Porcupine Awards From 1999
The Strange New Idea Award
Awarded February 2000
The Strange New Idea Award goes to Peter Singer for his recent
revelation that killing old people is "different when it's your mother."
Singer occupies the "bioethics" chair at Princeton University's Center
for Human Values and has written and spoken extensively for decades on
the lack of value of human life. He is noted for saying that a pig is
more valuable than a retarded child and that "Killing a disabled infant
is not morally equivalent to killing a person." He introduced the term
"speciesism" as an term for thinking human life is is more valuable than
animals or insects and has likend such thinking to the Ku Klux KLan.
He also has said that people have a "moral obligation" to kill the aged
and infirm because they use far too many medical resources.
It was recently revealed that Singer is, at great expense, having his
mother, who suffers from Alzheimer's Disease, cared for.
When asked about the apparent contradiction, Singer, in a flash of
insight that had escaped him in his 30+ years as an "ethicist," said, "I
think this has made me see how the issues of someone with these kinds of
problems are really very difficult. Perhaps it is more difficult than I
thought before, because it is different when it is your mother."
(However, do not hold your breath waiting for any retractions of his
former positions.)The Neville Chamberlain Award
Awarded February 2000
The coveted Neville Chamberlain Award now passes to the U.S. Senate Republicans for meritorious cowardice. Convinced that discretion is the only part of valor, most Senate Republicans voted with notoroius pro-abort Democrat (excuse the redundancy) Senator Charles "Javert" Schumer to strip the right of bankruptcy protection from anti-abortion activists.
While originally making a show of opposition to Schumer's amendment to the Bankruptcy Reform Act, Republicans backed down en masse when it came to the actual vote.
In an attempt to placate the "pro-life community" (read: "moderate" pro-life inactivists), the GOP explained that their motives were simply to deny Veep Gore a photo opportunity to show himself more-pro-abort-than-thou by casting a tie-breaking vote on the amendment. However, Republican leaders were not addressing the issue of why, with a GOP majority in the Senate, there was even a tie to begin with.
Meanwhile, anti-abortion activists face a lifetime of penury and legal harassment and pretend pro-life legislators gained a Pyrric victory against Gore.
Porcupine Awards From 1999