Danielle Levy

Sometimes the foreign press is a better source of information for certain type of news about the US. Reading Germany’s Der Spiegel I learned that the US senate had passed a bill—not yet the whole Congress, please note—mandating a $10 entry fee for each person coming to the US from a country where a visa is not required, countries like Germany, France, the UK. Germany’s interior minister called the fee “not logical” and a high-ranking member of the German government is asking Washington to abandon any such plan. The money thus raised is meant to be used to pay for an advertising campaign to promote tourism. Wouldn’t an open door policy be a better message to visit the US? Why place obstacles in the way of a free flow of people? At a time when the US’ image still needs tweaking, why make the task that much harder? Is the loss of goodwill worth the projected monetary gain?

The Swiss government is considering amending its laws allowing assisted suicide. One of its clinics, Dignitas has been much in the news for allowing non Swiss citizens to come to Switzerland, pay their money (about $6000) and end their life. They apparently have no permanent space and rent apartments when they need them. In one building the tenants complained too many coffins were being taken out. In another instance the suicide occurred in a parking lot. There is also a question as to where the money goes particularly since Dignitas is a non profit organization and as such is not meant to operate for the financial gain of its principals.
How assisted suicide clinics work ought to be transparent. The current questions are well placed. Hopefully, Swiss lawmakers will act to ensure that the practice of Dignitas and other such clinics reflect the necessary transparency.

The new Hubble telescope has been sending awe inspiring pictures of space. Space is turbulent, complex, colorful, powerful, reminiscent of the bottom of the deepest oceans and yet vaster, more mysterious, more intricate inviting us to do more than gape or wonder. Pictures of space propel us to ask those questions for which there are yet no answers. Are we alone in the universe? Who are humans in this immense scheme? How do we and the planet really fit in? on an even deeper level those pictures so vivid, so compelling prompt us to ponder our relationship to our ultimate source, whether that source is called god or something else. And when we have pondered it all a while, some, like me perhaps, will be left with the notion that science is so often god’s best friend.