Selling wombs and eggs

I couldn't even read this entire article, the whole issue bothers me so.
In India, Surrogacy Has Become a Global Business

This article points out the need for a new religious infrastructure. Laws cannot take the place of personal moral guidelines and community infrastructure.

Connections must be established between individuals bearing children and the communities that will insure the safety, support, and livelihood of those children. While single parenting is common, even raising children with two parents requires a support infrastructure of trusted others. In the absence of that, greed, economics, and laws are no substitute. The fertility industry operating on its own economic incentives can be the equivalent of selling babies, which is pretty much universally disdained.

Many couples have children, and then search for the suitable infrastructure -- schools, churches, etc. Imagine the advantages of a group of people agreeing to mutual support *before* conception. A broader network would provide support even in the event of divorce. However, agreements would need to be made in advance on various decisions (including whether procreation is appropriate), otherwise, the burden is foisted upon others without their consent, based on legal obligation or emotional guilt. That is no way to bring children into the world.

Palin on Mission from God

On June 8, 2008 in the Wasilla Assembly of God, her church of over 25 years, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin declared United States military forces in Iraq to be "out on a task that is from God." Head Pastor of that church, Ed Kalnins, has also made statements indicating that he views the current conflict in Iraq as part of an apocalyptic end-times struggle.
link Huffington Post

Hurricane Madness

Sometimes you just have to let people die (not the people on the freighter, the other guy) -- but public health demands a quick cleanup of their bodies...
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Ike's 105-mph winds and potential 50-foot waves stopped the Coast Guard from attempting a risky helicopter rescue of 22 people aboard a 584-foot freighter that broke down in the path of the storm

The National Weather Service warned residents of smaller structures on Galveston they could "face certain death" if they ignored an order to evacuate; most had complied, along with hundreds of thousands of fellow Texans in counties up and down the coastline.

But a stubborn few decided to stay. Emory Sallie, 44, said he had ridden storms out in the past and didn't think Ike would be any different. He didn't believe the dire warnings — he was more worried about the wind, not the flooding.

"If the island is going to disappear it has to be a tsunami," he said, as he walked along the block where his home is located, drinking a beer and smoking a cigarette. "If it ain't your time you ain't going anywhere." SF Gate article