Ohio abortion bill on hold

Anti-abortion advocates have caused the “heartbeat” bill in Ohio to be put on hold:

Fear of expensive legal battles over the law may have prompted a wave of amendments by Senate backers to the bill. But the wording of the bill has split anti-abortion backers.

“Supporters of the bill delivered more than 20 amendments on Wednesday, asking us to make changes after months of deliberation in both the House and Senate,” Ohio Senate President Tom Niehaus, a Republican, said in a statement.

“These eleventh hour revisions only serve to create more uncertainty about a very contentious issue. We’ve now heard hours of testimony that indicate a sharp disagreement within the pro-life community over the direction of this bill, and I believe our members need additional time to weigh the arguments. Therefore, I have asked the committee chairman to suspend hearings on the bill,” Niehaus said.

Basically, they’re afraid the Supreme Court will rule against them. It’s funny because the whole strategy of the anti-abortionists for the past 10-15 years has been to push the boundary of Roe v Wade, even flagrantly ignoring it, in order to force a SC showdown.

At any rate, I’m glad to see this has been set aside from now. The entire premise was just silly. A heartbeat does not somehow convey special importance onto a fetus. In fact, it is a whole confluence of factors which contribute to what we define as being important in humans. It cannot possibly be clear when it is that enough of those factors have come together in order for us to draw a line; the best we can do is seek a reasonable point during pregnancy (a point which we laden with necessary exceptions). I think Roe v Wade actually found that point.

Who has Jesus?

Why, St. Xavier, of course:

One of the top Catholic football programs in the nation is finding itself in hot water after members of its student fan section directed chants of “We’ve got Jesus!” at opponents in a heated, intra-city rivalry game on Friday night in Ohio.

According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, then-No. 8 Cincinnati (Ohio) Colerain football coach Tom Bolden reacted with fury when he heard members of the then-No. 26 Cincinnati (Ohio) St. Xavier student section chanting “We’ve got Jesus!” in the moments after St. X escaped with a narrow, 17-14 victory in a matchup of two teams ranked among the top 30 in the RivalsHigh 100 standings of the country’s best teams.

But isn’t this what they believe? Sure, Colerain probably has some Catholic players and students, but as a collective body, it is a core part of St. Xavier’s beliefs that Colerain does not, in fact, have Jesus. Why aren’t we respecting these religious beliefs?!?! Can’t anyone think of the horror that will follow if people raise objections?

Besides, Colerain had a decent enough chant of their own:

After an original Friday postgame Enquirer blog post cited the “We’ve got Jesus!” chant, multiple St. Xavier students reportedly wrote in to the newspaper citing the Colerain student body starting off the chant wars with a rendition of “We’ve got girls!”, an attack at St. Xavier’s all-male, Jesuit student body.

Personally I would rather have girls than Jesus. (And perhaps Jesus would rather have boys than girls?)

Idiot cops

I hope these cops do nothing but talk, talk, talk and dig themselves the severest of holes while in court:

Dayton police “mistook” a mentally handicapped teenager’s speech impediment for “disrespect,” so they Tasered, pepper-sprayed and beat him and called for backup from “upward of 20 police officers” after the boy rode his bicycle home to ask his mother for help, the boy’s mom says.

Pamela Ford says her “mentally challenged/handicapped” son Jesse Kersey, 17, was riding his bike near his Dayton home when Officer Willie Hooper stopped him and tried to talk to him.

The mom says that “Prior to the incident described below, defendant Hooper knew Jesse and was aware that Jesse was mentally challenged/handicapped and a minor child.”

Gov. Ted Strickland murders man

Ohio Governor Ted Strickland ordered the murder of a man, yet remains completely free.

Ohio on Tuesday executed a murder-for-hire triggerman for killing the mother of his intended target, who lay severely wounded nearby as his mother died.

Jason Getsy, 33, was pronounced dead at 10:29 a.m. in the death chamber at the Southern Ohio Correctional Institution in Lucasville.

The Ohio Parole Board by a 5-2 vote last month recommended clemency for Getsy because other defendants in the slaying, including Santine, appeared just as guilty but weren’t sentenced to die. Gov. Ted Strickland overruled the board last week, saying the sentencing disparity did not by itself justify granting clemency.

Why is this immoral monster still walking the streets? He is willing to kill an unarmed, nonthreatening person. That is murder.