Ragamuffin Studies: Accusations of Neglect and Abuse of Power: The Shaman Case

Elisheva over at Ragamuffin Studies has written a good article on a case of abuse of power by CPS in New Mexico involving Michael Travalino a.k.a. Michael Eagle Feather an American Indian shaman.

You can read her very good rant here. Don't forget to read the lively discussion in the comments section.

When your TV viewing habits can get you into trouble

I read this story with a mild feeling of anxiety because I realized that it could so easily have been Marc and me who lost their children. I too would have purchased that lemonade as 1) the sign called it lemonade and 2) I had no idea until I read this article that there was such a thing as "hard lemonade".

if you ask Christopher Ratte and his wife how they lost custody of their 7-year-old son, the short version is that nobody in the Ratte family watches much television.

The way police and child protection workers figure it, Ratte should have known that what a Comerica Park vendor handed over when Ratte ordered a lemonade for his boy three Saturdays ago contained alcohol, and Ratte's ignorance justified placing young Leo in foster care until his dad got up to speed on the commercial beverage industry.

This is not the first egregious use of power that I've read about. It appears that there is a preponderance of CPS officials who park their good sense at the door to their offices.