Is Informed Consent "Paternalistic"?

Emily Bazelon writes on "Oklahoma's gallingly paternalistic ultrasound law" at Slate:

Four states-Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Oklahoma-have taken the galling step of requiring [pre-abortion ultrasounds] regardless of need. They recently passed laws that go beyond offering ultrasounds to mandating them. Oklahoma's new statute dictates that either the doctor performing the abortion or a "certified technician working in conjunction" with that doctor do the ultrasound, "provide a simultaneous explanation of what the ultrasound is depicting," and also "display the ultrasound images so that the pregnant woman may view them."

I'm not sure what law couldn't be described as gallingly paternalistic, but as long as I can't opt out of the gallingly paternalistic Ponzi schemes of Social Security and Medicare, I'm not going to worry about it.

On Conversion

In an article about Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the United States, Ed Koch writes:

Earlier in the week, I was asked by a reporter how I felt about the Pope's approving a prayer asking for the conversion of the Jewish people to Catholicism. The reporter said that many Jews were upset with the prayer. I said I was not and considered the Catholic desire that we join them in conversion as a compliment. "They love us and they want us even closer" were my words. I also said, "I hope they convert to Judaism. Then, instead of there being only 13 million Jews worldwide, there would be 1 billion 13 million Jews, and that would be very comforting."

Incongruous Advertising

The ASPCA should not be allowed to advertise on Comedy Central.