Abortion: An Argument for the Sane Citizen

Suppose we could all put aside the religion, the politics, and personal needs, on the subject of abortion. Instead, we looked on it from a logical and sane perspective. What would the argument look like?

If the life of a mother is threatened by the fetus, the mother has the right to self-defense. She therefore has the right to choose whether to defend her own life by ending the pregnancy early, or continuing the pregnancy. No person, institution, or agency can in anyway impeded the mother's choice in the matter of self-defense when the mother's life is threatened.

Ending the pregnancy early does not automatically mean aborting the fetus. It means simply that, ending the pregnancy early. If the pregnancy can be ended early without aborting the fetus then this is required by law, as all life is protected. If the mother chooses in this case to keep the child, then she may do so. If however, she chose not to keep the child, all parental rights and responsibilities would be removed from the mother and the child would be managed by the state until such time as it might be placed with a qualified family.

Further, a pregnancy can threaten the life of the mother by definition by more than physical means. For instance, in the case of rape, assuming rape can be legally determining, pregnancy may threaten the life of a mother by physiological means.

Determination of threat to life would be made by the mother's personal physician, and two additional medical doctors. The decision would be based solely on a set of predetermined criteria. If threat is determined, the choice of self-defense becomes the right solely of the mother.

Other than in those cases in which the fetus presents a determined threat to the life of the mother, abortion would be illegal.

Illegality of abortion under all but cases of self-defense is based on the premise that law should protect all life.

Mothers not having the right to abort a fetus except in cases of threat, would inevitably lead to mothers giving birth to unwanted children. Mothers in such situations would also be afforded clear unalienable rights to permanently free themselves of any obligations and rights to the unwanted child. Under such circumstances the child would be managed by the state until such time as it might be placed with a qualified family. Qualified families, it can easily be shown, are in abundant supply. In such situations, the mother would have given up all rights to even the knowledge of the child and would have no legal recourse to resend that decision. In essence, the mother would have traded the right to abort a fetus at will, with that of aborting parental rights at will. The results to the mother being largely similar, except in the matter of convenience.

To support this argument, again taking away all religious, political and personal needs, view abortion in a strictly logical light. Abortion becomes a simple matter of one person choosing to end the life of another person. This is illegal in all other areas of law. A person may not take the life of another simply because they choose to do so. The only exception being that of clear self-defense.

Abortion is no different. In all cases, except those of self-defense, a mother choosing to abort a fetus comes down to a simple choice...a choice of convenience. No matter how it is framed, or phrased, or stated, abortion is choice. Choosing to end the life of another is illegal. Therefore, choosing to abort is illegal.

The argument that an unborn fetus is not life cannot be accepted logically unless it can be proven. Sane society would accept that a fetus removed from the mother, which is viable, and survives into childhood would have proven itself to have been life as a fetus. Therefore, a fetus, which has been carried to a point where it might be considered viable medically, is to be considered life. Due to ever advancing capabilities in sustaining the life of premature birth situations, the determination in our argument as to the viability of, and therefore the life status of, a fetus would necessarily require regular review.

So given a legal structure where:

• no mother can be denied the right to self-defense against a threatening fetus
• a fetus determined medically viable is also determined to be a life
• life is protected by law
• a mother giving birth to an unwanted child has the unalienable rights to abort their parental rights

How can a sane citizen argue for, or against, abortion outside of the legal structure? Would not a sane person see the logical and clear moral necessity to uphold and support such a legal structure?

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UPDATE: This was reposted in the JustAThought group over on MySpace and it's been getting many comments. Check them out.

The Ultra Right of Center Leftist Capitalistic Fascism view of Illegal Immigration

Illegal immigrants come to our country for the money they can make here. They make most of that money working at jobs which Americans...for the most part...don't want to do.

So how do we stop illegal immigration? How do we send those already here home? Simple...we take away their jobs. We take away their ability to make money. We take away their reason for being here.

To do that we only need to enforce laws which already exist. It is illegal to employ an illegal immigrant. Begin to enforce these laws, fine and imprison those who break these laws; at the same time provide an alternative workforce for these unwanted jobs.

How?

1. Put a system in place to identify legal workers.
2. Create a legal temporary worker program.
3. Require those able bodied and receiving government assistance, or welfare, to fill these positions where possible.

You've now forced employers to stop hiring illegal immigrants. You've taken away the illegal immigrants reason for being here, or for coming here in the first place. They go home on their on...they have little choice. No need for mass round-ups. No need for huge expenditure to locate illegals. For the most part, they will just leave. You've replaced them with those willing to follow the rules, and those Americans not capable of finding other work.

How do you identify legal workers?

1. Create a National ID card to replace the easily counterfeited Social Security Card for Citizens, along with an equivalent card for legal temporary workers.
2. Establish a network, similar to the credit card network, where an employer upon hiring or interviewing a new employee, swipes the card to authenticate the legal worker status.
3. Include holographic photo, finger print (or other biometrics) and encrypted smart chip technology in the ID cards.

Problem Solved.

Other benefits:

1. ID card could also be required for delivery of any social programs such as welfare, free health care, etc. If, for example, an illegal did present themselves at a hospital emergency room. The staff would of course be required by law to treat them, but they would also be required to alert the proper government authorities who would then collect and deport the illegal.
2. By requiring able bodied citizens to fill positions otherwise left vacant in return for extended government welfare, you reduce overall welfare costs, while providing low cost workers where needed, and a path to earn cash equity for those on welfare.
3. Overall cost savings from reduced social benefit cost from illegal aliens, as well as a reduction in crime etc, related to illegal's activities provide additional cost savings.
4. Increased income tax revenues when you have effectively eliminated the underground economy now funded by the illegals.
5. Decreased flow of illegals across the border, help reduce threat of terrorist infiltration across border.

Alien babies hurling bibles at the heads of the thinker

By now you know what I think of civilization as a whole. It's "all simple monkeys with alien babies". Alien babies hurling bibles at the heads of the thinker.

Civilization hasn't a chance in hell of surviving so long as it continues to deny the obvious. The universe is a dark, dirty, dangerous place. A place of chaos and disorder among the perfect order of the unknowable source.

Past civilizations understood and embraced this truth. For doing so, they survived far longer than our happy little moment has graced the pages of history. Those past survived until apathy over-shadowed the truth they had so long held...very much the place we find ourselves today. Their ultimate demise is ever the more bitter knowing that the purest of light can always be found edging the shadows and darkness.

We stand at the edge of the growing darkness with still the destiny to choose a step into eternal light.

Where those past have failed, we can prevail...but only by the realization that we don't belong, will we take our rightful place as the children of the Sophia. Only with the release of the material will we attain true spark and banish the creator (of chaos).

presidential hand puppets saluting abomination

in the end...
presidential hand puppets saluting abomination
storm troopers devouring religious doughnuts
adolescent veil revealing elemental abyss
obsidian sands extinguishing emerald time
...before the beginning


translucent eyes devour truth,
while obsidian tears rip reality's veil.
death reborn an abomination of light,
leads the thinker beyond the known.
sparks of tomorrow erase today,
fading color from the knower's eyes...a tear.

Found a little Gnosis...and I feel fine. ;)

Belief. I have belief, but what do I believe? That...I believe...is a very good question to which I've had more answers than questions.

I started out, as do most from the South, indoctrinated in Protestant based Christian teachings. I rejected that early on as completely contrary to the world around me. So I turned to science, some of which made sense, much of which seemed short sighted and overly restrictive. Then I turned to philosophy...I fell asleep nearly smothered by the book on my face. Eventually, I returned to a more liberated spirituality. A more open and investigative spirituality. I suppose I became a seeker of sorts. Through chance encounters and very deliberate experience, I found some things that worked, some that made sense, but generally I found a group of people left very much wanting. I've spent much of the last few years lingering on the outer boundaries of this community left wanting, but that may have finally changed.

I seem to have, in fits and starts over the last two years, come upon something which answers more questions than anything before. At the same time, it does something much more important than simply answering questions...it actually feels correct. Not forced. Not almost a good fit, which I might be able to squeeze my spirituality into if I hold my breath just right. This time, I may have found the thing that is right, because it is telling me a story I already knew.

I have discovered...or more correctly...recognized the stories and "myths" of Gnosticism, to be those I've known as far back as my limited memory allows me to recall...maybe even a little further. From their belief that all is not right in the world and beyond, to the more personally accurate story of creation, "salvation" and beyond. Even to the very purpose and reason for our existence and that of the universes. It's less a recent discovery than it is a recalled memory.

I found a little Gnosis...and I feel fine. ;)

If We All Vanished Tomorrow (from Mark Morford)

I don't usually just copy/paste entire articles...but I really liked this one. Since most people are too busy to trouble themeslves with clicking a link to access an article elsewhere...no matter how good it might be...I decided to save them the trouble.

If We All Vanished Tomorrow
What would *really* happen if all humans disappeared? The Earth grins at the thought
- By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist
Friday, October 20, 2006

Of course you already know. Of course you can merely look out the window and see the traffic and the plastic and the smog and the bad haircuts and the war and the Paris Hilton and the Bush and say, well duh.

But imagine the result anyway. Imagine for a moment that every human on the face of the planet was suddenly whisked away to the divine gurgling ether in one big blast of cheery Armageddon nothingness, all the Bible-waving True Believers carted off to a giant sex-free harp-filled cosmic Wal-Mart while the rest of us leap to the next luminous transformational echelon of timespacelove.

What would happen, really? How would the planet respond if all bipeds disappeared tomorrow?

You can probably guess. Almost immediately, the planet would shudder, shift, align itself anew. Immediately, all endangered species would begin to recover. Light pollution (that is, pollution caused by industrial light) would soon vanish, followed by a great reduction in air pollution, methane gasses, chemicals in fresh water. Soon, all bridges and dams would collapse, roads would become overgrown, buildings would decay, corals would regenerate, most organic landfill would decay and vanish. And that's just the beginning.

In other words, as the fascinating/depressing cover story in the recent issue of New Scientist points out (along with this nifty graphic from the Times U.K.), the Earth would quickly begin to recover mightily from the deep disease that is human existence. What's more, the planet would, by every estimate, quickly become a whole lot healthier, more balanced, back in harmony with itself.

Translation: We have wreaked just a horrific amount of damage and done just about exactly zero good for the place while we've been here. It is, obviously, not the most heartwarming thing to accept.

Perhaps the good news is, with the exception of some nuclear remains, were our species to vanish entirely, most traces of man's existence would wink out within about 50,000 years, and almost all traces within 200,000. Not bad at all, considering the extent of our damage. Pretty much a blip on the geologic timescale, really. Don't you feel better?

Humans are the single most dominant and destructive species in planetary history. But sentient man has been around for what, a million years? The Earth has been here for roughly 4.5 billion. No matter how you slice it, the Earth still sees us as just another fly in its bedroom. A particularly obnoxious one, no doubt, but still a fly. Isn't that reassuring?

There are two ways to react to such a viewpoint: One is to say oh my God what the hell is wrong with us and just look at how much damage we've wrought and the pain we've inflicted, look how much better off the place is when we're out of the picture and what can we do to make less of a violent impact and improve our karmic outlook while we're here because oh my God this can not be good.

Option 2 is to ask: Who the hell cares? If all our remains vanish in a couple of hundred thousand years, does it really matter how much damage we inflict? After all, there's no way to say whether or not the planet really gives a damn one way or the other about our species, given how our entire existence has taken up but a flutter of an eyeblink of time anyway. Hell, we could nuke the whole place tomorrow and the planet would merely shudder and shrug and pause for a few million years and start all over. Right?

How do we really measure our impact? Soulless GOP warmongering oil execs see this planet as merely one giant oil well to be sucked dry. Millions of humans, if they think of it at all, merely view the Earth as a giant sandbox, a mute playground to be trammeled and paved over and drilled into and burned through and sliced up like so much ecological pie until it's all gone and we're forced back into the caves to beat each other with clubs over the last scraps of beef jerky and nuclear Twinkies. I mean, who cares?

I have friends who don't exercise. I know plenty of people who still smoke and drink a ton of beer and get stoned frequently and eat gallons of processed foods and watch TV like it was pixilated cake and the last time they truly got their hearts pumping was when they had to walk five blocks from their house to the sushi joint because their car broke down.

They just laugh. What's the point of eating right and exercising? they say. Why the hell spend all that money on yoga and gyms and vitamins and try to take excessive care of the body when we're all just gonna break down and die anyway? What's the point? Just to live a little longer? Who wants to live to 90 anyway? Why not enjoy life's vices now and let the body wallow and slump? This is what they say.

It is the cutest viewpoint, like, ever. The initial reply is almost too obvious to explain: The point of a healthy lifestyle is not to live longer. It is to live better, right now, in the moment, to breathe deeper and dream more lucidly and step lighter and orgasm stronger and be able to touch your toes and touch your lover's toes and try, just try, to evolve, just a little, while we're here, in fits and spurts and groans and via healthy snifters of Oban 14 and lots of tongue kissing in the street.

It's about paying attention. It's about tuning in. It's about respecting the physical so as to connect more profoundly with the spiritual so as to try and hone the interdimensional so as to prepare, somehow, maybe, if this is at all possible and many, many gurus and healers and mystics and wise ones truly believe it is, for some sort of massive cosmological transformative goobleslamdinglewhap. Hey, it's your choice.

Maybe the planet is no different. Maybe we should take care of it because it makes our lives better and our orgasms stronger and the trees look at us without cringing and begging for a divorce. You think?

We take care of it because it's the vessel. It's the womb. It's our collective body and it's the place that holds us and feeds us and plays with us in the park while at least some of us try to prepare to get sucked back up into the grand Mystery to see what the hell happens next.

But truly, the Earth may not really care. If we abuse her to death, she might merely shake us off like a bad rash, a nasty head cold, a giant whining bipedal kidney stone. After all, despite all our bitching and stomping, we really ain't all that.

But your soul. Your soul cares. But you knew that already. Right?

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Thoughts for the author? E-mail him.

Mark Morford's Notes & Errata column appears every Wednesday and Friday on SF Gate and in the Datebook section of the SF Chronicle. To get on the e-mail list for this column, please click here and remove one article of clothing. Mark's column also has an RSS feed and an archive of past columns, which includes another tiny photo of Mark probably insufficient for you to recognize him in the street and give him gifts.

As if that weren't enough, Mark also contributes to the hot, spankin' SF Gate Culture Blog.

URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archive/2006/10/20/notes102006.DTL

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©2006 SF Gate

Currently reading : Tales of the Dying Earth By Jack Vance Release date: By 01 December, 2000

An Ultra Right of Center Leftist Capitalistic Fascist is Born???

An Ultra Right of Center Leftist Capitalistic Fascist is Born??? ...one can only hope.

It's my baby I'm talking about here. Faced with the never ending crap of the world and the never ending stream of people more than happy to pour it over your head, I think she may have seen the light!!

Check out her latest comments on "The System" in:
I think I'm becoming a conservative!?

The Frothy Sea of the Cosmos Theory

"Imagine if you will a dimension not of sight, or sound, or time, but of mind."

That phrase is the famous opening words of the Twilight Zone. It's catchy. It's quirky, and it just might be the most insightful tagline ever on TV. Now I know it wasn't up against much competition on the idiot box, so that may not be saying much. The idea behind the phrase though...oh that idea...that idea is most definitely saying a lot...a lot of cosmic proportions.

Let's do what we were asked to do for just a moment.

Imagine a dimension. This dimension is not one of a physical world, so sight, sound, even time, have no real meaning here. It's a dimension where anything is possible and everything is. There are no stars here. No planets. No trees. No people. No molecules or even atoms. In fact, in this dimension there is only an infinite, eternal, swirling, undulating foam. A sea if you will. A frothy sea, but it doesn't stretch out with a flat surface like the seas you're used to. It doesn't even stretch out in three dimensions, but it is never ending. It is everywhere. It is everything...and everything is it.

I know, that's already getting confusing. That's ok though. In fact, it's expected, because we aren't just imagining any old dimension here. We aren't even REALLY imagining a dimension at all. What we are imagining is much more than just a dimension. Much more than a mere level or form of existence. What we are seeing in our mind, is in fact the ONLY dimension. The only true existence on any level, in any way, in any form. What we are seeing in our minds...is Reality.

But hold on a minute...dont go trying to wrap your thoughts around that just yet.

Reality. The only true existence. The only thing that is...the all that is...ever will be...ever was...this reality. The every day world of solid matter and Newtonian Physics. The atoms, electrons, and sub-atomic particles of Quantum Physics. The cosmic strings, black holes, and 10 dimensions of String Theory. The angels, demons, heaven, hell, and God of monotheistic religions. The gods and goddesses, elementals, and magical energies of paganistic religions. The aura, karma, and mystical cosmic energies of new age and eastern religions. Philosophies. Dreams. Everything you think you know and everything you don't know you don't. They are all part of this Reality. This reality that truly exists in only one place...your mind.

--- more to come ---

Comments from MySpace

	SoulSentinal	I hope there is more to come. At this point it appears you have not even got the tip of the iceberg yet. Quote: "Reality. The only true existence. The only thing that is...the all that is...ever will be...ever was...this reality." This reality in my opinion is is unphathomable. -- This Comment was Edited for being WAY too damned long ;) -- Posted by SoulSentinal on Wednesday, June 07, 2006 at 10:59 PM
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	FitterHappier	Well, finally my turn to post a comment! That other one just kept going and going and going...... Is that proper blog etiqutte? I mean, come on if you have that much crap to post, put it on your blog. Geez! Anyway...... Chris, so are you saying that you know everything you know so therefore you know everything? Or could it be that because of everything that you don't know, you know nothing. So deep........ Posted by FitterHappier on Thursday, June 08, 2006 at 9:56 PM
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	monkeybrains803	Naturally I'm saying, "I know everything I know, therefore I know everything". That's been my tagline since I was like five. But of course...I guess it would be more accurate to say, I know nothing, therefore I know everything. Because really...to say I know everything, would mean I really know nothing. Which then of course, I'm simply saying that I know everything I know, so therefore I know everything...which is true in a strict sense. For something to exist to me I have to know it...at least at some level...even if I'm not aware of it. So if everything that exist to me is something I know, then you could rightly say, that I know everything I know, therefore I know everything. See? That makes sense doesn't it? hehe Posted by monkeybrains803 on Wednesday, June 14, 2006 at 3:27 PM
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	The Ultimate Awesome	so i think youre saying that all reality comes from our mind...but then that makes me wonder like how do we know what comes from our mind is real... when i dream, if i get hurt in that dream i wake up to find that im not hurt at all...so then...what was my dream? to most people the dream i had wasnt reality because what happened in the dream did not continue after i woke up...but yet a dream comes from my mind, so it must be reality i wonder if there are different types of dimensions...reality being what we live in everyday consciously...and non-reality being our dreams and things we cannot see or possibly detect, but exist i saw a little bit about the string theory on GPBS or whatever that station is called and the part that interested me most was the matrix theory...the matrix theory predicts that there are 11 Dimensions sorry to quote wiki but :) "Matrix Theory M-theory predicts the existence of eleven dimensions. One of these known dimensions is time. This dimension does not relate to space in the same way as do the other three known dimensions, length, depth and height. This leads to the hypothesis that the other seven less known dimensions could be related to the known four dimensions in other non-spatial ways also. Previously, string theorists suggested that these other seven dimensions were tightly compressed to account for the way they are not observable within space. But using time as an analogy allows us to perceive that these other dimensions could be powerful expansive dimensions that are woven to the physical fabric or matrix of the universe in other unseen ways" im sure those things wont matter much to us in the long run...but you never know...im a big fan of weird stuff happening :) i dont know if i sound stupid or not lol...i mean, i did make a D+ in physics..i suck at science Posted by The Ultimate Awesome on Wednesday, June 14, 2006 at 2:43 PM
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	monkeybrains803	Doesn't sound stupid to me! Of course I did make a D in Physics myself. But that wasn't my fault. Like I told Mrs. Stuabbs over and over, "I like the theory, but the math just isn't right. You can't expect me to be able to do math that is just wrong." I kicked butt on the theory. Knew it before she ever had a chance to explain it, but the math. Well...it was just flawed. Not much I could do about that. Now dreams, I think they could be exactly what you're saying there. They could also be windows on another dimension, they could be memories accessed from some place we've stored them out in the cosmos. Or they could even be something as odd as mini-cosmos created spontaneously in our minds as we sleep that pop into existence and then fade away as we wake. When it comes right down to it, even though others may not usually experience them with us, the fact that they exist in our mind technically makes them just as real as the shared reality of experience we have in our normal physical plane of existence. I like dreams. There is nothing cooler than learning to control your dreams. Waking up inside a dream and being able to bend it to your will...that's probably about as close to god-like as most of us will ever get in this stage of existence. Lucid Dreaming is what it's called and if you've never done it...you have to try it. If you like the Matrix Theory, you might want to read the books "Elegant Universe" or "The Holographic Theory of the Universe". Also you might want to watch this, but it's like an hour and half long and you really need to watch it when you won't be interupted or bothered. I can't say all of it works for me, but it's awful close to my view of things in a lot of ways. Posted by monkeybrains803 on Wednesday, June 14, 2006 at 3:22 PM
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	monkeybrains803	Well...it looks like Google got smart and removed that video. I'll have to see if I can track down another copy of it. Sorry. Posted by monkeybrains803 on Wednesday, June 14, 2006 at 3:29 PM
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	FitterHappier	My Theory My theory on time is..... well, a little difficult to explain. I believe that time is not made up in layers (imagine building a wall with legos) where one layer is put down and then another on top of it, and then another. I believe that time is more like a combination of a huge rubberband and a never ending ball of yarn. The rubberband does not have a begining or an end, but it is one continuous loop. It can stretch and shorten, twist, and overlap itself to suit its present use. Now imagine this huge rubberband being wrapped up like a ball of yarn, no specific pattern, just around and around and around...overlapping itself in random places each time it goes around. This is how I believe that seeing a ghost (or spirit or whatever you wish to call it) is possible. If I'm in 2006, and this ghost is from 1914 then how can we be in the same place at the same time? Because my place on the rubberband and his place on the rubberband have overlapped. Sometimes this may last for awhile, and sometimes it may only last a second or two, as the different places slide past each other as the band is being twisted. But who twists and stretches the band? That's where religion comes in....... and that's when this simple theory gets a bit complicated. I guess, now I have to follow in shadoe & monkey's footsteps and post more about it on my blog! Posted by FitterHappier on Sunday, June 18, 2006 at 11:13 AM
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	The Ultimate Awesome	that idea is cool, it's crossed my mind b4 too but i never looked into it anymore than that Posted by The Ultimate Awesome on Monday, June 19, 2006 at 1:21 PM
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FitterHappier

On Dreams... Dreams are indeed a part of reality, just as a fictional TV show is. Even though they are not a physical thing that you can hold and move and touch, they are still relevant to reality. As we've discussed above, not all of reality is a concrete thing that you can see or touch. Anything that you or I or the billions of other people in the world have ever thought or ever will think becomes a part of reality. Now back to the dreams: Just because it hasn't happened in the present, doesn't mean that it didn't happen in the past, or won't happen in the future. If you believe in reincarnation (and I do), then couldn't dreams be a way to look into your soul's past or even a preview into the future? Could they serve as a warning of actions and consequences in this life? Here's the "BIG ONE"... Or because they don't take place in this dimension (plane or whatever) could they be a way for us to think and do in a totally different way than is possible when we're awake? Does this mean that all of life's mysteries could be answered in our dreams? Maybe. The important thing to remember when discussing these type of things is, to think about it for yourself. Believe what YOU believe. Be opened minded and if you get "stumped" on a particular part, ask someone. There are plenty of people out there that are willing to share their ideas. Above all, trust your gut feeling and never be afraid to "call bullshit" (in your own mind, so as not to be rude) when you just don't think that something you're hearing is right for you. Posted by FitterHappier on Sunday, June 18, 2006 at 11:52 AM

Number One Selling Christian Christmas Gift for 2006 is here!!

Mark Morford, the near-god like editorialist from San Francisco, has done it again. Thats right kiddies! This time he has found what is sure to be the number one must have gift under the tree for this years Christmas give-fests.

"Left Behind: Eternal Forces" the real-time strategy shoot'em up from the good people at Left Behind Games, Inc.

Take hold of God's mighty weapon of wrath and destruction...the M-9 sub-machine gun. Rip the non-believers a few new prayer holes...its ok God said so. So bash a few skulls, blow off some arms and pray someone right into the grave. All in the name of the one true bad-ass God.

You can even switch sides and take on the Christians as a member of the Anti-Christ's Global Community Peacekeepers. Oh yeah baby thats the stuff! Nothing tougher and more lethal than those U.N. rough necks in the big baby blue helmets! I know how I'm gonna be spending my Sunday mornings around Christmas time.

You have got to check this thing out. Just make sure you aren't drinking Coke at the time...that stuff burns when it comes out your nose.

Jesus Loves Machine Guns (Mark Morford):
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/gate/archive/2006/06/07/notes060706.DTL&nl=fix

Can Christian Video Games Compete? (ABC News):
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=1958823

Left Behind Games:
http://www.leftbehindgames.com/pages/index.html

Comments from MySpace

	FitterHappier	What do you expect from the people who started the crusades? Still a funny story though. Posted by FitterHappier on Thursday, June 08, 2006 at 9:42 PM

G-CHILD

Buwhuahahahaha!!! I couldn've said it btr myself!!! Freaking tards!!! LOL!!! Posted by G-CHILD on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 at 3:53 PM

The Ultra Right of Center Leftist Capitalistic Fascism view of Abortion

I was discussing Fake Crisis Pregnancy Centers with Shadoe earlier today and I realized that even those who know me pretty well don’t really understand where I stand on much of anything. Leading me to believe that no one really knows me very well. Is that because I’m elite and above the masses? Probably not. Does that mean I’m an elitist? Nope. It just means that my views don’t hold to any one historical or popular doctrine. Instead, my views and positions on issues and the world in general are most definitely a la carte.

When my widely scattered and sometime apparently contradicting views are considered with my staunch often stubborn hardnosed take on issues I can think of only one title which fits my “political stance” well: Ultra Right of Center Leftist Capitalistic Fascism. I’m sure of course that others will think of a few of their own.

To explain further I’ll cover a few examples. I’ll start with one now and add others over the next few weeks. Let’s start with the subject of Abortion…

Abortion - I believe that a woman has the right to have an abortion in all cases where the woman is deemed sound of mind and legally capable of making such a choice. However, I also believe that the existence of a right does not constitute right. By that I mean, just because you have the right to do something doesn’t mean that doing so is necessarily right. So yes, a woman does and should have the ability to have an abortion is they so choose, but I don’t believe that doing so is the right thing to do. That statement is of course former fact and latter opinion. In my way of thinking, such a statement is perfectly acceptable.

Being a male obviously makes it impossible for me to fully understand the female point of view on this subject. Just further proof that males and females of the species are intrinsically different animals, different but equal animals in a perfect world. However, in thinking through this issue I have striven to take the female point of view into account as much as I am capable of.

My main concern where the choice for abortion is concerned is this: If carrying the fetus to full term and giving birth does not pose a mental or physical medical issue for the woman, then choosing to abort the fetus basically comes down to a choice of convenience or inconvenience. While I can honestly say, I would not want to be responsible for a child at this point in my life; I also realize that partaking in such activities as those which generally lead to the creation of a fetus, carry some amount of responsibility. If a person chooses to have sex, they should be prepared to accept the responsibilities which such activity might carry. Sex is great. Sex is good. Sex is not all fun and games.

This is of course assuming that the sex act which led to conception was consensual. That should go without saying I think and any law or even discussion which does not assume so is flawed from the beginning.

Let me be clear. In my view, abortion comes down to acceptance of responsibility. If a woman chooses to have sex, then any fetus which might conceivably come about as a result bears a responsibility upon that woman. If the woman has sex forced upon her however, then she should be free from actual responsibility and the choice becomes purely that…a choice. If in either case the woman then logically weighs the responsibility between protection of her own being, which must come first, and that of the potential child, which must necessarily come second, she should come to a logical conclusion…to bring the child to full term or abort.

Notice that I said “bring the child to full term”, not to “raise the child”. I am a strong proponent of adoption.

If the choice to have sex results in conception, in my view, it is the least a mother can do to carry the child to full term and allow it a chance at life. If that life is to be with her or another matters little at this point. There is no shortage of happy, loving, stable couples out there vying for the chance to raise a child.

So then, my view on abortion in short is this: to choose to have sex, then to choose simply out of convenience to abort a child instead of giving it a chance at life with loving parents, is a deprived selfish act…it is however also a right. It is a right for which I am willing to fight because all choice ultimately comes down to freedom. Freedom is something which must always be defended.

Dreams - The Snake Dancers

In house (unknown) with people (unknown).

“Lady” gets call on cell. She is told, “They are coming in, so she might was well let them in, otherwise they will just break in. She lets them in.

Group of painted up people come dancing and parading through the door. They go right past us through a door to the basement.

In the basement, they dance around a circle. One of them goes to the middle. He is on a stake. They toss something on him and he burst into flames. His belly appears to be melting, or swelling. Pregnant?

We are all suddenly back upstairs in the original room.

Can’t remember what happens for a short time.

Eventually the intruders all parade back out the door to the outside. We are all relieved they have left.

I go to the door and lock it, but something strikes my hand through the door. Suddenly the line of people flash back and forth between their human forms and a single huge horned serpent colored as they had been painted.

I wake up. Scared. Still feel a pain in my hand as if I had been bit or stung by something. I think something must have bit me while I was asleep but look at my hand and find no marks.

I realize I’m not totally awake. I’m still seeing the images of the intruders flashed between human and serpent form. I’m told…hear…sense…that I’ve been “marked” by “the beast”. I was apparently marked because I tried to lock the door.

I began visualizing white, bright, positive thought forms, in the hope of driving the intruders from my mind. As I do, the symbolic images of the intruders in both their human and serpent forms began to change to a new set of white symbols. They continue to fight me. The images in my mind…in front of my sleeping eyes…alternate back and forth between the white symbols and those of the original human/serpent intruders. This continues until I finally wake up.

As a wake I hear a noise on the other side of the room. It sounds like someone is near the bedroom door. I look but see nothing. Still I feel it there. Then I realize that the sound I heard was Ashley making a grunting sound in her sleep…apparently dreaming.

Still scared, I fall back to sleep.

It’s not a tree…it’s an idea.

It’s not a tree…it’s an idea.

A quote about druidism: "Druidry is not a religion. It’s a philosophy and you can worship a God or a Goddess, it’s up to you. You can be a Christian or a Moslem or anything else and still be a Druid. "But while a Christian will say God made that tree, a Druid will say the energy of a creative force is in that tree." Kieron, a North-East UK Druid.

Druidism is about as close to my personal philosophy as anything I’ve seen. That being the case, I’ve dedicated much of my free time toward the study of druidism as both a philosophy and potential religion.

My personal focus is on Druidry that follows a Celtic path. My ancestral origins are about equal Celtic and Native American, but I lean toward my Celtic heritage simply because it is more accessible.

Through such organizations as Ár nDraíocht Féin: A Druid Fellowship, or ADF, I’ve begun in the last few months to explore the Indo-European origins of the Celtic way and wisdom of this ancient people.

I’m currently reading:

• The Druids by Peter Berresford Ellis
• The Wisdom of The Celts by Patricia King
• Irish Fairy and Folktales by W.B. Yeats
• Complete Idiot’s Guide to: Celtic Wisdom by Carl McColman

I’ll be writing more on my studies and journey…hopefully at least once a week. In the mean time, if you’d like more information on druidism in general, please check out it’s entry at Religious Tolerance.org.

…or, just ask the funny looking guy in your local city park rubbing two rocks together, while sharing tea and conversation with his bestest buddy…Mr. Oak.

"I forgot to put on deodorant."

I was recently downsized from my latest contract.

Not to fear, Ive already got another one lined up. But

Being unemployed brought back memories of the first time I found myself in this situation. I had been on a contract for three years supporting WorldCom. Then WorldCom decided to go bankrupt in the largest bankruptcy scandal to datetaking my little job with it. My friend Candy messaged me to see how I was doing. It was several year ago now, but the answer remains pretty much the same

candybj (12:17:32 PM): So, how is unemployment treating you?

monkeybrains803 (12:18:57 PM): You knowI COULD be damned intelligent. Sometimes I think I just might beIm just smart enough to grasp it. damned monkey brain!

monkeybrains803 (12:19:22 PM): Make that NOT smart enough to grasp itand so the damning of the monkey brain that limits me.

Call me wrong!? Call me crazed!? Do it all! As you likebut Ill still :p to you allyou cursed monkey brains!

monkeybrains803 (12:23:31 PM): You knowtalk like this is how I got a 1460 on my SATs. Im only a marginal genius. or a genius yet released!

Why am I out of place there? Why do I not fit here? Why do I not know where I belong?

monkeybrains803 (12:39:39 PM): To all that and moreMONKEY BRAINS!

monkeybrains803 (12:39:46 PM): I just dont know.

monkeybrains803 (12:40:20 PM): How can one truly know oneselfwhen by the very act of knowing a thing changes it?

monkeybrains803 (12:41:55 PM): The more I know..the more I realize I never thought to askand so the questions fill my headfill it until it hurts.pounding with questions conceived but less understoodoh we poor soulswe poor prisoners of our Monkey Brains!

monkeybrains803 (12:42:36 PM): DamnI forgot to put on deodorant.

monkeybrains803(12:42:39 PM): LOL

monkeybrains803 (12:43:17 PM): yupthere you go.

monkeybrains803(12:43:30 PM): Question: "How is unemployment treating you?"

monkeybrains803 (12:43:54 PM): Answer: "I forgot to put on deodorant."

candybj (12:45:18 PM): you have a strange way of looking at things

I am Adam! Hear me Waste.

Purgatory of indecision, self-pity, confusion.

Im the tide mastered by the lunar cycles of life.

Im Adamdestined to a life of bliss and happiness in a garden of eden, but banished to a hell of knowing indecision by a single taste of the fruit of knowledgetempted and destiny destroyed by an evil silver tongued serpent known as life.

Its not what we DIDits what we DONT DO in this life that leads to the true hell. A wasted life!

Epiphany! Blessed Epiphany!

-sigh-

I think Im gonna go see a movie.