Shedding Crocodile Tears

The news organizations are probably covering the murder of Dr George Miller pretty heavily. Various organizations have released statements about the murder. Aside from the "this was not done by a true Christian" and "we pray for George Miller and his family" themes, I find this statement from Randall Terry, founder of Operation Rescue, particularly striking.

George Tiller was a mass-murderer. We grieve for him that he did not have time to properly prepare his soul to face God. I am more concerned that the Obama Administration will use Tiller's killing to intimidate pro-lifers into surrendering our most effective rhetoric and actions. Abortion is still murder. And we still must call abortion by its proper name; murder.

Those men and women who slaughter the unborn are murderers according to the Law of God. We must continue to expose them in our communities and peacefully protest them at their offices and homes, and yes, even their churches.

This is what Terry's statement says to me: By all means peacefully protest anyone who works at a clinic that provides abortions regardless of where they are at. But if you can't be peaceful about it, at least give them a chance to get on their knees and pray for forgiveness before you kill them. Abortion is murder and murder is bad. So before you murder a murderer, give them a chance to properly prepare their soul.

Otherwise, you may lose your most effective rhetoric and actions.

Of Course It Is, What Were You Thinking?

There's nothing like a well-written, true funny story.

Maybe If Krauthammer Read It...

I his op-ed in today's Spokesman Review, Charles Krauthammer complains about the unfairness of a decision against Frank Ricci and tries to make Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor look like an ungrateful product of affirmative action who lacks empathy for the common man. Krauthammer presents a compelling and sympathetic story, but the facts of the decision belie his claims about Sotomayor.

I thought I'd read the decision (PDF file) and see for myself. It's not particularly exciting or riveting and fortunately it's only six pages in length. Each argument is addressed and the reasoning for each finding is clearly explained as the court affirms the District Court's decision.

We affirm, for the reasons stated in the thorough, thoughtful, and well-reasoned opinion of the court below. Ricci v. DeStefano, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 73277, 2006 WL 2828419 (D.Conn., Sept. 28, 2006). In this case, the Civil Service Board found itself in the unfortunate position of having no good alternatives. We are not unsympathetic to the plaintiffs' expression of frustration. Mr. Ricci, for example, who is dyslexic, made intensive efforts that appear to have resulted in his scoring highly on one of the exams, only to have it invalidated. But it simply does not follow that he has a viable Title VII claim. To the contrary, because the Board, in refusing to validate the exams, was simply trying to fulfill its obligations under Title VII when confronted with test results that had a disproportionate racial impact, its actions were protected.

What they were ruling on was the application of Title VII. Employers are required by federal law to consider the racial impact of their hiring and promotion procedures in order to prevent intentional and inadvertent discrimination. Essentially, Ricci's complaint was that the city discriminated by complying with Title VII.

If you do read the decision feel free point out the parts that support Krauthammer's claims.

Fried Sole

I went for a run yesterday during lunch. It was in the mid 80's and the sun was high and hot. After passing the INB Performing Arts Center I took my shoes off and continued east on the Centennial trail. That lasted until I got to the Hamilton Street Bridge. The asphalt was cooking my feet. And the metal flooring of the Don Kardong Bridge was like a preheated frying pan ready for the olive oil. I felt like I was the first man to land on the sun.

So I'm seriously thinking about Geoff's suggestion.

Something Jenny McCarthy Won't Read

From the Public Library of Science we have an article by Liza Gross

Struck by how the idea of a vaccine–autism link continued to gain cultural currency even as science dismissed it, [Sharon] Kaufman took a 26-month hiatus from her life's work on aging and longevity to investigate the forces fueling this growing divide between scientists and citizens. She wanted to understand how parents thought about risk and experts, how these attitudes shaped parents' decisions about vaccination, and what the vaccine wars might teach us about the long-term erosion of public trust in science.

...

Despite overwhelming evidence that vaccines don't cause autism, one in four Americans still think they do. Not surprisingly, the first half of 2008 saw the largest US outbreak of measles—one of the first infectious diseases to reappear after vaccination rates drop—since 2000, when the native disease was declared eliminated. Mumps and whooping cough (pertussis) have also made a comeback.

Learning Some Different Euphemisms