Denny Herzog at the Sentinel mentioned my Country Jam pregnancy post in his blog on Tuesday. I replied to his post yesterday after reading a column Denny referred to by Dick Maynard. Dick had a good laugh about the issue, and predicted that the story would increase ticket sales for next year.
Today, the ever-reliable Gary Harmon continued the cavalier approach to the issue that has permeated the Sentinel's reporting and opinion so far. He went so far as to ask "Does Country Jam have some special quality that makes participants susceptible to conception, but not other risks?", and like Le Roy Standish he made not a single mention of alcohol or intoxication.
Amazing.
People choose to have sex. People choose to drink. What's more important in the long run is the freedom to make those choices, within the confines of the law. When people make those choices, they live with the consequences of them. That's a given.
In the case of Country Jam, those choices have too often become an unreasonable burden on the various segments of our government, be it public safety, human services, or criminal justice.
The Sentinel appears to believe that this is part of the cost of personal freedom, and part of the cost of doing business.
There's something wrong with that approach, especially when reasonable attempts to augment government's capability to deal with these burdens are met with resistance and skepticism. You get what you pay for.
When the consequences are children, our government, through the human services infrastructure, has made it a priority to address the welfare of those who cannot care for or defend themselves up to existing legal or moral standards.
How are the Children? We found out a little this week. It's our choice as to how we as citizens respond when faced with these kinds of choices, be they physical, moral, or economic.
With that, it's time to move on.
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