What Is This All Abort?

A woman who dated congressional candidate Mike Erickson seven years ago said she asked him directly whether he wanted to have a baby. He shook his head no, she said, and paid for her abortion.

In interviews with The Oregonian newspaper, the Oregon City woman said she met Erickson in September 2000 and that she had the abortion in January 2001. They saw each other afterward, she said, even going on a trip to Mexico in March, before the relationship ended. She spoke on the condition that only her first name, Tawnya, be used.

Erickson agrees that he gave Tawnya $300 for medical help, and a ride to a doctor's office, but said he didn't know she was pregnant or planned to get an abortion.

And the catch....

Erickson is the Republican candidate in Oregon's 5th Congressional District and is running on an anti-abortion platform.

McCain's $300,000,000 Battery

Republican John McCain said on Monday if elected he would propose awarding a $300 million prize to the auto company that develops a next-generation car battery that weans America off oil.

McCain sought to portray himself as a forward-looking leader on solving the U.S. energy crisis a week after taking heat from Democrats for reversing position and supporting offshore oil drilling.

"Whether it takes a meeting with automakers during my first month in office, or my signature on an act of Congress, we will meet the goal of a swift conversion of American vehicles away from oil," McCain told a town hall meeting in Fresno, in rural central California.

Isn't the money that a better car battery would make enough incentive? Should our tax money be spent on something someone would do without it? This may bring in a little more competition in the market, but you can bet the leading contenders are already working on something like this just for the sale. If you build it they will come, or in this case if you make it they will buy it. It's pretty surprising that this is coming from the Republican side of the coin too. I thought they were all about free markets and less government interference, guess not.

Bombs Away! - Russian Edition

Russian air force planes dropped a 55-lb. sack of cement on a suburban Moscow home last week while seeding clouds to prevent rain from spoiling a holiday, Russian media said on Tuesday.

"A pack of cement used in creating ... good weather in the capital region ... failed to pulverize completely at high altitude and fell on the roof of a house, making a hole about 2.5-3 ft," police in Naro-Fominsk told agency RIA-Novosti.

Ahead of major public holidays the Russian Air Force often dispatches up to 12 cargo planes carrying loads of silver iodide, liquid nitrogen and cement powder to seed clouds above Moscow and empty the skies of moisture.

A spokesman for the Russian Air Force refused to comment.

June 12 was Russia Day, a patriotic holiday celebrating the country's independence after the break-up of the Soviet Union.

Weather specialists said the cement's failure to turn to powder was the first hiccup in 20 years.

The homeowner was not injured, but refused an offer of $2,100 from the air force, saying she would sue for damages and compensation for moral suffering, Interfax said.

Waist of Yen

In an effort to curb the nations healthcare costs Japan is pulling out the tape measure and checking the waists of 56 million Japanese men and women. The new is fighting a war on the obese. The Japanese Ministry of Health feels that if they reduce the number of overweight by 25 percent over the next seven years they can save money. The nationally designated waist measurement for men is to not exceed 33.5 inches; and for women 35.4 inches. Those who do not meet the waistline standards will be 'reeducated'. Most Japanese are covered by health insurance either through a government program, or through their work, so the bulk of the measuring will rest upon these companies as well as local governments. Measuring will take place during the patient's annual physical exam. Companies are working hard to get their employees measured. They'll need to measure probably 80 percent of their employees, as well as their employees' families, and company retirees. If goals are not met the company will face hefty fines from the government. Critics believe the government should concentrate more on getting people to quit smoking, rather than slim down their waistlines to really decrease health care costs. Japanese are known to smoke more than almost any other advanced nation.

This is a good story for everyone to hear who is in favor of universal health care. It's a pretty anti-freedom idea. This is a group of people using force to keep people in shape. If it's your body, shouldn't you be able to decide what the appropriate waist size is for you? The idea of universal health care puts other people's health in your pockets. If I was paying for someone's health care I wouldn't want them making their own decisions either. All the same, I wouldn't people paying for my unhealthy decisions either. I made them; I should be the one who lives with the potential consequences of them, not my neighbors. When you give this sort of control to the government you are taking away your personal freedom along with others' freedoms. You are removing all personal responsibility. What point will it reach too? When will people stop making decisions for themselves all together, the track this is following the government will decide where we work, for how long and who we associate with.

Just more unintended consequences of a government program...

Cop Watch

The Pot Calling the Kettle Black

Judge Alex Kozinski, a federal judge, suspended the obscenity trial of a Los Angeles porn distributor after a newspaper reported the judge has sexually explicit material on his own website. The prosecution said it needed time to look into the issues of the judge's website, so there was a motion to suspend the trial. The panel spent hours at the Pasadena offices watching videos depicting bestiality and extreme fetishes found on the judges website which he believed couldn't be seen by the public. One image included a video of a "half-dressed man cavorting with a sexually aroused farm animal." The judge's has now blocked public access to the site but still believes the images were not obscene. "I think it's odd and interesting. It's part of life," he said. The Times reported that Kozinski said he must have accidentally uploaded the images to his server while trying to upload something else. He also said he would delete some material including a photo of naked women on all fours painted to look like cows, which he called "degrading."

"People send me stuff like this all the time," he said.

GPS in School

When Joshua Cervantes gets ready for school he best not forget in GPS tracking device. Josh is part of a new program at Bryan Adams High school. Last year he had 160 unexcused absences out of 185 total school days. The GPS sends a signal to a satellite every 10 minutes that tells his truancy counselor of his whereabouts. For six weeks the tracking device was ordered by a court to make sure he was home by his 9 p.m. curfew. Since wearing the device Josh has not missed a single day of school.

"When they're in truancy, they're goin' down, we're losing them the longer they're gone," said Dr. Kyle Ross, an alternative education coordinator. "All of a sudden they get this device and it puts a stop right there."

"We're accountable whether they show up or not, we're accountable for the graduation rate, the attendance," said Bryan Adams High School Principal Cynthia Goodsell. "If they're not here, we can't teach them and we're accountable for the coursework."

When kids don't attend school, districts lose money. Dallas has the highest dropout rate in Texas, and this school district loses $10 million every year in attendance revenue alone.

I don't understand this truancy thing. It's a requirement to go to school? It seems like getting an education should be up to the child and their parents. Why does it matter to the state if someone gets the 'proper education'? Oh, wait... "When kids don't attend school, districts lose money." Is this just a money issue? It really seems like it. The money that is being loosed is stolen money, money they don't need to work for. Private schools don't get this sort of treatment; they actually have to compete for business with quality education and compassion, no coercion and force. The 9 p.m. curfew thing is pretty ridiculous too. Why is it the state doesn't want parents to play the role as parents? A child's education should be no ones business but their own, but when the government educates people it becomes all of our business.