The Indianapolis Star has an article about another death involving a child that had been in contact with the Department of Child Services. In this case, the child reportedly tested positive for methamphetamine in his system but was, nevertheless, left in the car of his mother.

DCS always ends up looking bad in these stories because they don’t comment, but I suppose the nature of their work with children in tough situations makes respect for privacy necessary. The article found a critic who called DCS’s decision “beyond comprehension” — but there is no indication of how much information that critic had about the particular decision before attempting to comprehend it.

Still, when a 2 year old boy remains in the home where he was found with meth in his system, there is some explaining to do:

The boy’s mother and grandparents had brought him to the hospital with suspicious injuries. A subsequent DCS-ordered test revealed the presence of methamphetamine in the child’s system.

According to court documents, DCS left Jalen with his mother even after learning on June 6 he had tested positive for meth. The records show DCS caseworker John W. Potts spoke with Blake on June 9 about the test results but did not remove Jalen from her custody.

Police say the child was fatally injured around June 26. He died June 28 at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis from head trauma. The coroner’s office labeled his death a homicide.

The article seems to suggest that an ombudsman for DCS might be a good idea; however (and this admittedly goes beyond the scope of the usual newspaper report) there is no indication of how much this might cost and whether there are funds available.

Hunter has another fine piece over at Daily Kos. He notes some similarities to the Enron-manufactured energy crisis in California back in 2001 and the current gas price crisis we’re currently facing. Back in 2001, if you’ll recall, Enron and its political friends and well-wishers blamed environmentalists and other lefties for the California energy crisis when, in fact, Enron was using market manipulation to manufacture the crisis. Enron then used the crisis it helped cause to its advantage by locking California into artificially high energy contracts.

Hunter detects similar opportunism in the form of oil interests using the current oil price crisis as an excuse to ignore environmental concerns to obtain the right to drill in hitherto unavailable regions like the Florida coast despite the fact that other areas already available for drilling remain idle.

Once again, sorry about the slow posting. I mentioned over at our family blog that I took the kids down to the Children’s Museum. What a great facility that is. The kids had a great time, but more importantly, so did I. We had kicked around the house for a few hours yesterday morning, and I figured we’d go crazy if we didn’t go somewhere. I gave them a choice between the Children’s Museum and the zoo. They picked the museum. Either was fine with me since I hadn’t been to the museum for a good 20 years; and I’ve never been to the zoo.

In the world of politics, I know that Buyer is busily ducking debates against Ackerson in IN-04; Mitch Daniels is selling a hollywoodized version of himself while Jill Long Thompson’s message hasn’t really penetrated in my neck of the woods, and Straight Talkin’ John McCain is telling prevarications about Obama’s decision to abide by the Pentagon’s wishes with respect to visiting injured troops overseas and, in the muddled view of the world that I am getting while semi-unplugged from the Internet Tubes, this somehow has something to do with Brittany “lets just trust George Bush” Spears and Paris “I sure do love the death tax elimination” Hilton. Oh, and Ted “Bridge to Nowhere, Internet Tubes” Stevens was indicted.

Jim David Adkisson hated liberals and he shot up a liberal church. I’ve seen attempts to blame this on Limbaugh and Savage and the rest of the yammering conservative chattering class that never misses an opportunity to demonize and build up a liberal strawman for the sole purpose of burning it down.

But, I don’t buy it. I mean, I doubt they helped things, but we’re not a bunch of feeble minded zombies who forget right and wrong to the extent of going out and killing random strangers because those strangers are suspected of refusing to marginalize gays or whatever.

Maybe my refusal to blame talk show hosts is naive, but I recall how dismissive I was years ago when parents of a teen who committed suicide decided to blame Judas Priest. As one comic put it, “Oh, I get it; if Judas Priest were singing about mowing the lawn, we’d have a bunch of stoned teens riding around the subdivision on their John Deeres.”

I wouldn’t, however, be saddened if people became more sensitized to how ridiculous Limbaugh, et al, are being when they blame the problem-of-the-day on the mysterious liberals who are, by turns, utterly hapless, seemingly all-powerful, and omnipresent.

From the Courier Press Letters to the Editor page, I learned of the perils of liberal elitists. Among other things, without George Bush standing athwart the Democrat peril, the economy could take a turn for the worse. Our taxes will presumably also be raised to give illegal immigrants social security benefits. Can mass dissolution of heterosexual marriages and forced gay marriage be far behind?

Bold choice by the Evansville Courier Press, picking Terry Record -who stands accused of getting drunk at a strip club before accidentally killing a guy- as one of their reader/columnists. They describe him only as:

Terry J. Record, an Evansville lawyer who has been active in conservative politics.

More recently, the Courier Press had an article on Record’s court case and elaborated a bit on his law practice in Evansville. “[H]e currently is practicing law in Evansville, doing pro bono representation for indigent clients in civil cases.”

At a site called elance.com, The Record Law Firm has the following promo:

As an attorney based in the Midwestern United States, The Record Law Firm combines world-class legal education, training, and experience with small town attention to your case. Whether your issue involves business formation, contract drafting, transaction negotiation, or more, your case will receive priority care with plain-speak explanation of all potential options and outcomes. Come and experience why Record Law is not just another legal resource, but stands with you in your cause as your premier legal adviser.
. . .
In the past I have served as an attorney representing the State of Indiana in countless state civil proceedings and county criminal prosecutions. Today, I bring this experience to private individuals and businesses seeking cost effective, simple solutions for complex problems.

Apparently Gov. Ernie Fletcher of Kentucky also made Record a Kentucky Colonel in 2006.

Today, I had a hearing on a case where I’ve been trying to collect against the woman for a little over three years now. When we started, she was about twenty, brash, a little full of herself, and fairly good looking. The bloom of youth is deteriorating so rapidly, it’s amazing. Kids, sporadic unemployment, presumably stress from debt collectors such as myself, and I suspect substance abuse of some sort are taking their toll. My judgment is good for twenty years, and I don’t see this one getting paid off any time soon. It will be interesting to see if the years forge something strong or grind her to dust.