Tempest in a Parking Lot

Actually, as I understand it, she has FIVE cars registered in her name. And until having multiple vehicles registered in your name is a crime, what business is it of ours?

I was proving a point that this woman was a scam artist, contrary to your denials. Do you think she got the money to buy all these cars by doing extra babysitting? You declared that this woman was not a criminal, then conveniently glossed over evidence that she was, saying that it was not our business. Hey, bright eyes, in case you haven't heard, having four driver's licenses *is* illegal.

Let me give you the Sesame Street version: This is a trivial incident of a loathsome wench who whomped her child. Only because the media blew it up to cosmic proportions do we even know that it occurred. It's not important. It's not significant. It's certainly not worthy of the fooforaw it's created. But the media created a story from nothing, a fact that abuses the high position and responsibility those institutions occupy.

And you, oh mighty one, are posting on thread after thread about this insignificant story, patronizingly lecturing all the rest of us about it. It sounds like *you* are the real victim of the media here -- they're making you focus on a story you don't care about!

Only because the media blew it up to cosmic proportions do we even know that it occurred.

Maybe the media is on beating it in order to take attention away from this abusive mother:

Wed Sep 25,12:25 PM ET

Tarajee Maynor sits in Oakland County Circuit Court in Pontiac, Mich., in this July 17, 2002, file photo. A judge on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2002, reinstated first-degree murder charges against Maynor, accused of leaving her two children to die inside a sweltering car while she had her hair done and got a foot massage. Prosecutors appealed a lower court's decision to reduce the felony murder charge against Tarajee Maynor to involuntary manslaughter. Oakland County Circuit Judge Wendy Potts agreed and restored the original charge. First-degree murder carries an automatic penalty of life in prison without parole. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

When did I deny that she was a scam artist? I believe the article called her "a meshugganuh itinerant grifter." For those to whom English is a second language, and without the financial wherewithal to buy a dictionary, "grifter" is a slang for "con man." What I contested was that she was an "Irish traveler," a term of dubious origin that had been applied by the media but hadn't been confirmed, at least not by anyone credible. If she's admitted it, then I'll concede that point.

On the other hand, it really doesn't matter if she's Bonnie Parker. The subject of the article is the media, not the two-bit con artist who has been painted as Beelzebub's housemaid. Since the distinction seems to be lost on you, I'll avoid wasting our time with any further conversation.

Doubt it all you want. If a passer-by can catch Rodney King's trouncing, and dozens of folks in New York film the attacks on the Trade Center, it seems likely that with all the children in the country who are spanked in public in a day, and all the surveillance cameras present at banks, grocery stores, intersections, parking lots, and private homes, somebody somewhere has to have stumbled onto something similar before.

However, that tape never made it to the local newshead, and thence to the network and to televisions and newspapers everywhere. What makes this incident deserving of the attention it has received?

I think you may have to re-think your version of "Irish Traveler" and GYPSY - the term GYPSY originated from EGYPT where the Gypsies were originally thought to have come from, and others attribute them to India. In deed, not all GYPSIES are criminals, as I even know one who is a cop.

Your attribution of "Irish Traveler" to "The Irish Travelers are a group of Celtic con artists" is again racist. Irish speaking (began to evolve from pure Gaelic in around 300AD) are not necessarily Celtic in their entirety. The GYPSIES arrived in Ireland as they did elsewhere in Europe and are generally known there as TINKERS. Inter-marriage etc in all countries has caused these people to generally blend with the local people over the centuries.

As far as her being an Irish Traveler - I heard her state it on an interview, before she began to appear with a lawyer. It is my recollection that Irish Travelers became known as such when the TINKERS came to America and retained their identity. Not all Travelers are "con artists", some are as with Gypsies.

If you watch O'Reilly, you will see that he researched the matter. As I recall, O'Reilly has TOOGOOD with several IDs, 5 cars, including the SUV in the video and a Mercedes; she has an arrest record as does her husband who also has an outstanding arrest warrant outstanding against him. It was further stated that they have no permanent residence and have several residences of record. Her husband has odd jobs, such a roofer - how many roofers do you know of with just two of the vehicles exceed $100,000 and the wife doesn't work either.

It would seem to me that you have no idea what a "typical abuser's profile" would be, nor do I. The items cited do not make her a serial abuser, but her admission makes her an abuser. A small percentage, such as yourself do not see her as an abuser. I feel sorry for you and wonder how you were raised.

It would seem to me that a woman who bides her time to walk to the car, then look around has the skills to boost clothing etc and has done this before. Anyone who hits a kid with other than his or her bare hand, with one reasonable (age frailties etc) spank at the time the correction is warranted is abusive. More than one swat is taking out your own anger, not correcting the child. To swat a kid anywhere other than the buttocks endangers the kid - a swat in the face could hurt their eyes or cause deafness if on the ear. Shaking a kid's head to and fro, as I perceived from the tape, could cause shaken child syndrome. Correcting a small child is to take action at the time of the problem. Waiting till daddy gets home or walking across a parking lot is not a correction and is abusive.

Based on what I know, can document and have seen, I think you need to revise your perception of abuse as well as your racist position on Irish / Celts. Read a little, or search the Internet and obtain facts by reading several unrelated web sites. Hope this helps, and corrects your misperceptions on a timely and non-abusive manner.

Your response could have come straight from the pages of the liberal feel-gooders. If it's "abusive" to spank a child, then I was abused beyond belief, and I've proudly carried the tradition forward. What Madelyne Toogood did was abusive; I've never contested that.

As to the Irish Traveler/Gypsy connection, note that I did not apply either of those labels. They were applied for me by respondents, such as yourself, who entirely miss the point of the article and belabor the assault itself. If you insist on being that obtuse, what's the point in carrying on this dialogue? I'm talking about one thing and you're talking about another.

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