Darren Mack on CBS 48 Hours

Caught In The Crossfire: Who Is To Blame For A Wife's Death And A Judge's Shooting?

Darren Mack blames his ex-wife and a judge for her own murder because their custody case made him go berserk. He said he was broke. His attorney says he is broke. Yet he inherited millions of dollars from his dad and signed over $10M to his mom shortly before his divorce. After the court ruled that he had to pay up, Charla Mack was found stabbed to death and Judge Chuck Weller and his assistant were shot.

“Mack was a co-owner of Palace Jewelry & Loan Co. Inc., a pawn shop, until he turned over control in 2005 to his mother, a lawyer for the business said. He had a net worth of $9.4 million as recently as 2004, according to court documents.”

"But Darren Mack had been down the aisle before. Darren and his ex-wife Debbie had two children together but the marriage did not end well. "He would not stop fighting with Debbie. She spent more than a quarter of a million dollars in legal fees just responding to him," says Robb, who knows Debbie. "And Charla was on his side at the time."

From everything I have read and heard about Rita Hardin's case, Darren Mack reminds me of Rita's ex-husband, Andy. Both Darren Mack and Andy Hardin won custody of their two children from their ex-wives. According to sources, they both own arsenals. Darren Mack allegedly couldn’t stop himself from swinging, and Rita filed for divorce when Andy allegedly ran with the kids to his girlfriend's house where she lived with her husband and hid them there for a couple of weeks. Also, both Darren Mack and Andy Hardin claim that they're the injured parties, that Rita and Charla were the violent aggressors. The only difference is in Charla's case is that Judge Weller didn't fall for Darren Mack's prevarications.

“Mack's attorneys say this may be a case of self defense. "If our investigation shows that this woman was violent and could get angry and do things that were inappropriate, that may actually raise the question of self-defense," explains David Chesnoff.

“But Charla's friend Christine Libert tells Roberts, "She would never try to attack Darren or do anything like that. Even if she would, which I don't think she ever would, she would certainly have never even considered it with her daughter around. Ever. Period. It just wouldn't have happened."

Domestic Violence and the Darren Mack Case

Charla didn't stab herself to death. It's more like Darren Mack didn't get his way this time and his pattern of control, as evidenced in both custody cases, escalated to murder. Especially since Charla Mack said, "He is out to get me and someday he will probably kill me." It shouldn't have been a surprise that he would murder her. Had he said he would shoot a judge, I'm sure he would have been taken more seriously.

Some say the CBS 48 Hours story was overly biased toward fathers.

On Tuesday 48 hours showed a story of Darren Mack who killed his wife and attempted to kill the family judge in his case. Though the story showed the horrifics of the act it gave much attention to the "Father's Rights" movement, casting him as a victim and how mothers and family judges drive men to this.

At no time was any time given to discuss mothers, child/domestic violence issues, how often batterers seek and gain custody and how this behavior is reflection of how abusive people will go and the risk mothers/children are in.

As for the father’s rights elements of the CBS 48 Hours broadcast – I didn’t get to see it – but going by this web version Darren Mack is not going to be successful as a poster boy for them anymore than Alec Baldwin will be. They're all to busy back peddling. For instance, Dean Tong, Darren Mack's so-called false allegations trial consultant, who is affiliated with father’s rights groups, doesn’t make Darren Mack out to be deserving of anyone’s sympathy at least not on this CBS 48 Hours report.

“Dean Tong was part of Darren Mack’s divorce legal team and says Mack had said Weller was a "anti-father's rights judge."

“Tong also says Darren was a difficult client. "He seemed like a guy who would have trouble listening to others. He wanted to basically call the shots," he remembers.

“Tong, who specializes in custody issues, warned Darren there are certain things that just won’t sit well with any judge when it comes to deciding who gets custody. "He wanted to still continue to do what he was doing, which was the sex swinging on the side," Tong explains.

“Tong says he explained to his client that his extra-curricular activities could jeopardize the case.

“Mack's response? "He took a deep breath and said 'Well you know, we’ll address it. We’ll talk about it,'" Tong tells Roberts.

“Apparently Darren didn’t take the warning seriously. In fact, he later took a trip to the famous Moonlite Bunny Ranch, a legal, licensed brothel, to celebrate his impending divorce

“But back at home the party was over.

"When it comes to court, people are very naïve. They don’t understand until it hits them on paper that a judge can alter your life in a New York minute. And that’s what happened here," says Tong.

“Judge Weller had repeatedly asked Darren and Charla to try to reach some kind of financial agreement on their own, so he wouldn’t be forced to do it for them. They did hammer out a deal, but when that fell apart the judge stepped in and ordered Darren to pay up.

"He had to pay her a lump sum of $480,000, out of which she was supposed to buy a home and a car. And then over the next five years, she was supposed to receive $10,000 a month in spousal support," Robb explains.

“Michael says the ruling left his friend Darren disillusioned and frightened. "Could not believe this was happening. He was about to lose a lot of his money," he says.

“Darren was ordered to make that payment of close to half a million dollars to Charla, but soon after that hearing she was dead.

“Asked if he thinks Weller's rulings against Darren pushed him over the edge, Michael says, "I can’t say Darren did this. Do I think Judge Weller's rulings added to all that is enough to push someone over the edge? One hundred percent. Yes sir. "

[…]

"What has this case done to the father's rights movement in this country?" Roberts asks Tong.

"And it's certainly slapped me in the face," Tong says. "How dare you be a martyr for this, for what we've worked so hard for."

“But Michael Small, released from jail and back home with his new wife and family in Reno, disagrees with Tong. "Do I think the movement has been set back? Just the opposite. I think it’s just going to go forward and be more in the forefront,” he says.

“Darren Mack, though now behind bars, still sees himself as a father’s rights advocate. His daughter, Erika, visits him in jail and had been living with Charla's mother.

In Darren Mack's own words

“A series of e-mails Mack was sending while he was still on the run reveal a disturbing picture of this man. For example, in one message he holds himself up as a martyr for the father's rights movement saying, "remember, they want me as a sacrificial lamb. They want the pleasure of executing me."

“In the same vain, he later writes that his story must get attention "To save the hundreds of thousands yet to go through little Nazi Germany in the divorce industry."

Dean Tong had a different attitude in a Nancy Grace interview while Darren Mack was on the run.

Father’s rights commentator Glenn Sacks trying furtively to distance himself from Darren Mack

I'm not sure that this even needs to be said but I will say it anyway--I condemn without qualification the crimes allegedly committed by Darren Mack in Nevada last week. Mack was angered by his divorce and custody case. Some on the not insubstantial lunatic fringe of the fathers' rights movement see Mack as some sort of freedom fighter. Most of the commentary by other fathers' rights advocates seem to be of the "he couldn't take it any more and snapped" variety.

I don't buy it. Though everyone is focusing on Mack's attempted murder of a judge, everyone seems to forget that he first stabbed and killed his ex-wife. After murdering her, he shot the judge through the judge's third-floor office window with a sniper rifle from over 100 yards away. That's not "snapping"--that's premeditated murder. Mack is not a good man trapped in a bad system. He is a bad guy. Because of men like him the system had to create protections for women, and unscrupulous women have misused those protections to victimize countless innocent men. Men like Mack aren't the byproducts of the system's problems--they are the problem.

Faux FoxNews feminist Wendy McElroy scolding NOW for their supportive stance on Andrea Yates

“When Andrea Yates murdered her five children, the National Organization for Women turned their sympathy for her into a crusade; NOW accused the 'system' of insensitivity to women with post-partum depression. Some voices on the forums I monitored were equally sympathetic to Mack, and callous toward both Charla and Weller. For example, one man wrote, "I consider Mack a hero. I consider the judge evil. If he dies or is permanently disabled that would be a-ok with me."

Father’s rights activist Randy Dickinson, vice president of the Coalition of Fathers and Families New York, sends e-mail on the Darren Mack case quoting John F. Kennedy to New York legislators and is investigated by state police: “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”
“The quote, he said, “was meant to emphasize that one of their own heroes and an icon of the Democratic Party warned them that the lid cannot be kept on people’s passions forever, without expecting trouble.”

The anti-guardian ad litem movement picks up steam

Reevaluating the Evaluators: custody evaluators child custody evaluations
Rethinking the Assumptions of Therapeutic Jurisprudence in the Family Courts

And it's about time.

In so many of the cases I've followed over the past 12 years, judges rely on guardian ad litem (GAL)"eyes and ears of the court" reports in their findings of fact.

Big mistake.

GALs have a long sordid history of skewering their so-called investigations against protective parents [usually mothers, but not always] and there's a whole pile of evidence that they do it in behalf of whoever has the most money [usually fathers].

Children need. . . THIS?
CUSTODY EVALUATORS: IN THEIR OWN WORDS

Beginning of the end for Diebold's e-votes

Florida is dumping e-voting machines and replacing them with optical scanners. Yay! This is fabulous news.

Think there's any chance of Georgia following suit? Nah.

Meet Cathy [Cox] Diebold

Florida to Dump Touch-Screen E-Voting Systems

Marc L. Songini, IDG News Thu May 3, 7:00 PM ET

“In a major shift on e-voting that could ripple to other states, the Florida legislature Friday voted to replace nearly all of the state's touch-screen voting systems with optical scan devices.
“Florida Governor Charlie Crist, who initially offered up the bill mandating a change in e-voting systems earlier this year, applauded the Florida legislature for acting after the state House approved the measure. It had already been okayed by the state Senate.
“The law mandates the replacement of touch-screen systems with optical scan devices and also moves up the date of Florida's presidential primary to the last Tuesday in January. In 2008, that would be Jan. 29.
[…]
“I think this is fantastic," said Avi Rubin, a computer science professor at Johns Hopkins University and a Maryland elections judge. A high profile author and critic of touch-screen systems, he noted that Maryland has passed a similar law, although it won't take effect until 2010. "I'm thrilled with the direction these states are going," he said. "It's great that awareness of the risks of Direct Recording Electronics (DREs) has grown to the point where legislators understand the issues.
"I think we had some rough going for a few elections, but that switching to paper ballots and optical scans sets us back on course," Rubin said.

Cathy Cox [Thank you Zell Miller] is named president of Young Harris College. Wonder what happened to the previous president?

Here's a picture of him. I can't find anything on why he was replaced by Cox. Usually, there's some kind of reason given.

“Athens -- Higher education apparently suits former Secretary of State Cathy Cox.
“Since January, she's been the Carl E. Sanders Political Leadership Scholar at the University of Georgia Law School, teaching election law, and law and politics, to aspiring legal eagles.

“Cox, who's paid $80,000 in her UGA post, joked about her lack of classroom experience.
"Well, I taught Sunday school. It's the same, isn't it?" she asked.” -- Ken Duffy -- Atlanta Journal- Constitution

"Cox's big break came in 1996, when then-Secretary of State Max Cleland stepped down to run for the U.S. Senate, and Lewis Massey, a young Democratic operative, was appointed to the post by then-Gov. Zell Miller. Massey plucked Cox from the Statehouse to serve as his second-in-command. Two years later, he jumped ship to run for governor, and she easily won election to his position."

[...]

"On the campaign trial [sic], Cox is billing herself as the antidote to such partisanship.

"I'm not asking anyone to elect me just because I'm a Democrat, and I'm not going to bully anybody into switching parties, because I don't care which party you're in," she told the Macon crowd. "We need a leader who can forget partisanship."

[...]

"In April of that year, with only six full months to go, Cox's office selected Ohio-based Diebold Inc. over six other bidders to receive the $54 million contract to deliver more than 22,000 voting machines. The company had been selected in part because of its qualifications as a leader in ATM and security-system technology, Cox said.

"Almost immediately, Cox had to contend with criticism of her choice. Diebold had not been the low bidder. And rumors swirled that the company had gotten the nod because its chief Georgia lobbyist was none other than Cox's former boss and benefactor, Lewis Massey. Cox denied being swayed by Massey's connection with Diebold.

[...]

"Although Cox's non-partisan image is not a favorite among hardcore Democratic operatives, it certainly has attracted fans downstate, where "Republicans for Cox" bumper-sticker have been popping up."

In Cathy Cox's own words...

“Seventeen months ago America received a wake-up call. As the dramatic events in Florida unfolded, intense media scrutiny of the process caused Americans of every political persuasion – Democrat, Republican and Independent -- to ask themselves:
“Are elections in my state any more accurate than Florida’s?
How can I be sure my vote was counted?
Why is most election equipment so antiquated?
Would a close race in my community throw the process into chaos?
Isn’t there a better way to cast and count votes?
“In some parts of America, policymakers ignored that wake-up call. They hung up the phone, rolled over and went back to sleep.

“But not in Georgia.
“No, in Georgia, we took the events of the 2000 presidential election as a warning – but also as a catalyst for change. You see, when we analyzed our own presidential election results, we found many of the same problems the nation saw in Florida. And in fact, some of our problems were even worse.

Alec Baldwin's Psychobabble

Transcribed part of Alec Baldwin's excuses from The View video:

"I had never done this before in my life." [emphasis added]

From NY NOW:

"Recent reports have stated that Alec Baldwin has long been known for his hot temper. Reportedly, he has choked a pedestrian, screamed at a police officer, and thrown temper tantrums on sets which have incited his co-stars to quit their positions. Now added to his list is an angry voice message, in which he called his daughter “a rude, thoughtless little pig.” Clearly,the common thread in all of these incidents is Baldwin and his irrational anger, not a made-up “syndrome.”

In Alec Baldwin's own words:

'[I]s how much the people in the tabloid media are themselves
people who are abused and are people who live with shameful secrets and they make it their career to humiliate you and expose your secrets. Like the guy who is responsible for this tape coming out -- we don't need to say his name. [TMZ's Harvey Levin*] It doesn't really matter -- I called some of my friends of mine in LA and I said what's his story and they told me his story: what he's all about, where he's coming from, what are his secrets you know what I mean and you find out that everybody [emphasis added] who works in tabloid media are people who are filled with self hatred and shame and the way that they manage they manage those feelings is that they destroy the lives of other people and reveal your secrets. And I thought to myself you know it's like I couldn't get over -- you know -- how they beat you all day long."

According news reports, Baldwin's daughter leaked the tape to Levin and has been talking with him ever since. Now, Baldwin is suing TMZ. What an idiot!

I used to love watching Rosie O'Donnell, but those days are over. She sees NOTHING wrong with yelling at her own kids and even has empathy for Baldwin yelling, cussing out and calling his daughter "a thoughtless little pig." You can see kneeslappin' The View interview here:

Alec Baldwin is now blaming his outburst directed at his daughter as a result of Parental Alienation (PA) formerly Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS). It's all HER fault, your honor, she parental alienated me. And now he's planning on quitting acting to educate the public on parental alienation and help other abusive fathers. Whaaaa 'teh' *&#^? Giving up his acting career? Yeah, right.

Here's what Alec's about to step into:

PAS is a legal strategy devised by the late Dr. Richard Gardner [a pedophile apologist who stabbed himself to death] to protect abusers from criminal and civil litigation. Now, the fathers' rights attorneys have renamed PA to distance their the legal strategy from Gardner. Dr. Paul Fink, Chairman of the American Psychiatric Association's Task For on Psychiatric Aspects of Violence has a website at the Leadership Council debunking PAS.

And for a change here's an intelligent response from an African American mom, who unlike Rosie O'Donnell, does get it!

I loved this short video from the Assaulted Women's Helpline PSA
Her name is stupid bitch. If you heard it everyday, you'ld believe it too.

Douglas Bower over at Ezine @articles almost gets it too. He thinks that Baldwin is blaming his daughter for parental alienation. PA doesn't work that way. The fault finding blames the custodial parent, in this case Kim Basinger, for poisoning the mind of their daughter thereby parental alienation him. Otherwise Bowers does a great job pointing out Baldwin's lack of critical thinking skills and not accepting responsibility for child abuse.

One bright spot in this sordid scene is that Baldwin's vow to carry the torch for PA will open the debate to the public, most of whom do have critical thinking skills and my guess is that those who do will see it for what it is and the MSM will have to pull it out of the rock where they've mostly hidden for the past 20 years.

Hello Stop Family Violence Activists
URGENT ALERT!!
ABC's The View and 20/20 will be giving Alec Baldwin a platform to excuse his abuse and to perpetuate the discredited theory of Parental Alienation that gives custody to abusers and places women and children at risk of harm.
ACT NOW!!!
Go to http://www.stopfamilyviolence.org/463
to learn more and to send an urgent message to ABC before the View airs on Friday morning!!
Thanks for your quick action on this.
Together, we can.. http://www.stopfamilyviolence.org
Irene Wesier

Blaming the Victim-Alec Baldwin Cries Foul by Claiming He is a Victim of Parental Alienation (PA)Press Release
April 27, 2007
Statement by Marcia A. Pappas, President
Contact #518-452-3944
Blaming the Victim
Alec Baldwin Cries Foul by Claiming He is a Victim of Parental Alienation (PA)
April 27, 2007 – Today the National Organization for Women – New York State, Inc. denounces Alec Baldwin for his most recent outburst, most especially for his claims of “parental alienation” as the reason for the strained relationship between himself and his 11-year-old daughter, Ireland. The custody battle between Baldwin and his ex-wife, Kim Basinger, has lasted for several years, but Alec Baldwin is arguing that so-called “parental alienation” is the excuse for his frequent flare-ups. Formerly labeled Parental Alienation Syndrome, (PAS), Parental Alienation (PA) is now the favorite excuse by so-called father’s rights groups to further abuse protective mothers. NOW denounced this syndrome at it 2006 conference.
Recent reports have stated that Alec Baldwin has long been known for his hot temper. Reportedly, he has choked a pedestrian, screamed at a police officer, and thrown temper tantrums on sets which have incited his co-stars to quit their positions. Now added to his list is an angry voice message, in which he called his daughter “a rude, thoughtless little pig.” Clearly, the common thread in all of these incidents is Baldwin and his irrational anger, not a made-up “syndrome.”
“Parental alienation” is junk science. In order to excuse their outbursts, many of which have been directed at children, controlling husbands/fathers cling to a phenomenon which blames mothers, in foul attempts to identify and excuse their behavior. According to Dr. Paul J. Fink, Past President of the American Psychological Association, “PA as a scientific theory has been excoriated by legitimate researchers across the nation.” Further, according to an APA Task Force Report, “Terms such as ‘parental alienation’ may be used to blame women for children’s reasonable fear of or anger toward their violent father.”
Reporting on Basinger’s claims, in an article entitled “According to Baldwin-Basinger: Look back in anger” By Gina Piccalo and Robert W. Welkos, LA Times, April 27, 2007, “She alleges that there were several "rage episodes" in Ireland's presence. She said he once assaulted a taxi driver while Ireland was in the cab. He is alleged to have called the girl at school one day as she was about to take a test and yelled at her so loudly that "some of Ireland's other classmates heard him," leaving her "embarrassed and very upset." During another alleged "episode" last spring, Ireland sought refuge in her room at Baldwin's apartment, crying and sobbing.”
The National Organization for Women-New York State, is shocked that The View, Bill O’Reilly and other media outlets are giving Baldwin a forum to spew his lies regarding so-called “parental alienation.” It has been well documented that the claim of “parental alienation is a legal tactic used almost exclusively against women after they muster up enough courage to leave the men that batter them and abuse their children. It seems as though it doesn’t matter that Alec Baldwin has become the poster child for abusive men; even when his behavior is well documented and speaks for itself. He is indeed charming, as need be to pull off this behavior. By giving him sympathy and a soapbox, rather than holding him accountable for his actions, The View, Bill O’Reilly and other media outlets are giving him the green light for his unacceptable behavior.
Currently, Baldwin has signed on to write a book about “parental alienation” in the name of father’s rights. In doing so, he will be protecting abusive men and their behavior, and attempting to manipulate the judicial system of the United States. Manipulation of the facts is common behavior by abusers. This is reminiscent of Charles Rothenberg, who set his son on fire in February of 2005 in order to punish his wife and then cried, in essence, "she made me do it."
The National Organization for Women – New York State, Inc. strongly condemns Baldwin’s behavior and resulting claims of “parental alienation”, while also sympathizing with thousands of protective mothers and their children who are continually hurt by claims of this junk science.
-end

Cobb Dem Herb Butler "Go to hell Zell!"

Contemptible court sends juvenile public defender to jail

A split panel, 4-3. on appeal in In re Sherri Jefferson, 2007 Ga. App. LEXIS 391 (Ga. Ct. App. 2007), upheld...

From Appellate Law & Practice:

GA: 30 days for making a record of trial court’s strange bias

And Arbitrary & Capricious:

GA: beneath contempt

And Capital Defense Weekly:

Contemptible: juvie public defender sentenced to 30 days for defending her client

The Court of Appeals of Georgia upheld a Juvenile Court of Glynn County Ruling Which Sentences a Female Public Defender to Thirty (30) Days in Jail

GEORGIA - On Friday, March 30, 2007 the Court of Appeals of Georgia upheld a Juvenile Court of Glynn County ruling which sentenced a female public defender (who served the Brunswick Judicial Circuit as its Juvenile Division Chief and Asst Public Defender) to thirty (30) days in jail in which the attorney said to the court "with much respect your honor, you say that you have not prejudged this case but everything that I do to effectively represent my client I am being rebutted. . . with much respect your honor, it appears that you are biased in your view [of this case]." The Judge claimed her statements were disrespectful. George M Rountree had issued an Order and made several statements on the record asserting that he had not prejudged the case, he made those statements without provocation. Judge Ken Smith, a member of the Sons of the Confederate and Juvenile Judge of the Jeff Davis County Court also participated in the sentencing. The attorney is an African-American female and, would be the first female Attorney in Georgia's history to serve a sentence of this sought and possibly the first and only attorney, black or white to have such a sentence imposed. According to the attorney, GPDSC the agency did nothing to assist her office in her defense (however, her circuit defender aided with the trial and appeal). GPDSC continuously interfered with her level of representation when she refused to play politics with agencies like the Department of Juvenile Justice and, further failed to address the long-standing problems that she had problems with the judge in that juvenile court for several months prior to the incident in question which is also documented in a 15 page affidavit which was filed and submitted on May 10, 2006 in the juvenile court as well as with the Georgia Council of Juvenile Judges. The attorney represented a white-male juvenile (B.W. case no.: A06A2253) who was railroaded by the juvenile court and tried as a designated felon which would have resulted in a 5 year prison term. As a result of her representation, the juvenile was not sentenced under the designated felon status and received a jail term of six months in a boot-camp. It appears that no other attorney in this State has suffered such a sentence, especially not a public defender who have long been accused of lack of zealous advocacy.

DA Stephen Kelley and Charles Olson of PAC represented the interest of the juvenile court and Grayson Lane and Sherri Jefferson were the Appellant.

According to Attorney Jefferson she sent "DA Stephen Kelley a faxed memo advising of her intent to serve her sentence and requesting information from him as to when he would like her to proceed. . . she added that, "she is proud to be serving a sentence for providing effective and zealous defense for a juvenile who was victimized by the juvenile court, and that this court decision will not deter her from continuing to zealously defend children of this State, regardless of their race, who are victimized by the Department of Juvenile Justice and/or Glynn County Juvenile Court. She closed by saying "this sentence and decision is an attack against the indigency services of this state and juvenile justice reform which she proudly advocates."

Sherri Jefferson

Just Beat Her

A terrified battered woman with two children files for divorce in Germany and gets beaten up by a judge.

FRANKFURT: A German judge has stirred a storm of protest here by citing the Koran in turning down a German Muslim wife's request for a fast-track divorce on the ground that her husband beat her.

In a remarkable ruling that underlines the tension between Muslim customs and European laws, the judge, Christa Datz-Winter, said the couple came from a Moroccan cultural milieu in which it is common for husbands to beat their wives. The Koran, she wrote, sanctions such physical abuse.

News of the ruling brought swift and sharp condemnation from politicians, legal experts and Muslim leaders in this country, many of whom said they were confounded that a German judge would put seventh-century Islamic religious teaching ahead of German law in deciding a case of domestic violence.

The court in Frankfurt abruptly removed Datz-Winter from the case on Wednesday, saying it could not justify her reasoning. The Moroccan woman's lawyer, Barbara Becker-Rojczyk, said she decided to publicize the ruling, which was issued in January, after the court refused her request for a new judge.

"It was terrible for my client," Becker-Rojczyk said. "This man beat her seriously from the beginning of their marriage. After they separated, he called her and threatened to kill her."

You Too can become a collaborative law expert!

Want to be a certified Georgia licensed Cooperative Parenting Coordinator? All it takes is $425 and three days at this nifty seminar with training provided by two so-called CPCs, Susan Boyan and Ann Marie Termini, who have education degrees with a working background in special education, and provide a variety of psychological services, including court testimony, usually only provided by licensed psychologists.

http://www.cooperativeparenting.com/brochureFeb2007.pdf

Just love this on their website. Even though a judge can't legally delegate this kind of authority to a third party -- it's been overturned time after time by the Georgia Supreme Court and in other states -- they're doing it anyway:


It is considered a form of psychotherapy NO
Parents may fire provider at any point without feedback to attorneys NO
Provider may testify in the child’s best interest YES
Process requires parents to return in the future prior to re-litigating YES

Colorado Bar Assn: collaborative law is unethical

The 2007 Georgia State Legislature as HB 369 pending:

19-9-1.1.
In all proceedings under this article, it shall be expressly
permissible for the parents of a child to agree to binding arbitration on the issue of child custody and matters relative to visitation and a parenting plan. The parents may select their arbiter and decide which issues will be resolved in binding arbitration. The arbiter´s decisions shall be incorporated into a final decree awarding child custody unless the judge makes specific written factual findings that under the circumstances of the parents and the child the arbiter´s award would not be in the best interests of the child. In its judgment, the judge may supplement the arbiter´s decision on issues not covered by the binding
arbitration.

For more on HB 369 see the Georgia Family Law Blog and Alaska, California, Connecticut and Tennessee [passed a Protective Parent Reform Act].

uDivorce

Found this link on Human Law under the head of "The new wave of law firms emerges - Would you like some inexpensive help with your divorce?"

Looks pretty cool to me...

uDivorce offers a wide range of affordable divorce services for those whose marriage or relationship has broken down.

Remembering Molly Ivins 1944-2007

Somehow I knew this was coming, but I didn't think Molly would go this fast. Oh, how I will miss her...

Remembering Molly Ivins
By John Nichols
The Nation

Wednesday 31 January 2007

Molly Ivins always said she wanted to write a book about the lonely experience of East Texas civil rights campaigners to be titled No One Famous Ever Came. While the television screens and newspapers told the stories of the marches, the legal battles and the victories of campaigns against segregation in Alabama and Mississippi, Ivins recalled, the foes of Jim Crow laws in the region where she came of age in the 1950s and '60s often labored in obscurity without any hope that they would be joined on the picket lines by Nobel Peace Prize winners, folk singers, Hollywood stars or senators.

And Ivins loved those righteous strugglers all the more for their willingness to carry on.

The warmest-hearted populist ever to pick up a pen with the purpose of calling the rabble to the battlements, Ivins understood that change came only when some citizen in some off-the-map town passed a petition, called a Congressman or cast an angry vote to throw the bums out. The nation's mostly widely syndicated progressive columnist, who died January 31 at age 62 after a long battle with what she referred to as a "scorching case of cancer," adored the activists she celebrated from the time in the late 1960s when she created her own "Movements for Social Change" beat at the old Minneapolis Tribune and started making heroes of "militant blacks, angry Indians, radical students, uppity women and a motley assortment of other misfits and troublemakers."

"Troublemaker" might be a term of derision in the lexicon of some journalists - particularly the on-bended-knee White House press pack that Ivins studiously refused to run with - but to Molly it was a term of endearment. If anyone anywhere was picking a fight with the powerful, she was writing them up with the same passionate language she employed when her friend the great Texas liberal Billie Carr passed on in 2002. Ivins recalled Carr "was there for the workers and the unions, she was there for the African-Americans, she was there for the Hispanics, she was there for the women, she was there for the gays. And this wasn't all high-minded, oh, we-should-all-be-kinder-to-one-another. This was tough, down, gritty, political trench warfare; money against people. She bullied her way to the table of power, and then she used that place to get everybody else there, too. If you ain't ready to sweat, and you ain't smart enough to deal, you can't play in her league."

Molly Ivins could have played in the league of the big boys. They invited her in, giving her a bureau chief job with the New York Times - which she wrote her way out of when she referred to a "community chicken-killing festival" in a small town as a "gang-pluck." Leaving the Times in 1982 was the best thing that ever happened to Molly. She settled back in her home state of Texas, where her friend Jim Hightower was about to get elected as agricultural commissioner and another friend named Ann Richards was striding toward the governorship. As a newspaper columnist for the old Dallas Times Herald - and, after that paper's demise, for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram - Molly began writing a political column drenched in the good humor and fighting spirit of that populist moment. It appealed beyond Texas, and within a decade she was writing for 400 papers nationwide.

[...]

She also told them, even when she was battling cancer and Karl Rove, that they should relish the lucky break of their consciences and their conflicts. Speaking truth to power is the best job in any democracy, she explained. It took her to towns across this great yet battered land to say: "So keep fightin' for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don't you forget to have fun doin' it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce. And when you get through kickin' ass and celebratin' the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was."

More on Alternet


Molly Ivins, 1944-2007

Texas Observer. Posted January 31, 2007.

Syndicated political columnist Molly Ivins died of breast cancer Wednesday evening at her home in Austin. Molly's enduring message is, "Raise more hell."

Syndicated political columnist Molly Ivins died of breast cancer Wednesday evening at her home in Austin. She was 62 years old, and had much, much more to give this world. She remained cheerful despite Texas politics. She emphasized the more hilarious aspects of both state and national government, and consequently never had to write fiction. She said, "Good thing we've still got politics -- finest form of free entertainment ever invented."

Although short, Molly's life was writ large. She was as eloquent a speaker and teacher as she was a writer, and her quips will last at least as long as Will Rogers'. She dubbed George W. Bush "Shrub" and Texas Governor Rick Perry "Good Hair."

Molly always said in her official résumé that the two honors she valued the most were (1) when the Minneapolis Police Department named their mascot pig after her (she was covering the police beat at the time); and (2) when she was banned from speaking on the Texas A&M University campus at least once during her years as co-editor of The Texas Observer (1970-76). However, she said with great sincerity that she would be proudest of all to die sober, and she did.

[...]

For the time being, The Texas Observer's web site will be dedicated to remembering Molly, her work, her wit, her contributions to the political discourse of a nation. We invite readers to submit their own thoughts and recollections, to say a few words of praise. Then, we will return to the hunt.

To read more about Molly Ivins or to make a comment about her, go to Texas Observer. Tax-deductible contributions in her honor may be made to The Texas Observer, 307 West Seventh Street, Austin, TX 78701 or the American Civil Liberties Union, 127 Broad Street, 18th floor, New York, NY 10004.

Memorial services will be announced in the coming days.

Atlanta: Homeless women & children may be evicted en masse in height of winter

Atlanta, the home of the cruel...

EXCLUSIVE: Homeless Women May Be Evicted en Masse, in Height of Winter

EXCLUSIVE: Homeless Women May Be Evicted en Masse, in Height of Winter
By Matthew Cardinale and Jonathan Springston, Atlanta Progressive News (January 31, 2007)

(APN) ATLANTA – Over one hundred homeless single women and women with children are facing uncertain futures on this freezing cold night, as the Gateway Overflow shelter for women prepares to abruptly close, Atlanta Progressive News has learned.

“They can't put them out in this cold! That would just be unthinkable! Tomorrow is going to be one of the coldest and rainiest nights of the year,” Rev. Timothy McDonald of the First Iconium Baptist Church said.

State Sen. Vincent Fort, State Rep. “Able” Mable Thomas, and Anita Beaty, Executive Director of the Task Force for the Homeless, have tentatively planned a press conference for 11am tomorrow in front of the Gateway Center [releases to be sent out by morning].

Both Beaty as well as Alan Harris, a homeless advocate, have heard from several distraught homeless women, who say that the Gateway Overflow shelter is about to close, as soon as tomorrow, they told Atlanta Progressive News.

Andy Griffith vs. Patriot Act

To all those government snoops bent on opening my mail and listening in and sometimes interjecting on my telephone conversations, take this!

Not Everybody Loves Patricia

The New York Times ran a story today about poor Patricia Heaton, the honorary co-chairwoman, for Feminists for Life.
Seems Patty got herself embroiled in mess over an anti-stem cell video she did against Missouri's Amendment 2.

But the video, which also included St. Louis sports figures, turned into a Mel Gibson-size nightmare when it got onto the Internet and, without her knowledge, was then shown as an advertisement on television during Game 4 of the World Series. It didn’t help that it looked so cheesy or that it began, inexplicably, with the actor Jim Caviezel (who had played Jesus in Mr. Gibson’s “Passion of the Christ”) staring weirdly at the camera and speaking in Aramaic.

“Oh my God, it was a disaster,” Ms. Heaton acknowledged. “And then there was the whole Michael J. Fox aspect.”

Also unbeknownst to Ms. Heaton, Mr. Fox, his Parkinsonian tremors clearly visible, had just appeared in an ad supporting the amendment. Because of the timing, her comments looked like a response to his and became associated with Rush Limbaugh’s suggestion that Mr. Fox was faking his symptoms for sympathy.

Ms. Heaton was appalled, she said. “Not only was the ad so bad, but why was it put on? It took the focus off of what we’re talking about, which is very serious, and made it look like a feud or something, a Hollywood tabloid subject, a media thing of pitting people against each other.”

The Internet floodgates opened. Web sites weighed in on “Fox v. Heaton” and generally eviscerated her. On YouTube.com, April Winchell, a California radio personality, posted a 38-second remix of Ms. Heaton’s clip. It starts out saying, “I’m Patricia Heaton, and I’m a religious zealot who thinks she knows what’s best for everybody” and gets uglier from there: “I could give you the whole story, but I’d rather beat you over the head with my Bible. And besides it’s not like stem-cell research makes you look younger. I mean, if it did, I’d be all over it.”

For more on FLM see Pandagon's Archive for the 'Feminists For Life' Category.

Why Patty is involved with a group that aligns itself with the National Fatherhood Initiative, an aggressive anti-motherhood group, I can't even imagine. But here's the video. Enjoy...

Suitably Flip's "Liberal Yearbook 2006"

Even though Suitably Flip is a rw geek, I just love his "Liberal Yearbook 2006" especially that pic of a genetically altered Hillary/Obama "Hillorama"



Most of SF's Researchroll is suitably annoying, but given his Phillips Academy background, what else should one expect from a fat cat from Andover [not Exeter]?
American Enterprise Institute
Brookings Institution
Cato Institute
Center for Immigration Studies
Center for Responsive Politics
Center of the American Experiment
Club For Growth
Competitive Enterprise Institute
Heritage Foundation
Manhattan Institute
UVA Center for Politics

Edwards on Hardball with Elizabeth

Yay! John Edwards is running for president in '08!

On this YouTube clip of Hardball he says he restrained himself while running as VP. Can't wait to see him in action in the coming months. It's going to be a lot of fun if this video is any indication.

After Matthews brings up the subect on John Kerry's failed joke, Elizabeth says that most politicians aren't funny, not even her husband, and after hearing him practicing a joke she wouldn't even attend the event because he was so not funny.

Chris Matthews: "I love it! Behind every great man is a woman trying to kill him.
Does she do this? Does she bite your balls like this when you come home?"

Elizabeth: "My children are watching!"

Matthews: "What's this with the equal marriages? Why do people marry their equals. It used to be different. What happened to the Stepford Wives. The good old days?"

Audience: Big boos & hisses.

Matthews: "Oh how PC. The freakin'hiss."

Anti-GAL/PAS Petition

With so many guardians ad litem (GAL) switching to other generic so-called alienation syndromes after Richard Gardner found himself in disrepute and stabbed himself to death, Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) is still being used as a sick excuse to switch custody from perfectly fit, protective, primary caretakers (usually mothers) in Illinois and elsewhere.

Here's an example of a PAS order in DeKalb County, GA.

http://nafcj.org/flakeshinglerpas.htm

Outraged yet? Then please do sign the petition.

http://www.petitiononline.com/illinois/petition.html

Fairfax Town Council passes anti-PAS Resolution

THIS is going to spread. No doubt about it. Red State Feminist has it on her blog and undoubtedly others will join in. Enough already with faux syndromes designed to protect pederasts. Richard Gardner is gone and PAS will pass with him.

RESOLUTION NO. 2466

A RESOLUTION OF THE TOWN COUNCIL OF THE TOWN OF FAIRFAX CALLING FOR REVISION OF THE CALIFORNIA FAMILY CODE AND THE FEDERAL VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN ACT

WHEREAS The Town Council of Fairfax CA is greatly concerned about the existence of domestic violence and child abuse in our society and community; and

WHEREAS legislators at all levels of government must do whatever possible to ensure that perpetrators of domestic violence and child abuse are prosecuted and punished for their crimes, and that abuse cases are adjudicated properly; and

WHEREAS legislators at all levels of government must review existing law to ensure that obstacles to the prosecution and punishment of those who commit domestic violence and child abuse are removed; and

WHEREAS such obstacles to the prosecution and punishment of those who commit domestic violence and child abuse have been identified in the California Family Code in Sections 1800-1852, The California Family Conciliation Court Law (See exhibit A), as follows:

1) The California Family Conciliation Court Law (hereafter referred to as the CFCCL) was enacted in 1930, in an era in which corporal punishment of wives and children was generally accepted by society.

2) Section 1812 of the CFCCL allows the Conciliation Court Judge to move any case to the Conciliation Court.

3) Section 1819 of the CFCCL allows for the destruction of records in Conciliation Court proceedings, at the discretion of the Conciliation Court, in cases involving child custody and visitation.

4) Section 1830 of the CFCCL empowers the Conciliation Court to take jurisdiction over all controversies that come before it in divorce, separation, child custody and visitation cases, even those involving domestic abuse.

5) Section 1830 (b) mandates that all divorce, separation, child custody and visitation cases involving domestic abuse be moved to the Family Conciliation Court.

6) Sections 1850-1852 allow for the use of government funding to handle domestic abuse cases as custody disputes, in violation of federal statute. And;

WHEREAS the above identified sections of the CFCCL have the effect of moving criminal domestic violence and child abuse cases out of criminal court venues in which they can be prosecuted and into civil/family court venues in which prosecution of perpetrators cannot take place, and where documented evidence may be altered or destroyed; and

WHEREAS the practice of moving domestic violence and child abuse cases out of criminal venues and into Family Conciliation Court has resulted in the formulation of nefarious legal strategies which deflect attention away from the behavior of batterers and sexual abusers, and shift blame to parents reporting abuse so as to do harm to abused parents and children; and

WHEREAS such strategies include the use of Parental Alienation Syndrome, which was
originally constructed as a legal defense of child molesters and to shield abusive fathers from prosecution, and has hence been used across the nation to justify granting abusive parents improper custodial rights, to remove children from the protective care of safe parents, to deny due process and parenting rights, and to otherwise punish parents, especially mothers, who complain about the abuse; and

WHEREAS the National Organization for Women has denounced the use of the Parental Alienation Syndrome strategy as unethical, unconstitutional and dangerous; and

WHEREAS the problem of the use of Parental Alienation Syndrome was noteworthy enough to be addressed in the original drafts of the federal Violence Against Women Act II of 2002 (hereafter referred to as VAWA II), specifically in Title ll, Section 201 Findings: Limiting the Effects of Violence on Children (17-20), (See exhibit B), which noted that the American Psychological Association has found no empirical data to support the so-called phenomenon of Parental Alienation Syndrome, that some courts and custody evaluators frequently use such terms to discount the reasonable fear and anger of children toward a violent parent, and that this ‘syndrome’ and similar ones are used almost exclusively against women; and

WHEREAS the above reference to Parental Alienation Syndrome was inexplicably removed from VAWA II.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED by the Town Council of Fairfax California, speaking for itself as a body and for those residents of Fairfax who agree, that the California Legislature be urged to address the above referenced defects in the CFCCL to ensure that domestic violence and child abuse cases are prosecuted and that records that might serve as evidence in the prosecution of such cases cannot be destroyed; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Town Council of Fairfax CA calls upon the United States Congress to reinsert Section 201 Findings 17-20 of the November 3, 2000 draft of VAWA II; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Town Council of Fairfax California, in making these requests of the California Legislature and the U.S. Congress, in no way intends to interfere with the enforcement of Family Code 3027.1, which provides that if a court determines that an accusation of child abuse or neglect made during a child custody proceeding is false, and the person making the accusation knew it to be false at the time the accusation was made, the court may impose reasonable money sanctions. However, the intent does extend to the proper enforcement of Family Code 3027.5, so that no parent shall be placed on supervised visitation, or be denied custody of or visitation with his or her child, and no custody or visitation rights shall be limited, solely because the parent lawfully reported suspected sexual abuse of the child, otherwise acted lawfully, based on a reasonable belief, to determine if his or her child was the victim of sexual abuse, or sought treatment for the child from a licensed mental health professional for suspected sexual abuse; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that the Town Council of Fairfax California joins the National Organization for Women in denouncing the use of the Parental Alienation Syndrome legal strategy.

DFACS keeps stabbing/rape victim's daughter and won't give her back

A young Ball Ground mother was raped by a meth crazed man, Gerald A. Lee, and fought back with a kitchen knife after he threatened to rape her 7-year-old daughter and killed him. Now Cherokee County DFACS are deliberating as to whether she can have her daughter back! Their alleged excuse: She made some bad choices in the past.

DFACS has made some sick choices in the past and bad publicity hasn't seemed to hamper them from stealing
"babies yet again. There's an upcoming hearing on custody this week where a panel of DFACS officials will decide on who gets this mom's daughter. She's being represented by DFACS' contract attorneys. Anyone feeling queasy?

What's so perplexing about the rape is that the cops could have/should have arrested Gerald A. Lee the night before. Atlanta area cops make it a priorty to shoot down a 92-year-old woman in a no-knock drug raid when it is obvious that she was NOT involved in illegal drug distribution. Georgia authorities routinely punish innocent women and let 'teh' dude offenders off the hook. Enough already!

"It was one of a series of episodes that shed light on some of Lee's last hours before he grabbed a shotgun and broke into a house in the woods of Cherokee County.

"The woman he raped and seriously injured was recovering Thursday in a hospital in Atlanta.

"This guy was kind of active prior to this incident," Capt. Ron Hunton of the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office said Thursday. "He certainly acted strange."

"Investigators got their first hint of trouble with Lee after Albertson told a Cobb County police officer that Lee kicked her outside a Waffle House about 12:30 a.m. Sunday.

"They asked me if I wanted to press charges. And I said 'Hell yeah, I want to press charges," the 21-year-old said. "I didn't want someone else getting hurt."

"By the time a patrol car arrived, Lee was gone. An officer took Albertson's statement and told her she could later ask a magistrate to issue an arrest warrant.

"Albertson disputes that, but police say it's standard procedure except in cases of domestic violence, felonies or incidents where an officer can talk with both parties involved and determine if a crime has been committed.

"In those cases, officers can obtain a warrant on their own.

"About an hour after Albertson says Lee kicked her, Officer S.S. Ladner of the Canton Police Department spotted Lee at another Waffle House, on Marietta Highway.

"Lee was bloody and incoherent and said he had been in a bar fight, according to police reports.

Ladner handcuffed Lee after learning about the assault on Albertson but let him go because Cobb police had no charges against him."

Bill Maher: A re-look-see at the Constitution

Ah yes, the 'living constitution' just what the Federalist Society jerks partying down at the Mayflower Hotel hate.

Just love this quote from Chertoff:

"Some people now have taken up the idea that, really, the Federalist Society is kind of like a modern-day da Vinci conspiracy, a secret society that controls all the legal jobs and all the legal decision-making in the administration," Chertoff quipped. "And of course that is nonsense."

And better yet, Washington Post reporter David Montgomery's response:

Except, um . . . what about all those Cabinet secretaries, White House lawyers, Justice Department memo writers and appeals court nominees who are so tight with the society? Not to mention Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, a longtime Federalist and Thursday's dinner speaker.

NOW President Kim Gandy has an excellent analysis on the Federalist Society kooks. They want to ruin our lives.

Thanks Bill! I'm sure Scalia is seething over this. No doubt he'll issue an angry retort.

There's no out-of-the-box thinking in this country. If we were really looking for a new direction, we'd not just change Congress, we'd have another Constitutional Convention, as Jefferson suggested we do. Jefferson said: "Let us provide in our Constitution for its revision. . . every 19 or 20 years. . . so that it may be handed on, with periodical repairs, from generation to generation." He himself was saying, "I'm a bright guy, but even I can't foresee the iPod." Or the assault rifle.

But that's Jefferson's phrase: periodical repairs. This thing needs periodical repairs, but it hasn't been in the shop for 219 years. Of course it's belching oil. Literally. And that's because one of the glaring flaws a Constitutional Convention might correct is something called corporate personhood, which means somewhere along the way, stupid or corrupted courts gave corporations all the rights of individuals, with none of the liability. If some person defecates on your lawn, we throw him in jail, but if a corporation does it, they get a tax break. Somehow "we the people" got to be defined as Halliburton. This thing needs to go in the shop!

And I know traditionalists are saying, "But Bill, it's a sacred document!" Please, it's full of crap about pirates, for God's sake. And I don't mean the kind that copies Justin Timberlake CDs. I mean peg legs and parrots. "The founders were so brilliant." Yes, they were: the proof being, the government they designed keeps functioning even with cement-head doofuses like you in it.

[...]

How about this: You can own any gun you want, as long as it works on technology developed before 1787. This is what conservatives call "original intent," you can look it up. By candlelight. If Robert Blake wants to allegedly kill another wife, he has to use a musket. Or burn her at the stake, but who has the time?

And how about getting rid of the Electoral College? We don't have to protect the farmer in his sparse state anymore; let the votes count from where the people are. And besides, the farmer is now a huge corporation called Monsanto.

And if we got rid of the 22nd Amendment, not that I agree with Bill on this one, but how cool would it be if Hillary and Bill could run against each other for president in 2008?

Good Riddance To The Gingrichites

Mea Culpa this: CBS's Dick Meyer apologizes 12 years later for the stinking mess the press made on not calling a 'duck a duck' thereby legitimizing the newtonion narcissists -- weirdos he calls them -- of K Street.

Really, it's just a simple thesis: The men who ran the Republican Party in the House of Representatives for the past 12 years were a group of weirdos. Together, they comprised one of the oddest legislative power cliques in our history. And for 12 years, the media didn't call a duck a duck, because that's not something we're supposed to do.

Buh Bye...