A 17 year-old California youth had made it through Los Angeles County’s foster care system and was ready to join the Marines. Only one thing stood in his way -liberal Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner Marilyn Mackel and the fact that she “didn’t approve of the Iraq war, didn’t trust recruiters and didn’t support the military.” Because the potential recruit was partly a ward of Los Angeles County, the commissioner’s will carried the day:
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… 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.”
Animosity towards American military personnel from the left? I’m shocked! What with the left’s full-throated support of the Iraq War and the way it has trumpeted every bit of progress over there, this comes as a devastating surprise. Exit question: Court Commissioner Marilyn Mackel – pariah of the American left, or heroine?
