When life gives you a lemon

Don't make hard lemonade and give it to your kid in public:

Almost everyone Chris Ratte met the night they took Leo away conceded the state was probably overreacting.

The sympathetic cop who interviewed Ratte and his son at the hospital said she was convinced what happened had been an accident, but that her supervisor was insisting the matter be referred to Child Protective Services.

And Ratte thought the two child protection workers who came to take Leo away seemed more annoyed with the police than with him. "This is so unnecessary," one told Ratte before driving away with his son.

But there was really nothing any of them could do, they all said. They were just adhering to protocol, following orders.

And so what had begun as an outing to the ballpark ended with Leo crying himself to sleep in front of a television inside the Child Protective Services building, and Ratte and his wife standing on the sidewalk outside, wondering when they'd see their little boy again.

I mean, really, how much more are we going to take? The bit about "just following orders" is most disturbing. Hey, I know it's your kid and we don't have a reason to take him from you, but I'm just doing my job. I wonder what else these parasites--the officer, the caseworker, their supervisor--are willing to do when they get  "orders."

At least he got an acknowledgment of the absurdity of the action--more than the FLDS parents got--but I suppose that's about as much as you can expect from the state spending your tax dollars to "protect" your child from your own bad self. No, you can't expect it, you're lucky to get it. You should be grateful.

Calvin had it right when he said "wing it right back and add some lemons of your own."

JMM

Comments

[SBW]

Here is a better link to the story: http://www.wzzm13.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=91319

Ironically, at this baseball game all of the fans probably sung the arrogant song, "God Bless America" during the 7th inning stretch. Sure, God really is and should bless a nation that provides for the state to break up and destroy the family by its police and naziesque bureaucrats. Ironically, you mention John Calvin in your post. It was he and his successors that made this story come about because it is based on a typically fundamentalist-gnostic persception that alcohol in and of itself is toxic and poisonous...until one reaches 21 years old that is. I am not advocating giving children high amounts of alcohol or even strong liquor, but this story is more reflective of that fundamentalist worldview, which was in part what the country began as--a Protestant Puritan police state.

[JMM]

I only mention the theologian by extension - I was referring to the cartoon character named after the him(Calvin & Hobbes). I don't think John Calvin actually said anything about lemons.

I figure if the nanny-staters think it's okay to teach kindergartners about their changing bodies and Heather's two mommies, it should be okay to make them connoisseurs of fine scotch and cigars, too. I mean, as long as we're doing away with childhood...

[Casey Khan]

Remember as fathers, watch out for the ever present eye of the state.