Can Pro-Life Democrats be Significant?

As previously reported in this blog, the Democratic party some time ago removed the pro-choice requirement from its platform. This means that while the party is still pro-choice, candidates who are pro-life can run on a Democratic ticket. It's been argued that it is consistent with the Democratic party's historical stance for social justice and the rights of minorities that it should embrace a platform this is broadly pro-life, including stances against the death penalty, euthanasia, and abortion. In fact, there is a notable pro-life Democrat movement. But can it play a significant role in politics?

For some pro-life Dems, their platform seems to be that, if elected, they won't be in a position to do much on the pro-life front anyway. John McColgan, running for Congressman in Oregon, feels it's important to point out that:

Before I go further, it is important to note that I am not seeking a seat on the Supreme Court. I am not running for president, and we all know that a president appoints Supreme Court justices. I am not even running for the U.S. Senate, where Supreme Court nominees have to be confirmed before they can serve on the high court. I am running for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, and although members of the House do vote on matters pertaining to abortion, they are not likely to have a role in upholding or overturning Roe vs. Wade. So what I am saying is really an expression of a philosophical stance on the issue.

In other words "I'm pro-life, but don't worry because I'm not going to do anything about it." Mind you, this beats the positiions of John Kerry, Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Jessie Jackson, and Dennis Kucinich, whose position might be characterized as "I'm pro-life, except when I'm running for President."

Is the Democratic Pary's pro-choice stance its undoing? Conservative Columnist Larry Eastland has suggested that not for abortion, the Democrats would have carried the 2000 election.

Heavy-Metal Umlaut

Heavy metal umlaut - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Link thanks to Philos.

Embedded Patriots

Is there a mass defection from the administration underway in the halls of the Capitol?

"'It's a wonderful country in a way,' Walter Pincus, the Post's veteran investigative reporter, observes. 'People in the government community are really concerned about what can happen. They get upset with themselves when they see things going wrong. So they are willing to raise questions. But I also think for some the failure to stand up before the war started is emboldening them now.'"

1490 WBEX - The Talk of Chillicothe: "I think that a lot of my colleagues felt that what I had said badly needed to be said, that it was long overdue."

Oh, well, if he felt better afterwards, then that's OK. Honestly, using the "F" word was a screw up, but a minor one. Would it have hurt him to say that's not appropriate language?

Pro-Life Democrats?

Pro-Life Democrats?, Sojourners Magazine/June 2004: "The tragedy is, in America today one can't vote for a consistent ethic of life. Republicans stress some life issues, Democrats others, while both violate the seamless garment of life on several vital matters. But the consistent life ethic still serves as an invaluable plumb line by which to evaluate all political candidates and parties."

This quote focuses on the negative. The positive is that there are some Democrats out there who are starting to stand up for life at every stage.

Multiplayer Online Games Directory / News / Warhammer Online Cancellation Update - Find Multiplayer Games Here: "Yesterday it was announced that the joint venture between Climax and Games Workshop has ended. Today, Karl Jeffery, Climax CEO, commented: 'It was a deeply sad thing for us to have to do after so much hard work and commitment from the entire team but the costs involved in bringing the Warhammer massively multiplayer online game (MMO) to market meant that we were left with little choice. With new MMO's, such as Star Wars Galaxies costing up to $ 30M to launch, this is now a very high stakes business'"

Dang, that was sudden! GW's been playing up World of Warhammer for quite a while.

Sci Fi Wire -- Babylon 5 Creator Pitches new Trek Series?: "I got together [with Zabel] and wrote a treatment earlier this year that specified how to save [Star Trek] and develop a series that would restore the series in a big way"

First Priately Funded Space Flight a Success

Sorry I haven't blogged this sooner. Yay Earth!

FOXNews.com - The O'Reilly Factor - Talking Points - Striking Back: "What 'The New York Times' did today was outrageous. They do a lot of outrageous things, but the headline, 'Panel Finds No Al Qaeda-Iraq Tie,' the press wants to run out and say there's a fundamental split here now between what the president said and what the commission said. Jim Thompson, who's a member of the commission, has since been on the air. I saw him with my own eyes, and there's no conflict."

I listened to the 911 Commission report live. Seeing as how they did in fact say there was no tie between Al-Quaeda and Iraq, I think that the NY Times headline probably wasn't out of line.

Disinfopedia - Disinfopedia: "Welcome to Disinfopedia, a collaborative project to produce a directory of public relations firms, think tanks, industry-funded organizations and industry-friendly experts that work to influence public opinion and public policy on behalf of corporations, governments and special interests. The Disinfopedia is sponsored by the Center for Media and Democracy. We started in February 2003 and are now working on 4894 articles. To learn how you can edit any article right now, visit Disinfopedia:Welcome, newcomers, our Help page, Frequently Asked Questions, or experiment in the sandbox. "

BROTRON GALLERY

More high tech stuff for the evil genius in your life.

Howstuffworks "How the Toyota PM Concept Car Works"

The h#ll with the Segway, you want one of these!

Salon.com News | Reagan blasts Bush: "'My father crapped bigger ones than George Bush,' says the former president's son, in a flame-throwing conversation about the war and the Bush administration's efforts to lay claim to the Reagan legacy."

wow.

PBS | I, Cringely . Archived Column

Personal data mining means that I'd be mining my own data, learning about my own little world. If the FBI wanted to do that (they probably do) then I'd be opposed, but personal data mining offers personal payoffs. Imagine if your web log chirped up one day suggesting out of the blue that maybe, just maybe certain trends in the entries were suggesting that you need a vacation or your business is in peril or your kid is abusing drugs or that you probably have cancer. If such knowledge was hidden in your web log data, wouldn't you rather know than not?

Robert Cringely is usually a fount of wisdom and insight, but, IMHO, this is not his best idea ever. It's bad enough that everyone else seems to want to profile me. If I'm annoyed and angry about companies and federal agencies putting me into a box based on my data, why in the world would I want to start mining my own data to figure out what kind of box to put myself in?

Ancient Map Web List

Thanks to Philos for the link, again!

The Most Catholic Senator?

Could John Kerry be the most Catholic senator? It all depends on how you do the math.

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Satellite images 'show Atlantis': "Satellite photos of southern Spain reveal features on the ground appearing to match descriptions made by Greek scholar Plato of the fabled utopia."

Link thanks to Philos

Top News Article | Reuters.com: "Pope John Paul and anti-war protesters delivered a common message to President Bush when he visited Rome on Friday -- return Iraq to Iraqis. "

Invisible City Productions : Games

A host of game ideas. Link thanks to Kevan

Tales of Future Past

"The title picture of this page shows just how far we've come in how we see the future. The idea that Mars was alive was a perfectly respectable position in the '30s. Even scientists who declared Mars a "dead" planet admitted that there were probably mosses and lichens to be found. Mosses and lichens! Today, we are calmly told that finding a fossil bacterium on Mars would throw us into an existential shock from which human civilisation might never recover. We have definitely lowered the bar."

Once again, Philos comes through.