This post is a little longer than usual, even for me, so I’ve made it in a slightly larger font to make it easier to read, which, of course, made it LOOK even longer than it already is.
This post is a little longer than usual, even for me, so I’ve made it in a slightly larger font to make it easier to read, which, of course, made it LOOK even longer than it already is.
SCOTUS lets the Greens (Hobby Lobby) redefine abortion based on their religious “beliefs” that preventing pregnancy IS abortion. That’s a little to the right of Attila the Hun, isn’t it?
The very specific list of birth control items to which they objected, “PlanB”, “Elle”, and “IUD’s” (rather generally) (an IUD incase you don’t/didn’t know, is an “Intra-Uterine Device” which comes in many shapes, some of the common ones are the “coil” a flat spiral with a long “tail” at one end, the “bowtie” a slightly rounded pair of triangles joined at one pair of corners so that it looks like a bow tie, but before I bore you with a long list …) these are placed (usually by a doctor) inside a woman’s uterus which wraps it in cells much like it might do with a fertilized egg, thus fooling the body into believing that it is already pregnant and almost never allowing another egg to attach itself to the uterus, thus avoiding a real pregnancy.
All of these methods of birth control (more accurately called “pregnancy prevention”) methods prevent a fertilized egg from every becoming embedded in a uterine wall to start a pregnancy. PlanB and Elle do so (to the best of my understanding, and I admit I am often wrong) by triggering the start of the shedding of the uterine lining, more commonly known as a “period” or menstruation, but no pregnancy ever existed. Birth control by pregnancy prevention is NOT abortion.
Neither the Supreme Court of the United States, nor certainly the “serious religious beliefs” of one family can change the medical definition of either “pregnancy” nor of “abortion”, regardless of what they think they are entitled to do. The long established meaning of those words is contained in every dictionary of the English language, plainly and clearly stated, and although language is a living thing that can change meanings, I don’t think all the publishers of dictionaries are going to look upon this as a great marketing opportunity.
The constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion means two things to me, and to most Constitutional scholars, I understand. It means that I can practice your religion (even if that is atheism), and you can practice yours, but it does not give you the right to enforce your religious beliefs on me, or in any other way impinge on my religious freedom. Secondly it specifically prohibits the establishment of a national religion. It seems to me quite plain that SCOTUS has violated the constitution with this unjustified ruling no matter how narrowly this decision was intended by the Justices that it “should” to be construed. Nor is it a tiny step in the battle to overturn Roe v, Wade.
I won’t try to predict what form the next battle line will take, in the attempt to eliminate abortion (and even birth control) (as someone pointed out, the entire concurring majority of the SCOTUS opinion were elderly, Catholic, and hardly surprisingly, MEN) but I can assure you that it will take place as soon as the people who condone killing of doctors as a legitimate means of “saving” “lives” can arrange their troops, and their gangs of legal professionals. In fact, I don’t doubt that such a battle is already raging its way through the courts already. The good news today is that one federal court ruled that closing the last legal abortion facility in Mississippi was an “unusual” burden on the women of that state, and that it could not be closed because of that unreasonable burden of forcing Mississippi residents to travel to another state to seek a legal abortion.
It is hard, if not impossible, to remain dispassionate about this issue. It is possible to remain civil even in the face of the ill mannered, sometimes even violent opposition. However, we must remain so if we are to prevail in the long run.
Sincerely,
Stafford “Doc” Williamson
I confess I have a bad habit of meandering from subject to subject because this is, after all is said and done, a place to express my opinions. I wrote this title before beginning the “column” this week because I want to make this short and pointed. Perhaps you could think of it as a Roman sword, the kind one is said to “fall on” when in shame and disrepute.
In this case it is Republican Minority Leader of the Senate who, unfortunately does not possess such an object, or surely, once he removed himself from the heat of the moment (provided in large part, no doubt, by the bright lights of the media cameras focused on his at the time). I would hope, at least, that he took the time to contemplate what he had done, but like a dog-of-war that he has become as a political animal, I doubt that he even noticed his grievous error.
The man stood in front of cameras on Capital Hill and said (I hope I am quoting him correctly, but I assure you the spirit is captured here even if not every comma and colon), “We usually give these fellows a lawyer and read them their rights, and that’s the end of it. I sure hope that isn’t what they are doing on the ship, right now, to that fellow from Benghazi.”
The situation at that point was that although he, Abu Khattala, had been interviewed several times by the media in Libya about any connection to the attack on the American consulate that killed Ambassador Steven in Benghazi, he had repeatedly denied any association with that particular group of terrorists, and had been living quite openly in Libya since the day of that tragic attack. However the elite troops of the US Delta Force “captured” him (against his will) and spirited him away to a waiting US ship off the coast of Libya in the Mediterranean Sea. So, essentially we “arrested” him without official permission or sanction, which legally speaking is called “kidnapping” (although we do it so often it falls into the general category of “rendition” a word we coined for the purpose) and took him across international borders to be held as a captive of the US Navy. No actual evidence has been shown (although a plan to prosecute him in the USA suggests that there is some hard evidence beyond circumstantial and “hearsay”, but if the “plan” was a criminal prosecution in the legal system of the USA, what authority was Senator McConnell evoking that should permit us to ignore the rights he had as a US prisoner (not an enemy combatant if we are going to have a criminal prosecution). As the Omaha World Herald (a Berkshire Hathawy company controled by none other than the relatively peaceful Oracle of Ohmaha) in it’s online version Omaha.comput it, “Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said the U.S. should skip the legal niceties and focus on interrogation.”
Now is that any way for one of the leaders of the “free” world to speak or behave? I ask you.
Clearly, in my opinion, ignoring anyone’s constitutional rights is a violation of law, his citizenship notwithstanding. Isn’t that how it is supposed to work?
Sincerely,
Stafford “Doc” Williamson
Human Rights are “rights” a basic entitlement to those rights is the responsibility of every citizen of the world. I have created a couple of spaces on the internet where I try to raise awareness of certain issues for which I have concerns, but my “life’s work” is about integrating “green energy” (energy we grow, and energy from the waste we create) and at the same time creating food for the people growing the energy crop, as well as using the human waste as a resource that feeds the crop. Since the main thing that this crop “eats” is carbon dioxide, the sewage is the only major resource required to feed this stuff. The “stuff” is microalgae, and by making the sewage a NECESSARY input to growing algae for energy AND food, it give the sewers an economic value by delivering that set of essential nutrients to the crop. It makes it profitable to install sewers (or at least significant income producers) which is a major step toward both better sanitation and clean water availability, since one of the most worrisome forms of “pollution” to water supplies (other than dangerous chemical discharges from large industries) is from the other people who have diseases that are transmitted in the water.
Growing algae, which produces food and fuel (an exportable, profitable source of money for community development) is not some “miracle” or dream. It is real, it works today and integrates both inputs and outputs for the benefit of all.
It is something to think about. I hope anyone reading this will not only think about it, but will discuss it with others.
Thanks
Stafford “Doc” Williamson
SCOTUS lets the Greens (Hobby Lobby) redefine abortion based on their religious “beliefs” that preventing pregnancy IS abortion, That’s a little to the right of Attilla the Hun, isn’t it?
Due to a wandering cursor and an inadvertent “enter” I lost a whole editorial on that subect, so i will proceed with the original intent of this post. It is a copy of an email ( sent to some friends who are veterans of the Canadian military, and among my best friends. (though I confess I am not as fond of soldiers as was my deceased sister,she married, in order, a captain in the reserves a Major who was a trainer for Special Forces, and a Colonel who was part of the command staff in the capital as well as former commander of the base where the Royal Military College is based,) Anyway here’s the whole email.
Karen (and Doug)