…and the politicians don’t know better. Do a Google search on “shoulder thing that goes up” for a leading Democrat’s description of what a barrel shroud is.

A Republican has reintroduced the gun assault weapon ban, and this bill has, at this time, four co-sponsors – all Republicans as well.

The bill is: (replace DOT with .)
http://www.govtrack DOT us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h110-6257

A critical article about the bill:
rightwingnews DOT com/mt331/2008/11/assault_weapons_ban_introduced.php

I wonder what Book and her readers think about this? On which side of the issue will opinion fall?

The pro- argument is that there is no legitimate activity that a citizen would engage in, in a “normal daily life”, that would require powerful weapons such as these. Therefore, the government is justified in removing the right of citizens to own such guns.

For me, conservative philosophy would state that I, as a legal citizen, do not have to justify one moment of my time or my activities to the government. We institute a police force to protect us from our fellow citizens who decide to engage in criminal activity and predatory behavior.

Is it ever proper to restrict the lawful activities (and therefore the rights) of citizens, in the hope that it will also restrict the activities of criminals and predators? If so, why not institute total stops on all people in cars, to administer breathalyzer tests, in hopes of catching someone who is drunk, in the absence of any outward signs among any of the motorists? Or, in a zip code where crime is rampant, institute home searches of ALL houses and apartments, in hopes of reducing crime in that area?

Found this:

http://furtheradventuresofindigored.blogspot.com/2008/11/other-barry.html

It’s a short quote from “The Conscience of a Conservative” by Goldwater. I must confess I’ve never read it. I think I’ll add it to my list.

Since abortion can’t be defended from a moral basis, abortionists hide behind the privacy right– which means they are unable to give up any ground up to the moment of birth, since it is all about privacy.
Had the supreme court that found this new right in the first trimester realized that the logical conclusion of their decision would render an abortion legal up to and in some cases birth, I wonder if they would have had second thoughts about creating this new right?

“McCain’s selection of Palin as his running mate is a “blatant pander for the women’s vote,” but the “reality” is that Palin “opposes abortion for any reason” and “wants to use the magnificent freedom the women’s movement has won for her” to “take away the freedom of every other woman in the country” to choose to have an abortion,…” – Katha Pollit, columnist for The Nation

And this magnificant freedom is what- to commit one of the most selfish acts possible as a human being?

While the APA discounts an effect called the “Post Traumatic Abortion Syndrome”, there is ample evidence that the effects of an abortion can be serious and long-lasting. Couple that with the inablility of teens to deal with the emotional effects of sex meant to be a bond of intimacy, while reducing it to an act of rubbing parts of the body for a period of time– much like scratching a back when a particularly aggravating itch is present, we can see why society has become so disconnected.

Evidence is that abstinence only education can have a beneficial effect to young persons and society, especially at the earlier stages of sexual development.
Years ago as a youth worker in a junior high school group I was asked whether I thought it was actually possible for a person to avoid sex before marriage. They were skeptical and nearly incredulous that I thought it was.
Of course, since we live our lives in the most highly sexualized society in modern history, it becomes harder to give young people a consistent message about this.
Given the range of negative effects to casual sex from STD’s to pregnancy, it seems we have an obligation as a society to at least try.
http://www.heritage.org/Research/Abstinence/BG1533.cfm

Nature designed the act of sexual intercourse to result in conception and reproduction. For thousands of years human beings knew that, and created structures designed to keep young people from running amok once they became ready to have sex — chaparones, courtship, early marriage. People in those times could not fathom not taking responsibility for a child once it was conceived.

Fast forward to 1960 and the introduction of The Pill. Within 10 years a “contraceptive mindset” becames common once the means to consequence-free sex became available to millions of people. That mindset includes the following assumptions:

—Sex is primarily a recreational, not reproductive, activity.

—Because of contraceptives, recreational sex quickly evolves a new category of behavior: “safe sex.” In safe sex, the only danger that intercourse now presents is “accidental” pregnancy — accidental in the sense that most people engaging in intercourse have no intention of procreating.

—”Safe sex” soon becomes a pseudo-ethical category. It becomes the obligation of each participant in an act of intercourse to make sure that sperm does not meet egg. To fail to do so could derail carefully laid educational or career plans — powerful considerations since society has prolonged adolescence into the mid and late 20s.

An inevitable extension of the “safe sex” mentality is that unborn children now must be “wanted.” That is, the people engaging in intercourse must consciously decide at the outset that they are willing to accept and nurture a pregnancy thyat results from intercourse.

If the pregnancy is not intended, the fetus is an accident that has resulted from unsafe sex. It can, therefore, be moved into a separate category: abortable.

So, the reason why I’m not so gung-ho about teaching children about contraceptives is that their use leads inevitably to the idea that if there’s an “accident,” there’s an emergency exit: abortion.

It is a twisted ethic that teaches children to think that they not only can play with sex, but are obligated to pay a price (pregnancy) if they play with it improperly. Fortunately, society has a Christ-like lamb it can offer to atone for the sin. It’s called an unborn child.

“I didn’t think I could get pregnant …we only did it _once_!” (as if pregnancy were a cumulative condition!)”

suek, I’ll have to remember that line the next time some woman comes into the ER and says that.

That’s a good one!

Deana

And we haven’t even begun to address the factors in our culture that teach a young woman that her real value in society is how sexually attractive she is, and the encouragement to become sexually active before she’s really fully mature. You look on the restriction of young women as being a negative thing – personally, I consider it a positive thing. That is, protection of an immature female from predatory males who are biologically engineered to nail anything that doesn’t run away. Women may be physically mature and capable of carrying babies in their teen years, but they don’t really mature until their early twenties. That’s when they begin to realize who they are, and make their own decisions.
And yes, sometimes you’re protecting them from themselves – but that’s what parents and society should be doing…protecting the young until they reach adulthood.

I suspect you also consider sex to be a harmless form of entertainment – yet if that’s all it is, why is the result of an early sexual molestation a later psychological problem?

What specific types of actions do you think the average American citizen who is against abortion should do to promote pregnancy control?

Or are you thinking along the lines of tax payers footing the bill for condoms, birth control pills, and vasectomies? Is that what you would support?

Please don’t get me wrong: I’m all for the use of birth control. I just don’t have a clear understanding of what more can be done. We’ve provided all kinds of sex education to teenagers. Condoms are cheap – they’re often given away for free on college campuses. There are organizations in each city that exist for the sole purpose of providing inexpensive birth control options to people who want them.

What could be done to assure you that everything possible is being done to reduce unwanted pregnancies and make you feel comfortable with limiting abortions?

Deana

There was a recent article on Fox news which stated that research showed that there was a higher rate of pregnancy among teens who watched sexually explicit material on TV than among those that didn’t. Which makes me wonder – this is sort of a chicken and egg kind of thing – these young women may be watching sexual material because they’re looking for sexual material, or they may be sexually active because they now have a model for behavior…who knows.
One of the things we have to look at is the balance between presenting sexual material to young people when it might cause them to become sexually active, and _not_ presenting sexual material when they _need_ it.
The problem with young people is often that they simply don’t/won’t accept the advice, warnings, instruction from adults because they have this idea that they know better, it won’t happen to them, “I didn’t think I could get pregnant …we only did it _once_!” (as if pregnancy were a cumulative condition!)…that kind of thing. The same attitude that makes little children get up and try to walk after they fall down a dozen times makes them ignore the advice of their parents. I don’t think it’s possible to overcome that.
And that’s why the strictures against early sexual activity have always been so strong – because it’s such a strong drive. You assume that teaching teens about sex and sexual protection will cure the problem. If the problem was ignorance, I might agree, but I’m not sure that education will solve the problem.
It might be better to teach young women that when the young man says “if you loved me, you would…” , the answer should be “if you loved me, you wouldn’t ask”.
Look at islam. I am in total disagreement with their treatment of women, but we keep hearing of women being stoned or killed…wouldn’t you think that the threat of stoning would keep every female of every age behaving in the manner dictated by her culture no matter how irrational?? It amazes me.