Saturday, September 05, 2009

ABC goes the Goebbels route

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1 comment:

Mr roT said...

Wow. Stossel-Goebbels had a hell of a punchline!

Reminds me of this:

The first case of child abuse that caught public attention in the United States occurred in 1874. Neighbors of Mary Ellen, a nine-year-old child in New York City, contacted a church social worker, Etta Angell Wheeler, when they heard disturbances from the little girl's tenement ("The Story of Mary Ellen," American Humane Association, http://www.americanhumane.org/site/PageServer?pagename=wh_mission_maryellen_wheeler [accessed November 23, 2004]).

Upon investigating the child's home, the social worker found her suffering from malnutrition, serious physical abuse, and neglect. Mary Ellen was living with Mary and Francis Connolly. The girl, who was said to be the illegitimate daughter of Mrs. Connolly's first husband, was apprenticed to the couple.

At that time there were laws protecting animals, but no local, state, or federal laws protected children. Consequently, Wheeler turned to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) for help. The case was presented to the court on the theory that the child was a member of the animal kingdom and therefore entitled to the same protection from abuse that the law gave to animals. The court agreed, and the child, because she was considered an animal, was taken from her brutal foster mother.

9/05/2009 10:05 AM

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