Civil Rights, Family Court, and Bode Miller

The Bode Miller-Sara McKenna story reads right out of the pages of The Onion.  Boy and girl meet through a dating service.  They have no hope of a long term relationship, but girl becomes pregnant.  Boy reacts badly, girl goes public, and because boy is Bode Miller, Olympic skiier and well-known bad boy, people take notice.  Boy becomes upset with girl, and as so often happens, when the battle of affairs gone bad to one up the other in terms of revenge, the baby always loses. 

No one reading about Miller's behavior could possibly believe that he has the best interest of his child at heart.  This is about making someone miserable--and unfortunately the most innocent victim will be his child.  Nor has Ms. McKenna's behavior been beyond reproach.  Family courts have to balance between these warring factions on a regular basis and there are no good options for the children in these tugs of wars.  It is reprehensible that a judge denied Ms. McKenna custody of her as of then unborn child because she chose to go to an Ivy League university to get an undergraduate education after serving her country in the military. No excuse for that.  It does raise questions about just how much we can count on the courts to protect civil rights of women, but we have known those have been under attack.  It is a miracle we ever got the right to vote.  But the very worst news of all is that being a celebrity does not improve your ability to parent, and in the end, even though this child was born of privileged parents, he will be unlucky in the things that money can't buy--parents who put his needs above their own.