Thriller a reminder of evils of abortion

Publication:Waukesha Freeman (Conley); Date:Sep 3, 2009; Section:Opinion; Page Number:8A Thriller a reminder of evils of abortion (James Wigderson is a blogger publishing at http://wigdersonlibrarypub.blogspot.com and a Waukesha resident. His column runs Thursdays in The Freeman.) Tick, tick, tick ... The time for your summer reading just ran out. Those books you didn’t read will just have to wait until next year. Local author Michael Caughill completed my summer reading list this year with, “The Abortionist.” It’s the story of a serial killer who simulates different abortion methods on his adult victims. Dr. Hannibal Lecter meets Planned Parenthood. It is definitely not a story for the squeamish. Aside from being a great thriller, what makes “The Abortionist” an interesting read is the deft way Caughill handles the abortion topic. Caughill avoids a heavy-handed, lecturing approach to the topic. Instead, his characters discuss both sides of the abortion issue in much the conversational way so many of us discuss it with friends and family. Caughill does not distract us with long Ayn Rand-like diatribes, and the action proceeds at a crisp pace throughout the book. Where Caughill makes his point is in the gruesome way the murders are conducted, reminding us that abortion is a bloody business. The methods of abortion vary. The most common method in the first trimester is called suction aspiration. It involves a powerful suction tube with a sharp cutting edge which is inserted into the womb. The blade is used to cut the fetus into pieces and the tube then sucks the parts out. Caughill’s challenge as a writer is to bring that reality of abortion to the audience without succumbing to writing political pornography. It’s a tightrope that he manages to navigate. Nobody should be under the illusion that the decision behind most abortions is easy. Caughill reminds us of the social and economic pressures that drive women to consider such a step, and he does so in a sympathetic way. The women are victims twice in the novel, first of the culture that compels them to have abortions, and then at the hands of a serial killer. But as the declining numbers of abortions would seem to indicate, the culture is changing. More women are choosing life for their baby. The number of abortions annually in the United States peaked in 1990 at 1.6 million, according to the Alan Guttmacher Institute – an abortion-friendly organization. The number has dropped since to 1.2 million in 2005. Since Roe v. Wade in 1973 legalized abortion in all 50 states, over 49 million children have been aborted. For the first time this year, a Gallup poll indicated that more people consider themselves prolife than pro-choice when it comes to abortion. Pro-abortion politicians, largely in the Democratic Party, find themselves on the defensive. Following the lead of former President Clinton, they’ve adopted the formula of “safe, legal and rare.” But wishing abortion is “rare” is a recognition that there is something intrinsically wrong with the act of abortion. President Obama, perhaps the most radically pro-abortion president this country has had, also had to concede that there was a moral argument against abortion when he told the audience at Notre Dame the decision whether to have an abortion, “has both moral and spiritual dimensions.” He said he wanted to reduce the number of abortions, too. These concessions to the public’s growing prolife sentiment come with very little change to the abortion laws themselves. Fortunately, that is a sign that we can reduce the number of abortions through education and a change in the culture. Unfortunately, it looks like the law is about to lurch the other way. The president is demonizing abortion opponents by claiming that they are lying about how “health care reform” will lead to publicly funded abortions. Among the “liars” are many of the U.S. Catholic bishops, including New York’s (and formerly Milwaukee’s) Archbishop Timothy Dolan. Health care reform will include abortion coverage as part of “the public option” and Democrats have stopped any amendments in Congress to prevent it. Worse, private insurers will probably be forced to provide abortion services to have their policies approved by the government. Despite President Obama’s rhetoric, his actions speak to a different agenda than reducing the number of abortions. Perhaps the president would have been better off adding Caughill’s book to his summer reading at Martha’s Vineyard to remind him what it is that he is defending. JAMES WIGDERSON

Silly political scorekeeping

Liberal bloggers are upset, even apoplectic, that a conservative blogger would dare to suggest that if Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett had a concealed gun, he might not have suffered the injuries he did. Wow, conservatives are just rotten people.

Except when a more-prominent liberal blog runs a blog post by uber-liberal Keith Schmitz making the exact opposite point while using the lead pipe attack against the mayor.

Of course, it didn't occur to the liberal bloggers that their faux indignation is also just using the attack for more political points.

Wow, liberals are just rotten people.

As for the attack itself, if such a poll were conducted I truly believe Mayor Barrett would be voted the least-likely politician to ever be physically assaulted. C'mon, the biggest scandal of the guy's career was getting pulled over for speeding while delivering his daughter's girl scout cookies. It's terrible that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time trying to do the right thing and getting brutally attacked for it. The Wigderson family wishes him a speedy recovery.

Blog update

I'm still looking at a September 8th return to regular blogging.  The blog will be at a new website.  The change in the look of the website will be substantial, and I can't wait for all of you to see it.  Of course, I can't wait to see it myself.  My thanks for the advice that I have been given so far, as well as your good wishes. 

If you're interested at advertising at the new website, please let me know.

And, sorry Quietman, I don't plan to have any page 3 girls.  Well, maybe I'll change my mind. :)

Closed for the summer

Today is this blog’s fifth anniversary. Five years ago I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I decided to launch this experiment. I had no idea what I was doing when I started. I had no idea where this blog would take me.

Five years is a long time for a blog. Most blogs end after a matter of days. One ex-Waukesha blogger told me, “Blogging sucks.” Well, it depends.

If you are getting into blogging because you want to change the world, yes, it sucks. Blogging is pretty limited and requires a great deal of time and energy.

If you are getting into blogging because you love to write, that’s a different story. Blogging allows you to write what you want to write when you want to write. I still love blogging, and I have no complaints. Okay, a few, but not many.

I have never run out of things to write about. I’m lucky that way. I have avoided the burnout which is so common to bloggers. If I wasn't re-writing this post, I would be writing on any of a hundred different other topics.

I’m lucky to have built up an audience. Some blogs never gain that traction. Other blogs get huge audiences but don’t have anything meaningful to say. I have a modest audience, but I hope that I have kept you entertained and informed for these five years.

I have certainly enjoyed hearing from my readers. Not just the comments but the e-mails, phone calls and letters.

But all good things must come to an end. I’m taking some time off from blog writing to pursue other challenges. I’m also going to take some time to build a new website which will launch in September.

That means, sadly, the Wigderson Library & Pub is closing.

This weekend will be the first weekend in a long time I won’t be thinking about what I want to write next week in the blog. I’ll be camping with my son, far away from a computer. I’ll be reading the news with the rest of you instead of chasing it.

It will be weird.

I am still going to write my column for the Waukesha Freeman. I have not planned on taking any time away from that. For those of you that don't subscribe to the Waukesha Freeman, I still be posting my column here.

I will also continue on Twitter and Facebook, so please do feel free to follow me there. If and when other things pop up I promise to announce them here, as well.

I can't wait for my new website in September. I hope you can't wait either.

Thank you again for all of your support and encouragement. We will be together again soon. I promise.

Comments and trends

Liberal blogger Cory Liebmann is trying to read the comments of conservative blogs to see if there is a trend of hostility towards Mark Neumann's candidacy for governor.

As I have continued to write and speculate about the prospects of a primary I have noticed a very clear theme. Walker supporters are joining in on the "in your face" activity against Neumann. In fact they are also taking shots at his biggest supporter, one-time GOP big-wig Jim Klauser. I was a little surprised at some of the right wing comments on my blog postings. I didn't realize that the Walker supporters were going to be so insulting and dismissive of their fellow Republican. Recently I wondered if this was just an anomaly on my blog, so I started looking around. After looking at the comments sections on a few news sites and a couple of popular right wing blogs, I found that there really is a rather nasty reaction to Mark Neumann from Walker supporters.

Liebmann then lists a few examples.

I think reading comments for trends is about as accurate as phrenology. All you can tell from the tone and number of comments is the tone and interest level of those commenters.

I think you can learn useful information from commenters. For example, if commenters keep repeating the same points over and over again that might be the sign of a trend or just a really good message-making operation.

My caution to Walker supporters is that you don't want to be as obnoxious as some Mark Green suppporters were during the last primary cycle. I believe your candidate certainly has a strong base of support right now (including the Lovely Doreen from Waukesha). However, you're going to need every conservative voter to win against Doyle.

As far as the usefulness of blog comments in general, I certainly do think they're important. Commenters provide instant feedback, useful information, entertaining remarks, additional arguments, and even a place for those who feel unfairly treated in a blog post to respond. For that reason I try to keep the comments as wide-open as possible. But I don't think you can see the bigger picture just from the comments, any more than yu can learn about someone by counting the bumps on their head.

Q & A with Cindy Kilkenny regarding getting sued

Blogger Cindy Kilkenny declined to be interviewed regarding a lawsuit filed by Joseph C. Niebler Sr., President of NFI Properties LLC. (See correspondence at bottom.) However, she took the time to answer my questions on her blog, even if she didn't mention that I asked them. Apparently I'm a typical conservative filled with schadenfreude and she will not link to me to avoid promoting "potential" innaccuracies. Below are my questions and her answers:

JW: According to the Freeman article, you still haven't seen the complaint. Have you had a chance to read it?

CK: Have I seen the complaint? No, as of 1:45 p.m. Central time on May 29, 2009, I have not received service. I have had two calls from two reporters. They have both written stories. It appears from their stories they have read the complaint.

JW: Have you hired an attorney?

CK: Have I hired an attorney? No, I have not. While I take this issue very seriously, I haven’t read the complaint and so I’m not sure exactly what type of attorney I will need to hire. Someone with print media experience? Someone with defamation experience? Someone with SLAPP experience? These are big unknowns, and so I must be patient. (I heard some of you laugh just now. No, it’s not one of my more redeeming qualities, but I am trying.)

JW: Have you contacted any organizations that help defend blogs from lawsuits?

CK: Have I contacted any organizations that help defend blogs from lawsuits? No. I have done some internet research on these organizations, but do not feel they would be of particular use.

JW: Also, do you know if Journal Communications was named in the lawsuit?

CK: Was anyone else named in the lawsuit? Not that I can tell. While the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article indicated the complaint talked about BrookfieldNOW.com and my term as an alderman, that’s not been confirmed. The WCCA information lists only me as the defendant.

Correspondence with Ms. Kilkenny (E-mail address and my signature info removed):
On Fri, May 29, 2009 at 10:22 AM, James Wigderson wrote:

Hi Cindy,

Since I have a moment this morning, I wanted to ask a few questions about the law suit.

According to the Freeman article, you still haven't seen the complaint. Have you had a chance to read it? Have you hired an attorney? Have you contacted any organizations that help defend blogs from lawsuits?

Also, do you know if Journal Communications was named in the lawsuit?

Despite what you think, I do have a sincere interest in these issues.

Sincerely,

James Wigderson


From: Cindy Kilkenny
To: James Wigderson
Sent: Friday, May 29, 2009 11:42:22 AM
Subject: Re: have you been served yet?

James,

I'll be glad to answer your questions if they are a private conversation. I'm not inclined to have you cover this case using my information as an interview.

Should you agree, let me know, and I'll be happy to answer your questions.

Cindy


From: James Wigderson
To: cindy.kilkenny
Sent: Friday, May 29, 2009 12:40:58 PM
Subject: Re: have you been served yet?


No.

James Wigderson

More on the Kilkenny lawsuit

Blogger and former Brookfield Alderman Cindy Kilkenny announced on her site the lawsuit by Joseph C. Niebler Sr., president of NFI Properties LLC, over remarks she made about the Shire development:

Lucky me! I’m being sued.

May 27, 2009 at 3:10 pm --by Cindy Kilkenny

Hello bloggers. Pay attention. The next few weeks will be interesting to the future of blogs.

I won’t leave specifics right now. MJS just called, they’re running the story tomorrow. They were the first word I had of the action.

I guess I better call and tell the spouse.

This was followed by another blog post, "I Was Wrong About the Shire," where she made a correction and apologized to Mayor Jeff Speaker, Alderman Steve Ponto, and Common Council President Alderman Mark Nelson.

Here is the blog post in question that prompted the lawsuit from the developer and the correction/apology regarding the city officials. Here's another post by her on the subject.

Blog notes

Blogger's "Followers" widget seems to be having an issue with Internet Explorer so I had to remove it. Sorry for any inconvenience that may have caused.

This seems as good as time as any, so an announcement. June 18th is this blog's fifth anniversary. Time flies when you're having fun. I have logged over 5,400 posts, entertained a few hundred thousand of your visits, tackled some pretty serious issues, made a lot of friends, and had more than a few laughs on the way.

By the time June 18th rolls around, Wisconsin should have a new budget. We'll be in a slow period for Wisconsin politics. Unless something shocking happens locally, I plan on taking a vacation. I'll be gone until sometime in August. I'll still be continuing my column during that time (as long as the Waukesha Freeman publishes it) but I'll be working on a few other projects during that time.

Before my vacation starts, we'll have some fifth anniversary fun. Watch this space for more announcements.

Heard you missed me. I'm back.

Took a brief (if unannounced) break for a bit. I see the discussion has gone on without me. Pretending that I really didn't pay attention to the news the last couple of days, what did I miss?

Why don't you post on what I want when I want it?

Ann Althouse explains her silence on the subject of the Tea party protests today, and why her silence was misinterpreted.

But why haven't I posted about the tea party protests? A longstanding issue in blogging is the interpretation of the failure to post. Too many people think the absence of posts indicates an opinion of mine that the topic isn't important, when only it means that I have nothing I want to say on the subject.

Remember people, it's not what people don't post, it's what they do that counts.

Banish thought

Dean Mundy, the longtime Waukesha blogger at Musings of a Thoughtful Conservative, announced yesterday there would be no more updates.

What started 5 and a half years ago has come to an end.

This is my last post. I am quitting for personal reasons.

I will miss the friends I made here and on Twitter and Facebook, but all things must end sometime.

I thank those folks who stopped by to read my musings on different subjects. What started as simply an outlet for the words that churned inside me, became a small network of friends. Maybe I will still run into you if I attend any political events in the future.

The blog will remain up, but I don’t plan on being back to update it in the near future.

I’ve had fun.

Farewell.

Bloggers burnout often in the first year. To make it to five is an accomplishment, and more so if you can blog like Dean and be appreciated by everyone who blogs in Wisconsin.

For us it's not truly goodbye since he lives close by and I suspect I will be bumping into the man in the Tampa Bay Buccaneer jacket soon.

Quarter of nation's television stations switch to digital

From the Associated Press:

About a quarter of the nation's TV stations cut off their analog signals Tuesday, causing sets to go dark in households that were not prepared for digital television despite two years of warnings about the transition.

Though most viewers were ready — and people with cable or satellite service were unaffected — some stations and call centers reported a steady stream of questions from frustrated callers. Many wondered how to get coupons for converter boxes that translate digital signals for older TVs — or how to get the devices working.

For our liberal blogger friends, the switch from analog to digital will be a simple adjustment. No converter boxes will be needed. Just gently turn your tinfoil hats a quarter turn to the left and you'll feel much better.

Living and blogging in the Year of Obama

Andy Levy posted over at Big Hollywood a set of rules for conservatives for the next four years under Obama. I think they're pretty good and they're very similar to my philosophy here.

I want to take a moment to add a few thoughts on blogging and Obama. There are a lot of people on the Left that think conservatives should just withdraw from politics. Some will even say so openly, calling for all of us to join together under the Big Obama banner singing Obama Youth camp songs. Others will try to intimidate anyone who dares to dissent from the Obama orthodoxy. Still others will even try to bring the force of law down on anyone who dares to utter a peep of criticism for The Obama.

They're also going to be a tad obnoxious. Okay, more than a tad; they will define obnoxious. They will be that stupid NFL player that does a dance because he gained two yards.

On the flip side, some on the political Right are going to try to use the Left's behavior of the last eight years as some sort of justification for being boorish, obnoxious and offensive. I see it already whenever Ann Coulter says something stupid and crowds of "stick it to 'em" conservatives rush to her defense.

There is going to be a double standard. There already is a double standard. There always was a double standard. Guess what? We get the higher standard.

That is okay with me. I would rather be held to the higher standard. I will gladly hold my own side to higher account because I expect more from us. I will hold myself to a higher standard, because I do not want to be just like them. If we are to call ourselves conservatives, then what else are we conserving if we are not defending civility?

This does not mean I will not make fun of the other side. I will. They will be relentlessly mocked for their foibles and failures. After all, funny is funny, and the Left is frequently unintentionally very funny.

This does not mean they will not be held accountable for what they say and do. They will, as much as time and subject interest allow.

This does not mean I will hold back just to be nice. I'm a nice guy but honesty in the asymptotic search for the truth is a necessity.

What it does mean is that we will continue to engage the Left and their ideas in as honest and as sincere manner as possible, and only ask (but realistically do not expect) them to behave in the same manner.

Tuesday's inauguration may have brought "change" but I still have a family to care for, a house and yard to tend, two dogs that demand my attention, and a city with a mayor with really, really bad taste in shoes. (By the way, if he gets really upset at someone, I suspect throwing a Croc is a lot like trying to throw a whiffle ball.)

This blog is not fading away. I am not giving up my interest in writing just because our side lost an election. And the clock on the end of the Obama reign has already started ticking.

Blogger bailout

Liberal blogger and one-time debating opponent Renee Crawford is looking for bailout cash to attend The Inauguration, which I think is next week.

I need gas and food money for a week. Which I'm estimating to be somewhere between $1000 and $1500. So far, I've received 2 donations for a total of $35 and I'm really getting nervous that I won't be able to raise enough to go. I am taking my husband and 2 youngest daughters and so will need to drive on our own.

I'm not accustomed to begging, but here goes: PLEASE HELP ME BLOG THE INAUGURATION! The donation button on the right will do. Any amount will help. $5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 500, whatever you can do to help me raise enough cash to physically get there.

The latest update is that she is a little more than half-way to her goal. In exchange for this plug, I'm hoping she and her family will have enough to buy the latest in Wigderson Library & Pub hats and t-shirts to wear along the parade route.

Which leads me to my next topic. Sometime in the very near future, it looks like I will be moving this blog from it's current Blogspot site to my own domain. The advantages of the move are many, and unfortunately so are the disadvantages. However, I think we have reached the limits of what this site can do, and it's time for a more professional look. As always, I'm open to suggestions on what the new site should look like.

I'll be posting updates from time to time to let you know of the progress and the move date. Hopefully, it will take less time than Scott Newcomer's move.

I'm so good, I know who's blogging before they do

The website shirleyabrahamson.blogspot.com is opened for business as "Retiring Guy for Shirley Abrahamson." I'm not going to make any age jokes here; I'm just going to note the irony of "retiring guy" being younger than Shirley Abrahamson.

Blogging Christmas Party

Once again the Cheddarsphere is gathering at Papa's Social Club, 7718 W. Burleigh in Milwaukee, to celebrate Christmas and watch the Detroit Lions get their first win of the season. The party is from 12 noon until whenever. If you're a blogger or just a reader of blogs, c'mon and join the fun. It is intended to be a non-partisan event, which means even Libertarians are welcome. Liberals, too. Heck, anybody.

Worst blog post of 2008?

I love this idea by Jim Manzi:

I think that progress requires shining a spotlight on our errors, rather than trying to sweep them under the rug. As such, I’m starting what I intend to be an annual tradition of identifying what I believe to my worst single blog post of the year.

This is far better than picking the best blog post. Who wants to read some blogger's self-congratulatory year-end drivel when you can read him or her grovel for forgiveness? Besides, you get self-congratulatory drivel from me the rest of the year.

So let's pick out a real clunker. A blog post so bad I should have drowned my laptop in the bathtub rather than writing it. The only qualifications are:
1) You can't think it's a bad blog post just because you disagree with it. There must be some other criteria.
2) Blog posts making fun of Owen Robinson and the Washington Redskins are exempt. Those are always gold.

Somewhere in an internet cafe in New Delhi...

The Spring City Chronicle wonders if "James Wigderson" is really a front for the outsourcing of my newspaper column to India. It's really Ireland. I was never a big fan of curry.

I am the destroyer of newspapers

Leslie Graves, author of the blog State Sunshine and Open Records, ventured onto the pages of the deadtree Milwaukee Journal Sentinel to comment on the decline of newspapers.

I switched to exclusively online news consumption, because it meets two compelling social needs: a desire for community and a desire to know and understand others.

The first reason I press "start" to follow the news is because most news hurts. Consuming it with others cushions the blow. A few years back, the book "Bowling Alone" said Americans were retreating into solitary pursuits. The explosion of news consumption online with social interaction features suggests I'm not alone in valuing perspective and fellow-feeling from others to help wash down the events of the day. We're not likely to turn into a nation of solitary news imbibers, now that we have the ability to so easily share.

The second reason is my love of "small news." In my hometown, this is the constant flow of information about what's happening with work, school, what they were saying at the coffee shop about the mayor, the grandkids, what they were saying at the Laundromat about why the road project was delayed, the homecoming parade and so on.

As this small news is purveyed, you learn that some purveyors are funny, some are reliable and some are both, although sadly not that many. The online world of small news is just like this, except turbocharged on steroids for whatever in the world intrigues you.

I think the latter is especially important in the long term. When I started blogging, I discovered there was plenty of material to write about locally (which is pretty funny considering my interest has always been foreign policy). I don't see what I do as replacing the newspaper as much as adding to the local coverage.

Still, if most bloggers are anything like me, we blog when we feel like it and then we go on vacation, try to give up the habit or our computer crashes. If the "Army of Davids," as Instapundit Glenn Reynolds describes the blogosphere, were all like me, Goliath often would fail to be slain.

I want professional journalism to prosper. I want its honorable goals and traditions to grow richer and become more widespread. I think our world will be better if this happens and much worse if this tradition declines.

But for now, I'm not willing to give up the Wigderson Library & Pub or folkbum to slow the decline.

Well, maybe folkbum.

Christmas Party announcement

Last year's Christmas Party was so successful we're doing it again this year.

The Cheddarsphere Blogger Christmas Party will be on Sunday December the 28th from noon until whenever at Papa's Social Club, 7718 W. Burleigh Milwaukee.

You never know who you might meet at the party.

(Left to right: James Wigderson, Fred Dooley, Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Gableman, Owen Robinson)