Lawlessness

A couple of days ago, I read a news article about a woman who literally performed a cesarean procedure on a woman 8 months pregnant while the woman was visiting to purchase baby clothes! (the woman was not sedated either) Naturally, the pre-born baby was only 8 months gestation and the end result was that the baby died. The pregnant woman answered an ad on Craigslist. She was looking for used but undamaged baby clothes for her baby. While this is a horrid act to say the least, I don't know about you but I hear horror stories similar to this almost daily. It is as if people have gone mad!

Then there is the story of the woman whose manager kindly provided a handicapped spot for her near her apartment. She is missing part of a leg and no, I don't know if it is the whole leg or what but she has a prosthetic to get around. One of her neighbors wrote the most disgusting, selfish note to her that basically said he'd park where he wanted and up hers! Where has kindness gone? 

Here locally on an almost daily basis, drivers run red lights, don't stop at Stop Signs, pull right in front of other drivers and so on. It seems all of these from the least to the most stems from a sense of entitlement. "I am special. I NEED to (get somewhere right now, my own baby, someone else's property - well, fill in the blank) do this." It is only with hyper-diligence on the part of drivers that there are not more accidents, injuries and even deaths on our local streets and highways. 

It is a sense of one's importance is more than anyone else's. God, in His magnificent wisdom, had Moses write down the Ten Commandments. God didn't put these rules in Mose's hands to be mean or to deprive us. Think about it - don't steal, don't lie, don't be jealous of other's things (which leads to further sin of stealing), don't kill others, don't commit adultery, etc. If we would only follow His rules, think how pleasant our world would be! But since our society and culture has thrown God under the bus, so to speak, people's behavior indicates that "anything goes" as long as they get away with it. 

Because we have decided that we are more important than anyone else, we lie, cheat, steal, have sex with other's significant others and/or spouses, and even murder. I am not talking about murder where a person is convicted - oh, no, it is murder of our unborn children for one thing. This is perfectly legal. Now more and more states are legalizing euthanasia and California has a bill right now before its legislators that does so as well. What will stop those who think they know best to "kill" the elderly, those who are desperately ill and perhaps, with medical care, can survive, and those who are disabled? None of these can contribute to society, right? Medical costs mount either for families or insurance companies, right? So here is another excuse for murder. A perfect example of how utterly wrong this is? Terry Schaivo. She was left to die a horrible, excruciating death and the two people who loved her, her parents, were powerless to do a thing about it. They tried but failed - the legal system failed them. And, oh, by the way, Governor Jeb Bush did nothing about it either. Do you really trust him to run our nation? I don't. But, I digress.

With our sense of entitlement, we now have entered an era of lawlessness because we are ENTITLED to whatever we want! It is no matter how what I want affects you any more. It is my way or the highway, as it is said. I saw the movie, "Cinderella" last week and the theme of the movie, if you will, is "have courage and be kind". Wow, if our society would only do that! How different and civil our world would be.

The Real War Against Women

There is so much going on today that it would require I do nothing but post on my blog to keep up with it all. Geesh!  But, I can't let another day go by without expressing my outrage at the "REAL" war against women. Of course, I am talking about abortion and the lack of oversight of the abortion industry.
First, let me tell you that I never met my maternal grandmother. The reason? She died from a "back-alley" abortion. So abortion is personal to me and the last thing I wanted, and still want, is for women to die from botched or, in my opinion, "back-alley" abortions.
When Roe v Wade was decided, it opened the gate for abortion clinics. My understanding is that in order for a clinic like Planned Parenthood to open its doors, it must register and have a licensed physician (or maybe in California, a licensed nurse practitioner) and that said clinic must adhere to certain medical standards. Standards like sterilization of all instruments and equipment, etc. This is for the protection of everyone: the staff and the patients.  After all, it is an invasive procedure for the patient and there is loss of blood and fluids. Yet, I read and hear about another death or serious medical complication as a result of a "routine" abortion at least once a day if not more.
I realize that those who are tasked to oversee clinics like this are probably under-funded, under-staffed and just not enough hours in the day to do a proper job. I am sure that at least one person is going to raise her/his hand with this comment. That is not the point: don't these people who run these clinics give a damn about their patients and/or staff? I like to assume that the doctors, nurses and other medical staff have had training regarding sanitation and such. Maybe not.  And, who are these doctors who seem to come out of nowhere and can't do a proper job?  Women have had to be rushed to emergency rooms just to have their lives saved (and that doesn't always happen), or due to a botched job, they are left sterile and if they had any hope of having a child, that isn't going to happen or the staff is exposed to God knows what (as well as the patient).
I thought this was NOT going to happen!! Having legal abortion was the answer: no more deaths in the back alley or on the kitchen table, whatever. Honestly, it seems LESS safe now than when abortion was hush-hush and illegal.
The other thing that really troubles me is that these clinics are so often in impoverished neighborhoods where the patients and their families don't speak or understand English. These women, in my opinion, are really taken advantage of.  Not everyone speaks English or Spanish! How do they communicate with the staff? How do they tell the patient what serious signs of complications are? They don't! Further, it really breaks my heart that so many black women abort their babies. Sadly, I understand. Caught in the poverty and gang-run neighborhoods, I would imagine it is very difficult to see anything better for the child and the woman must ask herself: do I want to bring another baby into this lifestyle?
Yes, I do believe "it" is a baby.  I believe life begins at conception. I also believe that abortion is murder but I  am not naive to think that what I think and believe matters at all to a woman making the choice to abort. She'd tell me to mind my own business.  And, rightly so.  It just hurts me to think of all the babies who have not been born.  Still, if I had become pregnant before I was married, I honestly don't know what I would have done.  I would like to believe that I would have taken the high road and went through the pregnancy and given the baby up for adoption.
Liberals, both women and men, scream at the top of their lungs that conservatives and/or Republicans are waging war against women.  I don't think so.  Because they (liberals) felt they won a victory with Roe v Wade and subsequent legal decisions and statutes, they refuse to shine the light on the clinics, their staff, and the reports of women either dying or becoming sterile. Any light might just be a "slippery slope" to making abortion illegal, am I right? Of course, all of this really came to my thoughts due to the Gosnell trial. Haven't heard about it? No surprise there.  The liberal media would rather talk about Lindsay Lohan and her drug rehab that tell the public what is happening not just by Dr. Gosnell (I hate to even give him the appellation of "doctor") but other clinics, other emergencies, other horrors.  It is happening everywhere and way too often but the liberals are silent and accomplices to the atrocities.
It is time for the truth to be reported. I honestly don't believe it will force abortion back into the "back-alley" but I do think it will make those clinics and their staff accountable and, hopefully, much safer for the woman that chooses to abort. I abhor the partial-birth abortion or the late-term abortions. I can't even bring myself to talk about the horrible atrocities to the babies born. I can hardly read about it much less write about it. Yet, liberals believe that making any laws about these procedures would be that "slippery slope". We must do better for these women.  The media must step up and report not just the good but the bad about their "pet" projects.
We who are Christians need to get on our knees every single day and ask God for forgiveness for our nation; ask Him for wisdom on how we can be loving to our neighbors and speak the truth so that they will hear it.  We cannot change the law.  If abortion is made illegal again, it won't change the minds of those who feel that abortion is their only option. What we can do is write to our lawmakers and demand that real oversight of abortion clinics starts happening.  This war on women must stop.