Featured Quote

In 1913, Henry Ford wrote the following as the directors had been reaping the rewards of profits - "The wages we pay are too small in comparison with our profits. I think we should raise our minimum pay rate".

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Two Fliers about Mississippi 26 "Personhood"

On November 8th, 2011 in the General Election for Mississippi, there will be three Ballot Initiatives to vote on. 26 - to redefine "person" in our constitution, 27 - to require voter ID (ie disenfranchise voters) and 31 - to restrict the use of eminent domain. Vote No on 26, Mississippi!

 
You can click on the picture for a full size version to download and print if you want.

On the following links, these open in Google Docs - you can click "Download Original" in the top right to save to your desktop for printing or you can use the zoom for better reading.

I also have a PDF that takes apart the lies in a "yes on 26 dot net" flier claiming we are lying about our concerns about what 26 will do. TakingApartLies.pdf

The last offering is a more informative flier about Initiative 26 that also shows the ballot preview.  N0on26Flier.pdf

Vote No on 26, Mississippi!

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

My Picture and other people's comments on Personhood


(the following comments snagged from FARK thread)

What is the official life-begins-at-conception stance on identical twins?

Did God put two souls in the one cell at the beginning?
Did he add an extra soul after the split?
If not, is one twin a soulless monster?

Also, If he put in two souls at once because he knew it would become twins, wouldn't it therefore be logical to assume that he put in no souls in the fetus he knew would be aborted?

******************************************************
When I was in high school in MS, I received a letter from some state department along with my out-of-state college applications/letters. I wish I had the letter so that I could copy it, but I distinctly remember the line, "Mississippi is suffering from "brain drain" meaning that our best and brightest students leave the state and are not coming back."
The letter continued to implore that when I finished my education outside of Mississippi, that I consider returning.

Whenever I read about crap like this, I am glad that I did not return. That state is too full of stupid for anyone with a brain or an education to handle.

I am also sure that I would have been lynched by now for being an educated, physically fit, unmarried, minority adult female who does not want children or believe in god.

******************************************************
FYI: eggs can get fertilized and never attach to the wall of the womb, that egg ends up on a pair of panties or the end of a tampon, it doesn't develop into a child and never will. A fertilized egg is not a baby... yet

There's a lot of conditions for an actual baby to develop, and sperm meets egg is not it

sperm meets a lot of things in the female body, doesn't make it life either. Sperm penetrates the uvula, doesn't mean there's a baby growing in the woman's throat...

****************************************************** 
Look, we moved back here for the same reason. My husband grew up in Mississippi, and he got scholarships stipulating he come back to the state to practice once his education was complete. But I will not be birthing my children and raising them somewhere that says that Rape Victims have to carry and birth the child of their rapist, never mind that their DNA was stolen in an act of violence and hate. I will not be having kids somewhere, where the doctor has to wait for my fallopian tube to burst before terminating an ectopic pregnancy. I will not give birth somewhere where my obstetrician has to worry about being prosecuted for murder if he has to choose between my life and child inside me. I will not live somewhere that would dictate what I can do with frozen embryos. I could go on and on. This law is absolutely medieval and unacceptable.

Even my birth control pills, when I used them, said they could be used as morning after pills in an emergency, which would mean we're gonna be somewhere where I won't even be able to get birth control. I plan on getting an IUD after my firs pregnancy, but I could be prosecuted for murder in this state for doing that under this law.

Mississippi just released their big economic development blueprint for the state, which heavily featured recruiting more educated people to the state. It's absolutely laughable these people think they can try to pass a law like this and get any remotely sane educated person to move here.

We moved here to help. But there are certain human rights we're not going to sacrifice. This law makes me a 2nd class citizen to some cells in my belly, and jeopardizes my health. Coming here to a less-vibrant economy to try to help be a part of seeing the state grow and succeed into a stronger economic and educational footing is one thing. Sacrificing the reproductive health of our family to fight a bunch of fundies over abortion is not what we moved here for, and not something I'm willing to sacrifice.

****************************************************** 
and, finally, the only real reason I can think of that people want to force women to give birth to unwanted children they can't possibly care for properly :
...because in 18 years they can send it off to fight an unjust war for natural resources halfway across the world?

 ****************************************************** 
Okay, really one more... I agree with this one. I believe the soul enters the body around the first breath.  I usually say "with the first breath" but do believe there is a time window.

True human life begins when there is a soul in the body. That may happen before birth, or it can actually happen after the birth of the baby. Some cases of crib death occur because no soul has gone into that body.
 
Link (new window)

Edgar Cayce was able to pick up accurate information while he was in a very relaxed, trance-like state. Without any medical training, he could diagnose medical problems in people who were miles away from him. His "readings," - 14,000 in total - cover topics including just about everything relating to people and their concerns.

It's kind of hard to research this, because the readings are so extensive. But I did find this, and it seems I didn't remember the entry time correctly - it's usually close to the time of birth. I guess I was thinking of the fact that the soul can enter the baby's body early - up to three months before birth, I think:
The soul generally enters the baby body at or near the time of birth. In one unusual case in the Cayce readings, the soul did not enter for two days after the birth of the baby. When asked about the delay, Cayce responded that the soul was all too aware how very difficult life would be should it choose to enter, and it wasn't at all sure it wanted to go through with it! Cayce was then asked what kept the baby's body alive for two days while the soul wrestled with its decision, and he responded, "the spirit." For Cayce, the soul was the entity, with all its personal memories and aspirations, and the spirit was the life force.
John Van Auken, Link (new window)

**********************************
Amendment - found this comment elsewhere. :

Let us not forget about the things that happen when someone is desperate and will feel driven to resort to what used to be called back alley abortions. They also fail to consider the consequences that can occur when a bunch of unwanted, unplanned and unloved persons are in the schools etc. Sometimes an unplanned child is loved and cherished by the parents but sometimes they are just resented and mistreated. Seems to me how many children and when those children are born should be left up to the people who will be responsible for them until they can care for themselves. Since the, shall I say, right leaning people don't want to feed the hungry, help to support the elderly or educate the kids who are already here why should they be meddling in peoples efforts to control the size of their families?

**********************************
okay, these comments :
About 80% of fertilzed eggs never implant, actually. And quite a few after that get rejected by nature's QA system (face it: eukaryotic reproduction is a low-yield process.)
Which explains why Christianity places such emphasis on the sinfulness of women and doesn't trust them with anything important.
Next up: every fertile woman to be required to take a medical exam (at her expense, of course) monthly to make sure that she's not guilty of a felony.

**********************************
and this one :
Imagine living in a reproductive police state. China is one.
Now, how would the State of Mississippi sue the fed to provide these embryos with SS#'s? And similarly, will MS change their tax forms to include fetuses as dependents? Will OB/GYNs be required to submit conception certificates to their local health departments?
WIll you get free ice cream or desert twice a year instead of just once? And what might a 22d-century grave marker look like if you were conceived in October?