(CHICAGO) (September 5, 2006) Five “helpless” children died in Chicago over the weekend. But their parents were not helpless. They came to Chicago to “find a better life.” And they left their children in an inferno. This is unacceptable social behavior. There should be criminal prosecution for child abuse and neglect.

     In primitive societies, fire, flood, landslides, disease and other calamities are part of a normal population cull. People are jammed in together, and sooner or later something tragic happens to kill many of them. These types of tragic episodes are part of the regular coverage from Central and South America.

     In modern societies, however, we try to protect the sanctity of life by ensuring that every person within our society has access to the minima of existence. Electricity is one of those.

     One must, however, ask two unpleasant questions which, it should be noted, will not be asked by the TV crews and editorial commentators as they weep and wail over the “children.”

     First, why were people who could not pay their bills breeding indiscriminately? These children did not come over the border from Mexico. Most of them were born in Chicago, where the parents kept breeding while obviously being unable to provide necessities and essentials for their out-of-control flock. Where were welfare officials when this was happening?

     Second, how did this family live for over three (3) months without electricity, without anyone noticing? Obviously, this family was completely isolated from normal society. Maybe in a rural society you can live without electricity, and feed your children a few scraps. But that is not the American way and it is certainly not the Chicago way.

     Perhaps some of the “immigrants’ rights” marchers who were strutting through Illinois this past week should have instead been doing outreach in local communities where immigrants are apparently living a bereft, barren existence, where children are brought into a world with no food and no electricity.

     By all accounts the parents were thoroughly decent people. They worked hard, but despite hard work could not support the children they were producing. But they still keep producing more children, abusing their existing family and splitting the paltry resources among more and more mouths. This is a classic from of child abuse. Religion is not an excuse to abuse or neglect children.

     This year, we celebrated ten (10) years of welfare reform. A decade ago America made a policy decision that breeding babies to collect welfare was not “a life,” and that as a society we would put an end to such exploitation. Society is the better for the Republicans who passed welfare reform, and the Democrat who signed the law.

     We tried to stop the perpetuating of an “underclass,” and now we find that an alien underclass is perpetuating itself in the middle of our society but without any of the social norms which we expect of members of society.

     Very rarely I have had a utility bill turned off. Frankly, it was due to sloppy bookkeeping. I put the bills in a pile, and when work is heavy or I am on the road the pile does not always get attended to. Until, blink, the lights go off. I can’t remember when that last happened. But I know enough to pay the bill and get the lights turned back on. And ComEd is particularly helpful in that regard, unlike Florida where FPL is much more stringent about disconnecting late-paying customers.

     So how did these people go for over three months without electricity? With no one noticing? Even the semi-adult “children?” I am sorry if this sounds heartless, but these parents should be charged with criminal child neglect and child abuse. The criminal law serves many purposes and it would serve an important purpose in this case: to warn people that they can’t live as aliens within us, breeding children like puppies and then failing to provide the basic necessities for them.

     Despite the fact that this brood was at home, it appears that both parents were asset from the home. That is also a no-no. Prosecutors will no doubt be hesitant to impose the criminal law on parents who have lost five children; they have “suffered enough” will be the mantra. But it is only through criminal prosecutions that we hold hapless parents legally accountable for the tragedy of what happened to helpless children over Labor Day weekend.

     We as a society have a right to impose our social norms of minimally adequate behavior of conduct on our neighbors, and especially on those who come across our borders illegally. The parents in question killed their children by their own neglectful parenting; but they also endangered neighbors, and fire fighters who were called to respond. Someone must be held accountable.

     Attention must be paid.