Those of you who have come here regularly know my personal feelings on the subject of religion. It is very difficult to approach an issue like abortion without talking about religion. So many of the justifications either way are based on religious views. However, I know so many readers are tired of religion. I get it. So, I will do my very best to avoid the subject completely.

My main source of frustration with this subject is how each side has been mislabeled. The pro-life side is not and really never has been pro-life per se. They are pro-birth. The issue of life is a continuum. It includes quality of life issues for children in general, it involves issues with access to health care, and it involves issues as it pertains to the death penalty and wars of choice. Obviously, it also involves end of life issues. Whatever the source of one’s beliefs, it is very difficult to defend a position of pro-life if one is against easy access to health care, easy access to food and shelter, against the sanctity of life for those accused of murder and other crimes, and against abstaining from international conflicts we have no business of being a part of. To be pro-birth and then anti everything else is really cherry-picking the pro-life position.

Pro-choice is not really a good label either. In an absolute sense it is. Abortion is a privacy issue where each person has dominion over their own bodies. So, the essence is correct in that I acknowledge there is a choice and I acknowledge that it isn’t mine. From there it gets dicey because the opposition wants to call pro-choice people pro-abortion. I don’t know anyone that is pro-abortion. None of us run around and recommend abortions to random strangers. Simply put, if I’m not involved then it’s none of my business.

What is so maddening is that most people want the same thing. In the general sense, we all want fewer abortions and when you look at abortion rates, they consistently have gone down during Democratic administrations. In fact, the rates have fallen more under Democrats than they have under Republicans. That could be random, but I think it has more to do with policy choices and posturing. If you want to reduce the rate of abortions then you reduce the demand for abortions.

You do this through comprehensive sex education and easy access to birth control. You acknowledge that abstinence is the preferred choice, but you also acknowledge that people are going to be sexually active. They might as well know how to do so safely while also knowing the physical and emotional implications of sex. That includes both the good and the bad.

After someone becomes pregnant they should get easy access to top-notch medical care. They need to be treated with love, grace, and respect. That means calmly and lovingly laying out all of the choices they have before them. It means giving them the facts about all of those choices and not alternative facts. If we want them to make the “right” choice then we need to make sure none of the choices are beyond their capabilities. Most importantly, it means completely removing shame from the process.

That’s been the best way and the only way to reduce the amount of abortions that occur in the United States and Texas. Instead, the good folks in the legislature and the governor have chosen a path that won’t really reduce abortions and will just criminalize behavior that’s perfectly normal and reasonable. More than the criminalization is the shame that’s getting attached. Pregnancy is a scary enough time for anyone. Including shame is just cruel and hateful.

Let’s make one thing very clear. Texas did not outlaw abortions. It just outlawed abortions for poor women.  Women with money can go to another state.

After spreading a false tweet made up by a guy who calls himself a humorous, Ted Cruz bravely stepped up to fill the gap of idiot tweets left by Trump.  Speaking about the withdrawal from Afghanistan …

Well, that’s just kinda outrageous from this guy …

Reminder for Ted: at least 115 people died from the freeze, with independent studies proving that it is more likely that it could be as high as 978 people.

You’re an idiot, Ted.

Phil Valentine; Jimmy DeYoung; Dick Farrel; Marc Bernier.  These four guys have several things in common – Syndicated hate radio talkers, anti-vaxxers, anti-science, racists, climate-deniers, religionists, and all dead.  Marc Bernier, who had dubbed himself “Mr. Anti-Vax” was the latest hate talker to have died after spreading disinformation on vaccines and conspiracy theories about the Coronavirus pandemic. His death, along with the others, not only demonstrates in real time the dangers of playing Russian Roulette with a deadly virus, but also lays bare the cesspool of disinformation they helped create and perpetuate.

Rush Limbaugh was the most significant figure in the rise of modern hate radio in the 90s, casting the Clintons as objects of hyper partisan hate, conspiracy theories, and grievance.  Remember the list of people that the Clintons supposedly murdered?  That vicious lie was so pervasive that it is now embedded in the DNA of political conservatives and formed the foundation of the idiotic Q Anon conspiracy theory culminating in a violent attack on the US Capitol in an attempt to overthrow the US government.

These four deplorables, included in a much larger group of deplorables like Alex Jones, feed a steady diet of anger, lies, distortions, gross exaggerations, conspiracy theories, and right wing red meat into a counterculture drowning in obsession and devotion to self-destruction.  Trump is one of the most successful politicians to tap into this counterculture which has formed the core of his base, dominating all of rightwing politics today and destroying what’s left of the Republican Party.  The ecosystem they enable has sickened millions, caused untold deaths, and is holding back the entire country from recovery from the pandemic.  These low budget hate talkers are the heartbeat of this ecosystem, pumping toxic disinformation into syndicated networks that is literally getting people killed including those doing the pumping.

I wish no harm to anyone, but it’s almost impossible for me personally to have any empathy for the self-inflicted death these hate talkers caused themselves and untold others, not to mention the financial burden of huge hospital bills left to their families to carry.  Is this the way nature cleans the gene pool?  That judgment is above my pay grade, but my observation is that this is exactly what’s happening; unfortunately they’re taking untold numbers of innocents with them, and that is nothing but tragedy in its purest form.  Perhaps all this senseless ignorance and death will drive at least some of their adherents to rethink their devotion.  We can only hope.

Greg Abbott has definitely cast his lot by throwing his muscle behind voter suppression, killing health measures, and failing to fix a broken energy grid. He is certainly courting those voters and he knows who to target. The question is whether those he targets will be there to vote for him when 2022 rolls around.

Multiple data points indicate that he may be fighting a losing battle. We know anti-vaxxers are more likely to be Republican than Democrat. Numerous other data points indicate that Republicans are dying at a much faster rate than their more progressive counterparts. Abbott certainly has taken care of making sure the wrong people can’t get to the ballot, but you have to wonder if he has stopped to consider that the right ones might be six feet under by the time November of 2022 gets here.

Turning a kid from a kid into a functioning adult is harder work than one imagines. At least, it’s harder than one imagines before they are tasked with the job. Life is full of firsts and each one brings its own interesting twists and turns. Yesterday, my daughter got her first high school tardy. For someone that hardly ever gets in trouble, it was a lot more traumatic than it needed to be.

That combined with a complaint about how much playing time she is getting on the volleyball team sets up the perfect template for a life lesson. The tardy wasn’t completely her fault. Somehow, they never are. The lack of playing time is not completely fair. I’ve been on the other end of that argument and I know it really never is.

The challenge for any parent is determining which (if any) of these situations to get involved in and which to let go as a learning experience. We’ve decided to split the difference. We offer advice on how to deal with the situation so she can get more playing time or get her tardy expunged, but ultimately she is going to have to do it for now. That may change if an adult doesn’t respond responsibly, but that rarely ever happens.

The question of whether to allow children to fight their own battles is an important one. It’s an important question that brings us to where we are right now. Millions of children grew up with helicopter parents. I know because I’ve taught a few of them over the years. Naturally, the reverse is also true. Many children grow up with absentee parents. That somehow fits more of the parents I’ve worked with.

Discovering that life is not fair is an important life lesson. Discovering that we have to do things that may not make immediate sense is also a life lesson. It’s a lesson that obviously needs to be learned based on what we are experiencing now. I’m fully vaccinated and yet I wear a mask at work. That combination doesn’t make sense to millions around this country.

Millions also don’t get the concept of inoculating yourself against a disease they cannot see. They may not know anyone that’s had it. If they do then they can excuse themselves because that other guy (or girl) is a lot less healthy than they are. Besides, their buddy at work told them about a new drug they can take that’s much easier than the vaccine. Sure, they have to go down to the feed store to pick it up, but that’s not a big deal.

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Our children tend to reflect our values. They are a reflection of the values we raised them with. We are a reflection of our parent’s values. Even when we didn’t get along and cursed them under our breath we still unwittingly became them in many ways.

Yet, there’s a difference. Teachers especially know one thing to be true. We often remember the worst thing a teacher ever did to us and we vow that we will never ever do that to a kid. We may remember the worst thing our parents did. For many this became a shield to ward off life’s most unpleasant experiences.

Losing the big game turned into everyone getting a trophy. Not getting picked for the team became everyone participating at the YMCA and getting equal playing time. Getting stuck at a school that doesn’t fit me became school choice, charter schools, and magnet schools.

Then, there is the vaccine. We have become a victim of our own success. No one my age knows anyone that has had the measles, mumps, small pox, or polio. They hear stories from the old folks, but it becomes a “back in my day…” kind of thing and gets quickly tossed aside. So, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that many have determined they don’t need it. Except you hear stories every day about someone you know (or someone that someone you know knows) going to the hospital or dying. If only we had been forced to live through those difficult times maybe we’d turned out differently. Sometimes fighting your own battles is a valuable experience.