Abortion Facts

As it is nearly election time, the hot topic of abortion is in the air (which only seems to be a big deal in election years, interesting). I thought I'd share some interesting facts a ran across about abortion in the US. I'll leave the analysis to you. (Read the original post here).

Abortion Facts

Half of all pregnancies in the United States are unintended.

Almost half of unintended pregnancies end in abortion.

The most frequent reasons given by women seeking an abortion are that a child would limit ability to meet current responsibilities and that they cannot afford a child at this point in their lives.

Unintended pregnancy has increased by 29% among poor women while decreasing 20% among higher-income women.

Women below the federal poverty level have abortion rates almost four times those of higher-income women.

Between 1996 and 2000, while abortion rates for all other groups fell, abortion rates among poor and low-income women increased.

The majority of women having abortions are in their 20s or younger.

Overturning Roe Vs. Wade Will Not End Abortion in America

Overturning Roe Vs. Wade, a long time goal of the pro-life movement, would not end abortion in the United States, it would simply send the decision to the states.

If states with more than 45% "pro-life" sentiment chose to outlaw abortion, this would only impact 16 states accounting for 10% of abortions nationwide, or less than 100,000 abortions a year.

Women in these 16 states would still be able to travel to seek an abortion in another state, or seek an illegal abortion, making the impact likely less than a 10% reduction in abortions nation-wide.

States with the highest abortion rates in the country, like California and New York, would be unlikely to outlaw abortion in their states.

Studies Show that Economic Support for Women and Families Reduces Abortion

In a recent study released by Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good finds that social and economic supports such as benefits for pregnant women and mothers and economic assistance to low-income families have contributed significantly to reducing the number of abortions in the United States over the past twenty years.

Economic assistance to low income families is correlated with a 20% lower abortion rate. Across the entire United States, this translates into 200,000 fewer abortions.

In the 1990s, states with more generous grants to women, infants and children under the age of five as provided by the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program had a 37% lower abortion rate.

Higher male employment in the 1990s was associated with a 29% lower abortion rate.

The abortion rate has declined most rapidly from 1990-1996 when there was an economic boom under President Clinton. While rates have continued to decrease, they have declined less rapidly in recent years when poverty rates have been climbing.

Legal Status of Abortion Does Not Necessarily Impact Abortion Rates

Nearly half of all abortions in the world are performed in countries that have made abortion illegal.

The lowest abortion rates in the world - less than 10 per 1,000 women of reproductive age - are in Europe, where abortion is legal and available.

By contrast, in Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean, where abortion law is most restrictive, the regional rates are 29 and 31 per 1,000 women, respectively.

These countries are also much poorer than the U.S. and provide fewer social services; and a larger proportion of their population lives in poverty.

In Western European countries, in contrast, where more social services are provided and fewer women live in poverty, the abortion rates are consistently the lowest rates in the world.

Source: Joseph Wright and Michael Bailey, "Reducing Abortion in America : The Effect of Economic and Social Supports" (Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good) and The Guttmacher Institute "An Overview of Abortion in The United States"

The Dog Days of Summer Mean Few Posts

Blogging has been slow around Nicks Musings as of late. Will you allow me this opportunity to apologize for applying merely a thin coat of the topics that have become regular? Should I offer as a defense the business of the summer months, or a bit of a drop in inspiration as my reading decreases in the summer, or that it appears most blogs, at least the ones I frequent have all seemed to follow the same trend of sporadic posting recently? Of course this does not apply to Scot McKnight, who even in the summer posts 3X a day. But then again, Scot is the Michael Jordan of biblioblogging.

But, regardless of whether you accept my lame excuses, let me give you an update of some of the new things in my life.

1. Community: In June of this year, Angela and I had a friend move into our apartment with us. He is a friend we both went to college with and have remained close friends for years. We started talking about the idea of living in community a few years ago, and then kind of dropped it, but picked it up again earlier this year. So, you must be thinking "Why would a married couple want to have another person live with them?" Good question. We feel that hospitality is a blessing to all (both the guest and the host) and that life in community is a beautiful thing. We enjoy sharing experiences in community. If that does not make sense to you, it's okay. We have certainly gotten a collection of weird looks as we explain this to people. Some seem to treat us as if we are joining a cult or something. But, when we do something that is countercultural and even anti-American (contrary to the American pattern of independence and isolation), we should expect to get some weird looks, yes?

2. Podcast: Josh (the friend living with us) happens to be a student of theology like me, and since we have such great and challenging conversations, the idea came to me a few weeks ago to start doing a podcast. We are in the process of producing a regular podcast that will deal with similar issues as this blog, and are currently wrestling with hosting issues and how much it will cost us. so, if you know much about this or can point me to any good sites with affordable hosting, I'd appreciate it. More on the podcast to come.

3. House Hunt: With the real estate market being in the dumps as it is, it has meant hardship for millions of American families facing foreclosure. As sad as that is, if you wanted to see a silver lining, and there are probably several, one is that it is a great time to buy.. Angela and I started looking at houses seriously a few months ago. We put in an offer a few weeks ago that got shot down, and anther on a different property on which we are waiting to hear back. So, literally any day we could hear that we have had an offer accepted on a house. These are exciting-though sometimes frustrating-times. We will keep you posted.

4. Grad School: I am now only about 6 weeks away from the start of the Masters of Divinity program at Bethel Seminary. It seems it was so long ago that I applied and was accepted, and now it is getting close! It will mean all the joys (and pains) of reading textbooks, writing papers, discussing in class (my favey!), and better managing time. I can't wait!

5. Lost: Josh has gotten me into the show Lost. I had only seen one episode ever, so recently I started from the beginning and am now about a third of the way into season three. I have to say, it is an amazing show. The brilliance comes from the number and depth of the characters. Any other Lost fans out there? If so, feel free to comment, but don't post spoilers!!!

6. Ink: I got another tattoo a few weeks ago. You may remember my first about a year ago. If so, you may know that I am into tattoos having great meaning, rather than just being trendy. This latest one is Numbers 6:26 "May Yahweh lift his face towards you and give you peace" in Hebrew on my left arm. It turned out great!!!

That will do for now. Thanks for tuning in. I hope the posting will get more frequent soon enough.

Shalom.

-N

America with a God-Directed History?

Andy over at Think Christian has a great post asking some questions about the history of America.

An article at Touchstone is raising these questions by looking back at The Light and the Glory, “one of the most widely read nonfiction Christian books of all time.” I’ve not read it, but apparently it retells the history of the United States from a “Christian view”—that is, it interprets US history as the story of God actively intervening to shape and preserve a particular nation and way of life. Christopher Columbus stumbled across North America not by luck, but at the urging of the invisible hand of providence. American victories in the Revolutionary War weren’t just the result of human cleverness or luck; they were instances of God nudging history in the right direction.

And later:

Now I really want to track down a copy of this book. Not because I think I’d agree with it—on the contrary, it honestly sounds a little alarming. It’s one thing to believe (as most Christians do) that God oversees and controls events throughout history, but there’s a certain presumptuousness in claiming to be able to recognize not just patterns, but specific points at which God stepped into human affairs and pushed things in the right direction. And then there’s the subtle implication that God’s sovereignty plays out not through a divine authority over all of human history, but through a series of brief interventions interspersed with long periods of presumed inactivity.

He hits the nail on the head at the end:

I’m interested in reading more, but I think The Light and the Glory’s approach should at the very least set off warning bells in our minds. It’s especially suspicious when your vision of providential history coincidentally casts your own country and society as the God-ordained protagonist.

Thoughts?

New Address

Alright everyone, update your bookmarks. I have purchased the domain www.nicksmusings.com and have attached it to this blog. It is much cleaner and more professional that having the tacky "blogspot" name in the address. Everything else should remain the same.

Thanks to everyone who takes a moment to read what I write.

Shalom,
NF

Our Changing World

This is a very interesting video (HT:VC) about changes that are taking place in our world. If it is to be trusted (and it seems to be trustworthy), it provides some very interesting thoughts about our future and our children's future.



Thoughts? Any educators out there who want to weigh in?

Overused Terms Used Wrongly

Here are a pair of terms that I hear used wrongly all the time, particularly in the context of the Church. This has been bugging me for awhile, so I have to get it off my chest.


Literally...

People use this term incorrectly all the time. The choices in literature or verbal communication are figurative, that is you don't mean exactly what you are saying, you are using comparisons, analogies etc. to make your point, or literal, meaning you mean exactly what you are saying.

Example. On Sunday my pastor was talking about being on the fence, obviously referring to a place of non-commitment, caution etc. At one point he made the statement, "Some of you are still on the fence, literally...". Since we were all sitting in chairs, it is pretty obvious that none of us were literally sitting on a fence! This is one of hundreds of examples I hear of this being misused. A couple others are "I was literally rolling on the floor laughing...". This actually could be true, but it very seldom is. Another: "I'm literally starving." No, you're not, and all of the children of Africa who are literally starving resent that remark.

Exponential...

Here is another one that is misused in the church all the time: exponential, when referring to growth or number comparisons etc. Perhaps I should be less hard on this one, because I suppose it could be exaggeration, but it just doesn't seem they mean to exaggerate when I hear people use it. In addition, some actually combine a use of "exponential" with the term "literally"!

Let me explain. If you have even a sixth grade education in math, you know how exponents work. 2 raised to the 2nd power means 2X2, which equals 4. 2 to the 3rd is 2X2X2 which is 8, and on and on. To be fair, there are fraction exponents that are less than 2 but higher than one, but, to keep it simple, we are assuming they are talking about exponents of 2 and higher. So, for a church of 100 people to add 25 people, even 100 people in a weekend is not exponential growth. Exponential growth by a church of 100 would be a minimum of 100X100, or 10,000 new people. See, so it a ridiculous exaggeration to describe growth in terms of exponential. One true example of exponential grown is the early church, where 11 disciples and a few women became the seed to a movement that added thousands every day. That is exponential growth. Doubling a small group is not.

Sorry for being cantankerous. Thanks for your grace.

Right Brain/Left Brain

I found this at Joel's Thoughts and traced it back to the Where-what-How-Why blog. It's one of those optical illusions that you can see two ways.

Supposedly if you see the girl spinning clockwise you are using the right side of your brain, and if you see her spinning counterclockwise, you are using the left side of your brain. The left side of your brain if supposed to be the creative side. Again, I'm no expert, but this is what the proverbial "they" say. If you can make it switch directions, you are apparently in the small sector (14%) of people who can see a situation from either side.

So which way did you see it?

(By the way, I'm pretty sure this is the first time there is a visible nipple outline on my blog.)

Update: Apparently the info is wrong. It has nothing to do with left brain/right brain. Thanks for Mark for pointing us to this blog that seems to clear things up.

This news article, like many others, ignores the true source of this optical illusion and instead claims it is a quick test to see if you use more of your right brain or left brain. This is utter nonsense, but the “right-brain/left brain” thing is in the public consciousness and won’t be going away anytime soon. Sure, we have two hemispheres that operate fine independently and have different abilities, but they are massively interconnected and work together as a seamless whole (providing you have never had surgery to cut your corpus callosum).

These kinds of optical illusions are always fun. What they reveal is how our brain processes visual information in order to create a visual model of the world. The visual system evolved to make certain assumptions that are almost always right (like, if something is smaller is it likely farther away). But these assumptions can be exploited to created a false visual construction, or an optical illusion.

Happy Easter

May the joy of the resurrected Lord, and his victory over death encourage and strengthen you today.

I Love Wheat Thins

That's it.

Who Should you Vote for?

Have you guys seen this neat little tool? It is a 10 question survey about issues in the upcoming election, and it will tell you who you should vote for based on your responses and how the candidates agree with you. Interesting huh?

I tried it and confirmed I was supporting the right candidate based on my answers.

Did yours match up? What question would you add?

American Gladiators Returns

I cannot adequately put into words how pumped I was to find out that American Gladiators was making a comeback. In fact, when I hit play on my Tivo to watch it last night, I let out a squeal of excitement (a tough, manly squeal, of course).

American Gladiators is a show that started in the late 80's and ran through '96. the show featured contestants coming to compete against a series of Gladiators featured on the show.

In the new version, replacing Mike Adamle and Larry Csonka as hosts are Hulk Hogan and Laila Ali. Replacing Nitro, Gemini, and Ice (among others) are new, bigger, tougher Gladiators. One guy, Justice, is listed as 6'8" 290!

They also have returned the best games from the older show (slightly tweaked) and come up with some new ones as well. Here is an overview.

Returning Games:

Powerball: This may be the most physical, mano-a-mano game that has existed on AG. The contestants have to get balls into barrels at various spots on the floor, but they have Gladiators trying to take them out. The result is hard hits, tackling, and sometimes injuries. The one thing that always bothered me about this game is that there are 3 gladiators going up against 2 contestants. I don't mind the contestants being out numbered so much, but why 3? One contestant is always going to be 2 on 1 when the other is 1 on 1. Doesn't seem fair to me, but it is a fun game to watch.

Joust: Perhaps the most famous game from the older show, contestants stand on a platform acoss from a gladiator on his platform, where they procede to use "jousting sticks" to knock each other off. The new twist: rather than falling onto a padded floor, the loser has about a 12 foot drop into a swimming pool.

Hang Tough: what I always called "the rings" as a kid, the contestant must make it across a series of gymnist style rings before the gladiator gets to him and takes him down. No obvious changes to this game.

The Wall: Rock Climbing, Gladiator Style. Pretty simple really. The contestants get a 7 second head start to climb up a rock climbing wall before the gladiators are let loose to chase them. This always played on my fear of someone chasing me and who was about to get me. The new twist, again, is that when the loser falls, they drop into the water.

The Assault: I lied before. This has to be the most famous older game. The best by far. A constestant has to make his way through a course, hiding behind barriers and finding weopons to use to shoot a target located above a gladiator's head. Oh yeah, and the gladitor is using an air cannon to shoot tennis balls at 100mph at the contestant. If they get hit, they are out. There are some small new twists to this game (newer weapons), but the coolest thing is that when the target gets hit, the gladiator gets flung upward like a catapult (it used to be that smoke would release, yawn).

*It will be interesting to see if they bring back the other classic games like Atlasphere and Human Cannonball.

New Games

Pyramid: This us my favorite new game. The contestants have to climb a padded, stair-stepped pyramid, with a gladiator in their way. The gladitors have the higher position (and usually about 100 lbs of muscle) on the contestant, so it results in some crazy tackles from above and throws off of the pyramid.

Earthquake: There is about an 8 foot in diameter platform in the air that shifts and angles, as a gladiator and a contestant wrestle to knock the other off. The loser falls into the pool.

Gauntlet: Contestants have to run trough a padded hallway of sorts with 4 gladiators at various places with pads, looking to knock the crap out of them.

Hit and Run: Contestants have to run back and forth across a flimsly bridge to get points, all the while, gladiators are hurling 100 lb pendulum bags at them to knock them off.


After competing in these games for points, the leader gets a head start in The Eliminator, a huge obsticle course to determine the winner. Here is what they have to do: On the whistle, contestansts first scale a wall (8 feet or so). From the top, the jump into a pool where they swim 20 feet under water below a row of fire. They swim to the edge, where they climb a 30 foot rope ladder. At the top, they grab onto a barrell like device and roll to the bottom (can you say "So dizzy I want to puke?"). Then, they do the hand bike, followed by a balance beam, then up a pyramid, and down the zip line. Then they go up the "Travelator", which used to be the first part of the Eliminator. It is a referse treadmill angled upward that contestants have to run up. Then they run up some steps and break through a wall of padded bricks.

I honestly think they have made The Eliminator too hard. It is no longer a question of speed and strength (as it used to be), but of simple endurence. Usually contestants are so tired at the end they can hardly finish, and some don't. I have yet to see a close finish, as one person is usually down for the count out of exhaustion. It will be interesting to see if the contestants catch up to The Eliminator, or if they scale it down to make it more competative.

Anyway, you can catch the show on Monday's at 8 EST, 7 Central. If you are watching the new show, let me know. It would be fun to share our favorite moments and gladiators.

**Correction**
Apparently The Gauntlet was a game from the old show, not a new game as listed above. My mistake. As one of the poorer games they play, I guess I just don't remember it from back in the day.