Video Contest

This one ends December 31st.

Make a video. And add for RotH, an argument arguing for a viewpoint I've expressed (or a refutation of a contrary viewpoint), a dramatization of this post, whatever.

Details TBA (if I decide to do this).

Omegle

("..." means I've deleted an irrelevant comment.)

Stranger: Wouldn't u rather live happily for all eternity than just big black nothingness?

You: Believing something different isn't going to make an afterlife materialize

You: that's an argumentum ad consequentium

You: aka wishful thinking

Stranger: Except there really is afterlife. If there wasn't what's the point in being born and created?

You: Who says there has to be a point?

You: I was conceived because a sperm happened to fertilize an egg

You: Life began because Carbon likes to bond into long chains

Stranger: How do you think you were created? And the universse? Where'd it come from?

You: When a mommy and a daddy love eachother very much...

Stranger: They don't have to love each other

You: I know

You: it's just a cliche'

Stranger: But into the world. Where'd ppl come from?

Stranger: I know that

You: what do you mean by people?

Stranger: Humans

You: We evolved from simpler lifeforms. duh

Stranger: Where'd the simpler lifeforms come from?

You: Like I said, carbon likes to form chains

Stranger: Where'd the carbon come from?

You: Stars

Stranger: And stars, where are they from?

You: Stars are formed when clouds of gas are pulled together by gravity and are compressed enough to begin fusion

Stranger: Where'd all that stuff come from. Something had to create everything

You: The gas?

You: It's just hydrogen atoms mostly.

Stranger: But who created that?

You: Who?

You: Nobody.

Stranger: Then how'd it get there?

You: When gamma rays cool down enough, they become matter

You: e=mc2

You: forces like electromagnetism and the strong and weak forces pull together and maintain the atoms

Stranger: ...

You: The gamma rays were cooled by the expanding universe

You: ...

You: Anyway

Stranger: ...

You: The gamma rays and universal expansion came from the big bang

You: ...

You: ...

Stranger: ...

You: brb, don't disconnect

Stranger: Ok

Stranger: ...

You: ...

Stranger: ...

You: ...

Stranger: ...

You: ...

You: ...

Stranger: ...

You: yes

Stranger: ...

You: kk

You: Anyway

You: back to universal history

You: The gamma rays came from the Big Bang

Stranger: Alright

Stranger: I'd still think it's scary to live life thinking this is all you have. A fucked up life and then nothing after u die. Not too comforting

You: It'd be an awful life to live finding out that I live in a celestial dictatorship

You: that there's no way out of

You: And that there's a god who punishes people for not guessing (s)he exists when the universe was made in such a way as to suggest the Big Bang

You: and when we were given the power to reason

You: Plus everlasting life would get boring eventually

Stranger: No I don't think it would

You: and I'd never be able to rest knowing that billions of souls are burning forever

You: and that I couldn't communicate with those on earth

You: I'd probably stage an uprising against God

You: Because he's a dick.

Stranger: But it's their fault. Plus in heaven u can't feel pain so either you wouldn't know or it doesn't bother you

You: Then that's plain manipulation

Stranger: I'm sorry you think like that

You: I wouldn't want to be happy if it means mindcontrol

You: It'd be like being drugged

Stranger: Wow. You're ... difficult ...

Stranger: I'm drugged right now.. Vicodin plus pot equals fantastic

You: lol

You: It'd be like being drugged against my will

You: I'd rather keep my brain thankyouverymuch

You: and my reason

Stranger: Arghh I got chocolate on my blankets

You: and freewill

You: Yum

Stranger: Well you're entitled to your beliefs and opinions so I'm nor gunna push u into Christianity

You: But, anyway

Stranger: I don't like when people do that

You: If God drugs people into complacency

You: Then I don't want to worship him

You: If he exists, I hope he gets overthrown

You: I'd replace him with a democracy

You: a constitutional democracy

Stranger: ...

You: He'd go in jail for mass murder and property damage

Suggestions

I'm tired of being the "abortion and current events" guy.

Any ideas?

Now, I may not be a big-city lawyer, but...

I want to talk about the military tribunals.

First off, there are no such things as "additional rights". Any of these rights are basic human rights that are not dependent upon any other factor. Likewise, there is no such thing as a person who does not deserve their rights. Such a notion is abhorrent and contradicts the basic values America was based on.

Secondly, I am enraged with the question "What happens if they're acquitted?". The obvious answer is "We let them go." Any other answer is, frankly, unAmerican.

Thirdly, the simple fact that we're trying them doesn't make them criminals. Saying "we've already decided that they're criminals" is absurd; we have made no such decision until we try them.

On the fourth hand, saying that military tribunals have been used since the Revolutionary War is an ad antiquitatem.

Fifth of all, it is absurd to make a distinction between sins (for want of a better word) committed "in uniform" or "out of uniform". The idea of a separate "law of war" is special pleading. Anyways, we should not elevate the actual terrorists by calling this an act of war; this would simply lend them an air of legitimacy.

Of course, I would also like to make the cliché observation that we could free up a lot of space in our prisons by freeing all the nonviolent drug offenders.

On the topic of torture, the idea that the torturers were trying to make us safer doesn't mean they didn't break the law. No, Graham. Using techniques not outlined in the manual does not make it illegal. Using torture, which is against international law, does. Then again, you "saw the law as a nicety we could not afford." But you aren't criminals. Riiiight.

I would like to end with a quote from Blaise Pascal.

Can anything be stupider than that a man has the right to kill me because he lives on the other side of a river and his ruler has a quarrel with mine, though I have not quarreled with him?

This post would be about something else had you payed attention in 8th grade.

You know the deal. You're defending prenatal rights online. Perhaps even more certain than Godwin's Law, a Roebot will eventually submit some form of this argument. Examples below.

• If abortion is murder, masturbation is genocide. (and/or some reference to the "Tubesock Holocaust")
• LIFE BEGINS AT MEIOSIS!
• If abortion is murder, any woman who's ad more than one period is a serial killer!
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0kJHQpvgB8

Now, for this post I'm going to assume a fundamental understanding of the subject of biolo-...

Actually, I'd better not.

You see, sperm and egg cells (reproductive cells that fuse to form a zygote, collectively referred to as gametes) are formed through a process called meiosis, in which-

Whoa, there! Don't you think I should handle this?

Um, this is kind of my blog. Who are you exactly?

I'm Gamete Pete!

Err... okay?

Anyway, meiosis occurs when a body cell splits in two, copying its chromosomes as in mitosis, resulting in 2 daughter cells with a normal number of chromosomes. Next each of these daughter cells splits in two, but do not copy their chromosomes. The result is that the original parent cell produces four new cells with half a full set of chromosomes. This occurs in both the male and the female, though in the female 3 of the 4 granddaughter cells merely become polar bodies. This is simplified, but it's enough for our purposes. When half the chromosomes from a mother and half the chromosomes from the father join in a process called fertilization, a new organi-

MY TURN!

Um...

Who are you?

I'm Kate the Prenate!

I should've expected.

When the father's spermatozoon (sperm) fertilizes the mother's ovum (egg cell), the two half-genomes (sets of chromosomes) join to form a new genome, thus a new and unique organism is formed. Unlike gametes, which are cells of the parent, the zygote (the single celled organism created by the union of the two gametes) is a new organism. The zygote then begins to grow through mitosis into a blastocyst. In viviparous animals, the blastocyst travels down a fallopian tube of the mother into her uterus, implants in the uterine lining, and becomes an embryo. In humans, the stage of development after approximately five months is termed the fetal stage, and the individual is termed a fetu-

Ahem.

No, sorry Cletus. No.

As you can see, there is no comparison to be made. Gametes are cells of the parent and a prenate is a separate individual. A gamete has the potential to contribute half of the genome of a human being. A prenate is a human being.

Choice over Children

The title has a double meaning. The pro-abortion side often claims to only support "the right to choose if and when to have children". Thus choice over whether and when to have children.

However, what this amounts to in their ideology is the right to choose not to have children, after you already have a child. The only way to do this is by homicide. Thus, supporting said choice above the rights of said child.

I support your right to choose to not have children. However, I do not hold said choice over the children themselves, should they be conceived.

Jon Stewart: I think that's definitely where it's dug in from on the pro-life movement and I think on the other side it's "does the government have the right to tell a woman that she cannot make decisions about her reproductive health that she believes are in the best interests of her family?"

Mike Huckabee: She can, but once the decision has been made that results in another human life, then I think that now you have to consider both of those lives: hers and the child's.

I love this response from gomtuu77 of differhonestly.com:

Answer: Yes, government has the right and the duty to tell a woman that she cannot make “certain decisions” regarding her own reproduction. As I’ve said previously, “human beings have equal rights as human beings, and as such, it is reasonable for a society to expect an adult to live temporarily with an inconvenience or hardship if the only alternative is to kill the unborn child.” We do this kind of thing all the time (i.e. restrict the freedoms of other human beings when not doing so would result in the loss of another human being’s life). This is utterly non-controversial in every other area, and quite frankly, it shouldn’t be controversial in this one. Unfortunately, this answer was never given, and they ended up accomplishing almost nothing in the discussion for the reasons I gave previously.

Loki's Wager

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loki's_Wager

I was actually asked in one argument when in the fertilization process rights arise. Obviously it's when the genome is finished forming, but let's assume the question was hard. What would that mean?

Nothing.

It is important to define life begins so that no one is denied their rights, so iffy some-time-in-gestation philosophies don't cut it. But there's no method of contraceptive or abortion that happens during fertilization.

The question, practically speaking, is meaningless.

Rule 1 of Debating Obama's Health Care Plan

Rule 1: Debate Obama's health care reform

That means don't debate the systems of other countries (non sequiturs) and don't make things up (misinformation).

Another CtA

Been a while since I myself delivered a Call to Action.

It's August recess. If you happen to be going* to a Town Hall, please bring up how abortion is antithetical to healthcare.

*If you go just because of this blog, I'll be surprised. ♥☺♥

"'Death Panels'": the power of the quotation marks

I've been meaning to post this for a while but kept forgetting.

The way Palin put her made-up phrase “death panel” in quotes was a transparent attempt to give it an air of legitimacy, as if it was really in the bill.

At least she didn't capitalize it.

BIG TASTE

This seems to be a big thing the food corporations (alongside shock factor and cheap gimmicks) tout.

First of all, taste cannot be measured in size.

Second of all, this is sad.

Or culture should reward good tastes, not strong ones. This is one of the good things about Asian snacks: pastel flavors.

Um, what?

I agree with most of it {though I'm not sure Blue Dogs oppose health care reform because they get contributions [it's probably the other way around (using the method of concentric brackets used in math - how nerdy!)]).

However, skip to 1:18.

See the problem?

He could've pointed out that the insurance companies already put in bureaucrat. Bureaucrats that decide whether you're worth treating. The public option, if it can even be said to be adding bureaucrats at all, is at least adding ones accountable to the people and not merely corporate bourgeois greed.

Sadly, he doesn't take this route. Instead he basically says "So, you're opposed to a panel of people appointed by a democratically elected government deciding whether to provide care based on cost and social utility? Well, then you must support a more dire life-or-death decision being made by a single person on nothing more than a whim, or, at most personal convenience."

Also, I would be remiss in point out that, in addition to a non sequitur, this is an ad hominem tu quoque.

Cartoon Network

They seem to be taking the "retards are funny"/fart jokes route.

Nickelodean

Ever notice how Nickelodean's hidden message seems to be "Youth can change the world! Oh, not you. You're not a robot and you don't have magic powers or super powers or absurdly rich parents or a supersuit or mystic powers."? All the shows out there about normal teens or children are just about day-to-day life, typically in school.

And teens are typically portrayed as shallow party animals. Who can never get away with anything. Or will admit to anything because they're slaves to their consciences (which always agree with adults). Or will totally freak out and become paranoid by seeing a movie the MPAA doesn't want them to see/

If schools were honest

Thought that these would be a nice departure from our more serious tone. I'll even loosen up a bit myself.

...

Ah, that's better.

Nobody is pro-choice.

As I have shown, "pro-choice" is a euphemism.

However, another interesting complication arises from the fact that the term ("choose" being a transitive verb) is ambiguous.

As I have said, the phrase "the right to choose" gives no direct object. Because of this, linguistics state that it must be taken at its broadest (the right to choose anything, cf. freedom of speech) or its weakest (the right to choose at least one thing, whatever that may be). In the latter case, the term becomes meaningless, as one could imagine a dictatorial state not violating said right, no matter how strict, as long as the people keep at least one freedom, not matter how trivial (they have the right to choose, and they're exercising it by picking their outfits)..

The former is where things get interesting. If one were to support choice for everyone on everything, that would seem swell. At first.

But what about the choice to rape? Rape takes away the choice of the victim. And who are you to to tell a man he cannot choose to form the very dictatorial state described above? Why should stop a woman from choosing to steal your car? The same argument was made for slavery: "Don't like slavery? Don't own a slave!"

Supporting the right to choose anything includes supporting the right to choose to take away the right of others to choose, as evidenced by abortion's removal of this right from the unborn.

The term "pro-choice" is a piece of political framing that, when examined, is meaningless at best and internally contradictory at worst.

FREE TIBET

Nations are a fiction. Before we reach the ultimate goal, international communism, the next best thing is letting countries split off. I feel the same about Western Sahara and any state that wants to secede.

National Debt

If we pay it up, we can impose long-overdue sanctions on China's repressive dictatorial regime.

BTW, China is NOT communist.

Prenatal Care

My main issues with Obama's health care reform have been more or less addressed, and I support health care reform, but I still have an issue with the bill, which I actually saw brought up in a town hall meeting in Pennsylvania: you don't have health care until you are born.

Prenatal care is very important, and fetal surgery has taken some leaps and bounds. With all the attention to preventative care, you'd think Obama'd support extending care to persons prior to birth as well.

It's a public opt- LALALA I CAN'T HEEEAAAR YOOOUUU!!!

How many times do we have to say this.

I wouldn't be surprised if this is because we say "public", they hear "government", and they run out to their tea parties or out to disrupt a town hall meeting before the next word comes around.

Turning women and their doctors into criminals?

So? By that logic, laws protecting children against abuse turn parents into criminals.

In both cases, they're only criminalized if they violate the rights of their offspring. Parents are not criminalized just for being parents.

I do not see how mothers and their doctors should be exempt from responsibility for their action just because.

Can anyone explain how this is anything more than an appeal to emotion?

TheoreticalBullshit

His videoes are amazing. Subscribe. He is epic win, dehydrated, concentrated, and compressed into a gravitational singularity.

Please excuse videos

I'm not exactly sure what happens when you link your Youtube account and Blogger blog, so bare with me.

Kosher?

For me, the choice between not eating bacon or cheeseburgers versus not going to heaven is basically "do you want your eternal bliss now or later?".

If I die and God tells me eating animals is a sin and I should've been a vegetarian or a vegan, I'm telling him that it's his fault for making animals out of meat.

Age-roles

Just as bad as gender roles. Ever notice how you never see playgrounds or velcro shoes for adults? xkcd has handled this extensively (see #150, #131, and #418, and #219, among others).

SPLASH merch

Anyone got ideas?

And, from DFLA:

CAPPS AMENDMENT PERMITS TAXPAYER FUNDED ABORTIONS IN HEALTH CARE BILL A closer look at the health care reform bill passed by the Energy and Commerce Committee has revealed some troubling news: the Capps Amendment clearly permits taxpayer funded abortions. While the headline of one of the sections in the bill reads "Abortion Coverage Prohibited as Part of Minimum Benefits Package" , the reality is that it does not have the force of law and thus meaningless. The enforceable text is in the explanation of the section. which states that "the plan is not required (or prohibited) under this Act from providing coverage of services". In other words, abortion coverage is not required, but neither is it prohibited. In fact, each "premium rating area" must offer at least one health care plan that covers abortions and one that doesn't. Essentially, the section will allow health insurance companies to determine the services, which could include abortion. We had a partial victory in the Amendment which ensures that the Act will not preempt state law with respect to restrictions on abortion funding and laws requiring parental consent or notification. Second, it recognized conscience protections for health care workers. We should all appreciate the hard work by pro-lifeCongressman Bart Stupak. He is a true hero.

America has finally lost it.

This kind of puritanical ageist bu-... er, nonsence, is getting on my last nerves.

The video itself is not important, but I'm calling on everyone to mirror the video. We have to show that censorship will always backfire, especially incredibly stupid censorship.

Today is Obama's Birthday...

SPLASH site

SPLASH has a domain, but ockraz needs a template for the site.

SPLogo

Introducing the new logo* for the Society for Pro-Life Atheists and Secular Humanists!

*drumroll*

...

*I hope ockraz accepts it....

Health Care, not Death Care

When contacting your congresspeople, be sure to mention how abortion is antithetical to healthcare, as in my example.