County gives itself "parental rights"

It's no wonder that people seem to have forgotten how to sue school systems or how to question Bush's lies. It's because the government has appointed itself the True Parent of all.

This is another story about the 13-year-old cancer patient in Minnesota. You can say what you want about him or his parents trying alternative medicine instead of more rounds of chemo (after the first round of chemo made life pretty much intolerable). Regardless of what one may feel about that, the county was out of line when it awarded itself full custodial "rights" over the teenager.

Recently, the boy's mother took him out of the state to find treatment. Authorities then charged the mother with interfering with parental rights. The "parental rights" refer to the "rights" of the county, which gave itself custody of the boy.

The county seems more out of line when you consider the type of parental conduct that prompts no intervention by authorities. A right-wing politician in Arkansas hasn't had his kids taken away from him, even though he raises them in a cult (namely the Quiverfull movement). Parents who beat their children usually don't lose custody - especially not in Minnesota, after the right-wing Minnesota Supreme Court made it legal to beat your kids bloody.

Even if the cancer patient and his parents are wrong to favor alternative medicine over chemo, why do his parents lose all parental rights, while followers of dangerous cults like Quiverfull don't lose any rights? (Some have claimed that Andrea Yates and her husband were Quiverfull followers.)

I'd be highly reluctant to support a court taking kids away from parents unless it's an extreme case, but why does the government favor right-wing cults?

(Source: http://kstp.com/news/stories/S946905.shtml?cat=206)