on PolicyMic
ryan fields While you are correct that legal issues are, of course, settled in the courts, we'll have to see what the Supremes say on the matter to see where the real fights will likely take place.
ryan fields My own view is that this issue should be left out of the courts and settled via legislative action (ideally on a state to state basis).
ryan fields To clarify, I was referring to a potential article advocating the legal recognition of consensual, incestuous relationships b/w adults and polygamy. I'm curious to see how many people are willing to follow your logic there.
ryan fields I'm not sure whether to congratulate you for your consistency or just shake my head in disbelief. I suppose its too much to hope that you could write an article advocating such a position to introduce the topic to more people?
ryan fields And on the basis of these supposed societal/structural benefits you would deny consenting adults the rights to make their own marital choices? What happened to keeping the state out of the bedroom? In theory, would you approve of a homosexual, incestuous couple? If not, why? To your question, if you already rule out authority, tradition, and natural law philosophy, I don't think you'll find an exploration into my own views very fruitful.
ryan fields Could you now please explain how your logic does not also apply to polygamous or incestuous relationships b/w consenting adults? It's very naive to think that these won't come up eventually in the courts.
ryan fields Don't forget the " go, and sin no more" bit, it's sort of important, too.
ryan fields What you fail to realize (apparently) is that there's nothing "nice" or "kind" about letting people continue in error. We are all called to repentance, but that's simply not possible without acknowledgement of our faults.
ryan fields Did you have an alternative to the current 2 environment/impairment criteria? It surely beats the alternative of relying solely on the parent and child for info. Parents often don't have enough experience with kids to realize what's abnormal and what isn't, which is why any info from teachers is given such weight.
ryan fields Ah, meant this reply in response to one of Bob 's comments below. I'm blaming my iphone for the goof. It definitely wasn't directed at your article but rather at the tendency of some people to ignore the thoughts and interpretations of the millions of Christians who preceded them.
ryan fields It's always amusing whenever modern day persons advocating the cause du jour think it somehow legitimate to ignore the ~2000 years of history that have passed since NT times. Facts can be so inconvenient!
ryan fields Your understanding of the Middle Ages seems grossly simplistic and unfair...
ryan fields So basically you were shocked that the Cardinals chose a Catholic to be Pope? That's... interesting (but not really surprising).
ryan fields If you've never been around someone truly psychotic, I can understand the skepticism. But from my own observations, its not difficult to see how someone could (in rare instances) reach the point where they could rightly not be judged responsible for their actions.
ryan fields Inorder to argue that the Catholic Church's historical position on abortion/contraception has been largely inconsistent requires a very selective reading of history. For every oft-cited writer like Sanchez (whose position was condemned in 1679) there are dozens of examples that support the traditional view.
ryan fields Then please point out what specific parts of Dr Cox's medical training make his judgement in this particular case any more informed than an intelligent non-medical professional. There are many pro-life doctors that would disagree with Dr Cox, afterall. What do you make of them?
ryan fields If we were discussing technical matters, then yes, Dr Cox's opinion would rightly carry more weight. But nothing in Dr Cox's medical training has prepared him to render a more valid judgement on what is ethical or just than any other intelligent person.
ryan fields I think people are unfortunately missing some of the interesting consequences from expanding state's rights. Wanna legalize drugs in CA? Go ahead! Ban abortion in Alabama? Whatever floats your boat. You'd definitely increase voter turnout and maybe, just maybe we could have a Presidential election that didn't devolve into a ginned up debate about abortion, marriage, etc.
ryan fields I'm still not sure how someone with a lifetime appointment could really be pressured to leave office. Anyways, to be fair, I think Benedict ought to get some credit for setting in place the reforms to make the Vatican's finances more transparent. The independent and public review of the Vatican's books undergone in mid-2012, afterall, was fairly unprecedented.
ryan fields You are surely aware of the long history of opposition to contraception in Catholicism and general Christianity. How else do you account for the controversy in 1930 over Lambeth when the Anglicans became the first denomination to flip flop?
ryan fields You're giving doctors far too much credit. Apart from likely a handful of hours spent on medical ethics, Dr Cox is no more qualified to act as or be represented as an authoritative figure on an ethical/moral issue than any other intelligent person.
ryan fields Why exactly should we believe that a person's profession (or their gender for that matter) is at all important in determining the validity of their beliefs?
ryan fields Please don't take this the wrong way, but if you have liver damage, wouldn't abstaining from alcohol entirely be wise?
ryan fields For example, while the move to electronic medical records is already well underway, and efforts to allow patients direct access to their records are making progress, I'm still very skeptical of the ability of providers and patients to get the right data into the right hands. Privacy concerns, system interoperability issues, plus a general lack of time and money complicate matters. Figuring out how best to enact these recs will take some time.
ryan fields A lot of these proposals are hard to argue with (though many are rather vague) but seem difficult to actually implement. The move to electronic records should make some things easier, but there are just so many legal/administrative hurdles to pass that its hard to feel too hopeful for any real gains in efficiency.
on PolicyMic
ryan fields While you are correct that legal issues are, of course, settled in the courts, we'll have to see what the Supremes say on the matter to see where the real fights will likely take place.
ryan fields My own view is that this issue should be left out of the courts and settled via legislative action (ideally on a state to state basis).
ryan fields To clarify, I was referring to a potential article advocating the legal recognition of consensual, incestuous relationships b/w adults and polygamy. I'm curious to see how many people are willing to follow your logic there.
ryan fields I'm not sure whether to congratulate you for your consistency or just shake my head in disbelief. I suppose its too much to hope that you could write an article advocating such a position to introduce the topic to more people?
ryan fields And on the basis of these supposed societal/structural benefits you would deny consenting adults the rights to make their own marital choices? What happened to keeping the state out of the bedroom? In theory, would you approve of a homosexual, incestuous couple? If not, why? To your question, if you already rule out authority, tradition, and natural law philosophy, I don't think you'll find an exploration into my own views very fruitful.
ryan fields Could you now please explain how your logic does not also apply to polygamous or incestuous relationships b/w consenting adults? It's very naive to think that these won't come up eventually in the courts.
ryan fields Don't forget the " go, and sin no more" bit, it's sort of important, too.
ryan fields What you fail to realize (apparently) is that there's nothing "nice" or "kind" about letting people continue in error. We are all called to repentance, but that's simply not possible without acknowledgement of our faults.
ryan fields Did you have an alternative to the current 2 environment/impairment criteria? It surely beats the alternative of relying solely on the parent and child for info. Parents often don't have enough experience with kids to realize what's abnormal and what isn't, which is why any info from teachers is given such weight.
ryan fields Ah, meant this reply in response to one of Bob 's comments below. I'm blaming my iphone for the goof. It definitely wasn't directed at your article but rather at the tendency of some people to ignore the thoughts and interpretations of the millions of Christians who preceded them.
ryan fields It's always amusing whenever modern day persons advocating the cause du jour think it somehow legitimate to ignore the ~2000 years of history that have passed since NT times. Facts can be so inconvenient!
ryan fields Your understanding of the Middle Ages seems grossly simplistic and unfair...
ryan fields So basically you were shocked that the Cardinals chose a Catholic to be Pope? That's... interesting (but not really surprising).
ryan fields If you've never been around someone truly psychotic, I can understand the skepticism. But from my own observations, its not difficult to see how someone could (in rare instances) reach the point where they could rightly not be judged responsible for their actions.
ryan fields Inorder to argue that the Catholic Church's historical position on abortion/contraception has been largely inconsistent requires a very selective reading of history. For every oft-cited writer like Sanchez (whose position was condemned in 1679) there are dozens of examples that support the traditional view.
ryan fields Then please point out what specific parts of Dr Cox's medical training make his judgement in this particular case any more informed than an intelligent non-medical professional. There are many pro-life doctors that would disagree with Dr Cox, afterall. What do you make of them?
ryan fields If we were discussing technical matters, then yes, Dr Cox's opinion would rightly carry more weight. But nothing in Dr Cox's medical training has prepared him to render a more valid judgement on what is ethical or just than any other intelligent person.
ryan fields I think people are unfortunately missing some of the interesting consequences from expanding state's rights. Wanna legalize drugs in CA? Go ahead! Ban abortion in Alabama? Whatever floats your boat. You'd definitely increase voter turnout and maybe, just maybe we could have a Presidential election that didn't devolve into a ginned up debate about abortion, marriage, etc.
ryan fields I'm still not sure how someone with a lifetime appointment could really be pressured to leave office. Anyways, to be fair, I think Benedict ought to get some credit for setting in place the reforms to make the Vatican's finances more transparent. The independent and public review of the Vatican's books undergone in mid-2012, afterall, was fairly unprecedented.
ryan fields You are surely aware of the long history of opposition to contraception in Catholicism and general Christianity. How else do you account for the controversy in 1930 over Lambeth when the Anglicans became the first denomination to flip flop?
ryan fields You're giving doctors far too much credit. Apart from likely a handful of hours spent on medical ethics, Dr Cox is no more qualified to act as or be represented as an authoritative figure on an ethical/moral issue than any other intelligent person.
ryan fields Why exactly should we believe that a person's profession (or their gender for that matter) is at all important in determining the validity of their beliefs?
ryan fields Please don't take this the wrong way, but if you have liver damage, wouldn't abstaining from alcohol entirely be wise?
ryan fields For example, while the move to electronic medical records is already well underway, and efforts to allow patients direct access to their records are making progress, I'm still very skeptical of the ability of providers and patients to get the right data into the right hands. Privacy concerns, system interoperability issues, plus a general lack of time and money complicate matters. Figuring out how best to enact these recs will take some time.
ryan fields A lot of these proposals are hard to argue with (though many are rather vague) but seem difficult to actually implement. The move to electronic records should make some things easier, but there are just so many legal/administrative hurdles to pass that its hard to feel too hopeful for any real gains in efficiency.