Insensitive or Insane?

by Dick Mac

A conservative in Virginia has announced that God creates disabled children as punishment to those women who have had an abortion.

OK.  At this point, it is clear that conservatives are no longer mentally capable of running a government.

This gaffe is not an isolated incident!  Week after week we hear another conservative (generally Republican) elected official offer some insane notion about the rights of women and their health and/or homosexuals.

This isn't some odd faction of the Republican party!  These are mainstream Republican operatives, holding public office and trying to pass laws based on odd religious beliefs.

This man actually believes that because there is a story in the Bible that the first-born animal was sacrificed as an offering to some god (certainly not my God), then disabled children are proof that God punishes women who have had an abortion, because her first-born child cannot be offered to some god as a sacrifice.

I don't think that he is suggesting the slaughter on an altar of a full-term non-aborted fetus after child birth.  At least I hope not!  I understand the metaphor of giving a child to god meaning that the first-born becomes a religious professional.  Until about thirty years ago, one son in a large Catholic family generally became a priest.  That is no longer the case, of course, because . . . well . . . it's just not a promising proposition anymore.

This elected official said:

The number of children who are born subsequent to a first abortion with handicaps has increased dramatically. Why? Because when you abort the first born of any, nature takes its vengeance on the subsequent children.

In the Old Testament, the first born of every being, animal and man, was dedicated to the Lord. There’s a special punishment Christians would suggest.

Children with disabilities are God’s punishment to women who previously had abortions.

He really said that! His name is Bob Marshall, and you should tell everyone you know that this madman is in a position of power, and needs to be exposed.

This man is insane!

by Dick Mac 

From what I can tell so far this morning, I did not have the winning numbers for last night's Power Ball drawing.

It's always exciting when the jackpot gets up to a hundred million dollars and for two bucks (less than the cost of a cup of coffee in many places) you can dram a little.

How soon would I leave my job?

Would I keep my job for an extended period for the benefits until I figured out how the hell you're supposed to get health care for your family in the failed American health care system.

How much would I give away and to whom?

Would I stay in my current home?  For how long?

Would I hire a majordomo or just get help as I needed it.

What kind of car would I buy?

Would I get a beach house or a place in the mountains?

Would I buy a home in a foreign country?

How much would I put into stocks, bonds, funds?

Do I have friends that need an investor for a project?

Could I save my daughter's school from closing?

It would be emotionally draining.

So few of us ever get to live out those challenges.

Virginia Fike, of Berryville, VA, recently had the emotional challenge of processing a million dollar lottery win.

Twice.

In the same day.

Congratulations!

When is it my turn?

Virginia Woman Wins $1 Million Lottery Twice in the Same Day

Unmarried Victims of Domestic Violence Get No Legal Protections

North Carolina:
a place where a battered woman
cannot be granted a protective order, 
unless they are married to her abuser.

by Dick Mac

In North Carolina. only married people are considered to have a "personal relationship" when it comes to application of state law.

Under North Carolina’s 50B statute, victims of domestic violence are only those people who have a “personal relationship” with the perpetrator. If there is no "personal relationship" then there can be no protective order.  The victim is on her own.

Previously, in North Carolina, "personal relationship" included  a spouse or former spouse, current or former housemates, unmarried straight couples who live or have lived together, parents who have a child in common, or people in a dating relationship with a member of the opposite sex.  In North Carolina, it has been impossible for two people of the same sex to have a legally-defined "personal relationship."  Only straight couples were covered.

When North Carolinians passed Amendment One last week, they passed a law that re-defines “Personal Relationship” as a term that describes only legally-married people.

A similar law was previously passed in Virginia.  Courts in Virginia can no longer issue a protective order for a victim of domestic abuse unless the couple is married.  In Virginia, a girl cannot get a protective order to protect her from an abusive boyfriend.  This means that the police will do nothing to help this girl until the boyfriend commits a crime (like killing her), and gets caught, and is convicted.

North Carolina is now a place where, like Virginia, any boy can physically, mentally, and emotionally terrorize his girlfriend until he is caught breaking the law.  It is only if he breaks a law that the police will stop him from abusing his victim.  If he is not caught breaking the law, he can continue on doing exactly what he chooses.

It will be interesting to watch the North Carolina courts scramble to protect an unmarried middle-class white woman from domestic violence, since there is no law that protects her.  It will be interesting to see if any criminals currently on trial for violation of a protective order will now walk away from the charges if the order was  issued to protect an unmarried person.  You see, as of the passage of Amendment One, all 50B rulings for the protection of unmarried persons are nullified.

Just after passage of the similar law in Virginia, shelters filled with single mothers and their children who needed protection.  Shelters were now their only protectors because the protective orders that allowed law enforcement agencies to protect them were no longer in effect.  The most vulnerable people in Virginia now need to rely on charitable organizations to keep them safe from violence, because the courts and police are not allowed to.

North Carolina joins Virginia as a place where law enforcement is not allowed to protect victims of domestic violence, unless the victim is married to the perpetrator.

Well, that will sure protect the institution of marriage in North Carolina!  You keep women married to abusive husbands because once they divorce, they are not protected!  Nice.

Oh, and gay people can't get married.  Good job, North Carolina!

The Herald-Sun - Amendment One—A real danger to domestic violence victims

Syria? Egypt? Lybia? Iran? Virginia!

Posted by Dick Mac





No words.

I have nothing to say.

I am awestruck.

Emmanuel College Fires Professor

An adjunct professor of Financial Accounting at Emmanuel College, in Boston, Massachusetts, was fired from his job for using the Virginia Tech massacre as a lead-up to a discussion of economics.

The school issued no public statement and has responded that they do not publicly discuss personnel matters.

I disagree with Nicholas Winset's position on handgun control, but he has the right to talk about it; and I think the school's decision to fire him is more despicable than his position on the Second Amendment.

This is America. Unless we are actually hurting someone, we have the freedom to speak-out and speak our mind. Any organization that does not honor that basic tenet of our Republic should be refused access to government funds and should lose their tax-exempt status.

Emmanuel College should be ashamed of tiself.

See Professor Winset speak-out at youtube.com.

The local Murdoch rag in Boston covers the story.

Article at the Freedom4um blog.



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Cho Seung-Hui on NBC

The following photo is a screen-grab from the video sent to NBC by Cho Seung-Hui, the killer at Virginia Tech.

It looks like a promo picture for an NBC series.

This is a pretty good representation of what the media conglomerates who control the entertainment and information industries pass off as entertainment.

This is an American citizen, not an actor.

Reuters - An image that NBC News say they received from Cho Seung-Hui, the shooter in the Virginia Tech shootings, is seen as it is aired on the NBC Nightly News, April 18, 2007. The gunman who went on a deadly rampage at Virginia Tech university this week paused between shootings to mail a rambling account of grievances, photos and videos to NBC, the network said. (Courtesy of NBC News/Handout/Reuters) Wed Apr 18, 7:57 PM ET

I don't think this is what the nation's founding fathers had in mind when they wrote the Bill of Rights. I think this is the image that Hollywood and gun manufacturers have of the United States as a nation.

This is not representative of our right to bear arms.

Gun control, especially handgun control, has to be addressed no matter how powerful the NRA and gun manufacturers' lobby. Will the parents of Cho's victims speak-out or will they be silenced by the mainstream media?

Will we hear their opinions about handguns or only see their sorrow?

Will the mainstream media make any sincere effort to bring the handgun control debate into the public discourse, or will it be swept under the rug while we are spoon-fed a digital diet of shock, outrage and sorrow?

It is time for this to stop! it is time for Americans to talk about this as much as they talk about Paris Hilton and Barry Bonds. It's time for all of us to call our elected officials and demand a change.

Added at 14:09

The Virginia State Police are expressing disappointment that NBC had broadcast part of the video sent to them by Cho Seung-Hui. I am disappointed that they haven't broadcast the entire video! America should bear witness to this tragedy.

State police chief Steve Flaherty said, "We're rather disappointed in the editorial decision to broadcast these disturbing images."

(See, Reuters article at yahoo.com)

Why is Reuters reporting this? I don't care what the police think of NBC. I want to know what the state police think about handguns being readily available for purchase in the State of Virgina.

How can a so-called civilized nation allow Cho Seung-Hui to have such easy access to handguns?

In Virginia, there is no state requirement that handgun buyers obtain a handgun license or undergo any type of safety training prior to buying a handgun. (See, Brady Campaign To Prevent Gun Violence.)

Wikipedia gives an overview of Virginia's gun laws.

Why aren't the police talking about their disappointment with Virginia's gun laws?

As usual, the media is avoiding the real issue and focusing our attention on emotionalism and the pain of victimhood instead of placing the spotlight on the real issue: gun control.


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Death in Virgina

A man with a handgun killed thirty-two people and himself on the campus of Virginia Tech.

According to Reuters:

Most of those killed were students attending classes at a hall at Virginia Tech, where the gunman apparently used chains to lock doors before shooting the victims, university and police officials said.

Fifteen people were wounded, included those shot and students hurt jumping from windows in a desperate attempt to escape the gunfire, officials said.

More than thirty thousand people die from gunshot wounds in the United States each year. Still, gun control is almost non-existent.

Here's to liberty!

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