Wolking’s World

Via Malkin’s devastatingly thorough documentation of the “counterrecruiter” phenomenon, this load of insanity.

SIMI VALLEY - Shawn Sage long dreamed of joining the military, and watching “Full Metal Jacket” last year really sold him on becoming a Marine.

But last fall, a Los Angeles Superior Court commissioner dashed the foster teen’s hopes of early enlistment for Marine sniper duty, plus a potential $10,000 signing bonus.

In denying the Royal High School student delayed entry into the Marine Corps, Children’s Court Commissioner Marilyn Mackel reportedly told Sage and a recruiter that she didn’t approve of the Iraq war, didn’t trust recruiters and didn’t support the military.

“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.”

Sage, 17, said he begged for Mackel’s permission.

“Foster children shouldn’t be denied (an) ability to enlist in the service just because they’re foster kids,” he said. “Foster kids shouldn’t have to go to court to gain approval to serve one’s country.”

Mackel, a juvenile dependency commissioner at the Children’s Court in Monterey Park, declined through a clerk to speak about any court case or comments she may have made in court.

…

The USMC Delayed Entry Program, like those in other services, allows high school seniors to enlist in the service up to a year before starting boot camp.

Recruiters encourage students to hone their study skills, learn to eat right and become fit enough to don a uniform.

By “DEPing in,” students can enlist at 17, get their high school diploma, then lock in a military job such as Force Recon - or scout snipers. They also qualify for a signing bonus.

“We just gave out the last one for recon today to another kid for $10,000,” USMC Master Sgt. Edgar Carpenter of the Marine Recruiting Office in Simi Valley said Wednesday.

“The Delayed Entry Program supports everything a parent would try to do: We make them stay out of trouble; get them in physical condition; and get them indoctrinated into the Marine Corps culture.”

Only Mackel - and it appears a court bailiff as well - objected to the program, despite pleas from Sage and Medrano.

“I tried. I said, `Please.’ I begged. He tried, he said, `Please’ and begged,” Sage said. “But she refused.”

Mackel said she denied delayed enlistment to an eager Navy recruit as well, Medrano said.

She expressed concern that recruiters treat recruits “like another warm body,” he said. “She said, `All you care about is your numbers.”‘

At this point, the 10-year Marine said the court bailiff raised his hand and addressed the young Sage.

“My son’s in the Army,” he said. “He did the Delayed Entry Program. They don’t care about you. They’re just there for the numbers.

“I said, `No, I’m not them,” Medrano said. “I care about Shawn (and) about every single person I put into the Marine Corps. I follow them. I take care of my kids. I treat them like my Marines.

“It just felt like, wow. I even told Shawn, I said, `Dude, it feels like we’ve been burned at the stake at the Salem witch trial.’ She just had some kind of animosity toward military personnel.”

…

His foster parents, as well as his social worker, supported his decision to enlist early. Despite being denied, he still shows up for USMC physical training.

“Did they ever kick my butt,” he said proudly. “They still do.”

When he graduates and turns 18 in June, it’ll be all Semper Fi, bonus or no signing bonus, whether he’s allowed early deployment or not.

An obvious conclusion of anyone who reads this article is that the judge acted on her own beliefs and bias, not on the law. This is one of the worst, most egregious examples of this I have ever seen. It is maddening.

It seems Marilyn has worked for the ACLU in the past. No surprise there.

When she was elected commissioner in 2002, she was quoted as saying, “I can’t imagine that there’s a more rewarding judicial position in this court. You’re working with children and families and hoping to keep them from becoming a part of the criminal justice system.”

And, you know, really, really bad things like the military.

I got an idea for you, Marilyn. Keep your dirty, arrogant, meddling hands off of my country. You are nothing more than a Code Pink crony in a pantsuit.

UPDATE: Ft. Hard Knox found this gem from a 2006 article Mackel (who is black) penned for a publication of the Black AIDS Institute (pdf):

We in the African American community lost thousands of young men and women to the fiasco of the Vietnam War; we annually loose thousands more to addictions, mental illness, and the multiple other malaises that can appropriately be called “post-traumatic slavery disorder.”

Obviously, Marilyn herself has a horrid case of “post-traumatic slavery disorder” that severely cripples her ability to serve competently in any public facet.

Via commenter John Breland and The Dan Lee Report, here’s a couple ways you can get a hold of Mackel (as always, BE POLITE):

MACKEL, MARILYN Commissioner
Edmund D. Edelman Children’s Court (Dependency)
Dept:402 Phone: (323) 526-6402

AND/OR

Edmund D. Edelman Children’s Court
Juvenile - Dependency Court
201 Centre Plaza Drive
Monterey Park, CA 91754
Phone: (213) 974-5401
EMAIL