Who owns you? Who owns your children?

One of the tenets that one must hold if he is to be a believer in freedom and liberty is that a person "owns" himself. This is basically the inherent right of self-determination. I can choose what I do with my body and with my being.

Of course, self-determination, while an inalienable right, is one that has to be developed. While Lannom, my 7 month old, does not possess the cognitive abilities to make complex decisions for himself he still displays his inherent right of self-determination by crying when he is hungry and crawling towards items that grab his attention. Historically parents have been responsible for making the complex decisions of determination when children are not yet capable of making those decisions. An area you quite often see this happening in is health care. Parents make the decisions about what treatments and procedures are administered to their children because the children are not capable of making those decision themselves.

Problems occur when socially acceptable norms are not held by individuals. For instance, the Jehovah Witnesses have strong feelings about medical procedures and do not allow children to partake in some treatments. Society thinks that it should be able to step in and use legal force to protect the children from the decisions of the parents. There is the potential for an intellectual dilemma here for me. I believe in self-determination and I believe a parent's right to determine the course for their children should always override societies rights, with a caveat. No right can infringe on another person's right to life, self-determination, or right to property.

So, to a certain degree I believe that society has the right to preempt parental decisions when a child's life is in danger because it is morally wrong to take somebody's life through the use of force. A parent who is withholding life-saving treatment is using force to take their child's life, infringing on the child's inalienable right to life. This is the line at which a parent loses their parental authority of determination for their children and it is a line which must be guarded. Overstepping this line sets a course for degradation of paternal rights in other areas, like social teachings.

It is for this reason I was appalled at this story where the state of Nebraska physically removed an infant from its parents' custody because they refused to allow the state to do a mandatory blood test on the child:

A Nebraska couple sued state health officials Thursday, arguing their rights were violated when their newborn baby was seized by sheriff's deputies so a mandatory blood test could be performed.

Joel Anaya, who was almost 6 weeks old, was kept in foster care for six days until the tests came back negative earlier this month.

Note that the baby's life was in no danger. I do not believe the state has the right to require a mandatory blood test of any kind and they have overstepped the bounds by forcefully seizing and administering this test against the will of the parents, who have the rightful authority of determining health care procedures for their infant.

I guess I should assuage your opinion that I am an nut-job who would withhold medical treatment from my children. Personally I think saying NO to the tests is unwise, dangerous, and cruel. (Unless you have good reason to suspect the government is really using baby blood tests to store a record of our DNA so they can eventually create a race of alien-human super-beings, but I that's another post...) All three of my children have had the Alabama tests all three have had the required vaccinations. What does concern me is when I see the rights of those whose ideas have been deemed "crazy" by the majority of people trampled on. It could just a matter of time before the majority of people think my ideas are "crazy."

Sermon on the Mount Slides

I have started making a series of scripture slides based on the Sermon on the Mount. Here are the Beatitudes for your enjoyment.
















Updated: PowerPoint Presentation of Beattitude Slides

More PowerPoint Slides

I actually created this set for Grandparent's Day, which was Sept. 9. I just haven't had a chance to post them yet.








Updated: Scripture Slides in PowerPoint File

First baby boomer applies for Social Security

Thus begins the unraveling of the greatest (and only legal) Ponzi scheme ever.

First baby boomer applies for Social Security

Health Care 2008 - Not for the Squemish

I've not really been paying much attention to the Presidential Race for 2008. However, I have seen that THE BIG issue this season is going to be Health Care. Many of the candidates on both sides of the aisle seem to be spouting some kind of rhetoric that people have a "right" to health care.

Our society has become too squeamish to talk about human life in terms of trade-offs. However, trade-offs are an inescapable fact in every aspect of life, including human health and human life. The problem is that in our "feeling" and emotional society, anyone who talks about these trade-offs when life is at stake is likely to be denounced as someone lacking in compassion, if not cruel. This squeamishness is oft confused with humanity. But what are the costs of this humanity, especially when it comes to a "right" to health care?

What is a "right?" Well, a right is a guarantee of access to a certain benefit or entitlement. There are two types of "rights." Some rights are alienable, meaning they could be sold or granted. Other rights are natural (or inalienable) rights that are conferred upon a person just by the mere fact that he is a person. So, there are rights that are conferred upon the citizenry by the government and then there are a set of inalienable rights that can be thought of as being inherited.

We see clearly in our Declaration of Independence that our Founding Fathers thought that all men have been given a basic set of human rights that were granted by the Creator and not by any man. They then listed three, but the verbiage insinuates that there are more natural rights than were listed. According to them, every man has a natural right to life, to liberty, and to pursue happiness.

Most people would agree that inalienable rights supersede granted rights. In other words, the government (or society using the force of government) cannot grant an alienable right to its citizenry by infringing upon one of the inalienable rights.

The problem, therefore, with a "right" to health care is that it is blatantly an alienable right that is infringing on an inalienable right. In order for a person to receive health care some other individual must expend either his life or his property. When a doctor spends time treating a patient, he is actually investing a portion of his life in that patient. He has chosen (self-determined) to trade that portion of his life for a certain amount of money (a representation of a portion of the patient's life) . At some point he also chose to trade a certain portion of his money for supplies (which are his property) with which to treat patients. If a patient is granted an alienable right to health care, it comes at the expense of the doctor's inalienable right to life and the pursuit of property. To have a "right" to health care means that you have a "right" to a portion of someone else's life or property.

And that is the trade off that we cannot talk about. Can we force medical professionals to provide treatment to sick and dying people? If we say yes, then to grant the right of health care basically turns all medical professionals into slaves. If we remove our emotions from the debate, we can see that the long term effects of forced work is worse for our society than the dying of people. Everybody will die. But slavery can dehumanize a society for generations.

Progress on the Potty

While Noah is not yet "potty trained" he has made some significant advancements. First, the number of messes has dramatically decreased. The really good news, though, is that twice today he was "caught" in the bathroom trying to take his underwear off and get on the potty. That is two times that he knew he had to go and didn't wait to be taken.

What I think is so humorous is the difference between Mihaela and Noah. Mihaela asks permission to do everything. Even stuff she is always allowed to do (like go to the bathroom), she seeks approval first. While she potty trained very easily, we would never have caught her trying to go. She would've asked to be taken. Noah, on the other hand, doesn't ask permission to do anything, even stuff he knows he should. He just gets it in his mind to do it, and off he goes.

The Mom Song (set to the William Tell Overture)

This is very, very funny. I heard many of these growing up.

Noah and books

Noah has picked up "reading" this week. He has never been one to sit still and let you read to him. He has basically ignored books. This is such a sharp contrast from Mihaela who loves book. She takes books everywhere. We have had to limit her to only 3 books in her bed at any one time because she would slowly collect an entire library of books in her bed.

However, as we have been potty training with Noah (who doesn't really have accidents as long as we take him potty, but has yet to tell us he needs to go) we have been reading to him while he has sat on the toilet. It seems to have sparked an interest in books. He now will bring books to me to read to him. He has decided to let me read him a good night story and this evening he actually took a book to bed with him...and was "reading" it when I shut the door.

Now, the books still have to be short and you have to do lots of interaction with him (where is the tree? Let's count the berries. etc...). But it is such a vast improvement. By the way, speaking of counting the berries. He does count to ten. Its thick, but he has the rhythm and sounds of counting down.

I Like Mushrooms

For the past week or so Mihaela (our 3 1/2 year old) has been announcing at odd times that she likes mushrooms. While Erin and I found it weird, we really didn't find it too odd because she is ALWAYS telling us what things she likes, doesn't like and what her favorite X is. This is just part of her growing up and developing. Also, mushrooms are a staple in our house. Erin and I eat mushrooms in almost everything. You then consider that Mihaela has uncommon eating habits for a 3 year old (she eats Applebees wings and celery) it really isn't surprising that she would like mushrooms, although neither of us really have given her any.

Yesterday when she woke up from her rest she asked for a snack. I told her sure and asked her what she wanted. She went to the cupboard, opened it up and examined its contents. Not discovering anything that "suited her fancy" she said, "I want mushrooms for snack. I like mushrooms." I told her we were out of mushrooms right then and she said, "No we're not. We have some." I said, "oh...we do....where are they?"

She pointed to another cabinet situated above the counter. Now, we don't keep our mushrooms in the cupboards, they go in brown paper bags in the fridge. So, I open the cupboard and ask her point to the mushrooms, thinking she will point to a can of mushrooms. She says, "They are right there, on top of the popcorn." I look on top of the popcorn to find, not mushrooms, but MARSHMALLOWS.

Now that makes sense.

Are you dead, mon?

I am not dead and everybody in the immediate family is OK. I don't think I've ever neglected this blog for so long. So, let me give you a few pitiful excuses of why I took September off.

1. My wife's father has continued to struggle with cancer. In Sept. he was rushed back to the hospital because he couldn't breathe. He has been having radiation treatments and Erin has put a lot of time over at her parent's house spending time with her dad and comforting her mom.
   


2. I had two 5 day/4 night trips. One week I went to NYC for my organization's Annual Conference. I spoke at two of the sessions and spent a lot of time preparing for those in the first couple of weeks of Sept.


3. Another week my boss and I traveled to Orlando to provide training to BETA testers of the application that we are about to release. Preparing for this dominated my time the second half of the month.


4. We are releasing a web application that we have been coding since January to out BETA testers in mid-October. Anytime you are nearing a deadline, you seem to just enrapture yourself in the code, trying to finish up all those little details and get things working exactly right.


5. I've started reading again. My big hobby and passion is reading Sci Fi/Fantasy books. For the longest time I just haven't read because reading is like a drug to me. When I pick up a book, I can't put it down. When I was going on my trips, I knew I would need airport/airplane reading material. Since Sept. 9 I have read:
   
   
   • Shaman's Crossing by Robin Hobb (Book 1 of Soldier Son Trilogy)
   
   
   • Forest Mage by Robin Hobb (Book 2 of Soldier Son Trilogy)
   
   
   • The Eye of The World by Robert Jordan (Book 1 of the Wheel of Time Series) (I'm rereading the entire series because it has been a long time since I read it. Two days after I decided to reread the series, Robert Jordan passed away.)
   
   
   • The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan (Book 2 of the Wheel of Time Series)
     
   
   
6. Finally, I just haven't been interested enough in any news stories lately to comment on them. It is too early to be excited about the Presidential run. And all the news stories just seem so overblown. Maybe I am just becoming to moderate in my old age. It just doesn't seem like there is really anything happening to get one's feathers all in a ruffle.

Let me take a few moments and update you on the children. Mihaela is 3 1/2 now and precocious as ever. She seems very grown up for a preschooler.

Noah will be 2 1/2 next month and still is not talking quite the way we would like. He is getting better, but his words are very "thick" and he is only using one word to convey entire meanings. If this Language Development Chart is accurate, he is about 9 months behind where he should be. We are going to be having his hearing checked very soon to see if that is an issue. He is in the process of being potty trained. We started last week with the "Naked & $75" potty training method and are having a modicum of success.

Lannom just recently has his 6 month check up and is doing well. He is 15 lb 5 oz. He is working hard to crawl. He is up on his hands and knees and rocking back forth. He likes vegetables, but is not a big fan of fruit. He only likes Rice cereal; he can't stand oatmeal. We are holding off on introduction wheat into his diet right now.