Break the cycle

Listening to this defense attorney (on Fox) for child-beater Madelyne Toogood, I find myself feeling somewhat sorry for the lady. But only from the standpoint that she apparently doesn’t have the independence or brains to say “this Irish Traveller bullshit stops with me and mine; I am going to make something of myself in this world and give my children hope for a different future.”
Rocket Rosen? What a name. [I guess his first name is actually “Steven”.] And don’t insult Indiana jurisprudence, asshole. Just because we convicted Mike Tyson and our judges set punishment rather than our juries doesn’t mean we have shitty courts.
Claiming that growing up in this “Irish Traveller culture” means that “you don’t go to high school, you don’t go to college” is likewise a load of bullshit. They don’t do those things because it’s easier to fleece unknowing victims and live on their ill-gotten gains than it is to get an education and become productive members of society. If this young lady had really wanted to break the cycle and make something of herself, I’m sure she could have done so.
And this tearful BS of hers last night, saying the child shouldn’t be punished for her (the mother’s) mistake, got it exactly wrong. The child was hardly being punished by being assigned to a foster family by CPS. The mother was being told that, until further evaluation, she was being deemed an unfit mother. Any punishment therein was strictly directed at the mother — not at the child.
Watch this whole thing get spun into intolerance of a different culture.
LATER: I just looked at the Fox News website and read the following in this story on the case:

Authorities said the mother had left the store angry because she was refused a cash refund for goods. The woman is then seen putting her daughter in the back seat of a sport utility vehicle, then pummeling, slapping and shaking her for nearly a half-minute.

This woman is seriously fucked up in the head. She does not need to get her daughter back, and her other two children need to be taken from her as well.
The idiot attorney added:

Rosen also criticized the girl’s temporary placement with another family, saying the Toogood family was tight-knit and traumatized by the decision.
“To me, this is very detrimental, very psychologically detrimental, bordering on abusive,” Rosen said.

Um, counselor…abusive to whom? The family isn’t the victim here. A little girl who had no way to defend herself from her enraged mother is the victim here.
MORE UPDATE: I see Rachel has weighed in on this 🙂