Fetus Vs. Pregnant Woman - who wins?

Reading Feministing today alerted me to this.

This is not a pro-choice or pro-life post. This is about the strange phenomenon in which pregnancy in and of itself is becoming state in which a woman must, apparently, be punished for harming a fetus - something that isn't even born yet- arguably, not even a citizen of this country which has a right to protection. So, in light of the recent "breast is best" monstrosity that the government is touting, this all comes down to one giant slippery slope.

At what point does a fetus gain more rights than the Mother carrying it? When states consider making it a crime for a pregnant woman to smoke cigarettes, something is wrong. Next they'll want to make it a crime for mothers not to breastfeed.

Of course, this also raises the question: What impact will criminalizing pregnant women have on their children? If you put a woman in jail or on probation, that will affect her employability in some cases. All because someone wants to criminalize an individual's behavior.

It boggles... it really does.

Let's blow stuff up...

Or, "That Whole North Korea Thing".

Sometimes I just have to laugh at how juvenile world domination seems. I tend to picture Kim Jong Il as the "Team America" charicature, and now he's jumping up and down like a toddler throwing a temper tantrum because his nukes don't work.

On a serious note. China and Japan disagree--go figure. Something has to be done eventually. Otherwise, we'll end up in another Cold War with everyone stockpiling nukes. Personally, I'd prefer that the Earth not be further contaminated by exploding nuclear weapons. But, I guess that's just me.

Pork

Post the Pork Online. That's what Investor's Business Daily is hailing.

Not a bad idea. However, I have little faith in the majority of the public would even bother trying to look up where their tax money is going.

Standardized Testing

Why are we Americans so obsessed with testing our nation's children incessantly? This is not a new problem; though it seems to be getting worse since the No Child Left Behind Act. Studies have shown that tests are biased, especially toward those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. So, why do we still test kids every year--or even more than once a year?

Homeland Stupidity has a good write up on testing and some interesting tidbits here.

My favorite bit from the article comes from a New York practice test and shows how tests don't really teach knowledge learned in school (well, maybe gym class -- if they have it, in this case) or deductive reasoning capabilities.

The year 1999 was a big one for the Williams sisters. In February, Serena won her first pro singles championship. In March, the sisters met for the first time in a tournament final. Venus won. And at doubles tennis, the Williams girls could not seem to lose that year.

The story says that in 1999, the sisters could not seem to lose at doubles tennis. This probably means when they played:

A. two matches in one day
B. against each other
C. with two balls at once
D. as partners

Sad... it's really just sad.