Election Day, 2014. Here are the other topics for this week: TV ads; presidential trivia; parasitic capitalism and Ebola; Blackwater; Sir Nicholas Winton; Halloween;Ukraine; death with dignity.

George Will. Regarding the crush of TV ads, here is a  prescient statement, if there ever was one, "Ads become audible wallpaper, there but not really noticed." Will's column is well worth reading, especially if you live in Illinois, which he characterizes as our "worst governed" state — hard to argue with given that four of the previous nine governors have been convicted and jailed on various corruption-related charges.

This was not a "presidential year," but here is a short bit from the trivia portion of last Tuesday's NPR Daily Presidential Trivia.
     "Congratulations to David Schooler ..... for guessing [last] Monday’s trivia: Teddy Roosevelt is still the youngest person to assume of the office of the presidency; who is the runner up? The answer was: JFK." Though it should be noted that JFK was the youngest person ever elected to the presidency. [emphasis added]

Ebola.com  This domain name was owned  by Blue String Venture, and represents parasitic capitalism at its best. As noted in the linked story, the URL ebola.com was "flipped", i.e. sold for $200,000 for cash/stock for "a mix of cash and stocks, specifically $150,000 in Cannabil Sativa, Inc. The CEO of that company is none other than former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, now Libertarian Party provocateur, who in a recent Fox news interview suggested that marijuana might -- just might! -- hold a [unproven] cure for Ebola." Cannabis Sativa is yet another shadowy company with ties to the Weed Growth Fund, which may have ties to Russia. As Alice might have said, "This corner of the internet world gets curiouser and curiouse r."

Blackwater. Contractors, like the now-renamed, infamous US-based firm, are still a part of the developing face of America's approach to many defense-related endeavors. Can we now add the fight against ebola to this scenario? Who knows at what straws the government might grasp.

The White Lion. "An Old Man in Prague: the Discretion of Nicholas Winton" is the title of Roger Cohen's column in last Thursday's New York Times. For those who missed the 60 Minutes piece, Sir Winton is 105 years-young and his mind is crystal clear that “I didn’t really keep it secret. I just didn’t talk about it.” What he did not talk about was saving 669 (then) Czechoslovakian children, mostly Jews; he still mourns the last unsaved contingent of 250, lost to the horror of the Holocaust. He has been knighted by Queen Elizabeth II and last week was given the Czech Republic's highest honor, The Order of the White Lion. Statues in London and Prague attest to his legendary status.
     Today, in a time rife with self-promotion, Sir Winton's self-effacement should be much celebrated. “In a way perhaps I shouldn’t have lived so long to give everybody the opportunity to exaggerate everything in the way they are doing today.” Not so, Good Lion!

Halloween, 2014. A steady stream of ghosts, goblins, and assorted other characters, from adorable to spooky, came to the door. More often than not, this year we were greeted with a cheery "Happy Halloween!" Perhaps, this was due to the fact that for the first time in several years no one felt rushed, no parkas over the costumes to ward off the cold. It was good to hear that in my native PA one of the nation's "most wanted" had been captured, putting the area's trick and treating back on schedule.
     From New Delhi, India, came this story of a haunted courthouse. "In opening their investigation, the bar association joined a long list of other authorities who have taken complaints of paranormal activity seriously in India, a country that lives, it is said, in several centuries at once." A police officer was quoted, “We entertain all complaints, be it against zombies or werewolves," he told the Times [of India] earlier this year, speaking about another paranormal matter. “This is how everyone in India is brought up — listening to ghost stories,” said Sushil Sharma, a lawyer who has worked in the courthouse since 1989.
     There was no full moon, but it was still a good night to re-read Washington Irving's classic short story, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

Ukraine.  This from the "Morning Brief," Foreign Policy (11-03). Pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine elected Alexander Zakharchenko, a 38-year-old former mining electrician, as head of the 'Donetsk People's Republic.' The vote was denounced as illegal by Kiev and the European Union. Meanwhile Russia allegedly encouraged the exercise, though Moscow has yet to formally recognize the validity of the election. You cannot help but speculate: did the Kremlin orchestrate the election of Mr. Zakharchenko, a mining electrician? He calls to mind another electrician-turned politician, Poland's Lech Walesa.

Assisted suicide. However unpleasant, all that follows is food for thought that is driven by the unintended consequences of modern medical technology.
     The states of WA, OR, MT, NM, and VT have laws which permit a physician to write a prescription for what may be a life-ending dose of barbiturate.  A young woman, Brittany Maynard, diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, made public her decision to end her life at an appropriate time. Her decision ignited the just-below-the-surface debate on what is often called assisted suicide. Indeed, on Sunday, November 2nd, Ms. Maynard decided to end her life, a decision that will most certainly further drive discussions of what she characterized as her "right to die with dignity on her own terms."
     As painful as it is to contemplate, Ms. Maynard seems to have forthrightly stated both sides of the issue. In an interview with CNN, she said, I've had the medication for weeks. I am not suicidal. If I were, I would have consumed that medication long ago. I do not want to die. But I am dying. And I want to die on my own terms.  I would not tell anyone else that he or she should choose death with dignity. My question is: Who has the right to tell me that I don't deserve this choice? [emphasis added] That I deserve to suffer for weeks or months in tremendous amounts of physical and emotional pain? Why should anyone have the right to make that choice for me?
     The following linked op-ed piece was written by Marcia Angell, a physician and senior lecturer in social medicine at Harvard Medical School and a former editor in chief of the New England Journal of Medicine. The article concerns the death of her late husband, Arnold S. Relman, also a distinguished physician who had been chairman of the department of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and editor in chief of the New England Journal of Medicine; he knew very well what lay ahead of him. As a physician, Ms. Angel relates her dissatisfaction with the end of life situation forced upon her late husband. 

Thank you for reading. I hope you are not too depressed by today's election results — besides, the results from GA and LA senate races could be weeks away!