> It brings to mind something I heard once or
> twice growing up that I never confirmed to be
> truth. Is it true that citizens of China are--
> or were at one time--restricted to having only
> one child? I understand that population
> control is a problem they face, but it seems
> that number of offspring should not be
> governmentally regulated. Perhaps the
> particular type of freedom allowed in the
> United States, which some other nations do not
> enjoy, has tainted my objectivity a bit, but I
> believe that the right to procreate is one of
> those "inalienable rights" either "endowed by
> our creator" or inherant to our existance,
> depending on your belief system of course.

I don't think the Chinese government restricts families to one child, but it does promote the concept (in a biology book I had for a class there was a picture in the population section of a billboard in China with a picture of a smiling family on it and the words "IT IS BETTER TO ONLY HAVE ONE CHILD"). And, yeah, I think the right to procreation is inalienable. If anyone tried to ban me from ever having children, I'd have sixty just to spite them.

-Eric "And I'd give them all the same name for convenience" Sleator