Background investigation release form

[CLBuffalo]

A few years ago I helped form a youth softball league. I was the group’s UIC. As part of the process all the people involved submitted to a background check by a state agency. Only one designated person in the group received the information. By law it could not be shared with anyone else. There was something in my background that turned the person’s head but it was not a cause for dismissing me from the group. To this day I have no idea what it was but I do know that whatever it was it was not sex related. After this I have never submitted to this process again and never will.

I certainly understand background checks for certain officers of a group and for those who are entrusted with the safety and well being of youth players. As an umpire or as a UIC only, I would never be in that position except to apply and enforce safety rules. My credit history, work history, school history, etc. have absolutely nothing to do with my umpiring and wouldn’t reveal any kind of predisposition to any kind of sexual aberration. Background checks for a previous pedophile would at best prevent a repeat offense. Only due diligence can prevent a new offense.

I was a youngster at the time of Senator McCarthy. I remember almost everyone thinking that there was at least one communist in every classroom, in every store, in every family, in every public gathering, etc. I was even led to believe that President Eisenhower was possibly a communist. Those feelings lasted well after Senator McCarthy left the senate.

If a school or organization required a background check of umpires I would not fight it. I just wouldn’t umpire for them. Fighting that kind of thinking and mind set is a lost cause. The supplemental income I get from umpiring would be missed but not worth the sacrifice.

There are and have been secure societies: Cuba, Russia, Germany. Would anyone umpire in them?

"He who sacrifices freedom for security deserves neither" - Benjamin Franklin

[greymule]

Unfortunately, it is government that will be doing the background checks. Government will invariably miss many of the dangerous people and flag many innocent ones. Government just had Catherine Stevens, wife of U.S. Senator Ted Stevens, on its "no-fly" list. Oops, they meant the former Cat Stevens, who became a Moslem years ago. (And why would he be on the list, anyway?)

Let's not assign the checking of umpires' backgrounds to the same people who make up the no-fly list, and who arrest aged WW2 vets because the Civil War rifle over the fireplace technically fits the definition of "assault weapon." What's an umpire going to do anyway, molest a kid on the field? Does an umpire by virtue of his official position have any greater chance than anybody else in the park to commit a crime against a child?

Afterthought: It is almost certain that the governor of New Jersey is going to commute the death sentence of every murderer on death row. This includes the man who raped and murdered Megan Kanka. I would agree that, should that guy be released at some point in the future (not impossible in this state), he should not be allowed to umpire a kids' game.

CLBuffalo: As something of a student of the McCarthy era, I know of no actual accusation put forth that Eisenhower was or had been a Communist. The John Birch Society did say, however, that Eisenhower was "an unwitting tool of the Communist Party." And don't you have a right to see that report that had "turned somebody's head"? Incidentally, do you know that Hollywood once maintained a "blacklist" of anti-Communists?

PS. Arlen Specter did not have any ties to Senator Joseph McCarthy. Robert F. Kennedy acted as assistant counsel to Roy Cohn for McCarthy's senate committee.

[CecilOne]

Originally Posted by greymule

Afterthought: It is almost certain that the governor of New Jersey is going to commute the death sentence of every murderer on death row. This includes the man who raped and murdered Megan Kanka. I would agree that, should that guy be released at some point in the future (not impossible in this state), he should not be allowed to umpire a kids' game.

My wife usually suggests child molesters be turned over to the parents, in a locked room armed with machetes.

[Dakota]

BTW, let's not let the revelations from the released files of the KGB which show that McCarthy was correct about significant infiltration of US institutions by the KGB (and its predecessors, including the MGB) get in the way of a continuation of scapegoating him as evil incarnate.

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally Posted by Dakota

BTW, let's not let the revelations from the released files of the KGB which show that McCarthy was correct about significant infiltration of US institutions by the KGB (and its predecessors, including the MGB) get in the way of a continuation of scapegoating him as evil incarnate.

Define significant? Also, please note how many persons were falsely accused for the sake of furthering a witch hunt. Also, please note that simply being a member of a group does not mean you should be considered guilty by association which was one of the tools used to "infiltrate" these pinko, commie *******s.

[Dakota]

Originally Posted by IRISHMAFIA

Define significant? Also, please note how many persons were falsely accused for the sake of furthering a witch hunt. Also, please note that simply being a member of a group does not mean you should be considered guilty by association which was one of the tools used to "infiltrate" these pinko, commie *******s.

I wasn't talking about mere membership, but KGB files listing their operatives within US government and other institutions. The mere members were sometimes referred to by the Soviets as "useful idiots."

I'm not advocating rampant infringement of our civil rights. I was only pointing out that McCarthy was correct in his assessment of the problem. His methods left a lot be be desired, but the pervasive view that all of his targets were innocent victims is just not true.

Besides, as the post a couple of replies above shows, we have more to fear from commercial databases than criminal ones as far as protection of our privacy is concerned. There is no constitutional protection for us as individuals against a business selling, printing, distributing, or otherwise making known its commercial records.

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally Posted by Dakota

I wasn't talking about mere membership, but KGB files listing their operatives within US government and other institutions. The mere members were sometimes referred to by the Soviets as "useful idiots."

I'm not advocating rampant infringement of our civil rights. I was only pointing out that McCarthy was correct in his assessment of the problem. His methods left a lot be be desired, but the pervasive view that all of his targets were innocent victims is just not true.

Tom,

You throw 100 pieces of gum against a wall, some are going to stick.

Sort of like even a blind squirrel will find an acorn every now and then. How many people lost their families, friends, jobs and lifestyles to catch a few "idiots"?

The government knows who is working for them. And many knew how to use the "idiots". Disinformation isn't just broadcast, there needs to be a believable source.

Nonetheless, I still don't believe this is a good move by an organization that, until the institution of this knee-jerk reaction, had no culpability in this discussion.

[CLBuffalo]

Originally Posted by greymule

CLBuffalo: As something of a student of the McCarthy era, I know of no actual accusation put forth that Eisenhower was or had been a Communist. The John Birch Society did say, however, that Eisenhower was "an unwitting tool of the Communist Party." And don't you have a right to see that report that had "turned somebody's head"? Incidentally, do you know that Hollywood once maintained a "blacklist" of anti-Communists?

As a youngster this was told to me by other youngsters and adults. I had no reason to think they were lying to me so I believed them, at least until I got older and learned to take things with a grain of salt.

No I didn't know there was a blacklist of anti-communists. I wonder what they were banned from doing.

[greymule]

BTW, let's not let the revelations from the released files of the KGB which show that McCarthy was correct about significant infiltration of US institutions by the KGB (and its predecessors, including the MGB) get in the way of a continuation of scapegoating him as evil incarnate.

You make a good point, Dakota. The released files are quite sobering. We now know that agents of the Soviet Union were indeed helping craft U.S. foreign policy, and that some of the people made out to be martyrs turned out to be traitors after all.

History certainly contains its ironies. In the 1946 Wisconsin Republican senate primary, McCarthy narrowly won the nomination from sitting four-term senator Robert La Follette. The margin of victory was provided by substantial help from Communists.