New Article About Abortion and Rights is Well Worth a Look

One of the free articles available in this month's Objective Standard is well worth a look whether you're for or against the right of a woman to have an abortion.  It should give any freedom-loving American some food for though.

 

"The Assault on Abortion Rights Undermines All Our Liberties"

 

Here's the opening paragraph:

In recent years, antiabortion activists have stepped up their attacks on a woman’s right to abortion and have achieved a series of victories in their efforts to outlaw the procedure. This increasing assault poses a major threat not only to women’s right to abortion, but, more broadly, to individual rights as such. Rights form a logical unity, and to the extent that any are threatened, all are threatened. The antiabortionists’ war on a woman’s right to her body is ultimately a war on all our rights, including our rights to property, free trade, and freedom of speech. To demonstrate this, we will briefly survey the goals, methods, successes, and rationale of today’s antiabortion movement; we will then turn to the reasons women seek abortions, to the nature of rights and the positive case for a woman’s right to abortion, and finally to the reasons why any restriction on abortion rights necessarily clears the way for violations of other rights.

New Modern Paleo Email Lists

Diana Hsieh of Modern Paleo has created new email lists for those of us who are interested in a paleo-type approach to nutrition and fitness.  I am moderating the PaleoParents list since I am trying to start a family and Santiago and I plan to follow a paleo approach with our kiddo.  If one of the lists sounds interesting to you, sign up and give it a try!  

 

Here's Diana's announcement:

I'm delighted to announce the launch of three new Modern Paleo E-mail Lists: PaleoCooks, PaleoFitness, and PaleoParents. These new lists are just gathering subscriptions this week. They'll open for discussion on Monday, September 19th.

• PaleoCooks: PaleoCooks is an informal private mailing list for people who eat a broadly paleo diet to discuss paleo-friendly cookery. Its basic purpose is to facilitate communication about cooking and eating paleo -- such as favorite recipes, better and worse ingredients, good suppliers, useful techniques, and more. Its broader purpose is to help paleo-eaters eat more a healthy, varied, and delicious diet. PaleoCooks is managed by Julie Campbell of the crankin' kitchen. For more information and to subscribe, click here.
• PaleoFitness: PaleoFitness is an informal private mailing list for people who eat a broadly a broadly paleo diet to discuss paleo-friendly fitness. Its basic purpose is to facilitate communication about fitness from a paleo perspective -- such workout methods, lifting techniques, pre and post workout nutrition, preventing and healing from injuries, enjoyable sports, and more. Its broader purpose is to help paleo-eaters enjoy productive and enjoyable workouts. PaleoFitness is managed by Tammy Perkins. For more information and to subscribe, click here.
• PaleoParents: PaleoParents is an informal private mailing list for parents and others interested applying a a broadly paleo approach to nutrition, fitness, medicine, and supplementation to kids. Its basic purpose is to facilitate communication about paleo as applied to kids and families -- such as pregnancy, breastfeeding, kid-friendly recipes, dining out, supplementation, kids sports, and more. Its broader purpose is to help paleo parents raise healthy and happy kids. PaleoParents is managed by Kelly Valenzuela of Mother of Exiles. For more information and to subscribe, click here.

Of course, Modern Paleo's three other e-mail lists are open to new members any time. Those lists are:

• PaleoBloggers: PaleoBloggers is an informal private mailing list for bloggers who adhere to and advocate a broadly paleo approach to nutrition, fitness, medicine, and supplementation. Its basic purpose is to facilitate communication about matters of mutual interest -- such as blog worthy links, the paleo carnival, upcoming events, posts of interest, and best blogging practices. Its broader purpose is to help paleo bloggers more effectively advocate and promote the paleo approach. PaleoBloggers is managed by me, Diana Hsieh of NoodleFood. For more information and to subscribe, click here.
• PaleoThyroid: PaleoThyroid is an informal private mailing list for adherents of a broadly paleo diet with diagnosed or suspected thyroid disease. Its basic purpose is to facilitate the sharing of information, resources, and experiences about thyroid problems amongst independent-minded people already eating paleo. PaleoThyroid is managed by me, Diana Hsieh of NoodleFood. For more information and to subscribe, click here.
• SousVide: SousVide is an informal private mailing list for people who cook sous vide, particularly home cooks. Its basic purpose is to facilitate the sharing of information, resources, recipes, and tips related to cooking sous vide. (This list is not limited to paleo-eaters.) SousVide is managed by Shea Levy of Shea's Blog. For more information and to subscribe, click here.

Non-paleo lurkers are welcome on all of these lists, except PaleoBloggers.

Chicago Objectivist Society - Conference!

From their website:

 

The Chicago Objectivist Society is pleased to announce the presenters and presentations planned for our inaugural Chicago Objectivist convention, which will take place over Labor Day weekend (September 3rd & 4th). If you can join us, please preregister here.

I wish we were able to go, but we already have other travel plans this summer.  That being said, I was fortunate enough to go to OCON last summer and SnowCon in January, and these Objectivist conferences are a great way to mingle with other like-minded people, learn new ideas and learn how to apply Rand's philosophy to your daily life.  If you aren't able to make it to AtlosCon or OCON, try it make it out to one of these other mini-conferences that are popping up all over the place.  It's an exciting time to be an Objectivist! =)  

Colorado’s Amendment 62

Well, they’re at it again.  Conservative Christians are trying to give a zygote full legal rights as a person, thus making me a criminal for using birth control, among other horrors.  Unfortunately, this type of legislation is not isolated to Colorado and it may be coming to a state near you!  Educate yourself and help fight for your rights! 

 

You can read all about it here.  http://www.seculargovernment.us/a62.shtml

Cholesterol is GOOD!

As many of you know, I am on a variation of the paleo diet.  My friend Diana has outlined it well here:  http://www.modernpaleo.com/principles.html

 

Someone on a paleo diet email list I subscribe to forwarded this Huffington Post article, that is actually quite good!  Here’s a highlight:

 

Cholesterol and Inflammation - What's the Connection?

Inflammation has become a bit of a buzzword in the medical field because it has been linked to so many different diseases. And one of those diseases is heart disease ... the same heart disease that cholesterol is often blamed for.

What am I getting at?

Well, first consider the role of inflammation in your body. In many respects, it's a good thing as it's your body's natural response to invaders it perceives as threats. If you get a cut for instance, the process of inflammation is what allows you to heal.

Specifically during inflammation:

-- Your blood vessels constrict to keep you from bleeding to death

-- Your blood becomes thicker so it can clot

-- Your immune system sends cells and chemicals to fight viruses, bacteria and other "bad guys" that could infect the area

-- Cells multiply to repair the damage

Ultimately, the cut is healed and a protective scar may form over the area.

If your arteries are damaged, a very similar process occurs inside of your body, except that a "scar" in your artery is known as plaque.

This plaque, along with the thickening of your blood and constricting of your blood vessels that normally occur during the inflammatory process, can indeed increase your risk of high blood pressure and heart attacks.

Notice that cholesterol has yet to even enter the picture.

Cholesterol comes in because, in order to replace your damaged cells, it is necessary.

Remember that no cell can form without it.

So if you have damaged cells that need to be replaced, your liver will be notified to make more cholesterol and release it into your bloodstream. This is a deliberate process that takes place in order for your body to produce new, healthy cells.

It's also possible, and quite common, for damage to occur in your body on a regular basis. In this case, you will be in a dangerous state of chronic inflammation.

The test usually used to determine if you have chronic inflammation is a C-reactive protein (CRP) blood test. CRP level is used as a marker of inflammation in your arteries.

Generally speaking:

-- A CRP level under 1 milligrams per liter of blood means you have a low risk for cardiovascular disease

-- 1 to 3 milligrams means your risk is intermediate

-- More than 3 milligrams is high risk

Even conventional medicine is warming up to the idea that chronic inflammation can trigger heart attacks. But they stop short of seeing the big picture.

In the eyes of conventional medicine, when they see increased cholesterol circulating in your bloodstream, they conclude that it -- not the underlying damage to your arteries -- is the cause of heart attacks.

I highly recommend the entire article.  It’s very important for any human that wishes to live a long, happy life.  ;-)

Call to Action: Colorado’s Awful Personhood Amendment

From my friend, Diana Hsieh:

Do you want to fight back against the theocrats of the religious right?  Do you want to help protect our rights to abortion, birth control, and IVF?

The "personhood" movement demands full legal rights for zygotes.  Born in Colorado, it's growing in influence and spreading across America.  If successful, these theocrats would destroy a woman's right to her own body. 

 

You can help Ari Armstrong and me fight the push for "personhood for zygotes" by pledging for an updated policy paper on the "personhood" amendment on the ballot in Colorado this year. 

You can pledge here -- http://www.seculargovernment.us/a62.shtml-- or keep reading for more details. 

Please don't delay: pledges are due on Tuesday, August 3rd at noon.

***

Once again, Colorado has a proposed "personhood" amendment on the ballot this year: it would grant full legal rights to zygotes.  If enforced consistently, it would ban abortion (except perhaps to save the life of the mother), the birth control pill (because that might sometimes prevent implantation), and the most popular forms of IVF.  This movement is not limited to Colorado.  "Personhood USA" reports on activity in over 30 states, and it's on the ballot in many counties in Georgia.

 

Ari and I want to substantially revise our policy paper from 2008.  We want to improve and rework the paper, e.g. to discuss the GOP's embrace of personhood in Colorado, the spread of the "personhood" movement across America, and the new campaign strategy likening fetuses to slaves.  We want to promote the paper like we did in 2008 -- with media releases, op-eds, letters to the editor, blog comments, interviews, etc.

 

Our 2008 paper was downloaded 4,000 times before the election.  We want even better numbers in 2010.

 

Our 2008 paper was the most in-depth and substantive discussion of the right to and morality of abortion from an Objectivist perspective ever written.  We want to make it even stronger and clearer with this update.

In 2008, Ari and I devoted many weeks of our lives to fighting "personhood" without any compensation.  This time, particularly because we have so many other demands on our time, we're asking for your help.  We expect the revisions to and release of the paper to require two solid weeks of work from each of us, then more time to promote it until the election.  That's not trivial.

 

We're asking you to help us by pledging your money in exchange for our work.

We want to raise $2000 in pledges for the new policy paper by Tuesday, August 3rd at noon. In return, we promise to deliver the revised paper by August 31st, then promote it until the November election. If we raise less than that $2000 in pledges, we'll still revise the paper, but we'll scale back our efforts somewhat. If we raise more than that $2000 in pledges, we'll collect just $2000, pro-rating each pledge accordingly. Your pledge won't be due until we release the updated paper. That's because you're not pledging for effort but for results. If we don't release the paper for some reason, then you'll owe nothing.

 

Again, you can pledge here: http://www.seculargovernment.us/a62.shtml

 

You'll find further details on that page too, but please feel free to e-mail me and Ari with any questions.

Saturn and Her Moons

Hat tip to Trey Peden for linking me to these wonderful images The Boston Globe printed. 

Wow!  Just wow!