Done.

A couple housekeeping notes.

Wednesday was my last night at the fab company. Thursday morning and Friday morning I had some training at the power plant. I start full time at the plant on Monday. It's the beginning of a new chapter. Hopefully it turns out to be a good and long chapter.

* * *

A couple things on my mind, unfortunately I don't have links to support them.

Did you hear the one about the guy in Michigan fighting his child support order? I saw an article on this a few days ago on MSN.com. Allegedly he had a relationship with a woman, and was adamant that he was not interested in becoming a father. Supposedly that wasn't a problem for her as she said that she wasn't capable of pregnancy due to previous medical issues.

Of course Murphy's Law struck, and she became pregnant. The relationship dissolved, the baby was born, and a child support order was issued. Now this guy is fighting in court, going with the equal rights/equal protection angle. His claim is that women hold all the cards when it comes to a pregnancy. He didn't want a child from day one of the relationship, didn't have the option to abort the child, doesn't have anything to do with the child, and doesn't want to pay for the child.

He's got a point. If a couple becomes pregnant, it's all up to the woman. Suppose it was the other way around? Suppose he wanted the child and she didn't? She wouldn't give birth to the child for the father's sake, she'd most likely kill abort the child. Naysayers will say tough shit for the man. It's the woman's body so it's her choice! Men have been holding women down for years, it's about time women had a card they could play! If men win these types of cases it opens the floodgates for more deadbeat dads!

So are we talking about having equal rights for all, or are we talking about getting one up on the opposite sex? If you're for equality you have to at some point draw a line in the sand and acknowledge the past abuses and vow that you'll fight for a free and equal society, not making the other group feel bad for something their fathers, grandfathers, or great grandfathers did.

Do I hope the guy wins? Partially yes, and partially no. The guy does make a valid point and possibly has a good case. Sadly I think he'll lose the case not because of the merits, but because I don't see any judge setting that precedent. Unfortunately, the judicial system views previous cases as holy grail instead of making a decision based on a current case in front of them.

Part of me hopes that he loses because there is a certain amount of personal responsibility involved each and every time you get between the sheets or in the back seat of Dad's Cadillac. You must be willing to face parenthood if you want to screw. It should be that simple, but with our blame-everyone-else society, it's not that way.

Which leads to the next topic on my mind. And it's all about responsibility.

There is a blog out there that gives very graphic and very detailed information on at-home, do it yourself abortions. The author of the site is putting the information out there as a pre-emptive move to the newly passed laws in South Dakota banning almost all forms of abortion that take effect this summer. The prevailing thinking (or fear) is that the newest members of the U.S. Supreme Court make overturning Roe V. Wade a very real possibility.

It's always such a hot-button issue, this abortion thing. Personally I think way too many occur in this country. Like I said before, I think people need to own up to their responsibilities when they become sexually active. Sure, you can site scenarios where it was the absolute best thing for someone to have an abortion, whether it's because they were very young, mentally retarded, etc, etc. You'll note that I didn't say I was in favor of banning abortions. Having said that though, I really do hope Roe V. Wade is struck down as unconstitutional. How can we say that everyone's rights are being protected when both parents don't have to give consent? I'm not even going to go into the potential rights of the unborn baby, but some are willing to make an argument there as well.

I think the only fair option is to overturn the decision and allow each state to decide what they want to do. At least that way any man in a pro-abortion state will know right away that their rights as a father don't exist. Unless of course the mother decides to keep the baby and not include you. Then you can have your checkbook ready.