Author: Jimmy Akin

For a long time we’ve been hearing scare stories about overpopulation. Well, it MIGHT be true that certain (very small) areas of the globe are overpopulated, though even that is in doubt. There are certainly areas of the globe where people are jammed in cheek-by-jowl (like Hong Kong or Tokyo or Singapore), but what constitutes overpopulation isn’t just the population density: It’s the outstripping by the population of the ability of the available resources to sustain them. Since the cities I just mentioned have a high level of development, overpopulation even there is going to be disputable.

But all of that is elsewhere.

It’s not in the U.S.

Surprisingly, the 2000 Presidential election provides an illustration of this. As we all know, the nation was closely divided between the “blue” or “Gore” areas and the “red” or “Bush” areas. Recently I printed a map of these when calibrated by state, but the division can also be calibrated based on county, as in the first map accompanying this entry. (Thanks to one of the folks in the comments box for recalling such county maps to my memory!)

Here’s the deal: Gore apparently slightly won the popular vote, though he didn’t win the election because the way the electoral college works, since Bush slightly won that. That means that the blue areas of the map have a population approximately equal to that of the red areas. (In reality, there’s more to the story than this since there are “blue voters” in the red areas and “red voters” in the blue areas, but it’s not enough to void the point I’m about to make.)

The point is: The blue areas are a tiny portion of the country, while the red areas are huge. This means that–unless the red areas are far more resource-poor than they actually are–we could have many, MANY more people in the U.S. than we do without hitting true overpopulation.

Since overpopulation is one of the key reasons offered for contracepting and aborting our progeny, this means that this “reason” does not exist in our country. The 2000 election proved it.

Now, as I indicated, there are more dimensions to the story than I indicated. To see some of these dimensions, read this page from a “Bush perspective” and this page from a “Gore perspective.” The latter, in particular, contains a number of cool maps. The former, in particular, contains some cool analysis.

None of the other dimensions challenge the basic point I am making. In fact, there are more sophisticated maps making the same point–like the second one associated with this entry, which is a straight population map of the U.S.

The basic point remains the same: The U.S. is not overpopulated. In fact, the world is not overpopulated. Our real problem is not lack of resources but barriers to food and resource distribution that are put in place on the local level (like the north, Muslim area of Ethiopia deliberately trying to starve the south, Christian area of Ethiopia). If the distribution avenues commonly available in the U.S. were available worldwide, the earth could sustain many times the people it currently houses.

In fact, you may have read accounts noting that the entire world population could comfortably fit in my home state of Texas, leaving the rest of the planet empty.

That’d be juss fine with me! Then ev’ryone would be Texan!

Resistance is futahl.

Y’all will be assimilated.

(BTW, Rodeo is now the national pasttime.)

Well, this is encouraging.

After the awful Abu Ghraib fiasco there has been a worry in some quarters that a similar scandal might erupt concerning the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. (Remember all the hullabaloo over the Taliban and al-Qa’eda prisoners being taken there–gasp!–in shackles? Murderers and terrorists in shackles? The horror!) The scandal, if it were to happen, also might emerge in the press suspiciously close to this year’s presidential election. An “October surprise,” as it were.

Well, the folks at Gitmo apparently decided to get out ahead of that possibility and invited a group of AP reporters in to tour the facility.

The story is a relief. Nothing horrifically scandalous emerged from their visit. In fact, it was quite reassurring.

That’s not to say that those would might want to see a scandal couldn’t concoct one–nor is it to say that there may be things about conditions at Guantanamo Bay that haven’t yet come to light–but taking the story for what it is, it’s a relief. Unless something changes, the U.S. won’t have to endure an Abu Ghraib-like scandal coming from that facility.

Well, this is encouraging.

After the awful Abu Ghraib fiasco there has been a worry in some quarters that a similar scandal might erupt concerning the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. (Remember all the hullabaloo over the Taliban and al-Qa’eda prisoners being taken there–gasp!–in shackles? Murderers and terrorists in shackles? The horror!) The scandal, if it were to happen, also might emerge in the press suspiciously close to this year’s presidential election. An “October surprise,” as it were.

Well, the folks at Gitmo apparently decided to get out ahead of that possibility and invited a group of AP reporters in to tour the facility.

The story is a relief. Nothing horrifically scandalous emerged from their visit. In fact, it was quite reassurring.

That’s not to say that those would might want to see a scandal couldn’t concoct one–nor is it to say that there may be things about conditions at Guantanamo Bay that haven’t yet come to light–but taking the story for what it is, it’s a relief. Unless something changes, the U.S. won’t have to endure an Abu Ghraib-like scandal coming from that facility.

Democrat believes life begins at conceptionslaves are human beings

By JONATHAN FINER

Washington Post

DYERSVILLE, Iowa – As Sen. John Kerry campaigned across Iowa on Sunday with Gov. Tom Vilsack, widely reported to be on Kerry’s vice presidential short list, both men dodged repeated questions about whether their joint appearance might be a preview of the Democratic ticket.

But even as he tried to avoid making news Sunday, Kerry broke new ground in an interview that ran in the Dubuque, Iowa, daily, the Telegraph Herald. A Catholic who supports abortionslave-holders’ rights and has taken heat recently from some in the church hierarchy for his stance, Kerry told the paper: "I oppose abortionslavery, personally. I don’t like abortionslavery. I believe life does begin at conceptionslaves are human beings."

Spokesman Stephanie Cutter said that although Kerry has often said abortionslavery should be "safe, legal and rare," and that his religion shapes that view, she could not recall him ever publicly discussing when life beginswhether slaves are human beings.

"I can’t take my Catholic belief, my article of faith, and legislate it on a Protestant or a Jew or an atheist," he continued in the interview. "We have separation of church and state in the United States of America." The comments came on the final day of a three-state Midwest swing, during which Kerry has repeatedly sought to dispel stereotypes that could play negatively among voters in the Heartland.

President Bush’s campaign said these instances are further evidence of what it says is Kerry’s propensity for misleading flip-flops.

"John Kerry’s ridiculous claim to hold conservative values and his willingness to change his beliefs to fit his audience betrays a startling lack of conviction on important issues like abortionslavery that will make it difficult for voters to give him their trust," said Steve Schmidt, a Bush campaign spokesman.

On Sunday morning, the day the candidate’s abortionslavery comments appeared in the local paper, Kerry sat in a church pew near Vilsack, also a Catholic who supports abortionslave-holders’ rights, and his wife, Christie, one of Kerry’s earliest backers in Iowa.

Afterward several parishioners asked him about his position on abortionslavery and his vote against a recent bill that would have banned the late-term procedure opponents call "partial birth" abortionreturn of fugitive slaves to their masters, according to a reporter for the Telegraph Herald who sat behind Kerry’s pew.

Kerry took communion during Mass, which a few Catholic bishops have publicly said he should not do because of his abortionslavery views.

"I wish he was against abortionslavery, but I don’t think that’ll get settled," said Helen Willenberg, 83, a Catholic who met Kerry later in the day. "But I still hope he wins."

[Source]