From: Will Steeves <goid@zooid.guild.org>
Subject: Re: Stranded on an Island
X-To: SARAH A MCCABE
Organization: The Zoo of Ids
Date: Sat, 5 Sep 1992 02:07:00 GMT

smccabe@author.ecn.purdue.edu (Sarah A McCabe) writes...
SAM> In article <1992Aug20.062552.33853@watson.ibm.com> margoli@watson.IBM.com w
SAM> :
SAM> >In  <1992Aug20.021010.16000@zooid.guild.org>  Will Steeves <goid@zooid.gui
SAM> g> writes:
SAM> >>
SAM> >> But I WOULD like to see the foetus recognised as a person,
SAM> >
SAM> >And I'd like to see myself recognized as emperor of the world.
SAM> >I mean, the fact that I'm not shouldn't make any difference, right?  :-)

SAM> Hey, I think this Will guy is on to something here.  I mean look guys (and
SAM> pay attention all you out there who have any income or assets you want to
SAM> protect).  First you go out and get some in-vitro fertilization done.  Then
SAM> you get SS numbers for each of the zygotes.  Then you set up
SAM> a series of Trusts (call them Petri Dish #1 Trust, Petri Dish #2 Trust,...)
SAM> and you divert all you income and assets through those trusts with the
SAM> zygotes as beneficieries.  Make yourself trustee and pay yourself an
SAM> income from the trust, but your home and everything else is a business
SAM> expense.   You can even have the zygotes living in a state like Texas with
SAM> no state income tax while you live in a cool state like California.  And
SAM> since these zygotes would stay  frozen indefinitely, this setup could
SAM> go on for perpetuity.  Now I don't have all the details worked out here,
SAM> but I think this could revolutioniize financial planning strategies.


Okay, Sarah, enough already!  I think that you forgot to turn off your
sarcasm mode somewhere around that message of yours...

Look, if you're going to flame me, at least base your flame upon what I
*really* said, and *not* on the one *sentence* which was quoted out of
context and in a way which was probably intended to make me appear like a
"bible thumper" of some sort.  (Sorry if this was not your intention, Larry,
but you *did* seem to jump all over that one sentence as though I had not
said anything else).

Not that I'm trying to be *too* cynical, but "Never let the truth get in the
way of a good flame" seems applicable here.


SAM> Of course, it would mean constructing the laws carefully so that
SAM> the right to bodily autonomy was explicitly protected.


Yes, I definitely agree with this.  To re-iterate my previous comments, I
*only* wished to see "personhood" granted only if there were a way to
simultaneously respect the doctrine of "bodily integrity" as well, ie., to
remove the child/foetus without causing harm to either him/her or the mother.


Next time, please consider *everything* that has been said, before turning
on your flamethrower.  This is not meant as a flame, but a reminder to
everyone to read the full context of what someone says, before jumping all
over them.

---
Will Steeves, goid@zooid.guild.org                      "Neil Hull is GOiD"
ZOOiD BBS, Toronto, Ontario - The Zoo Of Ids            "GOiDS Rule"
(416) 322-7876
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