Interbranch Commission on Juvenile Justice Report

Report: Judges, lawyers failed juveniles
By Dave Janoski and Michael P. Buffer (Staff Writers)
Published: May 28, 2010

In testimony before the commission, current District Attorney Jackie Musto Carroll and her predecessor, David W. Lupas, who is now a county judge presiding over juvenile matters, "incredibly conceded that they had never set foot in a juvenile court throughout their entire careers," the report said. Lupas and Musto Carroll "demonstrated no initiative, interest, or concern with what was occurring in juvenile court."

Long-time county Public Defender Basil Russin, who resigned earlier this year in a pay dispute with the county commissioners, failed to properly supervise the assistant public defenders who appeared before Ciavarella, the report said.

It took over a year and four months plus thousands of dollars for this panel to reach the same conclusion SOP did back in January, 2009.

Judge Lupas- Lets Ask You Questions

DA Jackie Musto Carroll- Lets Ask You A Question

The report did note that Russin and Musto Carroll initiated reforms in their offices once the scandal came to light and that Lupas, as a juvenile court judge, has made sure juveniles have representation and full hearings. Lupas has reported that detentions are down 70 percent since he took over the court. Nothing like letting the horse out of the barn then fixing the gate.

Click here to read the report

In a credit to Senator Lisa Baker's efforts on this juvenile mess she was quoted on the following statements.

State Sen. Lisa Baker, R-Lehman Township, said in a press release issued Thursday that she will introduce bills to begin debate on the recommendations that require legislation.


"This report is a clear call to action," Baker said. "None of this can be treated casually, in the sense of 'it might be nice to do something someday if we have time or find money or the spirit still moves us.

Obama Love- A New Era In Salesmanship

In this Opinion piece from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review the author seems to rebute Rich L. Connor's piece about the liberal press he published in his own paper the Times Leader. Big Dan gives his opinion on the subject as well.

2009: Year of Obama love
Buzz up!By L. Brent Bozell III Sunday, December 27, 2009

2009 might be classified as the year Barack Obama came down to Earth. The latest NBC-Wall Street Journal poll found that 47 percent approve of the job Obama is doing and 46 percent disapprove. Those are not exactly messiah numbers.

And that's the big difference between the public and the press. The media do believe he's God.

Evan Thomas of Newsweek summed it all up. On "Hardball" in June, Thomas explained that while Ronald Reagan was just a "parochial" and "provincial" president, Obama can lead the whole world: "In a way, Obama is standing above the country, above the world. He's sort of God. He's going to bring all different sides together."

After the inevitable furor, Thomas said he "wasn't being literal."

No one thought Thomas was being literal. It would suggest the people at Newsweek believe in God. But all the verbiage surrounding this quote suggested Thomas thought Obama could lead the world into a calm new era. "He's the teacher. He is going to say, 'Now, children, stop fighting and quarreling with each other.' And he has a kind of a moral authority that he can do that."

That's obviously not true in America, where conservatives continue to fight fiercely against his socialist agenda. It's also obviously not true abroad because the world didn't exactly surrender to Obama's "moral authority" at Copenhagen. Many Third World countries still hate America's guts -- and always will.

The Thomas literary levitation act won him "The Audacity of Dopes Award" for the wackiest media analysis of the year, one of the 17 winning citations in the Best Notable Quotables of 2009, as voted by a panel of 48 expert judges from conservative journalism, academia and talk radio. Ardor for Obama dominated the entries.

The year started with an intensely passionate winter of love around Obama's inauguration. ABC's Bill Weir captured the "Coronation of the Messiah Award" when he proclaimed, "Never have so many people shivered so long with such joy. From above, even the seagulls must have been awed by the blanket of humanity."

ABC's Terry Moran took the "Barry's Big Brain Award" for journalists bedazzled by Obama's brilliance when Moran asserted, "Barack Obama is the first president since George Washington to be taking a step down into the Oval Office. I mean, from visionary leader of a giant movement, now he's got an executive position that he has to perform in, in a way."

Perhaps the media will have to stick with celebrating Obama's legendary coolness. "The Obamagasm Award for Seeing Coolness in Everything Obama Does" went to the fan club known as MSNBC. John Harwood of CNBC almost glowed when Obama successfully swatted a fly right in front of him during a TV interview. "It was a, you know, Dirty Harry 'make-my-day' moment." As if Clint Eastwood would glare at a fly and ask if he felt lucky.

Obama wasn't the only liberal politician to receive deep bows from the media. The death of Sen. Ted Kennedy prompted The Huffington Post to publish what the judges' panel found to be the Quote of the Year.

Melissa Lafsky, deputy Web editor of Discover magazine, revisited the death of Mary Jo Kopechne, killed when Kennedy drove his car off Dyke Bridge in 1969 and left her behind. "Mary Jo wasn't a right-wing talking point or a negative campaign slogan," Lafsky wrote. "We don't know how much Kennedy was affected by her death or what she'd have thought about arguably being a catalyst for the most successful Senate career in history."

What did Kopechne think? Unfortunately, Lafsky attempted an answer by wondering "what Mary Jo Kopechne would have had to say about Ted's death, and what she'd have thought of the life and career that are being (rightfully) heralded. Who knows -- maybe she'd have thought it was worth it."

The left's infatuation with Kennedy is so complete that this journalist was actually and very seriously suggesting that perhaps Kopechne would have wanted to be killed by Kennedy if she knew how her drowning death propelled his career. Never mind the fact that had it not been for her death, he'd probably have been elected president, rendering her vision utterly illogical.

The liberal mind is a mysterious place. It's a terrible thing to watch as it wastes.

L. Brent Bozell III is president of the Media Research Center.