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THE DIOGENES REPORT MR. NICE GUY? A New York Times review of a biography of James Watson who was awarded a Nobel prize for the co-discovery of DNA, along with Francis Crick, notes that Watson refused to take credit for the work done by his students. The reviewer and the biographer praised this aspect of Watson’s persona because it bucked academic convention whereby professors usually took credit for their student’s work in order to enhance their own reputations. As I read the words of praise, a little dark cloud concerning Watson formed over my head. These dark thoughts were directly related to Watson’s giving credit to others for their work. As I tried to track down the information that was bothering me, a friend directed me to an interview with Watson which ran in the April 2003 issue of the Scientific American. Apparently, the real history of the DNA discovery is on the mind of others, as well. Scientific American (SA) noted that strong individual personalities in the race for the double helix influenced the specifics of who found it first and how. Among those in the race were Linus Pauling of Caltech and, Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin of King’s College. Watson states in the interview that he didn’t know that Franklin was leaving King’s College and had turned in her research on the project. He claims he did not know her then nor when he wrote the Double Helix. But SA notes that there was always a controversy about Wilkins showing the crystallography images developed by Franklin to Watson and Crick without her permission. This gave Watson and Crick the clue they needed to solve the DNA riddle when they did--and win the Nobel prize. Watson himself says, “people have said, why didn’t you talk to Rosalind later and thank her for seeing the picture? She didn’t want to talk about it. When she was dying, she stayed with Francis, and that might have been an occasion to reminisce about the past, but she was just ‘on with the future.’ She’d missed that one; she wanted to get the next one.” He sound kind of cold to me, and he didn’t get warmer as the interview continued. SA asked: “In retrospect, would it have been more appropriate for the Nobel to have been given to her, along with you and Francis, rather than to Maurice Wilkens? Watson responds: “I think not. Wilkens gave us the crystalline photograph of the A form and she gave us the B form. So you could have said that in an ideal, perfect society, they would have gotten the chemistry prize and Crick and I would have gotten the biology prize. That would have been a nice way to honor the four of us. But no one thought that way.” Least of all, James Watson, the academic who was so considerate of his graduate students.
ACROSS MY RADAR SCREEN Perseverance And A Good Idea Can Beat The Odds A few years ago, when David Strachman, a Providence Rhode Island attorney wanted my fund raising and PR assistance in launching a lawsuit against Hamas for murdering an American citizen in Israel, I was not willing to participate. I felt it was outside of my areas of expertise and that such a suit did not have much chance to succeed. I knew that the U. S. State Department generally threw up roadblocks against these kinds of legal actions. Dave was determined to launch the suit and exuded certainty that he could win. Now, several years later, a federal judge ruled that the Palestinian Arab terrorist group, Hamas must pay $116 million for the deaths of two Jewish residents near the West Bank in 1996. Four Hamas members have already been convicted in an Israeli court and one remains at large. Since Hamas never responded to the lawsuit, the judge issued a default judgment. The AP said that it was unclear whether the group would honor the ruling or whether the group could pay. The information that has become available since 9-11 about the millions of dollars in Arab financial support for Hamas flowing from the U. S. makes it likely that significant amounts of the judgment will be collected, in my opinion. The case was filed under the Antiterrorism Act of 1991 that allows American victims of overseas terrorism to seek monetary damages in American courts. This fight against very strong odds is being won. So can victory come in the fight for a two-Jewish-State solution in the Land of Israel.
The Brits Are Against The Death Penalty...Sometimes The British Government is pressuring the U. S. not to execute any of the Guantanamo terrorist who receive the death penalty upon conviction. How veddy humanitarian of the Brits. However, I recall when the Brits were not so humanitarian. As a matter of record, they did not even wait for a trial and conviction to deliver the death penalty against those whom they deemed terrorists. In Palestine, British agents assassinated the unarmed Avraham Stern who was opposed to their control of the Holy Land. No arrest, no trial, just summary judgment. His followers in the Stern Group made the British pay dearly for their lack of humanity and poor judgment. A second incident that comes to mind took place in Gibraltar. Here British agents assassinated three unarmed IRA men without bothering to read them their rights or bringing them to trial, The government of these assassins is now “raising the strongest possible objections” to the imposition of the death penalty on any prisoners found guilty of terrorism. Perhaps a little al Qaeda action against Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey might have give the Brits a different perspective—but I doubt it.
Perhaps They Prefer Arab Justice Parents of some of the terrorists incarcerated at Guantanamo are complaining about the treatment these poor innocents are getting. One father said about his son: “I am 100 percent sure he has not done anything wrong.” He also voiced grave concerns about the tribunals because the judge, the prosecutors, the jury and the lawyers are from the military. As a consequence, there can be no fair trial, the father believes. I wonder if these Arab parents advised their sons not to go off on their crusade to Afghanistan. Perhaps they—parents and sons—believed they were fulfilling their Muslim obligations. Too many tears are being shed over the terrorists and too few over their victims.
A People Of Straight-Line Development It’s amazing how the French have developed in a straight line from the pre-historic world to the present. In pre-history, the people living in what-is-today France were outstanding artists. One need only see the art in the caves at Lascaux and other locations. The art of modern French painters is on the same extraordinary level. The same straight line from caveman times is evident in French moral and ethical behavior. While some peoples have advanced to higher moral and ethical levels than their cavemen forebears, the French have been satisfied in not changing their behavior. The following news item from the New York Times of July 5, 2003, supports my contention: “The Council of State, France’s top administrative authority, ordered the Finance Ministry to reinstate the pension of Maurice Papon, the highest ranking French civilian ever to be convicted of Nazi war crimes. Payments to Mr. Papon, 92, were suspended in October 1999. He was belatedly (?) convicted in 1998 for signing deportation orders for more than 1,500 Jews, and served 3 years of a 10 year sentence. He was freed because of poor health and old age. Of the pension suspension, the council said there could be no penalties that strip defendants of their civil rights.” Of course, according to French cavemen thinking, French Jews had no civil or other rights.
A Near Miss The multi-state Powerball lottery was up to a $261 million payout, so I bought a ticket. When I checked my ticket against the winning numbers, I realized that I missed only six of the winning numbers. Whew! That was close.
The Weakest Link You know the old saying about the strength of a chain, so why is it that our super patriots are always defending the weakest links in America’s national security chain? The Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines have shown that they can take care of the country. At the same time, the CIA, FBI and some of our more shadowy spy and security agencies have consistently fallen on their faces. So why are the self-proclaimed patriots so hot in their defense? J. Edgar is dead and I don’t think that the current leaders have dossiers on our elected officials. Again, I ask, why?
Monogamy Is The Same As.... Some wit said, “monogamy is the same as bigamy—one wife too many.” A fellow was arrested in Norwalk, CT for bigamy. When he requested permission to call his wife, the police asked,” which one?” Some 25 years earlier, he was convicted for practicing medicine without a license. Interesting—he was willing to practice medicine without a license, but he felt he needed two licenses to practice husbandry.
Champion Of The Little Guy For all the disbelieving Democrats, I’m going to prove that George W. Bush is the champion of the little guy. The Bush administration has been pushing to give smaller firms as much federal work as possible. And, the Bushies have been bragging about the amount of dollars going to small business. But, OOPS, the Associated Press discovered that the numbers are inflated. Somehow, the database of small companies includes such names as Verizon Communications, AT&T Wireless, Barnes & Noble and Dole Foods. According to the government, once a company’s status is mischaracterized, it can’t be changed through the life of a contract—which can be 20 years. That means smaller firms that the administration intended to help may be frozen out of fresh business by the bigger companies with the incorrect designations. What do you say to that George? Well all the companies you named are smaller than General Electric or Wal-Mart.
NAMES I’m not sure if this one fits. Wesley Mayo of Norwalk, CT was charged with assault on a peace officer, disorderly conduct and first degree criminal trespass. I hope the cops are holding the mayo. Here is one that truly fits. Mark Swimm is the president of Swimm Pools which donated the cost of pool repairs to a group home in Norwalk, CT (Stamford Advocate, 6/29/03) Another good fit: the Commodore of the Stamford (CT) Yacht Club is Joseph T. Dockery.
HEADLINES AND COMMENTS Break In The Cease-Fire: Mortar Shells Land In Kfar Darom Spy Said Washington Would Cross Delaware But Warning Went Unheeded By British Leader Palestinians Take Control Of Bethlehem 7 Jail Workers Face Bribery And Drug Charges Principal Is Accused Of Having Sex With A Girl 5 Israeli Arabs Are Charged With Aiding Hamas China Has Quelled SARS, World Health Agency Says Israelis Sense They’ve Won Palestinian Militant Killed In West Bank By Israel Poor And War-Weary, Africa Turns Eyes To Bush For Help California Archdiocese To Drop Complaint In Abuse Case Seven Police Recruits Die In Bomb Blast Man Guns Down 5 Co-Workers, Then Shoots Himself Wrestling For The Truth Of 9-11 Suit Says That School Ordered Girls Tested For Disease After Party Obesity On Rise In New York Public Schools
QUOTES I LIKE The white man wiped out most of the more than 500 Indian tribes that were here when he arrived. Now that he is giving the remaining tribes gambling casinos, they are in the process of wiping out the white man. Little Connecticut, with but 4800 square miles of area, lies just outside New York City, and is made up, in almost equal parts, of golf links and squalid factory towns. The great majority of Germans, realizing the practical impossibility of talking their language with any degree of success, abandon it altogether, and communicate with one another on brass bands. German sounds better on a band, but not much. It is always a silly thing to give advice, but to give good advice is absolutely fatal. Happy are all free peoples, too strong to be dispossessed. My wife left me for the cable guy...now she wants to come back. I told her it had to be before noon...I wasn’t going to wait around all day! No honest man will argue on every side. No Man is so exquisitely honest or upright but that ten times in his life he might not lawfully be hanged. Oh, look, see Jane cuddle Puff. See Puff use Jane’s couch as a litter box. Look, see Puff apply for a job as a barn cat. Everything that lives, resists: that which does not resist, allows itself to be cut up piecemeal. The most persistent sound which reverberates through history is the beating of war drums. The best way to repent for a wrong is by not repeating it. One can survive everything nowadays except death and live down anything except a good reputation. I believe in higher education. You know, 6’8”, 6’9”, 6’10”. The new aircraft carrier named for Ronald Regan was launched today and immediately lost its way.
READERS’ COMMENTS Just read your latest vituperation, http://www.diogenesreport.com/ . Have always wondered why you wanted to name yourself after a Greek. If nothing else, their sexual mores, or at least their reputed sexual mores, must appall someone with your views. Then, you claim to be “ahead of the curve.” If your curve follows the plan of the French legislature, where extreme right commingles with extreme left, how can we tell if you are ahead of the curve or behind (aha, there’s the Greek connection). For someone ahead of the curve, your warnings about the Arabs are starting to sound repetitive. That’s like being a “nag,” which is sometimes defined as a person who is not listened to. But why don’t we listen? Because it’s such a big drag. Those Arabs keep shooting at us, keep publishing the Protocols, keep wanting to win our prize back from us. Someone like Clinton, or lately, Bush, comes along and gets the Arabs to talk somewhat nice for five minutes, and it’s so soothing. They will be good neighbors, haven’t they interrupted some of their shooting to say so? So, again, why are you a Greek? Not only are and were the Greeks terrible anti-Semites, but think about this. The Arabs are to the Jews as the Greeks were to the Trojans, Helen to Jerusalem, and you to Cassandra. Of course no one wants to listen to you. The Trojan Horse is so much more appealing than that tiresome old war. So call it the Cassandra Report, and maybe someone might make the connection.
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