Visons Of A Warmer Earth

                                                                                                            written 18 July 2021

                                                                                                        published 25 July 2021

                                                                                                                                                                                       

            Scripps Institution of Oceanography, an organization not given to hysteria, reported in 2017 that "business as usual" presented a 1:20 chance of raising Earth's temperature 5°C above preindustrial levels within thirty years, with odds increasing to 1:4 twenty years later.  This article examines descriptions of a hotter Earth. 

 

            From Green Facts: as Earth warms to 4°C

(https://www.greenfacts.org/en/impacts-global-warming/l-2/index.htm)

            Oceanic Impact:  Increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration not only warms the oceans but increases the acidity of the water.  The combination of thermally induced bleaching events, ocean acidification, and sea-level rise threatens coral reefs, which provide coastal flood protection, as well as nursery grounds and habitat for many fish species.  Coral reefs are already starting to bleach and dissolve.

            Temperatures:  The largest warming will occur over land.  Summer months will be warmer than the most extreme heatwaves presently experienced.  Increases of more than 6°C (11°F) in average monthly summer temperatures would be expected in the Mediterranean, North Africa, the Middle East, tropical South America, central Africa, and all tropical islands in the Pacific, which would regularly experience heat waves of lethal magnitude and duration. 

            Water Issues:  With increasing heat, drought is projected to increase, exacerbating existing water scarcity in northern and eastern Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, southern Europe, large parts of North America and South America, and southern Australia.  While wetter conditions are projected for northern North America, northern Europe, and Siberia, and some monsoon regions, such as the Ganges and Nile.

            Biodiversity:  Large-scale loss of biodiversity is likely as rapid warming drives Earth´s ecosystems into a state unknown in human experience, with more frequent extreme weather events, such as forest loss due to droughts and wildfire, exacerbated by changes in land use and agricultural expansion, likely leading to increased mortality and species extinction, dramatically reducing ecosystem services on which society depends.

            Food Availability:  New research suggests a rising risk of crop yield reductions as the world rapidly warms. Large negative effects have been observed at high and extreme temperatures in several regions including India, Africa, the United States, and Australia, with reduction in both yields and nutrition.  

 

            From Big Think: commentary on a map showing a 4°C warmer world. 

(https://bigthink.com/strange-maps/what-the-world-will-look-like-4degc-warmer)

            The following areas are uninhabitable due to floods, drought or extreme weather: the Eastern Seaboard of the U.S., all of Mexico and Central America, the middle third of South America, Mozambique, Madagascar, Pakistan, Indochina, and most of Indonesia.  The last inhabitants of the Southwest U.S. are migrating north.  The Colorado river is a mere trickle.  Deglaciation means Peru is dry and uninhabitable.  Bangladesh is largely abandoned, as is South India. 

            Most of the U.S., the rest of South America, almost all of Africa and the southern halves of Europe and Asia, become barren deserts.  

            Some land, where populations are currently concentrated, is lost to 2 meters of sea level rise.  In the U.S. for instance, counties directly on the shoreline constitute less than 10% of the total land area but account for 40% of the total population.  

 

            From Job One for Humanity:

(https://www.joboneforhumanity.org/20_worst_consequences_of_global_warming)

            There are three degrees and definitions for climate destabilization.

            Catastrophic Climate Destabilization: associated with a measurement of carbon above 400ppm. We are currently at 420ppm, and already in the beginning stages of catastrophic climate destabilization.  Last year, global warming-caused storms, floods, seasonal disruption, wildfires, and droughts cost the US almost $450 billion.

            Irreversible Climate Destabilization: associated with a measurement of carbon above 425 ppm.  Earth will have moved away from the relatively stable temperatures experienced during the previous hundreds of thousands of years.  Earth will most likely not recover for hundreds or even thousands of years, costing the nations of the world hundreds of trillions of dollars.

            Extinction-Level Climate Destabilization: associated with atmospheric carbon greater than 600 ppm. The temperature range associated with extinction-level climate destabilization is 5°C and above, producing the eventual extinction of more than half of the species on earth and most, if not all, of humanity.  

 

            Take a moment.  Look around at this wonderful world.  We risk losing it all.  A half century of self-serving corporate disinformation and Republican intransigence means there are no graceful solutions left.  To avoid disaster, we must reduce carbon emissions by 50% in the next 100 months!  But this requires a degree of social cohesion sadly lacking these days.  Are we really too selfish to survive?  

 

July Covid Update

                                                                                                            written 11 July 2021

                                                                                                        published 18 July 2021

                                                   

            Any horror movie aficionado knows the story doesn't end when the "monster" is vanquished the first time.  It rises again, either a few minutes later, when everyone is relaxed and celebrating, or in the sequel to the movie, when everyone has completely forgotten about the danger. 

            The flu pandemic of 1917 started small and exploded across the world, helped by the massive movement of troops during World War I.  A second wave, more lethal than the first, hit the next year.  The virus had mutated, becoming more infectious.  Once a person was infected, the virus quickly spread throughout their body.  It was particularly lethal for healthy young people with strong immune systems.  Their body's immune response was so massive, it tore their body apart hunting the virus. 

            Over the last 18 months, the Covid virus has infected almost 200M people worldwide, which is probably an undercount.  As it spreads, it mutates, and hundreds of variations have been discovered.  Fortunately, most are minor changes, without much affect, but several are significant.  Right now, the "Delta" variant is of most concern.  It is twice as infectious as the original strain, makes people sicker sooner, and displaces other variants.  In England, Delta makes up more than 90 percent of new cases, and in the US, it is 50 percent of new cases, up from 20 percent just three weeks ago. 

            In order to infect a human cell, Covid must first attach to the cell surface, using specific proteins at the tips of spikes on the surface of the virus.  Delta has many more of these spikes.  Recent reporting indicates that an infected person has about 1,000 time more virus in their throat than with the original strain, increasing the viral load that can be shed into the environment and infect other people.

            Even with effective vaccines, and better therapeutic treatments for the infected, the last 18 months have revealed that in addition to those who die (still less than 2 percent of those infected), many survivors experience serious health effects from Covid.  "Long Covid", affecting about 1 in 4, describes damage that can last for months, even in a person who was never sick enough to be hospitalized.  The virus can reduce functioning in every part of the body.  Recent studies show measurable reduction in brain mass in about 1/2 the Covid cases studied.  This disease should be avoided if possible!

            In the US, the vaccination program initially focused on the elderly population, because they were dying in disproportionate numbers, but as vaccine availability increased, all adults were included.  Consequently, US case rates, hospitalization rates, and death rates have fallen dramatically in the last six months. 

            With millions of people vaccinated, the data shows that, so far, the various vaccines provide very good protection against all the variants, including Delta, reducing the chance of getting infected, and almost eliminating the need for hospitalization.  However, even though the US is one of the countries with the highest percentage vaccinated, 150M Americans have not had even one dose, which is a very large pool of vulnerable folks.  

            While the case numbers have declined, Covid still killed 1500 Americans last week.  As the Delta variant expands across the country, case rates have jumped 75 percent in the last two weeks, with the highest percentage of cases in the 18 to 36 year old population.  As cases increase, deaths will soon increase as well.  99 percent of the people dying are unvaccinated.  

            There are many reasons a person might not get vaccinated, and some are based on reasonable health concerns.  However, a graph of counties plotting vaccination percentages against the magnitude of Trump support shows the redder counties tend to have lower vaccination rates, no matter the overall state average.  

            Making public health a partisan issue should qualify for the Darwin Awards.  That is an annual award given to people who have done such profoundly stupid things that they die, removing themselves from the gene pool, thus strengthening the species.  With effective vaccines freely available, the unvaccinated are primarily putting themselves and their own families at risk.  For a political party to risk killing their own supporters as a test of loyalty is callous, and politically foolish, no matter the short-term PR gain.   

            Covid isn't over, it is just preparing for the blockbuster sequel this fall.

 

 

Embracing Reality

                                                                                                            written 4 July 2021

                                                                                                      published 11 July 2021

                                                    

             Embracing unity reality is hard!  It demands transcending the traditional limitations and stereotypes that have historically defined our culture and individual lives.  But, in the long run, trying to ignore it is futile, since it is the deeper reality.  Suffering is being at war with a fact.  

            In unity reality, everything arises from the same source, so if anything is exceptional, everything must be.  Consequently, the assertion of "white male Christian exceptionalism", a current tenant of the Republican party, is a foolish, self-destructive fantasy, attempting to justify exclusive gain of a few at the expense of the larger whole.  Such self-proclaimed religiosity is even contrary to the core teachings of Christ.  

            The propositions of "American exceptionalism", which denies our globally interdependent economy, and "human exceptionalism", which denies our interdependence with the biosphere, are similar long-standing fallacies of exclusive gain, now being tested by the inclusivity of the reality we all inhabit. 

            The collapsed 12-story apartment building in the Miami area is a perfect metaphor.  The fundamental design, which benefited a few at the expense of everything else, was flawed, then degraded further by self-serving corruption during construction, additionally compromised by short sighted, cost saving, lack of maintenance, culminating with an abrupt collapse and massive loss of life and value, due to unacknowledged changes in the underlying physical structure.  How many other buildings are in the same situation?  How secure do their occupants feel?  What will be the long-term impact on the Florida economy?

            The same week that building fell, temperatures in the Pacific northwest broke multiple records.  Portland, OR, was 35°F above their normal for this time of year.  The town of Lytton, BC, recorded a new high for Canada, 121°F, halfway to boiling, and then completely burned to the ground a couple of days later, as high winds drove lightning ignited fires through the narrow canyon.  

            In addition to increased fire risk, the heat wave rapidly thawed permafrost across the region, creating landslides, killing forests, accelerating soil erosion, choking rivers, causing flooding, and released more methane, which will further enhance warming.  Arctic researchers are concerned that much of the remaining multi-year ice, the last refuge for many Arctic animals, so thick it was expected to last into the next century, has been melting rapidly, to the point that regular ship traffic in the area is increasing.   

            The east coast is preparing for arrival of tropical storm Elsa, which formed unusually early this year.  Extreme flooding in the upper mid-west has disrupted farming.  At what point do these interrelated disasters affect the economy?  How many Lytton, BC, or Paradise, CA, disasters will it take for the insurance and real estate markets to be affected?

            The warning signs have been apparent for decades, and the alarms are ringing.  Yet, under lobbying by Exxon-Mobil and the Chamber of Commerce, putting profits over people, the climate change provisions were stripped out of the "bi-partisan" infrastructure bill.  A sting video with an Exxon lobbyist revealed which Senators were on the Exxon payroll to make sure the government does nothing about the climate, despite massive public support. 

            But the Republican party, with no policy beside remaining in power, is not committed to democracy.  In 2010, Republicans on the Supreme Court removed limitations on campaign contributions, allowing corporate dark money to explode.  In 2013, they removed protections against State voter suppression in the Voting Rights Act.  Last week, the Court, further strengthened the rights of corporations, which are legal fictions, to buy an election, while expanding State voter suppression of actual citizens, and made it harder to challenge the rules.  The party of exclusive gain believes this will allow their minority rule to endure a while longer.  

            However, if democracy is subverted, if corruption replaces the rule of law, if the economy collapses due to the changing climate, what exactly will they rule?  Their tactics are crude, and their lies supporting inaction are becoming more ludicrous and obvious every day.  The climate crisis is already here, and the quantity of people being affected is large, so public concern, especially among the young, is growing, demanding real action on voting rights to preserve our democracy, and on climate change to preserve a planet hospitable to humans.  

            I have faith in Americans, and believe we will embrace reality, and the real promise of democracy, which accepts everyone as valid.    

 

 

 

The Transformation Of Fear

                                                                                                            written 27 June 2021

                                                                                                           published 4 July 2021

                                                   

            The brain evolved over time, adding new functional areas.  A simple model from the 60's describes evolution of the modern human brain as first the older reptilian portion, then the limbic, and finally the neocortex.  Most of our actions are directed by unconscious patterns laid down in the reptilian and limbic, somewhat modified by conscious patterns in neocortex.  Fear and the instinctual fight/flight impulses arise in the primitive reptilian brain.  Love and empathy are hardwired as "mirror neurons" in the limbic region.  Choice and higher thinking reside in the neocortex. Choosing between "love or fear" determines the quality of our life.  Social systems of domination and control cultivate fear, while systems of cooperation cultivate love and compassion.

            Although I was educated in western science, I am also rooted in metaphysics.  Reductionist western science, arising in reaction to the lethal dogma of the Church, defined matter as the foundation of reality, abandoning consciousness and meaning to philosophy and religion.  Eastern science places consciousness at the foundation of reality, avoiding the twisted logic of the west.  Such consciousness transcends material space/time, inspiring intuition and creativity with wisdom.  One avenue of access is through channeled sources.  The following information comes from onenessofall.com.

            "Over the course of the many lifetimes you have all had intense experiences of both good and evil and the energy created by them has been carried from lifetime to lifetime in cellular memory.  Until cleared, these pockets of old energy continue to function when activated by some outer experience."
             "The escalating violence you are seeing is the result of energy flowing to Earth which is acting to bring dense energies stored in the physical, emotional, and mental bodies to individual awareness." 
​            "A great deal of clearing takes place as you sleep, but cellular remembrance of intense and traumatic experiences must come to conscious awareness in order to be acknowledged and then cleared.  A person can clear these old fears firstly by ceasing to identify with the fear and secondly through understanding that fear does not exist in the reality of their being.  Fear is old programming put in place for protection, but old programming can be dissolved."

​            "We are not saying that deeply held fears release easily, especially for those not yet awake to the deeper truths.  Fears that have been carried through lifetimes often become a person's identity but at a certain point in everyone's evolutionary journey all remaining deeply ingrained fears must be acknowledged and cleared." ​ 
            "Some choose to act out these old energies rather than allowing them to clear.  There are some who find satisfaction in maintaining their particular fear because it gets them attention and can be an excuse for doing or not doing certain things.  Strive to be totally honest with yourselves because continuing to hold on to some fear or negative quality because it makes you special in some way will block further spiritual advancement.  It represents separation.  Remember, if you identify with any negative issues that come up for you it simply aligns you with that particular energy and then does indeed make it yours."
​​            "Long ago, souls chose to experience separation and proceeded to get stuck in the resulting dense energies, creating a collective consciousness based in two powers and separation, which constitutes the third dimensional illusion.  You chose to be on Earth at this time in order to assist with the shifting of the collective out of this established density and into Light."
            "You witness a world that seems to be collapsing from the weight of its own density.  These things must surface in order to be seen by the majority, otherwise they would just continue to remain out of sight where they could fester and explode into issues of pain and suffering.  This is the grand shift that has been predicted for eons."

            "Your Higher Self is you, not some far off entity hovering around and looking in on you occasionally.  The Higher Self is that fragment of your Soul that has never forgotten conscious oneness.  It knows you inside and out because it is YOU.  Trust that it is always working to bring you experiences that will best serve your evolutionary process."  

            Those cultivating fear and hate seek to control, but we have the power to choose love over fear, and create a better world for everyone.

 

 

From "Me" To "We"

                                                                                                            written 20 June 2021

                                                                                                        published 27 June 2021

                                                   

            The balance between the needs of the individual and the needs of society is a central thread of history.  Prioritizing only the individual produces anarchy, chaos, despotism, slavery, warlords, robber barons, radical wealth inequity, fascism, autocracies, and destruction of natural systems, as the most powerful few strive to survive at the expense of all else.  Native cultures generally had a better appreciation of the balance, perhaps because tribes were smaller, more obviously biologically related, and their fate was more clearly tied to the fate of the plants and animals they depended upon.  

            As populations increased and civilizations grew larger, structures were created to ensure a more equitable balance between humans, using religion, laws, or customs, such as the Golden Rule, the Magna Carta in England, or democracy.  But society became progressively more disconnected from the natural world.  Our species is being challenged to rebalance the needs of the individual with both the needs of society and the natural world that supports us.

            The western US is now in drought.  Soil moisture records generated from tree ring data goes back 1200 years. The lowest recorded soil moisture occurred in the late 1500's, with a drought that lasted three decades.  The soil moisture level in 2020 was almost as bad, and the fire season in California was the most destructive on record.  Soil moisture this year looks to be worse.  The research team presenting this data calculated that almost half of the current moisture decline is the result of human induced climate change.  

            North of us, the upper Klamath flow is so low that most juvenile fish are dead, and the rest are diseased due to warmer water temperatures.  A recent report in the Ukiah Daily Journal described plummeting coastal abalone populations, mentioning the nuclear waste water from Fukushima, however, a more probable cause is rising ocean temperatures.

            But our society acts like everything is normal, and continues replicating past patterns.  

            A developer in Ukiah is proposing a housing project in the western hills, even as this type of wildland urban interface development becomes a more questionable fire risk, and the national fire insurance industry is reconsidering coverage of such construction.  Mendocino County plans to open more land to commercial cannabis cultivation to increase the tax base, despite concerns about increased water usage during a drought of historic proportion.  Jackson State Demonstration Forest recently revived timber harvesting, following traditional county economics instead of promoting ecotourism.  The large trees being cut are the most effective at sequestering carbon and tourism employs 30 times more county citizens than the timber industry. 

            Elsewhere in the west, fire fighters currently battling blazes in central Arizona can't draw water from the closest reservoir as it is almost empty.  Even Lake Mead is at the lowest level since it was created by the Hoover Dam, putting many cities and agricultural regions at risk.  But rather than addressing the drought and climate change, Arizona Republicans are spending all their energy recounting the 2020 ballots from predominately Democratic Phoenix, looking for proof that southeast Asians hacked the vote.  Ironically, Phoenix has a different water source, so it is the predominately Republican rural portions of Arizona that face impending water shortage from Lake Mead.

            In February 2020, a week of freeze in Texas caused widespread power blackouts, deaths, destruction, and massive electric bills for those that still had power.  The fundamental cause was their free-market power system, which allowed utilities to save money by not investing in winterizing their electrical system.  This week the same deregulated system allowed utilities to shut down production during the current heat wave, again generating massive electric bills for their underserved customers and huge profits for the utilities.

            The determined vaccination effort in the US has resulted in diminished COVID cases and deaths.  However, last week still saw 86K new cases, almost exclusively among the unvaccinated, of which 2,150 died and about 17K will experience "long COVID".  As further self-destructive lunacy, a Georgia man shot and killed a clerk for asking him to wear a mask in a store.

            COVID showed us the need to adjust our individual actions for the good of society, just as the drought is showing we need to adjust our economy for the good of the planet.  Reality is unity, our fates are conjoined, WE, not just ME.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Expense Of Externalized Costs

                                                                                                            written 13 June 2021

                                                                                                        published 20 June 2021

                                                  

            A fundamental assumption in economic theory is that price includes all costs of production.  In reality, there are always unincluded "externalized costs".  These may be considered too minimal or too difficult to calculate, or fraudulently hidden for competitive advantage.  These costs are always paid, just not by the person profiting from the sale of the product.

            A good example of an externalized cost is our global plastic problem.  Every manufacturer saves money with the convenience of cheap, versatile, durable, light weight disposable packaging.  Most winds up in our landscape, air, water, and food, causing blight, wide spread health problems, and death throughout the biosphere.  The enormous cleanup costs are difficult to calculate, so they are "externalized", never affecting the price of the individual products, which continue to seem affordable.  This not only distorts the fundamental function of pricing, prohibiting consumer comparison, but threatens the viability of our entire society as it kills the biosphere upon which we all depend.

            Another significant externalized cost is atmospheric CO2 impact.  Gas bubbles in ice core data show a gradual rise in concentration of atmospheric CO2 from 180ppm (parts per million) at the depth of the last ice age to 280ppm in 1800 (50% increase over 20,000 years).  When precision measurements began in 1956, the concentration was 316ppm (12% increase over 150 years).  Last month it hit 420ppm (33% increase over 65 years).  This human produced increase is so rapid, compared to geologic and biological time frames, the full impact has yet to be manifested.

            Like ubiquitous plastic trash, increasing CO2 concentrations are already costing society.  A warming planet is experiencing wilder weather extremes: rapid shifts, hotter temperatures, colder freezes, longer droughts, heavier rainfalls, and stronger wind storms.  One measure is the increasing cost of natural disasters.  In the last 40 years, expensive weather events (costing over $1B) have increased 60% every decade, from $3B in 1980 to $450B in 2020 (in constant dollars).  This is definitely an underestimate.  While it is difficult to pin any one weather event on climate change, we can assume at least 50% of the increased costs are climate related, for an annual cost of $200B.  These costs are paid entirely by people who are not profiting from selling fossil fuels.  The total US fossil fuel bill is about $1T per year, so the above assumption means fossil fuels cost at least 20% more than what we pay as consumers. 

             As these weather disasters increase in size and frequency, damage will eventually exceed the rate of rebuilding, and whole systems will collapse.  We are beginning to see climate refugees from some parts of the world, including Central America, where immigration is partially driven by agricultural infrastructure destruction from successive storms.  Putting a price on this kind of destruction going forward in very difficult.  

            The value of the American physical infrastructure is about $1,000T, and the odds of environmental collapse of this system due to climate change have been estimated at 1 in 20 within 30 years and 1 in 4 within 50 years.  One way to guesstimate the annual risk is to divide the value at risk by the odds and the time interval.  For the 30-year risk, that give $1,000T/(20x30), or $1.6T.  For the 50-year risk we get $5T.  These are the respective annual externalized costs of toasting off the planet by ignoring the climate emergency.

            When we add the costs of current climate damages and the risk of total economic collapse, we see that the real cost of fossil fuel energy is 3 to 6 times what we are currently paying.  We think we are getting a "good deal" because most of the expenses are not included in the price, but inevitably show up later.

            The point of this thought exercise is to contrast the real costs of shifting to renewable power against the true cost of our current energy system.  Gasoline now sells for about $4/gallon, but really costs $12-$24/gallon.  That makes the cost of an electric car seem more reasonable.  In Ukiah, retail power costs about $0.16/kwhr, 30% of which is carbon based.  Using the above real costs for that 30% would give a retail rate of $0.30-$0.40/kwhr.  Compared to that, solar with storage is a bargain, and we get to leave a habitable planet to our grandchildren.  Such a deal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Real Pro-Life Agenda

                                                                                                              written 6 June 2021

                                                                                                        published 13 June 2021

                                               

            I am pro-life!  

            Life is defined as the ability to grow and respond to change.  Higher forms of life have a finite lifespan, the interval between birth and death, so death is linked with life.  As a human, other lifeforms must die for me to live, so before eating I give thanks to those who gave their lives that I might be nourished.  This reminds me of my relationship to these other beings, with gratitude and respect. 

            I am grateful to be alive, and appreciate the radical diversity of life on Earth.  I believe that all life arises from the same source of energy and consciousness, and that working to benefit others is the same as working to benefit myself: the core of the Golden Rule.  Because I am pro-life, I want a society that nourishes life, prioritizing a healthy environment over economic excess.  Because I am pro-life, I want a society that nourishes all people, providing universal health care, good education, equal justice under the law, and a robust economic social net.  

            However, human population has exploded, more than tripling in my lifetime.  Overpopulation is driving thousands of species to extinction while billions of people live in desperate poverty.  The life-support systems of our planet are being stressed to the breaking point.  

            Even though total population is still increasing, human birth rates are beginning to decline, partially due to decreasing viability of human sperm as a consequence of our poisoned environment.  Citing planetary concerns and the high cost of raising children, women are choosing to delay starting a family and having fewer children overall, through contraception or abortion.  Thus, each child born can receive greater love, attention, and resources.  

            This feminine empowerment and recognition of our planetary impact is under assault.  In America, some Christians, under a so called "Pro-Life" banner professing concern for the "rights of the unborn" have worked for decades to preclude the legal options for choice with regard to birth, completely ignoring the impact on the resulting child, its family, or the planet.

            To actually honor the unborn, society could give tangible support to every pregnant woman: paid maternity leave, free prenatal care and good nutrition.  If we honor the unborn, why stop at birth?  A real pro-life agenda would include affordable quality child care, ongoing health care and nutrition.  

            What about a woman who decides, for her own reasons, that she doesn't want to raise another child?  If "Pro-Life" advocates were sincere, in addition to normal support for a mother, they would pay the woman as a surrogate and take the child at birth to be adopted by people who are opposed to abortion.

            Wide spread access to affordable contraceptives reduces both unwanted children and abortions.  As Bill Clinton once said, "abortion should be safe, affordable, and rare". But "Pro-Life" advocates also oppose contraception, claiming a person begins at conception, not at birth.  While it is true that growth begins with conception, for about six months the fetus is not autonomous, but dependent and biologically integral with the mother, who is already a person.  Society demands a mother take responsibility for the child, but the "Pro-Life" agenda eliminates her power to determine when to have a child, putting the "rights of the unborn" above the rights of the mother.

            As a religious principle, the "Pro-Life" claim they don't want to pay for abortions, or contribute to a government that does.  This is a fair complaint.  Abortion services could be paid totally by private donations, or with an "opt in" check box on federal income tax returns, like campaign finance support.  It is striking that this same religious impulse is not applied to governmental support for war and weapons of mass destruction.  What is not fair is that this moral stance be forced on people who do not agree with them, causing untold suffering.  

            Of course, none of the pro-life programs suggested above are supported by abortion foes, because they aren't really pro-life, but only "forced birthers" with no real concerns for quality of life of the resulting child.  Despite the lofty rhetoric, by denying both abortion and contraception, their agenda is just a deeply misogynistic, punitive morality.  A majority of Americans are opposed to such narrow-minded thinking.  Unfortunately, Republican packing of the Supreme Court may preclude the will of the people.