DickSantorum-2012

America is almost unique in the civilised world for forcing pregnant prisoners to undergo childbirth cuffed and shackled

In 2007, a 17-year-old girl called Cora Fletcher was charged with retail theft. Over a year later, after she missed a court date, she was sent to the Cook County jail, in Illinois. She was eight months pregnant at the time.

During a pre-natal check-up at the facility, her baby appeared to have no heartbeat, so she was sent to the county hospital. As the medical team tried to induce her, Fletcher claims that both her hands and both her feet were shackled to either side of the bed. Only when she finally went into labor, three days later, was one hand and one foot released. It’s hard to imagine a more crucifying way to force a woman to try to give birth.

Sadly for Fletcher, there was no payoff for the trauma and humiliation she was forced to endure, as her baby was born dead.

Not to mention the arguments seem silly. There are many arguments used for both sides. The ones represented in this flowchart are very dumbed down, if you will.

I’m offended that someone would call this a proper annunciation and critique of the arguments. Good critique involves three things: articulation, argument, and analysis.

Articulation: Putting ideas into clear, concise, and understandable forms. This includes defining terms and making important distinctions.

Argument: Rational criticism of the beliefs/ideas in question (Critical); Supplying reasons for accepting some conclusion (Constructive). The combination of critical and constructive argument allows for deductions to be made.

Analysis: More clarifications, distinctions, and arguments are made. Revisit any sticking points and reanalyze conclusions based on new information.

This can be an infinite loop. One example of an argument that has yet to reach a conclusion is “What is consciousness?”

Anyway, the flowchart does not do this effectively, thus my displeasure with it. Perhaps I’ll make one of my own — one that thoroughly presents and critiques the arguments for both sides in an unbiased manner.

Retired firefighter Raul Rodriguez is hoping that a video that he taped himself will prove that he was acting in self-defense when he gunned down P.E. teacher Kelly Danaher outside the victim’s home near Houston in May 2010.

On the video that was presented as evidence in court on Wednesday, loud music can be heard as Rodriguez tells Danaher to “turn it down.”

“You need to stop right there,” Rodriguez says. “Don’t come any closer please. I’m telling you, I’m telling you, stop, I said stop right now or I will shoot you! … I fear for my life. I told you to stop, my life’s in danger, you got weapons on you, stay away from me.”

While standing in Danaher’s driveway with a flashlight and a gun, Rodriguez is also on the phone with a 911 dispatcher using the buzzwords he learned in concealed weapons class, according to the prosecutor.

At one point, one the men Rodriguez confronted suggests that he will get his own gun: “When I go in that house and come back, don’t think I won’t be equal to you, baby.”

“I’m talking to you, and I mean, I’m scared to death here,” Rodriguez explains to the dispatcher. “It’s about to get out of hand, sir. Please help me, now. I’m standing my ground here.”

Moments later, the video ends after a crack of gunfire.

“This is a difficult defense to mount,” legal analyst Dana Cole told ABC News. “He had no injury, he brought a gun to a noise complaint, and it appeared he was escalating it by baiting the party-goers.”

KHOU legal expert Gerald Treece also questioned the suspect’s motive.

“Nobody’s hold your own ground, or stand your own ground laws are ever on the side of the person who started the fight,” Treece said.

Texas’ “Castle Doctrine” is similar to Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law because it says that gun owners no longer have a “duty to retreat.”

In the wake of the killing of Florida teen Trayvon Martin earlier this year, state Rep. Garnet Coleman (D) warned that the same type of situation was possible in Texas.

“It can happen here,” Coleman pointed out. “The law is the same – the law that protects the guy that shot Trayvon.”

Remember how I said this law was going to be abused?

I'm really sad I was right about that prediction...