I surely hope it’s not going….

My mother saved this article for me. 

Common sense was a long time coming

In Crestwood, a Tinley Park mom had child endangerment  and peace office obstruction charges dropped.  What did she do on December 8, 2007 that caused a community service officer to raise the possibility of Treffly Coyne being in jail away from her family for a year?  She parked her vehicle in front of Walmart, took out 3 kids while leaving the 2 year old to sleep in the car seat with doors locked and alarm engaged. She then walked a short distance away and within eye shot, so the older kids could drop money into the Salvation Army bucket.  By the time the husband got to the scene of the crime donation, the sergeant who was dating the community service officer, had Ms. Coyne in the back of the police car in handcuffs.  Merry Christmas, kids. 

 

"It’s hard to be living 97 days under the scrutiny of being called a child abuser when no child was abused," Coyne told reporters Thursday. "It parallels, I put my child in the car seat and unload the groceries, and I take a cart back to the corral at the grocery store. I know plenty of moms and people who do that."

Here, in Illinois and likely elsewhere in the US, you’d better be looking over your shoulder constantly, for more than one reason.

Dana has an interesting question on Principled Discovery:

What constitutes abuse?

In the section marked Changing Attitudes, besides some historical basis of authorities turning their heads at family abuses, Dana notes this too:

Now we recognize child abuse as a real threat and feel responsible to report it. Professionals are now bound by law to notify CPS, encouraging some to make the call “just to be sure” and more to protect themselves should anything ever happen. But the idea of abuse is changing. No longer is strictly that “which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse or exploitation, or an act or failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm.” It has been broadened to include parenting which is not necessarily dangerous, but merely uncomfortable for the child. I increasingly hear the word used for parenting practices with which society, or even just that particular person, happens to disagree.

And it is also beginning to be used to describe educational choices by parents outside the mainstream….

For the times they are a’changin  Homeschoolers aren’t going away.  Maybe the new target for those who dislike the freedoms of those pesky homeschoolers is to aim and fire at what homeschoolers teach their children. 

Following that, Sunniemom had a great post about Nothing to hide- Nothing to fear

Folks who oppose home education often express the idea that governments and institutions are what make our lives productive and fulfilling, when it is liberty that feeds our hopes and dreams. They want to accuse home educators of being fearful, when it is educrats, union officials and politicians who are desperate to retain control and the money that goes along with that authority over our most vulnerable citizens- children.

Sunniemom supplied this link in her post: If you have nothing to hide, you have everything to fear

The first thing one must realize is that it does happen here. Government abuse of power happens. That they’re American bureaucrats doesn’t make them any less prone to abusing whatever power and authority they have been granted or have seized for themselves. The long chain of abuses stretches from the birth of the nation right through to the present day, and from the bottom to the top. Open any newspaper from any day of any year and you’ll find at least one, if not several.

There is great outrage and conspiratorial suggestions over State Department employees taking a peek at presidential candidate passport information.  My Senator’s dismay and call for a "full and thorough investigation" over this breech of his personal information is understandable.  But he’s fortunate….when files of high profile people like him are opened, an alert is set off to higher ups.  I don’t think that John and Jane Doe have the same protections.  When Pat’s veteran information was stolen a couple of years ago, it wasn’t such a big deal.

The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse. — James Madison

Did I mention that in my small town, the largest single employer is the school?