Dear
Friends,
Good morning. Before I get to Arthur
Kaplan, who heads the University of Pennsylvania’s department of bio-ethics,
Congressman
First, save the date, Sunday, March
5 at 2:30, for the Quakertown Band’s annual concert. It’s their 129th
and features overtures, marches, and Broadway show tunes. Admission is free and
the auditorium at the Strayer Middle School on Ronald Reagan Drive will fill up
fast. For more info, the band’s Internet website is www.quakertownband.org.
Second, kindness is contagious. Last
week, Mighty Betsy and I took in “Capote” [excellent movie] at the Warrington
Cinema on County Line Road and Rt. 611. A mother of a five-year-old was
celebrating his birthday with a trip to the movies. The little boy was
thrilled. Alas, her mother’s credit card failed and as they turned away,
terribly disappointed, I said to the ticket seller, “Here’s the twelve
bucks.... I’ll pay for them.”
But the good fellow who manned the
window intervened. “Put your money away,” he smiled. “These two tickets are on
the house.”
It turned out that this employee was
Don Cohen, a 70-year-old retired Good Samaritan. Cohen had an interesting
career in the movie business. He worked most of his life with Paramount
Pictures and finally, four years at Sony. Today, Cohen works at the movies
because he likes people and keeps busy.
Mrs. Cohen, you have a good man. Don’t trade him in
for a younger fellow.
Item.
Did you see that Congressman
He’s facing his first reelection
campaign in an atmosphere, which is hostile to any incumbent. In a New York
Times/ CBS News poll (Jan. 27), the public showed its anger. Sixty-one percent
disapprove of how Congress is handling its job compared to only 29 percent who
approved. Worse, 77 percent think that bribery by lobbyists is normal behavior
in Washington.
Is congressional ethics an oxymoron?
Running for reelection this year won’t be a piece of cake for anyone.
Item.
I was amused by President Judge
David Heckler’s anger about the slow pace of a lawsuit demanding countywide
reassessment. Believe it or not, the last time Bucks was reassessed was when I
was a County Commissioner, nearly 40 years ago. Politicians from both parties
have been talking about reassessment for years. History shows that voters turn
out the commissioners who ordered the reassessment.
Since local governments and schools
depend upon the property tax for revenues, you can understand why few are happy
with the present assessment program. Still, Judge Heckler should remember that
a few years ago, he was an important state senator. He could have led a fight
to end the dependence upon the property tax by substituting a levy, which was
more equitable. Judge, you may have to be as patient on the bench as you were
in the state senate.
Item.
Arthur Kaplan gives lectures via the
case study approach. He’ll give a few examples of moral dilemmas and ask the
audience to participate. My daughter in law invited me to hear Kaplan speak.
His topics were physician assisted suicide, stem cell research, should we
inoculate 11,12, and 13-year-old prepubescent girls to safeguard them from
cervical cancer, and should medicine slow down the research in extending life?
You’ll be fascinated to learn that the White House worries that inoculation may
encourage young women to be sexually active.
As you’d expect, these questions
drew visceral opinions from the crowd, but I’ll have to wait until next week to
give the outline. Stay tuned.
Newspaper columns should provide
useful information. Here’s a report about sex and stress, which I heard on the
Michael Smirkanish show on 1210-talk radio. I listen to Smirkanish because he’s
an over the top conservative. National Public Radio programs balance
entertainers like Smirkanish, Limbaugh, O’Reilly, and Hannity. The two sides
are not fond of each other.
Anyway, Smirkanish was interviewing
Dr. Stuart Brody, a psychologist from the United Kingdom. I found Dr. Brody on
a Google search and this is what he says in “New Scientist” magazine. You can
find it on the Internet www.newscientist.com
“Got some public speaking to do,”
the article begins? “Here is a tip to keep stress at bay: have sex beforehand.”
Well, I thought you’d want this
information in your bag of health tips but Mighty Betsy decided otherwise. So,
to keep peace in the family, I’ll share just a few of the tidbits…you can
research the rest.
Brody administered stress tests
involving public speaking and solving arithmetic problems orally to 24 women
and 22 men. Those who abstained from sex had the highest blood pressure
response to stress. Those who were more sexually active experienced lower blood
pressure. And the calming effect lasted for at least one week. Brady speculates
that the release of the pair-bonding hormone oxytocin between partners might
account for the calming effect.
Personally, I think calmness is a
good thing. Don’t you agree?
Sincerely,
Charles Meredith