Geoff,
Are you TRYING to be an ass(One of my wife's favorite terms of endearment)? Mom2 and I "enjoy" weeping over the deaths of millions of PEOPLE? What kind of crack is that? And to say they are not really children? Is that what your education has taught you? You do realize that as I taught you at my blog, that from the moment of conception that "unreal" person has it's own unique and HUMAN DNA that distinguishes it from either of it's parents, AND is alive. Hence, living human being. Biology 101. Dig it.
Then you go on with the equally insulting and quite frankly, stupid inference that because of our anti-baby killing position, we make a distinction, as do those of your Klanish ilk, between those born or unborn. Nothing could be further from the truth, aside from your perspective on life. I'm surprised it took an article like this to awaken you to this reality. I'm further surprised that you give a flying rat's ass how we compare in this area against other nations, rather than the fact that the problem exists at all. Where are YOUR charitable dollars going, Planned Parenthood?
I also take exception to the statement that "our nation blithely permits the deaths of real children." both for the inference that it's true, and for the continued bullshit that there's a difference between born and unborn children. How freakin' Nazi-like. They are NOT "theoretically" alive, you shameful pretender. Shame that you run with the crowd that laments the lost potential with every homo that dies of AIDS and can't aknowledge the lost potential of every child put to death through abortion.
But to your point, as shabby as it is, I had, before distractions caused my blogging digression to other topics, hoped to continue my thoughts on character and honor and how that would, or should play out in situations regarding parenthood. Your posting of this "news" together with my righteous stance regarding abortion, is most easily tempered by the adoption of true moral character. A man of honor does NOT engage in intercourse without first having the ability to support the child that accepts that invitation to life, whether he's married or not. If sex is so important, if one is so freakin' spineless and weak-willed to resist the urges, GET FIXED!
In the meantime, holster that six-gun outrage and direct more of your charitable dollars in that direction. Preach (or seek same from the Mrs.) the value of such character and honor as has been lost in this culture. Teach the kids that they are scum if they wallow in sexual self-gratification. Such will solve both problems, the one you think is more important, and the one I KNOW is equally as important.
Leaving aside his ad hominem attacks, I want to invite readers to consider level of invective in this rather heated response. Just consider how morally questionable someone 's view of life is who insists that he can write coherently about "honor" and in the same breath insist that we teach our children they are "scum" for engaging in out-of-wedlock sexual activity. Imagine, if you you will, telling one's children they are "scum" for any reason whatsoever. Equating people who do what most of us have done with dried semen is horrific; to insist that we some kind of obligation to so describe our children is downright abusive. For the record, Marshall, as the parent of two daughters, I would no more tell my children they were "scum" for any reason whatsoever than I would cheat on my wife.
I also find it intriguing that he writes so blithely of "homos", and later in comments not only defends such an appellation, but says that some of his best friends were "homos" who died of AIDS. How admirable that witnessing such a tragedy did nothing to change his perception and create a sense of empathy or compassion. Also for the record, yes I weep far more for "homos" who have died from complications due to AIDS than I ever have or will for any aborted fetus because the former are living, breathing human beings whose lives are deemed less worthy of sympathy and compassion. The latter are just as I described them - a fetus. I do weep for those who have made such a decision. I do not condemn. I do not judge. That is the difference between us, I do believe. I do not look upon the world and believe for one moment that I should make judgments about the fitness of other human beings to live, die, or be full moral agents. I do make judgments about those whose actions are certainly beyond the pale, but I do not dehumanize them, in a convenient trick eliminating them from my circle of concern.
I look forward to reading what you might have to say about "honor". One of the great "pagan" virtues (so-called because it was not a specifically "Christian" virtue as discussed by St. Thomas Aquinas - faith, hope, and love), part of honor includes a level of concern for others, recognizing our debt and responsibility to others in a community of reciprocity and support. The Founders were, for the most part, students of Honor, seeing and embodying the (small "r") republican virtue of honor as it applied to their self-sacrifice in first, working to remove the colonies from underneath the yoke of British colonialism, then seeking to "form a more perfect union" through the Constitution. They pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to ensure that we, 231 years later, could be free, secure, and prosperous. In turn, we have repaid the debt we owe by pissing away our freedoms, creating a society of unequal wealth, and reducing our military to a broken shell. It might seem that honor on our part would insist we do what was necessary to fix the destruction wrought in the name of "liberty". That's my take, anyway.
Finally, if my wife called me an "ass" on a regular basis, I might consider changing my behavior.
I almost forgot. My family calls me "Geoff". I much prefer to go by my full name, however. Just for future reference.
