Yesterday, I almost coughed up my cereal as I saw, before my eyes, in black and white, that the Los Angeles Times in a Sunday Editorial endorsed the Paycheck Protection measure. Stranger things have happenned, I suppose — but not many!
Today’s featured story on the FlashReport home page is about a publisher from San Diego named James Holman. Holman publishes a thick (over 200 page) alternative weekly paper that goes to almost 200,000 recipients.
His ‘crusade’ is the passage of Proposition 73, the measure on the Special Election Ballot that would require that the parents of a minor seeking an abortion be notified 48 hours prior to a doctor ending the life of the child.
A close and dear friend wrote to me over the weekend, asking why I haven’t said more about Proposition 73 in the FlashReport. She was correct to call me on this. In a very real sense, this measure has a more real, immediate impact on the saving of innocent human lives. The other important measures, such as paycheck protection, redistricting, teacher tenure reform, and the "Live Within Our Means" fiscal reform act are all important. But none of then, frankly, are about life and death.
There is no saying that a child will no go ahead and abort their child after their parents are notified. But often a child that is making this decision is doing so in a vaccum, often ashamed to tell their parents because they are embarrassed, or worse. This modest reform is a step towards acknowledging that terminating a pregnancy is a decision that should be more significant than whether to pierce your ears, or whether to have plastic surgery.
I encourage everyone to read the LA Times story, and also today’s GOLDEN PEN column by Kathryn Lopez in today’s National Review online.
Let’s remember that when we ask people to support the "70’s" on the ballot — that Proposition 73 may be the most important one of them all.
Jon
PS: Howard Dean ‘swept’ through the Bay Area yesterday – Bill Whalen blogs about it — and there are a number of other interesting ‘reads’ including Dan Walters’ take on how turnout (or lack thereof) by voters might help the Governor…