J.D. Prose – 5/5/13

This page was last updated on May 9, 2013.

Time to dip our toes back into the gossip pool; J.D. Prose; Beaver County Times; May 5, 2013.

In the print edition, this column appeared in the op-ed section labeled “ON THE LEFT.” Given Mr. Prose’s body of work and the BCT’s left-leaning positions, did the BCT really think readers didn’t know he’s a “Surly progressive?”

According to his Twitter page, Mr. Prose is a self-described “Surly progressive.” As you read this opinion column and his Twitter “tweets,” keep in mind Mr. Prose wears at least one other hat for the BCT. In addition to being an entertainer/pundit, Mr. Prose is a part-time reporter covering political stories. Ask yourself this. When a pundit gives his political opinions in one part of the paper, can he be trusted to report politics objectively elsewhere in the paper? After all, would a person whose opinion is 1+1 equals 3 report 1+1 really equals 2? Does he have a “Chinese wall” in his head to keep his opinions from bleeding into his reporting? (You may recall NPR claimed it fired Juan Williams for doing exactly what Mr. Prose does.) If it can get worse than that, Mr. Prose has made name-calling and personal attacks a foundation of his columns. If pushed, I’d be willing to bet Mr. Prose would try to excuse his writing by claiming he’s paid to be controversial and stir debate. The problem is, you don’t need to get into name-calling and personal attacks to accomplish those goals.

You can find the archive of my Prose column critiques here.

Below is a critique of portions of this column.

“It’s been a while since we delved into the world of pure political gossip, so let’s share what our Anonymous-to-You spies had to report about Midland Democratic Kingpin Ray ‘Hezzy’ Presutti’s annual shindig last month at the St. Anthony Club.”

[RWC] Seriously? Mr. Prose’s columns are mostly “political gossip” leaning heavily on anonymous (aka imaginary?) sources.

“ARMED AND …

“Tragedy struck last week in Kentucky when a 5-year-old boy playing with his .22-caliber rifle accidentally shot and killed his 2-year-old sister. Yeah, his gun. It was a gift and it was manufactured right here in good ol’ Pennsylvania by Keystone Sporting Arms.

“We wouldn’t trust a 5-year-old with the TV remote, but there, are apparently, some parents who think rifles for kindergarteners is just fine and some manufacturers who think marketing guns to children is no problem.”

[RWC] I personally would not give a firearm to a child this young or let a child this young shoot a firearm even under close supervision. That said, the same accident could have happened with an “adult” firearm not properly secured. Whether the rifle belonged to the child or his parents, it’s the responsibility of the parents.

As for “marketing guns to children,” this is a red herring. Kids cannot legally buy firearms so who cares about alleged “marketing guns to children?” “Federal law prohibits firearms dealers from selling or delivering a shotgun or rifle, or ammunition for a shotgun or rifle, to any person the dealer knows or has reasonable cause to believe is under the age of 18.” Some states have more restrictive laws.

“Do they hand out driver’s licenses and booze to 5-year-olds in Kentucky or any other state? No? Hmmm. Wonder why. Oh, yeah, because they’re 5.

“As for 15-year-old girls, they can now get the Plan B morning after pill over-the-counter to keep from getting pregnant, which right-wingers equate to the DOWNFALL OF SOCIETY. So, to be clear, guns for children? Sure. It’s the parents’ call. Pregnancy prevention for teens? No way! They’re too young! Abstain! Abstain!”

[RWC] In case you missed it, Mr. Prose took a case of allegedly irresponsible parents and morphed it into “right-wing” support of “guns for children.”

Mr. Prose and BCT editorial writer Kirstin Kennedy (Playing Politics with Women’s Health … Again; May 2, 2013.) seem to think it’s OK for “15-year-old girls” to pop medications into their bodies without their parents’ knowledge and a doctor’s prescription. Ms. Kennedy wrote, “If 12-year-olds can walk into a drugstore and buy condoms, why should they be restricted in their access to emergency contraception? … These drugs are safe for all ages and reliable when other forms of contraception fail or are not used.” Though she’s a leftist, I don’t believe for one second Ms. Kennedy doesn’t know the difference between using a condom and ingesting a drug that may cause an abortion (discussed below).

(Note: “Women’s Health” is leftyspeak for “free” or at least heavily-subsidized abortions and contraception. “Free” means paid for by either taxpayers or the insurance premiums the rest of us pay to buy our medical insurance.)

Each state defines its own age of consent. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), “In the majority of states (34), it is 16 years of age. In the remaining states, the age of consent is either 17 or 18 years old (6 and 11 states, respectively).” In addition, depending on the circumstances, other state laws can come into effect and drive up the effective age of consent. In any case, “15-year-old girls” throughout the U.S. are younger than the age of consent.

Students of any age can’t possess Advil or Tylenol in a school but it’s OK for “15-year-old girls” to buy birth control medication (aka emergency contraception) without consulting their parents and a doctor? Though Ms. Kennedy asserted “These drugs are safe for all ages,” she failed to note there are potential undesirable side-effects and circumstances under which Plan B should not be used. Are we to expect a “15-year-old girl” in panic mode will have the knowledge and judgment to evaluate all these issues and make a proper decision? If the couple’s judgment were that great to start with, the “15-year-old girl” likely would not be in this situation. Beyond the potential pregnancy, there are other issues to consider, like the circumstances of the intercourse (Was it consensual?), the potential of an STD, and so on.

Abortion supporters claim those who oppose abortion should have no problem with Plan B because it is not an “abortion pill.” This claim hinges on when you believe conception occurs, however. Indeed, the WebMD description of Plan B tells us “Plan B or Plan B One-Step is not the same as RU-486, which is an abortion pill. It does not cause a miscarriage or abortion. In other words, it does not stop development of a fetus once the fertilized egg implants in the uterus.” Immediately before this excerpt, however, the WebMD article says, “It is also possible that this type of emergency birth control prevents implantation of a fertilized egg in the uterus by altering its lining.” If you believe conception occurs at egg fertilization, isn’t stopping implantation an abortion?

“It all makes perfect sense to, um, people devoid of thought.”

[RWC] It’s odd. Above Mr. Prose seems to believe the positions he described make no sense, yet here he claims it makes “perfect sense” to him.

“SEEN & HEARD

“Larry Stiles, the GOPer challenging Rothfus in the 12th CD primary who we profiled last Sunday, announced his new website, larrystilesforcongress.com, Friday. We learned about it via fax. Hmmm …”

[RWC] As I noted in a previous critique, “Mr. Stiles ‘left the GOP in 2007 and returned in 2012.’ That, Mr. Stiles’ support for ‘the late Democratic U.S. Rep. John Murtha, a Marine veteran, and Murtha’s replacement, Democratic U.S. Rep. Mark Critz’ plus a description of ‘centrist GOPer’ pretty much paints Mr. Stiles as a RINO.”