| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"Fredric L. Rice" |
| Date: |
07 May 2005 09:16:09 AM |
| Object: |
Practice what you peach |
subject to debate by Katha Pollitt
Practice What You Preach
[from the May 16, 2005 issue]
Pharmacists think they have the right to deny women birth control and the
morning-after pill. Senator Frist thinks God wants more ultraconservative
judges on the federal bench and if you disagree, well, you know where
you're going.
Forget common ground, it's time to divide up the country. The red-state
blue-state map is too crude--too many blue pegs in red holes and vice
versa. In the great tradition of American individualism and modern in-depth
polling procedures, let's make everyone respond, in writing, to a detailed
questionnaire on hot-button "values issues" and then be legally compelled
to live by the answers they give. It's a glorious blend of academic right
and left--rational choice theory (people make decisions in their own best
interests) meets postmodernism (there is no one truth).
Consider what happened in Louisiana, Arkansas and Arizona, where engaged
couples can opt for a more restrictive form of marriage. Despite its
popularity among conservative pundits and preachers, covenant
marriage--which allows only a select few grounds for divorce, like
infidelity--has attracted less than 2 percent of marrying couples. That
tells us something important about the way people want to live as opposed
to the way they think other people should live, and what people choose when
they have to live with the results. Let's apply that principle more
broadly. For example:
1.Stem-cell research. According to an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, 22
percent of the population thinks extracting stem cells from pre-embryos
frozen in fertility clinics is unethical. These tender souls have prevailed
upon the Bush Administration to restrict federal funds for stem-cell
research.
This has resulted in a bidding war among states eager to lure researchers,
which nobody sees as the best way to do the science. Why not split the
difference? Bring back federal funding, but those who oppose it can take
the appropriate tax cut. The catch is, they agree to forgo any cures
stem-cell research might yield: They'll have to live with their
Parkinson's, diabetes, Alzheimer's or cancer, which, since they believe
stem-cell research is wrong, is surely what they would want
to do anyway.
2.Creationism. According to NBC, 44 percent of Americans believe that the
biblical account of Creation--God, six days, species created individually
in the forms that now exist--is literally true. According to Gallup, 45
percent believe the Earth is at most 10,000 years old. A CBS News poll
found that 65 percent believe these versions of events should be taught in
school alongside evolution, and that given the opportunity 37 percent would
ditch Darwinism altogether.
Under the new plan, creationists could continue their efforts to wreck
science education and dumb down their kids--but first, they would pledge to
abstain from any real-life benefits of evolutionary theory. Flu vaccines,
for example, rely for their effectiveness on yearly reformulation to
account for the evolution of the influenza virus. No evolution? Achoo for
you!
3.Terri Schiavo-like situations. According to a Fox News/Opinion Dynamics
poll, 24 percent of the population worry they'll be allowed to die if their
brain turns into boiled squash. Sixty-one percent fear that they'll be kept
alive forever in a boiled-squash state. Under the new plan, everyone signs
a living will, to be updated yearly. Those who opt for life are enrolled in
the private squash-maintenance program of their choice--Comatose for
Christ, Operation Get Randall Terry on TV, Concerned Women for Zucchini.
Those who prefer a quick exit go off in a delightful NORML-funded haze of
controlled substances--they'll be totally unaware of it, unfortunately, but
it's a nice thought.
4.Teen sex. Every school will offer both abstinence-only and comprehensive
sex ed--parents can sign their kids up for the course they prefer. In
states with notification/consent laws, parents will remain free to
discourage or prevent their daughters from having abortions. The catch is,
if they choose this route, they are legally responsible for the total
financial support through college of the babies their underage daughters
produce.
After all, if a girl is too young to learn about birth control, too young
to have sex and too young to decide on her own to have an abortion, she's
obviously too young to be a mother. Having made the choice for her, the
parents should bear the consequences. If they don't like this system, they
can try to extract child support from the baby's father (or his parents),
and good luck to them.
5. Capital punishment. Against it? Should you be convicted of murder or the
like, instead of lethal injection you get a long stay at a Swedish-style
prison with college classes, a salad bar and condom dispensers in every
shower room. Pro-death penalty? Uh-oh: there's Sister Helen Prejean. Your
appeal must not be going well. You should have more carefully evaluated
your propensity for mayhem and/or the fallibility of the justice system.
6. English only. Do you blow a gasket when your ATM asks you if you'd like
to bank en español? Check the English-only box, and get priority on tract
housing in Utah or Idaho. But first, just to make sure your own linguistic
skills do justice to the language of Shakespeare, Woolf and Baldwin, you'll
be enrolled in a free, intensive, yearlong literature class taught by
brilliant, dedicated, culturally conservative professors who firmly believe
they failed to get tenure at Ivy League universities because of their
resistance to grade inflation and what passes for education these days.
Less than a B sends you back to the land from which your ancestors most
recently escaped.
7. The judiciary. Guardians of liberty or power-hungry perverts? Maybe a
little of both? If you think the courts should say what's constitutional,
your lawsuits get decided by judges and, yes, that includes Antonin Scalia.
If you think judges have too much power, so be it: Your lawsuits go before
a panel made up of marital counselors, rational choice theorists,
postmodernists and the people who decide whether your HMO covers your
hospital bills.
Check your mailbox for the values questionnaire, and think very, very
carefully about your answers. For the first time in history, you will be
stuck with them.
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20050516&s=pollitt
---
http://www.ElmerFudd.US/ http://www.notserver.com/
Scientology crooks: http://sf.irk.ru/www/ot3/otiii-gif.html
http://PerkinsTragedy.org http://www.rightard.org/
"Fred is replacing Clinton's penis as the rightard's fixation" - mordacpreventor
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| User: "Rick" |
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| Title: Re: Practice what you peach |
07 May 2005 03:26:11 PM |
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Fredric L. Rice wrote in message <117pk4m79c87ve0@corp.supernews.com>...
[snip]
http://www.rightard.org/
So how many Republican women have you raped? Do you practice what you
preach? Or are you just another cowardly hypocrite?
- Rick
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| User: "Fredric L. Rice" |
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| Title: Re: Practice what you peach |
08 May 2005 11:12:30 AM |
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"Rick" <pl1_alpha_geek@juNOSPAM.com> wrote:
Fredric L. Rice wrote in message <117pk4m79c87ve0@corp.supernews.com>...
http://www.rightard.org/
So how many Republican women have you raped? Do you practice what you
preach? Or are you just another cowardly hypocrite?
<rofl!> What's the matter, rightard? Did someone improve your
family's genes without your approval? }:-}
---
http://www.ElmerFudd.US/ http://www.notserver.com/
Scientology crooks: http://sf.irk.ru/www/ot3/otiii-gif.html
http://PerkinsTragedy.org http://www.rightard.org/
"Fred is replacing Clinton's penis as the rightard's fixation" - mordacpreventor
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| User: "Rick" |
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| Title: Re: Practice what you peach |
09 May 2005 12:07:53 AM |
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Fredric L. Rice wrote in message <117sfak1ovrlb0@corp.supernews.com>...
"Rick" <pl1_alpha_geek@juNOSPAM.com> wrote:
Fredric L. Rice wrote in message <117pk4m79c87ve0@corp.supernews.com>...
http://www.rightard.org/
So how many Republican women have you raped? Do you practice what you
preach? Or are you just another cowardly hypocrite?
<rofl!> What's the matter, rightard? Did someone improve your
family's genes without your approval? }:-}
Your responses just get lamer and lamer.
- Rick
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| User: "Fredric L. Rice" |
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| Title: Re: Practice what you peach |
09 May 2005 11:24:31 PM |
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"Rick" <pl1_alpha_geek@juNOSPAM.com> wrote:
Fredric L. Rice wrote in message <117sfak1ovrlb0@corp.supernews.com>...
"Rick" <pl1_alpha_geek@juNOSPAM.com> wrote:
Fredric L. Rice wrote in message <117pk4m79c87ve0@corp.supernews.com>...
http://www.rightard.org/
So how many Republican women have you raped? Do you practice what you
preach? Or are you just another cowardly hypocrite?
<rofl!> What's the matter, rightard? Did someone improve your
family's genes without your approval? }:-}
Your responses just get lamer and lamer.
Translation: You lose again.
---
http://www.ElmerFudd.US/ http://www.notserver.com/
Scientology crooks: http://sf.irk.ru/www/ot3/otiii-gif.html
http://PerkinsTragedy.org http://www.rightard.org/
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/_/id/7287564?pageid=rs.Home&pageregion=single7&rnd=1115325831843&has-player=unknown
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| User: "nJb" |
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| Title: Re: Practice what you peach |
07 May 2005 04:19:02 PM |
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Rick wrote:
Fredric L. Rice wrote in message <117pk4m79c87ve0@corp.supernews.com>...
[snip]
http://www.rightard.org/
So how many Republican women have you raped? Do you practice what you
preach? Or are you just another cowardly hypocrite?
- Rick
So now the rightards consider seduction the same as rape? Interesting.
Jack
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| User: "Jez" |
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| Title: Re: Practice what you peach |
09 May 2005 05:59:50 AM |
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Fredric L. Rice wrote:
subject to debate by Katha Pollitt
Practice What You Preach
Hey...what happened to the peaches ?
--
Jez, MBA.,
Country Dancing and Advanced Astrology, UBS.
'Realism is seductive because once you have accepted the reasonable
notion that you should base your actions on reality, you are too often
led to accept, without much questioning, someone else's version of what
that reality is. It is a crucial act of independent thinking to be
skeptical of someone else's description of reality.'-
Howard Zinn
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| User: "Guest" |
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| Title: Re: Practice what you peach |
10 May 2005 08:13:15 PM |
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Jez <iced_spear@NODAMNSPAMpipex.com> wrote in
news:NNqdnajMjpg93-LfRVnyvw@pipex.net:
Fredric L. Rice wrote:
subject to debate by Katha Pollitt
Practice What You Preach
Hey...what happened to the peaches ?
http://www.celshader.com/reviews/LD/wp/wpbox2_b.jpg
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| User: "Jez" |
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| Title: Re: Practice what you peach |
11 May 2005 11:00:28 AM |
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Guest wrote:
Jez <iced_spear@NODAMNSPAMpipex.com> wrote in
news:NNqdnajMjpg93-LfRVnyvw@pipex.net:
Fredric L. Rice wrote:
subject to debate by Katha Pollitt
Practice What You Preach
Hey...what happened to the peaches ?
http://www.celshader.com/reviews/LD/wp/wpbox2_b.jpg
Aww that's sweet !
:)
--
Jez, MBA.,
Country Dancing and Advanced Astrology, UBS.
'Realism is seductive because once you have accepted the reasonable
notion that you should base your actions on reality, you are too often
led to accept, without much questioning, someone else's version of what
that reality is. It is a crucial act of independent thinking to be
skeptical of someone else's description of reality.'-
Howard Zinn
.
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