Let it be noted that today also marks the third full moon since the winter solstice, Purim, and the Hindu celebration of Holi. L. has been sick all week (flu), and I've spent the past few nights bringing her Kleenex, food, flowers and other essentials. Meanwhile, my antibiotic and prescription decongestant regime seems to be working - I've been able to sleep without stuffiness the last few nights.

Meanwhile, there are elements that appear to be trying to turn our country into a theocracy. Emboldened perhaps by a widely quoted but generally misunderstood exit poll last November that stated "moral values" were the main reason voters elected Bush, these elements have since tried to ban the teaching of evolution in classrooms and have intimidated those teachers who refuse to adopt their unscientific views; have appealed all the way to the Supreme Court the "right" of some southern judges to display the Ten Commandments in public, even Federal, courthouses; have threatened fines and penalties against television and radio programs that don't fit into their narrow view of "decency;" and are now trying to reverse what seems like at least 10 judicial decisions that have declared that a husband can't be denied allowing his literally brain-dead wife to die a natural death, even as they trumpet the "sanctity of marriage" (but which really means that they don't approve of gays).

It is ironic that as our government struggles to prevent Iraq from becoming an Islamic state, we ourselves are allowing this country to be transformed into a religious fundamentalist state. It is ironic that those who generally accept the death penalty, and have few qualms about the innocent Iraqis who die every day due to our aggression, are the most upset that a single woman may die after years of life support. And it is ironic that in those states that protest indecency over the airwaves the loudest, the very shows that they are against get even higher ratings than in more "permissive" states.

Don't let them bother you and don't let them intimidate you. Like all bullies, from playground punks to Joseph McCarthy to J. Edgar Hoover to any talk-radio pundit, they cannot withstand a challenge, or worse yet, to be ignored.

You might ask why I don't take my own advice and just ignore them as well, and simply go about my life and my practice, exercising the freedoms that I have, instead of ranting like some blogospheric version of Frank Rich. Well, I could show restraint instead of provocation, but what with Mercury in retrograde and all . . .