Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Random thoughts

♣ Congratulations to Betsy Uschkrat, who won the Miss Indiana competition and will represent Indiana at the Miss America pageant next January. Ushkrat was crowned Miss Indiana University in February. (Also, see IDS articles from February 13 and June 26.) Campus feminists protested the event and a debate took place in the student newspaper over whether or not the pageant was appropriate.

♣ I am less than thrilled with the idea of automatically giving the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine to girls as young as nine years old. While preventing HPV infection would cut cervical cancer rates, the virus is already 100% preventable without a vaccine by abstaining until marriage. Whether some people want to believe it or not, the vaccine will send the message that pre-marital sex is OK, and that is not a good thing.

♣ Victor Katz again accuses Republicans of giving "increasing amounts of money to the vastly wealthy through massive tax cuts." Confiscating less of what someone earns does not constitute handing over anything. Despite what some people may believe, all wealth does not automatically belong to the government.

♣ Gary Reed bemoans the cuts to public broadcasting in his letter to the editor. We do not live in the 1960's any more, and there are innumerable news sources where people can get information, "biased" or not. There is no longer any need for public broadcasting, and popular children's programs like "Sesame Street" have more than enough support to thrive in the free-market economy. It was just a few years ago that "Tickle me Elmo" was the hottest toy on the market during the Christmas season.

♣ Tony Lubarsky demands quotas for disabled in his letter to the editor. I wonder if Lubarsky recognized the irony in calling for "an affirmative action law that will obligate employers to hire a discrete percentage" of disabled people while stating two sentences later stating "this is no call for pity but enforcement of a neglected right." It is unfortunate that the disabled are discriminated against for jobs they can do, but giving new life to the discriminatory and immoral quota system is not the way to solve that problem.