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"What's up?" Simon asked, keeping his voice carefully devoid of negative emotion.
"This." She handed over a printout of the letter.
Jaw muscles flexed when he reached the contents of paragraph two: Pursuant to section 29713 of the Childhood Protection Act, stipulating childcare arrangements for dependent children with both parents drawing paychecks, you are hereby notified of the requirement to remand your daughter, Yalena Khrustinova, for federally mandated daycare, to begin no more than three business days after receipt of this notification. You will enroll your daughter in the federal daycare center established on Nineveh Base before April 30th or face criminal prosecution for violation of the Children's Rights provisions of the Childhood Protection Act. Prosecution will immediately result in full termination of parental rights and Yalena Khrustinova will be remanded for permanent relocation to a federally mandated foster care program.
Pursuant to statute 29714 of the Childhood Protection Act, in-home child welfare inspections will commence one week from the date of Yalena Khrustinova's enrollment, to ensure that she is being provided with the federally mandated level of financial and emotional support necessary to her welfare. We look forward to caring for your child.
Have a nice day.
Simon looked up from the letter, met Kafari's eyes. He was still as death for a space of seven pounding heartbeats. "They're serious."
"Yes."
Jaw muscles flexed again. "We have three days."
"To what? Ask the Concordiat to reassign you to Vishnu? Or Mali? Or somewhere else? We're trapped, Simon."

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"It's outlined in sections 440 and 1904 of the House bill (Page 838), under the heading "home visitation programs for families with young children and families expecting children." The programs (provided via grants to states) would educate parents on child behavior and parenting skills.

The bill says that the government agents, "well-trained and competent staff," would "provide parents with knowledge of age-appropriate child development in cognitive, language, social, emotional, and motor domains ... modeling, consulting, and coaching on parenting practices," and "skills to interact with their child to enhance age-appropriate development."

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"You are no longer a negro."

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Originally posted by rue:
Mike, Frem

You are forgetting something - there are not enough living-wage jobs in the country for everyone.

With roughly 10% unemployment real unemployment may be in the 15-20% range, since unemployment figures only count people who are currently receiving unemployment checks.

Our economy is BASED ON there not being enough jobs to go around. If you want to change welfare, you have to change the economy.

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Silence is consent.

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Originally posted by Fremdfirma:

Ponder THIS.

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"It's outlined in sections 440 and 1904 of the House bill (Page 838), under the heading "home visitation programs for families with young children and families expecting children." The programs (provided via grants to states) would educate parents on child behavior and parenting skills.

The bill says that the government agents, "well-trained and competent staff," would "provide parents with knowledge of age-appropriate child development in cognitive, language, social, emotional, and motor domains ... modeling, consulting, and coaching on parenting practices," and "skills to interact with their child to enhance age-appropriate development."

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http://www.creators.com/opinion/chuck-norris/dirty-secret-no-1-in-obam
acare.html

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And, it is just my opinion, but I think those who worked so hard to secure voting rights, and desegregate things, are probably disgusted with their progeny. Wouldn't you be?

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Originally posted by dreamtrove:

This is why I got so offended in the last election. I'm not going to defend any politician, but the whole thing with Sarah Palin was a total set up, and it was an attack on Mat-su, Wasilla et al. Part of the joke here was "boyfriend drives a pick up truck, has a shot gun" etc. If you live in the country, are familiar with truck guns animals and plants, then *you* were the butt of the joke on Sarah Palin. If you're in that population, and you were joining into the kicking of yourself.

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I think each of us, as individuals, control our own lives. We may not have the power to control what affects us, but rather we control how we deal with the adversity we face.

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Wow, I expected more of an uproar over this.

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Originally posted by Wulfenstar:
Part of the problem is that our society relies on FAMILIES to raise their children. By problem, I mean SOLUTION.

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Originally posted by Wulfenstar:
Really, Sig? Really? Feminists teaching young girls that they dont need a man, and the aftermath of that... has nothing to do with todays society?

Really?

Sweetie, you are smarter than that.

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Somehow I don't find this scary at all. Most parents won't need this, but there is enough unintentionally awful parenting out there. This probably comprises something like one or a few visits where the most important mistakes are talked about and people have a look at the home to make sure there are no obvious sources of danger, maybe they'll speak about post-partum depression, ways to encourage bonding, breastfeeding, reading, etc. There are children out there who would, indeed, benefit if their parents received some personal consultation.

I don't see how this is supposed to be scary. :-/

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Kafari was fixing Yalena's breakfast when someone knocked at the front door. Loudly. Startled, Kafari sloshed milk onto the counter. Nobody ever came to their house without calling ahead, first, to make sure Sonny wouldn't shoot them as an intruder. Not even Kafari's family. And with spring planting taking up everyone's time, nobody in her family would be calling on them this early in the day, anyway. Simon, who had just strapped Yalena into the toddler seat, exchanged a startled glance with her.
"Who—?" he began.
"Trouble, that's who," she muttered, wiping her hands on a towel and striding purposefully through the house.
She opened the door to find a tall woman with pinched nostrils and a prune-shaped mouth, whose socially correct skinny frame was all hard angles and jutting bones. She was staring down at Kafari from a pair of steel-rimmed glasses of the sort preferred by POPPA bureaucrats. It was part of their "we're all just people" persona, which dictated that no one on the government payroll was better than anyone else and therefore should not look it.
With her was a hulking giant whose intelligence looked to be on the simian level, with muscles capable of breaking a small tree in half. He definitely did not subscribe to the "thin is in" mentality sweeping the civil service and entertainment industries. No, she realized abruptly,he's the enforcer. Just what were they here to enforce, at seven a.m. on a Tuesday morning?
"Mrs. Khrustinova?" the woman asked, her voice as warm as a glacier.
"I'm Kafari Khrustinova. Who are you?"
"We," she jerked her head in a gesture both abrupt and menacing, "are the child-protection team assigned to Yalena Khrustinova."
"Child-protection team?"
"Trask, please note that Mrs. Khrustinova is apparently in need of mechanical augmentation, as her hearing is plainly substandard, which directly jeopardizes the welfare of the child in her custody."
"Now wait just a damned minute! I heard you, I just couldn't believe what I was hearing. What are you doing here? I'm a full-time mother. You don't have jurisdiction."
"Oh, yes we do," the woman said, eyes and voice frosty and threatening. "Didn't you read the notice sent to every parent on Jefferson last night?"
"What notice? What time, last night? Simon and I checked the messages just before bed and there wasn't any notice."
"And what time would that have been?"
"Ten-thirty."
"Trask, please note that Mr. and Mrs. Khrustinov keep a two-year-old child awake far past the hour at which a child that age should be in bed."
"That's when Simon and I went to bed!" Kafari snapped. "Yalena was in bed by seven-thirty."
"So you say." The derision and disbelief beggared the limits of Kafari's patience.
Simon spoke just behind her shoulder in a voice as cold and alien as the day of Abraham Lendan's death. "Get off my property. Now."
"Are you threatening me?" the woman snarled.
Kafari's husband was holding Yalena on one hip. His smile was a lethal baring of fangs. "Oh, no. Not yet. If you refuse to leave, however, things could get very interesting. Somehow, I doubt the Brigade would take kindly to having an officer's home invaded by petty officials attempting to enforce a dubious rule that I haven't even seen, let alone determined the legality of. This house," he added in a deceptively gentle voice, "is the property of the Concordiat. Its computer terminals are connected to military technology that is classified as sufficiently secret, no one on Jefferson has the clearance to access it. That includes any so-called home inspection team. You, dear lady, do not have a military clearance to come within a hundred meters of my computer terminal.
"If I were you, I would seriously reconsider the wisdom of trying to force the issue. I am a Bolo commander. In the building next door, a thirteen-thousand ton sentient war machine is listening to this conversation. That machine is judging how much of a threat you are to its commander. If that Bolo decides you are a threat to me, it will act. Probably before I can stop it. So have Trask, there, jot down this little note: the home-inspection provisions of the Child Protection Act do not—and never will—apply to this household. So kindly take your emaciated carcass and your large friend off the Concordiat's property. Oh, one last thing. If you value your sorry little lives, do not attempt to snoop into the Bolo's maintenance depot. I'd hate to have to clean up the mess if Sonny shoots you for trespassing into a Class One Alpha restricted military zone."
The woman's face went from paper-white to malevolent-red and her mouth opened and closed several times without sound. She finally snarled, "Trask! Please note that Mr. and Mrs. Khrustinov—"
"That's Colonel Khrustinov, you insolent trollop!"
Kafari blanched. She'd never heard that tone in Simon's voice.
The woman in their doorway actually recoiled a step. Then hissed, "Trask! Please note that Colonel Khrustinov and his wife maintain a lethal hazard that could kill their child at any moment—"
"Correction," Simon snarled. "Sonny has standing orders never to fire at my wife or my child. Those orders do not apply to you. Get the hell off my front porch."
He moved Kafari gently aside, then slammed the door and twisted the lock.
"Kafari. Take Yalena. And get your gun. Now. That lout looks stupid enough to try kicking the door in."
She snatched Yalena and ran for the bedroom. Her daughter was whimpering, having caught the emotional whiplash from her parents and the intruders trying to force their way into the house. She heard the sound of the gun cabinet in the living room opening and closing, heard the snick of the safety on Simon's sidearm as he prepared to do whatever became necessary. Kafari wrenched open the nightstand, shoved her thumb against the identi-plate, and clicked open the gun box inside. Kafari snatched up the pistol, barricading herself in the closet with Yalena.
"Shh," she whispered, rocking the frightened toddler. "You're just fine, baby." She hummed a tune low enough to calm her daughter, without blocking the sounds from the living room. She could hear angry voices outside as the woman and her accomplice argued in strident tones. After several tense moments, she heard the snarl of a groundcar's engine as it gunned its way down the driveway toward the street.
Simon appeared in the bedroom doorway, every muscle in his lean frame taut with battle tension. "They're gone. For now."
"And when they come back?" she whispered.
"They won't come back. Not yet."

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Less than a half hour after the first police visit ended, an unmarked police car arrived and decanted the CPS investigator and the largest officer on the roster of the Payette City Police force -- a genial man-mountain with a tonsured head, Van Dyke beard, and a ready smile. Seeing him, I simply had to chuckle: Yes, of course they'd send him.

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So, (smacking Frem right back) it comes right back to parents actually raising their progeny... in a good, wholesome manner...

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Originally posted by Fremdfirma:

AgentR
I find the whole non-voluntary part of it offensive.
I am ALL FOR making some level of basic mutually-accepted and scientifically proven parenting training available, and even ok with taxpayer funding for it.

But my concern is a mandatory program co-opted by folks with their own political, religious or social agenda operating in a fashion destructive to the very goals the program was meant to achieve, and I have both established precedent and good historical cause for that very concern.

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I honestly can't see how a one-time visit by a parenting advisor could be abused in such a way as to make it terribly harmful.

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Originally posted by Fremdfirma:

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I honestly can't see how a one-time visit by a parenting advisor could be abused in such a way as to make it terribly harmful.

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I can, oh believe me I can - it'd take a day and more for even a basic LIST.

Look at what one little phone call, that everyone involved KNEW at *at the time* was bogus, did to the FLDS - many of those kids are still suffering far worse psychological trauma due to their treatment at the hands of the State, complete with eight mental health professionals full court depositions testifying to the abusive conduct and conditions.

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Originally posted by Fremdfirma:
What I am saying is that without a really strong, tight leash, there's every chance they will engage the machinery of the State against folks who's parenting, beliefs or practices, they do not agree with, or for partisan reasons of their own.

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Originally posted by Bytemite:
In specific, AR, say the state has certain types of parents it considers... undesirable. Picture them sending in a medical professional under the guise of offering advice, recommendations, etc. Whether or not these professionals are invested with the power to declare the parents unfit for taking care of the children and immediately remove them (as has happened on a number of Native American Tribal Reservations), there's still plenty of damage that can be done by offering poor advice for the parent's situation or even cultural mindsets, such that the parents are set-up to either not understand or fail later. And that's if, IF they don't do anything sneaky like what was done to certain Australian Aboriginal tribeswomen to discourage future pregnancies.

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Originally posted by rue:
"I find the whole non-voluntary part of it offensive."

Eh ... it IS voluntary. You KNOW that, right ?


"What happened down at YFZ ..."

Was that roughly 10% of the men are now facing charges for participating in underage marriage - as a matter of POLCY of the community. Children are not the 'property' of their parents either, to dispose of as they see fit without social concern.

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