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National Right to Life Convention Coming to Arlington

by ARLnow.com | June 14, 2012 at 11:00 am | 2,852 views | 202 Comments

The annual National Right to Life Convention will be coming to Arlington later this month.

The convention is billed as the “42nd annual meeting of pro-life grassroots leaders and experts from across the country.” The three day event starts on Thursday, July 28, and will feature six “major sessions,” more than 100 pro-life speakers and more than 70 workshops.

Speakers will include House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.).

The convention will be held at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City, at 2799 Jefferson Davis Highway. The previous two National Right to Life conventions were held in Jacksonville, Fla. and Pittsburgh, Pa.

The Hyatt Regency has been on a roll in terms of booking notable or unique events with disparate themes. It has recently hosted the 2011 DMV Music Awards, the Anime USA convention and the Rolling Thunder motorcycle rally, and a trade group meeting about the health of cow udders.

Swag

/popcorn
- i have butter
  
  can i watch with you? this is gonna be good.
Stay home

Tell them to stay home. We don’t want their small minded intrusiveness in our county.
- Jackson
  
  Tell that to the children
  - Max
    
    You mean the children who these people want to take health insurance away from? I’ll be sure to do that.
- Patrick
  
  Yes b/c stating that innocent unborn children deserve a right to life is small minded.
  - D’oh
    
    “Unborn children” is such a misnomer.
    - CourthouseChris
      
      Yeah, it’s about as accurate as I am an “undead man”.
      - Daenerys Targaryen
        
        Well, if you’re on True Blood…
      - WeiQiang
        
        Good afternoon, khaleesi.
    - bringmetheyuppies
      
      You’re right it should be overgrown sperm.
  - Ivy
    
    It’s nobody’s business. It’s like saying you shouldn’t use birth control because someone could be born. How about responsibility? Are you going to financially support them?
  - The Bible
    
    Psalm 137:9
    King James Version (KJV)
    
    Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.
    - Arlwhat
      
      So *thats* how the Catholic church leadership has justified their coverup of child sexual abuse; they’re just “dashing the little ones against their stones.”
Tabs

Good to know. Will be protesting outside. Maybe set up a lemonade and hash brownie stand.
- Patrick
  
  Why not just sell aborted fetuses?
  - V. Putin
    
    Or offer them up for adoption.
  - WeiQiang
    
    … or provide condoms
    - Tabs
      
      Condoms! Good call.
      - Tabs
        
        Lube, I may charge for that.
        
        If you know what I mean.
- Ivy
  
  I’ll join you. Those people are nuts. Why not have a convention for the children who have been thrown away by their parents? Don’t they have anything important to do other than stick theirs and the Government’s noses in someone else’s personal business?
SteamboatWillie

I vehemently disagree with these folks and some of the offshoot tactics they employ, but as long as they’re peaceful, I say let them come.

What’s the over/under on jorts – 50%?
- Tabs
  
  75% if varicose veins are present.
  - Washingtony
    
    75% is not an over/under. It is the percent chance that your jokes suck.
  - Dr_Klahn
    
    I like your jokes Tabs.
    - Tabs
      
      Thanks, Dr. Klahn.
- MC 703
  
  Lots of jorts, lots of tshirts with sleeves rolled up
Moo

I cannot believe I missed the Udder Convention!
WeiQiang

Free transvaginal ultrasounds for the first 100 registrants
- Buckwheat
  
  That will be interesting since Right to Life is dominated by men!
  - Resident
    
    Perhaps a likeness of the procedure so that those without vaginas can get a sense of the humiliation of it….
  - nom de guerre
    
    How about digital rectal examininations administered by someone with very large, cold hands. Only one per customer, though.
    - drax
      
      75 new jobs!
  - WeiQiang
    
    I don’t want to reduce the efficacy of the ultrasound nor discriminate, so how about “trans-cavity ultrasounds”?
    
    Since these are intended only for the health of the patient, I would offer the above-mentioned digital prostate exam as an alternative. I want to affirm that men are healthy before they go making babies.
    - drax
      
      I’ll bet you do.
  - Joni
    
    Actually there are far more women leaders at National Right to Life.
    Their presidents are almost always women as well.
http://www.nrlc.org Andrew

The National Right to Life Convention will also feature Lila Rose, Governor Sam Brownback, Sen. Kelly Ayotte, Congressman Chris Smith and a number of other notable pro-life advocates.

More information: http://www.stoptheabortionagenda.com/convention/files/nrlc2012-insert-060712.pdf

Hope you can make it!
- Goody Bags
  
  Does everyone admitted get to take a foster kid home?
  - Dawwg
    
    Your are right. Those pesky foster kids are a problem. We should just kill them.
    - C. Heston
      
      Just the non healthy white babies.
      - NathanArizona
        
        5 YEARS for a healthy white baby? OK, what else you got???
  - WeiQiang
    
    the good thing is that there are foster parents or adoptive parents to care for these deserving children … oh, unless the parents are gay. Then nevermind; we don’t care about find the kids a good home.
    - Tabs
      
      Or single people. They are to be avoided as well.
- VC
  
  Am sure Patrick Murray will be there. He is on the record opposing Roe v. Wade… just something the voter of Northern Virginia should know
- Sparky
  
  Scott Roeder sends his regrets about not being able to attend but says these events have been an inspiration for him.
Clarendon

Please notify me when the National Persuit of Happiness Convention comes to town, I would like to attend that.
- SpellChecker
  
  I hear Jos. A. Bank does “buy 1 get 2 free” and other PerSuit offerings all the time. Maybe those would interest you?
  - nom de guerre
    
    As I understand it, one spelling and grammatical error is allowed per comment. If you choose to correct it and/or point it out, your comment must include at least one spelling and grammatical error.
    
    That is all.
    - WeiQiang
      
      who’s got my ArlNow Blue Book?
      - nom de guerre
        
        That’s a clown question, bro. We all have your Blue Book.
      - WeiQiang
        
        thanks, brah. catch a slice at Pizzaiolo? … extra garlic.
      - nom de guerre
        
        a slice would be nice. Would this be a PROPER SLICE? Do they have extra garlic in South Arlington? I guess the acute powdered garlic shortage has been resolved and/or is limited to North Arlington, brah.
      - WeiQiang
        
        people from NoArl won’t consume garlic that has been offered in SoArl … so we have plenty. and all the bro’s going hard at Kabob Palace don’t affect our garlic reserves.
      - nom de guerre
        
        When I was growing up in Arlington we always referred to South Arlington as LA-Lower Arlington.
KB

The three day event starts on Thursday, July 28…I think you mean June 28th if it is taking place later this month.
- KB
  
  I just want to be sure so I can get my protest sign ready
D’oh

Pro-life, huh? Surely they are all vegans and against the death penalty then.
- R. Griffon
  
  And don’t forget pro-universal healthcare, which is an obvious and logical corollary.
- bobco85
  
  But vegans kill plants! Also, our immune systems daily slaughter numerous living bacteria and viruses. Maybe they’ll serve immune system inhibitors (it’s only fair)?
  - WeiQiang
    
    So those things are in the Right To Life platform?
A Woman

I wish they’d stay home and take care of the kids they have instead of trampling all over my rights as a human being. My body, my choice, back the h&$$ off.
- Patrick
  
  Abortion is the best form of contraception. How about closing your legs or taking responsibility for your actions?
  - C. Heston
    
    March of Dimes!
  - drax
    
    So contraception is the only reason for abortion?
  - brif
    
    how would you know what the best form of contraception is? no uterus = no opinion
    - drax
      
      Wait – men have no interest in or responsibility for contraception, brif?
      - brif
        
        that’s a stupid question drax and not at all what i was saying. interest in and responsibility for contraception has nothing to do with knowing what the best form of contraception is.
      - Joan Fountain
        
        And knowing what the best form of contraception is has nothing to do with gender.
      - brif
        
        actually yes it does. the best form of contraception is different for each woman.
      - Mike Hunt
        
        AND is different for each man, which was Joan’s point – there’s abstinence, condoms, snippage plus alternative forms of sex. And for some of those options, women have nothing to do with the decision.
      - drax
        
        But you said “no uterus = no opinion.”
        
        Careful what you say.
  - Resident
    
    I believe that making the choice to have an abortion is one way of taking responsibility for one’s actions. Not taking responsibility would be allowing a fetus to develop without prenatal care and then giving birth to a child without a plan to care for the child.
    - dk
      
      +1
  - dk
    
    Ah, I get it. A baby is the punishment for not “closing your legs.”
    
    “Keeping it in your pants” works well, too. How come no one ever suggests that as a method of contraception?
    - MomOfTeens
      
      +1
    - J
      
      dk – You’re incorrect. People absolutely do suggest that as a method of contraception…
  - Neutrino
    
    They are taking responsibility for their actions, by having an abortion.
drax

Bring back the DMV Awards, at least they had a riot to keep us entertained.
Jason B

will there be a lot of single 20-something chicks there, or mostly homely single dudes over 40?
- J
  
  Wasn’t there an episode of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” about that?
- Banksy
  
  Definitely the latter (cf. Patrick).
- WeiQiang
  
  Those are called ‘priests’.
brian

the odd thing is how people think gay marriage is a civil right, yet the right to life of a fetus is not?
- V. Putin
  
  What does one have to do with the other?
  - jackson
    
    Thanks for asking that.
    - true
      
      Every sperm is sacred.
      Every sperm is great.
      If a sperm is wasted,
      God gets quite irate.
- Juanita de Talmas
  
  I’d bet many of the attendees of this function would think aborting a fetus is okay if it’s gay.
  - Douglas Parker
    
    funny, sad and probably true
    - Not Funny
      
      Not funny, and probably false.
      - Douglas Parker
        
        Ok, maybe just true for the Hillsboro Baptist Church folks. They give all the moderate social fascists such a bad rap.
      - drax
        
        Well, now, lookie what a few seconds on Google produced:
        
        http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/17/AR2007031701162_pf.html
        
        “Pity the poor fetus. There’s a lot coming its way. And now there’s talk on a conservative evangelical blog of a hypothetical hormone patch that an expectant mother might wear to eradicate her fetus’s natural gayness.
        
        The patch, the biological determinism: It’s all conjecture, for now. But it hit like a theological IED when it turned up earlier this month on the blog of the Rev. R. Albert Mohler Jr., one of the leading voices of the 16 million-strong Southern Baptist Convention. He blogged on these issues under the appropriately provocative headline: “Is Your Baby Gay? What if You Could Know? What if You Could Do Something About It?” In his postings, he raises the possibility of a biological basis for homosexuality and prods his flock to think about how it should respond.”
      - sunflower
        
        It took Nazi Germany to show that eugenics was a bad thing; what will it take this time?
        
        This is sickening and scary on so many levels!
- Mary-Austin
  
  Why is that odd?
- drax
  
  That’s not odd.
  
  The issue is at what point, short of birth, is a fetus/zygote a “person” deserving of full civil rights. People disagree about that. There’s no question that gays have been born.
- bc
  
  what about the right to life of a mother? If carrying a fetus to term could kill the mother shouldn’t it be up to her what to do with her body? Does she have any less right to live?
  
  My point is, the odd thing is how people think an abortion shouldn’t be conducted under any circumstances, but if that child is born gay they will treat them as second-class citizens.
  - Mike Hunt
    
    “Does she have any less right to live?”
    
    That depends. Is she for or against the Columbia Pike streetcar? How about bollards? Did she ever eat at Sam’s Corner? Does she think she deserves to live in a Clarendon penthouse even though she only makes $25k a year?
    
    Without proper context, how can you expect anyone to provide the correct opinion?
    - nom de guerre
      
      Those are clown questions, bro.
      
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5vVip3pEIo&feature=related
      - Josh S
        
        Bryce is like the second coming of JD Drew, but unfortunately for the rest of us, I think he actually does have the talent to back up his obnoxiousness.
        
        Go Giants!
  - drax
    
    That’s a legitimate, but rare, moral dilemma.
- Resident
  
  When the Constitution was written women’s health was primarily controlled by women hence abortions were done in the home with the help of midwives and not regulated by a bureaucratic system that told people what they could or could not do with their bodies.
  
  The medical associations took control of women’s health, regulated not only standards for the safety of women but which procedures could or could not be performed… took away a woman’s right to choose over many procedures including abortion.
  
  “Right to life” is an interesting phrase…. women have the right to choose to control their bodies.. a right to control their life but only if the medical association allows it was the rule for much of the 20th century creating horrible conditions for women in many medical procedures, not just abortion.
  
  It is only within the last forty years that women have taken back their right to life. It is a civil right. One that was taken away and recently reinstated.
- dk
  
  clown question, bro.
- QuasiSequitor
  
  But gays are not going to have abortions.
Joan Fountain

Any Planned Parenthood sites in the metro area would be wise to hire extra security that weekend.
- Tabs
  
  I’m sure they will.
Free Speech

Keep it classy Arlington. Free Speech is to the U.S. citizen as brown flip flops are to the Arlington citizen. Not my kind of rally but they have every right.
- drax
  
  There’s not a single post here that questioned their right to free speech.
- SpanishC
  
  Just as women have the right to an abortion, which these people are working to remove.
  - Patrick
    
    Abortion = murder. Should we be able to murder anyone we find to be an inconvenience?
    - drax
      
      Well, see, Patrick, the problem is that people disagree on whether abortion = murder.
      - Dawwg
        
        It’s impossible to state with 100% accuracy if abortion = murder or if it does not. But even if there is the remotest chance that what is being aborted is a human being rather than a “fetus/zygote” shouldn’t we, as a reasonably enlightend society, err on the side of caution and on that of protecting the sanctity of human life? I think that it is this non-erring on the side of caution that has led us to where we are today; millions of abortions performed in this country alone, mostly for the purposes of birth control. Not “Life, Health, Safety, Incest, Rape, etc”.
        
        I believe in calling Pro-Choice people “Pro-Choice” and calling Pro-Life people “Pro-Life”. Why? Because I firmly believe that Pro-Choice people are not evil people that want to kill babies. They are just focusing on abortion from the perspective of the mother and on her rights. They genuinely believe that they are on the side of good on this issue. Also, I know that Pro-Life people are not evil people that hate women and want to see them die in back alleys. They focus on the issue from the perspective of the baby. They genuinely believe that they are on the side of good on this issue.
        
        Having said that, I do believe that over 50 Million abortions performed since 1973 alone is monsterous.
      - brif
        
        Actually, yes it is completely possible to determine with 100% accuracy if abortion = murder. Murder is a legal term and it means whatever legislatures and courts say it means. Legally, abortion is not murder, no matter how strongly pro-lifers feel otherwise. If we’re talking about erring on the side of caution, then absolutely the millions of abortions performed in this country were the correct course of action given the fact that it is much safer for a woman to go through an abortion than child birth.
        
        http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/23/us-abortion-idUSTRE80M2BS20120123
      - Dawwg
        
        Uuuh… Ok. Replace the word “Murder” with “Killing another human being”. I don’t think Patrick or drax had coldly-technical and legal terminology in mind when they posted.
        
        By you logic we should all sterilize ourselves because abortion and child birth are both unsafe?
        
        You have helped illustrate my point regarding the different perspectives people bring to the debate. You argue that abortion is safer for the woman. I agrue that it’s not at all safe for the baby.
      - drax
        
        Human being is a legal term too, Dawwg.
        
        This is a legal issue. You have to make a decision on a policy.
      - drax
        
        “safe for the baby” is more self-serving presumptive language. We have yet to decide whether it is equivalent to a “baby” which is really the crux of the debate. To say something is “safe” presumes that too. It’s a circular argument – you presume you’re right before you even make it.
      - drax
        
        “mostly for the purposes of birth control. Not “Life, Health, Safety, Incest, Rape, etc”.”
        
        If abortion is, or might be, murder, then murder isn’t justified for rape or incest either.
      - Dawwg
        
        You don’t have to make a decision on a policy to have an opinion.
      - drax
        
        If you have an opinion on a policy, you do.
      - JackFan
        
        So you’d be much happier that those “50 million” were born into poverty, neglect, foster care, abuse, abandonment, etc? That’s why I love the “pro-lifers” – they care so much about the child in the womb. The child in the real world? Not their problem…
    - WeiQiang
      
      Dunno … go check death row and come back with an answer.
    - esmith69
      
      abortion only equals murder according to whatever religious book/sermon you obviously follow.
      
      So why are you forcing everyone else to adhere to your religious beliefs and standards?
      - Get informed before you sound off
        
        …and Patrick didn’t say anything about religion. You can be opposed to something on moral grounds without being religious. I see Patrick offering his opinion in a public forum, not “forceing everyone else to adhere to [his] religious beliefs and standards”. Since when does expressing your 1st Admendment rights = forcing someone to agree. Settle down big fella.
      - esmith69
        
        Trying to take away the right of a woman to make reproductive decisions for herself = forcing someone to agree with your religious views.
      - drax
        
        Well, no, he just explained that it isn’t necessarily that. Or are you saying atheists can have no moral beliefs? Or that all moral beliefs by religious people are completely religion-based?
    - Jason B
      
      According to the Bible, God Breathes life into mans’ nostrils. OK, if the nostrils haven’t formed yet, life has not happened, correct?
      - Flying Spaghetti Monster
        
        Before and after Roe v. Wade (1973), Christian evangelicals solidly supported abortion rights. This didn’t change until after the rise of the evangelical Right in the late 1970s. Even the evangelical Right didn’t assert that life begins at conception until 1980, when the Moral Majority made a strategic alliance with American Catholics, who founded the National Right to Life Committee in 1973.
        
        http://www.examiner.com/review/broken-words-gives-needed-historical-context-to-hot-button-political-issues
      - Get informed before you sound off
        
        Nostrils form somewhere around 7-8 weeks. About 50% of abortions are performed after that. I get that you were just being a j3rk to Patrick but your ignorance is showing.
        
        http://www.babycenter.com/6_your-pregnancy-8-weeks_1097.bc
      - Arlwhat
        
        Dunno what point you’re intending to demonstrate with that link, but the number of references to nostrils developing on that page is precisely zero.
      - Get informed before you sound off
        
        In Week 8 it says “breathing tubes extend from his throat to the branches of his developing lungs”.
        
        In Week 9 you will see “She has tiny earlobes, and her mouth, nose, and nostrils are more distinct.”
        
        Granted it does not say “At this point nostrils are developed” but I’m sure you can figure it out.
      - Arlwhat
        
        Yes, it’s easy to figure out that, gestation continuing as it’s evolved, eventually the fetus will develop fully functional nostrils, at which point it’ll apparently be responsible for clothing, feeding, and sheltering itself.
        
        Oh, what? That wasn’t your point? Then perhaps you should consider (ahem) getting informed before you sound off.
      - WeiQiang
        
        You know who else has nostrils and earlobes … that are actually functioning to sustain life? Prisoners on death row. Gay kids who kill themselves.
      - Get informed before you sound off
        
        You have completely converted me with you irrefutable logic. [sarc off]
    - Flying Spaghetti Monster
      
      “Should we be able to murder anyone we find to be an inconvenience?”
      
      Isn’t what all these Castle Doctrine /Stand Your Ground laws amount to??
      - Get informed before you sound off
        
        Surely you are able to tell the difference between these two concepts. I apologize for calling you Shirley.
      - Dr_Klahn
        
        Not really…those laws are more about whether you should be allowed to kill someone you perceive as a physical threat.
      - drax
        
        I have actually heard people argue that abortion should be illegal as murder, but killing a fetus that’s a product of rape is justified because it’s “self-defense”. Seriously.
- CourthouseChris
  
  I’ve not seen anyone saying they shouldn’t be allowed to exercise the right to free speech.
  
  As well, the righ to free speech includes the right to criticize others’ speech.
I(heart)ARL

They are spending money in the People’s Republic of Arlington, and the hotel taxes they are coughing up are keeping our property taxes down. I’ll need to avoid Pentagon City that weekend.
- Tabs
  
  Crystal City, not Pentagon City, unless you mean that they’ll be packing the California Pizza Kitchen and Lane Bryant.
  - Pentagonian
    
    that’s funny because it’s true
- WeiQiang
  
  I know, right. That’s the delicious ironical part. My partner and I appreciate that. My favorite part will be seeing the Right To Lifers halfway through their burger at Freddie’s when the karaoke starts up.
  - drax
    
    What would be a good song to pick at Freddie’s to entertain them? Any ideas?
    - nom de guerre
      
      Village People-YMCA
      - drax
        
        But they know the words by heart and sang it in school. Without knowing what it meant of course.
    - d1ckmove
      
      Is it a jukebox? Put in $10 and pick “The End” by the Doors as many times in a row as you can then leave.
      - WeiQiang
        
        No, you pick from song books. It’s legit … unless I get up there.
      - drax
        
        And you’ll pick?
      - WeiQiang
        
        [a] I can’t sing; [b] probably Sinatra or something from ‘Rent’
- dk
  
  Correct on all counts.
The Dope of South Arlington

I’m sure the ARLnow censors will be working overtime on this thread.
Flying Spaghetti Monster

I wonder how Ann Keenan would feel about these swarming loons.
chris

Bardo Rodeo, Streetcars and Advance Towing
- Dr_Klahn
  
  I’ll raise you Sam’s Corner, Brahs, and smoking bans
- nom de guerre
  
  I’ll raise you 75 new jobs, LEED Certification, Donaldson Run Yacht Club, bollards, Arlington County One, powdered garlic, live entertainment permit, dog mural, Wegmans, Rolling Thunder and last but not least-affordable housing.
  - Dr_Klahn
    
    Fold…all I’m carrying is homeless shelters…
- WeiQiang
  
  call and raise you the MOST corrupt board, a PROPER slice, some temporary classroom trailers … IN FULL VIEW of the neighbors, a whole slew of police quotas … a full sh!tter at the Harris Teeter AND a sprayground to clean yourself off with.
  
  all in, brah
  - Dr_Klahn
    
    Winner! That actually made me laugh…
JohnB

Any good ideas for protest signs?
- WeiQiang
  
  Buffalo Wild Wings 2476ft —->
  IHOP 4289ft
  Freddie’s 3723ft —->
  Redemption Opposite Direction
  - JB
    
    Did you know IHOP puts pancake batter in their omlets to make them fluffier? Makes me bloated just thinking about it.
    - WeiQiang
      
      that’s a clown question, brah
      - JB
        
        Who would win in a fight – Ronald McDonald or the Poltergeist clown?
      - WeiQiang
        
        Ronald … he’s got a bad dark side, bro. and he would wear Polterbrah OUT with those red lace-up stompers
      - Mike Hunt
        
        Right answer, wrong reason. Ronald has Mayor McCheese – THE MOST CORRUPT fictitious politician ever. McCheese would bribe the board to make sure Mr. Poltergeist wasn’t zoned to fight (or have backyard hens, which was absent from the 4:30-ish discussion)
      - Josh S
        
        +1 Awesome. LOL. Polterbrah. That’s comedy gold right there.
      - nom de guerre
        
        How about Homey the Clown and Bozo?
      - WeiQiang
        
        Bozo was from Baltimore, brah … clown was SERIOUS. Homey is just angry.
  - Vinh An Nguyen
    
    I can’t believe you left off Chick-fil-a.
    http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/02/04/chick-fil-a-controversy-shines-light-on-restaurants-christian-dna/
    - WeiQiang
      
      Yeah, don’t get me started. If you’re not aware, Jimmy John’s is cut from the same cloth.
    - Cow
      
      Kill-mor-chikns!
  - Tabs
    
    Ha, not bad.
ivan

They DO know that it is Arlington, VA and not Arlington, TX…right?
Arlingtonian

* Contraception good. Abortion not so good. Abortion is not contraception. It’s always a choice of last resort. Ask anyone who has had an abortion – if you can find someone who will admit it to you. They are never proud of it and never feel good about that choice. But no one shares that!
* There isn’t any religion that thinks abortion is OK.
* The right of a mother over a the right of a fetus? Most mothers would choose their child’s life over their own.
* Women do not get pregnant on their own. Men should have a say in what happens to their child.
* But I respect that abortion is legal.
- JohnB
  
  Thomas Aquinas wrote that aborting a pregnancy was allowable before the “quickening” or when the fetus began to move.
  - Elmer
    
    John B., The science in T.A.’s era was not as advanced as today, meaning we see the development of the fetus long before movement is “felt”. If ultrasound had been around in T.A.’s era, I posit his idea of viability of the fetus would be different.
    - Sparky
      
      Aquinas, a Middle Ages Catholic priest and the patron saint of misogynists, provided the Brotherhood of Pedophiles with the philosophical playbook to oppress women and keep them out of the priesthood. “Women are but defective males. The male is separate from the female because the male is more ordered to intellectual operation. Man’ superiority over woman flows from his having been created first. A woman’s hair is a sign of her subjection. Women cannot be ordained because the female sex cannot signify eminence of degree.” Aquinas is the Brotherhood’s most important theologian. They will part with him on his views on abortion, though, but not because they care about fetuses. If they cared, they would be trying to prevent unintended pregnancies in the first place. What these misogynists want to do is punish women who have sex, married or not, who have unintended pregnancies– by forcing them to reproduce – kind of like a farmer does with livestock.
      - Elmer
        
        So Sparky says: “Aquinas …the patron saint of misogynists…”
        
        Name calling is a such a contribution to intellectual discourse.
      - drax
        
        If the shoe fits though.
      - Elmer
        
        I challenge you to scroll through the 171 comments to this article and point out where I engaged in name calling. As for your shoes fitting……………….more like the pot calling the kettle black.
      - drax
        
        Elmer,
        
        Like Sparky, I was talking about St. Thomas Aquinas, not you. Nor did I accuse you of anything.
    - drax
      
      Elmer,
      
      So, wait – religious thinkers can be wrong about morality, because of science?
      - WeiQiang
        
        + like a gajillion bro
      - Elmer
        
        Take a look at “Fides et Ratio”, encyclical by Pope John Paul II.
      - drax
        
        No.
- Tabs
  
  Men should take more responsibility for contraception. Don’t want to be a dad or be responsible for an abortion?
  
  Wear a condom. Yes, the entire time.
  
  Thank you for your kind assistance in this matter.
  - Elmer
    
    Sexual promiscuity is gender blind.
    You can’t dump it all on one gender.
    - WeiQiang
      
      ahh, the meme that connects condoms to promiscuity.
      
      Apparently, Fox News doesn’t agree with you, Elmer:
      
      http://www.foxnews.com/imag/Love/Cheating+Statistics%3A+Do+Men+Cheat+More+Than+Women%3F
      - Elmer
        
        What’s your point? Sexual promiscuity is all on one gender?
      - WeiQiang
        
        The point being discussed was that “Men should take more responsibility for contraception”, to which you replied “Sexual promiscuity is gender blind”. My link shows that promiscuity and perhaps the unwanted pregnancies that derive therefrom may be influenced by the gender of the “promiscuous” person. Never claimed it was all one gender … Patrick suggested that someone should “close their legs”. There are ample methods to avoid conceiving a child that both genders can use, but institutions that support the Right To Life roll in this false claim that condom usage somehow increases promiscuity. If you want to stop abortions, stop conception.
        
        Let me add teens to the adult promiscuous population and the gender roles: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1802108/
        
        Not to mention the fact that some wives – within her “traditional” marriage – are abused and may not want to have the baby that their husbands have gifted them.
  - drax
    
    Condoms can break.
    
    Best method is two methods.
    - Elmer
      
      Agreed and my point exactly. You can’t dump it all (sexual promiscuity) on one gender.
      - WeiQiang
        
        You still seem to equate condoms with sexual promiscuity. I think you’re confused.
The Bible

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+137%3A9&version=KJV
- Elmer
  
  To “The Bible”: The reference you make is to the psalmist personifying “the daughter of Babylon” as a mother whose “little ones” are the adult citizens, not the infants, of the city.
  “the daughter of Babylon” was a Hebrew idiom for the city of Babylon.
  - drax
    
    Plus this is America, no ancient Babylon.
    - Elmer
      
      No more like Sodom and Gomorrah. See, Planet Arlington.
      - WeiQiang
        
        … and your point is …
      - Elmer
        
        Simply look around you.
      - Frankie
        
        Sin, sin, sin as far as the eye can see!!
        
        The Pleasuredome – ERECT!
      - drax
        
        So, what, Elmer? I don’t have to live according to someone else’s ancient text from the other side of the world.
      - Elmer
        
        Frankie and Drax,
        I don’t think religion is a silly superstition and that the bible is a fairy tale. I believe, odd as it seems, that they are relevent to the world we live in.
        I accept that we’ll just have to disagree on that.
      - WeiQiang
        
        I don’t claim that it’s those things, but if you’re going to make them relevant, perhaps you should at least do it consistently. Either beating your wife and keeping slaves and stoning gays are all ok or they are not. Just like the actual practice of marriage, the definition of sin [not as it is written, but as it is used to control others] has changed. It’s ok to kill prisoners but not a zygote.
Elmer

I’ve been out of town and did not see your post. You expect/demand (?) consistency from religious believers. I am sure you have read that “Foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds.” Emerson
What you cite: beating of wife, keeping slaves, etc. are good examples of those foolish consistencies which my religion rejects. God gave us a mind to reason with and a free will to act.

“Science can purify religion from error and superstition; religion can purify science from idolatry and false absolutes. Each can draw the other into a wider world, a world in which both can flourish.” John Paul II
His encyclical Fides et Ratio (Faith And Reason) has already been rejected by drax out of hand without even a glance. I am continually amused by such smugness from the “open-minded” ….
As for life, yes it should be a “seamless garment” from conception to natural death.

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