Britney Speared in Lap-Gate: "Just So, So Scary" Emotes CBS' Syler

CBS Early Show/NewsBusters ^ | Mark Finkelstein

[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?

[Obadiah]

Amen!!

[Labyrinthos]

The real story here is that she was driving an SUV.

[TruthBeforeAll]

My uncle did the same thing to me (though just around the neighborhood) when I was a little boy. He even let me steer the wheel. I still remember it to this day, and he is my favorite uncle.

Back when I was riding a motorcycle (Yamaha V-Max) on a regular basis, my nieces and nephews ages 6 -12 would beg me to take them for a ride. I would strap my full face helmet on them, set the younger ones on the gas tank in front of me and scoot way up so they were supported on either side by my thighs. They would then grab onto the handle bars and off we wold go through the neighborhood. Looking at that from the perspective of a pansy nanny state, that might seem dangerous and stupid. Looking at it from the perspective of an uncle who loves his nieces and nephews, and who wants them to enjoy life and experience as much as possible, I say screw the nanny state. Those kids will never forget those rides and still to this day ask if I have a motorcycle.

Plus, these kids mothers and fathers know I would give my life for the kids and trusted them with me (even if they did say a little prayer as I pulled away :)

Now having said that, Britney Spears would not be my first choice of role models, but what she does short of physically abusing her children is irrelevant to me.

[angcat]

omg, isn't that child abuse?

[HOTTIEBOY]

See post #28

And remember how the saying goes:::"Let he who is without sin cast the first stone"

[LittleSpotBlog]

I can understand that it may not really warrant accusations of abuse, but I don't buy her story. She looks completely relaxed, with just one hand on the wheel, and with the window partially down. It just doesn't look like a panic-stricken scene to me.

[demkicker]

Look, I don't give a flip whether Britney or any other adult wants to wear their seatbelt or not. But I do respect the law requiring parents to keep their small children in car safety seats in the back seat. Kids shouldn't have to pay with their lives because they've got wreckless idiots for parents.

[PBRSTREETGANG]

If your parents aren't putting you in a safety seat (as they should) then I think you would prefer them to be "wreckless".

[al baby]

yeah and you point is what ?

[from occupied ga]

One drop at a time. That is how you lose your freedom. It doesn't come all at once and 90% of the people in this country are too GD stupid to realize that.

There are plenty of people on this forum who see nothing wrong with the state sticking its nose in every aspect of your existence. The see nothing wrong with "reasonable restrictions" on gun ownership. They see nothing wrong with seat belt laws, helmet laws, etc.

[TheForceOfOne]

I never admired her for her brains.

[demkicker]

LOL! Imagine that, I must have had wreck on my mind!

[AppyPappy]

This country used to be about Freedom.

It had never been about that. We are not a libertarian anarchy. We had relative freedom. But when the country was founded, we still had slavery. Slavery is not freedom. We had a lot more rules in 1776 than we do today. Cursing in public could put you in jail back then. Until 1964, black people couldn't even ride in the front of a bus in most states in the South. Want to buy gas on Sunday morning? Fat chance in most Southern states. I couldn't even choose my own school in 1972.

[Flightdeck]

Where do we draw a "minding our own business" line? Kids are taken from their parents all the time for neglect and putting them in danger. With today's idiot driver, having a baby on your lap is extremely dangerous.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

My father, granddad to my two young ones, never really understood the point of infant carseats.

And then a friend of his had a newborn in a car, hit an icy patch, went off the road and flipped the car over. The infant was strapped in, hanging upside down, completely safe. Others in the car were significantly tossed around.

My father could then imagine what would have happened to the four month old, had it not been properly restrained in a car seat.

[Obadiah]

...what has this country come to? Seat belt nazis, anti-smoking nazis, offensive speech nazis - people have far too much time on their hands.

Everyday that kid is exposed to a greater risk of having those two bags of silicone explode in his face, but I don't see the nanny state busy bodies worrying about that! Get a life. Butt out of other people's business and worry about your own family.

[Doc Savage]

Hell, I'm just surprised she actually knows how to drive, wasn't smoking crack, and wasn't on the cell phone!

[from occupied ga]

Everyday that kid is exposed to a greater risk of having those two bags of silicone explode in his face

LOL

[Fintan]

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Ooooops....I did it again.

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[Leatherneck_MT]

Look, here's the problem.

It's not YOUR business, it's not the Government's business.

Until we get BACK to that mind set, your Master's in Washington DC will continue to create little controlling laws like this until your and my freedom's are GONE.