books

_Red Lightning_, John Varley.

I love Varley's work. He's never published anything bad... although _Mammoth_ was not up to his usual standards.

That said, this homage to Heinlein is distinctly about current issues, and (hopefully) its allegory will cease to be intelligible within a decade. The predecessor story, _Red Thunder_, is not required reading, but it would make this one more interesting, as several characters have grown and changed in significant ways.

This book has a three-act structure which initially feels a bit disjointed, but eventually makes thematic sense. I won't describe it further, except to say that Varley succeeds in making Mars feel like a distinct culture, not a rehash of the US, without spending all that many words on it and almost without an infodump.

books

_Red Lightning_, John Varley.

I love Varley's work. He's never published anything bad... although _Mammoth_ was not up to his usual standards.

That said, this homage to Heinlein is distinctly about current issues, and (hopefully) its allegory will cease to be intelligible within a decade. The predecessor story, _Red Thunder_, is not required reading, but it would make this one more interesting, as several characters have grown and changed in significant ways.

This book has a three-act structure which initially feels a bit disjointed, but eventually makes thematic sense. I won't describe it further, except to say that Varley succeeds in making Mars feel like a distinct culture, not a rehash of the US, without spending all that many words on it and almost without an infodump.

Politics and sex and death and taxes

So let's think about what happens if Roe v. Wade is overturned and access to safe abortions becomes a state-by-state battle. About half of all pregnancies are unwanted; about half of those (1.3 million a year) end by abortion. 140,000 children are adopted each year.

The West Coast and New England will retain the option of abortion.

In the states next to them, middle-class and some poor people will be able to drive across the border. In the middle and south of the country, only rich people will be able to fly to a safe state and obtain an abortion.

So, at least a million more children each year will arrive for parents who don't want them; primarily poor, often single mothers. That's a lot of money in welfare, ADC, WIC, food stamps, and so forth... money which will need to come from taxes. Do you remember which states pay more in taxes than they receive from the Feds? I'll remind you. Those states are on the West Coast and New England, plus Minnesota and Illinois.

Politics and sex and death and taxes

So let's think about what happens if Roe v. Wade is overturned and access to safe abortions becomes a state-by-state battle. About half of all pregnancies are unwanted; about half of those (1.3 million a year) end by abortion. 140,000 children are adopted each year.

The West Coast and New England will retain the option of abortion.

In the states next to them, middle-class and some poor people will be able to drive across the border. In the middle and south of the country, only rich people will be able to fly to a safe state and obtain an abortion.

So, at least a million more children each year will arrive for parents who don't want them; primarily poor, often single mothers. That's a lot of money in welfare, ADC, WIC, food stamps, and so forth... money which will need to come from taxes. Do you remember which states pay more in taxes than they receive from the Feds? I'll remind you. Those states are on the West Coast and New England, plus Minnesota and Illinois.