Another Solution

Then there is this solution.  Woman kills and decapitates the man who not only raped her, and got her pregnant, but took pictures and threatened to pass the photos around the village.  I will say that I thought ten bullets, plus a stab wound, plus a decapitation (she rolling the head onto the village square) may have been more than is needed.

Now we have some metrics, from Yalvaç, Isparta, Turkey.  This is one definite vote for abortion in the event of rape.  From the subheadlines in The Daily Mail story:

• Woman cut off rapist's head before declaring: 'That is the head of one who toyed with my honour'
• Mother-of-two, 26, had been 'abused for months' by attacker before she took revenge

I think the solution is extreme, but I also think the perp was extreme, aggravating his crime time and time again.

This is why judges should have some discretion.

Regards  —  Cliff

Service Men and Elections

The headline at Drudge is "BOOK:  SEALS DIDN'T WANT TO HELP RE-ELECT OBAMA...".  I am not sure that captures the thrust of the new book, No Easy Day, reviewed by The New York Times, to which Drudge linked.  But, it is up on Drudge.

There is a lot of discussion swirling around this new book.  The point I would like to make is that no one on active duty should be saying things like "SEALS didn't want to help re-elect Obama."  People on active duty need to keep their noses out of electoral politics.  They may vote, but they shouldn't talk about it, especially in public.  Sure, all of us have our own opinions and discussing it with friends and family is natural.  But, people in Uniform need to not use that uniform to advance their opinions.  Retired guys are free to speak in public, but they shouldn't be using their uniform to push their ideas.  This is very important for our Civil-Military relations.  The work of the late Professor Samuel P Huntington, and his The Soldier and the State:  The Theory and Politics of Civil-Military Relations informed me early on and could usefully inform you.  The original was published in 1957.  Rumor in the 1960s said that Professor Huntington was denied tenure at Harvard over the book.  Too bad for Harvard, but good for the rest of us.

Bottom line:  People on Active Duty should be hanging back on active political activities.  Register to vote, donate money and keep your mouth shut.

Regards  —  Cliff

TMZ On The March

There may be some long term benefit to the Nerd strategy of keeping to yourself and never dating.  At some point, two decades on, your ex-girlfriend/boyfriend might run for national office, and if he or she is a Republican, the news media will winkle you out and expose you to fear, ridicule and sarcasm.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Meet the Press

Columnist Tom Friedman (The New York Times) just said, in essence, that he is in favor of allowing children who are born live from a late term abortion, to die.

My son corrects me and says he said "he is a Planned Parenthood Democrat."  This is after Newt Gingrich said it is a "20%" issue to allow children to die if they survive a late term abortion and then noted that as a State Senator Barack Obama voted to protect doctors from liability in such situations—voted three times.

This was about whether the press ever sees Democrats as extremists, or just Republicans.

I think it is just Republicans who are extremists.  That is the meme and has been since Goldwater was running for the office.  Who can argue against the MSM?

Then we went back to watching Cop Out.

In the mean time, when does human life start?

• Conception
• Conception +26 weeks
• Immediate Post Partum
• Post Partum plus seconds to minutes
• Post Partum plus minutes to hours
• Post Partum plus hours to hours

Just asking?

Regards  —  Cliff

Comments on Comments

Over at the Althouse blog is a discussion on comments and blogs.  As a side comment, the use of "curate" seems better than "moderate".  Comments are not "moderated".  They are either allowed or suppressed.

This starts with an InstaPundit post:

WALTER RUSSELL MEAD GETS RID OF COMMENTS ON HIS BLOG

My own blog is so little visited that wacko commenters (Jack and Neal aside) are not a problem.

Regards  —  Cliff

Former Milan Cardinal Dies (RIP)

Under the headline "Cardinal Called Church ‘200 Years Out of Date’ Soon Before Death", The International Herald Tribune notes the death of former Milan Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini.

Regards & —  Cliff

Al Gore Wants To Abolish The Electoral College

From The Hill we have this report on former Vice President Al Gore wanting to abolish the Electoral College and go with the popular vote.

The fact that it is Vice President Al Gore makes me dubious.  What makes me more dubious is that he is suggesting a work-around in terms of a compact amongst the various States to achieve this—a sort of Constitutional end run.  I wonder what Tipper thinks?

Frankly, I am in favor of individual States splitting their Electoral College votes, based upon how voters within that State split. For example, if the Voters in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts went 65% for President Obama and 35% for Governor Romney, President Obama would get 7 of our Electoral Votes and Governor Romney 4.  As I recall, two states already do this.

I do have what I call the "Kad Barma Variant".  If Massachusetts has roughly 4 million voters and 45% of them actually vote, then 6 Electors would be pledged to vote "None of the Above" (President Obama getting 3 and Governor Romney getting 2).  The idea is that if no Candidate gets the required 270 Electoral votes the election is re-run.

The only problem with the Variant is that it assumes those who didn't vote disliked both Candidates, as opposed to the possibility that they were just truly indifferent to the choice—they could accept either with equanimity.  Otherwise why wouldn't they vote for some third part candidate?  And, if it caught on, think what it would do to State and Local Government.

Regards  —  Cliff