THE DAILY BLADE: Sarah Strikes Back
To promote his soon-to-be-released DVD documentary about how the MSM utterly failed the American people during the election, “Media Malpractice: How Obama Got Elected,” conservative radio talk show host John Ziegler did a nine-minute video interview with Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) about how she was treated by the media, reports Washington Post medic critic-cum-political pundit Howard Kurtz:
[S]till smarting over coverage of her vice presidential run, [Palin] calls the media's reporting on her family "very scary" and says there may be "a class issue" that explains the more sympathetic treatment of Caroline Kennedy.
The Alaska governor also took a swipe at Katie Couric over the CBS interview in which Palin stumbled badly, saying: "Katie, you're not the center of everyone's universe." …
By turns aggravated and bemused, Palin complained in the video that her press office is still getting calls about rumors that she is not the mother of her infant son. She called this "quite absurd," saying she is "frustrated that I wasn't believed that Trig was really my son.
For his part, Ziegler contends that Palin was “assassinated by the media.”
Kurtz includes this juicy tidbit: In a post on his Web site about his interview with Palin, Ziegler says that when she saw a picture of MSNBC's Keith Olbermann, she shrieked “THAT guy is EVIL!”
Mukasey: No “Do-Overs” In Immigration Court
Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey issued an opinion (.pdf) that an illegal immigrant ordered deported by a judge does not have a Constitutional right to appeal the decision on the grounds the lawyer made mistakes that adversely affected his case, because “neither the Constitution nor any statutory or regulatory provision entitles an alien to a do-over if his initial removal proceeding is prejudiced by the mistakes of a privately retained lawyer.” Here’s why:
"I conclude, as have a growing number of federal courts, that the Constitution does not confer a constitutional right to effective assistance of counsel in removal proceedings," Mukasey wrote. "The reason is simple: Under Supreme Court precedent, there is no constitutional right to effective assistance of counsel under the Due Process Clause or any other provision where - as here and as in most civil proceedings - there is no constitutional right to counsel, including Government-appointed counsel, in the first place."
“The core of the argument,” reports Legal Times “is that due process clause only guards against actions that can be attributed to the government. But aliens have no constitutional right to counsel, unlike criminal defendants, so the government is not responsible for the conduct of their privately retained lawyers.”
The New York Times reports:
In explaining his ruling, Mr. Mukasey said that the Sixth Amendment right to a lawyer applied only in criminal cases and that deportation was a civil action. He wrote that the due process clause, part of the 5th and 14th Amendments, applied in criminal and civil proceedings but that the guarantee of due process applied only to actions of government and not to actions by private individuals like an immigrant’s lawyer.
The ruling “is binding on the nation's 53 immigration courts and the Board of Immigration Appeals, which are overseen by the Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review,” explains Legal Times, and “[a]ny challenge would have to take place in the federal appeals courts,” according to The Times.
Loco Parentis
When a 6-year-old boy from Wicomico Church, VA, missed the school bus earlier this week, took the keys to his family’s 2005 Ford Taurus sedan and tried to drive himself to school while his mother was asleep, reports The Associated Press:
[He] drove nearly six miles toward school [and] made at least two 90-degree turns, passed several cars and ran off the rural two-lane road several times before hitting an embankment and utility pole about a mile and a half from school.
The boy told police he learned to drive playing Grand Theft Auto and Monster Truck Jam video games.
"He was very intent on getting to school," said Northumberland County Sheriff Chuck Wilkins. "When he got out of the car, he started walking to school. He did not want to miss breakfast and PE."
His parents, Jacqulyn Deana Waltman, 26, and David Eugene Dodson, 40, were arraigned in Northumberland County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court today on one count each of felony child endangerment, reports AP. If convicted, each could face from one to five years in prison. The boy and his 4-year-old brother have been placed in protective custody.
Editorial Note: This is another example (second item) of what happens when the nanny state allows parents to abrogate their responsibilities. This six-year-old had to wake himself up, wash up (hopefully) and get dressed all by himself. His mother – who doesn’t seem to have a job, else she wouldn’t have been asleep – did not supervise any of these activities, nor did she make him breakfast or lunch. The school feeds him, so why should she haul her ass out of bed and carry out her basic maternal duties? Oh, and why is a six-year-old allowed to play a video game as violent as Grand Theft Auto?
The Stiletto Scoops Dana Milbank (Again)
Politico reports that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has vowed that “Norm Coleman will never ever serve [again] in the Senate.” This would be the same Harry Reid who – just a week ago – swore in a statement that “anyone appointed by Gov. Blagojevich cannot be an effective representative of the people of Illinois and, as we have said, will not be seated by the Democratic Caucus” but has now talked himself into a face-saving way to effect a flip-flop. [Emphasis, The Stiletto.]
- “Never Say ‘Never,’” The Stiletto Blog, January 7, 2009
A week ago, Senate Democrats, with Shermanesque certainty and the backing of President-elect Barack Obama, said that Rod Blagojevich's Senate appointee would not be seated in the chamber - no way, no how. "It will ultimately not stand," they vowed. Yesterday, they executed a near-perfect climb down, announcing that they would be happy to have Burris in the Senate after clearing up a couple of minor technicalities - "a pretty easy hurdle to get over," as Reid put it.
- “Democratic Senators Yield to Burris,” The Washington Post, January 8, 2009
About the child who tried to drive himself to school. The reasoning that Mom does not appear to have a job or else she would not have been asleep only applies to standard 9 to 5 jobs. Myself, I got OFF work at 7AM every day. I have also three times in my life that I recall overslept my alarm. The news story itself is prefunctory and says nothing about the kids' home life. The parents were charged so there may be something else going on or they may have been charged just because the family is poor. (Here, an elementary school in a poor neighborhood often does offer breakfast as a way to get another good meal into the children.) One friend of mine had one of her toddlers get out of her fenced yard and walk off to the store. The police officer who brought her daughter back pompously informed her he could arrest her for child endangerment. She told him to put up or shut up and he left. Obviously Mom should have been awake. How criminally liable she is can not be determined from the story. Thank God no one was hurt.
Reply to this
Food stamps and food banks enable the poorest parent to provide a basic breakfast of cereal, fruit and milk to his or her child, as well as a PB&J sandwich for lunch. But school-based meal programs were instituted because "poor" parenting is too-often not an issue of income. Some parents sell food stamps for drugs, and spend their days in a stupor unable to take care of the kids they keep having. That is the real reason school meal programs exist. Schools should be using their resources to educate kids, not feed them. If a parent is too whacked out to feed his or her kids, it is a strong signal that they are in grave peril and should be removed from the home.
Though you worked the night shift, The Stiletto is sure that either your husband or some other responsible adult was supervising your kindergarten and first grade children as they got ready for school and either made sure they got on the bus or took them there.
In this particular family's case, it is also particularly troubling that such a young child was habitually exposed to extreme video game violence. The Stiletto dislikes these misogynistic and violent games, but has no issue when teenagers and adults play them - as long as they are of sound mental health and can distinguish between right and wrong, reality and fantasy. Alas, we can never find out in a particular individual's case whether this is so until after a tragedy occurs. Still, the risk - and it's admittedly small - not a reason to trample on everyone else's rights.
Reply to this
Good point about having someone responsible for getting the kids out the door. In my case, I was the one who did this. I slept after I drove my kids to school and woke up in time to drive them home. (They were out of zone so no bus.) I could imagine a mom who got off work in the early AM and overslept her alarm and resourceful son gets himself ready and (tries) to go off to school. They WERE arraigned which argues against this being a one-shot deal like my friend's toddler. Don't know why they have school meals. You may be right. I know we had lunches with fish on Fridays in the early 60s. I certainly agree with taking kids out of some homes. I never was too hot on preserving the biological family. Some people are just not fit to raise children.
Reply to this