as mental illness. But it seems to be that Tom Cruise is spouting these things all over the place, helping to keep the airwaves full of hype, and his religious belief has some serious shortcomings - such as believing that there was an invasion of Earth during the dinosaur days, and saying why converts to the religion need to take an E-Meter test. And for all his mouthing off, he never mentions the authority who might support him - Dr. Thomas Szasz, who has some serious objections to the idea of mental illness.
And thbere is Iran. When I heard that the new prime minister of Iran, Mahmood Ahmadinejad, was one of those men who held the 52 hostages 444 days in 1979-1981, I thought for sure that this would cause a war between the US and Iran. There is still strong feeling about the hostage crisis, especially among families of those who were held. But then I heard that another important Iranian official, a woman, was also among the captors (called "Sister Mary" because of her religious scarf) all this time without a peep about it, and when I heard that there are doubts about this being the guy, it makes me think that this is a pretext to attacking Iran, with the objective, like with Iraq, being oil. I hope this is wrong. Instead of grabbing for oil and heating up an international situation, I think the US should meet China soon to discuss how crude oil is to be delivered to the people and how the world can wean itself from the substance, instead of threatening and taking over nations in the Mideast.
And then there is Tom Cruise, the actor in War of the Worlds. I want to see this movie. That was one of my favorite stories when I was growing up. He belongs to the Scientology faith, and he has made repeated comments saying that "psychiatry is a pseudo-science". He has criticized Brooke Shields for taking Paxil for postpartum depression, and today Brooke shot back that it helped her through this phase of her life. I have several comments on this. If it is true that there is ADHD and postpartum depression and post traumatic disorder, and so forth, why didn't we hear about them in the older days, say around the 1700s or before? ADHD did not exist when I was growing up. This to me puts some question on these ailments and makes me wonder myself whether there is such a thing as mental illness. But it seems to be that Tom Cruise is spouting these things all over the place, helping to keep the airwaves full of hype, and his religious belief has some serious shortcomings - such as believing that there was an invasion of Earth during the dinosaur days, and saying why converts to the religion need to take an E-Meter test. And for all his mouthing off, he never mentions the authority who might support him - Dr. Thomas Szasz, who has some serious objections to the idea of mental illness.
And thbere is Iran. When I heard that the new prime minister of Iran, Mahmood Ahmadinejad, was one of those men who held the 52 hostages 444 days in 1979-1981, I thought for sure that this would cause a war between the US and Iran. There is still strong feeling about the hostage crisis, especially among families of those who were held. But then I heard that another important Iranian official, a woman, was also among the captors (called "Sister Mary" because of her religious scarf) all this time without a peep about it, and when I heard that there are doubts about this being the guy, it makes me think that this is a pretext to attacking Iran, with the objective, like with Iraq, being oil. I hope this is wrong. Instead of grabbing for oil and heating up an international situation, I think the US should meet China soon to discuss how crude oil is to be delivered to the people and how the world can wean itself from the substance, instead of threatening and taking over nations in the Mideast.
