"Baby Doe" is a song by Steve Taylor about a baby left to die in 1982 because it had Down's syndrome.
I've updated the lyrics slightly in reference to the (now illegal) practice of allowing children who survive botched abortions die in a similar fashion, some of them perfectly healthy, some of them surviving for hours before finally dying.
Barack Obama voted to defend this practice. While this issue alone should be enough to sink Obama from ever winning any election anywhere for anything, we unfortunately know that our society is far too depraved for that.
Taylor asks toward the end of the song, "where will it end?" We're not there yet. (As to where my posts on this subject will end, this will likely be the last for awhile.)
Unfolding today
A miracle play
This Illinois mornThe father -- he sighs
She opens her eyes
Their baby is born"We don't understand
It's not like we planned"
The doctor shakes his head"Aborted" they cry
And so they decide
This child is better deadI bear the blame
Believers are few
And what am I to do?I share the shame
The cradle's below
And where is Baby Doe?No hearing is sought
No lawyers are brought
They just won't let him eatThey wrap him up tight
And turn out the light
This child is getting weakThey're drawing a bead
Reciting their creed
"Respect a woman's choice"I've heard that before
How can you ignore
This baby has a voiceI bear the blame
Believers are few
And what am I to do?I share the shame
The cradle's below
And where is Baby Doe?Where will it end? Oh, no, no ...
It's over and done
Nobody has won
And no one gets a prizeBehind your disguise
Your rhetoric lies
You watched a baby starveI bear the blame
The cradle's below
And where is baby ...
Cross-posted on <pudge/*>.
Posted by pudge at September 16, 2008 11:18 PM | Email ThisWhile this issue alone should be enough to sink Obama from ever winning any election anywhere for anything, we unfortunately know that our society is far too depraved for that.
Of course we're too depraved for that! Look at Oregon with their handy dandy socialized medicine for all: no cash for lifesaving chemo but they'll help you commit suicide.
Posted by: Ragnar Danneskjold on September 16, 2008 11:31 PMSlime, slime, and more slime. All the GOP, and their ignorant lemming have to offer the voters. Let the corporations rape and pillage all they want, pay no taxes, and get too big to fail so we can bail them out ever few years with tax payer dollars. Platinum Parachutes for Corporations who got stuck stealing too much from consumers.
GOP Solutions? Not a chance. Just more slime. Even McFlip Flop / Keating 5 is now talking about regulation. My God. Just 25 years too late. What a moron.
Obama should not be elected you say Pudge, but the fact McCain is a lying two faced idiot doesn't bother you at all? Four more years of a moron in control of the Executive Branch is fine with you? Do you need the address of the Aurora Bridge?
I think I will go urinate on Thomas Friedman's grave the first chance I get.
Posted by: All Facts Support My Positions on September 17, 2008 07:33 AMPlease tell me you have a bunch of adopted children, so you don't look like a pathetic hypocrite.
It's all about "them" isn't it salty?
There are many things we can do to limit abortions. The GOP frauds are against every single one.
Even the Palin lunatic couldn't keep her kid's legs closed.
Wake up and smell the real world.
Posted by: All Facts Support My Positions on September 17, 2008 07:42 AMSo count you as thinking infanticide is not a big deal.
Color me unsurprised.
Direct your anger at the people who are condoning the murder of newborn infants, not me.
Posted by: pudge on September 17, 2008 07:46 AMI hope your mother taught you to completely chew all your food before swallowing. I wouldn't want you to choke on that mouthful of carpet.
Posted by: Saltherring on September 17, 2008 07:55 AMRepublicons never tell the truth.
Republicons never tell the whole truth.
Republicons never tell nothing but the truth.
What is the rest of the story?
Rush is great at screaming outrage about something, completely taken out of context, to get his inbred cracker listeners all worked up. Are you doing the same?
What is the rest of the story?
BTW how many unwanted children have you adopted?
Posted by: All Facts Support My Positions on September 17, 2008 07:59 AMMy sister and brother-in-law have a down syndrome daughter who is very much loved by all our family. And after their two other children were grown and gone, they adoped orphan children from Russia and Romania. The family loves them as their own.
Posted by: Saltherring on September 17, 2008 08:07 AMA few years ago, I brought up the fact I was a foster parent and one of the conservative commenters piped in that he was too (and admitted that beneath his rough old hide, there was a big heart). We ended up adopting our two when the birth parents couldn't even do the simple things the State wanted.
I have found this to be more true of conservative types and definitely not true of the liberal types. There are exceptions, sure, but all in all, the so-called evil right wing are actually walking and living the talk.
Posted by: swatter on September 17, 2008 08:08 AMI love it how folks want to force women to have children that there is no way they could possibly raise, and give a good life to. They then refuse to help raise the children from mothers who made the choice to have their babies and put them up for adoption.
Is there a stronger word than hypocrite?
And yes duff. The Democrats will have to save our nation once again from the robber barons. The flat world privatizing tax looters.
Posted by: All Facts Support My Positions on September 17, 2008 08:08 AMIf he wants to bailout failed management, then that management must resign -- at least the top 3 layers.
Then all top managers can only continue to work there for $1 a year until the $85 Billion dollar "loan" is paid off.
After the joy of hearing them let Lehman sink, my buzz was quaffed by this AIG bailout news...
Posted by: John Bailo on September 17, 2008 08:14 AMYou are the one being a hypocrite here. You pretend to care about children but DEFEND a vote for legal infanticide.
No one here is against caring for children except for you.
And I am not going to play this insipid game about personal behavior. Oh, I could ask you, how much money do you donate to charity? How could you ask me to pay for "charity" with my tax dollars when you won't pay for it yourself?
But I am not an unfair idiot like you: I recognize that everyone's personal situation is different, and I cannot judge what they don't do.
I can, however, judge what people do. And Obama voted to keep legal infanticide.
You can say it had no legal effect, but since the law was actually allowing the practice to happen, it kinda shows that it did.
Of course, lying about his opposition only compounded the error. As a result, we have the inconvenient facts that:
(1) Obama is more extreme than NARAL or the then-existing US Senate on abortion rights
(2) Obama lied about the reason for his opposition.
(3) Obama attacked the National Right to Life group for accurately characterizing Obama's opposition.
These are just the facts. I don't know why Obama shouldn't be proud of his extreme liberal position. It is who he is. Even factless likes that position, as evidenced by his implicit opposition to the Born Alive Act....
Be Proud, Obama supporters! Make signs--"Obama supports your right to ensure that the baby dies when you have an abortion!"
Posted by: iconoclast on September 17, 2008 08:46 AMNormally I skim your posts with a shake of my head at your extreme ignorance. You are perpetually without facts and simply spend your time lobbing unsubstantiated attacks on those "evil republicons"
However, this time you have really ticked me off with your totally insensitive and uncalled for remarks.
As usual you know NOTHING about foster care or adoption. You also have zero knowledge of the financial issues of which you spew.
However, to even equate the financial mess to the willful and cruel killing of the most innocent of human beings shows just how crass and contemptible you and those who are like you are. You wonder why conservatism is America is strong? It's because we have hearts and minds and are not brainwashed by the constant media barrage of Marxist utopia. I can't say the same for you.
Try doing some REAL fact checking next time you decide to make a comment.
Posted by: Eyago on September 17, 2008 09:04 AMIt is the height of selfishness for adults to say that we don't want a child because it will take too much work...so we will just kill it.
Infanticide should be defended by no one. The fact that so many in our society still try makes me fearful for where our culture has taken us, and where we are headed.
Thanks for speaking out, and thanks for giving voice to the voiceless.
My experience has been that those who are the most emotional about this issue are dealing with feelings of guilt and experiences they have not figured out how to get past. That's perfectly understandable and there are a lot of people they can talk to who can help find healing and restoration.
But I think we can all agree that this practice is abhorent and shouldn't be tolerated by an enlightened society.
I'll keep my opinions on Obama's votes to myself since they are probably self-evident.
Posted by: Chad Minnick on September 17, 2008 09:46 AMSigh.
Posted by: Hinton on September 17, 2008 10:10 AMThe law was void, regardless of its practice or "legal affect." All laws are not legal. That's why there are appellate courts, initiatives, amendments, strikings, etc. Avoid the fallacy of the general rule. Murder is murder is murder, regardless of the bandwagon you're on.
Posted by: The Pirate on September 17, 2008 01:19 PMNo, you're wrong in practice, because infanticide WAS happening and the law WAS NOT stopping it because of the belief -- right or wrong -- that it was legal (including Obama's own belief that it was legal). A new more specific law is one good way to solve this problem.
The infants were allowed to be killed.
A new statute was drafted to make sure they would not be any longer. It eventually passed, despite Obama's best efforts.
So what is your point?
Posted by: pudge on September 17, 2008 01:56 PMYoohoo duffie... comments? reactions? capitulation :)
Posted by: Ragnar Danneskjold on September 17, 2008 02:27 PMIn theory. But in practice, many people thought the existing law did NOT cover it, so it was NOT being forced. Yes, you could have changed everyone's mind about the proper interpretation of existing law -- good luck with that -- or you could make a new specific law.
The latter was easier. Obama opposed both the law AND the proper interpretation of existing law.
"Obama tried to draft/amend legislation that would promote murder."
No. He tried to kill legislation that would have forced the government to recognize it as murder.
Rothschild said of Obama, “This is a hard decision for me personally because frankly I don’t like him. I feel like he is an elitist. I feel like he has not given me reason to trust him.”
Wow! How bad does it have to be for a Rothschild to call someone an “elitist”!
OUCH!
Posted by: Ragnar Danneskjold on September 17, 2008 02:59 PMSo why do you persist in straining at gnats and swallowing camels to prove my position? You should have stopped equivocating and changed topics when I offered you the chance. If you tell me you are driven by the truth, then I will insist you identify and explicate what truth you mean, e.g., correspondence, coherence, pragmatic, realism, dualism, phenomenalism, idealism, and prove it by sorites. I can be easy or hard; take your pick. Don't confuse your friends with your enemies.
Posted by: The Pirate on September 17, 2008 03:32 PMSo why do you persist in straining at gnats and swallowing camels
I never did.
You should have stopped equivocating and changed topics
I never did.
If you tell me you are driven by the truth
I am driven by truth.
I know many people who find themselves unable to adopt who have donated time, money, services, and goods to crisis pregnancy centers to help women who need it, or have done the same for foster parents. In fact, in my very Christian, rightwing homeschool support group, about 70 percent of the families have adopted or do foster care. Several families have adopted four or more children. I do not know any non-Christians who have adopted a handicapped child. I do know many who have. I do not know any non-Christians who have adopted sibling groups. I do know many Christians who have.
It's not just bizarre, it's sickening to me that anybody could compare the horrendously brutal murders of unborn children and children who have survived the first attempt on their lives with a financial mess.
It's only ironic that the person factless would choose to 'fix' the mess we're in because of Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac is the person who, in three years of time in Washington D.C. managed to rake in more donations from them than ANY other senator except Chris Dodd (D) received in over TEN years. An exec with Fannie Mae publicly called Barack Obama a member of the family and thanked him for his help and support.
In 20005 Bush tried to regulate those industries, and the Democrats said no. McCain also warned that they were not stable and this could be a big problem for the American public, and the Democrats (who received the largest donations from those same organizations) mocked him. (I'm not voting for Barack or McCain, but McCain does seem to have been more aware of the dangers looming here than Obama was)
All of which is meaningless compared to the fact that Obama voted four times to let children born alive be left to die, cold, alone, hungry, and neglected in linen closets or anywhere else doctors chose to stuff them, and it's vomit inducing that the hospital practice which prompted the Ill bill Obama voted against was called 'Christ Hospital.'
Posted by: DeputyHeadmistress on September 18, 2008 10:47 PM