The Nazis banned abortion. Nice try, dimwit.

I forget who claimed that women are smart enough to make the right decisions, and thus won't get fooled by the duplicity of the anti-abortion crowd. Whoever this poster was, she should consider that there are certain elements in this society that unfortunately aren't that bright. I could be mistaken, but I think this is what Marx called the "lumpen proletariat." They get pregnant constantly. See also "dysgenics."

Ah, Vasumurti, why do the anti-abortion types also oppose contraception, and in this case, sterilization, if they aren't out to control sexuality?

And Shazzer... you mention periodically that you can't get anyone to sterilize you. Nobody will do it? I know that some doctors will somewhere, because plenty of childfree people are able to do it. Do you think you might need to relocate for a while?

What if it's somebody else's "natural" color, but not yours? Would they have a problem if brown became blonde?

I saw a letter in The Economist recently in which someone described observing an Ivy League graduation. They didn't hear too many names like those in this article, but they also didn't hear any Krystals or Billy Bobs. Has anybody noticed the names Asian parents tend to give their kids?

I don't like stupid names, or more specifically I don't like it when parents give their children stupid names, particularly nouns and adjectives that really sound silly as names ("Precious?")

Here's that list from the Onion in 1999:

Popular Black Boy Names

Antwan

Dacron

Newport

LaPrell

Popular Black Girl Names

Shawanda

Tomiqua

Propecia

Sinutab

Popular White Boy Names

Cameron

Brandon

Austin

Dakota

Popular White Girl Names

Caitlin

Brianna

Ashleigh

Madison

Popular Asian Girl Names

Sue

Lisa

Michelle

Amy

Popular Asian Boy Names

Michael

Tim

Chris

Rick

Precious is an adjective in this language, so it seems awkward. If it were an adjective in, say, another European or African language, nobody would notice.

Are some of you trying to say that there are no stupid names? Really? Aren't bully-magnets, double-entendres, and/or other hidden meanings rather cruel handles to apply to a child?

Right now I'm thinking of Denis Leary's complaint about people with names spelled differently than their pronunciation.

Zimbabwe was, and perhaps will be again, a noticeably well-educated country. It seems common for them to have names in English. Sometimes these are traditional English names (witness the power struggle between Morgan Tsvangirai and Robert Mugabe,) but others are a bit like the aforementioned "social climber" names. I knew a guy named Prosper and once met someone named Bright. Prosper mentioned to me that out in the rural areas you can allegedly find people named Factory and Internet. In this case, though, it these names strike me as humble and charming, not tacky.

I know a child with a name that everyone will mispronounce. Her parents didn't want to spell it "the stripper way." It's a rare spelling, though not invented. The problem is that this girl has a disability that will make it very difficult to correct the legions who will get it wrong.

Like it or not, names are evocative. It's not necessarily racist or even classist. Girls named Ashley and Madison are ditzes, men with the middle name Wayne will do time in jail, et cetera.

Bad names are like bad English. I don't like it whether it's Valley Girl blathering, Redneck mumbling, or Ebonic gibberish.

It's called "security culture." The Democrats are one so-called wing of one party. This party stands for predatory capitalism and endless war. That's plenty of reason to do a lot more than protest. Fight the state, not its wars.

www.infoshop.org

(A)

During the Miami FTAA protests a few years ago, the city spent a ton of money trying to brutally control my comrades. Not only did the authorities fail at this, it completely blew up in their faces, as they ended up hurting a lot of innocent people and looking like the swine they are. I hope Denver is a good show, and I can't wait for the Battle of St. Paul. I tried to be there. Perhaps I can offer phone-jam support or something.

She should be in jail, like war criminals everywhere.

Somebody explain to me how it's racist and/or classist if I also dislike the names that rich and/or white people give their kids these days? Some people remain silent on that, and in that case they might genuinely be prejudiced.

George Carlin had a great routine about this, as usual:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohXn8WKpYaA

To be fair, I know a Kyle nobody should disturb if they value their lives.

I'd pick other examples of "real names." I'm not having children, but I like names like Nicolai, Polly, Madeleine. They sound dignified.

And where will we get with that attitude? Have you ever looked at the days of Emma Goldman and company? How about the Spanish Civil War?

(A)

"Cider House Ruuuuuuuuuules!!!!"

Yeah, the Romanian abortion movie was really good. The title was X months, X weeks, and X days. It refers to the amount of time she had been pregnant.

How is that pro-life?

Oh, by the way, enough of that canard about doctors being forced. Nobody wants that. We want doctors to drop their superstitions and perform abortions, if necessary.

Doctors are educated men and women of science. People like that tend to be the least superstitious of all. Unfortunately, there's a long way to go.

I'm surprised nobody's sharing their stories here.

In 2001, I actually thought that the "Antioch Sex Code," an early-1990s P.C. era proviso in which you're supposed to ask every step of the way, was the rule on campuses. I had no idea she would react like that. She's no good anyway, but that's not the point.

I've made a little progress since then.

Saakashvili's government are the agressors here. Russia was responding to this agression. It's a lot like India vs. Pakistan in 1972, the war that created Bangladesh.