Another Bubble Zone Update

We learned on Friday that Mayor Daley intends to sign the free-speech choking Bubble Zone ordinance.

In an attempt to justify his decision, the Mayor remarked, "There has to be some civility left in our society."

How ironic. The mission of sidewalk counselors is to try to prevent mothers from having their children killed — and, in the process, sparing them a lifetime of pain and regret — and they're the ones who are uncivil?

Watch No Greater Joy, our documentary on sidewalk counseling, and judge for yourself:

Lamest. Argument. Ever.

Quoth Amanda Marcotte:

Anti-choicers like to defend themselves against the charge of misogyny by saying they simply believe that life begins at conception. What they fail to understand is that “life begins at conception” is a misogynist statement. It’s the erasure of a woman’s role in making new people, and a claim that the only effort that counts is the effort a man put into ejaculating.

Gosh, where to begin?

JivinJ manfully (pun intended) analyzes her argument here.

One might add that according to Marcotte's characterization, those of us who believe acknowledge that life begins at conception would also be bound to hold that sperm-egg union is absolutely necessary for a new life to come into existence.

Only we don't.

Cloning, anyone?

While we certainly believe, morally speaking, that human beings should not be cloned, a cloned human being is still a human being, despite the fact that his existence came about not by conception — i.e., fertilization, i.e., sperm-egg union — but rather by a process that merely mimics it.

And ironically, since it requires no sperm, cloning truly poses the "erasure of a [man's] role in making new people".

Oh. So. True.

Holy Over-pitched Claims, Batman!

A new company in California is trying to become the first to gain federal approval to test an embryonic stem cell treatment in humans.

And the chairman of their scientific advisory board, Hans Keirstead, is making some rather, um, bold claims:

Stem cells have the potential to treat every single human disease, but there's a lot that's over-pitched out there.

Oh, the irony!

Reading this, I couldn't help but recall this exchange from this episode of The Simpsons:

At the Mayo Clinic, Burns receives the results of his tests.

Burns: Well, doc, I think I did pretty well on my tests. You may
shake my hand if you like.

Doctor: Well, under the circumstances, I'd rather not.

Burns: Eh?

Doctor: Mr. Burns, I'm afraid you are the sickest man in the
United States. You have everything.

Burns: You mean I have pneumonia?

Doctor: Yes.

Burns: Juvenile diabetes?

Doctor: Yes.

Burns: Hysterical pregnancy?

Doctor: Uh, a little bit, yes. You also have several diseases
that have just been discovered -- in you.

Burns: I see. You sure you haven't just made thousands of
mistakes?

Doctor: Uh, no, no, I'm afraid not.

Burns: This sounds like bad news.

Doctor: Well, you'd think so, but all of your diseases are in
perfect balance. Uh, if you have a moment, I can explain.

Burns: Well ... [looks at his watch]
[the Doctor puts a tiny model house door on his desk]

Doctor: Here's the door to your body, see? [bring up some small
fuzz balls with goofy faces and limbs from under the desk]
And these are oversized novelty germs. [points to a
different one up as he names each disease] That's
influenza, that's bronchitis, [holds up one] and this cute
little cuddle-bug is pancreatic cancer. Here's what
happens when they all try to get through the door at once.
[tries to cram a bunch through the model door. The
"germs" get stuck]
[Stooge-like] Woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo! Move it,
chowderhead!
[normal voice] We call it, "Three Stooges Syndrome."

Burns: So what you're saying is, I'm indestructible!

Doctor: Oh, no, no, in fact, even slight breeze could --

Burns: Indestructible.

(This site has the video of said episode, but I can't get it to play.)

For the record, it's also worth reminding ourselves which types of stem cells have yielded the bests results treating disease heretofore:




[HT: JivinJ]

You Gotta Love the Irony

Last Wednesday, at a General Assembly hearing in the Capitol building of our fair corrupt state, the following exchange took place between Ill Rep. Monique Davis (D-Chicago) and longtime atheist activist Rob Sherman (the latter is currently suing the State of Illinois over its moment of silence in public schools law):

Davis: I don’t know what you have against God, but some of us don’t have much against him.  We look forward to him and his blessings. And it’s really a tragedy -- it’s tragic --  when a person who is engaged in anything related to God, they want to fight.  They want to fight prayer in school. 

I don’t see you (Sherman) fighting guns in school. You know?

I’m trying to understand the philosophy that you want to spread in the state of Illinois. This is the Land of Lincoln. This is the Land of Lincoln  where people believe in God, where people believe in protecting their children.… What you have to spew and spread is extremely dangerous, it’s dangerous--

Sherman: What’s dangerous, ma’am?

Davis: It’s dangerous to the progression of this state. And it’s dangerous for our children to even know that your philosophy exists! Now you will go to court to fight kids to have the opportunity to be quiet for a minute. But damn if you’ll go to  [court] to fight for them to keep guns out of their hands. I am fed up! Get out of that seat!

Sherman: Thank you for sharing your perspective with me, and I’m sure that if this matter does go to court---

Davis: You have no right to be here! We believe in something. You believe in destroying! You believe in destroying what this state was built upon.

(The audio is here, courtesy of the Illinois Information Service.)

Here's what I found particularly ironic about the the whole thing:

Rob Sherman is pro-life.

Monique Davis is "pro-choice".

Now, Sherman is no stranger to this sort of decidedly un-Christian treatment from Christians. (Last fall, for example, his house got egged by vandals who wrote "JESSUS" [sic] in big yellow letters in his driveway.)

Maybe it's because I've met Sherman before (he had me on his radio show last fall because my boss, Joe Scheidler, a longtime friend of his, was originally supposed to be on, but then ended up going out of town and asked me to fill in for him), and because I can't help but like him that I find hearing about extraordinarily obnoxious things said to him by Christians to be so troubling.

I'm gonna go out on a limb here, but maybe, just maybe, acting boorishly toward atheists may not be a very effective way to win them over.