Righteous Gentiles -- Righteous Americans

Wallenberg,  Schindler, and Irena Sendler are among the men and women referred to by Jews as "righteous gentiles."   They are people who, at great risk to the lives of themselves and their families, stepped forward to rescue Jewish men, women and children.  Regrettably, there weren't more of these people.  But, they did what they could to work against a Holocaust that destroyed six million Jews.

I would put people like Henry Moskowitz,  Mary White Ovington, and William English Walling, founders of the NAACP, and Schwerner and Goodman, young men murdered along with Chaney,  as "righteous Americans."   I would add to this list Branch Rickey, who saw the need for equality in baseball and who chose Jackie Robinson as the athlete to integrate the game.  I would also add to this list Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, who marched with Martin Luther King, Jr. in Selma.  And, there are many others.

This would take nothing away from Jackie Robinson, Martin Luther King Jr. and the many great African-Americans who fought valiantly against Jim Crow and often lost their lives in this struggle.  But to deny the bravery and self sacrifice of men and woman who saw the clear need to fight injustice, does credit to no one.

Acknowledging the goodness and bravery of those who worked to end the miserable state in which a minority was held would help bring together all people of good will.  To slough off the efforts of those who helped fight injustice simply separates people and keeps them apart.

When Does Life Begin?

Trick question.  Life began some time after the big bang.  The exploding energy condensed into electrons, protons, atoms and molecules.  These elements arranged themselves into various types of life forms which continued to evolve until we come to present day's state of affairs.  In other words, life doesn't "begin".  It "began" a long, long time ago and can be found in all the flora and fauna that cover our earth.  Everywhere we look reproduction is a part of it.

It's a lot more complicated than our fore bearers ever imagined.  Some frogs can change their gender. Homosexual behavior can be found in a subset of all species of mammals.  Such behavior was once thought to be due to nurture.  Today, we recognize it as a part of nature.  And, more importantly, we have made great strides in decriminalizing homosexual behavior.  But, it's been against the teachings of the Christian faith.  Had the Muslims been here earlier, they too would have objected.  The more Orthodox Jews have also been slow in understanding the gay community.

And, where does birth fit into this picture?  Here are some subsets to this question: normal birth, C-sections (Caesarian), contraceptive techniques, and abortions.  Before medicine made its advances, normal birth was the standard.  However, pregnancy did on occasion fail to result in a normal birth.  Either the mother died giving birth, or the baby died before, or after, birth. If the mother died in childbirth or just prior, her stomach was often cut open to remove the fetus, or, if possible, a viable infant.  Generally, this was done for religious reasons; namely, to give both the mother and the fetus separate resting places.  Today, the C-section is a routine procedure with a very high survival rate.

And, finally, we arrive at contraceptions and abortions.  Both are found unacceptable by many members of the Christian faith.  Today we have available to us day-after pills.  Faith imbued people are trying to curtail this form of contraception by imposing all sorts of legal restrictions.  Thank goodness, Americans are increasingly secular.

And now we come to the biggest nut to crack, abortion.  Those opposed to abortion cite the evils of late term abortion.  That's when a fetus might have the opportunity to survive.  The reality, however, is that the great majority of abortions take places in the first trimester.  If a woman wants an abortion in the third trimester, it behoves the government to step in and find a home for the unwanted entity  about to come into the world.  If the woman doesn't want to give birth and the government insists that she do so, it should be the responsibility of the government to find a home for the child that is about to be born.  First and second trimester pregnancies are a different matter and should be terminated if that is the woman's wish.  If God doesn't like it, let Him speak up.

The Shoal Of GOP Politics Snags Trump

Abortion is the issue that shouldn't be.  So many more things call for the urgent attention of America's political leaders.  For this to be deemed a major issue is beyond ludicrous.  But, it's what you get when a party takes hold of a religious issue and makes it one of its corner piece.  In the case of abortion, that party is the GOP.

On most issues, Trump gets it right.  But on abortion he was revealed to be a naif.  How was it possible for a candidate, so pitch perfect, to flounder on the shoals of abortion?  My guess is that on this issue he really, and truly, isn't a true believer.  He couldn't care less about the abortion issue.  He knows however that this an important issue in GOP politics.  He has no choice.  He's got to be against abortion.  But, note: he was the only GOP candidate to speak in behalf of the good works of Planned Parenthood.

In answering Chris Matthews question, Trump tried to be logical.  If abortion is a crime, then those engaged in it are criminals.  If you drive a getaway car, you become guilty of any crimes, such as the murder of the liquor store being robbed, that might be perpetrated by the holdup gang.  Merely being the driver does not excuse you.

Trump applied this same logic to abortion.  If it's a crime then all who participate in it are guilty, and must be punished.  But, while logical, this line of thinking is unacceptable to the American public.  Americans know that a woman seeking an abortion is generally someone who's troubled and in considerable distress. It would be cruel to punish this woman despite the fact that she undoubtedly instigated the commission of a crime.  Nope, she's not guilty, nor, for that matter is the nurse who assisted in the commission of this crime.  Only the doctor. (The getaway driver gets off Scot free.)

It's all nonsense.  But it's the kind of nonsense politicians engage in when they try to cater to a misguided public.  It's a game Trump had little experience with and down he went.

The real answer to the abortion question -- in my opinion -- is to decriminalize it.  If it's something engaged in by two consenting adults then, as I see it, it's nobody else's business.  Government should stay out of it.  Isn't that what Conservatives are always saying:  Keep government out of places where they do't belong.

The right-to-life crowd then goes into its "the fetus is a human being" chant.  Again, another bit of nonsense.  This nonsense will be addressed in the posting to follow shortly.