No Winners Here

It’s pretty bad if you think there’s a winner here. Those were the words of Kevin Montgomery as he responded to the news that his wife, Lisa Montgomery had just been sentenced to death for the murder of a young woman named Bobby Jo Stinnett. Fred Duchardt, Montgomery’s lead attorney said it’s a sad, sad day. Lisa is a fragile, wonderful person and is just heartsick over what happened to Bobby Jo, and her family. She’s heartsick over what “happened” to Bobby Jo?
Bobby Jo has been described as a sweet and loving wife, daughter, sister, and would have made a wonderful mother. She and her husband were expecting their first child. They were about a month away from what should have the best time of their lives. But they weren’t given that chance, were they Mr. Duchardt? Your fragile client saw to that, didn’t she?
You say she suffered from delusions that she was pregnant. No she didn’t and you know it. The fact that she altered images of a sonogram she got off the internet to included her name, kind of proves she knew she wasn’t, doesn’t it? But let’s just say she really did believe she was pregnant. How does that justify what she did?
You claim she was insane and didn’t understand that what she was doing was wrong. Whatever. She knew exactly what she was doing, and you know that too. This unbelievably, savage murder didn’t just happen, did it Mr. Duchardt? Your fragile client had been planning it for months. She had gotten to know Bobby Jo through dog shows. Once she found out Bobby Jo was pregnant, she went to great lengths to gain her trust. She found out when she was due. She found out where she lived. She found out what time of the day she would be home alone. She went to the internet to learn how a Caesarean section is done. She had her alibi all laid out. She would claim to be shopping in Topeka and went into labor. She set up a time to meet Bobby Jo at her home in Skidmore Missouri to buy a dog. The trap had been set.
The fact that Lisa Montgomery had been repeatedly raped by her step-father when she was a young girl is a tragic story. I think it makes a good case that the death penalty should be extended to child rapists. But still, it doesn’t give her the right to kill. If society accepts a horrible childhood as an excuse to kill someone, we’re in big trouble.
Here’s the deal, I’m not a big death penalty guy for two reasons. First, there have been innocent people put to death. How do you make that right? And second, there’s really no such thing as a life sentence. People who have been sentenced to life in prison for murder are paroled all the time. Why do they have the right to pursue their lives again when their victims are still dead.
Lisa Montgomery was given the benefit of a trial. She had the right to have someone plead her case to a jury, someone who would do everything in their power to save her life. Bobby Jo wasn’t given that chance. She was the victim of a calculated, cold-blooded murder because Lisa Montgomery wanted to literally cut her baby out of her body. Because of this, the jury reached the right decision.
The appeal process will drag on for years. After a while people will forget about what happened to Bobby Jo and her family. And Lisa Montgomery will be thought of as the victim.
No, Lisa Montgomery, isn’t insane. She’s evil. And the only way to beat evil is to destroy it. I still think Kevin Montgomery said it best though. It’s pretty bad if you think there’s a winner here.
Kevin McGinty can be reached at: kevinmcginty@sbcglobal.net

So Much For Being A Consrevative

You know, I just hate this. Now my wife is mad at me because I offended a friend of hers. Gee whiz Angie, I’m sorry. Now tell my wife to get off my back, will you?
Okay, let’s get down to business. As we all know, Bush’s approval rating is at an all time low. No surprises there. But have you noticed we don’t really hear much about that these days from the main stream media? You don’t suppose it has anything to do with Congress having even a lower approval rating, do you? We voted for change in 06, remember that? Well, we got change alright. We got non-stop attacks and endless investigations. The Democrats in Congress aren’t satisfied with simply destroying their political opponents. Harry Reid himself led the charge with the backing of the entire Democrat controlled Congress against a radio, talk show host, a private citizen if you will. You know the story. You probably know about the letter signed by 41 Democrat Senators that was sent to Clear Channel radio station, demanding they pressure this talk show host to apologize for comments they concocted. Well, they picked the wrong talk show host to attack. And I just love the way it all blew up in their faces. Like everything he does, Rush Limbaugh fought back and even sold the letter on e-bay to raise funds to help the kids of Marines killed in action go to college. How cool is that? Kids of our fallen soldiers get to go to college, Rush came out stronger than ever. And once again, Harry Reid came out looking like a fool. As my grandson would probably say. Face!
Sorry, I got a little sidetracked there. What I really want to talk about today is the Topeka High School-condom scandal. First let me say, I don’t believe the principle was unaware of the fact that just down the hall from her office, condoms were being given to students from the school nurse‘s office. The reaction was immediate. Acting Superintendent, Terry Sandlin rightfully put a stop to it. Parents were outraged to learn the school would do something like this behind their backs. I agree with them. This is an issue that should be discussed in public, and not be left up to a school nurse. And it’s an issue that’s not going to go away anytime soon.
Like everything, there are two very different sides to this story. There’s the abstinence only side. On this side, parents want to be the one’s to teach their kids about sex and birth control. This side tends to be made up of mostly the pro-life, religious right. And there’s the wacko, liberal left, anything goes side that believe this is a good thing, because kids are going to have sex whether their parents like it or not.
I’ve never tried to hide my conservative views. And to borrow a recent quote from Phill Kline, I make no apologies for my pro-life beliefs. Here’s how I see this issue. We can talk to our kids about sex until we’re blue in the face. We can spend years telling them about the dangers of having sex at such an early age. We can explain the risks of becoming pregnant or getting infected with a sexually transmitted disease that could be fatal.
In a perfect world this would be the perfect approach. But you know what? This isn’t a perfect world. As our kids become teenagers we lose a lot of control over them. We hope they always make the right decisions. But you know what else? Sometimes they don’t. High School kids by the thousands have been making the decision to have sex since the beginning of time, it’s nothing new. Look, the kids who were getting these free condoms are more than likely already having sex whether parents want to believe it or not.
Should a school nurse take it upon herself to make them available in a public school? No. It needs to be publicly discussed first. But in my mind, if it saves even one baby from being killed at the hands of an abortionist. Or if it saves even one of our kids from dying of AIDS, it’s worth it.
Kevin McGinty can be reached at: kevinmcginty@sbcglobal.net

Global Warming Money Making Machine

Well, well, well. Al Gore, the High Priest of the “Global Warming,” money making machine has won the Nobel Peace Prize. I’m not even sure how to address that, except to say, you’ve got to be kidding me. I guess we shouldn’t be surprised, they bestowed the same honor on Jimmy Carter a while back. You probably remember Mr. Carter, he was the peanut farmer from Georgia, turned president. He might have been good at growing peanuts, I don’t know. But as president, I’ll always remember him as the weakest, most pathetic, president the United States has ever had. But what do I know, I’m just an old guy. I can hardly wait to see who’s next. How about Sean Penn, Rosie O’Donnell, O.J. Simpson, or maybe Michael Moore. I know, let’s give one to Bin Laden. I mean what the hell, he’s just doing what he believes in, right? Then maybe we could all have a well deserved, group hug and just maybe, if we’re understanding enough towards his feelings, we can become friends. How about our good buddy to the south of us, Hugo Chavez or one of his American supporters like Harry Belafonte or Danny Glubber. If they keep lowering the bar to qualify, sooner or later everybody will have one. It won’t be worth anything, but it would make a really cool paper weight.
You gotta hand it to Al, he’s been a busy man. Not only did he invent the internet and brought the global warming hysteria to a theater near you. He also had a hand in bringing us a whole slew of really cool, new catch phrases. Phrases like, global warming, global warming crisis, climate change, climate crisis, CO2 emissions, carbon footprints, carbon credits, greenies, green space, green cities, green building, fossil fuels, bio-fuels, renewable energy, E-85, and tree huggers. He’s also demonstrated a certain level of hypocrisy that only a handful of men are capable of. Way to go, Al!
I noticed a sign on the front of a small bike shop in Lawrence the other day, “Save the planet, buy a bike!” Like usual, I’m probably being overly cynical, but it seems to me that the owner of this bike shop is simply using Al Gore’s hysteria to make a buck. If he were really concerned about saving the planet, instead of lining his own pocket, his sign might have read “Save the planet, ride a bike.”
How about those canvas shopping bags people are using? Instead of paper or plastic, they can say no thanks, I’m saving the planet, I brought my own canvas bag. Nothing wrong with that. But do you really believe the companies that make those bags are doing it to save the planet? No, they making them to sell for a profit. Do you really believe the grocery stores that sell these bags are doing it to save the planet? If that were the case, why do they plaster their name all over it. They use them as a way to advertise their business. You got it, they’re using these bags as a way to cash in on Al Gore’s hysteria to make a buck. My all time, favorite canvas bag story came from Los Angeles. A store out there is selling “designer” canvas bags for $960.00 apiece. Hey, if you’re going to cash in on global warming, you might as well go all out.
Again, it’s probably just me, but it looks like history is about to repeat itself. The environmental policies of the last 30 or 40 years have forced us to become dependent on foreign oil. Now the environmentalists are taking aim at those “evil,” coal fired, powered plants like the one they want to build in western Kansas. What happens if they successfully shut these plants down like they want? Will solar and wind power produce enough electricity to meet the energy demands of the future? Probably not. More than likely, we’ll be importing our electricity from Mexico. Now that’s a comforting thought.
Kevin McGinty can be reached at: kevinmcginty@sbcglobal.net

Fed Up With The Drama

The “it’s for the children” campaign is now in full swing. Just look at the “State Children’s Health Insurance Program” (SCHIPS.) This has been pushed through congress as some kind of huge, bi-partisan, children’s health care program. A breakthrough if you will. I mean what politician could walk away from saving the children during the campaign season. They’ve gotten so serious about saving the kids with this one, they’ve even included the kids of parents who make up to $83,000 a year. I’ll tell you straight up, I don’t lose much sleep worrying about the health insurance woes of people making more money than I do. And I’m sure not willing to pay for it with the massive tax increase this program would require.
Enough of that for now, I’ve spent most of this week out of town and I gotta tell you, it’s been nice to get away from all the drama this town keeps dishing out. I can hardly wait to see what’s coming once we get past our current “Fire Chief” crisis. Speaking of the Fire Chief. Howard Gile’s do the right thing. If you can’t handle the job, step aside. If you believe you can do the job, step up to the plate and do it then.
Look, I’m not looking for a fight with the union. I was in the teamsters union for about ten years myself. I finally decided I didn’t really fit into the group way of thinking that was increasingly demanded of me. Besides, I never really felt the need to have someone speak for me. No, I’m not anti-union. It just didn’t work for me.
But hey, just for the fun of it, let’s throw out a what if situation today. Consider the ramifications if the circumstances were reversed. For example, what if the Mayor, the City Manager, and the entire City Council were publicly demanding the resignation of one of their union brothers. Let’s say they were all doing daily interviews with the local newspapers and television stations. After that, they turned their efforts to the local airwaves of one of our most popular, radio talk shows like “The Jim Cates Show” to tell the public what a loser this person was. What if they decided to picket the fire station this person works out of until they were finally humiliated enough to give up and resign. There’d be hell to pay, that’s what. The lawsuits would be immediate.
I realize I’m on the outside, looking in. But it appears the whole thing boils down to the fact that the firefighters don’t like their boss. The complaint I’ve heard most often from the union is that the Chief wants to change things. He doesn’t do things like they’ve always done them. Maybe things like holding union members accountable for things that are required of them. Things like being required to live in Shawnee County to be a Topeka firefighter in the first place. I personally know of more than one instance of firefighters living outside the county. Think it doesn’t happen? Think again. Oh yeah, how about the long standing practice of taking care of personal business on company (tax- payer’s) time. Things like working on friends and family members lawnmower’s, cars, trucks, and motorcycles while they’re on duty. No, I won’t mention names here, but believe me when I tell you it happens all the time and it’s been going on for years. I don’t suppose you’ll ever hear the union talking about any of this. You know, what happens in the union brotherhood, stays in the union brotherhood. Besides, people aren’t supposed to know about any of this.
To me it comes down to one simple issue. Is the fire department able to respond to fires and other emergencies when called upon to do so. Again, from the outside it would appear they’re very capable of responding and doing so in a very professional manner. To me, it looks like the fire department is working. Could it be better? I’m sure it could. But has Howard Giles really done anything he deserves to be fired for? So far, I’m not convinced he has.
How about both sides scheduling another meeting to resolve the issues that are the most pressing. Resolve them, and quit acting like a bunch of damned kids. The non-stop drama coming out of this town is making Topeka the laughing stock of Kansas.
Kevin McGinty can be reached at kevinmcginty@sbcglobal.net

The Law's A Funny Thing

Laws are a funny things, aren’t they? Take the laws concerning late term abortions in Kansas for instance. In 1998, laws were passed specifically prohibiting an abortion after 21 weeks of pregnancy. The line was drawn at 21 weeks because it’s been proven that if given the chance, a baby can survive outside it’s mothers womb after that time. The only exception to the law, is if the continuation of the pregnancy could lead to death or “substantial and irreversible” harm to a “major bodily function” of the mother. Sounds reasonable and pretty clear to me.
Included in these laws are reporting requirements. If a late term abortion is determined to be necessary to save the life of a mother, two doctors, who have no financial or professional ties are required to report to the State what medical condition existed that led them to this decision.
Since the Kansas law took effect in 1998, George Tiller, of Wichita has preformed over 2,600 late term abortions. In almost every case he simply states it was necessary to save the woman from “substantial and irreversible” harm to a “major bodily function.” He’s simply repeating what the law says. To be fair, in a few cases he has actually stated that the late term abortion was necessary to save the woman because of mental health issues. Yeah, the woman was depressed. It was revealed a few weeks ago that one of these women who suffered from the mental health issue was depressed because her pregnancy was going to interfere with a rock concert she wanted to attend.
There are laws on the books that says it’s illegal to have sex with a child. There are also laws on the books requiring medical professionals to report suspected cases of child abuse to the state. I assume raping a 10 year-old girl would fall into the category of child abuse. During Phil Cline’s investigation of Tiller, it was revealed that girls as young as 10 and 12-years old had had abortions at his clinic, and no report was ever forwarded to the state. Now I’m not an attorney or anything, but it sure looks like a few laws were broken on this one. To me, it looks like a child rapist was able to cover his crime by aborting the evidence with no questions asked.
We have elected officials who are charged with enforcing the laws of the land. Their job is to enforce all laws, not just the one’s they agree with. Take Paul Morrison for instance. He dropped all charges against Tiller as soon as he took office as our new Attorney General. He said he’d conduct his own investigation. After seven or eight months in office he did finally come up with his own charges against Tiller. The best he could force himself to come up with was 19 lousy misdemeanor charges of having financial ties with the doctor Tiller had collaborated with.
Sorry Paul, but there’s another law on the books you’re not going to like. It took effect in 1970, and it allows the citizens of Kansas to demand the seating of a grand jury to investigate crimes when they’re not satisfied with the job our elected officials are doing. I don’t know exactly how it works. But it takes a certain percentage of registered voters to sign a petition to call for a grand jury. In the case of Segwick County the percentage they needed came out to 2,449 signatures. In the end they presented the county with 6,963 signatures, or almost three times more than were required. What’s that tell you about your job approval rating in Segwick County Paul?
The petition specifically states that District Attorney, Nola Foulston and anyone associated with her office should not be allowed to participate in the investigation because of her personal friendship with Tiller. Almost 7,000 citizens signed this petition. What’s that say about her job approval rating? Yeah, the law’s a funny thing.
Kevin McGinty can be reached at: kevinmcginty@sbcglobal.net