Shades of Aldous Huxley
I watched a "60 Minutes" piece on the usage of propanolol to blunt the trauma of severe events, such as rapes, car accidents, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
In a Canadian study, subjects were asked to write down a detailed account of a traumatic incident. When they were done, they were given a dose of propanolol. A week later, they were hooked up to an EEG and the account of their trauma was read to them. According to the report, the subjects no longer had the severe emotional response to the memory, some to the point of feeling it wasn't something that had happened to them.
Properly, they also had a control group which watched a pleasant movie or did something else unrelated to the trauma before being given the drug. Like the test group, they were then read an account of their trauma a week later. Surprisingly at least one woman in the control group was all but freed from a 20 or 30 year debilitating trauma!
While I am very happy for the woman, I think this could be the beginning of something not so good. In short, they think they have found a way to cure people of trauma. If this becomes generally available, it's not to hard to see people clamoring for propanolol to soften or erase the blow of any bad experience - leaving only the feelings of the good experiences. It would be a brave new world, indeed.
Election Fraud in Arkansas?
The small town of Waldenburg, Arkansas, had an election for mayor last Tuesday. It was a three way race, and in a town of 80 people, someone is probably going to come up way short. However, according to
this story, the incumbent and one of his challengers tied at 18 each, but the other guy, Randy Wooten, got ZERO votes. That's zero, as in none, nil, zilch! The thing is he KNOWS he voted for himself and he says "at least eight or nine people" said they voted for him.
At first I thought this would be a case of small town stupidity (if you're going to rig an election you really should make it look plausible), but the article points out that they were using ELECTRONIC VOTING MACHINES! And I bet there isn't a paper back-up, either. It may be a small town election, but this could be the tip of an iceberg.
Post Election Musings
Okay, so the Dems have retaken the Governorship putting the state squarely in their hands. I can't wait to see how well O'Malley gets along with Mike Miller and Michael Busch.
I wonder if Slots-at-the-Tracks suddenly becomes a priority for the State Legislature. Or maybe they'll go for a full casino somewhere on the Bay or the Potomac.
Will they try again to establish Early Voting? Of course, they have to ammend the State Constitution to get it done. That means it will be a ballot question in 2008. And those almost always pass.
Will anyone in the legislature care about ballot paper trails again? I hope Del. Elizabeth Bobo will still care.
Can I dream about creating Congressional districts that are more conveluted than the original gerrymander?
