Call to Action

As we approach the year two thousand and ten, we approach the year of the Personhood Amendment. With activity in 32 states, at least one is likely to pass, but fight vigorously anyway to make sure.

But don't let this very important issue mak e you loose track of the bigger picture. Fight for the unborn, yes, but also fight for the poor, the young, the old, the gay, women, et cetera. Fight for free speech, freedom of religion, for the separation of church and state, for school reform, for a more reasonable language (Esperanto), for a more reasonable numeral system (dozenal), and for logical arguments.

Fight against euphemisms, restrictions on freedom, and unequal treatment.

True and sad.

Fluffy Language

Any position can be made to sound good by dressing it up and dancing around the issue and insulting the opposition.

Those against gay rights speak of "defending marriage" and "protecting children" and "supporting traditional marriage".

Those against youth rights speak of "for their own good" and "parental rights" and "protecting children".

Those against prenatal rights speak of "women's reproductive rights" and "no forced parenthood" and "every child a wanted child" and "deciding whether and when to reproduce" and "Get your laws off my body!" and "Against abortion? Don't have one!".

Those in favor of slavery spoke of "property rights" and "privacy" and "constitutional protections" and "legislating morality".

Those in favor of rape speak of "men's sexual rights" and "no forced celibacy" and "opposing rape is telling those conceived of rape they should not exist" and "the right to one's own penis" and "Get your laws off my body!" and "Do not force your morality upon others!" and "If you are against rape, you are free not to rape anyone.".

Okay, I made that last one up but you get the point. I believe that the personhood movement will ultimately succeed because it forces people to look at the essential issue: Do all human beings deserve human rights?

WTF

OH EM GEE.

I smell a Colbert Report segment...

Gulag Schools

I probably should've told you about them. They are despicable and really need no debate; sunshine is the best disinfectant.

Gang Rape

A 15-year-old girl was gang raped. The rapists are being prosecuted. Everything's fine and dandy, right?

Right?

Apparently not. There were bystanders that failed to report the crime. Some want them held accountable.

Such a law would be unenforceable. If one person reports it, do the rest of the people still get prosecuted? What if there's a shooting, does everyone in the neighborhood get arrested?

And some people, horror of horrors, took pictures of it. And people are trying to arrest them for it! What's next, the school is arrested for activity on their surveillance tapes? If this happens, these bystanders will find it almost impossible to find a job or a house due to sex offender laws. This is just more of the government legislating data. Of course, someone cited the sexting cases to justify this. PROTIP: Don't cite stupid laws.

Then there's the issue of the underage rapists being tried as adults. Many of the rapists I assume were also under the age of consent; so, technically, they were also raped. But this stupid technicality aside, it is absurd to treat youth as inferior until it comes time to punish them. These criminals had no say in electing the judges, will not get a jury of their peers, and are being seen as too irresponsible to drink or vote or drive but responsible enough to be tried as adults.

Another Blog

Write.

Invalid birthday?

I've noticed a non-COPPA form of ageism on the 'nat against the unborn and supercentenarians.

Basically, anyone older than 100 or younger than 0 has to lie.

Articles

There were a few WTF news stories, but there's one I want to call your attention to.

If any of my international readers live in Venezuela, here's your time to shine.

Insanity

This article made me so angry.

The school board president's email is here. Do with it as you please.

Censor Youtube (BOO!) ...for the children! (YAY!)

"The state must declare the child to be the most precious treasure of the people. As long as the government is perceived as working for the benefit of the children, the people will happily endure almost any curtailment of liberty and almost any deprivation."

~Adolph Hitler

"Wait, there's a debate over ______?": circumcision

This is probably one of the only places where a debate is entirely unnecessary. Whether or not there are certain advantages and drawbacks is certainly important, but the decision must ultimately be left up to the person who's penis would be affected. It doesn't matter if your religion mandates it for the same reason we disallow human sacrifice and stoning; you have no right to force your religion upon others.

To end on a lighter note (and pad this post's length), I'd like to end with a joke.

~~~

Two 10-year-old boys are using consecutive urinals - one looks over at the penis of the other and says, "Oh no! What's wrong with your penis?"

The little boy replies, "I've been circumcised.".

His friend says, "You poor guy - when did that happen?".

"When I was born", came the reply.

"Yuck, it looks aweful - what did they do to it?" askes the first boy.

"They cut off my foreskin.".

The first little boy was shuddering as he imagined the pain his freind must have gone through. "I bet it hurt?", he said.

"HURT!!", exclaimed the boy, "Hurt - I couldn't walk for a year!"

Sue America

All of these anti-youth laws violate equal protection. Anyone interested in taking it to the SCotUSA?

Censorship 4/2

So, I was watching an add for Dish TV the other day, touting its parental censorshi- er, "control" technology.

Even the language they used ("control what your kids watch", "decide what material is right for your family", "you can block programs based on ______ or even entire channels") makes it sound creepily Orwellian.

Equality

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Those are the words this nation was built upon. I, too, believe, as Dr. King put it, "one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed". History is full of examples of groups gaining equality. However, we aren't quite there yet. The young, the poor, the LGBT community, the unborn, the foreigners, are all denied the equality and human dignity that they deserve as human beings.

I call to you today, on this random day in September, to stand up and fight for what's right!

Followup

Yesterday's post got me to thinkin'. How many of you would be interested in advocating a law that limits the number of hours a student can be required to work on schoolwork (dropping to zero on breaks, of course)?

You own yourself

Here's a shoutout to all my young readers.

The MPAA doesn't own your eyes. The schools don't own your time. The government has no business telling you what to wear, how to allot your time, when you can be outside, what you can say, what you can drink, where you can work, or anything else.

You are your own people. Not homework machines, not chore robots.

You are human beings like the rest of us.

Happy Labor Day!

You know what today is (if you somehow don't, read the title).

As a communist, I will now discuss...

RELIGION!*

Muslim teen fears for life after changing religion

Wait, she converted to Christianity. Why does the article keep saying "Muslim teen"?

Anyway, this is to be expected. We need to insist that our beliefs be backed up by evidence and shun anyone who tells you to believe for the sake of belief. We need conversational intolerance. We need to stop giving religion a free ride.

Or else this happens.

*If you want discussions on organized labor there are plenty already.

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/

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).