Addressing the Single Parent Epidemic

I've discussed my fellow Liberals desire to avoid the assignment of personal responsibility in several blog posts, most notably last December 29th in my post titled "Solving Gun Violence."  Here's what I had to say then: 

".....we avoid any assignment of personal responsibility.  We do not, under any circumstances blame personal lifestyles, personal choices or personal decisions. We never allow any blame that would insult or hurt an individual or the choices they have made or failed to make.

[For example] ....if a person drops out of school, that's the school's fault....  ...we never blame the teachers, or even dare to measure a teacher's ability or success.  That's personal and we don't do personal......"

One of the recent heroes today's liberals (in part because of his bizarre desire to ban large sugary sodas), Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York, has dared to take on the single largest and most important issue in our society today, single parent families.  And he's dared to break the cardinal rule of liberals I outlined in the December 29th essay, he's daring to actually place some of the blame on today's youth!

The liberal communities response against Bloomberg has been overwhelmingly negative and very vitriolic.  According to nearly all my fellow liberals, young people who become pregnant outside of a stable family environment are totally blameless!  And they must never be shamed, slandered or made to feel the least bit bad!  Instead they are to be supported, nurtured, even praised for their bravery.

The New York Times' Michael Powell, writing a highly critical essay in the New York Times this week states categorically "Teenage pregnancy is a problem of poverty."

This level of stupidity from today's liberals and progressives is disastrous and is destroying lives and the very fabric of our society!

What Bloomberg is trying to do is to educate young people into making better, more reasoned decisions.  He is not advocating abstinence.  He is not eliminating sex education from public schools. Far from it! But he is trying to actually show young people the seriously negative outcome that arises from single parent child rearing.

In addition to teaching youth the mechanics if sex and methods of birth control Bloomberg is daring to teach them the dangers of failing to use that knowledge in their personal lives.

Wouldn't we have a problem is the teachers in wood shop taught students how to use a circular saw but then failed to teach them that they might lose a limb is they don't use the saw carefully?

Once again I am forced to turn to someone really brilliant to outline what ought to be obvious, the incomparable Ann Coulter who addresses this issue in this week's column, "In Fighting Teen Pregnancy, The Folly of Shame and Blame."  Read her whole essay, it's funny and insightful, as usual.

Coulter points out that the popular liberal causes from banning soda's to restricting guns will have virtually no impact of the health or welfare of children compared to the horrific damage inflicted by single family child rearing:

Liberals seem to believe that drinking soda is voluntary, but getting pregnant is more like catching the flu.

It would be hard to make the case that fast food, plastic bags and cigarettes do more damage than single motherhood. 

-- Controlling for socioeconomic status, race and place of residence, the strongest predictor of whether a person will end up in prison is that he was raised by a single mother. 

-- At least 70 percent of juvenile murderers, pregnant teenagers, high school dropouts, teen suicides, runaways and juvenile delinquents were raised by single mothers. 

-- A study back in 1990 by the Progressive Policy Institute showed that, absent single motherhood, there would be no difference in black and white crime rates. 

It is critical to point out no one, not even Coulter, is advocating forcing unwed mother's to wed or to abort their children.  Instead both Bloomberg, and his unexpected defender Coulter, recommend education, something liberals would normally favor, except, I guess, if that education teaches personal responsibility.

As I pointed out in that December 29th essay, "We liberals don't do personal...."

It's How We Roll in a Small Town

I virtually never post anything specific about our town, Kosciusko, Mississippi. First of all, why would anyone outside of our little community care about a church luncheon or even the mayoral election? And second, we tend to keep our business to ourselves.

But, this story is just too good to pass up! As long time readers know I am a big supporter of the Second Amendment and, frankly, a big supporter of the right to carry a weapon, under strict licensing and control.

Far from causing crime, I believe the proper use of guns protect honest people and deters criminal behavior.

Here's the story. In our small town, which is almost always crime free, we recently have had a series of armed robberies taking place in daylight in the parking lot of our local supermarket. By series I mean three robberies. It's a small town. No one has been injured, at least up to this point.

However, yesterday, our local crime wave came to an abrupt halt. The would be robber finally picked on the wrong man. Melton King, co-owner of our wonderful Sonic Drive-In was the latest victim. As King came out of the supermarket, the gunman approached, gun drawn and held straight out at arms length.

“He held the straight out like in a movie,” King said. “He put the gun to my ribs.”

King said he tried to stay calm and when asked for money, he gave him money from his wallet and then from his bank bag containing Sonic money.

King said robber took off running behind the supermarket. King jumped into his Ford F-150 pick-up truck in hot pursuit. He had hoped to see the robbers vehicle and give a license plate to the police.

But King, also was carrying a firearm and he did fire a warning shot or two at the fleeing robber.

This clearly surprised and upset the robber who glanced back at the rapidly pursuing King. While looking back, the robber stepped into a hole along the side of the road and he stumbled and fell. King's pick-up truck was closing so fast he accidentally struck the robber a glancing blow.

“He was stumbling to get up,” King said.

King immediately returned to supermarket and called 911 for help. Once he returned to the accident scene, where he found his Sonic money bag, but the robber had recovered enough to flee the scene.

Moments later, Kosciusko Police officers apprehended the accused robber on a nearby road. Kosciusko Police Chief R.J. Adams said the man was armed with the weapon described as the one used in the robbery. He, of course, was detained and provided full medical attention for his minor injuries.

Police Chief Adams commended Melton King for his action and also commended KPD officers Brice Cole, Stan Beall, Herbert Dew and Curtis Pope for their quick actions in apprehending the suspect.

Chief Adams and every one of these officers are friends of mine. And Melton King is certainly a local hero.

And, as our accused robber can testify, it's simply not wise to mess with folks you don't know in small town America. We're not only clinging to our guns, we're often carrying them.