Policy & Pregnancy: Colorado passes Fetal Personhood Bill.
Last month in Longmont, CO, a pregnant woman was slain –horrifically. I certainly will not go into the details, and it might be even best not to place into your consciousness such details, yet what has resulted from this event is most definitely worth discussing, especially knowing her passing has initiated state legislation — bravo.
Colorado law makers have introduced a bill permitting murder charges to be ordered if someone kills a mother’s fetus at any stage of in utero development. Interestingly, Colorado voters have previously thrice denied such a bill, containing very similar language as the one just passed. “The legislation defines ‘person’ for the purposes of homicide and assault offenses as a ‘human being,’ and includes an unborn child at every stage of gestation from conception until live birth.”
This bill was created because murder charges were not an option in the State of Colorado, although the assailant was charged with eight separate counts against the victim. The purpose of this new bill, “is to ensure that prosecutors can file murder charges in such cases regardless of the age of the fetus. ‘There are two victims. Both victims under the law deserve justice. In this case … justice is denied to one of the victims and that is not acceptable,'” declared Senate President Bill Cadman (R).
Cadman stated he was very cognizant to write this bill so it does not affect the rights of a pregnant woman to choose abortion, i.e., murder charges would not be brought against the mother should she decide to abort …nor through an act for “the lawful dispensation or administration of lawfully prescribed medication.” Sincerely, I thank you Cadman for being so conscientious!
“Despite that, Democrats and women’s rights groups have expressed concern that the measure could still be used to prosecute pregnant women. Because the bill grants some personhood rights to fetuses, they also worry that it opens the door to a full ban on abortion and even some forms of birth control in Colorado.”
Forensic Criminology: Unique characteristics used to solve crimes.
There’s something about these first two cases of murder being reported in our news at the moment that our collective consciousness needs to experience. Clearly, just two reasons are to raise even more awareness of that which needs to immediately cease …and to initiate stronger and more effective legislation from these crimes. Thank you for allowing me the platform to help increase awareness!
Like the previous story that resulted in proactive legislation increasing victim’s rights, this story has highlighted a unique technique to help solve crimes. Mellory Manning, 27 years old, was killed working as a prostitute in Christchurch, New Zealand in 2008. After interviewing hundreds of people, police still had no solid leads.
“To crack the case, the police required the expertise of an unusual specialist. Dallas Mildenhall, a white-haired scientist in his 70s, is a forensic palynologist – a pollen and spores expert who helps solve crimes. One of only a handful of such experts in the world, he has helped solve cases of murder, arson and art forgery all over the globe. He once traced counterfeit malaria drugs to the border of China and Vietnam by identifying pollen in the capsules.”
To use Mildenhall’s expertise in solving crimes, he must take swabs of pollen collected from the nasal cavity of the victim and from her/his clothing, then try to match it with pollen samples from potential locations of where the crime might have taken place. This reminds me of that TV show Bones, who has the character Dr Hodgins who is an entomologist, mineralogist, and botanist, and uses his areas of expertise to help solve the crimes, greatly enhancing the series’ realism. Thank Goddess we have such experts to unravel mysterious cases and to assist in bringing closure to the families of victims. Thank you, Dr Mildenhall!
Solving Crimes With Pollen, One Grain Of Evidence At A Time by NPR.
Police …or Military?: Police go “up to eleven” these days!
Now, here’s a reality that’s incredibly disheartening, and yet it occurs in America, and I would assume in other countries as well (maybe this is not so, but I haven’t lived in a different country to know –sad but true). “As the Missouri National Guard prepared to deploy to help quell riots in Ferguson, Missouri, that raged sporadically last year, the guard used highly militarized words such as ‘enemy forces’ and ‘adversaries’ to refer to protesters, according to documents obtained by CNN.”
“The guard came to Ferguson to support law enforcement officers, whom many community leaders and civil rights activists accused of using excessive force and inflaming an already tense situation in protests that flared sporadically from August through the end of the year.”
“The National Guard’s language, contained in internal mission briefings obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, is intensifying the concerns of some who objected to the police officers’ actions in putting down riots. They broke out after the August 9 shooting of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown by city police officer Darren Wilson. A grand jury declined to indict Wilson in the case.”
“‘It’s disturbing when you have what amounts to American soldiers viewing American citizens somehow as the enemy,’ said Antonio French, an alderman in St. Louis. The weight of this revelation cannot be overstated. While any protestor in Ferguson would tell you that they certainly felt like they were viewed as ‘the enemy’ by police and the military, it’s now a matter of official record and this is not okay. American protestors must never be viewed as adversaries, but as citizens to be protected.”
As should every citizen within their own country, when exercising their sovereign right to question, just question, the actions of police, politicians, and even military. It’s my belief that no one is too important nor too high-and-mighty that they mistreat, disrespect, or abuse their fellow brothers and sisters around our world.
I’ll be the first to admit: It can be scary out there some days! When having a rough time and getting lost in our emotions, we unintentionally call in more drama and out-of-control situations (like attracts like, according to the Law of Attraction). Which by the way, is a primary basis for the cabal using fear-mongering to maintain said lower vibrations: Inducing fear in the population day-in and day-out through mainstream news, in turn, attracts more fear and dis-ease …and then we start the circle all over again by calling in more fear.
Just like our government is using the “war on terrorism” to take away our fundamental sovereign rights, all in the name of “national security,” but they too use the mentality and actions of Al Qaeda, for example, to rationalize the militarization of our local police.
Some of our police forces throughout our land now “go up to eleven!” In other words, some have become “robo-cops,” packing ridiculous fire power for canvassing our neighborhoods. I’m not against the police (several friends and family are cops or military)– I know they are just doing their jobs, but the flipside is that these “weekly” killings of unarmed people must stop.
And it starts with these newly rebooted police forces having to look in the mirror, and going back to the basics of “serving and protecting,” instead of shooting first and asking questions later. “Protect” people, especially those unarmed, not shoot them!
Across our beautiful world, We Are All One.
Gavin