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HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL
Guns of August, missiles, rockets and IBD's of July
July 2006 may prove to
be a signal, era-shaping
month in 21st-century
history.
Sensationalists, fear mon
gers, defeatists and terror
ists prefer predictions of
catastrophe and disaster.
On the surface, last month
looks like a violent disaster,
an August 1914, with this
July’s missiles, rockets and
improvised explosive devices
replacing the guns of that
terrible August.
August 1914 began World
War I. World War I seeded
World War 11, which lingered
as the Cold War.
However, instead of start
ing a global conflagration,
July 2006 exposed or made
explicit key elements of and
trends in an ongoing war
with global, regional and
very local dimensions.
Exposure and definition
of problems and problem
atic actors create diplomatic,
political and military oppor
tunities - the chance to forge
a genuine, more resilient
Overly protected children may
wow up to be fragile adults
By Randy Hicks
President of Georgia Family
Council
In a letter to an Atlanta
paper a few years ago, a
father related an incident
at a school bus-stop that he
- and I - found troubling.
While waiting with his
young child for the school
bus one morning he wit
nessed a boy beating up
another child.
Being a responsible adult,
he headed over to where the
incident was taking place
and pulled the offending
child off of the cowering and
frightened one.
He then offered a stern
but reasonable admoni
tion about appropriate and
inappropriate behavior and
informed the boy that, next
time, he would talk to his
parents about his misbehav
ior.
He assumed that was the
end of the story or that the
parents of the offending
child would thank him for
intervening. He was wrong.
The next day he was
standing with his child at
the very same bus stop when
the previous day’s trans
gressor approached him and
dispensed with the follow
ing warning. “I told my
mom what happened yester
day and she says that if you
touch me again, she’ll sue.”
In his letter, the father
expressed both his disap
pointment and anger over
what had transpired. In
essence, he lamented the
fact that so many parents
go to great lengths to shield
their children from the con
sequences of their behavior
and decisions.
In this case, a mother’s
ostensible determination to
protect her son prompted
her to transform his status
as perpetrator to that of vic
tim. And she did so to her
own son’s peril.
Not only did she shield
him from an important les
son about consequences - a
lesson we all must learn at
some point - she also taught
him that she’s there to bail
him out whenever he makes
bad decisions.
If this pattern were to
repeat itself over an extend
ed period of time that moth
er’s actions would have the
effect of prolonging adoles
cence and stunting the emo
tional and social develop
ment of her son.
In other words, she was
in the process of develop
ing a lifelong wimp. Or at
least, that’s what might be
inferred from a Psychology
Today article that was pub
lished online last week.
Now, I want to take a
moment and issue a brief
disclaimer. I would not rec
ommend that you use the
word “wimp” to describe
your child or anyone else’s.
I suspect that the editors of
Psychology Today wouldn’t
peace.
But let’s give the sensa
tionalists and defeatists
their due.
Recall the first week of
July: North Korea’s sur
prise missile volley jolted
Asia and North America.
One of the first responses
to Pyongyang’s missile tan
trum certainly sent a chill
through China and other
Asian capitals: Japanese
leaders suggested recon
figuring Japan’s military
for offensive operations, to
include acquiring offensive
missiles capable of destroy
ing North Korea’s ballistic
missile sites and nuclear
weapons program.
The mass terror attack in
Mumbai, India, was the big
story of week two. 7/1 l’s
bombs left 200 dead and 800
wounded in the economic
capital of the world’s biggest
democracy.
The Israel-Hezbollah war
erased North Korea and
Mumbai as the top head
lines. Hezbollah’s rockets
either. But it is a rather
descriptive and appropriate
word to describe what’s hap
pening as a result of overly
protective parenting.
The authors suggest that
parents are sanitizing child
hood, guarding against
everything from skinned
knees to bruised egos for
their children. As a result,
kids are shielded from the
normal developmental pro
cess and from some of the
keys to learning how to cope
with life’s many challenges
- including failure and often
painful experiences.
The result? Well, the
authors tell us that the
result is found in overly frag
ile young adults who don’t
know how to manage their
lives or cope with inconve
niences, disappointment and
hurt.
“With few challenges all
their own,” the authors say,
“kids are unable to forge
their creative adaptations to
the normal vicissitudes of
life. That not only makes
them risk-averse it makes
them psychologically fragile,
riddled with anxiety.”
Let me attempt a transla
tion for people like me who
don’t typically use words
like “vicissitudes” - over
protected and over-sched
uled kids often lack the emo
tional stability to deal with
the ups and downs of life
because mom and/or dad did
not allow them to develop
the ability to do so.
The authors report that
even at Harvard University,
school officials are bemoan
ing the fact that students
are so emotionally unstable
that it’s “interfering with
the core mission of the uni
versity.” This isn’t just at
Harvard.
At campuses across the
country, anxiety and depres
sion are on the rise. This, in
turn, is leading to an increase
in highly destructive behav
ior like binge-drinking.
Other trends the authors
see include the following:
■ It’s now more common
for kids to participate in
organized sports with paren
tal oversight, but they are
less likely to know how to
organize neighborhood pick
up games, because they’ve
never done it. They’ve
never had to. This hinders
children from developing the
ability to interact and nego
tiate with others.
■ The cell phone is creating
prolonged child .dependence
on adults and stunting deci
sion-making ability. Rather
than applying acquired val
ues and knowledge to any
given situation, today’s col
lege student is more likely
to depend on mom and dad
to make decisions.
■ Over-parenting “...can
program the nervous system
to create lifelong vulnerabil
ity to anxiety and depres
sion” and lead to extreme
self-consciousness.
continue to hammer Israel;
Israeli bombs strike tar
gets throughout Lebanon.
Israel now fights a two-front
war, against Hezbollah in
Lebanon and Hamas in
Gaza.
Iran, Hezbollah’s finan
cier, continued to dodge dip
lomatic attempts to end its
quest for
terror
the mass
slaughter
ofdvilians
with an
h
Austin Bay
Military Affairs
Creators Syndicate
IED and car bomb campaign
centered on Baghdad. Iraqi
security forces required U.S.
and coalition reinforcements
in neighborhoods the Iraqi
government thought it had
secured.
Venezuela’s Castro
wannabe, Hugo Chavez,
Essentially, though they
put it this way, the authors
are saying that our very
efforts - or “extreme” efforts
- to program our children for
success may actually have
the opposite effect.
If you’ve read this column
on just a few occasions you
know that I believe it’s very
appropriate for parents to
be deeply concerned and
protective of their children.
I’ve made it clear that I’m
often troubled by the care
free attitudes of some par
ents who provide very little
protection and virtually no
“guard rails”.
But it may be that the pro
tection and guard rails are
misplaced. Thus, we guard
children from normal harms
and struggles and provide
free access to media and
marketers.
It would behoove parents,
so say the experts inter
viewed for the article, “...to
abandon the idea of perfec
tion and give up some of
the invasive control they’ve
maintained over their chil
dren.”
Says social historian Peter
Stearns of George Mason
University: “Middle-class
parents especially assume
that if kids start getting into
difficulty they need to rush
in and do it for them, rather
than let them flounder a bit
and learn from it. I don’t
mean we should abandon
them, but give them more
credit for figuring things,
out.”
Georgia Family Council
is a non-profit organization
that works to strengthen and
defend the family in Georgia
by impacting communities,
shaping laws and influenc
ing culture. For more infor
mation, go to www.georgia
family.org, (770) 242-0001 or
greeg@gafam.org.
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claimed common political
cause with Iran’s President
Ahmadinejad.
So why any optimism?
Take the last first. Chavez
is an armed nuisance
inflated by petrodollars
- which makes him a poster
boy for everyone advocat
ing diversified, alternative
energy sources and fuel
efficiency. “Chavismo” and
Khomeinism link in only
one place: the oil market.
Now consider China’s and
Russia’s response to North
Korea’s missiles. China and
Russia approved UN sanc
tions on North Korea.
Those sanctions, tentative
as they are, establish a “no
go line” for rogue behavior
- ultimately applicable to
Iran as well.
No doubt North Korea
embarrassed China, but
Japan’s increasing willing
ness to share Asian defense
burdens with the U.S. tells
China it must make some
choices. Will Beijing play a
mature, responsible role in
Parents looking into rights of son
Dear Mr.
Rockefeller, The
police arrested
my son, without reading
him his rights, what are
his rights?
Dear Reader, I receive
a lot of calls complaining
about law enforcement.
Most of our officers are
dedicated men and women
who work very hard, under
trying conditions - no one
likes being arrested or hav
ing our homes searched.
And, while most officers
work
within
are more
inter-
ested in
“being
the law”
*
than
they are
of working within the lim
its of the law.
Whenever law enforce
ment acts, the first ques
tion is whether or not there
has been arrest; and, if
so, the criminal aspects of
the incident become para
mount, since, typically, you
cannot sue for a civil rights
violation unless you “beat”
the criminal charges. This
is not to say that you need
an arrest to sue for a civil
rights violation, only that,
if there is an arrest, the
results of the criminal case
are critical. Thus, in a case
such as your son’s, his
first remedy is the “exclu
sionary rule,” which pro
vides for the suppression
of illegal evidence in a
criminal case as a remedy
for a constitutional viola
tion.
Recently, however, the
United States Supreme
Court, in the case of
Hudson v. Michigan,
seemed to hold that illegal
evidence is NOT always
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protecting the global trading
system? China’s pro-sanc
tions vote says at crunch
time it will.
What do the terrorists have
to offer the Third World?
Mumbai answered
the question for 1 billion
Indians: only mass murder.
As a political message that’s
a historical loser. Anarchism
and nihilism do not build
wealth. In fact, wealth
defeats them. Within a week
Mumbai was back to work.
It will take decades to stop
them, but Mumbai demon
strates why terrorists fail.
At least terrorists with
out nuclear weapons, which
brings us to Hezbollah and
Iran. The Israel-Hezbollah
war reveals Iran and Syria as
actively engaged in hijacking
an Arab country (Lebanon)
as well as firing short-range
ballistic missiles at Israel.
In the long term, arming
and funding Hezbollah will
increase at least tacit inter
national support for regime
change in Damascus and
r
A
Jim Rockefeller
Columnist
ajr@rockefellerlawcenter.com
(.‘"A ''' "7:
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suppressed in a criminal
case, as injured parties have
the option of suing for a civil
rights violation to remedy
the “wrong.” Essentially,
the Supreme Court held
that the interests of protect
ing the public outweigh the
rights of individual citizens.
With respect to the pro
tecting the sanctity of the
Constitution, the plurality’s
premise is that the threat
of civil lawsuits serves the
same purpose as the “exclu
sionary rule” to encourage
better trained law enforce
ment and to prevent future
constitutional violations. If
there is further interest in
this case from the readers, I
may devote a future column
to this decision; it seems
to mark a major departure
from decades of constitu
tional law.
With respect to your
son, you complain that he
was not “read his rights”
when he was arrested. I
hear this a lot. What the
general public often misap
prehends is that “reading”
a suspect his or her rights
is only an issue if, while
“detained” (which can be
less than a full arrest), the
police interrogate a subject.
If the police want to inter
rogate a suspect, they have
to read “Miranda” warn
ings and the suspect has
to voluntarily and know
ingly waive both the right
to an attorney and against
self-incrimination; other
wise, the exclusionary rule
provides that the results
SATURDAY, AUGUST 12, 2006
Tehran. Tyrants use ter
rorists, and tyrants pursue
nuclear weapons.
The Lebanon-destroying
shenanigans of Iran and
Syria’s Hezbollah puppet
ultimately put the puppe
teers at risk. July also offered
a lesson in timelines for
democratic change. Sixteen
years ago (Aug. 2, 1990),
Saddam invaded Kuwait.
Between 1990 and his
overthrow in 2003, Saddam
killed an estimated 250,000
people (mostly Kurds and
Shia Arabs).
Would anyone in 1990 or
in March 2003 have pre
dicted a freely elected Iraqi
prime minister would appear
before the U.S. Congress and
thank America for giving his
country the opportunity to
create a democracy?
“Iraqis are your allies in
the war on terror,” Iraqi
Prime Minister Nouri al-
Maliki told a joint session of
Congress.
That happened on July
26.
of such interrogation are
admissible at trial. Thus, if
these rights are not read,
before custodial interroga
tion is initiated, the state
ment is suppressed. There
are many nuances to what
constitutes “voluntary”
waiver, “custody,” and what
constitutes “interrogation,”
which I will skip over for
now.
Your son was not read
his rights ... As you can
see, this fact alone does not
mean that he can sue the
officers, without “custodial
interrogation” and an ille
gally obtained confession.
Even if there was illegal
custodial interrogation, his
remedy, despite Hudson
for the time being, would
be to have his statement
suppressed in the criminal
case. As to a civil lawsuit,
for a variety of reasons, he
would only have a viable
case, if he were wrongfully
arrested solely because of
illegal custodial interroga
tion, which is only rarely
true and an extremely dif
ficult lawsuit to pursue.
Warner Robins attorney
Jim Rockefeller is the for
mer Chief Assistant District
Attorney for Houston
County, and a former
Florida State Attorney.
Owner of Rockefeller Law
Center, Jim has been in
private practice since 2000.
E-mail your comments or
confidential legal questions
to ajr@rockefellerlawcenter.
com or
jim@rocjefellerlawcenter.
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