"That [database] law, passed a couple of years ago, sets out the goal of longitudinal databasing of "student-level enrollment, demographic, and program participation information" for all students from preschool through postsecondary education."

The law was passed under the Bush administration, then, no? And yet somehow you spin that information to make the database part of "Obama's nefarious plan to take over the schools and your children". Typical. Paranoid. Bull.

"Since you have such better reasoning than I have,could you tell me how a rapist is punished when the evidence of his crime is removed and the crime is not reported?"

A baby is not evidence of rape. There are rape kits (based on vaginal scarring) that can show whether a rape occurred. There's victim testimony. Lots of different kinds of evidence, but never a baby. Babies are conceived through consentual intercourse as well, how on earth would you use a baby to prove rape?

"In many cases it is a relative and the crime is 'hidden'. In other cases,the shame brought on the victim if it is reported keeps the act a secret. Therefore, the perpetrator is free to commit another crime against another victim. He is never accused.Much...

From someone who LIVES in Europe (and has lived here since 1999):

France will NOT have a Muslim majority by 2030.

From the Independent (online version):

"Michèle Tribalat, who is the acknowledged expert on immigration at the French demographic institute INED (and, incidentally, a conservative with a small "c" like Ms Amiel, and no apologist for Islam)...described the figures as "une sottise" (a piece of foolishness). "One wonders," she said, "where such figures come from and why."

One wonders, indeed. Your claim that non-Muslim women are forced to wear burqas is beyond ridiculous, even more now that France has banned the burqa for Muslim women. The acid-in-the-face story is equally baseless and...

"Just think of all the people who,if not aborted,would today be pastors,teachers,scientists,business people and TAXPAYERS!!Nobody wins in an abortion."

Or...think of what might have happened if Hitler was aborted. Think of all the people who, if not aborted, would today be serial killers, drug dealers, welfare recipients, etc.

WOMEN win in an abortion. FREEDOM wins. For people advocating less government interference, you certainly are hell bent on the government controlling what women can and cannot do with their bodies.

"When a girl is raped and the family or someone else whisks her off to an abortionist before the crime is discovered...they may think they are helping her. In reality,they are aiding and abetting...

Everybody, including the author of this 'article' seems to have missed that the UN has issued GUIDELINES. Again...guidelines. Say it with me...guidelines. This is not the LAW, and it will not be made into law...not in the US, not anywhere else in the world.

Nobody ever said that parents would be EXCLUDED. To derive this from the UN report is baseless emotional nonsense. What the report said is that it should not be left ONLY to the parents. And that sexual education should have no more values attached to it than any other education (health education, for example). Children should be taught about options, healthy approaches to sexuality and ways of protecting themselves from sexual predators, STDs and other dangers of sex. Sex is...

"I do believe that murder using the formal definition is forbidden across all societies throughout the world.
That is a moral absolute."

It's a legal absolute. People go to jail because murder is illegal, not because it's immoral.

Criminalizing behavior based on morality would lead nowhere because morality is subjective - culturally and time-specific.

between cracking codes and assassinating people you THINK are terrorists.

Intelligence information is not always realiable...people turn their neighbors in over stupid things and the CIA is supposed to assassinate these people based on this sort of information? and you think that this is keeping America safe?

And there's the rub. I have very little faith in mankind. 10,000 years of human history offers little hope for us. No matter how wondrous man's creations and aspirations might be there will always be people whose sole purpose in life is to keep everyone in the muck.

There's balance. There's always been balance. For every Hitler, there's an Einstein and a Ghandi. People as individuals might not always be great, but I think that as a species, we've come very far.

"I'd rather cling to the hope that life has meaning. It's less depressing than the scientific approach which suggests we're all just meat and no different than the worms."

Life can have meaning without deities too. I assure you, my life has plenty of meaning....

I am an agnostic, yes, but more of the modern school of thought a la Robert Anton Wilson, though I too have great respect for Huxley. As an agnostic who doesn't believe in anything, but has some suspicions...I don't claim to know that God or supernatural deities in general don't exist, I consider that question irrelevant since it cannot be proven either way. It´s what Korzibsky referred to as 'noise'. It's a matter of personal belief. One which I do not hold but respect the right of others to do so. But it seem to me to be inconsequential to the development of scientific knowledge.

There is no proof to indicate that scientists who hold spiritual beliefs are more dedicated to their work. Similar argument could be made for...

townhall is refusing to submit part 2 of my answer to you...but our argument basically boils down to this.

You´re saying scientific theories should not be trusted, and on that point we agree. What I´m saying is that we should trust the scientific method as a whole because all scientific theories are ultimately proven or disproven by other scientific theories, not deities or the supernatural. You obviously agree that this planet is billions of years old. Without science, we would not know that. We pretty much all agree on the laws of gravity and the existence of other planets in our solar system. There is very very little chance that those scientific facts are not true, lest we´re all being deceived by Descartes´ demon into...