March 1, 2008 - It was a pretty good Saturday. I finally hit my goal of 400 pounds on the leg press at the gym. I still think I've got some room to go higher. The machine maxes out at 495, and I think that is too much for me, but I can definitely do at least 20 more pounds. The highlight of today was "game night" at Anna's. It was Anna, Chuck, Casey, Jamie, Ellie, and me, eating Michelle's Chicago Pizza and then playing "Boxers or Briefs", a fun board game. I mixed up a quite tasty "Rum, Amaretto, and Coke" to go with my dinner. I've decided that I don't know a whole lot about the actual opinions of the Presidential candidates on "the issues" that they supposedly "debate", but I'm going to check in on their websites, find out what they are considering to be an issue, and then give my opinion on it. I'm not going to go into the various candidates opinions, since those are 'publicized' (if they are so publicized and debated, then why the heck does no one really know what any of the candidates represent?). This might stretch into a very long series, since I have a lot of opinions on how things should be done. Let's just start right out with a very controversial one, abortion. I don't think there is any disputing that this issue is never going to be resolved due to its controversy, and it will probably cause divides for the rest of time. There are some very fundamental questions that involve opinion, rather than fact. Things like "does a Man really have the right to an opinion on abortion?", "when does life actually start?", "should anyone other than the mom have a right to make decisions that affect her life?" and so on. Well, I think the case can be made for both sides of all these questions. Men obviously don't have the same relationship with childbirth as a woman, for very biological reasons. We also don't have it for psychological reasons. The argument on when life starts will forever be debated. It is sometime between and including sex and child birth. Mothers should generally be trusted to make decisions that involve their own bodies, but sometimes the issue is more complicated, such as during rape, depression, when the birth might have an extremely high probability of death for the mother, or when the woman is threatened to make a certain decision. Economic reasons could bias a decision, and let's not neglect the fact that if all women were forced to carry their children to term, it involves at the very least 9 months of their life that they'll never get back, should they put the child up for adoption, and beyond that if they keep the child to raise themselves, another 18 years of responsibilities. These are all interesting things to debate and no matter how long everyone talks about them, we're never going to agree on the 'right' answer. But I think we can all agree that procreation is the reason that we're all here (without there would be no humans), and once a woman becomes pregnant, every effort should be made to keep the baby. This means either public (government) or private support needs to exist to make sure that a mother doesn't have to decide between not having a child because they can't afford it and having an abortion, or choosing to raise their child and struggle the rest of their lives. Hillary Clinton wrote "it takes a village", which is a reference to raising children. The burden is ultimately on society, not on an individual, to see to it that we all make it. George Bush enacted the "no child left behind" policy, putting the burden on society again to see to it that an individual who struggles has a hand to hold when they are struggling. We owe it to the mothers that might choose abortion to ensure that if they have any needs, that society is there to help out. But on the other end of the spectrum, if a woman decides it is not appropriate to have a child, for whatever reason, we need to make sure that she is able to do it in the safest way possible. We need to make sure that she understands and is mentally prepared for what she is going to face by going through with an abortion. It shouldn't be illegal, just not recommended. If we can all agree on this, it will take the debate away from all the superfluous minutia, and put the discussion on a more important one, which is making sure that whichever ever way it goes, it is an informed decision, and the person making the decision is supported fully by society because we as society enable each person the liberty to make informed decisions that affect our lives and the lives of others. I know this is contrasting to the Catholic wall of "no abortions, ever", and many people say "God created the child, no matter what, it is murder to kill someone". Well guess what? I think God also gave us a mind of free will that is capable of determining the best option, and if we give woman the informational and financial support they need to make the right decision, the number of abortions would actually drop dramatically. So we can stand back and argue about whether an abortion is right or wrong, while people go out and have them in unsafe ways, or we can enable a system that encourages women to carry their children to term, put them into adoption systems or provide REAL financial support for single and low income mothers. The choice is simple to me.