Give Up Blog

Monday, February 06, 2006

Kansas, again.

Assault against the scientific method notwithstanding, Kansas is embroiled at the center of controversy. Once again it is something that is claimed to be for the benefit of the younger generation, but has more potential for harm than good.

Phill Kline, Kansas' Attorney General, has been acting upon his own draconian interpretation of a Kansas sex offense law in recent weeks (and years). In Kansas, as in 12 other states, it is illegal for a person under a certain age to engage in forms of "sexual activity." Kline, in 2003, seemed to express that he considered the law to mean any form of sexual activity. This would include kissing and fondling, as well as the trifecta of oral, anal, and vaginal intercourse. It's not surprising at all really to see a social conservative tie in everything that they don't like into a broad sweeping law, is it?

Kline's first step was to compel professionals such as physicians, nurses, counselors, and psychiatrists to divulge all evidence of sexual activity in patients of a certain age range. This produced mixed reactions ranging from privacy concerns to people wanting the state to oversee their children for them. Privacy is important, but it is the least of my concern over this issue. If Kline is serious that he wants to protect the children from "sexual abuse" then he would trust the medical professionals to determine what was abuse. I shudder to think how many potential offenses fall through the cracks because the DA is inundated with reports of James fondling Sally in the playground. Think this is an overreaction? California did away with their similar policy almost a year after enacting it. It was just too much of a waste. This has been in the news, and surely Kline is aware of it. I only hope that the courts hearing the case will see this evidence also.

Well, we know that Kline's real purpose isn't the protection of the children. We see a new approach to pushing a pro-life agenda at the expense of privacy, professional ethics, and safety. Sure, we're going to protect our children by making sure that they never kiss or fondle each other, and maybe we can catch some real offenses from time to time, right? The smoke cleared when Kline subpoenaed abortion records from all clinics around the state. I think the reasoning was that underage abortions are proof of the "sexual abuse" that Kline is investigating. Unfortunately, it isn't as ironclad as that. Kline also subpoenaed abortion records of adult patients. What does this have to do with "sexual abuse," did all of the women become pregnant by underage men? This also begs of another question: why single out abortions? Wouldn't a pregnancy come to term by an underage mother also constitute a proof of abuse? Or is abuse only done when the mother exercises her right to choice under the law? Two courts, one of them the Kansas Supreme Court, seem to think that his subpoena's are overreaching. They don't seem to want to address what a blatant witchhunt, and trampling of the well established doctor-patient privilege, Kline's actions are. Is Kline suggesting that a licensed physician cannot determine and report abuse (as required by law) without his oversight?

Something like this begs of the Give Up philosophy. Unfortunately, I don't know how much more we can use and give up on Kansas' youth and populous.

4 Comments:

Rev. Dr. said...

Giving up doesn't mean necessarily that you enjoy seeing these jackasses do these things (although sometimes I I can't help having schadenfraude, see this article or the lay equivalent).

It mainly means that by electing jackasses like these the negative effects are predominantly felt in the retarded states. No one likes witchunts exposing their private medical information, and it's just this type of crazy shit that will backfire on the conservative movement. They made the shit sandwich, all we're doing is watching them eat it.

7:22 PM, February 06, 2006

j. said...

Unfortunately some people that eat cake, have no idea what real cake is. In this case, most of the people being affected don't have a say in the election. That's where giving up isn't going to produce the desired results until the electorate sees the downside (and most of them don't, if you read the cited articles).

For other situations, I am fine with the philosophy. This is the one where I am conflicted.

8:17 PM, February 06, 2006

Rev. Dr. said...

This is an issue which I haven't really talked about which is critical to understanding why giving up is really a good long-run strategy. That is Americans don't learn from warnings, education, information campaigns etc. Just look at global warming, we don't change anything despite the data indicating we may be reaching a tipping point from which we may never return. Americans don't change their behavior until a crisis occurs or something so fantastically bizarre forces them to confront the weirdos and creeps in their midst. A city the size of New Orleans, for instance, must be destroyed before people confront the need for expenditure on public infrastructure, the danger of crony politics, the incompetence of the Bush administration, and potential long-term effects of global warming on weather patterns.

That's why this Kansas guy is really a blessing in disguise. It's jackasses like him that will destroy the Republican party because he's doing something so crazy that it's just a matter of time before the shit hits the fan. You have to love the total wackjobs like Pat Robertson and Fred Phelps, and Jack Abramhoff, because they will be the ones that give Americans the taste of what the right wing is all about. They are the purest examples of what the right wing hopes to accomplish in this country, namely theocracy, intolerance, corruption, and manipulation of our Democracy for unenlightened self-interest and political power.

Can you change people's minds with argument? I'd say no. What you can do is point to this prosecutor when he finally turns over one rock too many (wait till he fucks with some rich person) and say, hey, you people sure you want these guys running things? He just arrested a 14 year old boy for accidentally impregnating his girlfriend, is this the country you want?

It's the shit sandwich principle. You just have to wait for people to eat the sandwich, telling them what it smells like doesn't seem to work.

9:14 PM, February 06, 2006

j. said...

I think on the same side, that the give up principle gives people too much credit. You assume that they pay attention to events happening around them. The right wing is banking on the boomers being around for a good while longer. Most of that generation never did anything beyond "gimme," and then patted themselves on the back for it.

That's why the nutcases have been so successful in staying around despite many instances of shit hitting the fan. They screw over people with very little political clout (teenagers, poor, minorities) in their gerrymandered districts, and then put a pretty face on it like "stopping child abuse," "national security," "tax cut," or "FEMA." They are banking that the boomers, rarely questioning anything beyond the headline and their salaries, will be able to outvote the upcoming generations for a while until a new one can be conditioned.

Yes, I realized that I just insulted an entire generation. I must say it felt great, and most of them deserved it.

I think the next legislative elections leading up to 2008 will tell us who is right. I hope for the country's sake that you are.

The reason why I say this, is that the real issue in Kansas is not privacy. Medical privacy will be upheld against nutjobs as long as there is money and necessity in the medical field. The problem is that, in going on his witch hunt, Kline is going to potentially cause more harm to children actually being abused just so he can scare a few kids out of an abortion. It's very clear where his agenda lies as AG, and it isn't protecting living breathing people. This is where giving up and waiting for people to get mad (Hell, people still wonder about some rich brat in Aruba more than the kids being kidnapped and murdered in the States due to shoddy law enforcement budgets) is an action that causes soul searching.

Things won't get better until we hit rock bottom, but the people who suffer the most are the ones that can't affect the change.

8:57 AM, February 07, 2006