Can We Talk?

Just sitting here at 3:45 am wondering when we will, as a nation, be able to have a meaningful discussion about abortion. (by the way, my wife is away for a few days so this entry will have more grammatical and spelling issues than usual) I know it's anecdotal but my efforts to have a meaningful discussion on the issue usually ends up focusing on something other than the actual issue of abortion. A recent effort landed us at the predictable "if you're against abortion but aren't a foster parent then you are a hypocrite". This is a comment given during a dialogue supposedly about abortion. While it's way off the subject lets waste a little more time and follow the logic for just a moment. If in order to be legitimately against something you must be personally involved in an effort to repair the damage then it would appear that we live in a society that is OK with child abuse. If you're against child abuse but aren't volunteering  40 hours a week, which is actually less time than a foster parent gives, at a children's home then you're a hypocrite. If you "say" you think it's wrong that Priest's have molested young boys but haven't offered to man phone's at a hot-line for young people abused by Priest's then you're a hypocrite. If you are against animal cruelty but haven't had an endless string of abused pets in your home then you are obviously a hypocrite. For cryin' out loud, all you have to do to show how much you care about wiping out breast cancer is to wear something pink. All you have to do about young boys being molested by adults is to gossip about it at work. But abortion, well, if you're not a foster parent then you obviously don't give a rip about unborn children. Gossiping and wearing ugly clothes will land you precisely in the center of the "I care" target on virtually any issue except abortion. But to answer one idiotic position is to ask for an endless string of them. Once you start down that road there's no end in sight. If you are going to offer a meaningful opinion on abortion then there is a never ending list of prerequisites that must be met. If, however, you are going to move a whole nation down the bloodiest path it has ever embarked on, all  you need is a black robe. Oh, and an apparent indifference to our constitution. Gee, I think it would be easier to be a supreme court justice than to hold a meaningful conversation on the street about abortion. Maybe I should look into that as a good retirement activity.

If It Looks Like A Duck

Let's go back in time a bit, if you have a bit of time.1973, the year I graduated from high school. There was some good pop music being written and some not-so-good music too. I had worked in a grocery store for a year or two and had waited patiently for my freedom. At least it seemed like freedom to me. I do remember getting those "growing pains" though. As it became clear that my freedom would require some assumption of responsibility the reality of those responsibilities became a burden. Still, there was a definite element of freedom and my buddy and I took off for some backpacking in Colorado. A great couple of weeks climbing Mt. Elbert and then kicking back in the Maroon Bells area for a few days. And we took my friend's dog with us too. His name was Bear and he provided some interesting situations for us. That fall, 3 other guys and I rented a house in a small town where we attended a Jr. College. The rent was fifty bucks a month so we each had to come up with 12.50 when the rent was due. We owned a cutting edge culinary preparation device called a Hot Dogger. It had two metal bars fastened to a plastic base. The metal bars were approximately 5 inches apart or so and each bar had 3 or 4 spikes protruding up from them. Each bar was connected to one side of the A/C so that when a hot dog was placed across the spikes and the unit was turned on, A/C current would flow through the hot dog which would eventually "cook" the dog. A sophisticated device indeed but the results were somewhat disappointing. Though with enough ketchup the dogs were consumable.
    So it was in 1973. I was so focused on my world that I barely noticed the history changing event that has produced more suffering and hardship than any other self-directed event in our nation's history. The United States Supreme Court took the Constitution, twisted it into a pretzel, held it up to the light and said, "See, there it is, the right to privacy". If it looks like a baby, sounds like a baby, and kicks like a baby, it must be an unviable tissue mass. And all the intellectuals stood up after the Supreme Court decision and said, "Amen", "so be it". What we cannot push through by legitimate democratic process we will force on society by defrauding our system of government and enacting what we know to be best for everybody. 40 million babies and untold, largely ignored, emotional damage is the current toll. As far as I'm concerned the up-tick in this tragedy is more disconcerting than watching the national debt clock shoot higher by the second. Come on folks let's return to some sense of common sense. Even many Atheists and Agnostics are curious about this issue. At some point before the baby is born doesn't it become human? If not at conception then certainly in the last trimester.
    And now on a lighter note I just realized my pants are unzipped. Jeepers Wally!

    And now back to the heavier note. Can we at least agree that when an abortion attempt is unsuccessful and a living, breathing baby is the result, that we don't just throw that life in a trash can. Let's assume this is evolution's way of giving us a strong person who will help the human species survive. Maybe if we tie it into evolution the Supreme Court will condescend and let these little ones live, in-spite of the appearance of them standing in defiance of the courts' ultimate authority.