SERIOUSLY (inspired by an email exchange with Dr. E)
When I left Pakistan about 25 years ago, it was for the many same reasons we are now seeing on display, in the American politics.
In Pakistan, we used to call the influence of money in politics, bribery and corruption.
Here in America, we call it lobbying, and it is perfectly legal.
For us American Physicians we cannot even accept a pen from an industry or pharmaceutical representative, and rightly so, lest it entices us to use or prescribe their product unfairly.
The rules our politicians have made for themselves are very different, obviously.
And for our moral compass, I am curious to find out the impression Justice Scalia would have to the hoopla following his death.
For it seems that, for all those decades of service, the headlines are more focused on the high stakes fight to replace him and not the celebration of his life or even the courtesy of waiting, till he is laid to rest.
Arif Ahmad is a Cardiologist in Wisconsin, USA
graphic via shutterstock.com