I have an article up on seedmagazine.com about when scientists take their results directly to the mainstream press, without submitting them to peer review first. Here’s a snippet:

Given the recent hot news about fraudulent stem cell research in South Korea and cancer research in Norway, it appears that scientists are being pulled in two directions when deciding how to disseminate their results: On the one hand, they want to get the information out as quickly as possible, but on the other hand, they understand that other scientists need to verify that information to ensure the results are sound.

First, I just wanted to let readers know that the comments threads are still quite active in two of my posts on the pro-life movement (here and here — I really need to get a “recent comments” plugin set up on this site).

But I wanted to bring yet another of Deep Thought’s comments to the forefront, and since he doesn’t seem to mind the attention, I’ll address it right here. He says:

That is, in the end, the debate. The right of a woman to have an uninterrupted career, or to not be hassled while completing a graduate degree, or to not gain too much weight, or escape the economic burden of her own actions.

Women are selfish, he argues, for wanting these rights, and for sacrificing the life of another in order to get them. That’s the heart of his argument right there: that the rights of the embryo or fetus to live trump the right of its mother to have the life she wants. I don’t think he’d disagree with that.

But let’s be clear about some things: for Deep Thought, “her own actions” include using birth control which fails. I wouldn’t be surprised if Deep Thought included her being raped in “her own actions.” This is what Deep Thought is talking about. If you are raped, you must not only suffer that inhumanity, but if the rape happens to result in a fertilized egg, then part of your rape will continue for another nine months, because you will not only be forced to have intercourse, you’ll also be forced to bear and give birth to the child that results. Otherwise, you’re just being selfish.

For Deep Thought, emergency contraceptives for rape victims would be an unacceptable compromise, because Deep Thought believes, against all scientific evidence, that emergency contraceptives may prevent a fertilized egg from implanting.

Deep Thought claims that I haven’t talked to enough pro-lifers to really understand what they believe. Deep Thought believes that both abortion and contraception are wrong, but, he claims, for different reasons. It would be theoretically possible for someone to be pro-contraception, but also believe that life begins the instant the sperm reaches the egg, and so any device that prevents implantation or causes an abortion should be banned. I haven’t met anyone like that. I’d be interested to know if any group actually supports that agenda, because again, I haven’t seen one. Christina Page claims in How the Pro-Choice Movement Saved America that no such group exists. Deep Thought, do you know of any?

Update: I’ve now added a recent comments list. I think it looks lousy, but it’s functional. Maybe one of these afternoons when I’ve got some time, I’ll spruce it up a bit.

I just realized that RSS subscribers to Word Munger were only getting brief snippets of each post. That’s no good at all! I’ve now updated the feed to include the full text of each and every Word Munger post, which is as it should have been all along (why didn’t you guys tell me?).

I’m not much of an RSS guy myself, but I know many of you are, so go crazy!