i am hearing some really disturbing arguments in defense of the flds compound and it’s practices.  the arguments seem to revolve around:

1) “freedom from religious persecution”—as if our first amendment’s purpose was to allow for ~any~ behaviour under a guise of religion.

The Belief-Conduct Distinction—While the Court has consistently affirmed that the Free Exercise Clause protects religious beliefs, protection for religiously motivated conduct has waxed and waned over the years. The Free Exercise Clause ‘’embraces two concepts—freedom to believe and freedom to act. The first is absolute, but in the nature of things, the second cannot be.’’

thus, you’ve the right to believe whatever loony thing you want to believe.  acting on those beliefs is an entirely different matter.  the state CAN and WILL step in if you are breaking the law.

2) “individual liberty”—this strikes me as extremely bizarre, as the children and women of this compound have had NO liberty whatsoever.  they aren’t given a choice.  it is not ~choice~ when you are told that if you go against the wishes of the prophet, you are worthy of death.

3) saudi arabia do it, it’s a ~cultural~ issue. —why people consistently want to turn us into places like saudi arabia, i cannot imagine.  and again, you are back to there being no liberty, no real choice for these women and children.

to see people defend the likes of warren jeffs is more disturbing and offensive than i can even say.  i question the motives of those who have.  there must be serious issues there.

for more information on the flds:

LOL @ wanted: meat stick thieves

Where’s the beef? If anyone around you is munching on a suspicious number of pepperoni snacks, police need your help.

Lloydminster RCMP say on the night of Feb. 27, thieves broke into a locked delivery truck and stole more than $500 of snacks, including a case of pepperoni sticks, a case of beef sticks, two tubes of beef sticks, a case of beef jerky, and a case of dill seeds.

dill seeds.  O.O

first, fox news reported on ”hackers on steroids.

now, npr reports on Anonymous’ Wages Attack on Scientologists.

anonymous’ message to scientology:

~cough~ be there.

recent article in the chronicle, who gets abortions? the answer might surprise you.

Half of the roughly 1.2 million U.S. women who have abortions each year are 25 or older.
Only about 17 percent are teens. About 60 percent have given birth to least one child prior to getting an abortion.
A disproportionately high number are minorities.
And regardless of ethnicity, high abortion rates are linked to hard times.

...

In recent years, the number of abortions has fallen; the 1.2 million tallied for 2005 was down 8 percent from 2000, and the per-capita abortion rate was the lowest since 1974.

...

That’s down from a peak of 1.6 million in 1990 but still represents more than 20 percent of all pregnancies.

that figure is disturbing to me.  1/5th of all pregnancies ends in abortion?  that’s terrible.

don’t get me wrong.  i’m not against abortion.  in fact, i believe it to be the moral choice: kids that are not wanted should not be brought into this world.  too many unloved children as it is.  ideally, however, the number of abortions should be zero.  access to and availability of birth control means are imperative. 

He [Stanley Henshaw] believes the most effective countermeasure would be wider availability of contraceptives such as intrauterine device, or IUDs, that don’t require attention as frequently as condoms or birth-control pills.

that would be a help, possibly, though affordability is a major concern.  affordability, access to, availability of. 

hola, como estas?  estoy bien!!  i started my spanish class!!  textbook finally arrived.  i can now say, “la leccion es muy interesante” and “mis padres son liberales” and “mis amigos no son conservadores” :O and almost know what i’ve said

lost starts tomorrow!!! and, of course, i’m going to miss it ;( i can only pray that The Powers That Be have it available to watch quickly after.  there aren’t many tv shows that i really like, but lost is one that i do.  i avoided watching it for ages, because when there’s that much hoopla, i’m usually let down.  then one day… i was bored.  and i found all the episodes online.  and.  the rest is history :o i’m a fan!!!  <3 jack, <3 sawyer, <3 kate, charlie, hurley and all the rest!

digging into candidates for DA… i’ve so far narrowed down the list of who i absolutely won’t vote for.  i’ve detested rosenthal, our current da, and i must say that i’ve been a bit gleeful at his latest difficulties.  he’s out of the race for good and may find himself in jail with any luck.  here’s an idea of what our “blessed” district attorney was like:

read on...