FROM THE BARRICADES FOR 4/25

Posted by Jon Pike Apr 25, 2009

We have more evidence this week, that my regular articles are largely dictated by the news of the week. I have planned in previous weeks, and still plan on, doing a column about the unusual amount of political activism around evolution and creationism/intelligent design. I should do this, because this is the one country where evolution is not a settled issue. It is still fodder for political activism.

The one column I wrote this week, I honestly have mixed opinions on. I really have not settled on whether animal testing is perforce right or wrong. I guess I’m kind of in the muddled middle and say that it shouldn’t be unnecessary or cruel. I think there is animal testing that is both unnecessary and cruel. I have read some stuff from people I respect who argue for the necessity of animal testing. I really don’t know, and so, it may be one of those cases in which I have an article that is completely “objective” in that I have not determined my position in it.

One issue on which I firmly am not objective is the death penalty. I am unalterably opposed to it. I have genuinely wrestled with this issue, and it always seems that the more I investigate it, the more I am determined to be opposed to it. Therefore, I do not believe that Mumia Abu-Jamal, nor anybody should be put to death by the state. I believe and support any roadblocks that have been put in its way. I have live in death penalty, and non-death penalty states, and for some odd reason, I have always preferred those that are non-death penalty. I will be moving soon from a death penalty state to a non-death penalty state. I think it will be better for me.

Because of some changes in my life, I will probably be increasing my production of columns. I will be shooting for, about two a week. This way, I’ll largely be covered in my contractual obligations as a feature writer for Suite101 if I have to miss a week. I also may finally get to that column on political activism surrounding evolution, which I still find strange. But, that’s the world about which I write. I can plan columns for the future, but a current events-based column will always be dictated by the ebb and flow of the events in the news.