Posted on 02/08/2006 5:09:49 AM PST by governsleastgovernsbest
by Mark Finkelstein
February 8, 2006 - 08:00
It wouldn't have been more than a couple years ago that had headlines invoked Britney Spears in a "lap" controversy, images of graphic goings-on in the Champagne Lounge might have come to mind.
But time marches on, and Britney-the-new-mother is now caught in a lap-gate of an altogether different sort, after photos of her were snapped driving her car with her four-month old son in her lap rather than secured in a car seat. In the latest development, according to this LA Times article, a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy went to her Malibu home on Tuesday "to collect information for child welfare investigators" in connection with the matter. For the record, Spears says she was feeling hounded by paparazzi and drove off with the baby in her lap to escape them.
The morning shows worked themselves into a collective lather over the horror of it all, with the sentiment best summed up by CBS Early Show co-host Rene Syler, who, interviewing a child safety expert, emoted: "every time we look at that picture, it's just so, so scary."
Pluh-eese. Sure, kids should be strapped in a car seat in the back. But just a generation or so ago, an image of a parent tooling around with junior in her lap might have evoked cooing sounds from the person sitting in Syler's chair. The Andy Griffith Show meets Leave it to Beaver.
But today, in our therapeutic society, Britney's gaffe, if that's what it is, merited national news coverage. At one point at the beginning of the 7:30 AM half-hour, ABC, NBC and CBS were simultaneously airing a segment on the matter.
In a world where every day untold numbers of terrorists are plotting to kill as many men, women, and yes, little children as possible, where are the MSM's priorities?
I disagree that the child was in significant danger, but you're right. The government meddles (air bag laws)and then adds more meddling on top of it (child seat laws). The sad part is that people don't see the problem with this.
And I wonder how Rene Syler would feel about a law banning a late-term abortiion.
Ditto That!
Good point. Is the door open on the other side?
It's a poem. Nevermind.......
The child really was not in all that much danger as it was. The odds may have been that a nut in the crowd of photogs posed a greater danger to the child than riding in Brittany's lap.
You may be directly responsible for shaving about a decade off their longevity with added weight and bad eating habits.
I don't think the primary danger comes from the government-mandated airbag. In any case, what Britney did is wrong, irrespective of its illegality. It's a matter of basic physics.
It's news 'cause she's a celeb, that's all. But what she said by way of self-exculpation was pure "Boo-Hoo poor me is the victim" BS.
We would ride on the running boards of the VW as a kid
Now that's a little scary. Unless there's a roof rack, there's nothing (the litt rain gutter thing doesn't count) to grab onto.
"Now that's a little scary. Unless there's a roof rack, there's nothing (the litt rain gutter thing doesn't count) to grab onto."
With the front little triangular window open there was a bar to hold on to IIRC. ;)
With the big window down one could also hold the door frame or the strap handle above the window. heheh
Yes! My brother over one wheel, me over the other -- hanging on for dear life as Dad flew down the gravel country road with the feeder wagon behind. A little dangerous in hindsight, but exhilirating at age six!
She is. Not a particularly good example of one though, she exudes the very "trailer-trash" stereotype the liberals slap on us.
More like a Trailer Park Republican.
If the opposite door is open, it means the FReepin' car is parked, and this whole thread is about nothing.
Good report. My wife mentioned this to me a short time ago. When talking about "Hollywood" celebs i'm just glad Brittany didn't abort the baby live on Oprah. I remember as a small kid standing up in the front seat of our family's Chevy sedan. Solid steel dashboard could have killed me but my mom just told me to climb in the back seat and sit down...and I liked it! We ate corn flakes for breakfast...and we liked it! We got spanked for yelling and screaming in the house....and we like it! As I got older I tied a rope around my black lab retriever and he pulled me around the block on my skateboard on the sidewalks....and we liked it! We rode in the back of the pick-up all the way to the lake....and we liked it! We would take our 22's down to the Rio Grande and shoot birds and rabbits....and we like it! Now I'm just a grumpy old fart....and I like it!
Perhaps, but my argument has nothing to do with a childs eating habits besides the fact that its apple and oranges to buckling a child.
She looks all jiiiiggily...
When I first heard this, I was driving and I misunderstood. I thought she was a passenger in a car, holding the little guy. That would have been bad enough. But she was driving! Driving with a 5 month old on her lap! Any of us who've been around 5 month olds know how difficult this must have been. They're wiggly. And as if it couldn't get any worse, there was a passenger in the front seat, who, at the very least, could have held the baby so Britney could drive unhindered. And now she's getting off because she's 'Britney'. Others would, and should, be cited.
Well, to be fair, actually I think she's taking heat because she's Britney.
Others would not have been photographed and had it publicized.
I don't think this car is moving. The passenger side door is open. Could it be that she is just sitting in the car waiting for somebody?
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