Daily Archives: July 25, 2006

Jul 25

Does the ‘Abortion is Murder’ Crowd Think Girls are Incompetent?

Let’s think about this a minute.  Imagine a fourteen year old boy wants to kill someone.  So, he talks his brother into driving him and the intended victim to Kentucky where a man the boy has hired shoots the intended victim dead.

Would that fourteen year old boy go to prison for murder?  Would he be tried as an adult?  Might he even get the death penalty?

I think we can safely answer ‘yes’ to each of those questions.  That kind of planning and premeditation usually winds up costing you a huge chunk of your life, if not all of it.

And the guy who drove the car?  Is he getting off with just a year in prison?

Only if he cuts some kind of sweet deal with the government.

And yet, folks like Rick Santorum, who believe that a fetus is equivalent to a child aren’t advocating charging fourteen year old girls who have abortions with murder.  And they’re not charging the doctor she hires to provide it.  And they’re only going to advocate punishing the driver of the vehicle with up to a year in prison.

Why?

If a fetus really is a life the same way a child is a life, why isn’t anyone advocating treating the folks involved with the procurement of one as if they are involved in the procurement of a murder-for-hire?

Are girls, as a class, not competent to stand trial for murder?  Are people who are involved in the killing of babies somehow rendered not competent to stand trial for those babies’ deaths?

I think the thing is that there are many people who think that abortion is a shitty choice among many shitty choices a woman might have to make under certain circumstances, but who believe that it ought to be up to the woman to make that choice.  I think they grown uneasier with that choice the farther along a pregnancy is, but they don’t want to see abortions outlawed.

Then I think there are a greater number of people who believe that abortion is morally wrong, even if the fetus is not an actual human being, it is a form of human life and ending that life ought to be done only under the most extenuating circumstances.  Still, they uncomfortably believe that, even if abortion is wrong, it should still be safe and legal.

Then a smaller number of people who believe that abortion is morally wrong, and that a fetus is not the same as a human being, but is a form of human life, and as such, should be allowed to thrive except in circumstances of rape or if the mother’s health is in danger.

And then there’s a smaller group still who believe that abortion is morally wrong because a fetus is a human being–a pre-born human being.  They say they believe that abortion is murder.  Often, they and the above group seem very similar and I think you find the "Abortion is morally wrong and should be illegal because a fetus is alive" group often spouting the "Abortion is murder" line.

And yet, if they really believe this, where is the push to have women who have abortions tried for murder?

It’s funny because I imagine the amount of people in the US who believe that every woman should have an abortion once in her life just for the hell of it are slim to none.  Most everyone believes that it would be nice if there were few abortions–if it were just in cases of rape or incest or out of medical necessity.

It just seems like the two sides differ completely in their estimation of women, which means they differ completely on how to lessen the number of abortions.  One side (the good guys) want to give folks good information on birth control and biology and reproductive health and want to make all kinds of forms of birth control widely available and ubiquitous in their use.  If far few women find themselves with an unwanted pregnancy, there will be far fewer abortions.

On the other side, the solution seems to be to criminalize it as much as possible and work towards a day when it will be able to be criminalized completely for everyone except for the women, who seem to be viewed as simpletons who have been led into this crime by everyone from unscrupulous boyfriends to state-line-crossing grannies to evil abortion providers.

This is fine and all, but I just wonder, when it comes to that, how the "abortion is murder" crowd is going to feel seeing the perp walk free while all her cohorts go to jail.

Jul 25

The Protection Oil

Both the oils just have only the faintest scent of baby oil.  Otherwise, they just kind of smell like their own weird thing.  The protection oil smells good, clean and soothing.


It almost smells like black jelly beans, but not as strong and not sweet.  At least on me, that’s what it smells like.  I didn’t notice that smell at all in the jar.  In the jar, it smells slightly of baby oil.


I put it on last night, just because I was feeling so out of sorts about my day, and I did feel better.  Aromatherapy, possibly.  And I didn’t break out in hives and my skin feels really soft.


So, I’m cautiously optimistic about that part.


Now, we’ll see if it works to protect me.  I’m not even sure what I need protection from, so we’ll have to see.


 


 


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Jul 25

And Some People Go to School for this Shit

So, Mrs. Wigglebottom is yet again limping around.  This seems to be a slightly different limp than the last limp, which went away on its own and seemed like it might have been caused by over-exertion at the park.  That limp was accompanied by a certain kind of tired stiffness on her part.


This limp doesn’t affect her energy at all and, in fact, this morning, she was more than willing to try to play “Look at this Awesome Stick I Have, Which You Cannot Have, Because I am Running Away” on three legs.


Which, I’ll admit, was kind of cute, if also alarming.


But, I managed to get a good look at her paw and there’s reason for the limping.  She has a tear along one of her pads on her back right leg.  It looks almost like a burst blister, except deeper.  We’ve given it a good cleaning and now she’s sleeping soundly with her head nestled between her paws and her body twisted so that her back legs are stretched out next to her.


I feel bad for her, but, of course, she doesn’t seem to think she’s hurt bad enough to warrant any sympathy.  Well, she’ll take the sympathy.  She’s not too excited about my suggestion that we not play so rough.