Quote du jour

"As far as Ron Paul, we prefer Rand Paul. He's the sane one."

-Mark Levin, on his radio show

Formspring Question #253--Morality by the Numbers Edition

In your review for "Nothing Human” you are implying committing immoral acts for the greater good is bad, but you have frequently said dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima was morally acceptable because the resulting deaths would be fewer than in an invasion. Please explain the contradiction.

The two scenarios are more complicated than saying the number of dead is smaller than the number saved, therefore the action is moral. Krell Mercet took hundreds of people prisoner and experimented on them in agonizing ways in order to find a cure for a plague that was killing thousands. There is no moral justification for it because it is a deliberate criminal act. Dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima was a matter of their being no good options. Japan refused to surrender, but the war had to end before casualties piled up exponentially in an invasion. Dropping the bomb was the lesser of two evils, and therefore moral.

We are just wired as humans to understand that deciding what is moral comes down to more than weighing the numbers against each other. As a Christian, I think it is the natural law, but if you want to call it being wired for such decisions, be my guest. Let me illustrate how it works regardless of its origins.

Take two scenarios:

One: There is a train with five passengers racing towards a section of the track between two cliffs which has been destroyed. The train is going to fall off the edge of the cliff once it gets there. There is no way the passengers can stop the train. Their only hope is you, because you can flip a lever which will switch the train to a new track which will save them. However, there is a man on the new track who cannot be warned in time the train is coming. If you pull the lever to switch tracks, you will kill him, but you will save five people in the process.

Two: There are five patients in a hospital ward. They each need a different organ transplant to live. A man walks into the ward, and you suddenly get the inspiration that you could kill him and harvest his organs for transplant. (Assume the organs would be compatible.) Again, you would be killing one person in order to save five.

the numbers are the same--sacrifice one to save five--but the circumstances make the morality of the decision different. In the first scenario, not pulling the lever would cause five people to die. While pulling the lever will cause the death of another, you automatically think it is the most moral choice of a no win situation in which you have been forced. But the second scenario has an air of sinister conspiracy. You are not really in a no win situation, but you have decided to initiate a deliberate evil because you have calculated the results are worth it. But they are not.

It is difficult to establish a general principle in regards to how moral decisions are more than adding up the numbers to make the better choice. I am a fallible person with a sinful nature. But there does appear to be a natural pull towards the right answer if you honestly look for it. The pull tells me that experimenting on people against their will to save thousands is evil, but dropping a bomb killing thousands to save far more lives is moral. You may draw your own conclusions, of course, but I would like to see your reasoning first.

Brandon Wright, Rescued Utah Motorcyclist, Gives Interview

LCR posted the video of Brandon Wright's amazing rescue yesterday. Here, he talks about the experience:



Cross posted at LCR.

Vintage Babe of the Week

Tonight's Vintage Babe* is Mae West!
(*a.k.a. Rule Five Thursday)














Like fine wines, the ladies improve with age!

Pat Robertson is Wrong Yet Again

Just to keep you all from breaking Formspring by overloading it with queries, yes, I know Pat Robertson said divorcing spouses afflicted with Alzheimer's is acceptable because it is a 'kind of death." As usual, he is being bigoted and un-Biblical. I am certain his behavior comes as much of a shock to you as it does to me. By tomorrow, we will probably learn his wife has Alzheimer's.

Yes, I went to law school at his Regent University. Yes, I went in spite of robertson, not because of him. Yes, I regret attending. No, there is nothing i can do about it now. No, i am not responsible for what Robertson says. No, I am not responsible for what he says because my diploma has his signature on it. No, he is not representative of Christian belief. no, the words or action of one Christian are not enough to condemn the entire religion.

Have I covered everything? I have had to run through this routine like a fire drill many times since setting foot on the Regent university campus ten years ago. I am confident I have it down pat--no pun intended--but things have a way of sneaking up on you and gouging your eyes out, which I cannot afford. I only have one left, and it sucks.

Republican Writes "The American Jobs Act"

Last Saturday, we noted the President's bad case of premature espeechulation:

The Least Serious President in the History of the Republic™ Makes the Most Irrelevant Speech in the History of the Republic ,

where he repeatedly asked Congress to pass a bill that hadn't been written yet. It appears that all of the Democrats, a few fries short of a Happy Meal, failed to file the bill which Obama specifically called in his speech "The American Jobs Act".

But, since there wasn't actually a bill by that name that had been filed, a Republican lawmaker has stepped into the breach!

President Obama repeatedly asked members of Congress to pass the American Jobs Act last week. But when no Democrat filed Obama’s bill after he presented it to Congress, a conservative congressman swiped the name for his own legislation.

The American Jobs Act introduced in the House of Representatives looks quite different from the version President Obama outlined in his speech to Congress. Instead of hiking taxes on working Americans to pay for another stimulus, Rep. Louie Gohmert’s (R-TX) legislation offers a tax cut.

UPDATE: Gohmert’s bill now has a number. It’s HR 2911.

Brilliant! Simply brilliant! Maybe next time, Obama will actually have a bill for Congress to pass when he repeats ad nauseum, "Pass this bill"?

H/T Memeorandum

Cross posted at Left Coast Rebel, Say Anything

Medal of Honor Being Awarded Today

Sgt. (then Corporal) Dakota L. Meyer

Citation:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the repeated risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as a member of Marine Embedded Training Team 2-8, Regional Corps Advisory Command 3-7, in Kunar Province, Afghanistan, on 8 September 2009. When the forward element of his combat team began to be hit by intense fire from roughly 50 Taliban insurgents dug-in and concealed on the slopes above Ganjgal village, Corporal Meyer mounted a gun-truck, enlisted a fellow Marine to drive, and raced to attack the ambushers and aid the trapped Marines and Afghan soldiers. During a six hour fire fight, Corporal Meyer single-handedly turned the tide of the battle, saved 36 Marines and soldiers and recovered the bodies of his fallen brothers. Four separate times he fought the kilometer up into the heart of a deadly U-shaped ambush. During the fight he killed at least eight Taliban, personally evacuated 12 friendly wounded, and provided cover for another 24 Marines and soldiers to escape likely death at the hands of a numerically superior and determined foe. On his first foray his lone vehicle drew machine gun, mortar, rocket grenade and small arms fire while he rescued five wounded soldiers. His second attack disrupted the enemy’s ambush and he evacuated four more wounded Marines. Switching to another gun-truck because his was too damaged they again sped in for a third time, and as turret gunner killed several Taliban attackers at point blank range and suppressed enemy fire so 24 Marines and soldiers could break-out. Despite being wounded, he made a fourth attack with three others to search for missing team members. Nearly surrounded and under heavy fire he dismounted the vehicle and searched house to house to recover the bodies of his fallen team members. By his extraordinary heroism, presence of mind amidst chaos and death, and unselfish devotion to his comrades in the face of great danger, Corporal Meyer reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service.

Sgt. Meyer: We humbly salute you and thank you for your service.

Editor's note: Some of the news coverage is erroneously reporting Meyer as an "ex-Marine". Whether or not he is actively serving, he will always be a Marine.



Hat tip Home of Heroes

There are fewer than a hundred living MoH recipients today. Their names and their stories should not be forgotten. My mission is to honor one of those heroes here each week, and salute them for their courage and sacrifice. In the words of John Fitzgerald Kennedy:

“A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces, but also by the men it honors; the men it remembers.”

Cross posted at Say Anything.