After D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty was elected with a mandate to reform the city's chronically failing public education system, the District of Columbia City Council gave him extraordinary powers to get the job done, including authorization of an unprecedented takeover of the city's school system last June.

The Washington Examiner supported those moves, but the mandate did not include cutting parents and taxpayers out of the school budgeting process. Regrettably, that's what he and D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee are now trying to do. Despite being required by law to hold a series of public hearings before presenting the final school budget proposal to the District Council for approval, the March 20th deadline came and went this year with no such plan being made available. It's been at least 20 years since that last happened. Instead of obeying the law, the mayor's office wants to repeal it.

Council members should refuse to go along. The law requiring the public discussion of the school budget was put on the books as a result of a 1987 initiative supported by 85 percent of the voters. District voters clearly not only wanted a say in budget decisions affecting their children, they demanded it at the ballot box. Instead of repealing this voter-approved provision, the council should be exercising its oversight role and demanding compliance by Fenty and Rhee. The law requires a school budget that gives "due consideration" to public testimony at hearings Rhee initially refused to hold. Her flimsy rationale was that DCPS should be treated the same as other city agencies, even though the law itself does not. Hundreds of angry parents and community members from across the city have since signed a petition expressing displeasure with this evasion. Rhee's actions on this issue raise serious doubts about her previous statements welcoming community input and parental engagement.

At an April 15 briefing, Council Chairman Vincent Gray noted that although the city as a whole received a clean audit, "material weaknesses" were found in three agencies: the Office of Tax and Revenue, where employees were caught embezzling $ 50 million, the scandal-plagued Medicaid office, and DCPS - which will spend $773 million next year on 49,422 students. More transparency is needed in all three of these troubled agencies, not less. On May 13, the council will vote on the mayor's repeal proposal. It should be defeated.

Comments from Examiner Readers

6:02 PM MST on Sun., May. 11, 2008 re: "�New� Dulles Rail is same old bad deal"

For Traditional Middle Class Housing said:
We already have a lovely dedicated highway to the airport. Metrorail is part of the "smart-growth" land planning whose purpose is to prevent traditional middle class housing--"sprawl" from being built. "Smart-growth" Loudoun County needs Metrorail to put the middle class in "Transit Oriented Villages" (density pack) along the rail line, because 2/3 of the county is preserved for the rich who only can afford to build homes on 20 or 40 acre lots, the new zoning. That is why you will see Loudoun politicians supporting rail in Loudoun's 1/3 eastern portion. Meanwhile, young couples are leaving Loudoun in droves for cheaper housing elsewhere. However, with the recent creation of the massive new federal Heritage Area (Journey Through Hallowed Ground), middle class home seekers who want a detached house will have to leave the region. The viewsheds of the rich must be preserved. Awful. Also, I'd like more specifics on how Metrorail will be paid for.

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10:10 AM MST on Sun., May. 11, 2008 re: "Baby snatching by Arlington County"

Ruby said:
Thanks, "MockTheSocialists" - that is definitely the kind of "communism" we can live without, assuming all parents to be a "negative" influence on their children until proven otherwise. The nuclear family is the foundation of our civilization and our morality, and for the government to undermine it is immmoral.

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9:15 AM MST on Sun., May. 11, 2008 re: "Baby snatching by Arlington County"

Examiner Reader said:
All the supposed proof and counter proof does not change this one important fact. There was a medicaly unexplaned weight loss that was gone by the time the child was removed. It is a fundimental human right to raise your own children. The government has violated this basic human right in this case and should be held accountable for this. The government officials in charge should be formaly charged and dismissed from there positions. If the government fails to correct this horrible situation then it falls to the citizens to gather the needed tar and feathers to rectify the problem.

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8:32 AM MST on Sun., May. 11, 2008 re: "Baby snatching by Arlington County"

MockTheSocialists said:
FLASHBACK: I present to you Communist Goal #41. - read into the Congressional Record Jan. 10, 1963, Congressman Albert S. Herlong Jr. ". . . raise children away from the negative influence of parents . . ."

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7:25 PM MST on Fri., May. 9, 2008 re: "Baby snatching by Arlington County"

Ruby said:
The GAL's were NOT "independent"! They went out to lunch with the county attorney, and had a pretty cozy relationship. As for Judge Wiggins-Lyle, she has a reputation in Arlington for being against mothers, as in the case of Sabrina, and also of Naomi Parrish and Ariel King.

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3:19 PM MST on Fri., May. 9, 2008 re: "Baby snatching by Arlington County"

Examiner Reader said:
So, basically, Virginia Roesell, Kit and Nancy and you (a biased friend) are correct and two independent judges, two independent guardian ad litems, a county attorney, and an entire department of CPS are wrong? Hmmmmm.....

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2:01 PM MST on Fri., May. 9, 2008 re: "Baby snatching by Arlington County"

Virginia Roesell said:
I am good friends with this couple and can tell you that they are very good parents. My daughter Martha-Anne came over often to play with Sabrina and the girls had a great time together. The CPS were clearly out of bounds on this one and should be taken to task for it. The couple Sabrina is with now is not and will never be her real parents. Her real parents are the Slitors, and she belongs with them. I don't know who the people are who are writing against Kit and Nancy, but they don't know what they are talking about and should keep their peace. The Slitors have been through enough without your insensitive comments. I pray for the day when justice will be done and Sabrina will be home again with her parents in Arlington, where she belongs.

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1:19 PM MST on Fri., May. 9, 2008 re: "Get the gold watch for the �Golden Hammer�"

Examiner Reader said:
Bravo! I was adding up the tally, but you did it for me. These may cover more than just 2007, but we could add the special ed database ($10 million) that was scrapped, because it, too, didn't work; the mental health agency failing to recover more than $30 million in denied Medicaid claims; the $2.7 million paid by DC schools for non-residents; the list goes on and on and on. At what point will DC taxpayers stop accepting getting stuck with the bill for fraud and incompetence and demand a top to bottom housecleaning?

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11:49 AM MST on Fri., May. 9, 2008 re: "Baby snatching by Arlington County"

Examiner Reader said:
The parents in this case are able to care for their young daughter. No question about it. However, for the people who don't know what it's like for someone to come into your home and take your child away from you, plese do not post. You have no idea whats it like for someone you care so deeply able be taken away from you. No, it has not happened to me, but I do know about the case very well. It breaks my heart to know that it happens everyday and the parents don't know their rights until it's too late. I wish them good luck... I really hope they get their little girl back. After all they have been through, they deserve it.

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8:15 PM MST on Thu., May. 8, 2008 re: "Baby snatching by Arlington County"

Ruby said:
Examiner Reader, why do you bother to keep re-submitting these same comments over and over again, which just make accusations that have no facts to support them? The judges clearly discriminated against the mother due to her mild learning disability. As for the father suffering from clinical depression, that is not a crime, many people in this country suffer from that, as can be seen by the number of ads for antidepressants. The important thing is was he seeking proper treatment for his condition, which apparently he was. As for the child crying during visits, just look at the YouTube videos of where the visits were held, it was a very child-unfriendly place, in a small office room with an observation mirror. So, don't just blindly believe what the judges said, nor the GAL's either, as it looks like they had a very cozy relationship with the prosecution.

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5:13 PM MST on Thu., May. 8, 2008 re: "Baby snatching by Arlington County"

Examiner Reader said:
According to the documents that this couple post all over the Internet, some of the key reasons that the court terminated parental rights were the couple's "troublesome behavior from the interaction" with the child, such as keeping her in a milk crate with a top that had no holes, keeping her in dirty clothes, and refusing to even show the child to the police. The court discussed the child's uncontrollable crying from visitations with them, and how they were unable to keep her safe. Despite numerous hours of training provided by the county, they couldn't even learn how to do basics of parenting -- feeding, burping, diapering, putting the child down for a nap. The child's own lawyers ("guardian ad litem") -- not one, but two successive GAL's - advocated for termination of parental rights. The court found that the "daddy" -- actually it was a sperm donor according to the birth mother's postings -- has clinical depression and has been hospitalized twice.

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5:13 PM MST on Thu., May. 8, 2008 re: "Baby snatching by Arlington County"

Examiner Reader said:
More from the judge's decision and order: The birth mother's husband did not want to be financially liable for the child. (Apparently, he's interested now that his wife has already spent $350,000 in legal fees.) The court was concerned about the child because of his displays of anger towards public officials (social workers, police) and even his own counselor -- he was noted to be "angry and obsessional." According to the decision, he also appears to have a drinking problem. At the end of the day, they claim that everybody is corrupt and out to get them -- their own doctors, the hospital, the police, the social workers and their supervisors, the county attorney, two guardians ad litem (the child's own court-appointed lawyers) and two successive judges. Of course, after they lose their current appeal, then their story will morph to claim that the Virginia court of appeals is also part of the conspiracy against them. Just wait and see....

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11:34 AM MST on Thu., May. 8, 2008 re: "Oink! Oink! Oink! Congress goes hog wild with farm bill"

Examiner Reader said:
Wait until Congress transfers Rail Union Pensions to the Federal Government. Why should farmers who get paid to NOT grow food be the only hogs at the trough? The fact is that it makes no sense to spend taxpayer money in an effort to raise food prices. This is a program left over from the last century to fix the problems of the 19th century.

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7:29 AM MST on Thu., May. 8, 2008 re: "Oink! Oink! Oink! Congress goes hog wild with farm bill"

Examiner Reader said:
We have asked our members of Congress frequently to remove the earmarks from this bill. We are in record deficit and we expect our government to act more responsibly, but we guess that it is just too much to ask that $70 million in tax credits for the sheiks that race horses, unwarranted subsidies, etc. be removed. By the way, has anyone looked at the "PORK BOOK" recently to see which members of our US Congress have been added.

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8:20 AM MST on Wed., May. 7, 2008 re: "False �reform� for False Claims Act"

Zachary Kitts said:
This editorial is poorly reasoned and insulting. As a lawyer who litigates False Claims cases for a living, I have a bias of my own--but I recognize and appreciate intelligent debate on the topic of the False Claims Correction Act of 2007. This editorial completely lacks substance and contributes nothing to the public debate. See my blog rebuttal at www.vaquitamlaw.com . I am sorry to see this paper, which I always enjoy, include such drivel in its editorials.

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8:15 AM MST on Wed., May. 7, 2008 re: "�New� Dulles Rail is same old bad deal"

Examiner Reader said:
re:'New' Dulles rail is same old bad deal A metro line to Dulles should have been built YEARS ago. This is an international and domestic port to the capital of our nation. It is inexcusable that there is no easy and inexpensive link to the city, as there is in almost every capital in the civilized world. There is so much waste on idiot projects, there is plenty of money to build something that makes sense.

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2:34 AM MST on Wed., May. 7, 2008 re: "Baby snatching by Arlington County"

Examiner Reader said:
I am appalled. I wonder what will happen when the little girl begins to show signs of neurodevelopmental differences. It smacks somewhat of Bettelheim who said that children with Autism had obviously been severely and permanently damaged by their parents if they did not respond to his treatment ie being taken from their parents and not allowed contact for nine months. The judge, social services and adoptive parents will then say that it is just as well this all happened, because otherwise the child would have been so much worse.

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5:15 PM MST on Mon., May. 5, 2008 re: "Baby snatching by Arlington County"

Examiner Reader said:
EXCUSE ME. Our Social Services Departments are housed with the same intelligencia that inhabits the State Department. America bad. Americans bad. Government good. International government even GOOD-er. Marxist. Communists. Call them what you will. I am satisfied to call them Liberal Elitists who think gov't is better equipped to raise YOUR children than YOU ARE! Wake Up....yeah, go vote for Obama...he'll be delighted to explain his theories to you stupid red-neck Bible-clinging, gun-loving stupid White Trash. And Michelle Obama can explain it in about three sentences!

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11:10 AM MST on Mon., May. 5, 2008 re: "Baby snatching by Arlington County"

Examiner Reader said:
Felons in the prison system have more rights nowadays.

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4:45 AM MST on Mon., May. 5, 2008 re: "Baby snatching by Arlington County"

Examiner Reader said:
when any government official --- official, NOT employee --- you know, the kind that gets elected or appointed, in other words, the kind that has to swear an OATH --- not just the regular kind of government employees who get "hired"... anyway, when any govt Official knowingly goes against the Constitution, that is willfully violating their sworn oath of office, which is one of the two legal definitions of treason (the most often used is the familiar "spying" and such things..). reminder: Treason is THE highest crime against "The State" that there ever was, or ever will be.. and because it is the highest crime against the State, it is also, therefore, the highest crime against the People, as well, even to considered higher than murder, rape, etc. i.e, your government officials - including any judge, or prosecutor, or any "licensed" attorney, for just a few examples, let alone mayors, governors, sheriffs, etc. - are THE "highest" criminals under our law, by very definition...

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7:04 PM MST on Sun., May. 4, 2008 re: "Baby snatching by Arlington County"

Examiner Reader said:
It is absolutely disgusting and appalling what Arlington County CPS has done in the case of Sabrina. This is a travesty of justice and this little girl should have never been taken away from her loving, fit and committed parents. Return her immediately and hold Arlington CPS accountable! Caren Brown, Richmond, VA

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8:47 AM MST on Sun., May. 4, 2008 re: "Baby snatching by Arlington County"

Joel Finkleman said:
Nancy and Kit are fit parents for Sabrina in no uncertain terms. The way they've been treated is a serious miscarriage of justice and must be addressed and corrected.

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2:17 PM MST on Sat., May. 3, 2008 re: "Baby snatching by Arlington County"

Fennec of the war room bbs said:
America the nanny state where your kids can be taken because some stazi member says something happened where is the evedence I say where?

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1:50 PM MST on Sat., May. 3, 2008 re: "Baby snatching by Arlington County"

Sabrina's Grandmother said:
It's a sad America when three armed policemen can come into your home and snatch your granddaughter from her own bassinet while she is still nursing from her mother.

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1:00 PM MST on Sat., May. 3, 2008 re: "Baby snatching by Arlington County"

Psycho Babble Decoder said:
I doubt that the poster below has ever seen the clothes that Sabrina was dressed in as a baby, so how does he/she know that her clothes were "filthy"? Also, what PROOF does anyone have that Sabrina's father is a "violent weirdo"? Did they check to see if he has any criminal background?

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11:36 AM MST on Sat., May. 3, 2008 re: "Baby snatching by Arlington County"

Examiner Reader said:
If the judge was discriminating by not letting them keep the kid in filthy clothes, I guess I'm discriminating, too. And I don't care if the husband has an IQ of 140, he's pretty stupid to come off as a violent weirdo to the people who decide whether he gets the kid back or not.

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7:13 PM MST on Fri., May. 2, 2008 re: "Baby snatching by Arlington County"

Examiner Reader said:
Just one more reason I avoid Northern VA.

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2:18 PM MST on Fri., May. 2, 2008 re: "Baby snatching by Arlington County"

Examiner Reader said:
Fascism, pure and simple. Arlington is run by fascists.

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11:50 AM MST on Fri., May. 2, 2008 re: "Baby snatching by Arlington County"

Blondie said:
I agree! It has obviously been very traumatic for the parents, and most likely for their daughter as well. Also, with regard to the court decision being freely available on the internet, all the sites I've seen it posted were posted by Sabrina's parents themselves, so they're obviously trying to show that they have nothing to hide from the public. When I read the decision, it did not make any sense to me, but just seemed like judge Almand was discriminating against the parents, and especially the mother just because she learns and processes information differently from the typical person. From looking at the videos of Sabrina and her parents on YouTube, it is obvious that they care very deeply about her.

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10:52 AM MST on Fri., May. 2, 2008 re: "Baby snatching by Arlington County"

Examiner Reader said:
I think this is one of the most heart wrenching story I have heard in a long time. The judge who made this decision should be removed from the bench and also given some kind of punishment. I also believe that the parents should get their daughter back and have all the money they spent on all this plus more for the trauma this has put them through.

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9:14 AM MST on Fri., May. 2, 2008 re: "Baby snatching by Arlington County"

Blondie said:
I also read that Sabrina's parents have IQ's of 130 and 140, that they were both on the Dean's List in college, and that both have held steady employment for over 20 years. It would seem to me that with intelligence like that they could easily be taught how to read a child's "non-verbal cues", even if it doesn't come "naturally" to them. When I read Judge Almand's decision on the internet, I found it strange that he did not take this into account.

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7:04 AM MST on Fri., May. 2, 2008 re: "Baby snatching by Arlington County"

Examiner Reader said:
It seems odd to me that the court decision, which lists the court's reasons for not returnig the child, is freely available on the internet and the writer of this article didn't bother to read it or quote it. The situation makes more sense if you do.

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3:06 AM MST on Fri., May. 2, 2008 re: "Baby snatching by Arlington County"

Examiner Reader said:
I would like to think that, in the olden days, Judge Alden would have been removed from the bench almost immediately. In the even OLDER days, of course, that removal would be far more rope-involved.

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4:03 PM MST on Thu., May. 1, 2008 re: "Baby snatching by Arlington County"

Examiner Reader said:
As usual, the children's protective agency is the guilty party and the biological parents in question are pure as the driven snow. Get real. Children are removed for legitimate reasons with but one goal in mind: to protect the child. Hidden away in this fluff article are two points: the child's weight loss and the mother's ("developmental disorder"? really?) inability to read non-verbal cues. Do you think the good citizens of Arlington would accept the young child's death by starvation because the mother couldn't read the "non-verbal cues?" Would they accept that?

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3:54 PM MST on Thu., May. 1, 2008 re: "When truth becomes �inappropriate� for campaign debate"

Barely About Barack said:
Dave in SoCal said: "How else are we supposed to evaluate him? His resume is practically a blank page." This is a notable observation. He served in the Illinois state legislature and the U.S. Senate for years. When he was running against Alan Keyes in 2004, then-Representative Dennis Hastert told ABC's This Week that Obama was "soft on crime". Did Barack never vote on anything all those years? Did he never make a statement as to why he was voting a certain way on a bill? I would prefer the media dig into that, rather than floating this "guilt by association" stuff that drags us away from worthwhile debate. I might as well post some of that, since the paper has already investigated Obama's books and friends.

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3:36 PM MST on Thu., May. 1, 2008 re: "Baby snatching by Arlington County"

Sabrina's Mother said:
We did feel that the JDR judge was against us right from the beginning, because at the very frist hearing we had before her, she alleged, with no evidence, that my husband and I lacked a bond with our daughter. Later in the case, she told us that she thought we did a bad thing by making a playdate for our daughter with her friend Martha-Anne, who is close to Sabrina's age, and the two girls love to play together.

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2:28 PM MST on Thu., May. 1, 2008 re: "Baby snatching by Arlington County"

Douglas said:
If this story is true, and these parents loved and took care of their child, then the judge and social workers should do jail time for what they've done. If there's any truth to this at all, it's a Josef Stalin-caliber abuse of power.

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2:15 PM MST on Thu., May. 1, 2008 re: "Baby snatching by Arlington County"

Mike said:
Did this couple have a marriage license? Did they get a birth certificate for their child? I am going to go out on a limb and say yes. When they got a marriage license they declared themselves incompetent and unable to manage their marriage, they created a three party contract (man, woman, and the state) thereby giving a 1/3 interest in any children they have to the state. When they got a birth certificate they declared themselves incompetent and unable to raise their child and gave the state 100% interest in that child. Now the state has the right to take IT'S CHILD whenever it feels that the babysitters (read: former parents) are not living up to the states standards. Had they not done these two legally fatal actions they would still have their child. Now your thinking that without a birth certificate how would a child go to public school, get a social security card, get pubic benefits, etc. (read: participate in communism), the answer is that they wont, but that�s the price you pay

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12:43 PM MST on Thu., May. 1, 2008 re: "When truth becomes "inappropriate" for campaign debate"

Dave in SoCal said:
Barely About Barack said: "Pastor Wright is not running for elected office. The former Weather Underground member is not running for President. Way to avoid the real argument". Obama has a postage stamp sized list of accomplishments (he tended to vote "present" rather than for/against on issues that would otherwise have given us some insight on what he believes), so all we have left to judge him by is the company he has kept. That would be Wright, Ayers and Rezko, to name just a few. How else are we supposed to evaluate him? His resume is practically a blank page. Rather than just take his word for where he stands on issues, I (and many other voters) would like to see examples of him putting his beliefs into action. If we can't do that, then there's not much to do other than look at who his friends, mentors and "spiritual advisors" are. At least with Hillary and McCain, there's history and background there (both good and bad) that let's you know what to expect with them.

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12:40 PM MST on Thu., May. 1, 2008 re: "When truth becomes "inappropriate" for campaign debate"

Dave in SoCal said:
Barely About Barack said: "Does that mean that his grandmother's hateful words are acceptable? The point was that if he can love his grandmother, despite her hateful lapses in judgement, then he can love Pastor Wright." What were the hateful words, so we can judge for ourselves whether they were acceptable? That speech was the first time that we ever heard that his grandmother had "uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made [Obama] cringe". Up until that time she was just the sweet woman who raised and loved him. But apparently he felt so strongly about defending Wright that he decided it was a perfect opportunity to drag his grandmother's alleged racism out into the public spotlight. You can spin it all you want with your "he loves his grandmother despite her hateful lapses in judgement, isn't he a wonderful man?", but the simple truth is that he is just another calculating politician who threw a loving family member under the bus when it was politically expedient to do so

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12:31 PM MST on Thu., May. 1, 2008 re: "Baby snatching by Arlington County"

Tokin42 said:
Examiner Reader said: "The court was concerned about the child because of his displays of anger towards public officials (social workers, police) and even his own counselor -- he was noted to be "angry and obsessional." Angry would be an understatement were this my child. There would have been an immediate lawsuit probably followed by a lot of violence. Taking someones child away based on zero evidence warrents anger and violence.

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11:27 AM MST on Thu., May. 1, 2008 re: "Baby snatching by Arlington County"

Examiner Reader said:
Perhaps the Examiner should do more research before printing an article like this. There are VERY good reasons these parents are unfit. Reprinting their lies is reprehensible.

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9:23 AM MST on Thu., May. 1, 2008 re: "Baby snatching by Arlington County"

Bruce Jordan said:
You call them thieves? And suggest they should be held accountable? You seem upset by the situation, but you should be bouncing off the walls enraged by this idiocy. Here are some better ideas of what to do with all those involved here. How about shot? Or drawn and quartered? Maybe tarred and feathered? The government has no business sticking their noses, let alone their long arms, into our children's lives. With the exception of proven, serious abuse. And there was NONE of that here.

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7:56 AM MST on Thu., May. 1, 2008 re: "Baby snatching by Arlington County"

Examiner Reader said:
Government officials would be a bit more careful about this stuff if the penalty for missteps involved physical pain.

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7:06 AM MST on Thu., May. 1, 2008 re: "Baby snatching by Arlington County"

Families Come First said:
If any clueless rubber-stamping pencil-pushers tried to come and take my child, they'd better