Posted on 09/25/2002 12:05:15 PM PDT by A Vast RightWing Conspirator
Since the Martha Toogood's story is being dissected into the most minute details, here's one aspect not yet discussed:
- Martha gets a spanking from her mommy (some call it a savage beating). Whatever that was, it turns out that not one doctor, not even the prosecutor could find any sign of abuse such as bruises, cuts, broken bones, missing limbs or rigor mortis. In fact there are nude pictures apparently showing Martha as intact as ever.
- The state takes Martha under its own loving wing and... MARTHA IS SICK NOW!!! In fact, Martha is so sick, not even her mother can be allowed to see her.
Can anyone explain what's going on here? Is Martha better off with the authorities in charge? Or is she a victim of the authorities loving care. Perhaps too much love got Martha sick?
Sure, she'll be "right as rain"
...as soon as her mother beats the snot out of her.
Btw, what makes you think Toogood supplied the same girl that was beaten?
I believe there was some agreement here that "white trash don't talk too good". Who knows what she meant. The fact is that Martha is sick now and she wasn't before or after her spanking/savage-beating.
Man, now-a-days we all would have been in Foster care.
Dogs don't resist beatings either if they get them often.
- Martha gets a spanking from her mommy (some call it a savage beating). Whatever that was, it turns out that not one doctor, not even the prosecutor could find any sign of abuse such as bruises, cuts, broken bones, missing limbs or rigor mortis. In fact there are nude pictures apparently showing Martha as intact as ever.
- The state takes Martha under its own loving wing and... MARTHA IS SICK NOW!!! In fact, Martha is so sick, not even her mother can be allowed to see her.
Can anyone explain what's going on here? Is Martha better off with the authorities in charge? Or is she a victim of the authorities loving care. Perhaps too much love got Martha sick?
I've come very close to starting a thread long these lines. You've taken a little differnt tac thank I would have. The illness issue is valid and an interesting question. The kid was fine until a few hours before the visit. The excuse was a ruse in my opinion.
Look, the depiction of that mother shown on the video was clearly wrong. No I didn't word that incorrectly. The depiction was wrong. The implication was wrong. The child was not being brutalized in the manner we thought she was. Now, if we wish to discuss the actions of the mother, I think they were wrong. She shouldn't flail at and around the kid in that manner, and if the courts wish to make sure she doesn't do that again, I'm all for it. But let's be honest. The child was not physically abused, despite what we think we saw. She was definately psychologically abused momentarily.
Now does that psychological abuse reach the level that we assess that mom should go to prison? Folks, I gotta tell ya, that's a stretch. The mom needs to be corrected. This should never happen again. But I am not particularly impressed by the authorities here.
The authorities have used this incident to delve into every aspect of this mom's life, even the procurement of the family vehicles is now in question. What has that to do with the welfare of the child? This has all the appearances of a witch hunt, law enforcement officials given carte blanche to pry into any and every nook and cranny of the mom's personal life. Is that warranted?
We were told the child could be near death. We were told that she would likely have brain damage and be a vegetable for life. We were told that her mom had brutally beaten her to within an inch of her life. All this was untrue. If it was untrue, the public officials should back off and treat this case properly. There isn't a chance I'd give that woman prison time under the circumstances. I would place her on probation for several years and make sure she recieved parenting classes that would give her options when her child is a problem.
I would not keep the child in foster care. I would place the child with the grandparents for the time being, slowly to be returned to the mother's home as parenting classes and anger management progressed.
This frenzied feeding based on the original mis-perception is frankly, scarey.
Yeah, but they get pretty, pretty sick if you beat them savagely. How come Martha got sick only AFTER she was separated from her family?
The video looks shocking, but the incident seems blown out of proportion to me.
I have a TIN-FOIL Hat question. Is this the SAME girl we all saw in the tape, maybe a look-a-like replaced her.
The State is always right???? We all "saw" three minutes out of a childs lifetime, from that we deduce the state is correct. Perhaps, perhaps not.
Momma showed Larry King how she hit Martha...she hit herself on the forehead with a closed fist.
The argument is over. Madalyn Toogood, by her own admission, beat her child.
The mark of an educated man is the ability to make distinctions. There is a distinction between spanking and beating. And you know the difference.
MSNB-WHAT???? This is a FoxNews site. Didn't you know that?
I suppose that if you took a picture of me standing MSNBC could claim that it was of picture of my nose. And it would NOT be a lie. Same thing with the 'nude' picture.
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