Something... and Half of Something

Okay, I have a lot of cop friends and they all say that they would hate to be doing the job that those guys in Florida are stuck with.

I can just imagine how awful it must be for these policemen to have to arrest a child for such a reason.

Perhaps the parents of these arrested children should give THEIR heads a shake for putting their kids in this position in the first place. They are the ones who should be arrested for using their children as pawns in this highly political affair. They KNEW their kids would be arrested for attempting to bring Terri water, and yet they allowed them to anyway. That is NOT the mark of a good parent. Those kids should be taken away from their parents.

I don't agree with Terri being starved to death at all. But I definitely don't agree with these psychotic parents putting their kids in harms way by allowing them to be arrested. Nothing like giving your kid a criminal record to prove a point.

These parents should be arrested for child abuse. Children do not have the mental awareness to understand the difficult aspects to this case. Using your children to further your viewpoints is despicable. Didn't the courts rule no death penalty for those under the age of 18? The reason being is that they did not have the mental capacity to understand their actions.

Sure thing GC. <p> They don't have the mental capacity to understand their actions, until they are 18. <p>

So they can't be killed as a result of what they choose to do.<p>

But... they can kill as a result of what they chose to do and even their own mothers can't stop them.<p>

GRANITE CITY - A Sothern Illinois woman was arrested last week (March 17) after trying to intervene on behalf of her 14-year old daughter's effort to have an abortion. The girl was allegedly taken to an abortion clinic by the mother of the man allegedly to have impregnated the 14-year old.<p>

http://www.illinoisleader.com/news/newsview.asp?c=23788</p></p></p></p></p>

From Neal Bortz's column:

SORRY .. BUT THERE'S MORE TO SAY ON THE TERRI SCHIAVO
MATTER.

I can't tell you how much I wish this story would just go away ... and that it had never come along in the first place. Believe me, this is territory I would just as soon leave alone on my talk show. Why? Because it involves religion, that's why.

Many people who profess strong Christian beliefs seem to feel that any negative statement about any action undertaken by anyone in the name of Christianity constitutes "Christian bashing." It doesn't matterwhat the Christian activist does or what they say, you simply are not permitted to criticize their actions in any way. To do so is to provide conclusive proof that you are anti-Christian at best, and a Godless atheist
at worse.

Let's just take a look at the actions of some of the people protesting outside of Terri Schiavo's hospice.

At the end of the street is Triple O Auto. It's an auto repair shop operated by a single father trying to raise two sons. The triple O stands for "On Our Own." Protestors have been parking in the Triple O driveway. When Scotty Jackson, the owner, asked one of the protestors to move his car the man waved his Bible at Scotty, shouted some obscenities and walked off. Criticize this protestor and you're
Christian bashing.

Protestors have been demanding that Florida Governor Jeb Bush ignore the rulings of the various courts in this matter and seize Terri Schiavo from the hospice. If you point out that we are a government of law and that it is wrong for someone to ask a government official to ignore the law, you're Christian bashing.

Over the weekend Governor Bush did dispatch a team of State agents in vans to travel to Pinellas Park and take Terri Schiavo into custody. The Pinellas Park police told them that they had better bring a Judge with them or they were going to go away empty handed. If you criticize Governor Bush for his actions, you're
Christian Bashing.

If you question the wisdom of a father sending his 10-year-old son to be arrested trying to take water into Terri, you're Christian bashing and you hate God.

There are 70 other patients in that hospice. They're all dying. Because of the protestors they can't come outside the hospice to sit in their gardens and enjoy their last Spring. If you say that the protestors are hurting the other dying patients at the hospice, you're Christian bashing.

If you mention that Randall Terry, the Schindler's chief spokesman, has repeatedly called for Christians to conquer America for God and to turn it into a Christian theocracy, you're Christian bashing.

If you tell a woman standing outside of the hospice with a sign that says "rehabilitate Terri," that Terri can't be rehabilitated, you're Christian bashing.

If you suggest that the Republican Party being held hostage by religious extremists ... you guessed it. You're Christian bashing.

This story will not die after Terri Schiavo passes away. Republicans will be feeling the repercussions for some time to come. Randall Terry will be sad to discover that the majority of Americans don't want a Christian Theocracy. They want to live in a society where people are free to practice their religion as they see fit, but where they are not free to use the
police power of government to impose their religious beliefs on other people. Most Americans now realize that Terri Schiavo has already been kidnapped. Jeb Bush would have been too late. She's been kidnapped by religious extremists and the anti-abortion movement. To point this out is, of course, to engage in Christian bashing. Most Americans don't want complete strangers to be able to use the police power of government to interfere with their wishes as to how their final days should play out. They are overwhelmingly disgusted with the eagerness of the Republican Party to pass one specific law relating to
one specific issue with one specific individual ...all to pander to the anti-abortion movement. This is not something they will soon forget.

Have you stopped for a moment to consider the
long-term consequences of the Republican Party's
fawning over these religious extremists? Watch
President Bush's judicial nominees. Watch the
Democrats use the Schiavo matter to illustrate what might happen to other Americans if Bush's nominees are confirmed. And watch the congressional elections next year. If it's close, and if the Republicans lose
their majority, look back to the crowd gathered since last week in Pinellas Park for an explanation. That, too, is Christian bashing.