Blog | Admin | Archives

Abortion

I watched a video on John Kerry’s campaign website that showed the senator at a “women’s rights” rally getting endorsed by various groups because he has a “pro-family-planning” voting record and would support a woman’s right to “choose.”

And it made me sick to my stomach, really. What is so sick about it is that all of these people – mostly the fairer sex – were rallying behind abortion as if it were a good thing to have around. I can acknowledge that there are arguments that abortion appears to be, from some perspectives, a better option than going through with birth, even if I don’t agree with such arguments.

But why do all these people gather around and act as if we want more people to have more abortions, as if abortions are good and wonderful and help us all live better lives. Maybe we should force everyone to have at least one abortion, so they can experience the positive results of that “right.”

Then the speakers at the rally go on quote meaningless statistics, like that 87% of counties don’t even have abortion clinics. Oh the horror! Well, did you ever stop to think that maybe 87% of counties don’t have much demand for abortions? So maybe we should use tax dollars to pay for abortion clinics to go into those 87% of counties so that even more people can be coerced into having abortions by ativist “family planners.”

I do believe that it is true that some of the sentiment that “abortion is good” among pro-choice activists is really just a knee-jerk reaction against the strong pro-life sentiment that “abortion is bad.” I also believe that if the pro-life crowd were to focus more on making abortions less needed than on making abortions illegal (which won’t solve the problem), then more babies would be born than are today, and, just maybe, some of the “abortion is good” sentiment would go away as well.

So, clearly, I do not think abortion is good, nor do I think it should be made illegal at the national level. On the other hand, the federal government most certainly should not fund any group that condones or encourages abortion either – I think the so called “gag rule” is a good compromise between funding “planned parenthood” type groups and funding abortion. However, the real solution is to stop public money from going to these organizations at all.

Just because I would not support federal legislation outlawing abortion doersn’t mean that support it. My stance against such federal legislation is a result of my strong views on liberty and the need for as few laws as possible to preserve liberty. I think, in fact, that abortion is akin to murder, and that the “choice” argument is fatally flawed. Let me explain:

My stance that abortion is akin to murder stems from my understanding of biology as opposed to some religious notion of life. An egg in a woman is not unique in the world – it is wholy derived from the woman, and as such, I would consider it a part of her body. Let her do with it what she will. The same goes for a man and his sperm. However, after fertilization, the zygote is no longer a simple combination of the man and the woman. Due to the process called crossover, the DNA of the zygote is unique in all the world. This is what defines a new individual – we have what is indeed a unique human being. To snuff this indivual out on purpose seems little different to me than to snuff out any unique person’s life on purpose.

In fact, fertilization is the single place where an event occurs that causes a distinct change – after that its all just one continuous process. I do not understand how passing through an orfice in birth suddenly makes someone a person that can’t be snuffed out legally (except in the case of partial birth abortions, which somehow are different, I suppose because the baby has a vacuum in the brain). While birth is a significant event, there is no justifiable reason to make this the boundary any more than, say, teething, or sexual maturity. Maybe we should let mothers kill their children until they start noctural emissions or ovulation. Or maybe menopause and middle age is a better indicator. At least then kids might behave…

Now, onto the argument that this is about a woman’s reproductive right to choose. I’m sorry, but the reproductive choice was made when the woman choose to have sex. After the sex comes reproductive responsibility, namely carrying any potential product of the sex to term and ensuring that the potential child is cared for and nurtured into a productive adult. The man shares in this responsibilty, have no doubt, since he also made the choice. I am of course aware that this doesn’t not account for sex that the woman does not choose to have – namely in cases of rape. I think reasonable people could disagree on this topic. I personally lean towards killing the rapist, not the baby.

As for Roe v. Wade, it is fairly clear to me that the ruling was not legally justified, and is probally the single best example of the damage activist judges with radical agendas can do in this our system of common law and judicial review, an extremely flawed paradigm for a judicial system.

Well, thats all for now. I’ll get off the soapbox for just a while now.

Meh

The power went out at the house today so I had the pleasure of restarting silverfir.net again. Hey, that�s a double repetition (kinda like a double negative, but with doing something again instead… yeah�)

The day went fairly smoothly otherwise. I got up early to go to kinkos to make transparencies out of some prints I have, then I went to BCC and started doing my cyanotypes. After math and more cyanotypes, I went to work, and then I was off to Shai�s 21st birthday party. That went till 10, and then I came back here where I got a new Belkin 802.11g wireless Ethernet bridge working, and gave the wet11 to my brother. The speed should make file transfers from my laptop to the desktop without connecting in cat 5 more manageable.

Sunday Sunny Sunday

Today:
1. Woke Up
2. Ate breakfast (Golean Crunch! with 2% milk)
3. Blogged (last entry)
4. Organized files on hard drive while downloading animatrix videos and checking TV listings
5. Watched animatrix videos
6. Folded laundry while waiting for the Spurs vs Lakers game to start
7. Ate lunch
8. (now) Watching Spurs vs. Lakers
9. (next) Wash dishes, run dishwasher
10. (nexter) Vacuum main floor
11. (nextest?) read Diff. Eq. Book, do some Diff. Eq. homework

Not So Much

Occasionally, I run into a blog like Ludicrous Speed!. I learned about this particular one from Bobby after we talked about how bad the new trailer made �I Robot� look. Basically, they have taken Asimov�s classic robotics series and turned it into a high-budget on everything except faithfulness to the original story tion knock off. Turns out that it is very well stated on the particular blog, here.

Just like Bernie�s Site, this is another one where the layout is impressive and the commentary seems sculpted to perfection. So, since I tend to give up on ventures in which I don�t excel (an unfortunate consequence of the way I am), why do I continue to plug away at this blog when clearly I�m not excelling, or een meeting the standard for goodness? Heck, that isn�t even a good word!

The reason for my persistence is that this isn�t about you guys (sorry!). Its about e and needing to say things. And even though I admittedly do edit it for content (not-so-sorry!) its one of the most candid windows to my life that anyone has. An d that does something good for me. And as strangely wonderful that it is that a lot of my friends read this, and that even people I don�t know read it (thanks Bernie!) I�m pretty sure it will continue to lean much more towards a stream-of-consciousness style than trying to present any particularly useful or thoughtful information (although occasionally you may see something useful, because I happened to be thinking about it at the time).

I actaully wrote this several hours earlier today, but somehow it didn’t get posted.

A Pretty Productive Day

Today was a good day. I managed to make it to tennis early, do better than expected on a Diff. Eq. quiz, get my photo assignment done and turned in, all before noon. Then, since Id din’t have work for the first weekday in forever, I was able to eat lunch at a leisurely pace, send a package to scott, donate blood, mow the lawn, and get some photogrphy in as well. I then watched some TV, something which I very rarely do, and I was quickly reminded of why I only very rarely watch TV. I also played some CS, but began feeling sick so now I’m preparing to sleep it off.

In other good news, I got to see Stu Bloom, a “gracious professional” who posted a scathing personal attack on me on the Chief Delphi forums stuck in an elevator in this video (careful, its big).

A good day overall.

Halo 2

“Halo 2 is a lot like Halo, only it’s Halo on fire, going 130 miles per hour through a hospital zone, being chased by helicopters and ninjas,” explained Jason Jones, head of Bungie Studios. “And the ninjas are all on fire, too.”

Sounds exciting. But I’m more excited for Half Life 2, and assuming Valve doesn’t make another giant misstep like they did with Steam when it was initially released, and assuming they fi the dynamic lighting problems, and assuming that the physics engine is as amazing as it looks, then I see nothing in the way between Half Life two and game of the year in multiple publications.

Its another inredibly beautiful day outside, and I have a huge photo assignment due tomorrow that I ahven’t even taken one photo for. And I have a Diff.Eq. Quiz tomorrow that I haven’t studied for. And of course school and work and I’d like to get a haircut while I’m at it.

Does it ever stop?

Blake Ashby For President

From Blake Ashby’s Campaign Website:

“My name is Blake Ashby, and I am running for President on the Republican ticket. I have never run for office before, and I will likely never do it again. But I had to do something.

I have been a Republican since my sophomore year in High School. My Republican party has a core set of principles and beliefs. We don’t hold these beliefs to get elected. We seek election to put these beliefs into action.

My Republican Party believes that budget deficits are stealing from our children. Further, we recognize that budget deficits are a distortion of the free market. My Republican Party believes that while the government certainly must help insure the stability and integrity of the institutions of the free market, the free market itself tended to do the best job of allocating resources and generating value. My Republican Party believes that free trade is good not only for our economy and the global economy as a whole, but is also a tool of democracy, helping people raise their standards of living and expectations of freedom.

Again, we don’t hold these beliefs to get elected – we hold them because they are prudent and cautious. Because we believe we have an obligation to pass on to our children a sound and healthy country.

Unfortunately, this Administration has abandoned all of these principles. This Administration has doubled farm subsidies, regularly puts up trade barriers, and is running a massive budget deficit. Think about it – we have a Republican House, a Republican Senate and a Republican President, and yet spending beyond homeland security has skyrocketed. By any measure, this Administration has abandoned the prudence and caution that were the hallmarks of my Republican Party.

The President likes to talk about his tax cuts. My Republican Party knows the difference between a tax cut and a tax deferral. The $400 billion of government we didn’t pay for this year, we still have to pay for. My Republican Party knows that the ONLY way to cut taxes is to cut spending. Unfortunately, this Administration is throwing money at any interest group it thinks it has a chance of buying votes from. But government spending doesn’t hurt less just because it is a Republican writing the checks.

I voted for the President, twice – in the primary and general election. I thought I was getting another fiscal conservative, another Eisenhower. I thought I was getting an Eisenhower, but instead I got a Lyndon Johnson. It’s ironic, but this President, our President Bush, will go down in history as the Republican President that most increased the tax burden on U.S. citizens.

You know that what I am saying is true. You know that what has happened in Washington over the past three years is not what we believe in. And you know that we are slowly bankrupting our country. Will you stand up to the President? Do you want this to be your legacy? That you stood by and did nothing while our government was bankrupted, and our principles trashed? Will you be able to look your grandchildren in the eyes? Will you be proud of your stewardship?

Please, be a Republican and stand up for our beliefs, and the future of our country. Do what you can to help. Write in Blake Ashby when you vote in the Primary. Forward this email to friends and associates. Call your elected officials and let them know how unhappy you are with the Administration. If you are interested, visit ashby2004.com and sign up for our email list. But whatever you do, please do something – this is the future of the United States we are talking about.”

There is also a convincing essay on the Bush administration’s failures in Iraq… Go ahead and read it.

Since I pretty much agree with it all, and I don’t think higher gas taxes are a bad idea in general, and I am certain that gay marriage, abortion, and flag burning should not be outlawed at the federal level, you might wonder why I’m still likely to vote for Bush this November.

The real problem is, I’m scared of Democrats. Even if they arrive at some good ideas, they do so starting out from a completely different set of basic assumptions that distinguish liberals from conservatives. And when someone comes from those sets of assumptions, I don’t feel like I can trust what they will do in a given situation. I certainly was no fan of Clinton – even though we did pretty well under him. I attribute this mostly to the fact that the presodency and congress were split. Basically, very little got done, and the less government does, the better off we all are.

Now that government has decided to go all proactive for a while, we’re all giving up more freedoms and waiting longer at the airport for a false sense of security. Its pretty sad really, how hapily we give up our freedoms because someone wearing a white shirt tells us that its for our own good.