Playing the card................

This is a very sad case,” Gallagher told the newspaper. “I think it is particularly tragic that this girl had so little support that she wasn’t able to recognize any other option than what happened.” This pearl of wisdom and compassion comes from Port Angeles Washington Police Chief Gallagher who was commenting on the arrest of a 16 year old girl who " “put her baby face down into a toilet and allowed it to drown for several minutes until it died. Then she threw her son into the trash can outside in a plastic garbage bag.” They also popped her father for Meth and Felon in Possession of a firearm, but back to the statement made by the Chief. There is a common thread that repeats itself from time to time in the media when some young kid commits some incomprehensible crime. People want to give them a pass, remove accountability for their actions and lay it at the foot of the piss poor parent, or society, or poverty, or race, or any one of a countless litany of excuses.

Unlike Chief Gallagher I think it's particularly tragic that this heartless little bitch was able to snuff out the life she just brought in the world as if it were a goldfish she had grown tired of. The fact that her father was a scumbag has zero relevancy. What I find tragic is that she felt murder was preferable over a quick drive to the nearest hospital or police station to give the kid a chance in life, one that she probably got short changed on . I also find it tragic that an increasingly growing attitude in society is to excuse the ever more common atrocities committed by our children. From teen girls killing their newborns, to young inner city thugs who pick up a gun and spray bullets that often find more innocents as their target, society wants to give them a pass, or at least soften the edges of harsh reality by blaming it on some One or some Thing other than the killer.

As the story unfolds we will undoubtedly hear how this 16 year old killer came from an abusive background. The defense will lay the blame at the foot of the dope fiend father, or family services, or MTV, or video games, blame someone or something other than the killer. It's how we roll in this country. Avoiding accountability is a national past time. I believe it is also a contributing factor to the all to common incomprehensible acts committed by our young. It sends the message that you can do anything, and it's not your fault, just play the card.

Being poor, illiterate, abused, having absentee landlords for parents, growing up in the ghetto, being exposed to gang violence at an early age, and assorted other societal ills do contribute to how we turn out. I don't mean to discount any of those factors. They are real, and most people who commit crimes can point out at least one of those factors as contributing to the way they turned out. But once you cross the line, when you rape, or murder someone, those factors just become an excuse, they are no longer relevant. You lose the right to play the " blame it on someone else" card. You just become another scumbag taking up everyone else air.