This fat lady ain't singing, yet
Perhaps the most compelling issue that made this recent obsession come to a head is that of worthiness. If we believe in a higher power who directs the day-to-day happenings of his liege, then we must believe that there is a score card and points given (or taken away).
One would find it hard, in this era of democracy and free will, to trust any such leader who just throws out decisions all willy-nilly without much thought or reasoning. Wouldn't one?
I came home to a disturbing news item which I will include below.
On the very day that DD found out about Wolf.
And I got madder than a rained-on rooster.
All I could think is how fucking unfair it is. How ridiculous.
Published: November 08, 2006 11:40 pm
Somerset father charged in gruesome abuse of infant
BY KECIA BALThe Tribune-Democrat
SOMERSET — A 21-year-old Somerset father is in jail after police charged him with repeatedly abusing his infant, including jolting the baby with a stun gun.Brandon Alan Austill of Somerset was charged Wednesday by borough police and arraigned before District Judge Arthur Cook on charges he broke several of the infant’s bones, fractured his skull twice and shocked him twice with a cattle-prod stun gun.The abuse, police said, happened between Sept. 11 – four days after the baby was born – and Oct. 31, when the baby was flown from Somerset Hospital to Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.Officer Richard Appel said the man indicated that he was unable to comfort the baby or get him to stop crying. Austill and the baby’s mother, Briana Dawn Clark, accompanied the infant to the Pittsburgh hospital.Medical staff and medical records indicated that the broken bones and fractures were at various stages of healing and had occurred during separate incidents, according to a police release. Austill admitted to forcefully smashing his child’s head onto a bathroom sink and a dining-room table, bending the child’s leg over his shoulder until he heard it break and using a stun gun, police said.Austill, who is in the Somerset County Jail in lieu of $75,000 straight bail, faces charges including six counts of aggravated assault and eight counts of reckless endangerment. His address is listed as in apartments at 800 East Main St.
I have often thought about adoption. Foster care. Anything to help out poor, innocent children who need a loving home. Even if it meant giving them back up eventually, I could give them more love than they've received in their short life, and hopefully make a difference. I'd volunteer to be a crisis haven. Just let me love a baby.
These people had a baby.
Why?
My thoughts were on DD. On Kellie. On Catherine.
Again. WHY. Whywhywhywhywhy.
I think about DD losing Wolf.
I think about Kellie losing her uterus.
I think about Cathy losing two beautiful baby boys. And being turned down for adoption.
WTF?
Yes, you have a two-income household and desperately want to add another child to your loving family. Sorry, you don't meet our requirements.
These are words I often think I'd hear if I pursued an agency for fostercare/adoption.
Sorry, but we need a stay-at-home mom.
Sorry, but you're too emotionally unstable.
Sorry, but you're white, and we need to be politically-correct and place these children with an ethnically-matched household.
That would be from the bureaucrats.
What do you hear from "god"?
Sorry, but these people are more deserving than you.
They have more points. You suck.
Now, isn't that comforting? A loving, all-knowing god who chooses where to place babies, according to his "plan"? Free will plays little part if you really read the scriptures and understand that god knows everything. He knew these assholes would hurt that baby. Yet he still chose to give it to them.
And here we are with empty arms.
Thanks, buddy!
One would find it hard, in this era of democracy and free will, to trust any such leader who just throws out decisions all willy-nilly without much thought or reasoning. Wouldn't one?
I came home to a disturbing news item which I will include below.
On the very day that DD found out about Wolf.
And I got madder than a rained-on rooster.
All I could think is how fucking unfair it is. How ridiculous.
Published: November 08, 2006 11:40 pm
Somerset father charged in gruesome abuse of infant
BY KECIA BALThe Tribune-Democrat
SOMERSET — A 21-year-old Somerset father is in jail after police charged him with repeatedly abusing his infant, including jolting the baby with a stun gun.Brandon Alan Austill of Somerset was charged Wednesday by borough police and arraigned before District Judge Arthur Cook on charges he broke several of the infant’s bones, fractured his skull twice and shocked him twice with a cattle-prod stun gun.The abuse, police said, happened between Sept. 11 – four days after the baby was born – and Oct. 31, when the baby was flown from Somerset Hospital to Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.Officer Richard Appel said the man indicated that he was unable to comfort the baby or get him to stop crying. Austill and the baby’s mother, Briana Dawn Clark, accompanied the infant to the Pittsburgh hospital.Medical staff and medical records indicated that the broken bones and fractures were at various stages of healing and had occurred during separate incidents, according to a police release. Austill admitted to forcefully smashing his child’s head onto a bathroom sink and a dining-room table, bending the child’s leg over his shoulder until he heard it break and using a stun gun, police said.Austill, who is in the Somerset County Jail in lieu of $75,000 straight bail, faces charges including six counts of aggravated assault and eight counts of reckless endangerment. His address is listed as in apartments at 800 East Main St.
I have often thought about adoption. Foster care. Anything to help out poor, innocent children who need a loving home. Even if it meant giving them back up eventually, I could give them more love than they've received in their short life, and hopefully make a difference. I'd volunteer to be a crisis haven. Just let me love a baby.
These people had a baby.
Why?
My thoughts were on DD. On Kellie. On Catherine.
Again. WHY. Whywhywhywhywhy.
I think about DD losing Wolf.
I think about Kellie losing her uterus.
I think about Cathy losing two beautiful baby boys. And being turned down for adoption.
WTF?
Yes, you have a two-income household and desperately want to add another child to your loving family. Sorry, you don't meet our requirements.
These are words I often think I'd hear if I pursued an agency for fostercare/adoption.
Sorry, but we need a stay-at-home mom.
Sorry, but you're too emotionally unstable.
Sorry, but you're white, and we need to be politically-correct and place these children with an ethnically-matched household.
That would be from the bureaucrats.
What do you hear from "god"?
Sorry, but these people are more deserving than you.
They have more points. You suck.
Now, isn't that comforting? A loving, all-knowing god who chooses where to place babies, according to his "plan"? Free will plays little part if you really read the scriptures and understand that god knows everything. He knew these assholes would hurt that baby. Yet he still chose to give it to them.
And here we are with empty arms.
Thanks, buddy!
posted by Julie at 11:01 PM
4 Comments:
Julie, I ask myself this same question every time I hear about a story like this one- WHY WERE THEY ALLOWED OR GIVEN CHILDREN when much more deserving people are struggling so much to hear that little cry??? It breaks my heart so much seeing these poor kids abused, and it breaks my heart even more with these women's stories...
I have questioned my faith so many times- through my own miscarriages, through other's heartbreaks- I still don't have an answer why these things happen this way.
Dear Julie, hear, hear. I've just caught up on your last two posts too, and I have to say you expressed it so well. I once heard a very compelling argument from a renegade theologian who said there's no reconciling the three characteristics we attribute to God. If he's all-knowing and all-powerful, he can't be benevolent, because he then he would have the power to prevent suffering and wouldn't put it to use. If he's benevolent and all-knowing, he can't be all-powerful, because otherwise he'd change what's wrong with the world. And if he's all-powerful and benevolent, he can't be all-knowing, because there's no way he could know about so many bad things happening and not do anything about it.
There was a story like you described in Germany last month, too. A drug-addicted father killed his two-year-old son with injuries similar to the ones you describe, and then hid him in the fridge. It just shattered me.
Holy shit woman - it's like you took the words right out of my mouth.
I don't get it. I just keep hoping I'm missing the bigger picture and someday maybe I'll understand. It's not very likely to happen though is it?
Just catching up on your blog - holy cow you've been busy. I'm sorry about Gerry's friend and your friend and everything else that's going on. Just wanted you to know I'm thinking about you.
i cannot reconcile a god that has the power to prevent such atrocities and knows all about them before they ever happen with a god who chooses to sit back and let it happen, so i choose to believe there is no god. what kind of person could worship such a horrible being? only an unthinking one, i think.
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