In California it's still Election Day, and I'm waiting to see how Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed measures did. I'm also curious if a bill restricting abortions for minors will pass.
Just like with the recall election two years ago, my absentee ballot for this special election arrived too late for me to get it back to Santa Ana in time to be counted (about forty-two minutes ago). If the abortion proposition passes by one vote, I'm going to be pissed, I tell ya.
I would have voted for the Congressional district redistricting process to go to a bipartisan panel of retired judges. I agree that if legislators handle the redistricting, whether the legislature is Democratic- or Republican-controlled, it will just mean that the districts are going to be drawn in ways that favor the party, not promote fair districting. The Democratic Party of California (of which I am a member) is against this proposition, but with Dems crying foul over hijinks in Texas (the Texas GOP redrawing already established lines after gaining control of the legislature), I think that fairness should be something that is practiced across the board.
What does this have to do with Korea? Not a lot, except that our governor keeps showing up on OCN.
UPDATE:
The Gubernator did not do well, which some pundits say means his re-election prospects are a bit dimmer (although this could turn around in the next twelve months). The legislature will still draw the congressional districts (59% against the proposal for a panel of retired judges to do so, 41% in favor) and there will be no waiting period or parental notification in order to have an abortion (53% against, 47% in favor); and teachers will not have to wait longer to get tenure (55% against, 45% in favor).
Wowbagger, do you mean Baduk, me, or both of us?
ReplyDeleteBaduk, Proposition 73 was in favor of a waiting period and parental notification before an abortion. It wasn't repealing anything. If you voted against this, then you were voting against parents' ability to know about their daughter getting an abortion.
ReplyDeleteI am against this, though. I don't like abortion, but I see it as a necessary evil, like a lot of other things: that means that criminalizing it will not make it go away, but just drive it underground.
Necessary evil? There is nothing evil about it.
ReplyDeleteSan Nakji,
ReplyDelete"Necessary evil" is an expression. Something that is not necessarily desirable but still necessary. Having a military, for example, is often referred to as a necessary evil; that doesn't mean the military itself is evil per se.
I don't think abortion is a great thing. I don't think anyone is "pro-abortion." But for a variety of reasons, it is kept around.
At best it is a medical procedure that ideally wouldn't have to be performed, but that doesn't mean it should be illegal.
I might be more articulate with more sleep.
Having known English for most of my life, I am familiar with the expression. However, I think you have used it wrongly as 'evil' is a judgement call. I know what you mean, however. It is fair to say it is a medical procedure and I only hope for the sake of women in America Bush stops loading the Supreme Court with conservatives. My question to you, and others is why is abortion such a big issue in the US? It has never been an issue here or in Europe. I am not sure about Canada, but I would doubt it is much of an issue there either. What's up with America?
ReplyDeleteSan Nakji wrote:
ReplyDeleteHaving known English for most of my life, I am familiar with the expression. However, I think you have used it wrongly as 'evil' is a judgement call.
I don't think I used it incorrectly, because I'm using it figuratively, not literally. Just like if I were to refer to someone as devil's advocate, it doesn't mean he/she is taking a side that I think is diabolical. A "necessary evil" refers to something that, in a utopian world, wouldn't be needed. It doesn't mean it's evil, but if you were playing god and could make the rules yourself, it's not something you would choose to include.
I know what you mean, however. It is fair to say it is a medical procedure and I only hope for the sake of women in America Bush stops loading the Supreme Court with conservatives.
I think that could backfire on the conservatives. Like Souter.
My question to you, and others is why is abortion such a big issue in the US? It has never been an issue here or in Europe. I am not sure about Canada, but I would doubt it is much of an issue there either. What's up with America?
Well, for starters, I think there are enough people of faith who have the nagging feeling that aborting a fetus is ending a life, which is fundamentally wrong.
I think that nagging feeling affects a lot of people who are not of faith, or who are not particularly religious.
I've known several people who had abortions, and even the agnostics and the atheists still have lingering feelings of dismay, regret, and even shame. Coming from the inside.
So what I'm saying is that there is for a lot of people this view that abortion is fundamentally a bad thing that must be stopped. But even among everyone else, a feeling that it is not a good thing, and that it should be discouraged.
I stand with Bill Clinton on this, whose views are the same as mine: our policies should be to make abortion safe, legal, but rare.
I am glad that prop 73 failed. (Thanks Baduk!)
ReplyDeleteI don't like abortion either, but girls deserve a second chance. It is necessary and nothing is evil about it (I mean, in many cases).