What The Maryland Catholic Conference Calls "Success"

Today I received a cheery little email from the Maryland Catholic Conference celebrating the end of the "successful"  (???) 2013 General Assembly.  They reproduced it on their web page and I now link to it for your reading (dis)pleasure.

So what does the MCC consider to be hallmarks of "success"?  Here's the list:

• Death penalty repeal - for hardened criminals, that is.  Innocent babies are still fair game.
• Textbook funding - the "thirty pieces of silver" for which they literally sell their souls
• Drivers' licenses for immigrants - undocumented immigrants, that is.  In other words, criminals
• Gun violence - in other words, they lent their voices so they could shill for Obama's gun grab

Some of you might recall the post I produced a few days ago illustrating why I believe "gun control" actually runs counter to Magisterial teaching.  I believe the push for death penalty repeal also constitutes departure from Church teaching.  I will have a post on that shortly.

But the MCC acknowledges that not all was peaches and cream during this session.

• Abortion statistics keeping and ban after 20 weeks - failed
• A bill to require information on adoption for expectant mothers failed.

These last two items aren't minor disappointments, in my opinion.  The lack of action on these (plus what the MCC calls "successes") rendered this Annapolis session to be an abominable failure.  Unless there are changes of faces in 2014, we can expect more legislative slop.  Will we also have to expect that the MCC will drool enthusiastically over that?

Maryland "Pro-Life Victory" A Sham

The Maryland Catholic Conference is calling the recent repeal of the death penalty in Maryland a "pro-life victory".  Really???  Seriously???   What about the real death penalty in Maryland??

While the MCC and state legislators were celebrating and giving "high-fives" to each other, another 95 babies were slaughtered in abortuaries across the Free State.  Yes, approximately 95 babies are murdered vis-a-vis abortion in Maryland - with the support of many of the legislators who repealed capital punishment.

How many executions occurred in Maryland over the years?  According to Maryland's own statistics, 85 men were executed from 1923 to present.  Obviously that's less than 1 per year: 0.94 to be precise.  With 95 babies being murdered every year, that makes 34,700 per year.  Once again, the Maryland Catholic Conference displays an abysmal lack of perspective just in terms of arithmetic as they wax lyrical about a legislative body that largely condones the murder of innocents.

There's a larger issue here, one that eludes the folks at Maryland Catholic Conference.  Mary Ellen Russell, executive director of the MCC stated the case although she doesn't acknowledge the impact of what she said.  She said, "the test of whether the death penalty can be used is not the gravity of the offense, but whether it is absolutely necessary to protect society."  Right there she acknowledges that capital punishment is permissible if "it is absolutely necessary to protect society".  However, thanks to their short-sighted (and progressive leanings of the "social justice" cabal), they have just removed a means of societal defense that would otherwise be available to protect society from dangerous criminals.

There is a malevolent pattern in recent actions of the Maryland legislature.  It's seen in the repeal of capital punishment and it's also seen in the push to cripple our exercise of Second Amendment rights.  In both cases, the progressives are acting to tie our hands when it comes to defending ourselves, our families and our society against dangerous thugs.  In fact, the thugs who call themselves "doctors" while plying their murderous trades are no doubt joining in the celebration of the death penalty repeal.  Why?  Simple!  They no doubt realize that in a saner time, they would be considered eligible for capital punishment.

ADDENDUM:  Perhaps the MCC staffers are reading the Not-at-all Catholic Reporter.  Yesterday their columnist Bill Tammeus questioned why true Catholics spend so much energy trying to stop abortion as opposed to the death penalty.  Why?  According to this dubious sage, the unborn child is just "a bundle of cells" whereas the criminal is a human being.  What a guy!