dunno much about this - only rabblerousing web citations. Is this true? Basically - little black girl gets ******-up so bad, she's close to becoming the next terri schiavo - because florida administrators didn't do their job and stop some really abusive parents. So what to do? Refuse to listen to the judge, and stop paying her medical bills! http://empireburlesquenow.blogspot.com/2005/06/code-red-jeb-bush-strikes-back.html Please tell me there's more to this.
The story does appear in some more main stream sources, and with some shockingly compassionate conservative exmples: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/blogs/...ditorial/entries/2005/05/no_appeal_pay_m.html With one year of his term left, House Appropriations Chairman Joe Negron, R-Stuart, probably won't be around to vote on Marissa's claim. But Rep. Negron, who is running for state attorney general, dismissed the jury's decision: "DCF never hit this child once. DCF never abused this child. It is impossible for any agency of the government to predict the future or to prevent evil people from doing bad things. In a free society, no one can expect the government to be the guarantor of anyone's safety, including a child." Unfortunately, this is a problem in red states, blue states and green states. Most government agencies charged with overseeing the welfare of children are over taxed. I don't have specific examples from Illinois, but they would be easy enought to find as you often see a tragic result for a child followed by a story about how DCFS had investigated the parents in the past, but . . . In a very grudging defense of Bush, he does have a responsibility to protect the public coffers, and therefore, when the state gets sued, you don't just whip out the check book. Having said that, he should burn if he doesn't do an internal investigation based on this story, and try and fix the problems. Also, I fully expect a special session of Congress to deal with Marrisa's claim.
There is... if you stay away from the "Bash Jeb" web sites! The salient facts: -A jury has ordered the state to pay millions of dollars to the adoptive parents of a girl who was permanently brain-damaged after being severely beaten ($35 million to parents of Marissa Amora [Moesha Sylencieux]). -The child was apparently beaten by her mother's boyfriend that left her permanently brain damaged. -The child's lawyers apparently convinced the courts that the beating happened days after a DCF worker failed to show up at the house for a check-up; thus putting child care smack in the state's role! But: -DCF's investigators and supervisors admitted that they were wrong, and a grand jury recommended the firing of nine people who had failed to protect Moesha from a nearly fatal beating Jan. 11, 2001. -DCF spends $11 million a year on a statewide hot line that receives about 150,000 reports of child abuse. DCF supervises about 50,000 children and young adults because their parents have been abusive or neglectful. DCF spends $43.9 million a year on child abuse prevention and intervention. DCF has spent more than $147 million on a computer system to track abused, neglected and abandoned children. -PRIOR TO ALL THIS.... -"Staff at the Miami Children’s Hospital were worried about the toddler from Lake Worth. When she was admitted in December 2000 with mysterious medical problems and an old bone fracture, her mother couldn’t explain. "Marissa Amora, 6, formerly known as Moesha Sylencieux, was severely beaten at age 2, a month after abuse reports were made to DCF. They said the mother spanked her sick baby in her hospital bed. She called her 2-year-old daughter “hardheaded.” Hospital workers alerted child abuse investigators at the Department of Children and Families." So who becomes the fall guy in all this? Of course, DCF! Not Miami Children's Hospital, not the family, not the mother, not the mother's boyfriend (who did the deed) but DCF? Why? In fairness, DCF's backlog of cases rivals agencies five times their size and they have fired those involved in the early admitted negligence of Moesha... However: Anyone not seeing the politics of this case is blind! The State does share blame here, but not at the behest of those using the case to go after Governor Bush...
Again, if I am a lawyer for the state, my job in court is to get the award thrown out. That doesn't prevent them from meeting with the girl's lawyers while the appeal is pending and try to do the fair thing by working out a settlement that is good for the state and good for the girl. In court, it is not really the lawyers job to seek a middle ground fair result. That is the job of judges and juries. The lawyers have to be advocates for their clients in the litigation while seeking to resolve the matter outside of the courtroom.
Send her on a Carribean vacation...no that only works with white girls. Throw her down a well...no that only works with puppies. Bury her in a mine shaft...no that only works with grizzled miners who are probably veterans.
OK. But the DCF is still responsible, even if they fired the people involved. These were DCF officials whose negliegence failed to prevent further damage to the girl. Right. They notified the DCF, who then failed to protect the child. Why would the hospital be at fault? They properly notified the DCF, who was supposed to protect the girl. It was the state that tried to cut off her medical care, which could have led to her death. Please tell me you see the hypocrisy in this.
I was preparing to moderately agree that the state is but one responsible party in this tragedy, but then I got to this last paragraph. Gov. Bush has done his fair share to push "life" issues in front of the camera, and is the founding father of politicizing a tragic case. You live by the BS, you can die by it too. And, YOU my friend. YOU are the one that applauded and defended what probably cost tax payers millions to bring the president and congress back to Washington for the Terri Schiavo fiasco. You used her tragic case to attack any democrats that did not agree with your position. Suck the pipe baby, because pandora opened her box at your request.
All of your salient facts demonstrate that DCF did fail in protecting the child. That is after all, DCF's duty, despite what the state representative cited above seems to say (that they can't be expected to protect kids). Yes, they are not the only party responsible for this child's condition, the man who beat her should be in jail. Here we have a of a six-year old child who is alive and talking, but requires a feeding tube. Where is the "culture of life" contingent? Why is Jeb Bush suddenly more worried about not paying her medical bills than about keeping her alive and preserving the life he supposedly values so highly? He could do this while still attempting to reduce the award to the girl's current family. This person deserves more protection than Terri Schiavo ever did and the same people who desperately tried to keep her alive are doing all they can to not be responsible for this child's life.
Fair enugh, but as an elected official I would think Jeb Bush (especially considering his Schiavo position) would want to make an effort to demonstrate that he doesn't want to stop caring for this child. To be honset I don't see why the state government couldn't ask for a reduction in the award, regardless of the lawyer's job.
ITN, how do you explain Jeb not upholding the proclaimed 'culture of life' by taking steps to allow her to die?
Oh, they most certainly can, probably through their lawyers intially, and later party to party. I would hope what is going on behind the scenes is some negotiation that results in (picking a number out of thin air that has nothing to do with her care -- only for the purpose of argument) a settlement for $10 million. Then Bush holds a press conference, not admitting guilt, but apologizing to the extent that the system failed this little girl, and with him ultimately rresponsible for the system, that the state reached a settlement for her care, and will work relentlessly to see that this nightmare is not repeated. That is my hope. I won't hold my breath.
Jeez, thought you lot would have recognized this by now: ItN - Pro-life only when there are political benefits.
I don't accept the premise of your question, since you basing it exclusively on this fictional statement: "... Jeb's agents tried to stop her medical treatment and let her die..." . This is neither true or anywhere neither an accurate assessment of what the facts are in this case. The "culture of life" has been followed in this case; indeed Governor Bush apologized for any failings of the system in the case of Moesha... I wonder if you would be quite so interested in it if the Governor's last name was not Bush? And I note not one of you liberal cowturds has the least bit of scorn for the guilty in this case, the mother's boyfriend, but then again, you all totally dismissed Michael Schiavo as well.... big surprise!
Where are you getting your facts from? The issue isn't the boyfriend (who returned to Haiti), but if you want to make it that, then he's a scumbag who should be sent to prison for 50 years and put in general population. Some of us dismissed Michael Schaivo because he wasn't guilty of anything. That sentiment was recently backed up by the Florida States Attorney and Jeb Bush himself.
So what is it that you know that the local and state police don't know, that the special prosecutor doesn't know, that Jeb Bush doesn't know, that over 50 local, state and federal judges don't know - what is it that you know? And if you have proof of something illegal, why don't you come forward with the fruits of your investigations? It couldn't be that you are a keyboard troll with no fixed political or moral convictions except situational ones? That couldn't be it, could it?