Foster mom: "More girls arrive to us because their parents were detained by the ICE... will be hurt by AZ law"

By GottaLaff

How can you tell which one of these kids might or might not be "legal"?

My pal TexBetsy has shared something that is a must-read, and she has graciously allowed me to cross-post most of it here. But please go to her place and read the whole thing:

I am a mother, a foster mother, a host mother, and an emergency shelter mother. I am a mother. You know me as Cassie’s* host mom for the last 17 months but I have been a mother for over twenty years to thirty-one girls. [...] Our girls come in all sizes and all colors. Most were born in the United States but some were not. Some speak only English and some speak Spanish as well. [...]

We met war orphans from El Salvador and Nicaragua. [...]

In the past few years since President Bush started detaining immigrants under homeland security laws we have had more girls arrive to us because their parents were detained by the ICE. Like all children in foster care, these girls want to be reunited with their family-by-blood, and they have a difficulty understanding why they are separated. Often they do not know for months if their parents are in detention or have been sent back to their native country.

Arizona’s new immigration law makes this worse and will cause more strife within families. My husband and I carry our temporary custodianship papers with us at all times but we do not always have citizenship papers for the girls in our family. Some do not have their documents and some do not have citizenship in the United States. Some are of undetermined legal status until their birth parent’s detention hearing is concluded.

[...] The children in my care have suffered abandonment and loss they spend their whole lives trying to understand. Some will never recover even though their chances through life are better in a loving home than in an abusive one connected only by blood.

Children in foster care will be hurt by the Arizona law. Children of documented and undocumented immigrants will be hurt by this law. [...] Good people of conscience can not support laws that will lead to fractured childhoods and distrust of government when the family relationships can and should be kept in tact.

*I've also posted Cassie's writings, which are fantastic. Links here.

Very few people are talking about this problem from the families' perspective. It's even more rare to hear from someone who speaks for children.

Children often cannot or will not can speak for themselves. I know that from first hand experience, having worked with elementary, middle, and high school level kids for years. And sadly, once a child has been hurt deeply, they are often damaged for life. It takes immense patience and diligence to help them restore trust and a sense of security once they've experienced pain and fear.

Thank you, TexBetsy, for sharing these invaluable insights.

Video- First Lady Michelle Obama Q&A with Children (And Bo!)

Video- First Lady Michelle Obama Speaks to Youth in Mexico City

VIDEO of arrival + screams of delight greet Michelle Obama in Mexico

By GottaLaff

Another beautiful encounter with a beautiful first lady:

Dozens of 6- to 12-year-old students — some in costumes, others in gym clothes — welcomed America's first lady with a show.[...]

Mrs. Obama came to Mexico to launch an international effort to engage young people everywhere and encourage them to become leaders and problem-solvers in their communities. [...]

Neither Obama is a product of privilege; both came from humble circumstances. Her parents weren't wealthy or college-educated. He never really knew his father and was raised by his mother.

There she goes indoctrinating children again... even in Mexico. Why, before you know it, kids all over the world will begin to want to reach goals and strive for success!

The very idea!

Videos- President & Mrs Obama read books to kids at Easter Egg Roll

Insurers Find Ways to Deny Kids Coverage

By GottaLaff

Hey kids, what time is it?

Loophole time! Yayyyyyy!

And guess who suffers, kids?

KIDS!

“[T]he fine print differs from the larger political message,” one insurance lawyer tells the New York Times. While insurers must cover preexisting conditions for any children they insure, they don’t actually have to insure them in the first place. Companies can also still jack up premiums for kids they deem risky.

Jay Rockefeller is madder than a wet hen. The loophole will close in 2014, when the kids are older, sicker, and/or deader.

Hey, all you righties out there who defend Big Insurance... we'll have to make sure you get what you deserve for your loyalty come election time. Be proud.

And remember: You are the party of family values. If you say it often enough, people will believe it. Right?


Not any more.

(via)

H/t: Gr8RDH

AUDIO: Rep. Grayson: 5 Year Old Son Thought My Death Threats Were For Him

By GottaLaff



One of Rep. Grayson's five-year-old twins thought the death threat was aimed at him.

"If you vote for health care, I'll kill you," said the woman on the phone, and his little boy heard it, and didn't understand that it was a message for Daddy.

Five years old, and he's already worried about death threats, whether they're directed at him or his dad.

Family values at work again.

TPM also reports that Grayson compared the GOP to the Nazis. Read about it here.

H/t: Gr8RDH

Attack ad against health bill uses Democrat's young daughters

By GottaLaff

I've said repeatedly how desperate the GOP is now that health care reform is about to become a reality (fingers crossed). They're so desperate, in fact, that they're resorting to the worst, bottom of the barrel tactics, because that's all they have.

Case in point:

In southern Ohio, opponents of the bill have created a blowback effect by airing an ad targeting Rep. Steve Driehaus to stand firm as a "no" vote on the legislation. The ad prominently featured the congressman’s young daughters, in violation of the unwritten law that forbids dragging lawmakers' family members – most especially their underage children – into the fray.

That's right. They used innocent children, because they don't like the fact that it's legal to get an abortion, and ... well... ironically, and sadly...

...the ad wasn't even necessary:

[T]he ultimate puzzlement in the Driehaus controversy is why the spot ran at all: The freshman lawmaker had already signaled his intention to vote against the bill because it doesn’t have strong enough curbs on abortion funding.

All they had to do was go to his website:

But I'm firm in my commitment that I won't support legislation that provides federal funding for abortion.

Which it doesn't do.

But, hey, they (the Washington-based Committee to Rethink Reform) apologized, so... water under the bridge, right?

Committee spokeswoman Sarah Longwell said showing the children was a mistake and that the group was taking out another ad to apologize. She said the committee already apologized directly to Driehaus.

Too bad the spot was aired and the damage was done, huh? The apology won't erase that, nor will it do anything to alter the insensitive douchebaggery that is sure to make its way into the next news cycle, whether from the Committee or somewhere else.

Video- Harry Connick, Jr. performs for music students at the White House

Doctors Skirt Red Tape to Save Haitian Kids

By GottaLaff

The Hippocratic Oath is alive and well in Haiti:

Doctors skirted a bureaucratic logjam to save the lives of three critically-ill child victims of Haiti's earthquake on Sunday, flying them to U.S. hospitals on a private jet to avoid a military suspension of medical evacuation flights.

A 5-year-old tetanus victim, a 14-month-old boy critically ill with pneumonia and a baby with third-degree burns were sent to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia by the aid group Partners in Health, based in Boston.

The airlift had been in doubt after the U.S. military stopped medical evacuation flights on Wednesday night because of because of an apparent dispute over where seriously injured patients should be taken for treatment.

"This is a good day. These are three children who would have died if they had stayed here," said Luis Ivers, Partners in Health's clinical director in Haiti. "It's the little successes like that that keep us going here."

We need a whole lot more little successes, and we definitely need to keep things going there.

Why I cried

By GottaLaff

I don't know if it was due to feeling weakened and vulnerable from a week of having the flu, or a legitimate emotional response to what has occurred over the past few weeks, but at 7:30 this morning, I broke down in tears. I sobbed. It was way too early in the day to feel much of anything, let alone an avalanche of despair. But I did.

Or was I mourning? With each L.A. Times page that I turned, my eyes filled with more tears, no matter how hard I tried to talk myself out of them.

With each report on the Supreme Court's decision, with every sentence about the current Prop 8 court battle, with every photo of the devastation of Haiti, with every twist and turn in the health care "debate", with each postmortem of the uncanny Coakley loss to a former centerfold whose policy positions frustrate me no end, with every military death, with each inept, biased piece of news reporting, I found myself succumbing to tears that I tried like crazy to resist.

My sons are facing a world of things I can't even fathom. Where I had hopes, I now have anxiety. Where I thought the world would be safer for them, I see growing dangers that I thought would dissipate over time, not intensify. Health care hurdles, hatred, financial roadblocks, discrimination, wars, political obstruction, you name it.

Who do they turn to for justice? How can fairness be achieved? What happened to judicial objectivity? Who can provide that for them? Certainly not the highest court in the land.

Five people have changed my kids' futures. Five people have made voting seem nearly meaningless. Five people who should be standing up for fairness and democracy have instead slammed a whole lot of doors in my children's faces. And mine. And yours.

And so I cried. I cried because I, along with so many of you, continue to fight, and continue to lose to irrationality. We do what we can, both individually and collectively. Speaking for myself, I donate, I tweet, I post, I Facebook, I try to get a message out, I vote, I scream, I explain, I quip. But it hasn't been enough.

I feel smaller than I've ever felt, more insignificant even though I'm reaching thousands on a daily basis. I fight as hard as I can, and give as much as I can give, but this latest body blow from SCOTUS really hurt.

And so today I finally broke down and cried.

However...

As impotent as I feel, and I suspect many of you are feeling the same way, I have no intention of giving up. None.

I'll continue to donate, tweet, post, Facebook, vote, scream, explain, quip. But just like you, I need to vent sometimes in order to unload the negative and start all over again with the positive.

I hope you understand, I'm not whining. I'm not surrendering. I'm not walking away. I haven't lost my resolve. I'm simply sharing the overwhelming rush of emotion I had this morning, because if I didn't, my head would explode.

And having done that, it's time to start over, breathe, and do everything in my power to make the world better for my kids, myself, and anyone who wants to join me.

Palin Gets $100K for Magazine Photo

By GottaLaff

Via Taegan and Gryphen we see how Barbie McLipSchmutz finally quit worrying (yes, yet another thing she quit) about exploiting her kids. Whew! For a minute there, I was worried about all of Babzie's worrying, which was becoming quite worrisome.

How nice for her that she and her daughter can relax and revel in their brand spankin' fat new bank statements:

Sarah Palin and her daughter, Bristol, "earned an eye-popping $100,000 for their new In Touch Weekly cover, "the New York Post reports.

"For just eight hours' work at her own home, Palin pocketed nearly as much as her $125,000-a-year salary as Alaska governor. It seems her decision to quit her political role is making big financial sense. Palin also reportedly earns $100,000 per public-speaking engagement, while she has a multiyear deal as a Fox News Channel analyst. Reps for the magazine and Palin refused to comment on the deal."

Tripp, Trigg, Trak, Truck, Trek, Drek, Heck. They're all just one big happy family living off of their Paris Hiltonesque fame.

All Bristol had to do was give birth and stand next to her mom at conventions and such.

All Barbie had to do was talk about Bristol giving birth, speak in tongues, fail at potential Veepitude, acquire an odd accent that doesn't represent Alaska, talk about her lipstick, forget O'Biden's real last name, incite hatred, have her ghost writer write, and then charge a whole bunch of money for talking incessantly about all of that and other stuff.

The family that exploits together is maladroit together.

From the Dep't. of Double Standards: The Greatness of St. Ronnie

By GottaLaff

I got wind of this event via a reader. What event, you ask? Why, it's a swell essay contest! Brought to you by the Utah GOP who encourages the kiddies to gush about Ronald Reagan.

Now then, children, let's think back a couple of months to Obama's speech to all those students who he did his level best to indoctrinate. Remember that?

Just a few months after school officials in Utah's Republican strongholds adamantly opposed any effort to allow schoolchildren to watch an address from the president of the United States at school, Utah County schools are collaborating with the Utah County Republican Party to hold an essay contest for sixth-graders extolling the greatness of Ronald Reagan.

"The greatness of Ronald Reagan." Why, without him, our economy wouldn't be what it is today! Trickle down became a household phrase, and... Oh, what the heck. Reiterating all his saintitudiness would just bore you.

Besides, you can hear it all you want, daily, from the Rushpublic punditiots on the Tee Vee Machine.

I wonder who in particular would sponsor such an indoctrinatey love fest?

The e-mail, from the district's social studies curriculum director Todd Billings, said the Republican Party is sponsoring the essay contest for sixth-graders in the Provo, Alpine and Nebo school districts -- all within Utah County -- with a $250 first prize, $100 second prize and $50 third prize.

Oh, so they're paying the kiddies for their efforts. Isn't that socialistic of them, spreading the wealth like that.

Would you like to join the fun?

The essays are to be submitted to essaycontest@utahcountygop.org.

My bad. I see I'm getting my back up for nothing. See, there's a difference between this tribute to St. Ronnie's legacy and President Obama's speech, see:

But Provo district spokeswoman Laken Cannon says there is no improper use here. Reagan is a past president, like Washington or Lincoln, she said, and not someone currently running for office. Plus the students are not required to participate. It's voluntary.

Voluntary indoctrination is so much more acceptable. Please disregard this entire post.

TPC teen contributor challenges Balloon Boy coverage

By GottaLaff

Six year old Falcon Heene with his father Richard

(AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

I've previously posted the observations of a remarkable high school student. Her insights were, and are, unique and poignant. (Please read them here, here, and here.)

Today she sent me an e-mail, and has graciously allowed me to share it with you. She wrote it to a radio host who she calls about once a month as the teen correspondent.

What a remarkable young woman:

I probably won't make it to the chat room or onto the phone to your show tonight because it is "ornament night" here with my host family and I will be covered in glitter glue and fluorescent paint all evening. But I want to put in my 2 cents worth on the sentencing of Balloon Boy's parents.

I've just looked at the news story on 3 different sites, and everyone is focusing on whether the punishment is enough. I've heard you refer to this as America's punishment fetish.

No one has said whether the kids are in foster care now, if they're staying with other relatives, or how their parents' sentence will affect them. And THAT is what matters.

My dad left town when I was six and I have never seen him again. My mom went to prison when I was 11 and I have only seen her twice. The state of Texas may be glad they got a minor league drug user (and sometimes dealer) off the streets, but they never gave me or my brother a second thought.

That's not exactly true. The county took an interest in whether or not I was physically safe. But only after I wasn't.

I am becoming an academic superstar in spite of all of the people who think I am a loser because of who my parents are. I love school and I love learning and I have found my own way -- but huge numbers of kids with parents in jail never graduate HS and certainly don't graduate as Texas Scholars with ambitions for the ivy league.

I call the family I live with my host family and I pretend that I am an exchange student because I hate the way foster care sounds. But some of the other kids who live here are in foster care. The only difference is that my minister facilitated this "placement" and the county signed off.

The other kids here came through the county first. We are all VERY LUCKY that we're with a great family and the worst humiliation here is that we'll all have our hodge-podge home-made ornaments photographed and saved.

The Heenes are lousy parents and idiots, but why is the media so obsessed with the conditions of their sentence and don't even mention what the next 10 or 12 years will be like for their kids? Will they be together?

The parents will have supervised probation from the state, but will they also have supervised parenting? Will the Heene kids have a chance to make their own Christmas tree ornaments with glitter and feathers and green poster board?

Am I the only one asking those questions?

We need a whole lot more teens like this one. I am proud to count her as a friend.

Obama now subject of 60 kids' books

Guess they're selling pretty well, otherwise there wouldn't be so many, eh? (We've got an excellent one for sale over there ---> )

MANHATTAN, Kan., Nov. 17 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama has been the subject of more children's books in less than a year than his predecessor was in eight years, a researcher says.

Phil Nel, a professor of English at Kansas State University, said about 60 books have been written about the president, about 25 before his election and 35 since. That doesn't count books about Obama's relatives and Bo, the White House dog.

Nel presented a paper, "Obamafiction for Children: Imagining the 44th U.S. President," at the American Studies Association conference in Washington, D.C.

"For those unfamiliar with the American book market, to have this many children's books about a candidate or a president so soon in his term of office is rather unusual," Nel said. "After eight years in office, George W. Bush inspired 17 fewer titles than Obama."

Evangelist Alamo sentenced to 175 years on sex charges

By GottaLaff

Occasionally, real justice is done:

Evangelist Tony Alamo is likely to spend the rest of his life in prison after an Arkansas judge sentenced him to 175 years in prison Friday on charges that included taking minors across state lines for sex, according to prosecutors.

Who is this Tony Alamo they speak of, you ask?

Tony Alamo (born Bernie LaZar Hoffman on September 20, 1934^[1][2]) is an American preacher, singer, entrepreneur, religious evangelist, and convicted child sex offender. He and his late wife Susan are best known as the founders of a nominally Christian organization currently known as Tony Alamo Christian Ministries. [...]

On July 24, 2009 Alamo was convicted in the Federal District Court for the Western District of Arkansas, sitting in Texarkana, Arkansas, on 10 counts of Interstate Transportation of Minors for Illegal Sexual Purposes, Rape, Sexual Assault and Contributing to the Delinquency of Minors.

Good riddance.

PhotObama: Happy, Positive, Shiny, Sweet edition

By GottaLaff

After that last post, I needed something happy and positive and shiny and sweet:

(click to enlarge...it's so worth it to see those faces)

AUDIO: Laffy on the radio talking "Pro-Life Cupcake Day"

By GottaLaff

I was on the Radio Machine with the absolutely wonderful Angie Coiro (on San Francisco's progressive station Green 960) again last night, snarking about Pro-Life Cupcake Day movement. Seriously.

Right-click here to download the MP3.

Angie has hinted strongly at my becoming a recurring guest on her show. To say I'm flattered is the biggest understatement... ever.

Video- President Obama Presents a Night of Astronomy

And no one invited me? So jealous.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — One hundred and forty lucky middle school aged students are headed to the South Lawn at the White House this evening for a night of star gazing with President Obama – but this time, the proceedings have nothing to do with Hollywood royalty.

Tonight's festivities will target a very specific age group, one that typically succumbs to peer pressure and tends to move away from science and technology. According to former astronaut Dr. Sally Ride, who was on the South Lawn for a preview and will be there this evening, 'this reminds them that science is cool, and tonight's event might let them hold onto that interest' going into high school and college.

The students from local middle schools in Washington, DC and Virginia who are coming to the White House tonight will be met by the 'Inflatable Dome,' a virtual universe that displays a realistic virtual show of the galaxies, as well as roughly twenty telescopes scattered about the lawn and pointed toward the heavens. Max Mutchler, a Hubble scientist, will be manning the Odyssey 8 telescope. Beyond the stars and the Earth's own moon, according to Mutchler, the big draw this evening will be Jupiter and its moons, specifically the four brightest orbs — the same moons that Galileo first saw over 400 years ago — and the cloud structures that surround them.

VIDEO: How to become a nasty, vicious bigot

By GottaLaff

Everyone in these two posts should watch this very powerful video, think very hard about who they are, and then watch it again:



This was like, as one of the kids said in the video, a punch in the gut.

It's way too easy to instill hate.

H/t: BoneKnightmare