Issue 31

News: South Dakota to Challenge Roe v. Wade?
When I was first compiling information to use for my blog, I was probably thinking of writing a piece on affirmative action or the censoring of our history, but this Saturday, I saw the headline Staring me in the face: S. Dakota abortion OK’d. I read on and learned that South Dakota has banned abortion for any and all reasons except to ensure that the mother lives. As you probably know by now, I am pro-abortion because I believe that it is the mother’s choice for the fetus (note how I avoid the term “baby”, because it is not an existing life, but a potential life) to live or die, after all, it is not an independent entity until it is born. With the ban in mind, the South Dakotan legislature is planning an attack on Roe v. Wade, which, despite what a lot of people think, will not ban abortion completely, but leave the power to the states, some of which will most likely wind up banning it as soon as they can. With that in mind, even if abortion won’t end up, in the long run, helping countless millions through stem cell research, it does not change the fact that in my mind, saying that a fetus/embryo is an unborn child makes as much sense as calling a living person an undead corpse and taking him/her for burial or vivisection. With the use of creationism being taught in public schools in Kansas and now abortion will be illegal by July 1 in South Dakota, I ask those people behind these campaigns “What’s next? Forcing the entire people of your state to convert to fundamentalist Christianity and spawn a society like my graphic novel idea Anthem 2256 (see issue 28)?” I hope not.

Band Name of the Day: This name has a persona all its own and I am reserving it for me. It is
Million Dollar Bagel. His back story is that he was born in Greece two and a half millennia ago, where he sang cover versions of songs which would be famous two and a half millennia ago in classical Egyptian. During one performance, he was arrested for the unforgivable sin of drinking white wine instead of red while eating himself. He was sent to an asylum where he discovered the secret to eternal life after pushing Fermat’s lost theorem up a stoat, and survived a five-year coma and over the course of 2500 years, he serves in the Civil War, is a history professor as a college, and manages to come back to his old profession singing the same songs after they became hits for other artists. His wardrobe will only be described as “An Eyesore” and his speaking voice sounds like a bad imitation of Green Acres’ Mr. Haney, and he peppers his songs with odd narratives which have little or nothing to do with the song about to be performed, which is sung in a rich baritone, in a striking contrast to his speaking voice, with acoustic guitar accompaniment.

Film Idea of the day: This issue’s idea would be best done as a comic, or some other kind of serial. This is a story of an atheistic journalist at a college forced to room with a fundamentalist Christian. This could be seen as a college reworking of All in the Family with the women removed from the roster of main characters.

Movie Review of the Day: This review is of a Play. The play is Thornton Wilder’s The Skin of Our Teeth, and it is about a family living in a combination of modern-day New Jersey, The Ice age, and some of ancient Greece, the Antrobuses. This play shows them overcoming hardships such as a flood, the Ice Age, and War. This play was recommended to me after the head of the theatre department at my school read my play Wőt??!!?&,:;%${} and in turn, I recommend it to others for its offbeat quality and its constant breaking of the fourth wall.

Quote of the Day: Reporter: Mr. Bush, if I understand your position correctly, you believe that abortion is murder…
Bush: Except in special cases, yes.
Reporter: You also endorse the death penalty for murderers…
Bush: Sure, but…
Reporter: Does this mean you favor executing the millions of women who choose to have abortions?
Bush: No, no, I now see that these women are victims who need help and love.
Reporter: The criminal as victim? Sir, isn’t that being squishy-soft on crime?
Bush: Uh… Okay, then, we’ll hold their doctors accountable!
Reporter: Then you favor executing thousands of doctors?
Bush: Look, we’ll execute somebody, Okay? I’m still sorting out the details!
Reporter: How about the doctors’ lawyers?
_______Garry Trudeau, Doonesbury, exact date unknown, but it was during the 1988 election.

Link of the Day: A site which has rebuttals against four of the things PeTA is out to stop: Beef, Milk, Hunting, and Pets. It also contains links to other sites speaking out against Animal Rights movements in general worth looking at.

Tract review: 4 Angels?
A new version of the Four Brothers tract I mentioned as one of the few tracts I haven't read, Jack's new tract shows the story of four brothers at a revival who are saved. One brother becomes a phony christian, another gave up religion for his job, another brother becomes a televangelist Tilton-style, and the last one runs a mission and is earnest about his faith. He is the only one saved in the end.