They Can't be Serious!

This article if from the Pittsburgh Post - Gazette. It was to outrageous not to print.

Editorial: Double tragedy / Not being a hero is not criminal conduct

Thursday, October 20, 2005

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

If a woman who cannot swim leaps into a rain-swollen creek and saves the life of a friend's toddler, she is a hero. If instead she yells for help to the child's father, she's a typical mortal.

What she's not is a criminal. Falling short of heroism is no crime. Making it one, as occurred recently in Blair County, sets a dangerous precedent.

The Blair County district attorney prosecuted a nonswimmer, Susan Newkirk, for endangering the welfare of a child after she summoned a 2-year-old's father to rescue him rather than leaping herself into South Poplar Run after Hurricane Ivan turned it into a torrent in September 2004.

A jury convicted Ms. Newkirk in July and a judge sentenced her to jail this month for a year and a half.

Blair District Attorney Dave Gorman said Ms. Newkirk had a duty to try to save the child and insisted it was irrelevant that she couldn't swim because two other people, including a nonswimmer, attempted a rescue. Apparently it is irrelevant to Mr. Gorman that they failed. The child died.

Apparently it is also irrelevant that American Red Cross life guarding instructors warn the strong swimmers who are their students never to leap in unprepared. There is no point in two people dying, these instructors caution. Still, tragically, people perish that way every year.

The boy's father, Thomas E. Reffner, was not paying Ms. Newkirk to watch his child and hadn't asked her to supervise him. Still, when the boy first got close to the creek, she took him back to his father. Later, she returned to the creek; the youngster toddled after her and fell in.

It's a stretch to argue that a nonswimmer has a moral obligation to risk her life to rescue another person. It's dangerous to take that a step further and hold her to the higher standard of criminal responsibility.

Where does it stop? Could passersby be sent to jail for not running into flaming buildings or not pulling a driver from a burning car? We agree with David Herring, a professor of child welfare law at the University of Pittsburgh, that this is an "aggressive prosecution."

Ms. Newkirk is in jail while her public defender is appealing the conviction. Not just for her, but for everyone's sake, let's hope she wins.

First published on October 20, 2005 at 12:00 am

Democrats take control of the Senate

By LIZ SIDOTI and BOB LEWIS, Associated Press Writers


WASHINGTON - Democrats wrested control of the Senate from Republicans Wednesday with an upset victory in Virginia, giving the party complete domination of Capitol Hill for the first time since 1994.

Jim Webb's squeaker win over incumbent Sen. George Allen (news, bio, voting record) gave Democrats their 51st seat in the Senate, an astonishing turnabout at the hands of voters unhappy with Republican scandal and unabated violence in Iraq. Allen was the sixth Republican incumbent senator defeated in Tuesday's elections.

The Senate had teetered at 50 Democrats, 49 Republicans for most of Wednesday, with Virginia hanging in the balance. Webb's victory ended Republican hopes of eking out a 50-50 split, with Vice President Dick Cheney wielding tie-breaking authority.

The Associated Press contacted election officials in all 134 localities where voting occurred, obtaining updated numbers Wednesday. About half the localities said they had completed their postelection canvassing and nearly all had counted outstanding absentees. Most were expected to be finished by Friday.

The new AP count showed Webb with 1,172,538 votes and Allen with 1,165,302, a difference of 7,236. Virginia has had two statewide vote recounts in modern history, but both resulted in vote changes of no more than a few hundred votes.

An adviser to Allen, speaking on condition of anonymity because his boss had not formally decided to end the campaign, said the senator wanted to wait until most of canvassing was completed before announcing his decision, possibly as early as Thursday evening.

The adviser said that Allen was disinclined to request a recount if the final vote spread was similar to that of election night.

The victory puts Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., in line to become Senate majority leader. He has led the Democrats since Tom Daschle, D-S.D., was defeated two years ago.

Bush says Rumsfeld is stepping down

By DAVID ESPO and LIZ SIDOTI, Associated Press Writers


WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld stepped down as defense secretary on Wednesday, one day after midterm elections in which opposition to the war in
Iraq contributed to heavy Republican losses.

President Bush said he would nominate Robert Gates, a former
CIA director, to replace Rumsfeld at the
Pentagon.

Asked whether his announcement signaled a new direction in the war that has claimed the lives of more than 2,800 U.S. troops, Bush said, "Well, there's certainly going to be new leadership at the Pentagon."

Bush lavished praise on Rumsfeld, who has spent six stormy years at his post. The president disclosed he met with Gates last Sunday, two days before the elections in which Democrats swept to control of the House and possibly the Senate.

Last week, as he campaigned to save the Republican majority, Bush declared that Rumsfeld would remain at the Pentagon through the end of his term.

Rumsfeld, 74, was in his second tour of duty as defense chief. He first held the job a generation ago, when he was appointed by President Ford.

Whatever confidence Bush retained in Rumsfeld, the Cabinet officer's support in Congress had eroded significantly. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif., the House speaker-in-waiting, said at her first postelection news conference that Bush should replace the top civilian leadership at the Pentagon.

And Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, who had intervened in the past to shore up Rumsfeld, issued a statement saying, "Washington must now work together in a bipartisan way — Republicans and Democrats — to outline the path to success in Iraq."

The Pentagon offered no date for Rumsfeld's departure.

Gates, 63, has served as the president of Texas A&M University since August 2002, and as the university's interim dean of the
George Bush School of Government and Public Service from 1999 to 2001.

The school is home to the presidential library of Bush's father. Gates is a close friend of the Bush family, and particularly the first President Bush.

He served as deputy national security adviser from 1989 to 1991 and then as CIA director during the first Iraq war, from 1991 until 1993.

Gates joined the CIA in 1966 and is the only agency employee to rise from an entry level job to the 7th floor director's office. He served in the intelligence community for more than a quarter century, under six presidents.

Bush has considered Gates for jobs before, including in 2005 when he was searching for a candidate to be the nation's first national intelligence director.

His nomination must be confirmed by the Senate.

Rep. Ike Skelton (news, bio, voting record), D-Mo., who is expected to chair the House Armed Services Committee next year, said Rumsfeld's resignation "presents an important opportunity for our country to begin a new policy direction in Iraq and in the war on terrorism."

He encouraged the Bush administration to take advantage of the fresh start.

Vote!

Just a reminder to family and friends, and to anyone else that might be reading this post. Don’t forget to vote tomorrow, Tuesday November 7th. How easy it would be to say “The hell with it!” , as more and more people are staying home on Election Day. Think of it this way, regardless of your political affiliation, if you stay home, you might just as well have voted for the other guys. It comes down to choices and where you think our country should be headed. No big deal? Ask yourself this, do you want a secular government, or do you want a government that recognizes our Judeo-Christian roots? Do you feel we should be giving more money to the government, or do you want to pay less taxes and keep more of your hard earned money. Perhaps you are satisfied with the way our country handles the illegal immigration problem and perhaps you’re not. Maybe you’re just content to let someone make these decisions for you. But if you want some say in where our country is going, tomorrow is the day to be heard. How you vote, or not, will help determine which direction America is going. My personal opinion is, it’s our duty. It’s both a right (if we obey the laws) and a privilege to vote. I happen to think we still live in the greatest country in the world. Apparently, millions of other people the world over feel the same way, because they risk life and limb to get here. With all our flaws, we still have a pretty good life here. Let’s keep it that way. Vote! God Bless America!