I once read a book called, "The Fourth Procedure." It was a story about a supreme court judge who had the swing vote in a decision on an abortion case, and if he were to vote in the conservative direction as he customarily did, Roe v. Wade would have been nullified, and abortion would once again be illegal in any and all circumstances. A parallel story line involved a crazed woman doctor who used homeless men as guinea pigs in her experiments in which she implanted human embryos in these men to prove that a man, as well as a woman, could carry a child to term, but, of course, not be able to deliver the baby without surgery. Not surprisingly, all of her "patients" died.

She was also this judge's doctor, and after performing surgery on him for an unlrelated issue, he was complaining about severe abdominal pain. She informed him that she had implanted an embryo inside him, and that he was pregnant. Horrified, the judge demanded that the embryo be removed, but the doctor responded with, "But judge, that's abortion, isn't it?"

Ultimately, the embryo was removed, the mad doctor arrested for murder, and the judge issued his ruling - contrary to what he initially thought. His final words were something to this effect: "While I remain intrinisically, and morally opposed to abortion, I've come to realize that there are others with differing opinions."

That's how I feel about this $150,000 turntable. While nothing has changed my mind that it's just plain nucking futs, I realize that others disagree, and I fully accept that they are as entitled to their opinions as I am to mine.