Discrimination vs Discrimination

I came across an interesting story a while back on a case of discrimination by way of Overlawyered. The summary as I understand it is this: a man has sexual reassignment surgery and becomes a woman, wants to have breast augmentation surgery at a Catholic hospital, hospital says they don't perform transgender related surgeries.

At first it seems like discrimination against a transgendered woman, however the hospital says they offer their services to transgendered individuals, this just isn't a service they offer. Each side of that dispute will all play out predictably in court I'm sure, what caught my interest was the general concept of personal freedom being at odds with religious freedom.

Given my freedom loving leanings, I prefer whichever option is the least limiting. The choice between not letting someone do something they want to do, or forcing someone to do something they don't want to do, isn't a very good one. Taken on their own without any specific examples, forcing someone to do something they don't want to do seems crueler, but I think that's just a visceral response to the word force.

It seems strange to me that two freedoms could be opposed to each other in such a way. I tend to lean towards whatever option means the government doesn't get involved, which in this original case would mean the hospital would not perform the surgery, and the woman would have to go somewhere else. Not exactly a good option though if that denial of service is widespread. If a different solution seems necessary in the widespread condition, is the hands off approach really correct in the individual case? Can you really say that all hospitals are required to offer transgender surgeries? I can't seem to make up my mind on this issue, and I've been going back and forth on it. Since this is a transgender related surgery for breast augmentation and not the sex reassignment itself (which I'm sure this hospital doesn't perform), the simplest path to a decision is to ask, "Does the hospital offer breast augmentation to other women?" If the answer is yes, then under existing law I don't believe they can deny this surgery to a transgender female, and if the answer is no, I don't see how the law can force a hospital to perform a surgery that it doesn't do.

However, that brings us back to Overlawyered's point that one type of diversity is being limited in order to enhance another diversity. If it turns out that the hospital must perform the surgery at the patients request, when there are already other hospitals that will perform it, no matter the reason for the refusal, I'm not sure that there is a net gain in freedom occurring. I'm not even sure it's a zero sum game, since the patient has other options available, and once the hospital is required to do something they feel is against their code of ethics, it's either go against their beliefs or get out of the health care business.

Just to be clear I don't agree with the hospitals viewpoint, if someone wants to change genders I could care less. There's just something about this case that strikes me as similar to an attempt to limit the KKK's freedom of speech because what they have to say is ugly. Popular opinion seems to be slowly turning against religious views for awhile now, and while I'm certainly no zealot, I do think that freedom of religion is right up there with the freedom of speech. This may be a cyclical thing, but I think what's turning the tide against religion is what was seen as attempts by religious authority figures to proscribe their moral guidelines on the populous in general. I'm leery of a case that seems to do the opposite. Must one side always attempt to impose it's viewpoint on the other? It seems like there should be a balance that can be struck where each side can co-exist in tandem, quietly despising each other like they were meant to.

I suppose I'm just a dreamer.

This Roundup Has No Name

You may remember my mention of Google Maps street level view. Well, guess who's come to town?

Concerned about us running out of oil? Don't worry, we can always tap Titan, where black gold rains from the sky.

Mississippi is considering a "No fat people in restaurants law". This isn't the first time I've heard of something like this. A search on fat tax shows they aren't alone.

6% of internet users are responsible for 50% of add clicks. Less than 1% of my readers will care.

Raspberry turtle?

One of the energy trends I'm a big fan of, is recapturing energy. Like the energy spent walking.

Zombie hearts! I thought I already talked about this, I guess I was mistaken. Please allow me to correct that: Zombie hearts!

Giant Armadillo. Probably the last animal I would pick to made giant-sized.

The Little Death

I came across a really good article on fear. While it no longer serves the same purpose that it once did, it still remains deeply embedded in our biology. Understanding it is one of the important pieces in understanding ourselves, and how our perceptions of reality may be distorted. Sure to come in handy once November rolls around.

And yes, the title is stolen from the litany against fear. All the cool kids are chanting it.

Stem Cell Treatments For Dogs

Vets are getting in on the stem cell action. At first I thought of this story as a ridiculous reversal of the "You wouldn't put grandma to sleep, so why do it to your pets" adage (or was that "You put your dog out of it's misery, so why not grandma"?), but as I've thought about, it seems like a great idea. The medicine that is, not the euthanasia. With people willing to spend money on expensive medical treatments like this for their animals, it will be interesting to see if "pets as medical trial subjects" becomes a new pattern on the edge of medical technology. With cloned animals OKed by the FDA for consumption, cloned pets can't be too far away for the zoolatrous rich.

LHC

...will very likely change our understanding of the universe forever

As the grand opening of the near light speed particle smashing Large Hadron Collider grows near, my mailbox is abuzz with the glee of physicists. The experiments carried out at this facility could... well, I guess the quote I led with about sums it up.

You Want Weird? We Can Provide.

I haven't bothered linking to the Tom Cruise/Scientology video, because it seemed like small fries to me. Personally, I think if you weren't aware that Tom Cruise is a bit creepy and has a creepy laugh, then you just weren't paying attention. As Penny Arcade recently pointed out, if you want a real look into the eyes of madness, you should check out the Steven Fishman Deposition. Here is the first part of it:


Part 1

Recession For Dummies

All the news about the impending recession has sparked a few office conversations about it. Mostly revolving around "What the heck is a recession anyway?" I've been meaning to figure that out myself, economics not being one of my strengths. HowStuffWorks has come to the rescue with an explanation.