"Gag Rule"?

Lemme make something perfectly clear. The Mexico City Policy does not violate free speech. It does not punish foreign institutions, but merely prevents taxpayers from being forced to support the promotion of the violence of abortion.

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.

FINALLY

WHY AM I TYPING SO LOUD, YOU ASK? THIS IS WHY.

SERIOUSLY, I PRETTY MUCH STOPPED WATCHING TELEVISION BECAUSE OF ADS IN GENERAL (THOUGH I STILL WATCH C-SPAN).

Reproductive Power

In its simplest sense, freedom is liberty. Liberty is the right of A to control A. A has every right to control A, B has every right to control B, ad infinitum.

The problem comes when we introduce coercion. Power is the ability of A to control B, of B to control A, of C to control G, ad infinitum. C only has the right to control A in order to stop A from coercing C.

The a problem arises when the concept of freedom is expanded beyond liberty and into power. Many seek to extend A's freedom into power over B.

We see this taking place in the Net Neutrality argument, with many arguing A should be allowed to censor the content that B, S, Q, F, and L are exposed to. It also takes place when the concept of "reproductive freedom" is extended to the right of M to avoid the consequences of her mistakes by inflicting violence upon D.

Personhood picks up strength!

I probably should've told you about these but there were just so many. Michigan, Colorado, Maryland, Georgia, Mississippi, and others are current in progress.

Namecalling

Look: anti-abortion-ers, the pro-abortion are not "anti-life", "pro-death", or such.

Pro-abortion-ers, the anti-abortion are not "anti-choice", "forced-birthers", "sexist", "fascist", or "reactionary".

We just hold different beliefs and this isn't getting us anywhere.

Democrats against democracy?

This disgusts me. Most Americans are against coverage of abortion in health care.

"Wait, there's a debate over ______?": Pirates versus Ninjas

On the series of tubes, there's a common question posed: who would win in a fight: pirates or ninjas?

Seriously?

The pirates wouldn't know what hit 'em.

Another Blog

Write.

Fuzzy Language

2010

There's just a tiny issue I'd like to comment on.

It's "two-thousand and ten", not "twenty-ten".

That is all.

Dismiss

Another NationStates reminder for myself: don't be afraid to dismiss issues. For example, a recent issue gave me the choice of either allowing the death penalty or banning fringe groups.

Fringe groups are like the junk under your keys. The system typically runs fine regardless, and you're likely to screw something up trying to get rid of them.