Blog for One

I have been reading a few American political blogs lately, and I find a disturbing trend of increasing polarization, incivility, and conflct, so I thought this quote from 1984 was quite apropos.

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four

According to MSNBC:

South Dakota legislature attacks Roe vs. Wade

State prepares to pass bill banning all abortions except to save mom’s life.

A direct attack on Roe v. Wade is coming from the South Dakota legislature. The new bill, which outlaws abortion, makes no exceptions, not for a pregnancy caused by incest or rape. It would only be legal—the only exception if it would save the pregnant woman’s life.

Doctors who perform abortions could face up to five years in prison. The bill passed the State Senate 23-12. It’s expected to pass the House again and then go to Governor Mike Rounds’ desk. The bill’s sponsor says he thinks the antiabortion movement has momentum on its side and a—quote—“change in national policy on abortion is going to come in the not-too-distant future.”

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I see this as yet another form of religious law trying to worm its way into secular law. No better or worse than if we were to implement Sahria into our legal system.

Both would be very bad ideas.

From the Washington Post, an interesting article on the brouhaha arising from newspaper caricatures.

The article provides some thought-proking commentary on the 12 caricatures appearing in a Danish newspaper.
On sacrilege:
…We may cluck about the lack of freedom in Iran, but we have grown very orthodox about the way we speak of religion in our own public square. The curious thing about sacrilege is that it very often strengthens true religion as much as it reaffirms the right to challenge it.
The closing paragraph proposes an interesting theory.
So perhaps these cartoons really do crystallize why Islam and the West are incompatible and must hunker down for a “long war.” The only other option, it seems, is to remember that if vastly different worldviews can find no accommodation on a subject, then perhaps it’s too early, in human history, to have the conversation.

Interesting in that it reminds me of old Star Trek episodes where the crew lands on a “primitive civilization”. How odd to find that this primitive civilization is, indeed, all of us.

From American Librairies Online:

Florida Librarian Suspended over Porn Incident
The director of the Valparaiso (Fla.) Community Library was suspended without pay in early August after city officials found that a registered sex offender had used library computers to access pornographic websites.

City Commissioner Robert Billingsley said in the August 12 Gainesville Sun that he would ask the commission to fire VCL Director Sue Martin, but he declined to explain why he thought she had not done enough to prevent the incident, which occurred July 25. Police charged Michael Bushee, 25, with possession of child pornography several days later. Billingsley said police also told him that three male minors had used the VCL computers to look at sites with adult content.

The Sun quoted a letter Martin had written to Billingsley in which she explained, “We continually enforce our policy by monitoring all computers. Any suspicious use is immediately checked by accessing the history of the patrons’ Web use. In addition, the staff monitors the patrons’ use by ‘walkthroughs’ of the computer areas.”

City Attorney Doug Wyckoff said Martin would receive a hearing within 60 days.
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Speechless.

The following story is from This is True dated 17 July 2005. It is
Copyright 2005 Randy Cassingham, all rights reserved, and reprinted here
with
permission:

“Ethical” Defined

After more than 100 dead dogs were dumped in a trash dumpster over
four weeks, police in Ahoskie, N.C., kept an eye on the trash receptacle
behind a supermarket. Sure enough, a van drove up and officers watched
the occupants throw in heavy plastic bags. They detained the two people
in the van and found 18 dead dogs in plastic bags in the dumpster,
including puppies; 13 more dead dogs were still in the van. Police say
the van is registered to the headquarters of People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals, and the two occupants, Andrew B. Cook, 24, and
Adria Joy Hinkle, 27, identified themselves as PETA employees. An autopsy
performed on one of the dogs found it was healthy before it was killed.
Police say PETA has been picking up the animals — alive — from North
Carolina animal shelters, promising to find them good homes. Cook and
Hinkle have been charged with 62 felony counts of animal cruelty. In
response to the arrests PETA President Ingrid Newkirk said it’s against
the group’s policy for employees to dump animals in the trash, but “that
for some animals in North Carolina, there is no kinder option than
euthanasia.” (Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald) …Oops, my mistake: that’s
“Playing God” Defined.

In his author’s notes section, Cassingham had more to say about this
story:

The more I learn about PETA, the less I think of
them. The story of them killing animals isn’t even unusual. According to
PETA’s own filings, in 2004 PETA killed 86.3 percent of the
animals entrusted to its care — a number that’s rising, not falling.
Meanwhile, the SPCA in PETA’s home town (Norfolk, Va.) was able to find
loving homes for 73 percent of the animals put in its care. A shortage of
funds? Nope: last year PETA took in $29 million in tax-exempt donations.
It simply has other priorities for the funds, like funding terrorism
(yes, really). But don’t take my word for it: I got my figures from
http://www.PETAkillsAnimals.com
– and they have copies of PETA’s state and federal filings to back it
up. The bottom line: if you donate money to PETA because you think they
care for and about animals, you need to think some more. PETA literally
yells and screams about how others “kill animals” but this is how
they operate? Pathetic.

And you know what I wonder? PETA’s official count of animals
they kill is 86.3 percent. But if they’re going around picking up
animals, killing them while they drive around and not even giving them a
chance to be adopted, and then destroying the evidence by dumping
the bodies in the trash, are those deaths being reported? My
guess: no. While 86.3 percent is awful, the actual number is probably
much, much higher. How dare they lecture anyone
about the “ethical” treatment of animals!

(This is True is a weekly column featuring
weird-but-true news
stories from around the world, and has been published since 1994. Click
the link for info about free subscriptions.)