Baby news

I know I am very bad for not having posted about our baby. She is healthy and beautiful. In her free time she enjoys spitting up on things, sleeping, looking around, and sucking on her fingers. I am also fine.
O.O. says, "Remember that movie, 'Desperately Seeking Susan?' Substitute 'photocopier' for 'Susan,' and that's me."
Eve notes that: "[Johnathan] Rauch and others argue that failing to enact same-sex marriage will teach children that cohabitation (by gay couples) is a-okay, and that sex and marriage can rightfully be separated."

I can't believe that this argument is being taken seriously by anyone. (OK, I can, but that is only because finding someone who can think logically is about as rare these days as finding a 2-dollar bill in the street.) Let's try this formulation: "Failing to enact man-sheep marriage will teach children that barnyard sex is a-okay, and that sex and marriage can be rightfully separated."

What's the presumption? People want to do X, and WILL do X, but won't fit into the legal system! They won't be "named" and "recognized" by the law! Not only will this make them less than human, since legal "equality" has come to stand in for spiritual equality (see the women's suffrage debate), the LAW ITSELF will be diminished! It will not, as Elton John has said, "paint with all the colors of the wind."

Ironically the argument rests on the presumption that the law derives its normativity from its ability to accommodate deviation from norms. The more inclusive and "responsive to social change" the law is, the more authoritative it becomes. Any law that does not "name" and "recognize" my "family structure" does not represent me, and therefore is not "democratic" and thus not authoritative. So if I want to play "get married" with some rebellious state employees down at the courthouse, I am ADVANCING the interests of law rather than mocking it.

Of course this is why the authors of the Federalist papers rejected a democracy for a republic. And others reject a republic for other forms of government that more explicitly acknowledge an unchangeable basis in revealed religion.

Fear of the "Pre-Embryo" -

What is it that people fear about the embryo, or the far more noxious "pre-embryo," which is not yet implanted in the uterine wall? "I value human life," they say, "but OF COURSE the pre-embryo is just a potential human, not to be compared with you and me." (The "you" in that sentence is often just a meaningless verbal tic.)
Now why is that? Why is the "pre-embryo" not ever to be compared with us full human beings? What is it that differentiates us IN KIND from the "pre-embryo" such that he can be killed as a hobby but not us?
My guess is that he is not yet able to express his great pride, or to hide his fear of being revealed as merely a child of God, with no claims to greatness or authority that will not turn to ash in the coming age. If only our "pre-embryo" had these qualities, we could admit him to our company.

Another Thought on NFP

- The view that NFP is "no different from contraception" is only advocated by those who have never used NFP to delay pregnancy (and would not consider trying it), but who are currently using contraception, often (though not always) outside of wedlock.
All such people are hereby invited to put their money where their mouths are.

Things not to say to a woman who is 9 months pregnant -

When she answers the phone - "WHAT? Are you still there? Why aren't you HAVING THAT BABY?"
"You're not having the baby yet?"
"So where's the baby?"
"No baby yet? What's the matter with you?"
"Aren't you gonna HAVE THAT BABY?"
"You're STILL THERE?"

And yes, this is all coming from one person, who will either provide all the suffering I need to completely escape purgatory or all the occasions of sin I need to damn myself for all eternity. Damnation is winning right now.
I can't read Pontifications. This guy just needs to bite the bullet and come over to Rome, and get over the Anglicans. Yep, they're wrong! Been wrong for about 500 years. It's very sad. Now, let's get your salvation underway.
What you get if you type "lobotomy" into Google:
Sponsored Links:

Sexy Lobotomy Singles
Free photos, personals and hot
profiles of local singles. Free
www.infobert.com

Lobotomy For Sale
Low Priced Lobotomy
Huge Selection! (aff)
ebay.com
Tortoise Adopts Stray Hippo at Sanctuary Jan 6, 9:55 AM (ET) - NAIROBI (Reuters) - A 120-year-old giant tortoise living in a Kenyan sanctuary has become inseparable from a baby hippo rescued by game wardens, officials said on Thursday.
The year-old hippo calf christened Owen was rescued last month, suffering from dehydration after being separated from his herd in a river that drains into the Indian Ocean.
'When we released Owen into the enclosure, he lumbered to the tortoise which has a dark gray color similar to grown up hippos,' Sabine Baer, rehabilitation and ecosystems manager at the park, told Reuters.
She said the hippo's chances of survival in another herd were very slim, predicting that a dominant male would have killed him.
However, Owen's relationship with the Aldabran tortoise named Mzee, Swahili for old man, may end soon. The sanctuary plans to place Owen with Cleo, a lonely female hippo."
Woods-schooling
Yahoo! News - Man Registers Deadly Blood-Alcohol Level: "SOFIA, Bulgaria - Incredulous doctors made five blood tests on a drunken man to confirm he had a blood-alcohol content of 0.914, far above the usual life-threatening range, police and doctors said Tuesday.
The 67-year-old man, whose name was not released, was hospitalized Dec. 20, when a car knocked him down on a street in the southern Bulgarian city of Plovdiv.
A breath test showed high blood alcohol level, but police officers thought the result was inaccurate, because the man was conscious and talked with them, said Col. Angel Rangelov, head of police in Plovdiv.
Laboratory analysis of five subsequent blood samples taken the same day confirmed that the man had had a 0.914 blood alcohol content, Rangelov said. An 0.55 blood-alcohol level is usually considered as life-threatening.
Dr. Svetlan Dermendzhiev of Plovdiv's University hospital told state news agency BTA he had not seen such a high level.
The man was reported in stable condition after treatment for head injuries. "
Yahoo! News: "DEAR ABBY: I am a 14-year-old girl who recently found out that I am the daughter of a sperm donor. I had always thought my father had died and no one would tell me why. Now I feel unloved by whoever is my father.
It scares me to think I may have brothers or sisters out there, and that he may not care that I exist. I don't understand why it's legal to just donate when a child may be born. Is there any way I can find out anything about my 'real' father -- or any advice you can give me? -- DOESN't UNDERSTAND IN PENNSYLVANIA
DEAR DOESN'T UNDERSTAND: The person who donated his sperm so that you could be conceived thought he was doing a noble deed -- helping a couple who desperately wanted a child but were unable to do so. As far as I know, there is no way to trace his identity. "
O.O. says, "I'm so hungry I could eat ... Ghandi."