I'm still waiting. Christian Michael Longo has been captured by the FBI, the object of a massive manhunt after allegedly murdering his three small children and their mother, then dumping their bodies in the ocean off the Oregon coast.
What I'm waiting for is the high-heeled clatter of feminists rushing to his defense. You know – just like they have with Andrea Yates, who drowned her small children in the bathtub. Mrs. Yates' murders, we are told by the feminist lobby, were tragic but understandable. She was depressed with her lot in life. Her children were more than she could handle. So she killed them. We must not condemn her, feminists tell us, for her actions.
Surely the same holds true for Mr. Longo? What sane person would do such a thing? His guilt feelings must have been so overwhelming after the murders that he had no choice but to run away! Besides, doesn't everybody lie to the police about their murders?
Yes, I'm sure that Mr. Longo will turn out to be the real victim here. Certainly we must withhold judgment until we learn the facts the feminists will provide in his defense. After all, they routinely defend abortion doctors who take the lives of innocent children every day, yet who have no relationship beyond their 30 pieces of silver. Surely a father, victimized by society, is worth the same effort?
The facts should be easy enough to uncover. Perhaps Mr. Longo lost his job in the recession? Despondent, unable to assume the provider role society thrusts upon the man, he felt he had no choice. And anyway, a quick death was preferable to a long, malingering starvation as his family wasted away before his very eyes. Seen in this light, Mr. Longo's act of multiple murder becomes an act of courage, demonstrating his compassion for fellow victims whom he loved so dearly. Isn't that it, Ms. Feminist?
Don't forget, the recession was officially announced just three months into President Bush's new administration. Shouldn't the president do the right thing and accept responsibility for this grizzly tragedy brought about by his tax cuts? Of course he should! Tell him, ladies! Beat him into submission with your ideological concubines who staff the New York Times, the Washington Post; with Dan Rather, Connie Chung, Cokie Roberts, CNN and 60 Minutes.
Your defense of Mr. Longo now, ladies, is called paying the freight for your ideas. Worldviews matter. Ideas have consequences. Your comfortable, self-indulgent arguments in support of abortion led first to partial birth infanticide, and now to outright murder being excused "for the health of the mother." Well, what about the health of the father?
Despite your best efforts, fathers still bring an equal half to the miracle of conception. Equal treatment under the law demands an equal defense in the court of public opinion. While railing against being property yourselves, you have made your children property – to be disposed of as its owners, also known as Mom and Dad – see fit. Any time, and any place. Your arguments have oppressed not the oppressor, only those still more helpless than yourselves. Congratulations! You have won the war of words; now step forward and taste the bitter fruit of your victory. "As a woman thinketh, so she is."