The American Spectator

Reader Mail

Nature Wars

8.16.06 @ 12:01AM

HONEYMOON IS OVER
Re: Mark Tooley's Going Beyond Same-Sex Marriage:

Thanks to Mark Tooley for pointing out that the real agenda for the gender-bending crowd is the deconstruction of traditional marriage. And what do they plan to replace it with? Their list seems to be ever more expansive; however, noticeably missing are some other "sexual identities" that are not easily embraced by this "diverse group." Where is their compassion for the consensual minor child and adult relationships? Why no love for NAMBLA and other Internet predators? I didn't see any call by this cabal of fruitcakes to seek lowering age of consent laws. Why not? On what basis can they claim to exclude these "non-conventional partnerships"? Did they suddenly have an epiphany and develop a moral conscience? Having rejected the traditional understanding of marriage and morality, how did they acquire the right to arbitrarily pick and choose the parameters for appropriate and "diverse kinds of partnerships, households, kinship relationships and families"? Or is it, as I suspect, they do identify with these proclivities but are too cowardly to acknowledge it for fear that public outrage would be too great?
-- Rick Arand
Lee's Summit, Missouri

Thank you, Mark Tooley, for your terrific job of exposing the true nature of the homosexual agenda. You have revealed something that many of us have long suspected: their real goal is not "marriage" for two men or two women; rather, it is the abolishment of the institution altogether.

With such a pernicious agenda, one would think that the media would be all over this. But as we saw this past weekend, the MSM is far more interested in doing puff pieces on Hitler's next of kin (i.e., the president of Iran).
-- Greg Hoadley
Deerfield Beach, Florida

"LGBT (lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender) and queer". AND queer? Is there some aberrant behavior not covered by the abbreviation that I don't know about or is this just legalese to throw in sex with the kitchen sink if you like?
-- Laurey Boyd

CAFECITO COUNTY
Re: Ivan Osorio's Miami Vice:

As a long time and former resident of Dade County and the City of Miami, I read the two articles recently printed with a grin and considerable interest. Miami-Dade is really a schizophrenic place. You have South Beach where totally self-absorbed rich children take off their clothes and do drugs. You have a two lane Calle Ocho where Hispanic truck drivers routinely stop, completely blocking traffic, leave their vehicles to get a cafecito and converse for half an hour in rapid fire Cuban Spanish at an outdoor window. There is Coconut Grove, the formerly chi-chi place to live, now overtaken by newer and ever larger castles -- Star Island and its environs -- where, if you go a block off Main Street, you are likely to be killed and eaten.

I see it as an episode of Emeril Live! A polyglot of people, lightly basted in tanning oil, broiled in the tropic sun; scrambled by hurricanes and -- take it up a notch --BAM! -- by spicing with drugs, wealth, poverty and violence. All topped off by a sauce of buffoonish corruption. It is a HOOT!
-- Jay W. Molyneaux
Wellington, Florida

KETAMINE CONCERNS
Re: Michael Fumento's Ketamine and Depression:

After reading Michael Fumento's article several points need to be made. In the first place, after clicking the link and reading the study itself, it bears emphasizing that the sample size (18 patients) is extremely small. This by definition makes it difficult to say much with certainty about the validity of the outcomes the authors are trying to measure. In addition, since all of these people failed 6 conventional antidepressants, making them an unusual subset of patients, one can say nothing at all about whether this treatment would be superior to, inferior to, or even work on the vast majority of patients who DO respond to conventional antidepressants.

Secondly, ketamine is far from a benign drug. There are several reasons why it is used primarily in veterinary practice, and only sparingly, if at all, by most anesthesiologists (including myself) in this country. It significantly raises blood pressure and cardiac oxygen demand, making it an increased risk for, if not outright inappropriate to use for those with heart disease. It also causes unpleasant, and often extremely unpleasant, visual, auditory, or proprioceptive hallucinations in the immediate post-dose period and subsequent nightmares in as many as 30% of patients. The resource Mr. Fumento cites somewhat glosses over this difficulty, claiming that the delirium and dreams go away in 24 hours; however, this need not be the case, and there is much anecdotal evidence which indicates that harrowing nightmares may persist for weeks or even months after a single dose.

Thirdly, one of the circumscribed areas of anesthetic practice where ketamine is popular is in severe burn cases, which often have to be seen to surgically multiple times over a period of weeks. Anyone who has done this notes that a marked tolerance develops, requiring continuously increased doses to achieve the same therapeutic effects. While there is nothing in the study to suggest this would be the case in treating depression, since the patients did not receive long-term treatment, there is nothing to rule it out. The test subjects received half of the dose required to induce the low end of general anesthesia, meaning there is not a lot of wiggle room to increase the dose if tolerance is indeed an issue.

Having said all of that, it IS an interesting avenue for further research. However, the tone of the piece suggests that a possible cure for depression is just around the corner. This somewhat akin to saying "Hey, some guys just figured out how to make a wheel out of wood, let's start building an interstate system."
-- B.J.M., M.D.

Editor's note: Michael Fumento replies in Thursday's Reader Mail.

IN HUSTON'S CORNER
Re: Bill Croke's John Huston at 100:

Letter to the Editor

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