The Death of Innocence

I sat down at my computer with every intention of composing a follow-up to tonight's CNN Democratic Debate. I rightly pointed Firefox to CNN's webpage; in as much as web pages are comprised of information on disparate topics, I wasn't surprised CNN's site contained everything from a story about Britney Spears "resting" at a hospital, video of a police officer who lost his job after an on-duty heart attack, and another video of nude models on strike in Italy.

And then I saw this. As CNN reported it, 27 year-old China Arnold (see photo) made a jailhouse confession to a former cellmate about killing her month-old daughter by baking her in a microwave oven in August 2005.

Linda Williams testified that she developed a sexual relationship with defendant China Arnold when the two were cellmates in the Montgomery County [Ohio] jail in March.

Arnold confided in her about what happened to her baby, Wiliams said.

Arnold feared that her boyfriend believed he wasn't the child's father and that he was going to leave her, Williams told the jury.

"She said she put the baby into the microwave and started it and left the house," Williams said.

Williams said she asked Arnold how she got the child into the oven.

"She said she fit right in," Williams said.

That was the end of any thoughts I had of blogging about another boilerplate-laden debate, as the whole affair had lost any relevance it had to the real world. (Of course a world where mothers cook their children as if they are defrosting a turkey seems more surreal than real.) To be sure, Wolf Blitzer and his co-inquisitors would be unwilling to query Sens. Clinton and Obama about anything they would do to prevent another immolation of a child at the hands of her mother.

Perhaps Blitzer, et al. wouldn't bother entirely because presidents are not customarily involved in the affairs of individual citizens (although that might change, given progressives' determination to expand the vistas of the nanny state.) Or maybe any answer that "Clintbama" would provide on the subject would be too embarrassing for the Democrat enablers at CNN to countenance.

It borders on understatement to report that progressives have had a tenuous relationship with individual accountability, as they are wont to establish "rights" divorced from any commensurate responsibilities. In particular, our society has enshrined the notion of women having sovereignty over their bodies absent any accountability over whatsoever they do with those bodies, either to themselves or others. Despite her claim to have finally "found her voice," neither Hillary nor Barack have the power of rhetoric to question, let alone object to the tidal wave of relativist effluvium that has overcome our cultural levies of faith and virtue.

Nor, sadly, does a Republican Party that is all too focused on appearing tough in response to external threats to be tough-minded in speaking about the wreckage that lies strewn across the cultural landscape. The seeming inevitability of John McCain's nomination notwithstanding, grass-roots Republicans are divided and restless at present entirely because cultural conservatives - those who would speak out against a society that renders a collective shrug over the death of innocents, in or ex utero - are devoid of a credible (read consistent) voice within the party.

Now I understand why some Americans, both liberal and conservative, don't understand what all the "Super Tuesday" fuss is about.

Gentle reader, please forgive the brevity of my only post since last Sunday. I am now going upstairs to pray and weep openly for the soul of my country.