November 2006 Archives

Londo: But this - this, this, this is like being nibbled to death by... what are those Earth creatures called? Feathers, long bill, webbed feet... go 'quack'... Vir: Cats. Londo: Cats. Being nibbled to death by cats.

This quote
from Babylon 5 came to my wife's mind today when we were discussing the return policy of Target. With a baby coming soon, Terri was thrown two different baby showers by friends and coworkers. To give her friends and colleagues an idea of the kinds of things she needed, she registered for gifts at Target. So far, so good. The majority of her registry (hundreds of dollars worth), were purchased from Target for her and she's very thankful for all the gifts. Yet, there are inevitibly a few duplicate purchases or items bought that Terri either doesn't need, changed her mind on, or whatever. Therefore, she went to return some of these items. Rather than receive service, she was told that they had a strict limit on what could be returned and how. Please, let me tell you the rest of this story.

A few weeks ago, we went back the first time. First off, the service person was either tired or had a bad day because she was kind of rude. This can serve as an explanation for her rudeness, but does not excuse it. A customer service person does her company a disservice unless she's "always on." Next, when asking for help she had to concentrate real hard to remember the policies. This tells me that her training is either incomplete or not fresh in her mind, even if she's tired. She shouldn't be running the service desk by herself in such a condition and she still didn't need to be rude. We tried to return a few items, some Terri had registered for, at least one she had not. We were told that Target does not allow more than two (2) non-receipt returns per year. This has the following qualifications/implications:

1. By "receipt" they mean that either the gift must have been marked off your registry and linked with a particular purchase. This way they can verify a record in their system that such an item was in fact purchased on your behalf. This may also include a regular receipt, a gift receipt, or a credit card number for the purchase, which they can use to look up the item.
2. Simply having the item marked on your registry is not enough because they want circumstancial evidence that the purchase was actually made from a Target store.
3. This is probably why Target prints out a gift receipt with almost every purchase (in my experience). However, they need to make this policy a little more pronounced because not everyone makes sure to get the gift receipt with the gift and sometimes the gift receipt is in a card and gets mixed up.
4. Make sure if you buy a gift for someone at Target to tape the gift receipt to the item. Period. If they don't have the gift receipt, Target may not let them return it.
5. Marking it off the registry is not something a lot of people do when they go through the line at Target. Target has not made this process very easy and should improve the process to make it easier. The last time we tried to buy someone something off the registry we handed the person behind the counter the 6 sheets of paper with the items listed (printed from the front of the store) and that person had to look through the list, find the item, and scan the bar code associated with that item. This is a hassle, and for some folks, embarrassing. The person should just be able to look at the list and scan the bar code. I say, that if the item isn't on the list a warning should be listed and then the person should be able to add the item to the registry as an extra receipt if Target is going to have such a limited return policy.
6. The store provides one other way around the policy: you may exchange an item for another item in the store for equal or greater value from the same department.

Here's my problem. My wife entered their store and literally endorsed items in the store for purchase by her friends. The invitations for both showers noted that she was registered at Target, which is an invitation to go to that store and buy those items. Most of the registry has been purchased. My wife brought literally hundreds of dollars of purchases in to the store just for her items. Would you care to guess how many folks bought additional items for themselves while they were buying gifts for her? I'd be willing to bet that close to half, if not more, did buy more than just gifts for her while they were there.

In exchange for inviting this business into the door, they want to enforce a policy aimed at keeping folks from stealing from them. This seems like the pinacle of bad business practices to me. If they want to be nit-picky about this sort of thing to reduce losses, they should at least have the ability to recognize someone who's driving business into their store with some respect.

Finally, I sent an email to their corporate office explaining our experience and stated most of the above and got back an email saying, "Sorry, but that's our policy." This sounded to me like the rental employee's response to Steve Martin in Planes, Trains, and Automibiles, "Sorry, but your @#$%ed." Because of this experience Terri and I have greatly soured on Target and we don't intend on shopping their as much in the future.

Instead, I highly recommend Wal-Mart, where these store's inventories overlap. I've often heard Wal-Mart described as an "evil corporation" and that they destroy local business. No doubt they have made mistakes and have destroyed local business, but my experience has been very positive in the are of customer service. If a local business can't learn to compete, I tend to believe it's that business' fault, not Wal-Mart's.

First, their return policy is very liberal. Officially (from what is on their web site) they accept any return with a receipt within 90-days. In my experience, they'll take back anything that's currently on their shelves without a receipt and give you cash up to a certain limit and store credit for anything more. That's a perfectly reasonable policy, in my opinion.

In addition, I have twice sent email to Wal-Mart's corporate office. Once to complain about service I got from one department and once to ask for a discontinued item to be added back to their inventory. In both cases, I received a phone call from the store manager or the manager of that department. In both cases, they explained they would try to do what they could and explained the difficulties they faced in coping with their corporate policies. I've worked in a large organization and understand those difficulties. These phone calls convinced me that there was a human on the other side that was at least aware of the problem, even if the problem didn't get fixed. I didn't get the "@#$% you" response I got from Target.

Anyway, I thought that it might be fun to write a blog praising Wal-Mart, particularly after their recent blogging fiasco
.

Cheers.

I hesitate to put this topic on my blog because it causes such a strong reaction by most folks. In fact, the discussion generally provokes a pretty strong reaction from me. This is why I really want to carefully treat the topic from my point of view without trolling
. As such, I just want to state my position from various perspectives and summarize what I believe.

First, let me define what I'm talking about to be clear. Abortion is the action of destroying or purposely rendering a human embryo or fetus inviable. I consider all forms of abortion as homicide. Just to be clear: homicide is not necessarily criminal. Our legal system, for example, incorporates the ancient concept of "justified homicide." Justified homicide is the termination of a human life under mitigating circumstances. For example, the most obvious case happens when someone threatens you with a gun in your home and you kill them. The law is carried out such that this action is not considered criminal.

The debate about abortion falls into several arenas that frequently get confused. There is the criminal, social, and political aspects of the discussion, which is concerned with whether or not government or some part of society is responsible for taking action in a given circumstance. There is the moral and ethical arena whereby you state that an action is objectively right or wrong (morality) or helpful or harmful to society, yourself, or some other class (ethics). There is the scientific and medical arena concerned with the actual nature of the action itself. I'd like to consider each of these aspects in the reverse order they are given here.

Science of Abortion

The medical science related to genetics and life forms one leg of the foundation of my ethical argument against the practice of abortion. The second leg of that foundation is that human life is sacred and should be protected, which is a moral and ethical argument I will consider in detail later. If life is sacred, then an important question is: when does an individual human life form? If life is not sacred, then it doesn't really matter if you are taking a life way anyway, so the point is moot.

I believe the answer to the question as to when life begins is answered medically without doubt. At which point does a person become an individual? When that person becomes genetically distinct: conception. At the point at which an individual sperm joins with the egg and their DNA combine to form a single whole, an individual exists, the potential becomes actual. I'd be willing to debate this point, but I can't think of another possible juncture where you can say a new individual exists. All other changes to an embryo or fetus or merely changes of degree, not changes of nature.

One might also suggest that the individual is formed when the embryo attaches to the wall of the uterus. Yet, that doesn't really fly because the uterus merely acts as a feeding mechanism. Just because the embryo fails to survive because it doesn't start gathering food from the mother doesn't mean it was never a person. One might as well say that an infant was never an individual human because it failed to crawl to and suckle from it's mother's breasts on its own.

One might suggest that the individual is formed when it starts feeling or thinking or becomes a recognizable animal form or some other measure. The difficulty is that it isn't possible to define a moment or point of time at which such things happen. Furthermore, you can take away these things without necessarily losing individuality. Does a person cease to be an individual life form if she becomes paralyzed and without sensation? What if he stops thinking? A person can still act and be an individual in a completely catatonic state. Some humans are badly disfigured, but it doesn't remove the fact that they are human.

One might also suggestion that the individual is formed when it could survive out of the womb. However, this becomes difficult to measure. Records are set on a fairly regular basis for younger and younger premature infant survival. I don't see any reason why medical technology couldn't be developed to allow an embryo to develop completely outside of a mother's womb. In fact, it could even happen in my life time. Who knows?

One might state that an individual is only possible at the moment of birth or at some point after birth. However, what's special about the infant leaving the womb? There's nothing magically different between a fetus and an infant at full term except that one is in the mother's womb and the other is not. One might even say that individuality doesn't come until later as the child's complex psychological personality begins to form. Yet, this reasoning suffers from the same difficulty as the earlier arguments about feeling, thinking, or recognizable form.

I simply cannot think of any other moment where an individual is formed other than conception. That doesn't mean there isn't some other point, but as far as I can understand the medical process, conception is the only point where an individual life can be said to start.

If life is sacred and life begins at conception, then the definition of homicide definitely applies to an embryo that is terminated by a pill or through an abortion performed by a doctor. Again, this doesn't necessitate that such an act is criminal, just that such an act is the taking of a human life: homicide.

This basis is the reason for which I cannot accept the argument that this is about a "woman's body." It is, in fact, about a woman's body and the infant's body. As an illustration, if two men are trying to go opposite ways through a doorway and neither is willing to give up to let the other through, it's about each man's body causing hardship for the other. One would not say that one man would be justified in killing the other just so he could get the other out of his way.

Morality and Ethics of Abortion

My morality is based upon the teaching of the Bible as well as I understand it. My ethics are based upon that moral foundation as much as possible because I don't believe a complete ethic can be derived from nothing. (In fact, the definition of "derivation" requires that one assume some basic principles.) On the other hand, I can still appeal to common sense and what's good for society and individuals to help bolster my ethical and moral positions.

As I mentioned before, I believe human life is sacred. Let me define what I mean. Something that is sacred is something regarded with great respect and reverence. Something that is sacred must not be destroyed or damaged without justification. Without such justification, destructive action against a sacred object is wrong.

Personally, I believe human life is sacred because this is a common theme in the Bible. However, if I cast aside the Biblical basis, I believe there is still a strong argument for the sacredness of human life. The basis for that statement is simply this, is it alright to take another person's life for any (or no) reason at all? Is it okay to kill someone because you feel like it? Is it okay just because you wanted to? Is it okay to kill someone because you can?

I don't think I've met anyone of any creed, belief, or unbelief that thinks it is justifiable to kill for no reason or any reason at all. I certainly hope I've never met anyone like that. Therefore, nearly everyone believes human life to be sacred even if individuals have no religious faith behind such a belief. I use the word "sacred", but I don't mean that in a necessarily religious way.

If human life is sacred and life begins at conception, then any individual between conception and birth (those subject to abortion) are sacred and must not be destroyed (aborted) without justification. Again, this doesn't mean that the unjustified destruction of an embryo or fetus is criminal. Abortion is homicide. Homicide might be justifiable. Whether it is justifiable or not it might not be criminal.

Another possible fuzzy area presents itself, however. How much justification is required to abort an unattached embryo? An embryo attached to the uterus? A fetus? An infant? A toddler? A child? An adolescent? An adult? A senior? It is possible that different amounts or different kinds of justifications might be possible. Each stage of life might have it's own criteria and certainly each stage of life presents a different set of circumstances. For example, if you kill an adult threatening you with a weapon in your own home, that's generally considered justified. However, if you kill a toddler that threatens you with a weapon, you will not be considered justified under any circumstances I can imagine.

This is, in my opinion the very crux of the matter. Abortion is homicide, but what suffices as justification for this form of homicide? This answer is much more difficult to discern. Does risk to a mother's health justify abortion to save the mother's life? Does psychological risk justify abortion? Just because the father of the unborn individual raped the mother to form the individual is abortion justified? Is the mental health or intelligence of the mother factor into such a justification?

It is my opinion that these are the questions we need to focus on as a society rather than fighting this as an epic one-way-or-the-other battle. What suffices as justified homicide when it comes to abortion? Can abortion be justified as is the case with the homicide of an adult? Or is abortion always unjustified as is homicide involving a toddler? Is abortion justified when the parents of the individual are especially underprivileged (or even over-privileged)? Is abortion justified when the individual is found in utero to be susceptible to or affected by disease? Is abortion justified if the mother is taking medication that happens to destroy or render the embryo inviable? These questions should be considered rather than making this the monolithic issue of: Abortion-for-or-against.

My answer: I view abortion as permanently unjustifiable. I can find nothing in the Bible that suggests that taking a child's life to save the mother is justified. In the case of rape of the mother, there are instances of such an act but the infant not aborted (yes, abortions were possible in ancient times and the practice of justified infanticide was also a common practice in many non-semitic cultures). I don't find anything justifying abortion in any of the above questions in the Bible either.

Again, this doesn't mean that all abortion must be criminal. It is possible for me (or even general society) to consider a particular abortion wrong, but for the law to allow such an abortion to proceed without any criminal ramifications. In fact, it's even possible for an action to be ethically justified but considered criminal. To illustrate the point, take the face mask penalty of football. Whether the face mask was intentional (unjustified) or clearly accidental (justifiable) doesn't matter. It's so important to protect players from neck injury that any contact of one player's hands to another player's face mask is an automatic penalty. The same is possible in law.

Politics of Abortion

Therefore, the second half of this question is to decide when abortion homicide is committed, is such an act criminal? Currently, the laws are generally written such that no criminal charges can be brought against either the doctor performing nor the patient receiving an abortion for any reason or at any time during pregnancy up to the point of birth. I will qualify that previous statement by saying that some criminal prosecution is possible under certain circumstances. For example, some states forbid abortions to be given to minors without the consent of their parent or guardian. In such a case, it's not the abortion itself that's considered criminal, but that a medical procedure was carried out without the consent of the individuals in charge of the minor.

The libertarian view on the subject is that the government should not intervene and it is up to the individual to make up their mind on such a decision. Therefore, they believe government should not intervene regardless of the moral or ethical issues involved. It's simply none of the government's business.

This is one of the points at which I disagree strongly with libertarians. In my view, since I consider human life sacred and to undoubtedly start at conception, this is equivalent to saying that a parent is legally free of criminal consideration for killing their own child until that child is no longer under the guardianship of the parent. Such a view diminishes the sacredness of human life and reduces human life to the same level as personal property. If an infant, toddler, or adolescent is to be protected under the law, I do not see a difference as to whether the individual is within or without the womb. I see no reason why a pre-born individual should be considered with any less protection.

Conclusion

I feel pretty strongly about this, but I've worked very hard to present an objective view of the topic. I've purposely avoided any emotional imagery or other tactics in presenting my view and any point presented here is open for comment by any person visiting my site. However, if a troll or poster comes in using emotional imagery or misleading argumentation, you can expect to have your comment deleted. Disagreement is welcome; irrational and emotional argumentation about any aspect from any position is not.

Cheers.