Why Obama is a Lesser Moral Monster (But a Monster Nonetheless)

I argued earlier that if a fetus is a person THEN it is wrong to terminate it.

I personally believe that personhood begins at conception, so I believe that abortion is inherently morally wrong (except in certain circumstances when the pregnancy critically endangers the life of the mother).

Now, you can disagree with me and support abortion without being a moral monster, if you believe that a fetus is not a person. You are wrong and there are terrible consequences to your false belief, but you are not a moral monster.

If you believe a fetus is a person AND you are pro-choice then you ARE a moral monster, because you are knowingly supportive of premeditated murder.

But what if you don't know for sure? I say that you are only slightly less of a monster than if you did know better, but a monster nonetheless. Like I said before, NEVER kill unless you can ID your target.

Would you stab a knife through a blanket if you weren't sure whether that the lump underneath was a human person or not?

When asked "Do you personally believe that life begins at conception?"

Obama answered:

This is something that I have not come to a firm resolution on. I think it's very hard to know what that means, when life begins. Is it when a cell separates? Is it when the soul stirs? So I don't presume to know the answer to that question. What I know is that there is something extraordinarily powerful about potential life and that that has a moral weight to it that we take into consideration when we're having these debates.

-Source: 2008 Democratic Compassion Forum at Messiah College Apr 13, 2008

How can he possibly justify support for abortion without being sure about when life begins?

Obama vis-à-vis Palin: Parenting

Here's how Obama says he would handle a hypothetical teen pregnancy:

I've got two daughters. 9 years old and 6 years old... I am going to teach them first of all about values and morals. But if they make a mistake, I don't want them punished with a baby.

Here's how Palin actually handled her daughter's pregnancy:

Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned... We're proud of Bristol's decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents. As Bristol faces the responsibilities of adulthood, she knows she has our unconditional love and support.

Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realize very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family. We ask the media to respect our daughter and Levi's privacy, as has always been the tradition of children of candidates...

Aside from the glaring irony of Obama's insulting comments about his own daughters (think of telling YOUR CHILDREN you wouldn't want them PUNISHED by CHILDREN OF THEIR OWN), there is the slightly more subtle presence of just plain bad parenting latent in such a position. What happened to "morals" like taking responsibility for one's decisions, Mr. Obama?

Being pro-life is important, not just because of any legislation a leader might be involved in or judges he, or she, might appoint. Being pro-life is important because it reflects a proper understanding of reality, of values, of responsibility, and of parenting.

I guess "Husky" brand liners for your vehicle's floor or bed are all the rage now.

Personally I find this little phenomenon pretty entertaining.

My good friend Andy Isaacson just started selling Husky Liners, because he found out how popular they are.

"What are Husky Liners?" you ask.

You know those floor mats that come stock with your car? You know how they always wear out and get all ratty? You know how you always wear a hole through the driver's side one under the heel of your gas-pedal foot?

I guess people (especially in the Northwest, where it snows and where people actually walk around on surfaces other than concrete, like dirt or -gasp- mud!) are starting to really love replacing those with Husky brand floor liners. Weird, I know. But think about how dirty and soppy your car floor gets in the winter, on the way back from the beach, or after a camping trip. What if you had really nice, hardy, floor liners with thick tread that felt good on your feet (ergonomic?) and collected all the snow and mud you could ever dish out?

And of course you know how obsessed a lot of guys up here get about their trucks, so I don't even have to explain to you how valuable industrial strength bed liners are to guys like that ;).

So anyway I guess Husky is like supposed to be the brand of floor and bed liners to get. They're all the rage right now.

If you want to check 'em out, or if you're curious about possibly getting them for your car, go check out Andy's Husky Liners site and click on his links and buy stuff. It's an affiliate site, so don't be surprised if the links take you elsewhere before allowing you to go through the purchase process, but rest assured the process is secure.

Ahhh... life's little quirks.

NEVER fire unless you can ID your target

Gun Safety Rule Related to Your Target #1 is to "[positively] identify your target and the threat it poses before firing at it." Our VP learned this lesson the hard way I guess, as have various cops and soldiers who have gotten in big trouble for firing on unarmed, innocent civilians.

Hang on to this tidbit, it will come in handy later.

Late Night Reflections

I am hanging curtain rods in my living room right now. Its dark outside. And its light inside, so when I looked at the window pane itself I caught a glimpse of my reflection. This happened to me earlier today when I was riding my bike up fourth street and I saw myself in the windows of the shops while coming home from Bella Rose where I had lunch with Chris.

I startled myself just now because I look like a young man. Not like when your mom or grandma calls you a young man. Just, I look like a man. I look like a man who is young. I am a young, married, employed, land-owning, triathlete of a man.

And I do things like mow the lawn, and... hang curtain rods.

It might sound weird to you, but it feels weird to me. I don't feel 24 at all. I feel, like, I dunno.

Younger.

Just younger. And its not that I mind being 24. I guess I'm just afraid that I ought to be more mature -more wise- than I estimate I probably am. I wonder if I am on the right track in life?

I think I am, in terms of, well, I went to the right school (still need to finish though), married the right woman, I am living where God told me to, I am going to the church God told me to... but what about the details though? Am I a praying man? Do I love my wife like I ought to? Am I serving other people - living my life for the sake of others? Does my life illustrate Hope? Is my faith strong, and its content accurate?

Do I work hard enough?

God, please grant me substantial and rapid growth in wisdom and courage and passion.

Amen.

Google has the right to do whatever they want with anything you ever create or transmit on the web

...if you do so using their new web browser - here's why.

Plus, Chrome is slower than FireFox 3 and Safari 3 (except when it comes to JavaScript), has no way to manage bookmarks yet, falls short in other areas (although admittedly has some serious strengths too), and isn't available for Mac yet!

As I read one commenter write, umm... don't be evil?



-XKCD

Homosexual Hospital Visitation Rights

Obama says in his speech that even if we disagree about matters concerning homosexual marriage, we should agree that even homosexuals should have the right to visit their loved ones in the hospital. I have heard this argument before and what follows is the fundamental reason why it offends me.

Homosexuals DO have hospital visitation rights, just like heterosexuals. What Obama wants to do is actually give homosexuals MORE privilege than heterosexuals. Let me show you what I mean.

Let's say my friend Billy goes to the hospital. And I love Billy. I REALLY love Billy. My love for Billy is vibrant, mountainous, and unique. And Billy loves me back. Exclusively. We are best friends, and our love exceeds any we could ever imagine having for any women (we're Elizabethan like that). Billy and I are roommates. Have been for 4 years. We are bound together by our love. It just happens to be heterosexual in nature.

Now, when visiting hours are over for those who are not Billy's immediate family, I get kicked out of the room, like everybody else who isn't in that category.

But if Obama had his way, and my love for Billy was no more potent, but happened to be homosexual in nature, I would have gotten to stay.

How is that fair? How is that equal?

It's discriminatory against heterosexuals, is what it is.

And I am offended when presidential candidates discriminate against me for my sexual preference.

Obama fans, you're just driving our point home!

Just watched Obama's speech, and I loved it.

My favorite part:

Obama: ...he said, and I quote, that "this nation has become [pause] a nation of whiners!"
Crowd: BOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Web 1.0, Web 2.0, Web 3.0, and... Web 4.0?

My friend informed me of the rule of thumb when labeling sites as "web 2.0":

Web 1.0: Owner creates a site
Web 2.0: Owner creates a site, but users can also create content
Web 3.0: Owner creates a site, and users can create content, but users can also create functionality

So web 2.0 would be like Blogger or YouTube. Web 3.0 would be like Facebook, with its user-created apps.

I was sharing this with a friend in Calypsos Coffee today when a third friend chimed in with some insight. I here reproduce his comments in full:

Brave New Web

Being able to create your own content on the internet is a decided feature of the so called Web 2.0. Excellent examples of this would be Myspace or Facebook. Social networking and the creation of content is the fingerprint of Web 2.0.

Also included in the inter-web upgrade is the availability of massive amounts of data via search engines. Currently Google, the dominating engine, is searching around a trillion pages, or 1,000,000,000 pages. Information, even secret information, is open to anyone willing to learn a little Boolean string logic.

Web 3.0 has two parts. Functionality and data. When users have the ability to interact with customizable modules that would be called Web 3.0 functionality. Facebook Apps are a great example because users can customize the modules effect on the page.

The data side is being able to easily access pertinent information that is exactly relevant to your needs. This is crudely available with Boolean searching in Google already. The next step is for information to be mined to exactly your needs. Right now if you type anything into Google there is a high probability of getting 40 bajillion hits. With variable algorithms that extract data based on the user you can get exactly what you look for.

Web 4.0 is an extension of the data developing where information is assimilated off of existing user created information to fill gaps in content. I suspect this will be triggered when a user searches for an answer to a question. The engine will scan available information, rank the trustworthiness (much like PageRank), and create an answer based on all the information.

Someday choosing a President will be as simple as asking Google.

Scary?

Perhaps.

(TJ Kastning, Sept. 2, 2008)