I Lol'd

An elderly British gentleman of 83 arrived in Paris by plane.
At the French customs desk, the man took a few minutes to locate his passport in his carry-on bag. 
You have been to France before, Monsieur?' the customs officer asked, sarcastically. 
The elderly gentleman admitted he had been to France previously. 'Then you should know enough to have your passport ready.' The elderly gentleman said, 'The last time I was here, I didn't have to show it.' 
'Impossible' said the customs officer, 'The British always have to show their passports on arrival in France!' 
The Man gave the Frenchman a long hard look. 
Then he quietly explained;
'Well, when I came ashore on the Beach on D-Day in 1944, I couldn't find any flippin' Frenchmen to show it to!!!

Four Years

Star Studded Super Step has been online for four years. My first post on 16 March, 2006 was on a blog named "TBC" which stood for "To Be Confirmed". A month or two later I decided on a title, choosing the name of Poor Old Lu's 1995 album, Star Studded Super Step. It had been a toss up between that and a couple of their other songs, A Snowfallen Desert and For the Love of My Country. I guess I chose the name for its originality - the line is only used once, in the song Sometimes Cry:

...sometimes we need to hide, sometimes cry
run away, far away - to Yahweh, He's my hideaway
star-studded-super-step, yeah, you've turned around again...

And I'm not really sure what it means, but it sounds good. Over the years I've written about the mysterious Mr. Raxworthy and an unfinished, four-part story entitled Coffee - Lydie and Jono also helped with this. I've explored some slightly bizarre, analogous, exaggerated autobiographical raves which I still look back on with bemusement - John's stories were my inspiration to try this style. I've done a series of posts on Timeless Cinematic Moments, which have been fun. I've written three (no, there's no other way to say it), three romantic poems, and another nice one too, entitled "Most Tranquil". I'm still working on the third you know poem, it's not quite right yet.

There's a very serious side to my blog too. I have been writing a lot recently about abortion and the arguments for and against it. I've written in the past in particular about social engineering particularly as it relates to public education. I'm also increasingly focusing on the state of the fight for freedom; at the front of the line, in the United States - with the vast majority of my readers being from that fair country. Philosophical discourse has been, and will continue to be a feature of the blog. I've discussed some theological concepts and explained the Gospel of Jesus Christ in my own words a couple of times too. I'm not going to shut up about what I believe: There's nothing you can do to shut me up when I'm speaking the truth.

Right, so what's with the picture of the guy with the t-shirt on his head? It's a scene from the movie Gerry, directed by Gus van Sant, about two friends - both named Gerry, starring Matt Damon and Casey Affleck. And cheers to Siminy for the sweet-as background photo, I think it's here to stay. I'm hoping to pick up the slack and post more frequently on issues that you and I care about.

To the days.

I lol'd

Old aunts used to come up to me at weddings, poking me in the ribs and cackling, telling me, "You're next".

They stopped after I started doing the same thing to them at funerals.

Abortion is a Woman's Choice. Just Like Rape is a Man's Choice.

When someone tells me that they are pro-choice, I always think - well heck, I'm pro-choice too. Proponents of "abortion as a woman's choice" will tell you that they think that women should have the right to choose. Choice is placed on a pedestal; it is high up, and we must not question it. Discourse over the nature of the choice is discouraged, instead emotive and often frenzied campaigns are run calling for the right for women to choose to be upheld.

I am a strong proponent of freedom of choice, freedom of association, freedom of expression; of freedom in general. However one person's freedom ends where another's freedom begins. I do not have the freedom to take your life against your will; that is contrary to the meaning of freedom. Pre-born babies are not asked for their opinion before the suction tube is inserted into their mother. As saline-abortion survivor Gianna Jessen has said, "if abortion is about women's rights, then where were mine?"

It is clear that every non-coerced action we make is a choice. That a given action was a choice has no bearing on its morality. Rape is a choice. Men have a choice whether they rape a woman or not, however it would be outrageous for me to suggest that somehow, because this is a choice, that it makes rape an acceptable activity. The fact that it's a choice has nothing to do with its morality, therefore I would be stupid to bring up "choice" as an argument in favour of decriminalising rape. There is only one correct choice, and that is the choice not to commit rape.

The two questions we must ask, - and answer before we make a decision about abortion are: 1) Whose choice are we taking into consideration, and 2) Which choice is the correct one?

1) The decision whether to abort a foetus or not affects two people: the mother and her pre-born child. Therefore, as with all contracts, both parties must have their choice respected. If one of the parties' choice is ignored, then the decision will be unjust. We cannot know what the baby's choice will be, as we are currently unable to communicate with pre-born children to ask them whether they wish for their life to be terminated or not. If a foetus gave consent to its destruction, I would support abortion in this instance. Realistically speaking however, a foetus not only lacks the rational capacity to make such a decision, but we would be unable to ascertain its decision even if it were able to make one. Therefore, as with all contracts, we have an obligation to err on the side of caution, and postpone killing the pre-born child until such time as it is able to consent to its death. This may all sound fairly cold and heartless, but consider: how many people do you know who would agree to your proposition of killing them? None.

If a mother, or a relative, friend or doctor of the mother wishes to kill the pre-born child, this wish is superceded by the natural rights held by the foetus - to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

2) Which choice is the correct one? I absolutely support a woman's right to choose - given that she makes a moral choice. Nobody has the right to choose to harm another person without their consent. The correct choice is life for the baby.

The pro-life group that I work with in New Zealand has a popular t-shirt that reads "Unborn babies are pro-choice too". This statement is not only untrue, but it is also unverifiable. As far as I can tell, pre-born babies are not yet of a rational capacity to even contemplate whether they wish to die or live. Their natural bodily functions are all crying out "live", however they have not yet grasped the concept of the desirability of living within their own minds. Therefore they do not have the ability to choose one way or the other. In saying this, pre-born babies do have other thoughts, such as recognising the sound of their mother's voice... The statement is unverifiable because we cannot be 100% sure that all babies would advocate for choice - were they able. It is possible that there may be some pre-born babies - who, if asked, (were the technology available) - if they supported upholding choice on the issue of abortion, who would respond that they do not. All that aside, with our t-shirts we've made a well-educated guess that were pre-born babies able to respond, that they would support choice. It follows that the vast majority of babies would support the non-abortion choice, as very few humans - when asked, will volunteer to have their lives ended.

In summary: Choice has nothing to do with morality, therefore choice does not impact on the acceptability of abortion. A choice is only permissible if it does not take away the choice of another person.