You’ve Got to be Kidding

I used to think that Texas led the nation in wacky and unnecessary laws but we have to step aside for Oklahoma. Oklahoma passed a law banning Sharia law. It's a state where females are forbidden from doing their own hair without being licensed by the state. On a serious note, the Oklahoma Legislature overrode Gov. Brad Henry’s veto on two anti-abortion bills, one of which gives doctors immunity from being sued if they conceal information about a fetus’s possible birth defects from a pregnant patient. However, state Senator Ralph Shortey introduced a bill banning the use of the human fetuses in food, takes the cake. (No pun intended).

This is the same senator who came in with the 2010 wave of tea party folks, who wrote a bill denying Oklahoma citizenship (what da?) to children of illegal immigrants born in another state. Additionally he submitted a bill that would allow Oklahoma to confiscate homes and cars of illegal immigrants. As if that wasn't enough he also wrote a bill which would have required presidential candidates to provide proof of citizenship before being allowed on an Oklahoma primary ballot. Needless to say, none of those bills became law.

The Oklahoma Republican said that he did his research and was astonished to find that he had become the joke of the nation. I heard about this bill on HBO's Bill Maher, but I had no idea what it was about until I read more about it in today's Houston Chronicle. The senator's research was an article, he saw about reports of a 2010 boycott of the Pepsi Company by the Children of God for Life, an anti- abortion group based in Florida. The boycotters claim that Pepsi Company was in contract with Semomyx, a San Diego firm that the allegedly was using human embryonic stem cells in the testing of artificial flavors. Pepsi and Semomyx, they denied the allegations and the Fed food safety officials had never heard of such a thing.

Senator Ralph Shortey's assistant wrote a couple of paragraphs stating," no person or entity shall manufacturer or knowingly sell food or any other product intended for human consumption, which contains aborted human fetuses in the ingredients or which use of aborted human fetuses in the research development of any of the ingredients." When pressed, “Are fetuses being chopped up and put in our Doritos? Shortey asked. "No." The senator said he had thick skin and didn't care what people think of him. Obviously! This is just the first leg of the senator’s legislation named SB1418 it still has to go before a committee after some revisions.

These bills are examples of how legislators misuse state and Federal governments. The senator could have made his complaints known to the Federal food safety for them to investigate. The Federal government already has laws on what companies can and can't do with discarded embryos. I don't know whether this is a continuation of a recent appetite for state rights or just another exaggeration from pro-life groups to get sympathy from those who are opposed to government intrusion.

This is another one of those " It depends on what the meaning of is, is" that was uttered by President Bill Clinton when he was quizzed about the Monica Lewinsky affair. What are useless regulations that keep our companies from prospering? Can laws meant to apply to everyone be called government intrusion on the Catholic Church? Obviously, the discussions were led in part to the anniversary of the passage of Roe v Wade, but that doesn't mean we have to lose our sensibility or respect for our fellow human being. I saw where one poster called those that are not in lockstep with a pro-life movement “pro abortion" meaning it's an " either you're with us or against us" proposition for him. I've never seen a compromise come between a mindset like that. Hopefully, we have intelligent people that rise above the hyperbole and work on reducing abortions, while respecting the life and the health of the mother.