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One more thing….WELCOME HOME SGT. HATHAWAY!!!!!
Good to have ya back safe and sound bud.
We are back up…..click and listen live.
“Joy to the World” and the “Hallelujah Chorus” are not JUST Christmas songs… They are reminders that, just as Christ was born in a manger, 2000 years ago, He will return…
So.. What are you going to do about it?
Have a listen, and at least tell me how my voice is! 
Best blessings for a joyous, safe, and prosperous New Year to all my friends and readers. May God show Himself mighty in your life, and may you give Him the glory and rejoice in His generosity!
2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become NEW!” (emphasis mine)
(Crossposted from CatHouse Chat)
UPDATE: Well, darn! The audio isn’t uploading… Oh, well, go on over to CHC: it’s there waiting for you….
Joy to the world, the Lord is come,
Let Earth receive her King!Hallelujah!
The kingdom of this world is become
the Kingdom of our Lord
and of His Christ!!
Wait… Waitwaitwait!
Kat! Chrismas is over! Why are you still singing Christmas songs?
Well… Because these aren’t really “Christmas” songs - and because they have a very important message for us, particularly for this last day of 2006.
Please tune in to Sunday Thoughts with Kat on Wide Awakes Radio, today at 4:30pm ET, 1:30pm PT, for an important reminder of coming events - and what our top prioity ought to be for the next year, and every year after.
(Crossposted from CatHouse Chat)
Frankie Bush is a Johhny Cash fan. He is also a singer. Unfortunately, Frankie suffers from severe scoliosis. You can read all about Frankie at his website: frankiebush.com. Frankie describes why he created his website , “This website has been created for the specific purpose of hopefully helping me find that very special surgeon or team of surgeons who might be able to help me realize one of my lifelong dreams of having a reasonably straight spine.”
To help him find that surgeon, Frankie has decided he needs to sell this suit (in picture above). It is not an ordinary suit. it was made for him by Johhny Cash’s tailor at Johhny Cash’s request. It is very dear to him, but his circumstances have dictated that he sell the suit. The suit is incredible, and you can see close-up pictures of it here.
Frankie has put this suit up for sale at EBAY. Here is the link for the suit.
Johhny Cash fan or not, this is a beautiful suit. Please stop by ebay and take a look, and stop by Frankie’s website and drop him a line. We, at Total Kaos, would appreciate it. We talked about it Thursday, and I think we’ll be talking a bit more about it Sunday, and as long as it takes to help Frankie out. Please join us in our effort.
The election season for local offices is heating up in Champaign. Recently the deadline passed for city mayor and city council. Of the 13 sets of petitions to get on the ballot, 11 had objections. Some of those objections are significant. For instance, mayoral candidate Mingee did not get enough signatures. Others border on absurd, such as the objection to city council candidate Freddie Gordon (he didn’t staple the forms). The entire list of petitions and objections can be seen here.
First, candidates for office should follow the rules and be fully familiar with them. If a candidate cannot be trusted to file paperwork correctly they can’t be trusted with political power. It should be just as simple as that. Some of the packets that were filed in the election show that the candidates simply did not put much effort into them. There should be no reason to have “scratched out” content when the form can be submitted with no errors in the first place.
However, the amount of landmines that appear in the quest to get on the ballot can only be designed to keep rookies off the ballot. Rookies, for the purpose of this article, are people like you and me as opposed to professional politicians. They are the exact people the Founding Fathers wanted in office when they talked about citizen legislators.
Starting with the challenge to the incumbent mayor, it should first be noted that the challenge was filed by Michael Richards who lost his election bid for County Clerk. His objection for Mayor Schweighart is that he did not put which city he was running for mayor for. To file for election in city races, one must file the petitions with the city clerk of that town. To run in Champaign, you file with the Champaign City Clerk. In Urbana, you file with the Urbana City Clerk. It is patently obvious where one intends to run for mayor, it is the city they filed the packet in. It’s obvious that Richards is spending his free time harassing actual elected office-holders.
The objection for city council candidate Freddie Gordon shows just how easy it can be to be knocked off the ballot. All that he missed was not stapling his petition sheets together. Other candidates did not put the right date for election; some did not refer to the office in the precise technical manner.
While candidates for office should take the due time and attention to file their papers correctly, the fact that the smallest of details can cause a candidate to be thrown off the ballot is disconcerting. It should not take a team of lawyers to review paperwork ensuring proper stapling to get normal people on the ballot. The voters are perfectly capable of determining which candidates are worthy of office, there doesn’t need to be hurdles placed by the election commission to trap people for innocent oversights (not to be confused with patent stupidity).
Ballot access should be relatively easy and without undue burdens for those who don’t wish to affiliate with a party. Democracy is best suited when there is the widest array of choice possible. Voters are capable of figuring out the rest.
Full Disclosure: I am pursuing candidacy for the Champaign Unit 4 school board. (Filing date: Jan. 29-Feb. 5, 2007).
John Bambenek is the Assistant Politics Editor for Blogcritics and is an academic professional for the University of Illinois. He is a syndicated columnist who blogs at Part-Time Pundit and the executive director of The Tumaini Foundation which helps AIDS orphans and other children in Tanzania to get an education.
He is the current owner of BlogSoldiers, a blog-only traffic exchange.
Wide Awakes Radio has been nominated for Best New Blog of 2006 in the Right on the Right Awards. Go stop over at my site and vote for your favorite blogs in every category. The winner will get a cool snarky anti-leftist banner to place on their site.
While cruising the blogosphere today I wandered over to My Favorite Idiots site. Now, due to life’s hectic pace (and orders from Herr Karl to get the Bush Hurricane-O-Matic, or B.H.O.M. up and running with the new “Earthquake Generator” functional before the primaries begin) I haven’t been able to write anything for awhile, so My Favorite Idiot has had to concentrate on other members of W.A.R., such as Ogre and Jay, which rightfully leaves me feeling as if I have been slacking.
Now normally I wouldn’t link to My Favorite Idiots site because I try not to send the readers diving headfirst into a portable toilet. In fact, I believe that I have never linked to My Favorite Idiots site before for that very reason.
Today that will change.
But before I launch into this pack of Outrageous Lies I wish to make the prediction that if My Favorite Idiot does notice the slight traffic from this article, and it decides to grab a fresh can of Tab, open some Doritoes and squat in its keepers dank basement to throw yet another lump of idiotic screed into the ether of cyberspace that it will take it completely out of context and actually believe the Pack of Outrageous Lies that I am about to write for you.
So feel free to click on the link in the Pack of Outrageous Lies below and say duuurrrr to My Favorite Idiot.
Folks, today I would like to highlight one of the gems of the blogosphere. Thinking Meat.
Yes good old Thinking Meat, or “Meathead” as it calls itself.
This is perhaps one of the great minds of this AND the last century, and its insightful analysis of current events is beyond compare. Everytime I read meathead’s site I think to myself “Self, that is some damned insightful analysis right there” and am constantly amazed at the levels of cognitive discourse that meathead continually reaches.
I can safely say that the level of insight and brilliance that meathead reaches is rare in humanity, and the fact that we are all capable of reading what he thinks is a gift unrivaled in the annals of time.
I daresay that meatheads pondering’s on truth leave me breathless and startled at their clarity and logic and his boldness to point out the blatantly obvious leaves one astounded that such a great mind has not risen to the highest possible limits of human achievement.
So during this Holiday Season I want to extend my warmest wishes for meathead and its family, and certainly hope that it is well and not afflicted with any nasty conditions that may make it hard to stay seated for any length of time.
So endeth the Outrageous Lies.
UPDATE: Due to circumstances beyond anyone’s control, I was unable to remain connected to the server to broadcast.
Apparently somewhere in this nation there is at least 1 net server down. It is causing ping times in a route trace in excess of 1000 milliseconds which is way too excessive and causes time outs.
I will attempt to bring this material to you tomorrow at midnight EST.
Tonight we go back to normal at Wide Awakes Radio. At midnight EST (9 pm PST), Gribbit Live will tackle The Fair Tax. We’ll discuss why I think it would be great for this nation and why Democrats will oppose it despite the fact that it will empower Americans of all classes.
So tune in to the stream at midnight and we’ll continue the active discussion of how Conservatism will save the nation.
Tonight’s Topic:
So tune into the stream…
On your Winamp player, click file - play url, and enter http://204.228.148.178:8000/war1.ogg and listen to the best Conservative talk on the internet - Wide Awakes Radio. Oh… and remember to bookmark it. 
To Everyone who has the inclination to read this, I’d like to wish you a Very Merry Christmas.
Keep in mind, the true meaning of this holiday.
MERRY CHRISTMAS
From…
Wide Awakes Radio
Gribbit
Mrs. Gribbit
Stop The ACLU
And all of our affiliated bloggers
It’s been a blast.
Thanks…for everything. Thanks for the tacos. Thanks for the coffee.
Most of all thanks for the friendship.
I love you.
Goodbye….for now.
It’s Christmas and I hardly have the heart to write about another on-going war, courtesy of the Religion of Peace. But yes, they are at it again. This time, in two of the most pathetic countries on the planet: Ethiopia and Somalia. Could there be two more miserably poor, disease-ridden, down-trodden, sad nations on earth?!
I remember as a kid I used cry watching those documentaries on starving kids and babies in Ethiopia. And for only 39 cents a day, I could help feed one child and buy medicine. So there I was, at twelve and thirteen years old, baby-sitting for $1.50 per hour, sending my big bucks to Ethiopia. What a pathetically sad and nightmarish place.
Well, if there was any way to make those two nations any worse, the Muslims have found it, of course. The local jihad, bringing hell on earth to a neighborhood near you.
Somalia’s Ethiopia-backed forces and Islamic fighters have clashed near the seat of government in Baidoa for a second day with both sides claiming inflicting massive casualties.
A day after European Commission humanitarian chief Louis Michel said he had secured both sides’ commitment to observe a truce and resume peace talks, the Islamic movement chief called on Somalis to join the war against Ethiopian forces.
The government said Wednesday it had killed “hundreds” of rival fighters and wounded hundreds while the Islamists said they had killed at least 70 enemy combatants in the deadly assaults. None of the figures could be independently confirmed.
[…]
Hundreds of terrified civilians continued fleeing from the frontline into safer areas.
[…]
Fighting erupted early Wednesday, hours after the expiry of an Islamist ultimatum for Ethiopian forces to pull out or face major attacks.Deputy Defence Minister Salad Ali Jelle said the army was winning the fight, which erupted when Islamists raided the two garrisons.
“We have repelled the terrorists and have killed hundreds … they have suffered a lot and won’t ever forget,” he said.
[…]
The Islamists, who control much of southern and central Somalia and are accused of links to Al-Qeada, have already declared a holy war on Ethiopian forces and claimed first blood in recent skirmishes with Addis Ababa troops.The government officials said fugitive terror suspects and foreign fighters were bolstering the Islamists.
Joy to the world.
Peace on earth to men.
UPDATE: Why is the Islamic squabbling in bumble-fuck Africa of any importance to America? Read this analysis by Douglas Farah (excerpt in the extended entry):
Continue reading…
On Thursday, eight Marines were charged with the unpremeditated murder of 24 civilians in Haditha:
Lt Col Jeffrey R Chessani: Violation of a lawful order; dereliction Sgt Sanick P Dela Cruz: Unpremeditated murder; false official statement 1st Lt Andrew A Grayson: Dereliction; false official statement; obstructing justice Capt Lucas M McConnell: Dereliction Lance Cpl Justin L Sharratt: Unpremeditated murder Capt Randy W Stone: Violation of a lawful order; dereliction Lance Cpl Stephen B Tatum: Unpremeditated murder; negligent homicide; assault Staff Sgt Frank D Wuterich: Unpremeditated murder; soliciting another to commit an offence; false official statement
Uncle Jimbo opines about the charges: “I would bet the case against Wuterich and the other three is too weak for comfort and the officers are charged to make sure somebody fries. We shall see what a trial brings.”
By the way, here’s a portrait of the NCO they’ve pinned the most charges to (SSgt Wuterich):
The leader of an infantry squad led his men through 150 patrols that uncovered weapons caches and roadside bombs, detained more than 50 suspected insurgents and led a counterattack when his squad was fatally ambushed. So his platoon leader, commending his confident and competent leadership, nominated the sergeant in January for a combat award. But then-Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich isn’t just another small-unit leader put up to receive the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal with combat “V” for heroics in the Iraq war zone.
A “summary of action” noted his aggressive leadership through four months operating in Haditha and the nearby city of Hit that teemed with insurgent fighters. It describes the Nov. 19 incident during a mounted patrol as “a complex ambush that was initiated by an [improvised explosive device] and followed by automatic weapons fire.”
“The squad then came under automatic weapons fire from both sides of the road,” the summary states. “While under automatic weapons fire from two directions, Sergeant Wuterich aggressively directed his squad to provide security for the casualties in the kill zone by coordinating suppressive fires against the enemy. When the [quick reaction force] arrived, [he] ensured that the three casualties were safely evacuated and then led a counterattack against the enemy, south of the road.”
That is the man they want to crucify.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: THE IRAQIS ARE LYING. How do I know? Well, read my exhaustive research from back in June and figure it out.
This is long. And it will piss you off, but by the time you get to the end, and you know what I know, you’ll know that the IRAQIS ARE LYING.
Grab a coffee and sit back.
I’ve always been irritated with how the press and our military justice sytem treats Iraqi statements as the unquestioned truth. Particularly in charges brought against our troops, Iraqi testimony is treated as inviolable - and nothing could be further from the truth. It’s one of the most aggravating things I’ve seen come out of this war in Iraq: watching our troops’ lives and careers being ruined because of the lying machinations of Iraqis.
I’ve lived among Arabs in Israel, and my sister lived for several years in Saudi Arabia. We know this to be a FACT: lying is an accepted part of the Arab culture. Lying about anything - to be polite, to make a point, to amuse oneself, to save face, to gain an advantage, to cover wrongdoing, to collect blood money, to get revenge…and on and on. Lying is a fact of life in the Arab culture, and Westerners typically do not understand how prevalent it is. Ask anyone who has spent any amount of time in the Middle East, and they will confirm that lying is as much a part of Arab life as eating. In America, we’d call this a culture of corruption. In the Middle East, it’s their way of life.
Furthermore, lying for “the cause of Islam” or taquiyya, is a blessed religious duty. Iraqi sympathizers and insurgents see their deliberate lies to military investigators and media types as their own little jihad against the enemy. It’s not only sanctioned, it is commanded by the Koran.
I recently came across an excellent post at The Captain’s Journal. Read the entire post for very specific examples of how Iraqis submit false testimony in military trials for sometimes the most paltry reasons. The post quotes a civilian contractor living in Iraq and his experience with this cultural practice:
I’ve been in Iraq for about 18 months now performing construction management. It is simply not possible for me to exaggerate the massive amounts of lies we wade through every single day. There is no way - absolutely none - to determine facts from bulls*** ….
It is not even considered lying to them; it is more akin to being clever - like keeping your cards close to your chest. And they don’t just lie to westerners. They believe that appearances – saving face – are of paramount importance. They lie to each other all the time about anything in order to leverage others on a deal or manipulate an outcome of some sort or cover up some major or minor embarrassment. It’s just how they do things, period.
I’m not trying to disparage them here. I get along great with a lot of them. But even among those that I like, if something happens (on the job) I’ll get 50 wildly different stories, every time. There’s no comparison to it in any other part of the world where I’ve worked. The lying is ubiquitous and constant.
Now that the Haditha Marines are facing charges for what Sack-o-Shit Murtha called “a massacre”, this anomoly in Arab culture must be addressed and publicized. (More on the Haditha Marines later.) The limp-wristed mavens of political correctness will have a heart attack when I say this (which I always enjoy to the fullest) - but all cultures are not equal. And in this matter, the culture of corruption puts Iraq in the shitter when it comes to court testimony.
This is my considered opinion on it: there is simply no way Iraqi testimony should be accepted in courts martial at face value. Further investigation should be mandatory and no charges should ever be preferred against our troops based upon Iraqi statements alone. Iraqi testimony is virtually worthless, and must be corroborated by physical evidence. Taking an Iraqi’s word for it is not enough.
“I believe those who say that Islam is a peaceful religion are correct, but unfortunately, the majority group of peaceful Islamic people refuse to fight the minority who are corrupting their faith, and will ultimately bring down the entire faith.” - Neo Alred
You - and they - are terribly, fundamentally wrong.
There are a few peaceful verses in the Koran, which were written by Mohammed when he was a social outcast desperately trying to gain acceptance in the upper social stratas of Mecca. He and his unemployed, ruffian followers were ejected from Mecca by the city elders (majority population of Mecca was then Jewish) when they would not refrain from radical proselytizing and raiding the surrounding countryside to support their lifestyle. Mohammed was nothing more than a mobster or gangleader in Mecca, and the Meccans would not tolerate the violence he wreaked on their people. Mohammed and his band of thieves and thugs slunk off to Medina, where he rapidly consolidated a base of power and added to his converts at the point of a sword.
Once Mohammed controlled Medina, he vengefully threatened Mecca to appease his earlier humiliation at their hands. The elders, fearful of the violence and destruction for which he was now well-known, signed a hudna - or 10 year peace with Mohammed. During that time, he reinforced and rearmed his troops, fortified Medina, and then betrayed the hudna by viciously attacking Mecca when they were least expecting it. He razed Mecca and slaughtered the citizens unless they converted. Most didn’t, so it was a massacre.
It was then, drunk on the success of his bloodiest campaigns, that he wrote the rest of the Koran. These later bloodthirsy, convert-or-die verses are the true root of Islam. In fact, as the Koran and Sira and Hadith make very clear, interpretation of the Koran is guided by the Doctrine of Abrogation. That means that the chronologically earlier verses of the Koran are abrogated - voided - by the verses written later. The verses written by Mohammed in Medina are commonly accepted by clerics and scholars as Islam in its full strength and glory. The True Islam.
Neo Alred and too many others labor under the deception that Islam is a peaceful religion because the West has been carefully fed a handful of “peaceful, let’s-all-get-along” verses as being representative of the tenets of Islam. Nothing could be further from the truth. That tactic - lying to gullible and tolerant Westerners - is taquiyya*. They have been duped.
Read the Koran, Sira, and Hadith for yourself - it’s the only way to understand. Your eyes won’t deceive you.
A cautionary note: The Koran is not ordered chronologically, it is compiled by size. The chapters and verses are ordered by the length of their prose - which is why it appears to be disordered and illogical. That is why understanding the Doctrine of Abrogation is so important.
None of Our revelations do cause to be forgotten, but We substitute something better or similar: Knowest thou not that Allah Hath power over all things? - Surah 2:106
Even back in Mohammed’s day, he knew his later teachings were not consistent with his earlier revelations. Mohammed’s explanation? “They just don’t get it.”
When We substitute one revelation for another,- and Allah knows best what He reveals (in stages),- they say, “Thou art but a forger”: but most of them understand not. - Surah 16:101
Such inconsistency does not concern Muslims because:
Allah doth blot out or confirm what He pleaseth: with Him is the Mother of the Book. - Surah 13:39
After all, since Muslims believe the Koran is from Allah, it cannot be considered faulty, though had it been written by anyone else but Mohammed, it would surely be highly so:
Do they not consider the Quran (with care)? Had it been from other than Allah, they would surely have found therein much discrepancy. - Surah 4:82
Thus, belief in Islam requires a full suspension of critical thinking skills. The Doctrine of Abrogation, whereby previous tenets and revelations in the Koran are replaced with new and improved revelations casts doubt on the credibility of the current Arabic Koran’s claim that it is the perfect and final revelation of Allah.
I think this essay by Vanderleun is nothing short of brilliant, but unfortunately I disagree with his conclusion - that Islam must be reformed and assimilated or face nuclear annihilation. Reform cannot and will not ever happen. By definition, Islam cannot allow such. It would no longer be Islam, but something else entirely. And there are no half-measures within Islam.
There is nothing moderate about Islam. Those “westernized” Muslims today are actually living a very watered-down, nominal version of their faith - which is why moderate Muslims are considered apostate by True Muslims. (Which also explains why, when Muslims become more devout, they become more radical.) In fact, many modern Muslims today do not understand or ever know about the Doctrine of Abrogation - it is not disucussed. Surely you are aware that criticism and reform of Islam is not allowed within the religion itself, and is punishable by death.
Taquiyya: “The Islamic principle of lying for the sake of Allah. Falsehoods told to prevent denigration of Islam, to protect oneself, or to promote the cause of Islam are sanctioned by the Qur’an, including lying under penalty of perjury in testimony before the United States Congress, lying or making distorted statements to the media such as claiming that Islam is a religion of peace and deceiving fellow Muslims when the one lying has deemed them to be apostates.”
al-Taquiyya: “Concealing or disguising one’s beliefs, convictions, ideas, feelings, opinions, and/or strategies…”
It seems standard fare for second-rate columnists to write broadsides against bloggers. It\’s particularly ironic for the journalistic community to berate blogs for poor writing. After all, blogs have supplanted journalism for the literary gutter. To then boast displays the arrogance of someone who claims bragging rights for finished in second-to-last place.
It is true; blogs \”produce minimal reportage\”. However, most blogs don\’t claim that they are even trying to report. Many bloggers quite clearly state they are giving their opinion on events. This is in contrast to most journalists who claim to report but merely shroud their opinion journalism in the faux cloak of \”objective reporting.\”
What blogs do accomplish, at least the few that actually try to be media instead of diary, is fact-check the \”objective journalists.\” This is where the real contempt for bloggers comes from. Blogs have outted journalistic frauds that would have gone undiscovered despite all the checks and balances in the traditional media.
It is true that our educational system has produced a couple of generations of people wholly intellectually unsuited for intelligent political discourse. That is not a problem of blogs, it is a problem of society. Let\’s be honest, it\’s not like reductionistic discourse doesn\’t have a home in the traditional media too. Before blogs there were sound bites. Before blogs reporting, at least on political matters, was largely receiving faxes from the national parties and repeating their talking points. Fatuity is not unknown to the 24 hour news channels or the nightly news.
Blogs, for their part are quite easily played by the media and politicians alike. All a journalist has to do is criticize blogs and a previously unknown journalist becomes news of the hour on the Internet. Most bloggers do behave like yard apes. The only difference between most bloggers and most journalists is that the later has a sense of elitism about being an ape because they happen to wear a suit while doing it.
Blaming blogs of the \”decay\” of journalism is more than a little absurd. Journalism was already in a state of decay long before blogs because of their monopolistic attitudes that allowed them to get sloppy. Bloggers took the \”journalistic\” reigns because of the dramatic failure of the traditional media to (1) report the news effectively and accurately, (2) to be objective or at least honest about their bias, and (3) adapt to the information needs of society.
The free market requires many outlets so that consumers can pick the outlet that meets their needs. If no outlet exists, one will be created and so it was with blogs. That isn\’t to say all blogs are worthy outlets, they aren\’t. Most of the hundred or so million blogs get trivial amounts of traffic. However, there are serious blogs out there and serious organizations trying to get blogging professionalized (see the Media Bloggers Association which I am a part of).
It\’s true that finding a decent blog is like finding a needle in a haystack, but with blogging soon to be on the decline to more serious players will stand out. For those nostalgic for the \”good ole days\” of journalism, this is decay. For society who wants and need solid, reliable and accurate information and opinion, it is progress. Painful progress, but progress nonetheless.
John Bambenek is the Assistant Politics Editor for Blogcritics and is an academic professional for the University of Illinois. He is a syndicated columnist who blogs at Part-Time Pundit and the executive director of The Tumaini Foundation which helps AIDS orphans and other children in Tanzania to get an education.
He is the current owner of BlogSoldiers, a blog-only traffic exchange.
I got into this late in the game, but first, let me post the ad which was placed by a group calling themselves “Danes For World Peace,” into the English-language Iranian newspaper, the Tehran Times:
And my contribution? I thought you’d never ask!
Kind, good President of
Iran
Sends
Signals that theMahdi will soon return in the
Year of 2007!Israel and the
Nefarious JOOOOOOS
Feel their
Impending
Doom
Even at this
Late hour.Ascend, O Muslims Everywhere and make the
Supreme
Sacrifice!
Not much effort at all.
In the quest to remove any and all obstacles and delays in the race for a woman (or girl) to get an abortion, people starting become aware that abusive men were coercing women against their will to get them. By bringing down the full force of constitutional law to make it not only constitutional to kill one\’s unborn child, but to be able to do so as fast as possible, it made it possible for women to be abused in the process.
First, Planned Parenthood knows and knowingly covers up obvious cases of abuse. One study shows that Planned Parenthood and related organizations failed to report about a minimum of about 10,000 cases of child sex abuse in Illinois in the year 2000 alone. The law is clear that medical providers are required to report suspected cases of abuse. When authorities try to investigate child rape, they are thwarted by Planned Parenthood, who has a financial stake in the problem remaining unaddressed. Legally, this is called a \”conflict of interest.\”
Second, women are coerced to get abortions. I know this because I know women it has happened to. By eliminating even the most sensible restrictions such as parental notification (note that is not parental consent), a woman can be rushed to have an abortion and no questions will be asked. This is a boon to men who don\’t want to pay child support, don’t want to \”lose face\” for having a child, or want to cover up for their crimes of impregnating a minor. Coerced abortions are a problem.
However, laws such as HB 5882 in Michigan are a profoundly bad idea. Instead of going after coerced abortions by preventing them, it makes it a crime for a man to even be involved in the decision-making process in any way except for complete deferral. It\’s another attempt to separate men from children. \”Constitutional\” law says men have no say in the decision to get an abortion. This law says they aren\’t even allowed to speak on the subject. Considering the current state of child support laws and custody laws, apparently the only thing men can contribute is their paycheck and all other effort is disallowed.
Sure, the law could catch men who engage in coercion. However, how such violations would ever be proven is a problem since it is entirely a \”speech crime.\” Further, \”battered woman syndrome\” suggests that women most in need of protection are least likely to seek help and the redress that such a law would allow. In short, more innocent men would be prosecuted than true domestic abusers who ought to be nailed to the wall.
The problem is not that there are no laws to punish coercion, there are. The problem is the weight of the Constitution being brought down to rush women through abortion mills without question. Planned Parenthood has no incentive to think twice about killing a child, abortion is a profit-center for them.
Taking the typical image the pro-abortion crowd likes to use, imagine an abused woman (or girl) who has an abusive boyfriend or family. She discovers she is pregnant and she knows her family or boyfriend will be livid once they discover the pregnancy. She is lonely, scared and has no place to turn. In come the knights in crimson-stained armor, Planned Parenthood. They pledge to help this young woman and bring her into their clinic. They abort the child and send her on her way. The problem is they send her right back into the abusive situation she came from. The problem wasn\’t the child, the problem was the abusive relationships that remain unaddressed until the next time she gets pregnant and Planned Parenthood wants to make a buck.
It is the failure of \”constitutional\” law that leaves these women prey to abusive and coercive relationships. The solution is not more bad laws but to rethink the culture of drive-thru abortions.
John Bambenek is the Assistant Politics Editor for Blogcritics and is an academic professional for the University of Illinois. He is a syndicated columnist who blogs at Part-Time Pundit and the executive director of The Tumaini Foundation which helps AIDS orphans and other children in Tanzania to get an education.
He is the current owner of BlogSoldiers, a blog-only traffic exchange.
The BBC is reporting that healthy new-born babies appear to have been killed in order to harvest stem cells for the flourish stem cell trade that has begun in the country. Dr. Hwang Woo-Sook was found last year to have fabricated his scientific claims on stem cell research. A scandal which in no small part involved his subordinates donating their ova or paying women for their ova.
Despite the fact that the science is clear that embryo-destroying stem cell research will require either massive efforts to get women (usually poor ones) to donate their ova or other behaviors that amount to human harvesting, stem cell supporters either ignore the problem or ridicule the claim. Today they can no longer do that.
Ukraine, it appears, killed healthy babies in the name of getting the “biological materials” they need to continue their work on stem cells. The pathological scientific obsession with embryos for this research is disquieting. Adult stem cells are treating people today and have none of the ethical problems that embryo-destroying stem cell research has. Yet they press on.
Far from an anomaly, Ukraine is the future of embryo-destroying stem cell research. There exists no way to even produce enough stems cells for research, much less medical treatment, without getting massive donations of ova or killing babies in the womb. Or for that matter, killing babies already born. Imagine abortion providers, who already have a problem covering up for child rapists, starting up a trade of stem cells from aborted fetuses.
I have every confidence that the scientific community can eventually figure out how to make cures with embryo-destroying stem cell research. However, that was never really what was the concern. I could stop drunk driving by cutting off the tongues of those who commit the crime, yet that would hardly be just. Embryo-destroying stem cell research, and the treatment that it might eventually produce, will require a massive pool of ova (from poor women of course), human harvesting, or both. We have seen the future in Ukraine, the question is, will we still embrace it?
John Bambenek is the Assistant Politics Editor for Blogcritics and is an academic professional for the University of Illinois. He is a syndicated columnist who blogs at Part-Time Pundit and the executive director of The Tumaini Foundation which helps AIDS orphans and other children in Tanzania to get an education.
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