Here we go again, another legal skirmish attempting to outlaw all abortions. In November, Colorado voters will be asked to decide if a females’s egg cell becomes a “person” when it is successfully penetrated by a male’s sperm cell and the DNA of each pair up. The potential legal implications of this decision are enormous. If the fertilized egg is a person, with all the legal rights of any citizen, then the female carrying the “person” would necessarily need to have an attorney present with her 24/7 for her entire pregnancy. If the fertilized egg cell is a person in Colorado, why not in Zimbabwe or Darfur? This thing could get out of hand leading to trials at the Hague for crimes against humanity. If a miscarriage occurs, I’m sure criminal negligence charges would follow or at least civil lawsuits filed against her by the “person’s” relatives.

Last update: 19-08-2008 00:21

Biologists classify humans as just another primate. Most people, however, consider human beings as completely separate from the animal kingdom.

Last update: 19-08-2008 00:40

Say it ain’t so! It has come to my attention that some individuals and groups make it a practice to manually handle poisonous snakes to demonstrate their faith and trust in the Great Spirit. Many people are probably already aware of this practice, as it has been ongoing for many years, but I don’t get out much. Some religious leaders point to passages in the Bible that state that the “truly” devout can handle poisonous snakes without being bitten. Their strong faith provides protection and only when their faith is weakened will they be at risk. Of course, demonstrating one’s faith publicly is a necessary part of all religious rituals and ceremonies and each person considers his or her own way of doing it is rational. Common sense would seem to dictate they demonstrate their faith in safer ways but what do I know. Intelligence exists in the population on a continuum between idiots and imbeciles, like poisonous snake handlers, and geniuses like Albert Einstein.

Last update: 19-08-2008 00:21

Grudgingly, most of us have finally been convinced of our economic plight. For several years, many journalists, politicians and broadcasters have worked tirelessly to convince us our economy was steadily worsening, but most of us disagreed and were suspicious of so much negative news being reported when conditions didn’t seem to warrant it. Now that we have succumbed I’m sure we won’t read or hear many positive financial news accounts until some of our current policymakers have been replaced with ones whose economic ideas are more in tune with those of the reporting journalists and broadcasters.

Last update: 19-08-2008 00:04

We often hear skeptics of the theory of evolution say something like, “Scientists can’t even tell us for sure where the first living cell came from so they can’t possibly know how all other life forms on Earth evolved from it.” The first assertion is true, the second is not. Evolutionary biologists are still debating several different scenarios as to how the first living cell originated, but the most popular one is that it formed from chemical clusters near a deep volcanic vent in the sea.

Last update: 19-08-2008 00:03

Every day now either on TV broadcasts, in print media or on the Internet some mention is made about our reliance on fossil fuels for our energy needs. What are they? How were they made? How did they get where they are today? They are, of course, crude oil, coal and natural gas.

The skyrocketing price of gasoline is getting most of the media’s attention, but the prices of coal and natural gas have also been rising at a rapid clip. Speculation by investors in stock futures markets around the world undoubtedly has contributed somewhat to these price increases but economic pressure from increased demand without increased supply is causing most of it. Gasoline, diesel fuel, heating oil, paint solvents, roofing materials, soaps, toiletries, plastics and a myriad of other products start out as crude oil pumped from underground reservoirs and delivered to refineries where it is processed into a variety of products that are further processed into all of the ones above. How did the oil get into the reservoirs?

Last update: 19-08-2008 00:03