Thanks for the news and the comments, HappyGirl. The Tommy Smothers reference was something of a throwaway line at first, but then I realized that it's another little insight into Johnny Taylor's character. Every gangster in history has maintained the self-deception that he (or she) is really a regular person deep down inside, and those horrible law enforcement people are simply trying to prevent him/her from making a living. And it says that Johnny likes some of the same things regular people like, too. After all, Adolf Hitler was nice to his dogs, and Benito Mussolini hated his son-in-law (and had him shot).
I'm sorry the foster system is the way it is and that it's messing with you guys. Actually, the question you asked about the child going back to the bio parents wasn't a 'duh' question at all. Back when I lived in Texas, I was called to the jury pool of a trial for a minor accused of child sexual assault. During the DA's presentation, she said that one possible outcome of a guilty verdict was that the convicted defendant might go back into the home. When I heard that, I perked up and said, "Say what?" The judge told all of us that the way the law was set up then, that was an allowable outcome. My response? "You've got to be kidding!" The judge asked for a show of hands if any juror could not, in good conscience, go along with this possible outcome. My hand shot up, along with at least a third of the others in the jury pool. We were dismissed with thanks.
That's a little nuts, I think. But that's the way the law read at the time.
"If men were angels, we would need no government."
-- James Madison
And I still have almost a dozen Smothers Brothers albums on vinyl.
