Smart bombs
Rule unconscionable
Abortion opponents clamor for informed consent laws, which ensure that women who show up for abortions are made aware of alternatives and the facts about the procedure. They say patients have a right to know.
I’m all for getting the facts out, which is why I’m troubled by a proposed federal rule that would allow health care workers to act on their consciences when dealing with controversial services, such as abortion and emergency contraceptives. The rule would punish employers who don’t accommodate workers who want to opt out of caring for patients because doing so would violate their personal beliefs.
In addition, offended workers won’t be compelled to refer patients to colleagues. They also won’t be required to lay out all options if one of the choices is deemed immoral. For instance, rape victims can be given emergency contraceptives to prevent pregnancy, but some of them aren’t aware of that. Health care workers who equate the pills with abortion could choose to keep patients in the dark.
What happened to the right to know?
A less humane murder. The Joseph Duncan case reminded me of a puzzling aspect of capital punishment. At sentencing, jurors heard the stomach-turning details of Duncan’s crimes and watched an explicit video of Dylan Groene being tortured. It was so disturbing they were offered mental-health counseling after the verdict.
All of that was necessary because under the law the depravity of Duncan’s crimes was a factor in sentencing. But why? If he professionally murdered children with clean shots to the head, some jurors might spare him his life?
If we must have the death penalty, it should be enough that an obviously deranged man was convicted of killing a boy with premeditation. Why are his methods a factor?
So rather than complaining about the reporting of the details, why not complain about why they mattered?
Navel maneuvers. Body language experts employed by CNN and CBS were not persuaded by Hillary Clinton’s full-throated support for Barack Obama at the convention. But Washington Monthly blogger Steven Benen notes that these assessments are in stark contrast to an expert CNN used in late June, who said:
“She angles her belly button toward him. She’s treating him with respect. She has her hands in a fig leaf position, which tends to be a passive position, really turning the power over to Obama. We face our belly buttons and the core of our body to people we like, have affinity toward and people we respect.”
And they say journalism is in decline.