This announcement came from the NYU Medical Center's Center for Bioethics. I think it is open to all on a first come first seated basis.

2013 Bioethics & Philosophy Conference: Saving & Uniting Lives

Friday, April 12th, 9:00 a.m.
Location: D'Agostino Hall, 110 West 3rd Street, Lipton Hall
A Conference in Honor of William Ruddick
Professor of Philosophy; Arthur Zitrin Professor of Bioethics;
Founding Director, NYU Center for Bioethics

Download Program (PDF)

RSVP Required (Seating will be on a first come first served basis)

Schedule of Sessions

9:00-9:30AM BREAKFAST
Location D'Agostino Hall, 110 West Third Street, Faculty Club

9:30-9:45AM OPENING REMARKS
Don Garrett, Chair, Department of Philosophy; Professor of Philosophy, New York University
Dale Jamieson, Director of the Center for Bioethics, the Environmental Studies Program and the Animal Studies Initiative; Professor of Environmental Studies and Philosophy, New York University

9:45-11:15AM SESSION I: WRONG TURN AFTER NUREMBERG: QUESTIONING THE POST-WAR CONSENSUS IN RESEARCH ETHICS
Daniel Wikler, Mary B. Saltonstall Professor of Population Ethics; Professor of Ethics and Population Health, Harvard University

11:15-11:30AM COFFEE BREAK
Location: D'Agostino Hall, 110 West Third Street, Faculty Club

11:30-1:00PM SESSION II: ON THE OTHER HAND: THE ETHICS OF AMBIVALENCE
Amelie Rorty, Lecturer on Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard University

1:00-2:30PM LUNCH
Please see the attached map of area restaurants for suggestions on where to have lunch

2:30-4:00PM SESSION III: WHO TURNED THE TROLLEY?
Frances Kamm, Littauer Professor of Philosophy & Public Policy; Professor of Philosophy, Harvard University

4:00-4:15PM COFFEE BREAK
Location D'Agostino Hall, 110 West Third Street, Faculty Club

4:15-5:45PM SESSION IV: EMOTIONS, MEMORY AND RECOGNITION
Jonathan Glover, Professor of Medical Law & Ethics, King’s College; Distinguished Research Fellow, Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics

5:45-7:00PM RECEPTION
Location: D'Agostino Hall, 110 West Third Street, Faculty Club

This month's Liberal Eating meeting will be Apr. 9, 7:30 PM at the Vietnamese restaurant Hanoi in Park Slope:

http://www.hanoinyc.com/

448 Ninth Street
Brooklyn, NY 11215

We can talk about the implosion of Malcolm Smith, mayoral candidates, Brooklyn BP race, Brooklyn DA's race, and the fact that disgraced party boss (sorry, FORMER party boss) Vito Lopez won't go away.

Hope to see you there.

Remember Exxon's massive oil spill in Alaska from the Valdez? All because they wanted to save money and not double hull their ships?

Well, here is Exxon's latest assault on America. And it reminds us why the Keystone XL pipeline is just plain a bad idea.

Can we FINALLY move on to more modern, cleaner energy sources than fossil fuels?

Once again blogger Gatemouth (who really is a friend!) seems to be on the warpath against me and other progressives, this time about Charles Hynes, the Brooklyn DA that I have called the most progressive DA in America. Gatemouth seems to feel that the Conservative Party's endorsement of Hynes negates my calling him the most progressive DA in America. But if you look at Charles Hynes's record it is hard to see him as anything BUT the most progressive DA in America given his many effective programs that channel drug offenders to alternative programs to prison. Conservatives are all about prison. Progressives look for effective alternatives to prison. Charles Hynes has been at the forefront of alternatives to prison for decades. So he really IS the most progressive DA in America by just about any standard. Charles Hynes has focused tirelessly on domestic violence, drug rehab, alternatives to prison, etc.

What more could a progressive want in a DA???

The Drum Major Institute supports my view of Charles Hynes' programs:

n editorial in Thursday's Times profiles ComALERT, the Brooklyn re-entry program founded by District Attorney Charles Hynes. The program, which was started in 1999, helps prevent recidivism through counseling, drug testing, and work and training programs. A recent state-funded study carried out by the DA's office and Bruce Western of Harvard showed that programs like ComALERT are successful in helping former inmates enter the workforce and stay out of jail. As the Times reports,

The Park Slope Civic Council agrees with my view of Charles Hynes as a progressive:

Hynes has become a national leader in “diversion” strategies. He believes violent criminals belong in jail, but nonviolent offenders and the community at large can best be served by sentences that focus on rehabilitation, education, and prevention. Diverting nonviolent offenders from prison also saves the community money, as rehabilitation, education, and prevention programs cost about half as much as incarceration.

The approach is particularly valuable in addressing the problem of youth crimes. “Juveniles have a 78% recidivism rate within three years,” Hynes told the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Mincing no words, he added: “The institution [of juvenile detention facilities in New York], objectively speaking, is an obscenity for the government. They’re ticking time bombs with no reentry skills.”

Sounds progressive to me!

Columbia University did a study that further emphasized the effectiveness of Hynes' alternatives to prison programs (progressive by anyone's standards!).

Additionally the Young Progressive Democrats seem to be on board with Charles Hynes' credentials of pushing some of the most progressive AND EFFECTIVE programs in America.

I have my issues with Hynes particularly in his relative lack of effort against Vito Lopez's corruption, but I don't see how Gatemouth can deny Hynes' fundamental progressive credentials and overall effectiveness as a DA. I don't give a rat's ass what the loser Conservative Party does. They endorse him because he will probably win. I endorse him because he is EFFECTIVE and PROGRESSIVE by any definition of that term when it comes to a DA.

And as for Gatemouth's ongoing jihad against Eric Adams, he seems to feel I am a blind defender of Eric Adams. I have already said that Gatemoth's questions about Adams are valid but I don't really see it as a big issue given that Adams has a good voting record as State Senator, has been a very vocal advocate for progressive causes like marriage equality when it wasn't a given, and is pretty much unopposed for Brooklyn BP so far so I personally don't see much reason to focus on him. But by all means Gatey! Ask about his past! I never said you shouldn't.

I think both of these come down to what these folks are actually ACCOMPLISHING. Both Hynes and Adams may have some less than ideal history behind them...few NYC politicians are any better from what I, coming from cleaner Los Angeles, can see. But when you look at what they have done in their current elected positions, they both seem pretty damned good. So I see no real reason to oppose them. Question them, sure! But who does Gatey support over Hynes or Adams in the upcoming elections, which ultimately is the key question.  read more »

Republicans (and Republican wannabe Malcolm Smith) are busted for massive corruption here in New York. From NY1:

Elected officials around the city and state are speaking out and calling for more transparency over the corruption charges against State Senator Malcolm Smith, City Councilman Dan Halloran and four other political officials.
Smith and Halloran were arraigned yesterday along with Bronx Republican Party Chairman Joseph Savino, Queens Republican Party Vice Chairman Vincent Tabone, and the mayor and deputy mayor of Spring Valley in Rockland County.

All six are accused of taking part in a wide-ranging bribery scheme.

No one entered a plea and all were released on $250,000 bond.

They are due back in court on April 23.

The U.S. Attorney says Smith, a Democrat, was scheming to run for mayor on the GOP line and teamed up with Halloran, a Republican, to bribe Savino and Tabone.

Halloran apparently expected to be rewarded with a top job if Smith was elected mayor.

Smith is also accused of agreeing to steer a half-million dollars in state money to a real estate project in Spring Valley.

So Malcolm Smith decides to run for mayor as a Republican and IMMEDIATELY gets embroiled in bribery and corruption. So damned typical. It seems like you almost HAVE to be corrupt to be a Republican these days.