Two questions that have been floating in my mind.

[Sythe]

One) I did not realize the meaning of "free choice" of abortion until recently. And concerning the subject I am fairly neutral. I don't like, no I hate abortion but if a woman wants to do it let her for its her own body. My question is why should she want to destroy her child when the option of adoption is always open?

Two) My far right friend said that they found a chemical lab and two trucks filled with weapons, with U.S. license plates. He said it was all over the news but I am very skeptical. Did anybody yet find the WMD if there was any at all?

[coyote696]

I dont have any knowledge of the wmd but they found a mobile chem lab a long time ago and a mobile bio lab. the chemicals to make the wmd were found all over the countries but were not stored together, the weapons themselves were possibly removed by the govt before the invasion started, remember hussain was far from stupid, he was evil but he was inteligent,
the thing is the liberal media in our country probably wouldnt report the wmd's if they were found and used on or troops because they are so biased against the present leadership in this country.


on your first question: i hate abortion also, but i have always allowed that the woman should be allowed to chose for herself and she should know all the options availiable before making a choice. i do feel that at a certain point in the pregnancy it shoud not be allowed.

[ 01-06-2005, 01:47 AM: Message edited by: coyote696 ]

[Davros]

The answer to the 2nd question is a very simple NO - no WOMD have been found (that's if you use the W as Weapons the plural). The only thing found that I haven't heard debunked is the so called "Shell of Mass Destruction" - one chemical warhead. Your far right friend (as well as other of my far right friends) likes to believe all sorts of things. I hear the Easter Bunny was spotted on Northern Mosul and Santa Claus was photographed taking the sun on the beaches at Basra. The US has officially reported back on their investigation into the presence of WOMD in Iraq and the conclusion (and finger pointeing) was that the intel that was acted on was seriously flawed. Revamps to the intel services have been promised from what I recall.

And to your first question - the option of adoption is not always open and the process is not as simple and painless as you might imagine.

[Lucern]

Agreed with Davros on Number 2. Strongly disagree with the statement that our media would not report WoMD if the claims were well substantiated. If anything, I find the naiveté of our media not conducive to being as far left as many believe.

On the first, I've often heard adoption proclaimed as the best alternative. I've heard about the long lines just waiting for a child, who are snatched up immediately. This is true, for healthy unnamed white American children. Pick anyone outside of that group with a name, and they may not be adopted until they're 3,6, 8, 13, 16, or never. What's their life like until then and afterwards? Abortion is always hard to cope with, but adoption can be as well. Personally, I find ample birth control very easy to cope with. The facts remain: unwanted pregnancies always happen, and abortion will always occur, whether legally or not. It's an emotionally and intellectually complicated issue, such that I think should not be decided by a government.

That's just my $.03 (I gave more than you wanted I bet lol)

[Zuvio]

Well, how about those 3D echos on which you can tell after a few months wether your baby will be a healthy one or not? And if not, should you have an abortion? And if you want a boy and you get a girl, then what? And if you think your child is pretty, it dies, why not store some DNA beforehand and clone it? What if from now on, every baby born will be of excellent genes and DNA?

[Lucern]

As far as the boy/girl thing...deal with it lol. I've seen enough to convince me that sex and gender aren't the same thing, and as an overall point, you won't really know what your offspring will be like for years.

The sex of the child might be one of the first things that actually become changeable...IIRC a fetus is female until testosterone gets 'switched on' during development. Preventing that might be much easier than trying to get an eye, hair, or skin color, height, or any number of traits that are made up of several genes (rather than a single ongoing hormonal event like sex).

I'm not convinced we know nearly enough about the human genome to do much about designing humans. We've only just recently mapped it. In any case, 'excellency' is in the eye of the beholder, though it'd be nice to see things like Down's Syndrome that are obvious genetic defects prevented. Those echos can test for a few things...but whether the child will be healthy is going to take way more than that. It could have diabetes, asthma, a sensory defect, or any number of mental disorders that you can't know about until later. These are ethical considerations that we'll have to make in the coming years, but in the meanwhile - we've generally always had control of our childrens' upbringing. This will do more in terms of a 'designer' child than anything else.

[Aragorn1]

on the second thing, ages ago the bbc reported that two trucks that could have been used to manufacture chemical weapons had been found, can't remember whether they found traces or not, but this was shortly after the 'end' of the war.

[Seraph]

This is true, for healthy unnamed white American children. Pick anyone outside of that group with a name, and they may not be adopted until they're 3,6, 8, 13, 16, or never.

There are a lot of people who go to places like China to try to adopt children. They're all going to get healthy white American children, right?

[Lucern]

One does not negate the other here Seraph. I've heard the same for Russian babies, particularly when there are 20/20 specials on them or something. I'm talking about 'the big picture'. I'm not saying that everyone is trying to adopt white Americans, but among Americans who adopt, that's the group that there's the greatest demand for. That doesn't mean there's not demand for other children, but it has to be true that those children are less likely to be adopted, and that some children are never adopted. My point was that adoption is not always a wait-list to a great, loving family, and needs to be considered on an individual basis.

[ 01-09-2005, 06:34 AM: Message edited by: Lucern ]