Government-mandated sterility

[Huckleberry]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/02/11/new...sed/index.html

[Critch]

Congratulations, it's a bouncing baby boy.

[MikeVick7]

Well that story certainly didn't start my day out too positively.

[JonInMiddleGA]

The tossed-from-car story isn't getting a lot of play in Atlanta this morning, with this as our local top story.

http://www.ajc.com/news/content/metr...11boyshot.html

A 2-year-old boy was shot Thursday after a man demanding money burst into a Forest Park townhouse, held a gun to the toddler's head, and began counting down, police said.

When the boy's aunt unexpectedly walked into the apartment, the man fired two shots, hitting the child in the neck, said Clayton County police Capt. Jeff Turner.

According to an account the boy's father gave to police, the man came into the apartment on Morrow Road and grabbed the boy, Xavier Miranda, by the collar and demanded that the father hand over money from his income tax refund check.

"Then he started counting down — 5, 4, 3 — with the gun pointed at the child's head," Turner said.

Before the man could get to '1,' the boy's aunt walked in, police said. The man lunged for the aunt, and the father bolted for the back door, police said.

The father then heard two shots fired. When he turned around, he found Xavier lying on the floor, with blood around him, Turner said.

The gunman ran away.

Xavier was taken by helicopter to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. His condition was upgraded Friday from critical to serious.

[Huckleberry]

Is that story saying that the father ran away while his child was in mortal danger?

[revrew]

I read the article. What does that have to do with your thread title? Please tell me you speak only from rage, frustration, or an attempt at humor. I would take serious issue with any serious suggestion of government-mandated sterilization as a solution to anything.

[miked]

Actually, I thought this thread was going to be about the O'Reilly Factor last night in which he was going on about a lady who killed her 5 week old baby (blamed it on post-partum depression). She plea bargained and won't do jail time if she undergoes sterilization. He was up in arms about the use of post-partum depression as a legal psychiatric defense for murder.

Anyway...

[gstelmack]

I'm curious to find out if the woman's story holds up. There have just been too many of these "Someone else came in and harmed this child" stories that turned out to be "I harmed the child" stories. I'd like to know more about the woman who brought the child in or to know that the authorities have checked out her story.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by revrew

I would take serious issue with any serious suggestion of government-mandated sterilization as a solution to anything.

I would take serious issue with anyone who doesn't see court-ordered sterilization as just a small part of the treatment meted out to anyone who would toss a newborn from a car.

Whether a dull butter knife or sterile surgical instruments are a better choice for the procedure might be open for debate, but not whether it should be done.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

I'm curious to find out if the woman's story holds up. There have just been too many of these "Someone else came in and harmed this child" stories that turned out to be "I harmed the child" stories. I'd like to know more about the woman who brought the child in or to know that the authorities have checked out her story.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/02/11/new...sed/index.html

The latest version of the story says police believe they've found the birth mother, and there's no indication that they're questioning the same woman who brought the child in, so that at least doesn't appear at this point to be the case.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Meanwhile, the suburban Atlanta shooting victim died earlier this morning

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/02/11/new...sed/index.html

The latest version of the story says police believe they've found the birth mother, and there's no indication that they're questioning the same woman who brought the child in, so that at least doesn't appear at this point to be the case.

Good. I can stop being quite so cynical now.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

I would take serious issue with anyone who doesn't see court-ordered sterilization as just a small part of the treatment meted out to anyone who would toss a newborn from a car.

Whether a dull butter knife or sterile surgical instruments are a better choice for the procedure might be open for debate, but not whether it should be done.

i don't think it's the government's place to suggest such a punishment. that's what we have jail for.

[Subby]

Being able to have kids and to be a parent is not a right, but rather, a privilege. If you blatantly show that you are unfit for parenthood, then you should be sterilized - in addition to whatever criminal prosecution is warranted.

Wow. Did I just type that?

[rkmsuf]

Originally Posted by Subby

Being able to have kids and to be a parent is not a right, but rather, a privilege. If you blatantly show that you are unfit for parenthood, then you should be sterilized - in addition to whatever criminal prosecution is warranted.

Wow. Did I just type that?

http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/~fof/for...ad.php?t=35848

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Subby

Being able to have kids and to be a parent is not a right, but rather, a privilege. If you blatantly show that you are unfit for parenthood, then you should be sterilized - in addition to whatever criminal prosecution is warranted.

Wow. Did I just type that?

a privilege granted by whom? and who bestowed the authority to the government to govern bodies? i don't see any mention of it in the Constitution.

also, it can be argued that by sterilizing people you are inadvertently commiting abortion, since you are killing life before it has a chance to begin.

i really don't think you want a government with that kind of authority. it's a slippery slope that i don't think you people who think you know better are failing to see. already with the Patriot Act your right to privacy can be compromised.

[Huckleberry]

Sheesh.

I was kind of kidding. Meaning I think they should be sterilized but I'm not sure the government should do it. I thought about bringing up the need to pair them with Amanda Monti in a cell block. Should have gone that route.

Speaking of justice, it's nice to know the guy responsible for 20 years of being mute got 6 months in jail in this one:

http://www.cbc.ca/storyview/MSN/worl...an-050211.html

[Desnudo]

Originally Posted by Hell Atlantic

a privilege granted by whom? and who bestowed the authority to the government to govern bodies? i don't see any mention of it in the Constitution.

also, it can be argued that by sterilizing people you are inadvertently commiting abortion, since you are killing life before it has a chance to begin.

i really don't think you want a government with that kind of authority. it's a slippery slope that i don't think you people who think you know better are failing to see. already with the Patriot Act your right to privacy can be compromised.

Didn't the government already try this back in the 30s? I remember something about a scandal in Massachusetts when it came out they were sterilizing mentally disabled people.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

Good. I can stop being quite so cynical now.

You stopped too soon ...
http://www.ajc.com/news/content/shar...rn_Tossed.html
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The woman who claimed to have seen a baby being tossed from a moving car fabricated the story as a cover to abandon her newborn and hide an unwanted pregnancy from her family, authorities said Friday.

"It's not as horrible as we first thought," Broward County Sheriff Ken Jenne said. "The baby was never thrown out of a moving car. This is the case of a disturbed woman who gave birth and did not want to keep her child."

Jenne said the woman, identified as Patricia Pokriots, 38, kept her pregnancy a secret from her family and others, She had planned to take the baby to authorities, then built her story around seeing two people in a large white sedan arguing. "One story built upon the other," Jenne said.

The child was born Thursday afternoon, about an hour before being dropped off by Pokriots at a Broward sheriff's substation in North Lauderdale, about 15 miles northwest of Fort Lauderdale, Jenne said.

"She has indicated that she does not want the child," Jenne said.

Pokriots may face a charge of filing a false report, but has not been otherwise charged, Jenne said. She was committed for psychiatric evaluation under the Baker Act, which allows for people who are a threat to themselves or others to be held for 72 hours.

Pokriots is a barmaid and has an arrest record including an aggravated battery charge. "She said she may be a threat to herself," Jenne said.

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

You stopped too soon ...

Ha! Phew, now I can go back to my cynical, grumpy ways.

At least the child can be adopted by someone who cares...

[Huckleberry]

Dammit. And my first instinct was to doubt her story, too.

Oh well. The fictitious couple will never have kids because they're not real. And the government doesn't have to get involved. Good news for everybody.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by Huckleberry

Dammit. And my first instinct was to doubt her story, too.

Tha was my first instinct as well. The moment I heard it, it just sounded like it had "Susan Smith"-type story written all over it.