The fluid I use for my water-cooled computer is the same colour! It also carries a warning: "Avoid contact with skin, may cause birth defects"...

No, no, no... Hi birth defect is his inability to say enough is enough and let go of his impulsive decision to keep destroying himself. He's almost there....

>> ^ShakyJake:

His birth defect is having underdeveloped muscles? Sounds like a bit of a reach.

His birth defect is having underdeveloped muscles? Sounds like a bit of a reach.

Rottenseed,

People are born with bad health and it is not their fault. It cannot be their fault. They were given no choice. I was referring to making people pay more to keep a person alive who was doomed before they were born, to an early death.

But another argument can be made; what about the environment caused them to have congenital birth defects, or was it a hereditary illness? Was it smoking, ingested chemicals, or something of a hereditary natural cause?

I can't be sure, because it was a long time ago, but I think Richard Dawkins discussed this in one of his books. A hereditary illness is natural selection, predation is natural selection, but a congenital birth defect because mom smoked is not natural selection. The baby that mom had could have lived to reproduce, but we shan't no because of the congenital defect.

Natural selection is the process by which those heritable traits that make it more likely for an organism to survive and successfully reproduce become more common in a population over successive generations. It is a key mechanism of evolution.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_selection

What I find interesting is that these Insurance companies were created largely out of good intention, yet they are so horribly wrong. Making decisions based on profit.

Could one argue that the evolution of corporation mirrors the evolution of the Homo Genus? I suppose, could that mean that the only predator man has is another man? I know I'm begging the question, but it is something to ponder.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birth_defects

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_system_in_Japan

The Health care system in Japan is one of the best in the world. Japan provides healthcare services, including screening examinations for particular diseases at no direct cost to the patient, prenatal care, and infectious disease control, are provided by national and local governments. Payment for personal medical services is offered through a universal health care insurance system that provides relative equality of access, with fees set by a government committee. People without insurance through employers can participate in a national health insurance program administered by local governments. Patients are free to select physicians or facilities of their choice and cannot be denied coverage. Hospitals, by law must be run as non-profit and managed by physicians. For profit corporations are not allowed to own or operate hospitals.

You can't help but feel sad for what those people are suffering.. however :

I get profusely annoyed when they start doing segments on 'faith' and how disaster makes people oh so happy that they have 'god' to turn to in times of crisis.

Well. WTF people. Your so-called God allows these natural disasters to occur in the first place. So where the F is all the so-called 'mercy' and 'love' from this God? Look around at the world. Death, disease, war, natural disasters, birth defects. The list goes on and on and on. I don't see a merciful and loving God at work.

There are only three possibilities :

1-There is no God.
2-God is completely ambivalent.. basically doesn't give two shits about anything at all.
3-God is malevolent, and enjoys making humankind suffer and run about like ants in times of disaster.

Which God is yours? You can bet a pile of Christians will explain, as they have to me before, that disasters are the result of God teaching us a lesson. So.. as a result. Option #3 falls into that column. God is a fucking bastard.

Other tough questions:

-Revelations: Why would a loving God engage in this kind of genocide?
-Noah's Ark: Again, what's up with God mass murdering 99.9 percent of his creations?
-The Fall: Why would a loving God punish all humans for the flaws of his prototypes?
-Jesus: What was the point of all that pomp and circumstance?
-Jealous God: Why is God described in the Bible as Jealous? Isn't that a petty emotion for such a powerful being? Why would God overlook the good deeds of people who do not believe in him because of this jealously?
-Cultures: Why did the Judeo/Christian God not make himself known to all cultures?
-Tower of Babel: Do you really believe that all humans at one time spoke the same language? Did God create Esparanto? What about Kingon?
-Eating shellfish, wearing garments of more than one type of cloth are abominations in the eyes of the Lord; do you engage in these activities?
-No new miracles: God used to do awesome shit all the time in Bible days; why hasn't he done cool shit lately, within the last 2 millenia?
-Why do we have 'tailbones'? Why do some people have vestigial tails?
-Does God send people that are unaware of Christianity to hell?
-Suffering, disease, starvation, birth defects, Dinosaur bones, Christian rock, etc......

I hope that's just a birth defect, cause I feel sorry for her.

The whole point of the pro-life movement is to encourage an increase in Christian(tm) population to counteract the so-called population growth of the 'heathen' religions.

A child is born with zero knowledge of Jesus and other fantastical religious mythologies. They are programmed into it. You'd think a real god would instill an innate (even if basic) knowledge of divine origin within his/her creatures. Makes no sense not to do so. If you are a divine being who feeds on the faith of one's followers and had ultimate power in the universe over absolutely anything and everything... then why the fuck would it create a world as fucked up as this one? Thousands if not more competing religions, people killing each other over petty grievances, disease, suffering, birth defects, short lives, and an astronomically HUGE universe with a single tiny little habitable planet with a bunch of self righteous idiots who all claim to know what the BIG GUY IN THE SKY knows when they haven't heard a single fucking word or phrase from 'the source'. Of course they all claim they do hear, by default making them liars... whether they be ignorantly self-deceiving, or lying outright for twisted personal gain and profit (televangelists anyone?).

All rooted from a multi-version contradictory, violent, intolerant, unrealistic fantasy riddled tome that is more often than not cherry picked for tidbits of supporting commentary that agree with it's readers world view. The bits that disagree are conveniently ignored and dismissed as a vague parabole having some other meaning than in the horrific form it is written.

Yeah. God works in mysterious ways indeed.

>> ^grinter:
With all of those particles being ejected, it is not hard to believe that the huge amounts of lead bullets of depleted uranium shells could lead to health hazards for families living in a war zone (beyond the obvious health hazards, of course).


Heheh little misspeak there, lead bullets are lead, and depleted uranium bullets are made from depleted uranium

"In a three week period of conflict in Iraq during 2003 it was estimated over 1000 tons of depleted uranium munitions were used mostly in cities.[7] While any radiation exposure has risks, no conclusive data have correlated DU exposure to specific human health effects such as cancer.[8] Yet, studies using cultured cells and laboratory rodents continue to suggest the possibility of leukemogenic, genetic, reproductive, and neurological effects from chronic exposure.[9] In addition, the UK Pensions Appeal Tribunal Service in early 2004 attributed birth defect claims from a February 1991 Gulf War combat veteran to depleted uranium poisoning.[10][11] Also, a 2005 epidemiology review concluded: "In aggregate the human epidemiological evidence is consistent with increased risk of birth defects in offspring of persons exposed to DU."[12]"


7 ^ a b c Paul Brown, Gulf troops face tests for cancer guardian.co.uk 25 April 2003, Retrieved February 3, 2009
8 ^ Health Effects of Uranium. "Toxicological profile for uranium". http://fhp.osd.mil/du/healthEffects.jsp.
9 ^ Miller AC, McClain D. (2007 Jan-Mar). "A review of depleted uranium biological effects: in vitro and in vivo studies". Rev Environ Health 22 (1): 75–89. PMID 17508699.
10 ^ Williams, M. (February 9, 2004) "First Award for Depleted Uranium Poisoning Claim," The Herald Online, (Edinburgh: Herald Newspapers, Ltd.)
11 ^ Campaign Against Depleted Uranium (Spring, 2004) "MoD Forced to Pay Pension for DU Contamination," CADU News 17)
12 ^ a b c d Hindin, R. et al. (2005) "Teratogenicity of depleted uranium aerosols: A review from an epidemiological perspective," Environmental

A quick wiki shows it is controversial at least. One would suppose that it would be at least somewhat harmful. Did you ever hear about that illness soldiers were coming back with from the first Gulf war? It wasn't really talked about much and I remember it being later attributed to the burning oil fields, perhaps this is a more likely culprit.

>> ^dbarry3:
> Do many homosexuals conclude much of their personal identity of who they are as persons from their sexuality?

safe to assume it'd be about the same % as hetero.

> Isn't sexuality just one of the physical functions of a human being?

yes, absolutely.

> It's almost like someone proudly proclaiming that they are a "masticater."

not really.
because every human being is supposed to be able to chew.
there are reasons not to be able to, of course. lots of old people, for instance, who may not like dentures. people with some birth defects, or have had serious injuries or mouth cancer, etc, and i know people in every one of those categories.

point is, no one gives a shit whether or not you chew your food, eh?
but, some people do seem to give a shit, who someone else fucks.
though there's no good reason to, unless you're one of the people they're fucking.

> So regardless of what sexual preference one has, isn't it a bit alarming that so much attention is given to sexuality?

not especially, imo, only because it's so basic and universal a desire.
basically 4th, after food, clothing, and shelter, right?
and it's the 1 of those 4, that elevates life above mere survival.

just wanted to expand on what oatmeal & dft were saying, in a more direct answer to your questions. i sincerely hope we helped make up your mind, about "taking sides" on gay marriage measures like Prop 8.

at the very least, i'm not going to bullshit anyone with
"You know, the Nazis had pieces of flair... that they made the Jews wear..."

*wings

Oh God, those pictures at the end of the kids with birth defects....what do you say? What can anyone say?

Can America PLEASE begin it's post-imperial era NOW, or at least before I die!?

Just say it plainly. As long as a fetus is not free of it's mother's body; the mother has the right to kill it.

But call it what it is. You are killing human life. Quit dancing around it to make it sound better.

Personally, I would never have an abortion..no matter what. Society cannot legislate it for women though. How can one force a woman to have a baby in cases of incest, severe birth defects or rape?

>> ^imstellar28:
>> ^BillOreilly:
make fun of the kid with Down's Syndrome, nicely done Bill, we've come to expect nothing less from your pathetic attempts at humor

I think he was hinting at her parental irresponsibility--having kids past the age of 30 greatly increases the risk of birth defects.
"At age 25, a woman has about a 1-in-1,250 chance of having a baby with Down syndrome; at age 30, a 1-in-1,000 chance; at age 35, a 1-in-400 chance; at age 40, a 1-in-100 chance; and at 45, a 1-in-30 chance."

source?

>> ^BillOreilly:
make fun of the kid with Down's Syndrome, nicely done Bill, we've come to expect nothing less from your pathetic attempts at humor


I think he was hinting at her parental irresponsibility--having kids past the age of 30 greatly increases the risk of birth defects.

"At age 25, a woman has about a 1-in-1,250 chance of having a baby with Down syndrome; at age 30, a 1-in-1,000 chance; at age 35, a 1-in-400 chance; at age 40, a 1-in-100 chance; and at 45, a 1-in-30 chance."

>> ^MarineGunrock:
>> ^swampgirl:
That being said.. I'm interested in the entertainment possibilities of "myth porn". Shall we coin a genre?


Coin a genre? Did you just do that? Myth porn! You know! The kind where Zeus fucks Aphrodite with his lightning bolt?
I guess KP would be able to fuck three women at once with his trident...


You promised you would never mention my birth defect.