Abortion and Potential Regret

I discovered an interesting blog today: Mirror of Justice - A blog dedicated to the development of Catholic legal theory.

The notion that a woman who is pregnant with an unwanted baby might be fully informed about the procedure, the risk to herself and the risk to the baby (sometimes they survive the procedure only to be killed outside the womb), is an idea that is overdue.

According to the blog cited above, the state has a legitimate purpose in reducing the risk that a woman discovers (much too late) that (1) she was woefully uninformed about the above risks, and (2)(my addition) that she has tremendous regret at having chosen an abortion over other legitimate choices.

The blog cites Justice Sandra Day O'Connor in the Casey decision. It is worth a read.

Truckers Are Set to Voice Their Opinion

In the wake of an interesting "international" - err - should I say "national" decision to allow truckers from a neighboring county (here, Mexico) to travel deeper in to the United States (or perhaps all the way through to Canada), U.S. truckers are going to protest.

Imagine that! They are taking their time and money (and time is money in that industry) and are going to Washington D.C.

But why?

Well, they expect that truckers and trucking firms from Mexico are going to undermine the wages (about $.47 a mile around here) that U.S. truckers earn. Outsourcing within our own boundaries. Oh, yeah, I forgot! President Bush wants this. Oh, well. I suppose that what he wants, he will get, no matter the consequences to US citizens.

The taxpayers will likely be paying for the unemployment benefits of a whole lot of truckers. Who cares about that? After all, we consumers (taxpayers) will also be paying less for all our goods - after all, shipping costs are quite a huge part of the price of each and every item that we buy.

Of course, there is also the issue of the road worthiness and safety of the trucks coming from Mexico. But, perhaps, this issue will be solved by charging all the suppliers less money to ship stuff, and more stuff will be shipped, and costs to maintain trucks will be less, etc, etc, etc.

Anyway, U.S. truckers are planning to drive around state capitols and the US Capitol, slowly.

Just keep on trucking!

Second Amendment protects individual right

Finally, we are talking about the Second Amendment again in the good old USA. Perhaps this time we will get it right.

As you may recall, the recent debates about gun control and the right to bear arms has centered on whether the right to bear arms is only associated with the right to have a militia.

Well, a most unexpected court has determined (for the time being, at least) that this right is an individual right, not a collective or state right. Can you imagine that the right to free speech was only a collective or state right, not an individual right?

The
law firm that handled this matter has all of the the pleadings from this case on its website. Thank you, Gura and Possesky.

Anyway, I am pleased. I am not a constitutional scholar, but I have always thought (even though I really am repelled by handguns) that the right had to be an individual right, not a collective right.