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I blog @ FRIENDLY FIRE read my LATEST COLUMN FRIENDS' BLOGS CATHOLIC LINKS  mater dei, ora pro nobis contact: @ weinkopf.com (C) 2001, - 2007. All rights are reserved. 
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Wednesday, August 08, 2001
THE CLONE WARS George Lucas picked the pefect time to announce the title of the next Star Wars prequel -- Episode 2: Attack of the Clones -- just as a number of mad scientists gathered in Washington to discuss their plans to start cloning human beings. Details of the next SW plot are scarce, but the previous movies have made allusions to the "Clone Wars," in which, we presume, the Dark Side amasses an army of clones (later called stormtroopers) who help Sen. Palpatine conquer the universe. Because Hollywood tends to influence the culture far more than does Washington, it will be interesting to see what effect Lucas' film has on the public's perception of the cloning debate. What the fictional cloning of a galaxy long ago and far, far away has in common with the real sort being proposed today is the commodification of human beings. Palpatine, Vader, et. al clone humans to make soldiers out of them; today's villians -- the amoral scientists -- clone humans to make spare body parts or "perfect" ego-gratifying duplicates of ourselves. In both cases, the new life that's created becomes a slave to its maker, robbed of its very freedom from the moment of conception. The Dark Side, indeed. Monday, August 06, 2001
GENDER BENDING IN SACRAMENTO This week's column deals with the California legislature's dabbling in the latest fad from radical academia --- the "transgender" movement. This seems to be the trajectory for all insane ideas -- academia, California, the world. |