tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post4363322745409722631..comments2024-03-28T09:46:42.923-05:00Comments on Every goddamn day: 03/28/24: It's Pro-Life Action League time, again.Neil Steinberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11468057838260476480noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-10146020852879879902019-07-15T13:33:08.396-05:002019-07-15T13:33:08.396-05:00Not a joke...not making this up: Had to pass throu...Not a joke...not making this up: Had to pass through a pro-life picket line so I could buy a flag (The flag store was next to the abortion clinic...or maybe it was Planned Parenthood...and I was looking for a State of Ohio flag).<br /><br />When the harpies confronted me and went into their song-and-dance routine, I said: "If you don't like abortion, don't have one!" From the looks on their faces, you'd have thought I'd said something truly vile and awful. Their expressions of sheer horror actually made me laugh out loud.<br /><br />It's the Christian Fascist Army now, in the Trumpian Era. And they're not just winning in Texas anymore, but nearly everywhere. Things have changed a great deal since 2013, and not for better...mostly for worse. Much, much worse.Grizz 65https://www.blogger.com/profile/02892702223228764894noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-83948093489710088422015-04-22T18:30:08.311-05:002015-04-22T18:30:08.311-05:00To Jerry, why talk about CAths? Born agains are wo...To Jerry, why talk about CAths? Born agains are worse on the subject.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-70646913513592462062015-04-22T18:29:15.552-05:002015-04-22T18:29:15.552-05:00A fetus is going to be a person, but I leave the c...A fetus is going to be a person, but I leave the choice to the person, but not late in trimesters, unless the fetus is damaged or mom in trouble. However, I don't want taxpayers paying for that and for heaven sakes folks, use birth control.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-57257145154677373252013-07-19T07:20:26.290-05:002013-07-19T07:20:26.290-05:00If you dont believe having an abortion isright, do...If you dont believe having an abortion isright, dont have one. No one believes you should. Thats your business.<br />Alternately, if someone chooses to have an abortion, that is NOT your business.<br />Your religious beliefs on this subject are your business. My religious beliefs on this subject are NOT your business.<br />Americas constitution protects us from theocracy.<br />Beyond that, the use of images as described by Mr. Steinberg should be prosecuted as obscene, or at the least, a public nuiscence.....whatever law removes unsavory advertisement.<br />Further, I am surprised these religious fanatics havent managed to reenact the laws making the sale of birthcontrol pills, condoms and dispersing knowledge of the rythym method jailable offenses. Makes me want to double check if I am chattle or can own property in Texas.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-78059640088571843612013-07-17T19:40:08.993-05:002013-07-17T19:40:08.993-05:00Jerry and Mike -- Writing this keeps me busy enoug...Jerry and Mike -- Writing this keeps me busy enough -- I can't babysit you guys too. If you like the site, read it, comment briefly. If you're going to complain all the time, go back to Zorn. Neil Steinberghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11468057838260476480noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-32545627429951857342013-07-17T18:02:28.224-05:002013-07-17T18:02:28.224-05:00Wendy Weber:
You are talking complete nonsense. M...Wendy Weber:<br /><br />You are talking complete nonsense. Michael Neubauer above has four adopted children. This fact can be easily confirm by Steinberg talking to his friend Eric Zorn.<br /><br />And the Roman Catholic Church does a lot for babies after they are born. Think of the Catholic school system in Chicago and the many Catholic hospitals<br /><br />Furthermore your post is a complete non sequitur with respect to the issue of a fetus being a human being.JerryBnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-72832670667317296242013-07-17T17:34:05.969-05:002013-07-17T17:34:05.969-05:00All I have ever wanted to see is these pro-lifers ...All I have ever wanted to see is these pro-lifers be so concerned with babies AFTER THEY ARE BORN. They can start with the homeless people who hang around by the train stations, then circle to the children who are in DCFS and foster care. That should keep them busy for a little while. If they still want more people to take care of after that, I'm sure you and I can dig up a few more, Neil. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-87932237663166332572013-07-17T17:19:15.769-05:002013-07-17T17:19:15.769-05:00This comment has been removed by the author.Jeanmodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10789603495910859634noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-51352086018913955182013-07-17T17:06:08.402-05:002013-07-17T17:06:08.402-05:00There are circumstances in which having an editor ...There are circumstances in which having an editor would be useful.<br /><br />Look, Mr. Steinberg, you and I will never agree on the issue of abortion. But all this insulting claptrap you are regurgitating does nothing to support your cause. One derogatory and inflammatory comment after another. This is the sort of thing you should write and then toss in the circular file, much as Harry Truman would do.<br /><br /><br />Let's talk about the word "fetus". Well, ask some pregnant woman how her fetus is doing some time. Or if we're talking about dictionary definitions, perhaps the following will be useful:<br /><br />http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/baby?&path=/<br /><br />This comparison of pro-life advocates to mullahs is really beneath you. Or is it?<br /><br />Even a stalwart pro-abortion type like Peter Singer of Princeton writes:<br /><br />[The argument that a fetus is not alive] is a resort to a convenient fiction that turns an evidently living being into one that legally is not alive. Instead of accepting such fictions, we should recognise that the fact that a being is human, and alive, does not in itself tell us whether it is wrong to take that being's life.<br /><br />http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Singer<br /><br />Of course, Singer promotes infanticide so maybe he's not the guy to rely on. <br /><br />I could go on about abortion, and throw some mud at the our body, ourselves types who, like you, defend abortion with all the passion of an ante-bellum plantation owner defending state's rights and property rights, but I'd be wasting my breath. At least they let most of their property live. And it was legal, tool!<br /><br />Any how, I was hopeful that you would leave this juvenile writing behind you when you started sailing your own boat here, and I confess I liked your early columns. I think I'll spend my time elsewhere in the future.<br /><br />By the way: John Brown was on the right side. And being pro-life is in no regard that abortion is a legal scruple. It's the recognition that an embryo is a human being in the state of being an embryo--like all of us were--and that is it, as even Singer remarks, and independent being with an independent genetic structure and that, given time and an unselfish mother it will be born and live and breath, just like you do.<br /><br />Best of luck in the future. Go Cats.<br /><br /><br />Michael Neubauerhttp://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=118127024&goback=.nmp_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1&trk=spm_picnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-46960658918904847812013-07-17T14:04:19.118-05:002013-07-17T14:04:19.118-05:00@Anonymous -- Now, now, will that help? The idea o...@Anonymous -- Now, now, will that help? The idea of being opposed to abortion is one I can readily understand -- to me it is an unfortunate practice. It's the practice of forcing that notion on the unwilling that is reprehensible. As with so many failings, the root is ego -- they can't conceive that their belief, and God's will, do not perfectly coincide. Neil Steinberghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11468057838260476480noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-59927789081407796952013-07-17T14:00:58.552-05:002013-07-17T14:00:58.552-05:00I believe that human life begins with intelligence...I believe that human life begins with intelligence. Right to lifers are not intelligent, therefore they are not human life. We need a new mandatory federal law for the retroactive abortion of all right to lifers, even if they are in their 200th trimester. Congress has the power to define person and human life, the right to lifers say, so I say go for it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-40407728968065828322013-07-17T11:55:15.351-05:002013-07-17T11:55:15.351-05:00I'm pro-choice, but I don't understand the...I'm pro-choice, but I don't understand the rape exception: if you truly believe that a fetus is a full human life/soul/whatnot, then why would you have this exception? Murder the "kid" because the horrific circumstances of his/her creation? <br /><br />Another thing I don't get is one of the legal arguments for why abortion is a Constitutional right. "Privacy" makes sense - though it's arguable whether the right to privacy is indeed in the "penundrums" of the Constitution. Another that would make sense is freedom of religion: when a fetus has a "soul" strikes me as a deeply religious question. But "control over your body" doesn't work for me. The government can order my body to put on a uniform, fly me to Iraq and have me march up and down the street holding a flag with the Danish cartoon of Mohammed depicted as a bomber - how much control over ones body is that? <br /><br />My final rambling point: it seems a waste of goodwill on the part of the Pro-Lifers. Even if the country banned abortions, RU486 would then become as easy to get a hold of as weed. In a world where tens of thousands of kids die horrific, long, painful deaths every day, what kind of life-saving-bang-for-the-buck are the pro life activists getting?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-59229796134442669182013-07-17T11:09:36.217-05:002013-07-17T11:09:36.217-05:00Another take on the issue. After the Atlanta bombi...Another take on the issue. After the Atlanta bombings, CNN interviewed a relative of the bomber. The relative, a young woman was asked why she thought the bomber targeted an abortion clinic. She said "we all know that white women have more abortions than black women, if white women keep having abortions, they will outnumber us very soon". It was just announced that minorities in Texas will outnumber whites within 20 years. The same holds true for many southern states. Is the real reason for pro life laws being enacted that those states citizens and politicians are affraid of being outnumbered by minorities? <br /><br />BTW, a government agency has decided when life begins. It is the IRS.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-69775986070911795272013-07-17T10:26:13.038-05:002013-07-17T10:26:13.038-05:00Neil,
I have been involved in discussions on this...Neil,<br /><br />I have been involved in discussions on this issue even prior to Roe v. Wade which I still think was a lousy decision from a legal perspective. However, I support safe and legal access to abortion because two deaths for the price of one in a botched illegal abortion doesn't make any sense to me. After all these decades, I don't think that anyone is going to convince anyone who's already made up their mind on this issue. Frankly, I think that the extremes on both sides don't want this issue to ever be resolved. It's too good of a way to rally the faithful and raise funds from them. And so, I think we ought to be looking at a technological fix.<br /><br />If every pregnancy was a deliberate choice on the part of the woman, then the need for abortion would be significantly reduced and the numbers would drop as well. However, current birth control methods can be ineffective, require too much on the part of people and have nasty side-effects. Instead of spending all that pro-life and pro-choice money on buying (oops - I meant "electing") politicians, why not use it in research to develop a birth control method which would address concerns with the current methods. I'd even be willing to pay men and women to use whatever we come up with. Just an idea. David P. Grafnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-49735027231638855692013-07-17T09:37:41.400-05:002013-07-17T09:37:41.400-05:00That's not an argument, Jerry, that's a hy...That's not an argument, Jerry, that's a hymn. I see you're convinced, but there isn't even anything to discuss in there. Neil Steinberghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11468057838260476480noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-24610937972677907392013-07-17T09:28:44.299-05:002013-07-17T09:28:44.299-05:00I concede that I am NOT supporting my position on ...I concede that I am NOT supporting my position on whether or not the Roman Catholic Church was given the “keys to the kingdom.” I am sure you know the reference and its implications.<br /><br />I assume we agree on the biology of conception and fetal development.<br /> <br />The 10 week old fetus looks fully human to me. I concede that a 16 cell clump of fetal cells does not look human at the microscopic level but it looks human at the molecular level in a way that a clump of appendix does not. I have looked at the pictures of fetal development. I remember that the fetus looks human very early on. That is enough to tell me that abortion is the killing of a human being.<br /><br />Before that 10 week point in fetal development biology teaches us that the embryo has all the unique DNA that the fully grown person will have. Thus conception is the only logical place to say that a new and unique human being has begun to exist. I am simply not willing to play God or to play the role of some murderer by saying that human life begins at any later place.<br /><br />Perhaps even the sacredness of your present life and my present life has to be assumed a priori. As we well know Mao, Stalin, and the H person of German history did not share this assumption.<br /><br />You claim that positing full humanity to the fertilized egg is arbitrary. I will concede that it is arbitrary only in the sense of positing sacredness to your life is arbitrary. The sacredness of your life is arbitrary ONLY in the sense that I cannot regress to any more ultimate value upon which to assign sacredness to your life.<br /><br />However, since the fertilized egg is ontologically/genetically different than mere sperm or ovum it is qualitatively different than these two precursors.<br /><br />Perhaps for you all things are equally arbitrary. However, for me, even conceding some arbitrariness as I did above, positing full humanity at conception is immensely less arbitrary than assigning it at one, two, or eight months thereafter.<br /><br />Let’s define terms. “Homicide” is the taking of a human life. “Murder” is the unjustified taking of a human life.<br /> <br />I will concede that self-defense, a just war, and the life of the mother are legitimate justifications for homicide.<br /><br />I will grudgingly concede that rape, serious permanent injury, and underage incest are justifications. I am very troubled by and unsure of that concession. <br /><br />I concede that the right of any person to control their body is a very important right. However, I just do not understand how that right justifies the taking of a human life.<br />JerryBnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-91311277607165802702013-07-17T09:01:52.868-05:002013-07-17T09:01:52.868-05:00I'll have what jeanmod's having. A double....I'll have what jeanmod's having. A double. I have no inclination to read more of the same from those who would control women. Put that time, energy and money into making the world a better place for the born. Nancynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-81932029010377318252013-07-17T08:43:05.574-05:002013-07-17T08:43:05.574-05:00Sure, politely. Start by explaining how you think ...Sure, politely. Start by explaining how you think it's wrong to kill a fetus, unless it's conceived under certain circumstances (rape). Then it's okay.Neil Steinberghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11468057838260476480noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-76050573003468448342013-07-17T08:12:38.526-05:002013-07-17T08:12:38.526-05:00Women are busy....we're working to support our...Women are busy....we're working to support our families while still bearing the responsibility for child rearing. In many cases, we're alone. The truth is, women will terminate pregnancies, legal or not. We'll drive our friends, family members and colleagues wherever they need to go. We don't need any more challenges to reasoning, especially by men. <br /><br />We need access to birth control, freedom from domestic violence, rape and incest. Let's have the reasoning behind the barriors to these items. And dear men, if you don't want unwanted fetuses to be terminated, stop having sex without contraception. Jeanmodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10789603495910859634noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3972382144120426476.post-41132786914675674962013-07-17T07:33:07.604-05:002013-07-17T07:33:07.604-05:00Neil Steinberg:
I am prolife except for rape and ...Neil Steinberg:<br /><br />I am prolife except for rape and serious permanent injury to the mother. This is not based on faith but on my reasoning when positing the sanctity of life as an ultimate value.<br /><br />I can challenge most of your above reasoning point by point.<br /><br />Is this something you want me to do on your blog?<br />JerryBnoreply@blogger.com