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I've been a bit busy, sorry this is late:
When Death Is on the Docket, the Moral Compass Wavers
By BENEDICT CAREY, The New York Times, February 7, 2006
Burl Cain is a religious man who believes it is only for God to say when a person's number is up. But in his job as warden and chief executioner at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, Mr. Cain is the one who gives the order to start a lethal injection, and he has held condemned inmates' hands as they died.
He does it, he said in an interview, because capital punishment "is the law of the land."
"It's something we do whether we're for it or against it, and we try to make the process as humane as possible," he said, referring to himself and others on the execution team.
But he concedes, "The issue is coping, how we cope with it."
Common wisdom holds that people have a set standard of morality that never wavers. Yet studies of people who do unpalatable things, whether by choice, or for reasons of duty or economic necessity, find that people's moral codes are more flexible than generally understood. To buffer themselves from their own consciences, people often adjust their moral judgments in a process some psychologists call moral disengagement, or moral distancing.
( Read More )
Really? The Claim: Mixing Types of Alcohol Makes You Sick
By ANAHAD O'CONNOR, The New York Times, February 7, 2006
THE FACTS Too much alcohol of any kind is never a good idea, but some people claim that mixing beer and liquor, particularly in that order, can also be a hazard. Some even know it by rhyme. "Beer before liquor, never been sicker," goes one old saying.
( Read More )
Evangelical Leaders Join Global Warming Initiative
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN, The New York Times, February 8, 2006
Despite opposition from some of their colleagues, 86 evangelical Christian leaders have decided to back a major initiative to fight global warming, saying "millions of people could die in this century because of climate change, most of them our poorest global neighbors."
Among signers of the statement, which will be released in Washington on Wednesday, are the presidents of 39 evangelical colleges, leaders of aid groups and churches, like the Salvation Army, and pastors of megachurches, including Rick Warren, author of the best seller "The Purpose-Driven Life."
( Read More )
A Young Bush Appointee Resigns His Post at NASA
By ANDREW C. REVKIN, The New York Times, February 8, 2006
George C. Deutsch, the young presidential appointee at NASA who told public affairs workers to limit reporters' access to a top climate scientist and told a Web designer to add the word "theory" at every mention of the Big Bang, resigned yesterday, agency officials said.
Mr. Deutsch's resignation came on the same day that officials at Texas A&M University confirmed that he did not graduate from there, as his résumé on file at the agency asserted.
( Read More )
When Death Is on the Docket, the Moral Compass Wavers
By BENEDICT CAREY, The New York Times, February 7, 2006
Burl Cain is a religious man who believes it is only for God to say when a person's number is up. But in his job as warden and chief executioner at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, Mr. Cain is the one who gives the order to start a lethal injection, and he has held condemned inmates' hands as they died.
He does it, he said in an interview, because capital punishment "is the law of the land."
"It's something we do whether we're for it or against it, and we try to make the process as humane as possible," he said, referring to himself and others on the execution team.
But he concedes, "The issue is coping, how we cope with it."
Common wisdom holds that people have a set standard of morality that never wavers. Yet studies of people who do unpalatable things, whether by choice, or for reasons of duty or economic necessity, find that people's moral codes are more flexible than generally understood. To buffer themselves from their own consciences, people often adjust their moral judgments in a process some psychologists call moral disengagement, or moral distancing.
( Read More )
Really? The Claim: Mixing Types of Alcohol Makes You Sick
By ANAHAD O'CONNOR, The New York Times, February 7, 2006
THE FACTS Too much alcohol of any kind is never a good idea, but some people claim that mixing beer and liquor, particularly in that order, can also be a hazard. Some even know it by rhyme. "Beer before liquor, never been sicker," goes one old saying.
( Read More )
Evangelical Leaders Join Global Warming Initiative
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN, The New York Times, February 8, 2006
Despite opposition from some of their colleagues, 86 evangelical Christian leaders have decided to back a major initiative to fight global warming, saying "millions of people could die in this century because of climate change, most of them our poorest global neighbors."
Among signers of the statement, which will be released in Washington on Wednesday, are the presidents of 39 evangelical colleges, leaders of aid groups and churches, like the Salvation Army, and pastors of megachurches, including Rick Warren, author of the best seller "The Purpose-Driven Life."
( Read More )
A Young Bush Appointee Resigns His Post at NASA
By ANDREW C. REVKIN, The New York Times, February 8, 2006
George C. Deutsch, the young presidential appointee at NASA who told public affairs workers to limit reporters' access to a top climate scientist and told a Web designer to add the word "theory" at every mention of the Big Bang, resigned yesterday, agency officials said.
Mr. Deutsch's resignation came on the same day that officials at Texas A&M University confirmed that he did not graduate from there, as his résumé on file at the agency asserted.
( Read More )
