Human Rights

At the Rick Warren panderfest, each candidate was asked, "At what age do babies get human rights?" McCain said, "At conception." As someone who is mostly anti-abortion (but not necessarily anti-choice, a distinction that is for another day), I found the answer to be profoundly silly, because the premise of the question was silly. Is the human right to "live" different depending on whether you are a baby or a death row inmate? If committing a crime is the basis for taking away life, isn't more accurate to say that the life is a privilege, not a right? Not something that is innate or immutable, but something that can be taken away? And if it is a privilege, who determines access to the privilege? The state? A mother? God? What role should the state play in determining that?

Let Them Eat Antenna

The government is spending an inordinate amount of money on (1) advertising and (2) subsidies for set top converters for folks who still have antennaed tvs when the conversion to HD broadcasts occurs next year. How much? Try $1.5 billion. By my count, there are about thirty-three people who still don't have cable and receive TV signals over the airwaves. So, the government is basically spending about $47 million for each of these Luddites to be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st Century. By contrast, school districts spend, on average, about $8701 per pupil. Even if you think I am exaggerating about the number of people who still get their tv via the airwaves, query whether the per viewer spending for the HD conversion is more or less than the per pupil education spending in this country.