Abortion & Prostitution: Harm Reduction

I’m about as anti-abortion as they come within the pro-choice camp. I don’t like thinking about the difficult decisions that would have to be made if I were to get a woman pregnant at this point in my life when I’m not ready to raise a child. Not that it would be my decision at all, which bothers me from a gender point of view. Since I have no viable solutions to that issue, I’ll leave it as a side-note. The pro-life brigade has all sorts of tactics for trying to lure me to their side. “What if that child was destined to be the next great scientist or world leader?” Actually, that child’s destiny was to be aborted. Funny how people who believe in destiny fundamentally misunderstand how it works.

Abortion isn’t 100% safe for the mother from a physical standpoint. Note the deliberate usage of the words “mother” and “child”. Abortion is even less safe psychologically. No, it doesn’t thrill me and my baby-killing cronies to know that many women suffer as a result. I find it appalling that some women use it as a form of birth control. So how can I be pro-choice? Because the alternative is worse.

Obama Is Un-American

There, I said it. He refused to salute the flag during the Pledge of Allegiance!!! How in the hell can a man like this expect to be our next Commander-in-Chief???? This man, this Barack Hussein Obama. Oh, wait, this was debunked by Snopes and the Washington Post’s Fact Checker. I first heard about this chain email when my roommate came into my room and casually said, “Hey, I heard that Obama won’t say the pledge of allegiance because it’s against his religion.” 1st response: “You mean Christianity?” 2nd response: Google.

So he didn’t put his hand over his heart during a single national anthem. So what? Since when was clasping your hands solemnly in front of you not a sign of respect? I read comments on a number of right-wing blogs and left-wing debunkings. Suddenly everybody is an EXPERT on flag code – you know, Title 36 of the U.S. Code! “During a rendition of the national anthem, when the flag is displayed (A) all present except those in uniform should stand at attention facing the flag with the right hand over the heart; (B) men not in uniform should remove their headdress with their right hand and hold the headdress at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart.” After the sadness passed, I found it hilarious that a large percentage of people citing this code mistook it for actual law.

Beware “Extreme Ecstasy”

This poorly written article got a Drudge link a few days into the new year. This extreme version of Ecstasy is MDMA cut with methamphetamine. This has been occurring, to varying degrees, ever since Ecstasy was made illegal. MDMA was first synthesized in 1912, saw minor recreational use in the 1960s, was used by some mental health professionals for therapeutic purposes starting in the 1970s, then became popular around Dallas – especially in gay clubs – in the early 1980s. Once the gays get hold of something, it has to go – MDMA was classified Schedule I in the U.S. in 1985.

MDMA isn’t perfectly safe, nor is it nearly as harmful everyone I know believes. It is more dangerous when cut with methamphetamine or other dangerous adulterants. Most of the danger associated with Ecstasy is due to its illegality. Recently, I saw someone sum up drug policy very succinctly: you can put the control of drugs in the hands of the government, private enterprise, or criminals. There is no other option. You cannot curb the demand for drugs, nor can you stop the supply. We know this because we have tried – really, really hard – to do both. By leaving drugs in the hands of criminals, we ensure huge profits for our enemies. Radicals in Afghanistan, paramilitary groups in South America, Mexican kingpins, etc. When we wage silent wars against production strongholds, the supply simply shifts to another area. Hundreds of billions of dollars don’t get left sitting on the table simply because the U.S. wills it so.