you know, i'm always skeptical about these kinds of things. it's like.....nice speech, johnny, but then why don't you ratify the rome convention? the rules exist. they've been worked out. but your country won't adopt them. you can stand around and talk all you want, but you won't sign the critical documents. but, bringing angelina jolie in is simply good politics, if you're trying to shore up the vagina vote.

there's some code words in this speech that have made me look at it a little differently, though. population control code words. eugenics code words.

i mean, the bottom line is that we can't have a reasonable discussion about this, so it's just kept out of public debate. we're going to start calling each other nazis and stuff. that doesn't mean there aren't valid policy objectives underlying family planning or abortion planning. i mean, we breed like rodents. we've been lucky that the technology has continually put malthus off to the next decade. but that carrying capacity is an unavoidable, finite limit. it's an eventual inevitability.

let's be clear: rape continues as a military tactic because it is successful in asserting dominance over conquered populations. it's the most successful intimidation tactic out there. the american army used it in iraq. so long as it continues to be effective, it's going to be continued to be used, by militias and major armies, alike.

but, let's consider the ramifications of mass rape in a society with little to no access to contraception, and essentially no access to abortion. these are children born to displaced mothers into violent circumstances. they have little future but to become a "security concern", as angelina put it.

i remain skeptical that this is really possible, except on paper. it's too powerful a tactic. and i'd again point to those unratified statutes. but what's driving this is not what's apparent, and it may be wielding a higher level of influence than is obvious.

in order to maintain a healthy species, women need to be able to make free and uncoerced decisions about who they allow to impregnate them. i'm not sure this history has been written. and, if it were, it would likely be rejected as racist. but, take a look at the areas of the world that were mass raped by the mongol armies for centuries and think it through.