Hattiesburg American from Hattiesburg, Mississippi • 7

HATTTESBURG AMERICAN Friday, May 27, 2011 7A OPINION ATTIESBURG jff American A Gannett newspaper TVacie Fowler General Manager Lici Beveridge OnlineData Editor COMMUNITY BOARD MEMBERS Ed Felshcr, the Rev. Eddie Rester, Nikki Maute 1 OTHER VIEWS i LETTERS TO THE EDITOR DAILY QUESTION Are you going out of town for Memorial Day weekend? Castyourvoteatwww. rratrifsburgamertarn.com. ResdtsfbrMcsquestionwill appear onSmday. WEDNESDAY'S QUESTION Will Southern Miss win the Conference USA tournament? YES State could've been foster care model IF MISSISSIPPI IS HELD IN contempt of a federal court consent decree regarding its treatment of foster care children, it has only itself to blame.

It could have been far different. The New York-based advocacy group Children's Rights Inc. asked U.S. District Judge Tom Lee to appoint an independent third party over the Department of Human Services and its Family and Children Services Division to ensure the five-year plan outlined in the 2008 federal settlement is carried out. Marcia Lowry, executive director of the group, said that Mississippi had failed to implement an information and management system to track children in its custody as one example given in the hearing in asking that the state be held in contempt of the consent decree.

Lee said that he will rule later on Children's Rights' requests. If the judge sides against the state, it will be a shame, not only for the sake of the children entrusted to the state's care, but also because the state could have instead been a model for other states in its handling of children. In 2007, Attorney General Jim Hood presented the plan to the Legislature, telling lawmakers he would like to reach a settlement on the suit against Mississippi the group filed in 2004. It was a case the state likely would have lost, with the group credibly alleging that DHS was understaffed and underfunded that it literally abandons children it knows are being abused and neglected." Citing the state's own reports, the lawsuit alleged incidents of sexual abuse, unqualified employees, backlogged cases, shortages of safe foster homes and fiscal mismanagement, among other problems. The DHS statistics presented in a 2004 court appearance were so grim, Lee ruled that if the claims were proven, it "could readily be found to place every child in DHS custody at substantial risk of harm." But the settlement hammered out in 2007 and approved in 2008 provided a roadmap for the state to turn itself around.

It would be a tragedy if it's found that the state continues to drag its feet in the face of such a terrible need. Children need safe homes and need not live in fear of abandonment, abuse or neglect. The Clarion-Ledger www.darionledger.com that their lives will be put on the line by their own people, even their own president and congressmen Washington, whose side are you on? Fenton Koehler Ellisville BinLaden'slifeno longervaluable Well, they finally got him, but of course they could have gotten him all along, because our intelligence system that was able to i "find" weapons of mass destruction that didn't exist could cer-J tainly have found the man that did exist. It doesn't take much thought to realize that the tragedy of 911 was used by the powers-that-be: Big Money (international oil giants, and their lawmaking puppets) to grab control of the government, and with one of the most sophisticated systems of intelligence and the most powerful military in the world they could have found and eliminated the man who was responsible for 911 any time they chose. But apparently then Osama bin Laden was more politically valuable alive than dead.

We don't understand it, but since the powers-that-be "work in mysterious ways: to achieve their devious goals it now ap- pears that bin Laden is more po-, litically valuable dead than alive, and so he is I C.E. Swain Carthage Whose side is Washington on? Every day we leam of another problem, event or new policy that makes no sense, and in many ways, has had a negative effect on our national security. For one recently, a number of White House members watched the SEAL operation that killed Osama bin Laden as it happened on closed-circuit TV. This was a covert operation, and these young men had put their lives on the line to participate in this operation to kill bin Laden. Everyone who saw the event pledged to keep what they had witnessed to themselves, as any leak of this operation would put these SEALs in jeopardy of retaliation from followers of bin Laden.

But this did not last long as the next day all the news outlets were showing the operation in full detail with pictures even the pictures and information about the secret helicopter that was used. Obama also pledged not to release the pictures of the dead bin Laden. But just two days later, Obama let a select number of Congress view the pictures. Well, you might as well release the pictures to everyone as these congressmen will never keep this to themselves. f.

It has also been reported that the Washington Post has a team 1 out trying to find the names of the SEALs that were in this operation. We already know their team number as it too has been 41 No 591 Total votes: 239 reported by the news. They are trying to find and contact the SEALs and their families. You can bet if one paper is doing this, there are others doing the same. And, how about some of the bin Laden followers who would love to find out who the SEALs were in this operation.

Can you imagine how the SEALs will feel when they are asked to undertake another operation such as this, knowing FROM THE COMMUNITY To touch or not to touch Filibuster stops Democratic nominee I 1 WHEN YOU REALLY BREAK IT DOWN, there are two kinds of people in this world; those who like physical touch and those who do not. And when those two people get together it is like when a cold front meets a warm front Thunderstorm, here we come. The physical-touch crowd is easily recognized. They are the ones who must put an arm around your shoulder or a hand on your hand when they speak to you. Words are not enough to convey what they mean.

A simple squeeze of their hand lets you know they are trying to show how sincere they are. Tlie funny thing about the physical-touch person is that he is totally unaware he is doing it PTers should not be confused with space-invaders. Space-invaders get as close to you as possible without actually making contact. You need reading glasses to look them in the eyes. PTers will at least speak to you at arm's length.

Far enough away to not feel they are threatening, but close enough that they can touch you at the moment of deepest sincerity. Those who prefer not to be touched are also easily identifiable. They are the ones who are in a full sprint in two strides when they see a PTer come near. You will find them standing (sitting makes them vulnerable) with their arms crossed soaking in all that is around them. This includes the nearest exits.

Non-PTers can sometimes seem unfriendly and non-inviting. That is usually not the case though. Non-PTers may not be touchy-feely type people, but when they love you, they love you for life. While everyone is a friend to the PTer, the non-PTer has fewer but deeper, more meaningful The message was clear. Democrats would kill all the nominees they wanted.

Republicans threatened to use their majority to put an end to judicial filibusters altogether -the so-call "nuclear option." A bipartisan group of senators, known as the Gang of 14, convened to seek a compromise. In the agreement that followed, the "nuclear option" was shelved and Democrats caved on most of the filibusters. In addition, senators pledged not to filibuster future judicial nominees unless there were "extraordinary circumstances." So now Republicans, who have allowed many liberal Obama nominees to proceed to Senate confirmation, say Liu is an "extraordinary circumstance." Democrats protested but in the end fell far short of the 60 votes needed to stop the GOP filibuster. By the way, Obama has little standing to criticize the Liu filibuster, As a senator, Obama tried unsuccessfully to filibuster the Alito nomination. So now Republicans have taken up the judicial filibuster, although they've done just one to the Democrats' 10.

But there might be more in the future. When it comes to judicial confirmation fights, the rule in the Senate is always an eye for an eye. Byron York is chief political correspondent for The Washington IF THERE'S ONE PLACE where what goes around comes around, it's the U.S. Senate. Goodwin Liu, the Berkeley law professor nominated by President Obama to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, is the latest to learn that lesson.

Liu's nomination was blocked recently by a Republican filibuster the first successful filibuster against a judicial nominee since Democrats stopped all 10 of George W. Bush's appeals court nominees from 2003 to 2005. Although no one back then could have predicted that today's fight would be about Liu, everyone knew it was going to happen sometime. Liu was as good a target as any for the GOP. A legal scholar who has never been a judge and has little experience practicing law, Liu occupies a place on the far left side of the legal spectrum.

To take just one example, Republicans are fond of repeating Liu's assertion that the Constitution guarantees the right to "expanded health insurance, child care, transportation subsidies, job training, and a robust earned income tax credit" "I must have missed that," Republican Sen. John Cornyn, a former Texas state supreme court justice, said dryly in floor remarks just before the filibuster vote. In debate before the vote, some Republicans went out of their way to say it wasn't personal. "Goodwin Liu is a stellar KEVIN HARRISON relationships. By now you have already put yourself in one of these two categories.

You have certainly tagged someone you know with one of the two labels. A good friend once told me that there is good touchy-feely, and there is bad touchy-feely (actually I think she used the word Being captain of my local PTer chapter, I worried about which category she put me in. Fortunately, she wasn't running away when she said this. Perhaps because I was hugging her shoulder too tight. Recently my father, brother and I went on a trip.

For four straight days I went without holding a baby, hugging a friend, or tussling the hair of a toddler. Was it any wonder that my brother asked if he could have a room to himself the last night on the road? I missed my wife. I missed the babies I get to keep each week in the church nursery. And, although I thought this impossible, I missed my daughter even more. So, if you see a non-PTer running through your hallway followed by a PTer, consider yourself warned.

A thunderstorm is on the way. Kevin Harrison is a local business owner. Reach him atfun4eyes BYRON YORK individual, no question about it," said GOP Sen. Tom Coburn. "(But) that does not qualify him to be on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals." Of course, a few years ago, Coburn and other Republicans were decrying the Democrats' unprecedented use of the filibuster against judicial nominees.

In the Bush years, minority Democrats stopped well-qualified nominees like Miguel Estrada and Priscilla Owen for purely political reasons to keep conservative judges off the courts and deny Bush possible future Supreme Court candidates. Democrats accused Estrada, Owen and others of being "divisive" and "controversial." There was a revealing moment in 2005, as the filibuster fight was nearing its climax, when mild-mannered Republican Sen. Robert Bennett asked Sen. Harry Reid, who was then the minority leader, "if any number of hours of debate would be sufficient" to move the Owen nomination forward. Reid's answer was quick and sharp.

"There is not a number in the universe that would be sufficient" he said. WRITE US: Letters to the Editor, 825 N. Main St, Hafflesburg, MS 39401 CALLUS: (601) 584-3104 FAX US: (601) 584-3130 E-MAIL US: letters hattiburgarnerican.com THE FIRST AMENDMENT 'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. EDITORIAL POLICY The Hattiesburg American's editorials represent the ideas of the editorial board and are not necessarily the views of individual employees. Readers are invited to write guest columns or attend meetings of the editorial board.

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