Good Intentions, Bad Laws and Unintended Consequences
A reader sends in an article which uses the John Edwards' affair to propose another onerous, intrusive government-mandated plan. It would take decisions from the people most directly involved and put them in the hands of bureaucrats in the social welfare agencies.
From Make Paternity Mandatory:
The recent extra-marital affair has ended John Edwards' political career, at least his chances for running for president. I often wonder how some men (and often women) can be so stupid.
What is really sad is Rielle Hunter, Edwards' ex-girl friend, saying she will not participate in DNA testing to establish the paternity of her daughter. Her decision means that the issue of who the father is will remain open, and may never be known.
Our government should demand that the father's name of every child born in America be put on the birth certificate.
We have all seen fathers who impregnate a girl, then run off or fail to live up to their responsibility of child support and fatherly duties.
The child, who is an innocent victim, is not given a fair chance in life, and faces enormous difficulties, and often goes through life without a father who is very much needed in every family in today's society.
Charles Harrington
Interesting idea; however, too many "interesting ideas" are picked up by the "there oughta be a law" crowd, make their way onto the books as law and become subject to another law: the law of unintended consequences.
Whenever the government makes anything mandatory, a little more freedom is lost. In this case, not only the freedom of the mother, but also the freedom of any guy suspected of being the father.
What of the single, professional mom who has no desire to establish paternity? Why encroach upon her freedom of choice? It is to be supposed that the mother would have some choice in the matter of who--if anyone--helps raise her child. Are we to believe that the government can make a better choice than the mother?
IF the mother applies for public assistance, there's more of a case to be made for demanding a paternity test. But as someone at DBKP pointed out, "How many times does Maury Povich have four guys on his TV show take DNA tests and none of them are the father?"
If this were to become law, expect that men who are subjected to DNA testing and are not found to be the father of the child in question, to reasonably demand some type of compensation for their time and trouble. Who's on the hook for that?
What about mothers who know who the father is and choose not to have that man around their child for a variety of reasons? Paternity payments mean visitation rights. Are we to force such mothers into an unwanted choice?
It's all one more Pandora's Box of freedom-stifling government regulations, with an all-too-familiar, "For the Children" sticker slapped on the outside.
We're sure the Mr. Harrington, like too many people today, had the best of intentions when writing his suggestive piece. Good intentions are always easier when it's someone else's freedoms and choices that are being infringed upon.
Maybe that's one reason they serve as the paving stones, not only on the road to hell, but also on the road to serfdom.
by Mondoreb
[hat tip: BR549]
image: djfeathers
State of Washington Tries to Help
By Supplying Footless Body List
The Case Of The Missing Feet
DBKP has reported on several occasions on feet that tend to wash up on the shores of British Columbia.
About 5 right feet have washed on British Columbia shores. So many, that beachcombers who do not find a dead person's foot while strolling are pissed. Pranksters are jumping in now to fuel the frenzy.
ALSO at DBKP.com: * Vancouver Foot Mystery: Sixth Foot Found; Latest Foot a Hoax * Canadian Police Baffled: The Case of the Grisly Right Feet |
The Canadian Police initially reported that the feet belonged to some fellows who crashed in a plane. Then it was a sunken boat. Since they had DNA from all the immediate family members of those lost on the fight, which was real, unlike the boating mishap, the authorities could not explain why there was no match.
But we at DBKP managed to figure it out. We set our panel of experts on it, forensic scientists all, and they came back 7 minutes later and said there was no match because the DNA doesn't match. The findings did not put the DBKP staff at ease.
But now a discovery: one of the feet has been matched with a missing person.
Police identify one 'mystery foot' owner
Global TV reported Friday that RCMP had identified one of the five severed feet as belonging to a depressed man who was missing. RCMP Cpl. Pierre LeMaitre said police had ruled out foul play. Police planned to talk to the man's family Friday. More information may be released next week.
So one of the feet belongs to a missing person. Our condolences to the family.
But can anyone explain why all the feet have not already been compared with all missing persons? This is not even hard.
How many size 12 foot missing persons are there?
Who runs the RMCP?
Homer Simpson?"
Well, Americans seem ever-willing to help out the Mounties. Washington State, in the same article has decided to assist by providing footless bodies--something it apparently has a surplus of.
From the same article:
A Washington state coroner said Friday that he wants to work with the B.C. Coroners Service to see if there's a connection between footless skeletal remains discovered in the San Juan Islands and the mysterious feet that have washed ashore in southwest B.C.
San Juan County coroner Randall Gaylord said a body was discovered by a hiker on Orcas Island in the San Juan archipelago in March 2007. The body did not have a right arm, right hand, left hand or any feet.
There you have it. A Canadian-American law enforcement partnership.
by pat
sources
* http://www.canada.com/
images:
* oregonalive
* extreme catholic
* wnd
Major Ray Tuttoilmondo, Galveston County
The grim details of the last days of little Riley "Baby Grace" Sawyers life have begun to emerge.
From today's Galveston County Daily News:In an interview, Kimberly Dawn Trenor, 19, of Spring, told investigators that she and her husband, Royce Clyde Zeigler, 24, beat her daughter with two leather belts the morning of July 24, an affidavit says.
Kimberly and Royce went to Walmart for the specific purpose of picking out a "suitable" container to dispose of little Riley's dead body. One can imagine the two walking the fluorescent lit aisles, looking at various sized plastic containers until choosing the "right" one.
They also held her head underwater in the bathtub and Zeigler picked her up by her hair and threw her across the room, slamming her head into tile floor, the affidavit says.
An autopsy on Oct. 30 found that the child had three skull fractures on the back of her head.
The pair also smothered the girl by pushing her face into a pillow in her room and into the cushions of a couch, the affidavit says.
Trenor told investigators that, during the beating, her husband gave the girl child’s pain medication and covered her with a purple towel after she was dead, the affidavit says. [1]
They then wrapped her in plastic and placed her in a blue plastic tote. They put the tote out in a storage shed in the backyard of their Spring home. The authorities are not quite sure how long little Riley's body was kept there, anywhere from one to two months.
One could see Kimberly looking out the kitchen window to the storage shed where her daughter's body lay while she washed the dishes or cooked dinner. Of Royce mowing the lawn or waving to the neighbors, the children who played in the yards next door. Of Kimberly and Royce talking in quiet whispers, discussing where they could take Riley, where no one would ever find the evidence of what they had done.
The couple took the remains in their car and tossed them into the water near the Galveston Causeway, the affidavit says.
When the plastic storage tote containing Riley's body was found resting on a sand bar the Galveston County Sheriff's Department took over the investigation. They found her wrapped in plastic, she wore a little pink skirt and matching blouse, little tennis shoes that flashed bright lights from the heels. No one had reported a little girl missing. No one knew who this little girl in the plastic tote was. They released a composite sketch of Riley and dubbed her "Baby Grace." [2]
On Oct. 29, a fisherman found the plastic bin with the little girl inside.[1]
Did Kimberly and Royce see the newspaper and media reports about the unidentified "Baby Grace" case? Did they discuss the case with neighbors? Did they believe that dumping Riley's body into Galveston Bay would be the end, that somehow, they would be in the clear?
They both sit in Galveston County Jail. One wonders what possible defense their attorney's will present. Bets are, they'll soon point the finger of blame at each other.
[1] - Galveston County Daily News
[2] - Baby Grace and the Little Lost Girl, Riley Sawyers
By LBG
DBKP.com - Bigger, Better!.
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.
BREAKING BABY GRACE NEWS:
Authorities have moved in the Baby Grace case.
Couple Charged in Case of Missing Child Who May Be 'Baby Grace'
Galveston County authorities have arrested a couple in the case of a missing child who may be "Baby Grace," the toddler whose body washed ashore in a storage bin in Galveston Bay last month.
Authorities are awaiting DNA test results but have tentatively identified the girl as 2-year-old Riley Ann Sawyers of Spring, said Maj. Ray Tuttoilmondo of the Galveston County Sheriff's Department.
The girl's mother, Kimberly Dawn Trenor, 19, and Royce Clyde Zeigler II, 24, reportedly told relatives that she was taken in July by someone claiming to be an Ohio social worker. But they never told police she was missing, Tuttoilmondo said.
After police searched their home, they were arrested early Saturday and charged with injury to a child and tampering with evidence, Tuttoilmondo said. The couple remain jailed on bonds of $350,000 each. It's unclear if they are married, Tuttoilmondo said.
Tuttoilmondo declined to say what was found in the home, about 200 miles south of Dallas, or what the couple may have said about Riley's disappearance.
The police have been onto the couple for awhile, but were remaining silent.
More from CNN: Police identify girl found dead in box; arrest mom and stepfather The arrests followed searches conducted Saturday after a November 7 tip, the sheriff's department said.
Deputies and FBI agents plan to release more information at a news conference Monday, Galveston County Sheriff's Maj. Ray Tuttoilmondo said.
At the time Tutttilmondo stated: " "She is more to us than just a case number, more to us than just an unidentified body. She is very much a human being," Tutoilmondo said last month. "She is someone's child, someone's grandchild, someone's cousin, someone's best friend, and to us, that is the most important part about this case."
"We have adopted the name of Baby Grace because, there again, that is part of the emotional part of this case for us," he said, holding a tiny sneaker identical to one of those the child was wearing when she was found."
Finally the authorities have moved in this case. Perhaps questions can now begin to be answered in the Riley Sawyers disappearance and the Baby Grace case. Maybe they are one and the same, maybe not.
In either case, we applaud the actions of the authorities.
by Mondoreb
[hat tip: pat]
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.
