Wow! A Doctor Can Now Speak Frankly to his Patients

It seems a pity that the First Amendment had to be invoked to allow that, though. New Hampshire's Board of Medicine wanted to stop it.

Rochester doctor Terry Bennett was very frank about how unattractive a greatly obese woman patient was. She found such truth-telling offensive and the medical board agreed. It initiated proceedings against Dr Bennett.

Merrimack County Superior Court put the medical board back in their box, however, and told them that their "proceedings" were a kangaroo court. Dr. Bennett now seems set to sue the Medical Board for the pain and suffering it caused him.

Details here




It's Only Republicans who may be Compared to Hitler

Bush=Hitler is such a common equation from the Left that it evokes just a yawn. But say that a Democrat equals Hitler and there is great outrage. Michigan Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm was targeted in an advertisement appearing in the Detroit-based Michigan Chronicle newspaper that featured photographs of Hitler and Granholm and accused Democrats of taking African-American voters for granted.

Granholm's Republican opponent had the good manners and good sense to join in the condemnation of the ad. How often do we hear Democrats condemning the Bush=Hitler theme?

Details here




"Poop man" Song Banned

As a libertarian, I am extremely suspicious of official attempts to ban any kind of speech but I CAN see the point of banning incitement to violence so I cannot really object to the British ban on certain anti-homosexual songs emanating from Jamaican singers -- though I do think that the torrent of pro-homosexual propaganda we get these days deserves similarly vigorous counterbalancing.

What amused me, however was the language in the songs concerned. I thought the language in this one was particularly graphic:

"Poop man fi drown an dat a yawd man philosophy" (Translation: "Homosexuals must be drowned and that's a yardie man [Jamaican] philosophy.")

Also interesting is that homsexuality-protection obviously trumps something that would normally be sacrosanct: Minority culture. If minority culture is bad in one respect, maybe it could be bad in others?

Details of the bans here or here.