I came across an interesting essay by a John Duncan, which states that, “The most misquoted verse in the Bible is probably Matthew 7:1, “Judge not that ye be not judged.” The author goes on to say, “Too often we have heard sincere, misinformed Christians and unbelievers alike say, “I don’t want to judge anybody, but…” Ironically, the one who screams “judge not” is often the one passing judgment on you!” He also goes on to quote various passages in both the Hebrew and Christian Bibles about the necessity of judging, and that “If there were no judgment…All the prisons would be empty and thieves, serial killers, drug dealers, rapists, and murderers would be loose in your neighborhood.” Yeah, Mr. Duncan is on to something.
Since I posted the Press Release by the North Miami Beach Police Department, all of the calls and emails I received were remarks about the ages of the arrested suspects. The infamous Uleta Seven are all between the ages of 13 and 16. Even crazier is the fact that between them they’ve now racked up 23 arrests, 19 of those for the commission of felonies. One of them was already on probation. Not a great way to start out this journey called Life.
I want to personally congratulate the NMB Police Department, and specifically the K-9 Unit, for an excellent job in cleaning up crime in our city! AWESOME!
The really messed up thing is that most of these young hoodlums will probably be out on the streets within a couple of days, if they aren’t already, free to do it again. We can thank the totally flawed justice system, and specifically our State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle, for not taking seriously enough the crimes committed by minors. Once any of these punks are arrested twice or more for felonies they should be tried as adults. The more times they escape from having to pay for the consequences of their actions, the easier it is for them to continue committing crimes. It’s inevitable that it will end badly. These “kids” will most likely graduate to committing crimes with guns and someone is bound to get hurt or killed the next time around. If they don’t learn NOW that crime doesn’t pay, either they or their victims will end up paying the ultimate price.
In my opinion, the worst offenders are the parents of these juvenile delinquents. Where have the parents been during all these arrests? Or, for that matter, during their formative years? Do they have any freaking idea what their children are doing, who their friends are, or even where they are? Since these kids are minors, their parents are 100% responsible for the actions of their offspring. The cops should be allowed to arrest the parents, too!
Of course, the usual lame excuses will be trotted out by the time these cases go before a judge. Too bad I’m not the judge. I wouldn’t buy a single one of them. For starters, they couldn’t play the “single parent card” with me. I was a single parent. Twice! And somehow my kids never got arrested. Don’t tell me that they have to work and no one’s around to watch their brats. When I was a single parent, I worked two jobs, and I made sure my children were supervised when I wasn’t home. I don’t even want to hear that the kid’s father has a drug problem or is in jail. Been there, done that. On both counts. In fact, I used that unfortunate experience as a perfect example to teach my kids about the dangers of drug abuse. Guess what? It worked.
So, yeah. I’m gonna be judgmental here. If I were one of those people who had the perfect upbringing and was born with a silver spoon in my mouth, and then had a fairy tale life, with 2.5 perfect children and the proverbial picket fence, then I’d have no business judging those less fortunate. But I came from a less than ideal childhood and two of my own kids are products of divorce. I know what it’s like to work my ass off and worry about paying the electric bill, so I’m pretty damn qualified to tell someone that there’s no excuse for miserable parenting. Regardless of my circumstances, I chose to teach my own children right from wrong, and even more importantly, that there were consequences when they did something wrong. Let’s just say, they never made the same mistake twice.
Unfortunately, having to prove that one is a responsible parent is not a requirement for spawning, and it’s quite obvious that the parents of these miscreants didn’t take parenting classes. The United States Constitution guarantees them the right to procreate at will, whether they’re qualified to do so or not. Fortunately, that same Constitution also guarantees the rest of us the freedom from being responsible for the bad choices of those parents. Obviously, not using birth control was their first mistake. But, the minute they decided to carry their pregnancies to term, they had a responsibility to properly parent the end product. That’s another choice they apparently screwed up, too.
Contrary to Hillary Clinton’s opinion that “It Takes a Village” to raise a child, I believe it takes a parent. Preferably two, but one will suffice. In my humble opinion, parenting is THE most important job anyone will ever have. Bar none. We may not be able to stop bad parents from birthing, and we may not be able to teach them how to raise their prodigy properly, but we can and should hold them responsible for the actions of their children. The parents of budding career criminals do NOT have the right to inflict their brats on the rest of society. They should stand trial alongside their children and suffer the consequences of bad decisions and bad behavior.
So, yeah, I’m judgmental. You should be, too.
Stephanie Kienzle
“Spreading the Wealth”
The constitution does no such thing. There is absolutely no right spelled out in the constitution which staes that one can spawn as many offspring as one desires. The constitution is a statement of what the government can and can not do. But unfortunately the left wing pukes in our society choose to ignre that simple fact and percieve rights through penumbras and emanations or whatever that don’t in actuality exist.
The only rights specifically spelled out in the constitution are the first ten ammendments which constitute our bill of rights. Nowhere in ther are we granted the right to procreate as we please nor have access to free birth control or free whatever or any of the other rights the left wing pukes insist are there.
I was being snarky, not literal. If I wanted to be literal I would have said something like the Constitution doesn’t prohibit us from breeding.
Mr. Casey, why politicize an argument about parental responsibility? And punctuate it with name calling? This is one of Stephanie’s best columns to date, and your hateful comments do nothing but diminish it.
Besides, to my knowledge, there are no ammendments to the Comstitution. (Sorry, couldn’t resist.)
And then there’s the religious right that doesn’t support abortion and yet when the children become undisiplined savages the parents that bore them certainly aren’t going to jail for them either. Can’t be responsible and have an abortion, and can’t be responsible for them period.
I do my best to keep partisan politics out of my columns because our local elections are not about party, but about principle. Or, at least they should be. I certainly didn’t expect the topic of parental responsibility to turn into a discussion of left or right ideology. To me, it has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with common sense. If you raise a child to know the difference from right and wrong, expect him to do the right thing, and make sure there are consequences when he doesn’t, chances are you’ll raise a decent human being. That’s all I was talking about. I think this is something that most people will agree with, regardless of your political persuasion.
I also never argue politics or religion because no one ever wins that kind of debate. It’s also pointless to lose friends over either one. I’m just saying.
The parents of these thugs are liable to the victim(s) of these crimes for any loss or damages to their property. The victims of any crimes committed by juveniles can and should seek remedies from the parents of these kids in civil court. Hit em where it hurts, their wallets! 😈
What a great idea! I hope that any of the victims of these suspects who might read this blog will take your advice.
Put a scarlet letter on each of their front doors.
LOL! I’m pretty sure that would be over their heads. 🙄
Yes…a big “T” for Thief, or Thug! Might be over their heads, but some of us would get it.
Stephanie, I quite a gree with you. The thing I wondered when I read the article about the arrests was – actually as you said – where are the parents? Why weren’t the parents arrested and jailed for not teaching their kids how to behave? And why weren’t these kids sent to detentions homes? One mistake, ok get the message, but two and you should be gone.
In no way my comments below justify what the kids did, there is an excuse for this. But my observations are as follows:
It is a challenge for many parents to guide children at certain ages. Kathrine Rundle Fernandez son was charged for the use and possession of illegal drugs and found guilty. His case was tried in Broward. Our own governor, Mr. Jeb Bush daughter was tried for the use of prescription drugs and found guilty. Pres. W. Bush daughter was tried for drinking under age and found guilty I think. Do we lock up the parents and throw away the keys? For the record, none of the above spent one second in jail.
Parents can show much love, and discipline, or lack thereof, and some kids have their own way of doing things right or wrong. Irrespective of the food chain, kids can be a challenge at times. I would not be too quick to throw stones at my neighbor’s glass house.
As well, the white collar criminals on Wall St. who rob us dry with our eyes open, and call us moppets, scumbags, and the like, what do we do with them and their parents?
Warmest.
Kazan, I specifically referred to minors who are repeat offenders. No excuses for the sons of the State Attorney, who I hear were trouble makers since they were kids. She obviously had a problem she couldn’t handle.
The daughters of both Bush brothers were adults at the time of their respective brushes with the law. I am not sure what Jeb’s daughter is up to these days, but I do know that the daughters of George Bush are not exactly hardened criminals and are upstanding citizens. Guess they got scared straight.
Certainly you are not going to compare the Bush twins with the little hoodlums who allegedly committed all the home burglaries in NMB. Our home town thugs are ALL minors and most of them are not only repeat offenders, but major multiple offenders, whose parents are obviously asleep at the wheel.
As for the “white collar criminals on Wall St.” that you constantly rail on about, they certainly don’t have to answer to their parents since they are adults and most of them are parents themselves.
They also have nothing to do with the burglaries and other crimes perpetrated by our local bad kids who obviously are being raised in a culture of crime by parents who have chosen to remain ignorant.
The Wall Street hoodlums have made off with trillions of our taxpayers dollars and are WORSE than any criminal that walk ANY street.
Warmest and most sincere,
Mubarak
And of course, that has absolutely nothing to do with the topic at hand.
Now let’s see: Wall St. hooligans/scumbags/dregs of society and their compatriots made millions of homes went into foreclosure DUE TO GREED, driving the unemployment rates through the roof and sending our economy into a tail spin. We are fighting the effects of a recession and a depression. This would affect our crime rate. Yep, it has a correlation. It fits like peas in a pod.
So, now you’re making excuses for parents who raise monsters? Sorry, not gonna fly. We’ve all be affected by the recession, and you don’t see everyone else’s kids turning to a life of crime. Bad seeds are bad seeds no matter what the circumstances. Blame Wall Street all you want. That’s a red herring if ever there was one. I blame the parents of the hoodlums and the buck stops there.
In my first comment I stated, “In no way my comments below justify what the kids did, there is an excuse for this.” end of quote.
Irrespective, the Wall St. degenerates will not be let off the hook for their part.
Let us try telling everyone who were adversely affected by the racket on Wall St. this should not be factored into our lives and daily living and has nothing to do with the crime rates of today. Tell the kids whose parents lost their homes and end up loosing hope and trust, this has nothing to do with Wall St. Many cities will become bankrupt. Currently many libraries and parks throughout our nation may be closed in time, due to this callous behavior perpetuated by several greedy ones. Crime rates will continue to shoot through the sky in every part of this nation. Many of our police officers, fire fighters and teachers will be fired, to name a few, due to the actions of the HOODLUMS, not from Uleta, but from WALL ST.
Most gracious.
Whatever.
“It is a challenge for many parents to guide children at certain ages. Kathrine Rundle Fernandez son was charged for the use and possession of illegal drugs and found guilty. His case was tried in Broward. Our own governor, Mr. Jeb Bush daughter was tried for the use of prescription drugs and found guilty. Pres. W. Bush daughter was tried for drinking under age and found guilty I think. Do we lock up the parents and throw away the keys? For the record, none of the above spent one second in jail.”
Use and possession of illegal drugs, use of prescription drugs and underage drinking can hardly be compared to the havoc these hoodlums are wreaking on the community. I’ve used and possessed illegal drugs, used prescription drugs and drank underage; yet I never broke into anyone’s home, never stole anything and never hurt anyone. Were my parents responsible for my behavior? To some degree, yes they were. But did they owe anything to anyone for these transgressions? No, because there were no victims. You’re comparing apples to oranges. Poison apples, I might add.