Off Tangent Comix
See our Annotated List of DSM-related news, research reports, analyses, and opinion pieces.
Visit the TS-Si Article Archive for reports on science, medicine, government, society, and other topics.
DNA Blueprints Guide The Construction Of Specific Human Structures
Chad Mirkin discusses using DNA to build a three-dimensional structure out of gold, likening the process to building a house. Starting with basic materials such as bricks, wood, siding, stone and shingles, a construction team can build many different types of houses out of the same building blocks.
The article includes an audio recording of the full interview. Photo courtesy of the UCSD School of Medicine.
| High Hopes For Mutts Like Us |
 |
 |
| Opinion - Global Warning | |||
| Lisa Jain Thompson | |||
| Friday, 14 November 2008 07:00 | |||
 Fairfax, VA, USA. Barack Obama is the leader of a small group of citizens of whom large numbers of their countrymen do not want any of them to be President of the United States. [N1] He has caught the greased pig in the quadrennial game of American politics, the best Spectator Sport that Democracy can provide. Obama is now forming his administration, picking and choosing the politically appropriate number of men and women, Democrats and Republicans, Liberals (called “progressives”) and Conservatives (patriotic Americans). His selections will represent a broad spectrum of ethnic origin and descent: Europe, Africa, Asia, as well as the Mid-East and the Mediterranean.
Religious Beliefs, most likely, will not be a criterion for his choices, nor will the color of skin. Skill, intelligence, and competency should be the hallmark of his administration. [N2] All those various special interests groups who now claim they are the sole reason for Barack Obama’s election will soon find themselves outside the White House fence looking in.
Obama won the election, not the black community, not the Hispanic community, not the college-aged groupies and academics, and not the queer community (certainly not the Transgender advocates). That moment has passed, the election is over.
Having won, President-Elect Barack Obama must now govern or his administration will end up a dissolute train wreck of epic proportions much like President George W. Bush’s. The President must be neither black nor white, liberal nor conservative, rich nor poor, neither a pacifist nor a warmonger. He is President of The United States, all of us together as we attempt to make sense of this changing new millennium.
I know what I do not know. I also know the reality of American politics – seventy percent of Obama’s black support in California voted to support Proposition 8 banning same sex marriage in the state.
The odds are slim that the black slice of the President-Elect’s supporters will support any congressional initiative to provide for gay and lesbian equal rights or any variants that would protect gender presentation (transgender, cross-dressing, etc.) which the black community, at least those who vote, equate with homosexual transvestism (a grievous religious sin in the eyes of many). Equal protection for gays and transgenders is not something the next president will rush into.
I suspect that President Obama will not pursue gay rights (and certainly not gender presentation) until after the mid-term elections and perhaps not until his second term when he no longer has to worry about re-election. He does not need to present the socially conservative right a ready made issue on which to run.
Whether President Obama actually wishes to change the current laws will become apparent with his appointment of the Attorney General and, more significant, his choices to fill any vacancies on the Supreme Court. His public statements during the election, however, indicated that he does not support Same Sex Marriage.
Despite the wild hopes of the far left and the progressives, there was no wink-wink nudge-nudge from Barack Obama indicating that his position was for public consumption during the election and his actual opinion would be made known after his inauguration on January 20, 2009. The American electorate is fond of putting words and opinions into the mouth of candidates they support while ignoring any statements that might contradict the voter’s beliefs that the candidate is speaking directly to and for them.
Obama has promised the gay community nothing other than he won’t advocate laws or policies that discriminate against them. But, just as significantly, he has made no promises to change the current laws (although I suspect Obama’s Justice Department will treat all Americans even handedly unlike some of the appointees of the Bush Administration).
I expect there will be a great rush of progressivism demanding that President Obama give them what they think he promised them. All those unrealistically raised expectations will confront reality and the process of Democracy. There will be angry shouts that Obama has deserted his liberal roots and his campaign rhetoric, that he has sold out to the Washington power structure, that he is playing white and denying his blackness now that he is elected and no longer needs the black vote.
In truth, in his own words, Obama is a mutt. [N5] He is neither black nor white, but only an American, a mixture of ancestry, education, and beliefs lost in the turbulent sea of identity politics.
He will be President of the United States, [N6] beholden to no one other than his intellect, judgment, and conscience. I expect he will choose a prudent course.
And, as he said, he is a mutt, all things to all people.
He is a mutt like me. [N7]
Like us, the men and women born with Harry Benjamin Syndrome. [N8] We exist across cultures, across the political spectrum, across all economic classes and social strata. Like Barack Obama, the HBS do not easily fit into the pigeonhole of Identity Politics
— He is a mutt like us —
and that commonality may enable us to make headway in the coverage of the medical treatment of HBS men and women as well as pass a handful of laws supporting the legal needs of the HBS during and after transition.
We should, however, make haste slowly [N9] and do it right the first time, one step at a time. And then, when the American public sees that protecting HBS men and women during transition did not result in the destruction of the Republic, we can address more of the needs of the transgender community.
But perhaps none of this will happen, I may be projecting my own hopes onto the President Elect and the Democratic Majority in Congress. Perhaps the liberal clamor will be so deafening and irrationally emotional as to awaking the social conservatives to loudly take action, uniting them into a viable political force and killing all political hope once more.
Maybe nothing will happen or the necessity for political compromise will dilute the outcome so much as to be virtually meaningless.
But I have my hopes. [N10]
Notes[N1] PRESIDENT, n. The leading figure in a small group of men of whom — and of whom only — it is positively known that immense numbers of their countrymen did not want any of them for President. Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary.
[N2] ADMINISTRATION, n. An ingenious abstraction in politics, designed to receive the kicks and cuffs due to the premier or president. Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary. [N3] Thomas Jefferson. [N4] Abraham Lincoln. [N5] Obviously a lot of shelter dogs are mutts — like me. President-Elect Obama, first press conference 2008. [N6] The POTUS in WashingtonSpeak for President of the United States. [N7] The writer’s gene pool includes contributions from the British Isles, European, Sicilian, various Mediterraneans including Spanish Moors, and a smattering of Iroquois (Native American Indian), among others. Sicily alone has been conquered by seemingly dozens of invading armies, many of whom decided to stay and mix their blood with Sicilia. [N8] HBS (fka Transsexuality). [N9] Festina Lente, motto of Caesar Augustus, who formed an empire that lasted over a thousand years. [N10] High Hopes Just what makes that little old ant Think hell move that rubber tree plant Anyone knows an ant, can’t Move a rubber tree plant But he’s got high hopes, he’s got high hopes He’s got high apple pie, in the sky hopes So any time your gettin low Stead of lettin go Just remember that ant Oops there goes another rubber tree plant — James Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn (1959)  Ms. Lisa Jain Thompson is the Co-Founder & President of TS-Si, Inc. She also serves as a Contributing Editor and columnist for the TS-Si website. Ms. Thompson's signed articles contain her own opinions and do not necessarily convey an official position of TS-Si, its partners, or affiliates. Lisa welcomes your comments. You can use the public form below or send private correspondence via her TS-Si Contact Page. We will not divulge any personal details or place you on a mailing list without your permission.
Set as favorite
Bookmark
Email This
Comments (0)
 Write comment
|
|||
| Last Updated on Friday, 14 November 2008 15:55 |
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Show/Hide comments
Show/Hide comment form
The TS-Si News Service is a collaboration of TS-Si staff, contributors, and corresponding institutions. Contents do not necessarily convey official positions of TS-Si, its partners, or affiliates.We welcome responsible comments. Use the public article forms throughout this site or send private correspondence via the TS-Si Contact Page. We will not divulge personal details or place you on a mailing list without your permission.
Except where noted, all works on this site are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. Copyright © 2005-2009 TS-Si, Inc. Some rights reserved.