"Moral absolutism?" It strikes me as the opposite: moral relativism, albeit of a different kind than is usually discussed. Which is what is making you angry (and me, too). How dare anyone equate Auschwitz with a woman exercising sole ownership over her own body?

And the line about seeds in the birdfeeder is classic.

As to abortion: I used to be an absolute pro-abortionist, seeing the whole issue solely in terms of a woman exercising sole ownership over her own body, in those exact words. I still feel that way, but come the third trimester, another body, another person, gets involved, and not a consenting adult. It was the dishonesty of the pro-abortionists in denying that other body, particularly regarding the partial-birth abortion issue, that has swayed me more and more over to the anti-abortion side, at least as far as late abortions are concerned. There's dishonesty and hypocrisy on both sides, and I could go into that, but there's no way I'm going to equate the killing of a fully developed infant (which is what partial-birth abortion is, by definition) with RU-486 or an IUD, both of which are forms of contraception rather than abortion except in a trivial sense.

As to the Nazis: I share your feeling toward the hysterics who scream "Nazi!" at whoever disagrees with them on anything, who equate Bush (or any President of the United States, past or present) with Hitler, who equate America with Nazi Germany. If you cry "wolf!" too many times, the real wolf will eventually eat you.

But there is a real wolf... There is a certain minority who have been hated and persecuted for centuries by both church and state, who have been forced to hide their identities, to "pass" as other than what they are, who have, in the face of persecution, managed to achieve a measure of success and affluence, are, in general, highly educated, intelligent, and creative, tend to be disproportionately represented in fields of literature, arts, and entertainment, and are all the more hated, envied, precisely because their success.
And there is a rather large, well-organized, influential movement centered on scapegoating, persecuting, stigmatizing, outlawing that minority, at its most seemingly benign aiming to totally assimilate them, at its most overtly malevolen aimingt to physically exterminate them, in either case, to eradicate them.
The parallels are indeed ominous...
No, America is not nor ever has been Nazi Germany or anything like it, but we are, I believe, all too like Weimar Germany. Neither Bush nor anyone likely to succeed him is like Hitler. But he may become a Hindenberg. Those who will not heed the lessons of history are doomed to repeat its least happy moments... Sorry to end this on such an ominous note but that's the way I see it.

So are you Eric, or "another Bill?"

Interesting observations about the Holocaust comparisons. I was once labelled a "Jack-booted Nazi" by some friends in law school when I suggested that it might be appropriate for law enforcement officials to think that finding $300K (in small bills) in the trunk of a car might be reason to suspect the driver of some sort of criminal activity.

As for comparisons between Bush and Hitler; well, I noted Simon's post as well (and drew my own conclusions). My final thought: comparisons between Germany in the 1930s and America today remind me of the types of "similarities" often noted between the assassinations of Lincoln and Kennedy. They may exist, but they're completely unrelated, and it takes a whole lot of effort to find any meaning in them.