Anti-war judge won't allow foster child to join Marines
By Warner Todd Huston
web posted March 10, 2008
Children's Court Commissioner Marilyn Mackel of Simi Valley, California is against our actions in Iraq. With that said, this activist judge felt she had the right to prevent a foster child under her jurisdiction from joining the Marines. This refusal is an obscene abuse of power based solely on her hatred for the U.S. military. And she's done this before.
The L.A. Daily News gives us the outrageous story of young Shawn Sage, a foster child, who appeared before judge Mackel to ask for permission to sign with the Marines for an early enlistment. Sage is 17 and would have been eligible for a $10,000 signing bonus upon signing. The young man has long dreamed of joining the Marines and is shocked that this judge denied him permission to join.
"The judge said she didn't support the Iraq war for any reason why we're over there," said Marine recruiter Sgt. Guillermo Medrano of the Simi Valley USMC recruiting office.
"She just said all recruiters were the same - that they `all tap dance and tell me what I want to hear.' She said she didn't want him to fight in it."
According to the Daily News, Makel also denied another young foster child who wanted to join the Navy because she feels that all military recruiters are liars and just want "another warm body."
As Mr. Sage stood before the judge he had the backing of several members of the military as well as his brother and his foster parents behind him. Yet regardless of all the adult support this young man had for his quest, this out of control judge ruled against his right to join our nation's military.
But something good may be coming from this episode despite of all this military-hating judge's actions. The legislature is stepping in and doing their job deflating some of this un-American judge's power. As a result of this judge's untoward acts, Shawn Sage submitted a proposal to a local California lawmaker's write a bill challenge and Mr. Sage's proposal has since become Bill AB2238.
Assemblyman Cameron Smyth introduced legislation last month that would allow foster teens to enlist in the service without express permission from a judge.
"Here is one impressive young man who somehow made it through the challenge of the foster system, had a clear sense of a career path and was denied that opportunity by a judge basically because of her personal bias," said Smyth, R-Santa Clarita, who will honor Sage today at a Royal High assembly. "I find that to be a horrific abuse of her power."
Now here is as it should be. Instead of shuddering in a corner, afraid of the stolen power that this judge wields like a battering ram against our military, the legislature has stepped in to do something about this abuse of power. I hope all Californians reading this help this legislation along by urging their representatives to support it.
The only way to curb the undeserved power stolen by judges across this country is for the state legislatures to finally stand up to these out of control jurists and take that power away from them via legislation. For far too long judges have been abusing their power and our elected representatives have been shirking their duty to hold these judges in check.
We have allowed the judicial branches of government to get out of all control. It's about time we brought them to heel.
So, a story of an anti-American judge abusing her power turns out to have a good ending… If you Californians do the right thing and pass this new law. Otherwise, it will be just another disgusting story of a judge, mad with stolen power, who wrecks havoc with our American traditions. 
Warner Todd Huston is a staff writer for the New Media Alliance, Inc. The New Media Alliance is a non-profit (501c3) national coalition of writers, journalists and grass-roots media outlets.