Leave it to a Professional

On February 21st, 32-year old Katie Stockton pled guilty to a single count of murder. Eight years earlier she gave birth to a baby girl at her home in rural Illinois, and placed the newborn in the December cold in a ditch in front of her home. When first questioned by police, she pulled up her shirt and said,

“Do I look like I just gave birth to a baby?”

The frozen corpse was named “Baby Crystal” and the perpetrator was not identified for five years. When police matched DNA from blood with the corpse to saliva from a discarded cigarette, Stockton fled to Kansas City, Kansas. Later, two more infant bodies were found decomposed in the trunk of her car. The coroner who performed the three autopsies commented,

“We finally have some justice for Baby Crystal.”

The plea arrangement limits her sentence to 60 years.

We see where this poor woman made her mistake--she didn’t leave it to a professional! In this state, one can have a doctor kill their baby for them, any time, any place, for any reason! It seems very unfair that one has to be licensed to terminate life, causing undue disruption to this poor woman.

Does it really matter, if a child is killed with the legs dangling, and kicking out of the body, or to kill a child 10-seconds after it comes out of the body?

I am unable to make the moral distinction.

Who Knew?

On the floor of the House of Representatives, congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee (Houston,) proclaimed herself a “Freed Slave.”

Apparently she has become a Republican and has left the Democratic Party Plantation. For many years she has been a House slave doing the bidding of her overseers. It takes a lot of courage to leave the safety of the Plantation House where she has been a kept woman of color. The most courageous people and ones I admire the most are those who do not live on the plantation and freely speak their mind such as Clarence Thomas, Thomas Sowell, and Walter E. Williams who withstand relentless assaults on their character.

Coincidentally, the National Rifle Association will hold their annual meeting in Houston. Perhaps that is why she has had this change of heart in 2013.

The NRA was founded in 1871 by those Union officers who helped free the original slaves, to promote firearm ownership and proficiency. Many former slaves were protected from the klan through the efforts of the NRA.

Welcome, Ms Lee, to your new found freedom. Although scary at first, you will find fulfilling experiences and new opportunities--along with many new, true friends.

(I am not a relative by blood but in spirit as a fellow freedom seeker.)

Register criminals, not guns

As far as I know, the NRA position on background checks has not changed. The NRA still supports checks between dealers and buyers. However, the terms, have changed to 'Universal checks" for “transfers" of all guns. In practice, it would intrude on transfers between family members. This would lead to recording the details of the gun and the names of the gun owners--thereby creating a gun registry and de facto gun registration. Therein lies the resistance. The NRA, as well as gun owners are worried about how a gun registry will be used, as historically gun registration has lead to confiscation. The oft-cited polls showing support for "Universal background checks" omit these key details, which skews the result. The issue for gun owners is not the background check--it is about registration.

For proof that registration does nothing to reduce “gun violence”, I give you Chicago.

In 2012, Chicago exceeded 500 homicides, 435 killed by guns.

Besides the exceedingly, excessive restrictions on owning a handgun in Chicago, (which requires gun registration,) Illinois is one of the few--if not only--states to require gun owners to have a Firearm Owners Identification (FOID) card. You must have this card in order to (legally) possess, buy and sell both guns and ammunition.  In addition, the statute reads:

“Any person within this State who transfers or causes to be transferred any firearm shall keep a record of such transfer for a period of 10 years from the date of transfer. such record shall contain the date of the transfer; the description; serial number or other information identifying the firearm if no serial number is available; and if the transfer was completed within this State, the transferee’s Firearm Owner’s Identification Card number. On demand of a peace officer such transferor shall produce for inspection such record of transfer.”

To recap then, to possess even one bullet in Illinois, one must have a FOID card. Most of the guns could be traced to the seller--IF the transfer was done legally. I think you could confidently assume that the killers in Chicago do not have a FOID card, and did not buy their guns from a FOID card holder.

Registration will not do--and has not done--anything to stop the flow of guns to criminals.

Protecting the Vulnerable

Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., announced Thursday  (January 31st) that he has built a 60-vote, filibuster-proof majority to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act — an 18-year-old measure protecting domestically abused Americans...

The pending legislation would be a five-year extension of the act and would expand protections for gay and lesbian victims as well as American Indians.

Wouldn’t you know, it was first passed in 1994 by that great defender of Women, William (BJ) Clinton.
An advocacy group provided this real life case to demonstrate how important this legislation is to protect the vulnerable:

 “Last month, I read in the Burlington Free Press the story of Carmen Tarleton, a woman from Thetford, Vermont.  Five years ago, Carmen’s estranged husband broke into her home, beat her with a baseball bat, and poured industrial-strength lye on her, severely burning a great deal of her body and nearly blinding her.  Her doctors said that she had suffered “the most horrific injury a human being could suffer.”  Today, she is nearly blind, disfigured, and continues to experience pain from her injuries.  Stories like this one remind us that every day that we do not pass legislation that will help to prevent horrific violence and assist victims, more people are suffering.” 

Yes, we must pass separate, special laws to defend women, because we know they are different, weaker, more vulnerable, and less able to protect themselves than men. It is our obligation to protect those who are at greater risk of violence.
Last month the Department of Defense, through the Secretary of Defense, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the 4 Services announced that no military job will be off-limits to women, unless the military branch can explain why they should be excluded. It is unfair to keep women out of combat and away from the front lines, since they are every bit as capable as men and can do any job a man can do. It is only an outdated idea of bigotry and discrimination that keeps women away from equal opportunity
This determination was made without any hearings, no testing, and no field trials. It is apparent that we take sports much more seriously than our military effectiveness. Have we lost our collective minds?