ALEC is, of course, a nonprofit.   I was surprised to see a photo of it on TV the other day, and attempted a short and sweet post on the dangers of allowing this level of private planning to write model legislation to be delivered to state legislators BY state legislators — who are a good portion of the ALEC membership.

One good summary of how ALEC operates came from another nonprofit dealing with juvenile justice disparities; I researched this nonprofit and it background and got a good lesson in how & why the very real racism inherent in America’s Incarceration practices tends to lead to a conflicts between diversionary justice programs for youth, commissions and focus on “The African American Male” (etc.) – — and the fact that the fatherhood program as practiced in the custody system prejudices women of all color by definition, thereby breaking down whatever neutrality may have (potentially) existed in those courts.

It’s a highly appropriate topic for January 16, 2012, Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday.  However, this post was too complex to post, really.  Even I hesitated to hit “Publish.”  It needed an introduction.

Today’s post may be a little different, and requests visitors to dedicate a little time to reading about ALEC.    It’s such a hard sell to get even parents with severe family court issues to consider even AFCC and CRC (for the most part) and how it ties into public welfare law (1996 and following revisions). . . ..

This would be far more important.  ALEC makes AFCC look like amateurs when it comes to pretenses, purposes, and intent to dominate the landscape for personal corporate profits.

At the bottom of the post, I’ll link to perhaps four links to “ALEC,” and save the narrative (plus more explanation) for tomorrow.

ReFLeCTiONs from Years of Tracking This Trail:

I usually am blogging about subterranean behaviors by nationwide nonprofits affecting, mostly, the family court system.  This is fairly specific and underreported, but it turns out to be woven into the very fabric of of our country from top to bottom.

I simply looked and kept following the trail, which often led upwards to HHS and from there to “Institutes” “Task Forces” and “Think Tanks” — plus naturally, it got round to the corporations funding the various studies.   I came to the conclusion that the entire “nonprofit” system was set up not to help the poor (which is probably where it was sold as) and for public purposes, but more likely to benefit the already wealthy, for tax write-offs, helping hide income, and influencing government favorably to accumulate more wealth and make sure that competition for jobs remains keen enough to keep wages down and profits high.

Unfortunately, looking at this material was like staring straight into the face of unbelievable arrogance, pride, and particularly prejudice towards anything “other,” starting with gender, then race, and of course religion.   The sense of betrayal and disgust in reading some of the academic verbiage (plowing through some of it, actually) to describe people in my situation, or others I have lived and worked with peaceably and know to be contributing positively to their communities — in short, the whole attitude stinks.  Not even so much that it despises others based on circumstances of birth (Y chromosome or no Y chromosome), but even more so, the attitude of the academically and emotionally “detached” and therefore supposedly somehow superior, or innately more competent. People are discussed in the plural as the substance to be manipulated; they do not have any individuality that can’t be tabulated, measured, and managed.

The closer one looks at this, the more networking and disheartening corruption surfaces.   A reason to continue has to come from somewhere, and it has to be based on hope and faith in something sustainable, or with prospects of being sustained at least a few months in a row.  However, after my exodus from a subterranean nightmare of a marriage in pretty good shape (all things considered), only to realize that by being one in this category,

SINGLE MOTHER BY CHOICE*

(*I chose life over fast-track to death)

The single plus having care and custody of young children basically put a Target on our home for people who perceive women as incompetent and single mothers as severely compromised (per se) when the fact it, there’s a huge energy and determination coming from the wellspring of Freedom From Abuse in many such mothers.  Yeah, we need some time to heal, but we are also rejoicing we’re OUT of the tunnel for a while, and — I know I did — worked diligently and speedily to rebuild a life, for the children and for ourselves.

In recent posts I explained how the “Domestic Violence” Rhetoric courteously cooperating with the Fatherhood Rhetoric, agrees to omit discussion of a minor detail — the state is going to make a play for your kids (and income); any protection order wasn’t an real exit, just a temporary hall pass in the larger scheme of program fundings.  The room in which the stripping takes place is generally called family court, although there are other means for detaching children from protective or otherwise non-abusive parents, particularly female ones.   So, our lives, because of things like government, corporate, and nonprofit/profit dynamic duos in these friendly and increasingly “United” States,  collectively, symbolically and sometime literally, still have something of this nature:

The GOOD news is that, as “Canaries in the Coal Mine” (except we choose to stay alive), we are indicators of how much the entire country has become a battlefield, littered with trenches and landmines which cannot be seen unless one has learned to be alert, and what they look like.    One cannot just look at the individual personalities in the local courthouses, or local politicians, because politics no longer ARE local.   It is necessary to keep one’s feet on the ground, in the present, as well as eyes, ears, and other senses functional, and to develop some tracking skills, which includes (like good bloodhounds?) refusing to get distracted from the scent.

Bloodhounds join search for toddler – San Antonio Express-News Feb 7, 2011 .yofoyox.web44.ne

Bloodhounds are distinguished from other breeds by their extraordinary olfactory powers, which enable them to hunt entirely by air-borne scent. They are the oldest breed of sporting dogs which hunt by scent, and Bloodhound Trials enable the hounds to demonstrate the remarkable abilities for which they have been bred – a fine illustration of dogs that are ‘Fit For Function: Fit For Life’.   (Flickr photo of bloodhound running)

And when people are trompling the ground* one can get a clearer perspective away from the crowd using basic search skills and information-gathering from actual sources.

(*as happened at BMCC, [See recent posts, also posted January, 2011) by refusing to discuss the obvious (that the conference from the start brought in DV professionals, which affected content, for I believe very obvious reasons), and insists that it takes an expert to interpret a battered mother's voice or words ("read my lips!"), not to mention collecting people under the term that speaks of weakness, not strength:  "Battered" rhymes with "Tattered," and focuses on bonding around the negative, not to mention chosen spokespersons, etc.).

Tracking is not a group profession -- and it can get lonely -- but the reward is the finds, and the service that the finds brings to others.  I happen (as a young person) to have read a book called 'The Tracker" (Tom Brown), and adventures including getting stuck in a tree surrounded by a pack of wild dogs in (as I recall) the "Pine Barrens."  He had to figure the situation out, and get out; it took a while.

I also seem to recall in his working with young people (teaching them "tracking") who one of the most common maladies was -- once they have labeled a plant an animal, they cease observing, and lose their curiosity.  Lack of curiosity in the young is a very sad thing.  However, people that have been placed in survival situations, and isolated, had their world repeatedly disrupted and behaving in strange and unfamiliar ways -- tend to develop skills -- tracking skills -- over time.  They are valuable -- but they are undervalued in our society, with its insistence that Ph.D.'s, Politicians, and Profiteers are the most important voices to 'track.'

When one is hunted and/or huntING, and survival (whether huntED or huntING) depends on accuracy, I find the learning curve tends to accelerate!   Stalking (FYI) by an "ex" in person, or through third parties, and/or through the courts, is a form of hunting, as well as (at times) intimidation.    It is no joke; I have dealt with this over many years with  my ex, and also with the authorities who tend to discredit things that (women in this situation) know could spell life or death or simply a decent, free life, or a terrorized and distressed life.

So I want to show (us) some information from "Tom Brown, Jr.'s  The Tracker School" site.  This is not for entertainment -- it's an example for comparison to what mindset, what type of skills, are needed, today, to stay awake and -- well, free -- in the USA, when most of one's neighbors are happily, or unhappily as it may be, asleep.  Or out occupying or protesting, at the direction of their leaders, before doing the basic scouting activity which might make better use of their time.   Sometimes a crowd is not a safe place to be!

First, about Stalking Wolf, "Grandfather" 

Grandfather

Stalking Wolf was raised free of the reservations in the mountains of northern Mexico. Born in the 1870's during a time of great warfare and violence, he was part of a band of Lipan Apache that never surrendered. He was taught the traditional ways of his people and became a shaman and a scout. When he was twenty a vision sent him away from his people, and for the next sixty-three years he wandered, seeking teachers and learning the old ways of many native peoples, and others who lived close to the earth. Stalking Wolf traveled the length and breadth of the Americas, following the Creators call. He never held a job, drove a car, paid taxes, or participated in modern society. When he was eighty-three years old, he encountered a small boy gathering fossils in a stream bed. He recognized that boy as the person with whom he would spend his final years, and to whom he would teach all that he knew. That boy was Tom Brown, Jr. Tom became the recipient of not only all that Stalking Wolf had learned during his travels, but the distillation of hundreds of years of Apache culture as well. These are the teachings that Tom passes on at his famous Tracking, Nature, and Wilderness Survival School.

AND:

Tom Brown Jr.

Tom Brown, Jr is America's most acclaimed outdoorsman, and a renowned tracker, teacher, and author. When Tom was only seven, Stalking Wolf (Grandfather), an Apache elder, shaman and scout, began coyote teaching Tom in the skills of tracking, wilderness survival, and awareness. After Stalking Wolf's final walk, Tom spent the next ten years wandering the wilderness throughout the America's with no manufactured tools—in most cases not even a knife—perfecting these Grandfathers skills and teachings. Tom came back to "civilization" and began looking for people interested in all that he had learned, but found none. He felt lost and confused until a local sheriff who knew Tom called him in to track a lost person. Tom found the missing person and, in the process, found his Vision.

Over the next few years Tom earned his reputation as "The Tracker" by finding lost people, and fugitives from the law. He has since worked with many law enforcement agencies, throughout the United States and internationally, on cases involving abducted children, lost hunters and hikers, and fugitives. He wrote about his experiences in a book titled The Tracker, which was published in 1978. Soon after, Reader's Digest ran a condensed version of Tom’s story and included information on the Tracker School. That was almost thirty years ago, and today Tom Brown Jr.'s Tracker School is the largest of its kind, teaching people from all over the world and from all walks of life. Since the success of The Tracker, Tom has authored 16 books on tracking, awareness, nature observation and survival, including, Grandfather, The Vision, The Way of the Scout and a series of field guides, which have sold well over a million copies.

Interestingly (remember my "Tom's River" post) The Pine Barrens in Toms River, NJ were part of his childhood.  Wikipedia article here, not for authority, but (again), I'm talking about this situation for purposes of comparison:

In his books, Brown states that from the age of seven, he and his childhood friend Rick were trained in tracking and wilderness survival by Rick's grandfather, a Lipan Apache elder called Stalking Wolf, who had relocated to the Pine Barrens wilderness near Toms River to be closer to Rick's family.^[2]

Tom Brown’s brother, Dr. Jim Brown, the Dean of Science, Engineering, Health Sciences and Human Performance, and former President and Chairman of the Board of the New Jersey Public Health Association, has confirmed Tom Brown’s biography. Dr. Jim Brown writes in the Biography of Dr. Jim Brown:

Tom, his friend Rick, and Rick’s grandfather, Stalking Wolf (a native American and an expert in the Wilderness), were a huge influence on me and helped develop my love for nature. I use many of these experiences to enrich my teaching of biology and microbiology. Tom’s incredible abilities for teaching nature observation, pointing out minute details and relating them to plant or animal anatomy, physiology and ecological relationships strongly influenced my teaching style, especially using the laboratory and real life experiences to reinforce learning in the classroom.^[8]

It sounds like he combined “minute observation” with relating the parts to the whole, including context.  That’s what I’m talking about; which contrasts from what we have now (in American politics) which is isolated “think tanks” framing the issue according to the funding, and failing to understand varying points of view.  The point of these think tanks is not to think, but to collaborate on what to preach — which is an entirely different mindset.

I have been blogging almost three years on wordpress here, including during a seriously “wilderness” time for me as a person, having had all primary social, work, community connections (basically) severed.  I was experiencing extremes in many ways, including how to get up when a day seemed hopeless by the traditional indicators, deal (alone) with my anger, sense of betrayal and frustration, and the lack of productivity and effectiveness which women (by and large) function well with.  This came from the repeated shocks of dealing with family betrayal, family COURT betrayal, failure of law enforcement, and the unnecessary drain on my personal friends — year after year — who helped sustain me, and (while they lived here), my kids under continual attack from a variety of sources.   I also was becoming increasingly aware of how useless major nonprofits were, and how many of them had simply lied to me, and other mothers, about their purposes.  There was no help available unless would become a client of a program, which compromised one’s liberty, privacy and freedom of movement.

I prioritized and began making better decisions about who to hang out with, and who was NOT a loss when it came to communications.  I also stayed alert to indicators (from afar) what was happening with my children.  To date, most of these have proved true (for what it’s worth), i.e., their father had abandoned them pretty quickly after obtaining custody (and a few other private matters).  I was ridiculed for speaking about this fraud, and outrage, and noticed that each time I sought help from the courts — or the District Attorney’s Office — they simply tried to pull in another program.   The larger context was manifesting itself more and more clearly.

I do not understand, yet, why so many mothers and women (and men) continue to prefer talk of personality, psychology, and only their local courtroom, and cannot see what is not a physical person in front of them, or a newspaper headline — that these things are organized in terms of networks connected to financing, and a basic setup, once solved, is often a pattern to how organizations work.

It is as though people are so used to being “Fed and Led” (Fed Information and Led to Respond only in certain ways) that they cannot change their path, even if leaving the comfort zone looks like a shorter route to success.   Perhaps the many hours I spent alone as a child, in one activity or another (and not highly supervised) simply allowed me to develop independently, and not feel so uncomfortable simply because I wasn’t on the beaten path.

Speaking of which, The Road Not Taken:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference. 

Robert Frost

Or perhaps it was curiosity, or perhaps the insistence on NOT following things that have been proven to make zero sense.  I’m sure living with domestic violence and learning how to respond QUICKLY to dangerous situations (in the home) including protecting the children (by fleeing or defusing, or avoiding, til I could get safe) helped.  I’m also sure that living with such a person (including the deceit, the tactics, the predictable patterns) also sharpened some recognition when it happens elsewhere.

So now, I am going to pull in just a few links to this ALEC and maybe talk about it more another day.

Like termites, or a computer virus, or underground pipe fissures, or an unsound foundation, some problems are not understood by the public until it’s simply too late, and then it’s often in the form of a disaster.   But the groups and people whose business it is can detect them earlier, but don’t always.  The fact is, our lives (speaking USA) are already so institutionalized, so internetworked and so interdependent by design that only the designers know for sure (if then) what the original purpose was, or guidelines.

But, by reading “historical” documents in some of these institutions — not just their own self-promotion, but a variety of critiques and explanations, and then pick which one MOST resembles current operating reality — we can get a better idea.  That’s one reason I am so interested in comparing documentation of groups I know to be running the court systems, at least parts of it, and contrast them with hard reality of the headlines, which include people dying around the divorce process, and no legal remedies within family law to stop the process of producing death-by-divorce, or death-by-saying-No!-to-abuse.

Language Change is a measure of thought — and operating systems — change.    In any society it is ALWAYS important to notice language and rhetoric, IF there is any intent to have a society with some basis in truth, and life based on some sort of sound principle, not just repeatedly responding to crises caused by craziness.

It’s probably time to revisit “Four Arguments For the Elimination of TV” by Jerry Mander, in which he talks about access to the airwaves, from the perspective of former publicist. Please review the article.  Here’s a small enough excerpt to remain, I believe, with in Fair Use compliance.  This was published (by permission) in Mother Earth News in 1978.

INTRODUCTION
THE BELLY OF THE BEAST

If this book has any basis in “authority,” it lies in the fifteen years I worked as a public relations and advertising executive. During that time, I learned that it is possible to speak through media directly into people’s heads and then, like some otherworldly magician, leave images inside that can cause people to do what they might otherwise never have thought to do.

. . .Here was a typical problem: A group of demonstrators would occupy a hotel lobby, demanding that blacks be hired at front-desk jobs, rather than bussing dishes in the coffee shop. Newspapers and television would run enormous stories about the demonstrations while editorially denouncing the tactics as “counterproductive to what might be worthy aims.” The stories concentrated upon sloppylooking demonstrators, moments of violence, and lengthy statements by officials about law and order. In an entire week’s news coverage there might be one passing reference to the fact that for forty previous years the hotel hadn’t hired a black person in a visible job. . . .

My evening clients, speaking of social issues, needed to organize hundreds of people into confrontative acts which could get them extensive, if often unfavorable, coverage. Or, if they chose less confrontative routes, they could spend weeks of time and all their hardwon nickels and dimes to organize press information programs which would, at their most successful, net them a few inches in the back of the newspaper.

Meanwhile, any of my daytime clients, speaking for commercial purposes, could and did buy advertising space and time worth tens of thousands of dollars. Then they would do it again the following week.

I already knew that, in America, all advertisers spent more than $25 billion a year to disseminate their information. Now, however, I was beginning to pay attention to an obvious, yet little noticed, aspect of this situation. Virtually all of the $25 billion was being spent by people who already had a great deal of money. These were the only people who could afford to pay $30,000 for one page of advertising in Time ($54,000 by 1977) or $50,000 for one minute of prime television time ($125,000 by 1977). Ordinary people and small businesses, even those which are successful by most standards, can rarely afford any advertising beyond the want ads, or a small local retail display. Only the very rich buy mass national advertising. And they do this to become richer. What other motive could they possibly have?

A.J. Liebling once said, “Freedom of the press is limited to those who own one.” I was learning that access to the press was similarly distorted by the possession of wealth. People with money had a 25-billion-to-nearly-zero advantage over people without money. The rich could simply buy access to the public mind while the not-rich had to seek more circuitous routes.
Read more: http://www.motherearthnews.com/Nature-Community/1978-09-01/Subliminal-Messages-From-TV.aspx?page=4#ixzz1kzLxLbbh

He (Jerry Mander) had a social conscience and was struggling with ways to act on it:

corporate policies . . .antithetical to simple rules of human well being, or justice or planetary survival. They finally added up to a single generalization: Corporations are inherently uninterested in considerations aside from the commercial.

We began to feel that our balancing act was draining us personally. At last we saw that it was doomed to fail. Maintaining commercial accounts in the hope of using the income from them to finance other projects about which we cared more deeply was not going to work out.

So tried the nonprofit route:

We soon decided to dissolve the agency, and I began to work with a number of other people to establish a foundation-funded, non-profit advertising and public relations office. The first in the country, it was called Public Interest Communications and it was devoted solely to working for community. organizations which are largely excluded from media. The project was launched in 1972 with a grant from the Stern Fund. It succeeded for a little while in performing useful services for ecologists and farm workers, consumer groups, Indian rights activists and peace groups. But keeping it alive proved difficult. The problems were much like those we had faced at Freeman, Mander and Gossage.

Whereas I had formerly spent a major part of my day keeping the agency going by caring for the needs of corporations, at Public Interest Communications we spent a majority of our time seeking grants from the few foundations interested in media reform.

Even worse, there was a feeling that everything we were doing was ineffective. A nameless juggernaut was advancing unretarded. We felt as if we were throwing snowballs at tanks . . .Unemployment was growing and welfare lines with it, yet in the end economic reform measures always seemed to hurt the very segments of the population they purported to help while the rich got richer.

Read more: http://www.motherearthnews.com/Nature-Community/1978-09-01/Subliminal-Messages-From-TV.aspx?page=6#ixzz1kzN6ryMx

DO YOU SEE THE ISSUE?   As Michael Moore was heard recently (on Tavis Smiley show, a panel with several people on it, including Suzy Orman.  I only caught a snippet, but for once this made perfect sense).  What we fail to acknowledge is that the poor serve a purpose to the wealthy to keep (he said, as I recall) the middle class in line.  If the wealthy were really so concerned about the poor, they’d give away the wealth, they certainly have enough! (or, I say, change policies that stop creating the poor generation after generation unnecessarily).

I also believe that the wealthy need the middle class to keep working the jobs (whether white collar or blue collar) which keeps them too busy to analyze what the corporations are doing with their wages, i.e., it takes a lot of time to hold down a professional career.   Also, the middle class must be taught to buy into the concept that their taxes (withholdings, etc.) actually DO provide social services (even though we know well enough when they don’t) to keep the rabble of poor off their doorsteps, and away from their sons and daughters.    While they may not totally buy the concept, that doesn’t stop people on that track, usually, from staying invested in it, and hoping that they are not bounced off into the realms of the poor, THIS round.

So, what I see (now that I’ve been bounced around so much — though for different systems) is that you CANNOT, just CANNOT answer this question without handling the money system, the income tax system, and the federal reserve issues, which are key.  It’s that simple.   The nonprofits are hostage to their funders, and cannot vary policy too far from it.  The foundations are key players, and the largest ones drive social policy at a national (and international) level including through work at think tanks from Harvard (including JFK School of Government), Princeton, Yale, Columbia, you name it.  Cornell . . . . and in general at the University level.      They fund institutes, “centers of excellence,” and so forth — entire schools of study.  So I call this level of professionals (often Ph.D.’s) the Sheepdogs.  Their careers are made from grants provided by some of these foundations and connections to schools of higher learning, “Think Tanks,” and so forth.

I’ve looked, studied, and reflected on this for several years, because I deserve answers, my kids should they ever want the information, deserve answers, the people who supported this and other families as they underwent custody or other system nightmares, deserve some explanation.

The people best situated to analyze systems are those who have moved from one segment to another — and ended up at either the top, or the bottom, of the “class” section of society.  Whether or not you like it, this class section is defined in large part by tax laws, and education (or lack of it) on how to profit from them, as well as how money actually works, let alone how business works.

Understand the role of language and framing, and why conservatives are so great at it:

We see (or you should by now!) how far AFCC got with its policy of transforming language — and how it did so.

I want you/ us / people to read this report — at least the introduction!

It’s from “CJCJ” which is probably how I ran across it, as CJCJ itself appears to be a nonprofit formed through Model legislation spearheaded for implementation at the state level, through connecting a nonprofit (CJCJ happens to have been formed by an about-to-retire Washington Judge, a very active one, Bobbe J. Bridges) with someone in state government, in this case Susan N. Dreyfuss came along neatly in 2009 to head up the state health and human resources department (funding $20 billion).  It is now coming back to me that I ran across Dreyfuss on an AHA (That’s American Human Association) collaboration of some sort — the usual kind you know, stopping child abuse by putting more men back in their offspring’s lives.  As I researched her background — even scratched the surface — and looked at the associated nonprofit — (meaning, at its TAX RETURNS and PROGRAM PURPOSES/ACCOMPLISHMENTS) it became clear that every single one tied directly to a major foundation with an agenda.

Pam Roach Report: Susan Dreyfus To Head DSHS

And that agenda was to reform justice, in a sweeping manner, according to anational model. And, I saw the blueprint discussed AS a national model.  Washington was a “Demonstration” state.

Hmm,  see this http://www.opd.wa.gov/Reports/Other%20Reports/2011_OPD_Proposal-SVP-Defense.pdf

NO, actually, that was a different group, CCYJ:

The Hon. Bobbe J. Bridge

CCYJ President and CEO, founded the Center for Children & Youth Justice in 2006. She served on the Washington State Supreme Court from 1999 to 2007 before retiring to lead the Center full-time in January 2008. She was a King County Superior Court judge from 1989 to 1999, served as Presiding Judge of the 51-member Superior Court for two years, and was the Chief Judge of King County Juvenile Court from 1994 to 1997. Before joining the bench, Justice Bridge was the first female partner at the Seattle law firm of Garvey Schubert Barer.

Recognized statewide and nationally as a leading advocate for foster care reform, domestic violence victims, truancy prevention, juvenile justice reform and a host of other issues, Justice Bridge also serves the community as a dedicated volunteer and philanthropist. She has been a member of the Boards of many nonprofit organizations, including YouthCare and the YWCA.

CCYJ is basically a mouthpiece of a variety of foundations (incl. Bill & Melinda Gates) with their ideas on how to reform criminal and juvenile justice, etc.  The phrase “out-come based” is welcome here, and shows up a lot.

CJCJ is a different group and based in a state South of Washington, like California

Here’s CJCJ “About Us”

Overview
Established in 1985 as the Western Regional Office of the National Center on Institutions and Alternatives (NCIA), the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice (CJCJ) is a nonprofit nonpartisan organization promoting a balanced and humane criminal justice system through the provision of direct services, technical assistance, and policy analysis.  CJCJ maintains a professional staff with diverse backgrounds and expertise. Our senior staff members possess over 30 years of experience in the criminal and juvenile justice field that includes program operations, policy development and analysis, technical assistance, nonprofit management, program evaluation, and organizational reform.  Headquartered in San Francisco, CJCJ is among the leading criminal justice agencies in the nation.

ANYHOW, at some point, it becomes impossible not to see how the pieces of the puzzle fit together.  We have corporate/foundation interests running our country, rewriting laws, and altering justice systems, too — to suit themselves, and without running it by the can’t stand up to them piddly state legislatures.  For a reminder, see my posts on MDRC, or go see it’s site again, look up “about us.”

The states also, including their budgets, are so radically tied to federal funding — particularly of welfare — that they can hardly be called independent any more.  And if the states are not independent from the Federal Government, neither are the citizens living in those states, which in fact, is proving to be so.

Here’s an excerpt to get you interested (I hope):

ABOUT THINK TANKS — and why conservatives are SO interested in forming lots of them.

Conservative think tanks have been successfully disseminating their message. The linguist George Lakoff has noted that:

Over the last 30 years their think tanks have made a heavy investment in ideas and in language. In 1970, [Supreme Court Justice] Lewis Powell wrote a fateful memo to the National Chamber of Commerce saying that all of our best students are becoming anti-business because of the Vietnam War, and that we needed to do something about it. Powell’s agenda included getting wealthy conservatives to set up professorships, setting up institutes on and off campus where intellectuals would write books from a conservative business perspective, and setting up think tanks. He outlined the whole thing in 1970. They set up the Heritage Foundation in 1973, and the Manhattan Institute after that. [There are many others, including the American Enterprise Instituteand the Hoover Institute at Stanford, which date from the 1940s.]

And now, as the New York Times Magazine quoted Paul Weyrich, who started the Heritage Foundation, they have 1,500 conservative radio talk show hosts. They have a huge, very good operation, and they understand their own moral system. They understand what unites conservatives, and they understand how to talk about it, and they are constantly updating their research on how best to express their ideas (Lakoff, 2003).

Think tanks are indeed powerful in today’s society. ALEC is one among many examples.

From the top of this report by the “CENTER ON JUVENILE AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE” by Randall G. Shelden, M.A, Ph.D Senior Research Fellow, Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice — this is a research brief from April 2011 on the AMERICAN LEGISLATIVE EXCHANGE COUNCIL.  Please read this intro, which then segues into the Lakoff quote, above:

It is important to state at the outset of this report that conservatives tend to be significantly more punitive than liberals (Shelden, 2011). Since virtually all members of ALEC are conservatives it is only logical that their legislation would be punitive, which has been historically demonstrated by this organization.

ALEC is one among several hundred think tanks in the United States (plus many more in foreign countries). According to Source Watch (2011) “There are twice as many conservative think tanks as liberal ones, and the conservative ones generally have more money.” Indeed, as one writer stated “there is a big imbalance in the amount of cash that goes into left and rightwing think tanks. Over the past two years, [-] think tanks pushing the conservative agenda had received $295 million, while leftwing institutions were given just $75 million” (Teather, 2005). Most think tanks, both left and right-leaning, have “resident experts” with titles such as “senior fellow” or “adjunct scholar.” However, in the case of right-leaning think tanks this does not always indicate that they have an academic degree in their claimed area of expertise. While it is certainly true that outside funding can corrupt the integrity of academic institutions, this is even more prevalent with think tanks.

A problematic aspect of think tanks is that they “are like universities minus the students and minus the systems of peer review and other mechanisms that academia uses to promote diversity of thought. Real academics are expected to conduct their research first and draw their conclusions second, but this process is often reversed at most policy-driven think tanks” (Source Watch, 2011). One writer has noted that the term “think tank” is really a misnomer, saying “They don’t think; they justify” (Source Watch, 2011).

And an earlier one:

Corporate America’s Trojan Horse in the States  The Untold Story Behind the American Legislative Exchange Council

Chapter One — OverviewThis report examines the history, finances, and activities of the American Legislative Exchange Council, a 501(c)(3) organization with headquarters in Washington, D.C., that bills itself as �the nation�s largest bipartisan, individual membership association of state legislators.� As this report shows, however, ALEC is little more than a tax-exempt screen for major U.S. corporations and trade associations that use it to influence legislative activities at the state level. ALEC allows these corporations to do what they couldn�t attempt directly or openly without risking public criticism. They funnel cash through ALEC to curry favor with state lawmakers through junkets and other largesse in the hopes of enacting special-interest legislation � all the while keeping safely outside the public eye. The organization�s national meetings appear to be mostly window dressing for policy decisions that have already been made, either within the organization�s offices in Washington, D.C., or in closed consultations with the corporations and other like- minded interests that finance virtually all its activities. Indeed, the state legislators who attend ALEC meetings are joined by the platoons of lobbyists, corporate executives, and representatives of assorted trade and professional associations who pay to have the lawmakers as their captive audience.  The tie that binds is money, and ALEC�s major underwriters have included the now-disgraced Enron Corporation, as well as the American Nuclear Energy Council, the American Petroleum Institute, Amoco, Chevron, Coors Brewing Company, Shell, Texaco, Chlorine Chemistry Council, Union Pacific Railroad, Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America, Waste Management, Philip Morris Management Corporation, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco and many other of the nation�s major corporations and trade associations.  Founded in 1973 by conservative activist Paul Weyrich, ALEC occupies prime office space in downtown Washington, operates on an annual budget of roughly $6 million, and employs a full-time staff of around thirty. In its early years, reflecting Weyrich�s vision, ALEC focused almost exclusively on the hot-button social issues on the right-wing�s political agenda � anti-abortion, anti-feminist, anti-voting rights for the District of Columbia. In the late 1980s, however, ALEC abandoned most of these issues in favor of those that had the benefit of attracting substantial corporate donations.

Less talk from me = I hope more reading from you.

This section developed in the middle of yesterday’s post summarizing the memorable event of 1996, namely former President Bill Clinton’s signing of the welfare bill, and the after-effects of creating an invasive and power-to-incarcerate (and garnish paychecks) child support system upon the entire nation.  Don’t ask me which search led to discovering “PERSONHOOD Ohio” but once it did, it definitely had my attention!

I have grappled with the implications and wish to explain that this is NOT a “Christian” view or anything resembling it, if “Christian” has anything to do with actually reading the Bible, understanding to whom its various books were addressed, what millennium (and stage of the history of The Chosen People they were addressed), having a vague concept of “context,” and (finally) in general, exhibiting what is pretty darn clear in the gospels, Acts and New Testament, is the gist and purpose of Christians and their relationship to the present world.  It’s in that last part where the contradictions are most extreme – - while Jesus said “my kingdom is not of this world,” the so-called followers have been very much concerned with establishing all kinds of kingdoms and dominions and exerting institutional (not spiritual) control over this world.

Finally, a little closer look shows that very accurate scriptural reading (in fact by translators through the centuries) which builds the habit of at least, attention, has produced men who contributed ALSO scientific advances in the study of the human body and who helped topple abusive and murderous regimes.  Why?  Because they were out of step with their times, and followed their instinctual love of observation, logic, attention to detail and consistently comparing what scripture read to what the religious leaders of their times pushed forth.

It seems that attention in language also relates to attention in science.

Others of this, though they still retained various prejudices (I’m now reading how Martin Luther was also anti-Semite) (and we know that the founders of this country, many, were slaveowners), they STILL changed the status quo for the better by challenging the FOUNDATION of man’s authority over man.

_ _ _ _

There is a point to limiting abortion, for example, partial-birth abortion (I don’t believe that either Bush or Obama were that great on this issue.  I’ll check, though).  It can get out of hand, and the fact is that aborting a fetus DOES end a life, and/or a potential life.  But that is no excuse for the kind of rhetoric, or propositions that PERSON HOOD Ohio puts forth, or how it puts them forth.  True to the religious tradition (se e”Inquisition” “Crusades” “Holocaust” (Hitler was a “Christian,” right? ), when they can’t persuade people by reason — or example, they call up on God and then head towards military or governmental domination by force.  Not exactly Jesus’ methods, who “humbled himself unto death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians) before GOD (and not his fellow men) exalted him.

I have been listening (some) to analysis of the Republican candidates for President of the U.S.A.   Not real encouraging.  I heard Michelle Bachmann speak today on “Facing the Nation” (TV).  Yuck, dripping with sincerity, as is Romney.  I also heard Florida Congressman Debbie Wasserman Schulz (Head of DNC).   And I’m opposed to “Obamacare.”   I hope this post (for those who get through it) may outline some of the heritage and mentality of this element within the Republican Party, and why they are such a joke to truth, logic, and honesty — which are THE most important qualifications we should demand as voters to anyone heading up this country.

I grappled with this for two days.  Any further linguistic or grammar mistakes (through incomplete edits or omissions), you can read the overall and get the gist of my message, I’m sure.

So, POST is in two parts:

(1)

The extended introduction (in conversational form) I hope outlines why I stand where I do, and why those who have not yet confronted within themselves the existence of “evil” (as well as “good”) in this world, as a just about tangible entity, are simply not qualified to help others, and will be used by them.

Probably 95% of the “intervention” and behavioral change programs we all are paying for (through out government) do not accept the existence of evil and/or good per se, and hence have to fabricate different ways to describe a situation, such as pathology or lack of education.  This works great of you are a forensic psychologist or LOVE educational theories and testing them on OP (other people).

The book of Hebrews 5 puts it this way:

14But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

Meat is a metaphor (?) for  knowledge, that which, when chewed it up, swallowed, digested & assimilated (don’t forget excreting the indigestible!) results in understanding (discernment).  This usage seems consistent throughout the Bible, referring to doctrine or knowledge as something eaten or drunk.  For example, “a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump” or “I am the bread of life” (spoken in John 6, after a miraculous expansion of loaves & fishes to feed the multitudes), or “Desire the sincere milk of the word,” etc.  It’s throughout.  People worked harder for food in those days than our pre-processed, shrink-wrapped, fast-foods, a supermarket on the corner society;  it was obviously significant.  They also were likely more aware of what it took to get from plant or animal to the mouth.

The act of eating and drinking brings something into ones body for use, breakdown into component parts and nourishment, excreting the indigestible, etc.  It takes time and energy and it’s a good analogy and simple one — typical of the book.  Jesus in John 4:34 said “my meat is to the will of him that sent me and to finish his work.”  How simple is that?  It’s what sustained him, gave him energy even when he was (as in that case) tired.

In that verse, I hear, those who have not practiced discerning (separating) GOOD from EVIL are not ready for strong meat.  This is part of digesting truth– knowing the difference. And knowing that difference is as important as taste, it is vital to life.  (Imagine, if you could not taste ingested poison!) Sense are to be exercised to discern the difference, and this happens through practice — it is an acquired skill

We live, however, in a time of force-fed progaganda through mass media which is EVERYwhere, for the most part, containing words, images, and sounds.  It is even more important now to discern good from evil (let alone true from false).  Unless we’re OK with intravenous feeding (pre-processed, with censorship) of the thoughts and ideas that drive our lives, and governments.

In Hebrews 5 context, one hears the writer’s exasperation, reviewing basic principles of who is Christ as a Priest after the order of Melchizidek (bear with me a moment, OK?) it appears even then, matters of “personhood” (namely, Christ’s) were somewhat confused and needed to be set straight.  The writer scolds the listeners for needing to be taught again — by now, they should be teachers, but apparently they hadn’t sharpened their tools (“senses”) through use.  The chapter is dealing with the topic of a priest, commonly understood even now, as to be someone who intercedes, being a man, on behalf of men, vis a vis God:

5So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee. {{i.e., high priests are called — they don’t call themselves.  Christ didn’t call himself, ergo was not “God”}} 6As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. 7Who in the days of his flesh, when he (Jesus) had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him (God) that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; 8Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; 9And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; 10Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec. 11Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. 12For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. 13For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.

No wonder, centuries ago, a method of living together within the U.S., which restrained the religiously zealous and equally indoctrinated, was devised, in good part by those who were less than convinced, some of them possibly of the miraculous, spiritual matters, and etc., though they accepted Jesus’ summary of ethics.  They wisely saw that matters of spirituality should not be legislated, indeed could not, and put some chains on the thing.   This was 1700s; being quite aware of recent history and realizing this could lead to more wars, bloodshed, book-burnings, and burnings at the stake, creating a caste of fugitives — again, somehow, then, a Declaration of Independence, a War FOR Independence and a Constitution (and Bill of Rights) were consolidated.  EVERy US President who takes office, and many other (not all) public leaders, have to swear allegiance to it, to uphold and defend it.  Ha, ha, ha. ….

Most of mainstream Christianity — and I’m going to hazard a guess that PERSONHOOD Ohio is somewhere in the mix — has accepted, according to the powers that be, that there is a trinity, that Jesus Christ was in fact God, and that’s that.  This, I am finding out, has ramifications far, far beyond the realm of religion and spirituality, because it gets down to matters as simple as, can you (did you?) read what’s written, or are you making it up as you go?

WOULD YOU?

And I do not want people “making it up as they go” to be determining whether my daughters, for example, “God forbid,” should they become pregnant by rape or other horrible deed, to be subjected to a nationwide, religious-based criminalization of them for not following through with childbirth, based on the convoluted determination of when life begins by people who have far less concern apparently about loss of life after such pregnancies, or in the foster care system, for example.

Today on the news, there was a horrible statistic, in which a 19 year old male is suspected (not convicted) of stabbing to death the mother of their child, who happens to be 15 years old.  The child was 9 months old, so potentially, it could’ve been an age-fourteen childbirth, or age-fifteen, but either way, that child is now motherless, and (due to imminent jail) fatherless.   Interview with the victim’s younger brother indicated they were arguing with who gets the baby for weekends, i.e., custody.    It appears that the young woman was living with her family who seemed supportive, yet imagine if this 14-year old had used contraception and not such tragedy started this child’s life — imagine, 10 years from now, and that not being an option.

AND THEN I HAVE BELOW, PART 2:

(2)

This part, with lots of scripture quotes, is a little FAQ for anyone who might oppose the general concept of giving fertilized eggs personhood and criminalizing ALL abortion, no matter for what cause.

A little scriptural ammo, in case you get tired of simply citing separation of church and state, or civil rights for same-sex marriage (an argument I’m sure won’t be won among this crowd).

“PERSONHOOD Ohio” (and they’re in other states) really got under my skin yesterday, because of their simple, consistent, bludgeoning of their own scripture (mine too), while citing it to stop, potentially, things like contraception and increase the ranks of babies brought into this world.  Pray you don’t hire one as a defense attorney!  The same habit in legal field would spit out irrelevant cites, and potentially make a fool of your case in court.  In the medical field, it could justify dangerous and wildly inaccurate procedures based on simply not taking the time to look carefully, and in a detached, objective manner, at the facts.

On the website, the inaccuracy, the improper handling of scripture (which isn’t THAT hard to read, the portions they quoted) was then carried over into their handlings of statistics (rarely produced) and, just a side note, the corporate status of one of the two groups (with the same incorporator & street address) HAS expired, it reads “cancelled” (for failure to file) — yet they are still advertising in more than one state for donations.  Typical!

MY RESPONSE:

I am angry at myself for having engaged in the foolishness of this group, and have tried to redeem the lost time by publishing what I found looking more closely.   Just how truly sloppy the quotation and cites were, not to mention out of context and anachronistic.   This type of observation applied to the  most important book such groups supposedly use for backup should not be overlooked.  You have my permission to engage and if possible expose how flimsy the reasoning is.  Please do, and do so on-line IF you have processed the information.

This may (??) have a little more impact than simply fighting them by saying, you’re religious, religious groups are anti-gay, anti-abortion, etc.  Beat them on their own ground, which is shaky.  If they want to come out of superficial and fraudulent spirituality back into the land of observable facts, then that also could be engaged.

I realize this particular group is definitely not the most powerful one around, or significant, but principles count, and the prime climate for fascist takeover is confusion.  (See Naomi Klein, “The Shock Doctrine”).   They are being “used” and can be used by anyone.

The matter of abortion IS a legitimate issue, and this is not an easy one — it does bring into conflict the purpose and meaning of life.  That is a deep discussion — but some simply do not qualify to even be at that table, at least not from the Biblical side.

As the prime “excuse for abuse” in my life (last third of it anyhow) — including my “excuse” for trying just a little harder than average to resolve the issues before separating — has been “faith” and belief in the importance of marriage, and the redemptive qualities of God, while similarly HIS excuse for every single type of abuse (when challenged) was that as a male, he was head of the household, period — this matter of spirituality vs. religion got a LOT of air time in my thinking over the years.  Then, after separation, it was used to mock and belittle me (and others) in the family law system, while I absolutely know that my practice was not over the top, and was marked throughout by a lifetime of tolerance and ability to get along with all kinds of people and groups.

I have no idea what the self-excuses were for the multiple religious people & groups who saw, and did nothing other than open their doors occasionally for an overnight when we fled.  Somehow, it never disrupted their routine more than temporarily and I cannot see that anyone changed their viewpoints to actually, NEXT time, call the police and seek to get a batterer arrested, seeing as it is a crime.  I carry a long list and awareness of just who in which communities was involved, and note that their passivity in the face of such outrage is matched by those of their flocks.

But I know that all of these fell into the categories above of black ink.  Not red, and not blue.  Who knows, perhaps I have something to do in this lifetime to push back some of the curtains and help with some language interpretation, from the inside out.

Tax Perks for Religious Groups need to Go!

When I say that I truly believe NO church, mosque, or synagogue should receive ANY nonprofit status — I am utterly serious.  Let them balance their books like everyone else, and stop fleecing their own flocks, while doing soup kitchens and sometimes even opening doors to homeless created, in part, by their own policies of silence on spouse abuse, and complicit in systemic oppression of their own populations, then meeting weekly to solace them in their distress and poverty.

That was intro.  Here we go:

(1)

The world may, it seems, be classified into those who are/who:

• NOT RELIGIOUS, OR “SPIRITUAL” BUT STRIVES TO BE ETHICAL & TOLERANT WITHIN SOCIETY

• VAGUELY (OR SPECIFICALLY) “SPIRITUAL,” BUT NOT ATTENDING

• HONESTLY UNINTERESTED IN THE AFTERLIFE, BUT ATTEMPT TO LIVE HONESTLY & ETHICALLY & PRODUCTIVELY IN THIS ONE.

• INTEND TO RUN THE WORLD (WITH COLLEAGUES) BY ANY MEANS, NECESSARY, INCL. WAR &/OR GENOCIDE OF “INFERIORS,” AND HAS A PLAN IN OPERATION, TRAP SET BUT HAS NOT YET BEEN SPRUNG.

Translations of the Reformers – Martin Luther, William Tyndale, and Myles Coverdale

(2)

, PARSED

Would you want someone who cites Bible (but can’t read it straight, and doesn’t quote it straight either, or in context)?  They seem about as accurate when citing the number of abortions per year in their own state.

FYI, There are 165 corporations with the name “fathers” (I only searched on that), in OHIO alone, many of them “cancelled” etc.  Some are religious, but many appear to be addressing this problem we have with the fights engendered by state-incentivized child support collections in combo with the custody courts.  There is ALSO a movement to outlaw no-fault divorce in Ohio, however, this was pushed by out-of-state organizations (Can you spell, National Council on Family Relations?) However two in Franklin County, are active, with the acronym “FACE” for “Fathers And Children’s Equity.”  The one above is not listed, that I can see.  Several were cancelled for simply failing to file renewals.   Ohio Practitioners Network for Fathers & Families (formed in 2007) still is active and I’ve blogged them; they helped lobby for this fatherhood commission.

Gen 1:27

So God 430 created 1254 man 120 in his [own] image 6754, in the image 6754 of God 430created 1254 he him; male 2145 and female 5347created 1254 he them.

Gen 2:3

And God 430 blessed 1288 the seventh 7637 day3117, and sanctified 6942 it: because 3588 that in it he had rested 7673 from all his work 4399which God 430 created 1254 and made 6213 .  (Closure.  Now, new topic, after that intro 1:1-2:3)
	Gen 2:4	¶	These 428 [are] the generations 8435 of the heavens 8064 and of the earth 776 when they were created 1254 , in the day 3117 that the LORD 3068 God 430 made 6213 the earth 776 and the heavens 8064,
	Gen 2:5		And every plant 7880 of the field 7704 before2962 it was in the earth 776, and every herb 6212of the field 7704 before 2962 it grew 6779 : for3588 the LORD 3068 God 430 had not 3808 caused it to rain 4305 upon the earth 776, and [there was] not 369 a man 120 to till 5647 the ground127.
	Gen 2:6		But there went up 5927 a mist 108 from 4480 the earth 776, and watered 8248 the whole face 6440of the ground 127.
	Gen 2:7		And the LORD 3068 God 430 formed 3335 man 120[of] the dust 6083 of 4480 the ground 127, and breathed 5301(NAPHACH)  into his nostrils 639 the breath5397 of life 2416; and man 120 became a living2416 soul 5315(NEPHESH).
	Gen 2:8	¶	And the LORD 3068 God 430 planted 5193 a garden 1588 eastward 6924 in Eden 5731; and there 8033 he put 7760 the man 120 whom 834 he had formed 3335 .

Spirit-Create // a man FORMED – Breath into Nostrils = Living Soul. . . .

Jhn 6:63

It is 2076 the spirit 4151 that quickeneth 2227; the flesh 45613756 profiteth 5623 nothing 3762: the words 4487 that 3739 I1473 speak 2980 unto you 5213, [they] are 2076 spirit 4151, and2532 [they] are 2076 life 2222.

Jhn 4:23

But 235 the hour 5610 cometh 2064, and 2532 now 3568 is 2076, when 3753 the true 228 worshippers 4353 shall worship 4352the Father 3962 in 1722 spirit 4151 and 2532 in truth 225: for2532 1063 the Father 3962 seeketh 2212 such 5108 to worship4352 him 846.

Below is the exact phrase.
Jhn 4:24	God 2316 [is] a Spirit 4151: and 2532 they that worship 4352 him846 must 1163 worship 4352 [him] in 1722 spirit 4151 and 2532 intruth 225.

“The Bible Proves When Life Begins“

It is a verifiable fact of the Holy Bible that life begins in the womb. The Bible confirms repeatedly that a woman is pregnant with a “child” – not “products of conception”, not “a blob of tissue”. *** {{note:  Paper Tiger logical fallacy, to lend more credibility}} In Genesis 25, Rebekah’s “children” struggled within her. In Psalm 139, the inspired writer insists that he existed in his mother’s womb** - not a non-living, non-human “product of conception” that became him later on. Pregnant women were considered “great with child“, and Jesus’ mother Mary was found “with child of the Holy Ghost.”

IN CONTEXT (sorry about all the extra “buttons” in the left column):  The psalm is about the LORD knowing David inside out.   It is not talking about human reproductive processes.  It also has repetitions, hyperbole, etc. which is lost if one references a piece of it out of context.  Talk about missing the main point!

	Psa 139:1	¶	[[To the chief Musician 5329 , A Psalm 4210 of David 1732.]] O LORD 3068, thou hast searched2713 me, and known 3045 [me].
	Psa 139:2		Thou knowest 3045 my downsitting 3427 and mine uprising 6965 , thou understandest 995my thought 7454 afar off 7350.
	Psa 139:3		Thou compassest 2219 my path 734 and my lying down 7252, and art acquainted 5532[with] all my ways 1870.
	Psa 139:4		For [there is] not a word 4405 in my tongue3956, [but], lo, O LORD 3068, thou knowest3045 it altogether.
	Psa 139:5		Thou hast beset 6696 me behind 268 and before 6924, and laid 7896 thine hand 3709upon me.
	Psa 139:6		[Such] knowledge 1847 [is] too wonderful 63836383 for me; it is high 7682 , I cannot 3201[attain] unto it.
	Psa 139:7		Whither shall I go 3212 from thy spirit 7307? or whither shall I flee 1272 from thy presence6440?
	Psa 139:8		If I ascend up 5266 into heaven 8064, thou [art] there: if I make my bed 3331 in hell 7585, behold, thou [art there].
	Psa 139:9		[If] I take 5375 the wings 3671 of the morning7837, [and] dwell 7931 in the uttermost parts319 of the sea 3220;
	Psa 139:10		Even there shall thy hand 3027 lead 5148 me, and thy right hand 3225 shall hold 270 me.

Again, this is not talking about “existence” but God’s knowing, including foreknowledge.   The Ohio group writes:  ”In Psalm 139, the inspired writer insists that he existed in his mother’s womb**”For one, this is talking about a particular and notable individual, namely a prophet.  For another, by this same there must be reincarnation (surely not a topic for legislation?) because God has foreknowledge of ALL his elect, so perhaps “personhood” began before your Mama was born too.  But that’s irrelevant to the point.Anyhow, there is in the Bible, more than one form of life. Speaking of the resurrection (again, not a topic for constitutional amendments, or so I at least sure hope!) in I Corinthian 15, the apostle Paul, a better arguer than these present, finally lays it out to people who do NOT believe in said resurrection (something he’d personally staked his life on):

After laying out the gospel, again, and clarifying that his hope in Christ is about a future life, not this one, he summarizes:

	1Cr 15:34		Awake 1594 to righteousness 1346, and 2532 sin264 not 3361; for 1063 some 5100 have 2192 not the knowledge 56 of God 2316: I speak 3004[this] to 4314 your 5213 shame 1791.
	1Cr 15:35	¶	But 235 some 5100 [man] will say 2046 , How 4459are 1453 0 the dead 3498 raised up 1453 ? and1161 with what 4169 body 4983 do they come2064 ?

The same crowd is carrying out the same argument, right now, about how they are born.   Next words, “THOU FOOL!”

	1Cr 15:36		[Thou] fool 878, that which 3739 thou 4771sowest 4687 is 2227 0 not 3756 quickened 2227 , except 3362 it die 599 :
	1Cr 15:37		And 2532 that which 3739 thou sowest 4687 , thou sowest 4687 not 3756 that body 4983 that shall be 1096 , but 235 bare 1131 grain 2848, it may chance 1487 5177 of wheat 4621, or 2228 of some 5100 other 3062 [grain]:
	1Cr 15:38		But 1161 God 2316 giveth 1325 it 846 a body 4983as 2531 it hath pleased him 2309 , and 2532 to every 1538 seed 4690 his own 2398 body 4983.

He then clarifies, again, that the gospel is dealing with the resurrection and attending changes and in order.  NOtice the parallels and repetition, contrasting opposites; making it clear for those of simple understanding who seem confused on the matter.  I can imagine a person talking as if to a child, no insult meant to children:  All the qualities listed after “it is raised in” refer to spiritual power in resurrection.

	1Cr 15:42		So 3779 also 2532 [is] the resurrection 386 of the dead 3498. It is sown 4687 in 1722 corruption5356; it is raised 1453 in 1722 incorruption 861:
	1Cr 15:43		It is sown 4687 in 1722 dishonour 819; it is raised1453 in 1722 glory 1391: it is sown 4687 in 1722weakness 769; it is raised 1453 in 1722 power1411:
	1Cr 15:44		It is sown 4687 a natural 5591 body 4983; it is raised 1453 a spiritual 4152 body 4983. There is2076 a natural 5591 body 4983, and 2532 there is2076 a spiritual 4152 body 4983.
	1Cr 15:45		And 2532 so 3779 it is written 1125 , The first4413 man 444 Adam 76 was made 1096 1519 a living 2198 soul 5590; the last 2078 Adam 76 [was made] 1519 a quickening 2227 spirit 4151.
	1Cr 15:46		Howbeit 235 that [was] not 3756 first 4412 which is spiritual 4152, but 235 that which is natural5591; and afterward 1899 that which is spiritual4152.

	Psa 139:13		For thou hast possessed 7069 my reins 3629: thou hast covered 5526 me in my mother’s 517womb 990.
	Psa 139:14		I will praise 3034 thee; for I am fearfully 3372[and] wonderfully made 6395 : marvellous 6381[are] thy works 4639; and [that] my soul 5315knoweth 3045 right well 3966.
	Psa 139:15		My substance 6108 was not hid 3582 from thee, when I was made 6213** in secret 5643, [and] curiously wrought 7551 in the lowest parts8482 of the earth 776.
	Psa 139:16		Thine eyes 5869 did see 7200 my substance, yet being unperfect 1564; and in thy book 5612all [my members] were written 3789 , [which] in continuance 3117 were fashioned 3335 , when [as yet there was] none 259 of them.
	Psa 139:17		How precious 3365 also are thy thoughts 7454unto me, O God 410! how great 6105 is the sum 7218 of them!

“The Bible Proves When Life Begins”  (Thou fool! What kind of life?)*

 CONTINUED:

“Some have argued that since Adam did not begin to live until God breathed life into his nostrils, then therefore no one begins to live until they breathe air.”

Some have argued that since Adam did not begin to live until God breathed life into his nostrils, then therefore no one begins to live until they breathe air. However, God created Adam differently than he created the rest of humanity. He created Adam as an adult without a mother or a human father. The circumstances of his creation have no bearing on the creation of his posterity.** Moreover, although children in the womb do not breathe air into their lungs, they do require air to survive, and that air is diffused in their bloodstream from the air in the mother’s lungs. (*)

Michael Servetus (1509 or 1511-October 27, 1553), a Spaniard martyred in the Reformation for his criticism of the doctrine of the trinity and his opposition to infant baptism, has often been considered an early unitarian. . . . Widespread aversion to Servetus’ death has been taken as signaling the birth in Europe of religious tolerance, a principle now more important to modern Unitarian Universalists than antitrinitarianism. Servetus is also celebrated as a pioneering physician. He was the first to publish a description of the blood’s circulation through the lungs.

The great men of science of today stand on the shoulders of giants. Joseph Priestley was one such intellectual “giant” whose works laid the foundation for that branch of science which we now call Chemistry. Although Priestley is best known for his experiments with gases especially that which we now call oxygen, he was extraordinarily prolific in his writings on other areas of intellectual endeavors. He had important contributions in the fields of education, moral philosophy, theology, metaphysics, political economy, history and physical science.Joseph Priestley was born at Fieldhead, in the parish of Birstal, not far from Leeds, in the northern English county of Yorkshire, on March 13, 1733 according to the Old Style Calendar, the Gregorian calendar not coming into use until 1751, after which he celebrated on March 24. He was the oldest of the six children – four sons and two daughters – of Jonas Priestley, a dresser and finisher of cloth and Mary Swift, a farmer’s daughter. Mary, having children so fast, sent Joseph as an infant to live at his maternal grandfather’s farm some miles away, returning to his father’s house after his mother’s death only to be adopted by his childless Aunt Sarah (Mrs. John Keighly, his father’s sister) when he was nine. It was at the Keighly household that he was exposed to discussions of theological questions and to liberal political attitudes for many of the dissenting ministers of the neighborhood were welcome there. He remained with his aunt until her death in 1764. (ca. AGE 13)During his boyhood, Joseph went to the local schools where he learned Greek and Latin at an early age, and during school holidays, Hebrew. In his mid teens he fell seriously ill with tuberculosis of the lungs, was forced to drop out of school, and for a time abandoned his plan of entering the ministry. As he gathered strength after his illness, he taught himself** French, Italian, and German and learned Chaldean, Syrian and Arabic. Privately, he also learned the rudiments of geometry, algebra and mathematics.

Restoring “Personhood” to Those Unlawfully Deprived of It

Our American forefathers stated in the Declaration of Independence, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…”

You have the right to life and liberty because you are created “in the image of God” (Genesis 1:26-27). *** Not because you are wanted, not because you are fully developed, not because of your size, not because of the circumstances surrounding your conception, and not because of where you live – your rights come from God. You possess these rights by virtue of His law which forbids others to assault you, steal from you, or kill you. Moreover, your God-given rights are inalienable; that is, irrevocable except for punishment for a crime.

When precisely were you “created in the image of God”? When did your life begin? When did you first have the right to live?

One of the most convincing passages proving that the preborn had full human status is found in Exodus 21:22-24.

	Hbr 4:12		For 1063 the word 3056 of God 2316 [is] quick 2198, and 2532 powerful 1756, and 2532 sharper 5114than 5228 any 3956 twoedged 1366 sword 3162, piercing 1338 even to 891 the dividing asunder3311 of soul 5590 and 5037 2532 spirit 4151, and5037 2532 of the joints 719 and 2532 marrow 3452, and 2532 [is] a discerner 2924 of the thoughts1761 and 2532 intents 1771 of the heart 2588.
	Hbr 4:13		Neither 2532 3756 is there 2076 any creature 2937that is not manifest 852 in his 846 sight 1799: but1161 all things 3956 [are] naked 1131 and 2532opened 5136 unto the eyes 3788 of him 846 with4314 whom 3739 we have 2254 to do 3056.

Severe penalties for murder particularly intentional murder, which is different than accidental:

12	¶ He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall be surely put to death. Lev. 24.17
13	And if a man lie not in wait, but God deliver him into his hand; then I will appoint thee a place whither he shall flee. Num. 35.10-34 · Deut. 19.1-13 ·Josh. 20.1-9
14	But if a man come presumptuously upon his neighbor, to slay him with guile; thou shalt take him from mine altar, that he may die.{{sounds like the Lord will personally deal with pre-meditated murder}}
15	¶ And he that smiteth his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death.{{PERSONHOOD OHIO, any comments?? _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _}}
16	¶ And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death. Deut. 24.7 {{that should reduce the human trafficking trade….}}
17	¶ And he that curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death. Lev. 20.9 · Mt. 15.4 · Mk. 7.10

OK, now that we have the context, there are circumstances in which, under the law, it’s permissible and even “the law” (Thou SHALT) to kill children.  And adults.  Even though they are all (allegedly) created in the image of God.  This is within a community, within Israel — and is not talking about the entire world…   Context, context!

18	¶ And if men strive together, and one smite another with a stone, or withhisfist, and he die not, but keepethhisbed:
19	if he rise again, and walk abroad upon his staff, then shall he that smotehimbe quit: only he shall payforthe loss of his time, and shall causehimto be thoroughly healed.

Surely we see parallels today, in damages, “tort” law, etc.

Now here they are when smiting a servant results in death — is it a “life for a life” there?

22	¶ If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit departfrom her,and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman’s husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judgesdetermine.

I don’t know what “her fruit depart from her” but I know it doesn’t call it a “preborn” and it also calls it HER fruit.  Not her child.  The husband gets to set the fine, and judges are involved.  This may refer to premature delivery — because that fruit departed from her, and the mischief may mean either whether the “Fruit” survives, or whether she is injured to the point can’t bear more — at this point, I don’t know.

23	And ifanymischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life,
24	eye for eye, tooth for tooth,Lev. 24.19, 20 · Deut. 19.21 · Mt. 5.38 hand for hand, foot for foot,
25	burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.

DEUT 19:21……

19	And if a man cause a blemish in his neighbor; as he hath done, so shall it be done to him;
20	breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth: Ex. 21.23-25 · Deut. 19.21 · Mt. 5.38 as he hath caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be done to himagain.

Sounds like “mischief”means physical injury or disfigurement.  The next verses (in Exodus) next address disfiguring servants.  No one said this book wasn’t orderly! Here it goes, if a MAN smite a manservant and disfigurement, the punishment is, the person goes free (i.e., he loses what profit they’d have brought him).  Eye, or tooth.  In today’s terms, serious physical injury (for DV) distinguishes between felony & misdemeanor level (in my state).  it’s a moot point because typically they go to family law, or the case is dropped anyhow:

26	¶ And if a man smite the eye of his servant, or the eye of his maid, that it perish; he shall let him go free for his eye’s sake.
27	And if he smite out his manservant’s tooth, or his maidservant’s tooth; he shall let him go free for his tooth’s sake.

That’s criminal negligence, and the punishment is death to the owner of the ox.  No mention is made of what happens if he also has a family and children.  he was careless.  No animal training or batterers intervention classes for this!BUT — he may have a chance to pay his way out of being put to death in this situation:

30	If there be laid on him a sum of money, then he shall give for the ransom of his life whatsoever is laid upon him.
31	Whether he have gored a son, or have gored a daughter, according to this judgment shall it be done unto him.

SEE?  Biblical ERA — at least a piece of it, when it comes to animals that kill, there is some punitive deterrence.

Of course, again, slaves are a different matter and in a different category:

32	If the ox shall push a manservant or a maidservant; he shall give unto their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.

It rather does center around business expense and damages, don’t you think?  However manservants and maidservants were definitely above beasts of burden.  Also note:  How many people do you think it takes to stone an ox to death?  One or two?  I think there’s a lesson in there, in the spectacle, to other possibly careless owners.  cf. in our day, perhaps, drunk driving?   ??

33	¶ And if a man shall open a pit, or if a man shall dig a pit, and not cover it, and an ox or an ass fall therein;
34	the owner of the pit shall make it good, and give money unto the owner of them; and the dead beast shall be his.
35	¶ And if one man’s ox hurt another’s that he die; then they shall sell the live ox, and divide the money of it; and the dead ox also they shall divide.
36	Or if it be known that the ox hath used to push in time past, and his owner hath not kept him in; he shall surely pay ox for ox; and the dead shall be his own.

It seems that this LORD doesn’t like negligence or poor stewardship which harms others, even their animals.  However, there’s not too severe punishment on a man that actually beats a manservant or maidservant TO DEATH.   In the whole context, the section about causing a miscarriage and injury after doesn’t say “and if the child die or is born disfigured,” and it takes up less verbiage than the sections on servants and the sections on beasts of burden.   ! ! !

Seeing that spelled out, here’s the Ohio Group’s summary of the same section — the exact same section.  I’ll precede with “PO”

PO:  ”The passage says that if a man carelessly injures a pregnant woman”

PO:   “and she has a premature delivery, yet no lasting harm follows to the mother or the child,”

PO:   “he shall be punished for his carelessness as the judges determine. However, if the mother or child are injured or killed,”

It says nothing about carelessness or HOW they hurt her.  The condition invoking the penalty is simply that they hurt her, resulting in her fruit departing.  Stop adding words!

Does “mischief follow” mean “be injured or killed” and did it say “mother or child”?    ???  I too could prove anything if I misquote and ad lib, especially after all this time in the courts, I have some good examples to learn from, if that were my practice or intent!  (See end of the bible for what it has to say on ad-libbing the texts).  

PO:  then “life for life.” God mandates the same civil penalty for those who would kill the preborn

in context, this could be, but isn’t necessarily, accidental– men were fighting, and the woman was assaulted/hurt, such that her fruit departed. The word “would” in Personhood Ohio signifies INTENT, not that they seem to notice minor details like “premeditated” versus “accidental.”   

Nor in context, does it imply if child was injured, man should be killed!  That’s entirely out of context.  Let us also remember that in these days, men often had several wives, and families could be large.  However, we know some have taken this to extreme for those who perform abortions, and make no apology about it.  Perhaps they learned from the same crowd.

PO:  as for those who would kill the born: “life for life.” Preborn human beings are children to God,

The Word of God (the Bible) in most translations – I don’t believe from Greek, Hebrew, or Aramaic — talk about “human beings” when referring to mankind.  There a number of other terms which do.  The word “Preborn” is a political usage and is never in there.

LOOK:  PO is trying to justify a theology by quoting from the law.  It seems to me if they had actually been READING the law — even the sections of it they are quoting, what comes out of their mouth might more specifically resemble what’s in there.  After all, in the book of Joshua, who succeeded Moses and was responsible to take the people into the Promised Land, he was told (Exodus 1):

7Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. 8This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

Or, Psalm 1, which is one of the books most quoted by Jesus (along with Deuteronomy), and is significant.  Three psalms were quoted on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2), when Peter, speaking by the Spirit, gave as it were the “inaugural speech” of the new day, after the outpouring of the spirit (this is common theology to Christians, sorry to go into it all here):

1Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.2But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

OR, Deuteronomy, Chapter 1:  ”These are the words.”  You tell me — does it speak specifically?

<< Deuteronomy 1 >> King James Version 1These be the words which Moses spake unto all Israel on this side Jordan in the wilderness, in the plain over against the Redsea, between Paran, and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Dizahab. 2(There are eleven days’ journey from Horeb by the way of mount Seir unto Kadeshbarnea.) 3And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spake unto the children of Israel, according unto all that the LORD had given him in commandment unto them;

Moses, here, faithfully delivered what he’d received “in commandment.”  It’s rather long, but it definitely has a flow and syntax, right?  After three chapters of rehearsing, step by step, where they were, what had been done and said (and quoting it), the writer comes to this chapter 4:

<< Deuteronomy 4 >> King James Version 1Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers giveth you. 2Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you

44And this is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel: 45These arethe testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which Moses spake unto the children of Israel, after they came forth out of Egypt,

And then it launches (Chapter 5) into what are commonly known as “The Ten Commandments.” 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10

and nowhere does this awkward and artificial term appear in scripture:

“PREBORN HUMAN BEINGS”

! ! !

The term “human beings” seems in contrast to animals, and per Dictionary.com (and common sense) comes from the 1800s, not ### B.C.  It is a classification and scientific term, not a usage in scripture, which deals with the created mankind in relationship to each other and their Creator.

human being

noun

1.

any individual of the genus Homo,  especially a member of the species Homo sapiens.

2.

a person, especially as distinguished from other animals or as representing the human species:

living conditions not fit for human beings; a verygenerous human being.

Origin: 
1855–60

FOR COMPARISON (dates):  (Wikipedia, what else?)

Charles Robert Darwin FRS (12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist.^[I] He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theorythat this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.

He published his theory with compelling evidence for evolution in his 1859 book On the Origin of Species,

PO:  ”and the intentional killing of innocent human beings at any stage of existence is unlawful and criminal - His Word is clear.”

5But the end of the charge {{Commandment}} is love out of a pure heart and a good conscience and faith unfeigned: 6from which things some having swerved have turned aside unto vain talking; 7desiring to be teachers of the law, though they understand neither what they say, nor whereof they confidently affirm. {{case in ppoint…}} 8But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully, 9as knowing this, that law is not made for a righteous man,** but for the lawless and unruly, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, 10for fornicators, for abusers of themselves with men, for menstealers, for liars, for false swearers, and if there be any other thing contrary to the sound doctrine; 11according to the gospel of the glory of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.

In light of this, it becomes obvious that we have committed a great travesty against the weakest and most helpless members of the human family - the preborn.** Forty-five thousand to fifty thousand innocent children die in Ohio every year by abortion. In this, as in all state-sponsored genocides throughout history, society first dehumanizes the victims before genocide can be committed against them. Thus, one of the first steps to protect the preborn and end the Abortion Holocaust is to inscribe into state law that which science, reason, and biblical truth affirms: that personhood begins at the beginning of our biological development, or at fertilization. Children in the womb are recipients of the God-given, inalienable right to life and liberty. It is the mission of Personhood Ohio to restore the God-given right to life and liberty to all Ohioans, and to secure “justice for all.”

This one includes apparently his wife also.

In the universe of anti-abortion activism, a complex and sometimes toxic stew of passive pray-ins and endless letter-writing campaigns uneasily coexists with much more aggressive and violent means of ending abortion through patient stalking, clinic bombings and murder.

One man stands in the nexus between the mainstream factions that espouse the politically correct “love the sinner/hate the sin” mantra and the more virulent behavior inspired by strained Biblical justifications for killing said sinner.

James Patrick Johnston, D.O., is, by all appearances, a polite country doctor in south-central Ohio, husband and father of six children under the age of 10 with a new baby on the way. A self-avowed “life, liberty, and jobs” guy, he lost his 2007 bid for a seat in the Ohio General Assembly, where he ran on a plank of cutting taxes, expanding homeschooling and “making Ohio the first state in the Union to defy Roe v. Wade with a statewide abortion ban.”

Less obvious are his links to some of the most radical elements of the anti-abortion movement — the paramilitary groups Army of God, Christian Gallery and Minutemen United that have been at the forefront of advocating for and celebrating violent clashes between anti-abortion forces and clinics. 

The path leading from Johnston’s activism in poor Appalachian Ohio to the hotbed of wealthy religious conservatism in Colorado exemplifies the fluid interchange between the more radical anti-abortion movement and those seeking to shield their past associations in order to appear more mainstream.

Kristi Burton, founder of Colorado for Equal Rights, the official sponsor of proposed Amendment 48, confirmed that Johnston, working from Ohio 1,300 miles away, is leading the group’s national outreach effort to doctors, pharmacists and others who share their philosophy.

Just to clarify where — it seems — this doctor stands, by definition, if preborn human beings were indeed PERSONS, then justifiable homicide is OK to protect them from abortion.   In his words (this is an older post, and “wayback” web archiving appears to give the 2004 version of it)

Dr. J. Patrick Johnston and wife

In Response to Jay Rogers’ article, ”JUSTIFIABLE HOMICIDE — found at A COVENANTAL VIEW OF JUSTICE”

found at

http://www.forerunner.com/chalcedon/X0003_3._Justifiable_homic.html (LGH comment:  the article starts with the murder by Paul Hill of abortionist, and (going on, and on, and on) discusses whether or not there is a BIBLICAL justification for this.  Makes me sick, because I’m sure the same crowd would not step in to prevent a man from murdering a departing wife, or a “disobedient” one)

Dear Brother Rogers,

I would like to respond to your article entitled “Justifiable Homicide – A Covenantal View of Justice”.  First, letme briefly introduce myself.  I am a Christian family practicioner in central Ohio who believes that preborn humans have the same right to life as those outside the womb.  This is the basis of my refusal to condemn those who employ defensive force {{in context, murder}} to protect someone being assaulted or about to be assaulted.

What the Bible Says Should Be Done to Abortionists

How America Pollutes God

By Patrick Johnston, D.O.

“Will ye pollute Me among My people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls that should not die, and to save souls alive that should not live…?” Ezekiel 13:19

How is God polluted according this this passage?  By slaying the innocent and letting capital criminals live.  God declares the slaying of innocent human beings to be absolutely wrong, and He insists that murderers be executed.  He takes it as a personal affront when people allow the innocent to be killed and allow the killers of the innocent to live.  Rejecting God’s ways is not without sanction.  The Bible says that the shedding of innocent blood brings a curse upon the land and its people.  It also says that the curse can only be lifted by executing the shedder of innocent blood.

Hear the Word of God on this matter:

Numbers 35

30 Whoso killeth any person, the murderer shall be put to death by the mouth of witnesses: but one witness shall not testify against any person to cause him to die.
31 Moreover ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer, which is guilty of death: but he shall be surely put to death.
32 And ye shall take no satisfaction for him that is fled to the city of his refuge, that he should come again to dwell in the land, until the death of the priest.
33 So ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are: for blood it defileth the land: and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it.
34 Defile not therefore the land which ye shall inhabit, wherein I dwell: for I the LORD dwell among the children of Israel.

The Prophet Jeremiah and Jerusalem (6th century BCE)

The prophet Jeremiah was active in Jerusalem during the tragic period of the city’s destruction by the Babylonians, which occurred over several stages. Jeremiah prophesied during the reigns of various kings: beginning in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah (626 BCE), and then Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, Zedekiah, and during the brief rule of Gedaliah ben Ahikam, whose assassination in ca. 585 BCE marked the final end of the remaining Jewish community in Judah and Jerusalem and symbolized the conclusion of the First Temple period.

I really don’t want to insult or offend others, but we are talking a doctor from Ohio wishing to re-establish so-called “Biblical law” upon all the land (through legislative reform) drawing from a time when the law was designed specifically for the chosen people to mark the relationship.  How is it possible to ignore this amount of document history (which Im about to paste, from “Jewish diaspora” under Wikipedia) and then, year 2012, and calling onesself a Christian, completely miss the message of Christ, and whose land you are presently in?

Pardon me, but “FYI” this law was already tried, failed, and pending the return of Christ, from what I can read,  the “law of the land,” including MY land, is not “kingdom.”  Individually and collectively, Christians are referred to as “the body of Christ,” but I fail to see where it tells them — and this guy claims to be a Christian — to do anything resembling what was told Israel centuries earlier.  Here we go; for a straight read-through.

The Jewish diaspora (or simply the Diaspora) is the English term used to describe the Galut גלות (Yiddish: ‘Golus’), or ‘exile’, of the Jews from the region of the Kingdom of Judah and Roman Iudaea and later emigration from wider Eretz Israel.The diaspora is commonly accepted to have begun with the 6th century BC conquest of the ancient Kingdom of Judah, destruction of the First Temple (c. 586 BC), and expulsion of the population, which is recorded in the Bible. The second major event in the dispersal is popularly thought to be the destruction of the Second Temple and aftermath of the Bar Kokhba revolt during the Roman occupation of Judea in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, although scholars generally believe that the effect of these events on the dispersal of the Jewish community was much less than their role in later communal narratives would indicate.^[1]The modern Hebrew term of Tefutzot תפוצות, “scattered”, was introduced in the 1930s by the German-American Zionist academic Simon Rawidowicz,^[2] who to some degree argued for the acceptance of the Jewish presence outside of the Land of Israel as a modern reality and an inevitability.There is little doubt that the term “diaspora” itself originated to describe the Jewish condition [According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term 'diaspora' originates from the Septuagint, Deuteronomy 28:25, "thou shalt be a diaspora in all kingdoms of the earth" (1897 Ed. p. 321)].The Babylonian ruler, Nebuchadnezzar, conquered the Kingdom of Judah and deported the Judaeans in 597 and 586 BC, he allowed them to remain in a unified community in Babylon. Another group of Judaeans fled to Egypt, where they settled in the Nile delta. So from 597 BC onwards, there were three distinct groups of Hebrews: a group in Babylon and other parts of the Middle East, a group in Judaea, and another group in Egypt.The destruction of the First Temple by the Babylonians took place in 586 BC. as recorded in the Bible, and the writings of the prophet, Jeremiah. Thus, 597 BC is considered the beginning date of the Jewish Diaspora. While Cyrus the Persian allowed the Judaeans to return to their homeland in 538 BC, most chose to remain in Babylon. A large number of Jews in Egypt became mercenaries in Upper Egypt on an island called the Elephantine.All of these Jews retained their religion, identity, and social customs; both under the Persians and the Greeks, they were allowed to run their lives under their own laws.^[3]In 63 BC, Judaea became a protectorate of Rome. The Judaeans revolted in 70 AD that ended tragically in 73 AD, when the last of the revolutionaries were holed up in a mountain fort called Masada. The Romans besieged the fort for two years, and the 1,000 men, women, and children inside were beginning to starve. In desperation, the Jewish revolutionaries killed themselves rather than surrender to the Romans. The Romans then destroyed the Second Temple and most of Jerusalem, and annexed Judaea as a Roman province.^[4]When Hadrian first became the Roman emperor in 118 C.E., he was sympathetic to the Jews. He allowed them to return to Jerusalem and granted permission for the rebuilding of their Holy Temple. Hadrian quickly went back on his word, however, and requested that the site of the Temple be moved from its original location. He also began deporting Jews to North Africa.The Jews organized guerilla forces and, in 123 C.E., began launching surprise attacks against the Romans. From that point on, life only got worse for the Jews. Hadrian brought an extra army legion, the “Sixth Ferrata,” into Judea to deal with the terrorism. Hadrian hated “foreign” religions and forbade the Jews to perform circumcisions. He appointed Tinneius Rufus governor of Judea. Rufus was a harsh ruler who took advantage of Jewish women. In approximately 132 C.E., Hadrian began to establish a city in Jerusalem called Aelia Capitolina, the name being a combination of his own name and that of the Roman god Jupiter Capitolinus. He started to build a temple to Jupiter in place of the Jewish Holy Temple.When Hadrian left in 132, the Jews began their rebellion on a large scale. They seized towns and fortified them with walls and subterranean passages. Under the strong leadership of Shimon Bar-Kokhba, the Jews captured approximately 50 strongholds in Judea and 985 undefended towns and villages, including Jerusalem.In 135 C.E., Hadrian’s army besieged Bethar and on the 9th of Av, the Jewish fast day commemorating the destruction of the first and second Holy Temples, the walls of Bethar fell. After a fierce battle, every Jew in Bethar was killed. Six days passed before the Romans allowed the Jews to bury their dead.Following the battle of Bethar, there were a few small skirmishes in the Judean Desert Caves, but the war was essentially over and Judean independence was lost. The Romans plowed Jerusalem with a yoke of oxen. Jews were sold into slavery and many were transported to Egypt. Judean settlements were not rebuilt. Jerusalem was turned into a pagan city called Aelia Capitolina and the Jews were forbidden to live there. They were permitted to enter only on the 9th of Av to mourn their losses in the revolt. Hadrian changed the country’s name from Judea to Syria Palestina.In the years following the revolt, Hadrian persecuted the religious Jews. He made anti-religious decrees forbidding Torah study, Sabbath observance, circumcision, Jewish courts, meeting in synagogues and other ritual practices. Many Jews assimilated and many sages and prominent men were martyred including Rabbi Akiva and the rest of the Asara Harugei Malchut (ten martyrs). This age of persecution lasted throughout the remainder of Hadrian’s reign, until 138 C.E.^[5]

But, this leader calls himself Christian.  So I recommend he stop making a fool of himself, and by association, others who also call themselves Christians, but read — and go back and review the New Testament, not snipped into pieces for insertion (cut & paste) into a nonprofit group so as to collection donations to change state laws — but for the purpose of admitting and understanding what it’s talking about, particularly passages regarding the Hope.

Ephesians 2:19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and …

… ye (Gentiles) are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints … Then, therefore, ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens of …

Hebrews — looking forward to a different city, not that we mae but that God has prepared:

II Peter too, talks about hope of a future heaven and earth “wherein dwelleth righteousness” and doesn’t mince words that as there had been a flood, the next destruction is going to be with fire, and a total change — initiated by God, not man, and his voice — is ahead; the believers’ current situation then, is preparing themselves (in their behavior and manner and expectation) for this time, and to stop making their home in this one so permanent!

It talks about the Day of the Lord, and a day of Judgment:

Paul, in Acts 17, also spoke of this:

The pre-occupation of a Christian should not be with trying to establish institutions and laws on this earth that, through ‘the wrath of man” are somehow going to bring about “the righteousness of God,” and in such manner identifying themselves thoroughly with every kind of tyranny that has existed throughout the ages, particularly I’m thinking Babylon forward, as it comes to this heritage.  In fact in Daniel, and interpretation of a dream was given which prophesied a variety of kingdoms, represented by different types of precious metal, to be ruling the world.  For someone pre-occuped with the “covenantal law” or so-called “Biblical law” I recommend looking it up!

But, the preoccupation of the Christian should be with witnessing to the resurrection of their Lord (“in demonstration of the spirit and of power”) and, like their Lord did, and as he anointed his 12 to do (see Matthew 10):

And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.2Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; 3Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus; 4Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.5These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: 6But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. 8Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.

Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils;  freely ye have received (power to do that, see v. 1), freely give

It doesn’t say, go murder abortionists to protect preborn human beings and try to justify this from scripture!  Did Jesus do that?  Is He Lord, or do you have a better idea?

REPEATED AS A MARK OF FAITH IN JOHN 14; Philip, being troubled (near end of Jesus’ life), Jesus comforts him and exhorts:

Someone that believes on Christ should do what He did.  That’s called discipleship, and it’s recorded in the book.  If you’re quoting the book, then “show me the money.”  It doesn’t say, go murder people, people of faith and/or atheists, to cleanse the polluted land — who are you, God?  A monarch? ?   ! ! It says — HEAL and demonstrate that there is a God that heals.  That’s why it’s “Good” news!

Healing was the hallmark of the start of the church (Acts 4), or at least closely associated with it:  (ACTS 4):

Jesus was preached also as one that was constantly doing good – not for the sake of the good only, but to testify to also to the salvation (forgiveness, eternal life, etc.) which He also was preaching.  The message is simple and straightforward throughout.  Here’s an account of Peter — having been (supernaturally, etc.) connected with a devout Roman Centurion, for the first time, invites the Gentiles into this new faith.  The account is straightforward:  Notice emphasis on Jesus “going about and doing good” and the resurrection and subsequent outpouring of the spirit, which then was gladly accepted (not forced on them!) by Cornelius — and his household — causing mutual rejoicing  (Acts 10).  This excerpt starts with Cornelius rehearsing to Peter (they are strangers to each other) the odd situation that prompted an observant Jew to walk into a Gentile home, which evidently took a little previous persuading (by God) that he should, indeed, go ahead and do.  Being smart, Peter also took some witnesses:

**I do not see that it’s the job of Dr. Johnston, me, or others to be judging ‘the quick (living) and the dead,” but rather to keep our heads screwed on straight to the gospel message and follow the pattern.   It is talking about remission of sins, not “cleansing the polluted land.’   Assuming the book is true (which quoting it would tend to indicate), then this world is going to be burned / melted (given some of the nuclear arms,  who knows, it may be self-immolation) and a new heaven and earth “wherein dwelleth righteousness” is ahead.

Other places (like Hebrews 2) said that Jesus was manifested to “destroy the works of the devil” and talks in several places about having ‘exposed principalities and powers and made a show of them openly,” referring to spiritual darkness in the world.    Where, in the gospels, Jesus was recorded to have thrown the legion of oppressing spirits out of individuals, and left the man “sitting, clothed and in his right mind” and in general bringing deliverance, often miraculous, from long-term, chronic oppressive diseases or circumstances — it seems to me that our father of six (last we checked) and brother of several boys in his own family of origin would, as a medical doctor, recommend taking up weapons and killing adults to save so-called “preborn human beings,” thus following proudly in a tradition of bloodshed and warfare, purging of heretics, etc., in the long and ignoble tradition of the so-called Christian church.  See Jerome (b. 347)  or HERE and realize that by this time there was already a Pope.

The Bible in Latin: 2nd – 4th century AD

During the 1st century Greek remains the language of the small Christian community, but with the spread of the faith through the Roman empire a Latin version of the Bible texts is needed in western regions. By the second century there is one such version in use in north Africa and another in Italy.

These versions become corrupted and others are added, until by the 4th century – in the words of St Jerome, the leading biblical scholar of the time – there are ‘almost as many texts as manuscripts’.

In 382 the pope, Damasus,** commissionsJerome to provide a definitive Latin version. In his monastery at Bethlehem, tended by aristocratic virgins, the saint produces theVulgate. This eventually becomes established as the Bible of the whole western church until the Reformation.

Read more:http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ac66#ixzz1koXI5aEf

Here’s an excellent &  speedy summary of translations (unbelievable, really) which shows the variety of languages involved, including an “Ulfilas” (360) who undertook to devise a written language, including alphabet of 27 letters, to translate the Bible for his people, who were Goth.  Truly, it’s a book that’s affected the development of languages, and been passed down for over a thousand years.

**Damasus, from “nndb” which is a sort of all-purpose database of people.  However, look at the in-fighting and factionism leading to bloodshed even this early — power struggles, and the secular response, etc.  This is the hallmark until today and indicates that, whatever was recorded, if it truly occurred, in the gospels and Acts, apparently was an entirely different animal than these — these are simple power struggles.  I’m including because, at the bottom, it brings us down to “Theodosius” which book (AD 381:  The Dawn of the Monotheistic State), I’ve referenced several times.  The degree of in-fighting brought in a virtual crackdown on the debates from the Emperor, which has characterized the church ever since.

 A serious conflict ensued between the rival factions, which quickly led to rioting and hand-to-hand fighting. In one of these encounters the then new basilica, called the Liberian Basilica (S. Maria Maggiore), was partially destroyed, and 137 dead bodies were left in the building. On several occasions the secular arm had to intervene, although the government of the emperor Valentinian was averse from involving itself in ecclesiastical affairs. . . .

((And we read on — I can’t even follow all this, but we get the gist:))

To the official support, which never failed him, Damasus endeavored to join the popular sympathy. From before his election he had been in high favor with the Roman aristocracy, and especially with the great ladies. {{smile}} At that period the urban masses, but recently converted to Christianity, sought in the worship of the martyrs a sort of substitute for polytheism. Damasus showed great zeal in discovering the tombs of martyrs, adorning them with precious marbles and monumental inscriptions. The inscriptions he composed himself, in mediocre verse, full of Virgilian reminiscences. Several have come down to us on the original marbles, entire or in fragments; others are known from old copies. In the interior of Rome he erected or embellished the church which still bears his name (S. Lorenzo in Damaso), near which his father’s house appears to have stood.

The West was recovering gradually from the troubles caused by the Arian crisis. Damasus took part, more or less effectually, in the efforts to eliminate from Italy and Illyria the last champions of the council of Rimini. {{of WHO??}} In spite of his declaration at the council convened by him in 372, he did not succeed in evicting Auxentius from Milan. But Auxentius died soon afterwards, and his successor, Ambrose, undertook to bring these hitherto abortive efforts to a successful conclusion, and to complete the return of Illyria to the confessions of Nicaea. The bishops of the East, however, under the direction of St. Basil, were involved in a struggle with the emperor Valens, whose policy was favorable to the council of Rimini. Damasus, to whom they appealed for help, was unable to be of much service to them, the more so because that episcopal group, viewed askance by St. Athanasius and his successor Peter, was incessantly combated at the papal court by the inveterate hatred of Alexandria. The Eastern bishops triumphed in the end under Theodosius, at the council of Constantinople (381), in which the pope and the Western church took no part. They were invited to a council of wider convocation, held at Rome in 382, but very few attended.

OK, this “Council of Rimini” reference indicates that already by this early time, there was fighting about the character and divinity of Jesus Christ.  They’d “lost it” that early. . . .

In 358, the Roman EmperorConstantius II requested two councils, one of the western bishops at Ariminum and one of the eastern bishops (planned forNicomedia but actually held at Seleucia) to resolve the Arian controversyover the nature of the divinity of Jesus Christ, which divided the 4th-century church.^[1]

They weren’t debating THAT Jesus was divine, but only HOW he was Divine — which to me sure sounds like a losing battle, defining the divine!  But then again, I was born in the 20th century . . . . 

In July 359, the western council (of about 300^[2] or over 400 bishops) met. Ursacius of Singidunum and Valens of Mursa soon proposed a new creed, drafted at the Council of Sirmium of 359 but not presented there, holding that the Son was like the Father “according to the scriptures,” and avoiding the controversial terms “same substance” and “similar substance.”^[3] Others favored the creed of Nicaea.^[4]

Or, one could look at “Orthodox Wiki“

Some of these are to this day still in debate and consideration.  Regarding the role of Bishops — obviously I’m not going to be keeping up with the theology, but the themes still seem relevant.  This is a 2011 blog talking about things that occurred over 1000 years ago.   For example:

http://oxfordpatristics.blogspot.com/search/label/2011A:

Gavril Andreicut – Who Leads and Guides the Church? Scripture, Tradition, and Leadership

LIKE I SAID, IT WAS ABOUT EXERCISING WORLDLY POWER OVER VARIOUS FOLLOWERS, AND HAS BEEN FOR – “EVER” — BUT WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THIS?

“…GO TO THE LOST SHEEP OF THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL…

AND AS YE GO, PREACH, THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND

HEAL THE SICK, CLEANSE THE LEPERS, RAISE THE DEAD, CAST OUT DEVILS:

FREELY YE HAVE RECEIVED, FREELY GIVE*

.(MATTHEW 10):”

(IN OTHER WORDS, DON’T BE CHARGING ADMISSION!) . .This time, he commanded them not to bring along all their “stuff” because the WORKMAN IS WORTHY OF HIS HIRE.”   Apparently, then, this was the work — see the first item (preach), as well as the deliverance that follows ..

Looking at the end of Mark — chapter 16 (post-resurrection), they get another commission (the SAME people) indicating this is still the business at hand:

GO YE INTO THE WORLD AND PREACH THE GOSPEL TO EVERY CREATURE

HE THAT BELIEVETH AND IS BAPTIZED* SHALL BE SAVED

BUT HE THAT BELIEVETH NOT SHALL BE DAMNED.

**See above, Acts 10.  The Baptism in the holy spirit, as prophesied:  John baptized with water, Jesus with the Holy Ghost and with fire.  NOTE:  GO & PREACH.  THE CONCERN IS SALVATION (AND IN REFERENCE TO FUTURE DAY OF JUDGMENT IS CLEAR ENOUGH).  THE BUSINESS OF ‘CHRISTIANITY’ IS PREACHING SO THAT THOSE WHO BELIEVE, AND ARE BAPTIZED IN THIS HOLY SPIRIT SHALL BE SAVED.  IT DOESN’T SAY GO AROUND CONDEMNING AND CURSING THOSE THAT DON’T! ! !  OR TRYING TO REWRITE THE LAWS OF THE LAND TO ACCOMMODATE THE CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW AND ENFORCE THEM, IF NECESSARY THROUGH KILLING OTHERS TO MAKE A POINT — DOES IT?  WHAT KIND OF “LIFE” would THAT testify to? . . .

AND THESE SIGNS SHALL FOLLOW THEM THAT BELIEVE:

not referring to the original 12, but those who believe their word — this is called multiplication. . . .  get it? Note the order of items is slightly reversed from gospel times:

IN MY NAME SHALL THEY CAST OUT DEVILS,

THEY SHALL SPEAK WITH NEW TONGUES

THEY SHALL TAKE UP SERPENTS*

AND IF THEY DRINK ANY DEADLY THING IT SHALL NOT HARM THEM

There is no question that this is referring to a spiritual oppressive or destructive force in people, called “devils,” which in the name of Jesus Christ, spoken with faith, had to go.   Apparently people are still fascinated with the topic — watch the movie theater.  Perhaps there’s something to it . . . .   the FIRST thing was to “disarm the strong man,” then (with that freedom), they shall speak with new tongues (which has been described already in Acts and is considered a “sign” of the presence of holy spirit received.).   It also indicates praise and worship, plus prayer (but that’s for another time & place — this is not a religious blog.  It just ran into enough religion I felt “inspired” to set some of the record straight!

RE:  Serpents and drinking deadly things — there is an example at the end of the book of act, but I think (note:  opinion, not doctrine), this may be symbolic.  What would snake-handling, literally, have to do with preaching the gospel.  Perhaps it’s a reference to “evil” which in the bible IS characterized as “the serpent.”  Serpents were prominent in the story of Moses, and in the wilderness, i.e., people that sinned were bit by serpents, but were saved when they looked to a brass serpent on a stake (to my understanding, a foreshadowing of the crucifixion of Christ).   Then apparently that token became an idol, later, and was destroyed.  We also know that the “serpent” theme was associated with some of the other theologies of the time, particularly with women.

Who is not afraid of snakes — it seems to be an innate human fear.  This is talking about power over and protection from.   The challenge is to go in, and change the status quo, starting with “cast out devils.”  The word devils has been USED (over the centuries) in reference to people — but there is no question that this is NOT how the Bible uses it.  Rather, it is something spiritual that is evicted from a “house,”namely the person.  OK?  Enough on that.

Reflection:  Some of the things many have gone through can only be described as “evil” and as a virtual “serpent” situation, and if one has not confronted some of this openly, then it’s not possible to portray.  You either get it or you don’t.  This also seems to surface most when confronting one form or another (there are “atheist” type forms) of a deeply held (for illogical reasons), religious beliefs.  The charm and smug compliance disappears and the person shows you what they’re really made of.  (See “Tyler, Shenkman” for a recent example.  The man was on TV, having held his wife hostage 12 hours, and the house being burnt down, he was in orange jumpsuit declaring that killing his wife would give his life meaning.   That’s EVIL.  Perhaps “take up serpents” means dealing with this.  Maybe, another day, I will understand better.)

Moving on — the same passage (end of Mark 16):

THEY SHALL LAY HANDS ON THE SICK, AND THEY SHALL RECOVER

People who wish to do the work of the Lord, to “cleanse” the polluted America, should try some of this.  I’m sure that believers will be knocking down the door to find out about this Lord, and want to know more of Him, and would just LOVE to go and bring healing to others.  Who doesn’t want to do that?  Who would NOT want to go about doing good and healing the oppressed?

What kind of theology is necessary to explain a healing?  How long can you argue about it?

Isn’t that what all this income tax is for — to protect, and to serve, and to provide good things for the community?  To spread a little love around, and assure people that a saving God is immanent (that means PRESENT to be called upon) in their lives?  Who knows how much substance abuse this might reduce, and all the programs associated with it — or spouse abuse — when it’s understand that one casts out devils and leaves the person intact, and/or healed; that one does not need to go around filling up a sense of emptiness in side with “looking for love in the wrong places, etc.”

. . . . When one’s sense of meaning and place in life is NOT wrapped up with which group do I belong to, and how successful or dominant is that group this decade?   When one is not just a functional in a social setting, but a truly effective INDIVIDUAL in any situation, including in community with others.

It’s either this world or the one to come, and in a characteristically plain way, Jesus (is alleged to have) said:  ”Ye Cannot Serve God and Mammon” (wealth/riches).  How true it is.  We either march to the drum of THIS one and seek status in it, or of the NEXT one, in which case I strongly suggest following the owner’s manual, which seems plain enough to me.  Love it or leave it. Either practice, sharpen your tools, discern good from evil (see top of this post), and gain some mastery over yourself, rather than continually seeking to master and dominate others!

And spend a little more time in the Bible so when it comes out, you sound coherent at least.

I personally think that centered, confident, and spiritually filled (and know it)  – and familiar with their own faith tradition, IN historic context, make great citizens and are a wonderful thing to have around — because they will not sell out.  And their example will hopefully inspire at least a few others not to do so either.

But the religious groups — that’s a bird of another feather, and appear to be about an entirely different business.  I do not see that Jesus Christ, before his crucifixion, left directions about setting down roots, building temples (there WAS one when He left — not for much longer, though!), and establishing institutions and tax-exempt foundations.  These are all fine — but they are not “faith-based.”

(THIS BIT WAS WRITTEN EARLIER):

Also, we have to face that Jesus simplified this law — it wasn’t anguishingly complex, but unbelievably straightforward, Love God with your heart, soul, mind and strength, and your neighbor as yourself.  Paul, similarly, kept it simple, unusual for him!  (Romans 13):

This treatise (and following epistles) were not addressed to the entire region of Rome, but contained in a book addressed to the “faithful in Christ,” to communities of people who (from what I can tell) had in common that they had received this gift of holy spirit (as promised also to Philip, above) and were holding it together, in love, til Christ’s return:  Romans 1:

I hope that this exorbitant quoting of scripture, chunks of it, will show how different is the flow of the language, than simply throwing out the occasional chapter and verse reference, and continuing to ramble on with one’s particular agenda.    One things has some internal coherence; the other is a manipulation of the original — and as such should be rejected for that reason.  Manipulation and sloppy workmanship (to justify aggression) are habit forming.

I know I have more than made a fool of myself in this post — and (for now) don’t regret it.  One way to become the fool is to argue with one (particularly one who is not present and responding!) but I trust the difference of language shows up.  One flows — the other is awkward and inconsistent, borrows terms from the 1800s and 1900s, and attempts to read them back into ancient texts; exaggerates one sector of ‘the law” and gets that bit wrong as well, omitting the immediate context (let alone the scope of scripture and of the gospel of Christ).

Putting out this post took approximately a full day’s work.  It’s tiring and troublesome and there won’t be more like it.  Again, I am not trying to convert anyone, I am simply challenging the hypocritical religiousity and saying WATCH OUT — because the mentality can’t see straight, and you may get caught in either direct antagonism (from the blurred vision) or in the crossfire.

This is the “ahistorical” version of Christianity that prides itself on thinking it’s restoring something.  I wonder truly if such have the spirit (as in, Holy) at all but are simply attracted to the strict structure, the separation, and naturally (the father) to ruling his own brood and wife, which then enables him to seek to expand this rule to the rest of the country.

These are troublesome times for sure — but as we have read, times are always troublesome.  PERHAPS there’s not enough “righteousness” in this world, meaning, spiritually speaking.  Perhaps it is indeed on a collision course with its own explosive destiny despite the best efforts of environmentalists and other progressives who are, like me, disheartened when the look at EITHER upcoming Presidential possibility (Republican or Democrat).

It is the “natural” man that needs restraint.  The man walking by the spirit will not, and will not be engaged in these kinds of activities;

Here’s Galatians FIVE, which talks about this.  NOtice the qualities of ‘Fruit of the spirit,” even though (see above) this spirit apparently also comes with some serious power, too.  I”ll just put it all in here.  (And just noticed — so much for all the quotations — it have a 25,000 word post, which is possibly cause for being put in the stocks — but I’m not volunteering!)

A whole chapter at a time shows the internal consistency — and talks about liberty.  For the larger, context read the book.

**notice how consistently this keeps popping up?  Love your neighbor as yourself — and this will sufficiently ensure the law is kept.

*this doctor, below, is going to justify murdering an abortion doctor (context, one had just been convicted) as “justifiable defense.”

“Witchcraft” is a word indicating use of drugs to induce altered states and control self or others.  Reminds me of all the drugging of kids in foster care, to control THEM, something this family MD doesn’t seem very concerned about.

Below talks more specifically about the Ohio Group and its founder.   Back to the realm of the “secular”   (:

From this article (read the rest! though it’s 3 years old now) a link to a letter from Diane Irving, a former researcher/bioethicist at NIH (and with a Ph.D. from Georgetown) expresses her concerns about sloppy or fraudulent science in re:  ’pre-embryo” and other matters.

I have been telling us — if the people cannot read plain English/Bible straight, what then of law or (God forbid) science?  I’m not qualified to judge science; but here’s a letter from someone who is.  Notice the bolded sections:

It’s a 1993 letter to

Keith L. Moore, Ph.D., F.I.A.C.
Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology
Faculty of Medicine
Medical Sciences Building
University of Toronto
Toronto. Ontario
Canada M5S 1A8

I have often personally used references from your earlier editions in my own work, and have consistently recommended them to many others. My doctoral dissertation for Georgetown University (Department of Philosophy) was entitled Philosophical and Scientific Analysis of the Nature of the Early Human Embryo, in which I cited you extensively. In fact I cited you in an amicus curiae brief I wrote which was recently filed with the United States Supreme Court (I have enclosed a couple of papers published from the dissertation and a copy of the brief for your information). The dissertation analyzes only from the perspectives of logic, philosophy and science – not from religion or theology. It was simply in the intense context of reviewing simultaneously both the scientific and the philosophical/bioethical literature on the issue of “fetal personhood” that I realized for myself the depth and extent of both the incorrect science and the incorrect philosophy used throughout these current debates. [next para break, mine]

In fact, in selecting only 23 representative arguments which place “fetal personhood” along various embryological marker events during human embryogenesis, I concluded from my (very extensive) research that in virtually every one of the 23 articles, the science used as the supposed “objective” grounding of the argument was text-book and current-journal inaccurate, the philosophy used was historically inept and inaccurate, and none of the conclusions even followed logically from these premises. I would be pleased to send the entire 400 page dissertation to you for your inspection.

Where there is sound observation and sound thinking, there will be logical conclusions.  WHere there is not, there cannot be sound conclusions… I showed (not for this individual, but for another) how sloppy was the handling of even straightforward scripture.  The word “personhood” and “preborn human being” is an IDEA foreign to the scriptures.  Language counts, whether or not one believes in God, or a god.

Clearly there is a problem somewhere. As a former scientific researcher I decided to investigate and publish about the “science” being used first – as it is the science which is being used to ground or “prove” different philosophical, bioethical or political conclusions about “personhood”. Obviously, if the science is incorrect, then the philosophical, bioethical or political conclusions based on that science are also incorrect. As a realist philosopher and bioethicist, my starting point for philosophical research, definition of key terms, etc., is the correct science. Hence both scientifically and philosophically I am keenly sensitive to the propagation, publishing, etc., of any sort of fabricated “science”, caused for any sort of reason. Perhaps one reason is that in my field I see constantly the immediate application of this “science” on innocent human patients and populations.

There are many others who are now also concerned with this issue, and investigating on their own and in cooperation with peers and associations. Whether this situation is due to inferior course work, sloppy lab techniques, sheer ignorance, “publish or perish”, or politically correct (or incorrect) agendas, it is difficult to determine at this point. But as a member of the Board of Directors of the journal Accountability in Research, I am concerned with many others about all of these problems arising in scientific research. Why any researcher would want to deliberately falsify the true facts of nature, or extrapolate from them irrational or fanciful philosophical or political conclusions is beyond me. Ultimately they must know it won’t work. Hopefully most of the problems arise from the former categories. But it is interesting that, according to Patricia Woolf in a paper presented in 1991 at a FIDIA research ethics conference at Georgetown, over 80% of the fraud formally determined by the OPRR to date was generated by physician researchers in the field of embryology.

Interesting:  I looked up the addressee, this is a segment:

Embryology in the Qur’an

In his article, A Scientist’s Interpretation of References to Embryology in the Qur’an, Moore asserts that “statements referring to human reproduction and development are scattered throughout the Qur’an”, and that “the interpretation of the verses in the Qur’an referring to human development would not have been possible in the 7th century A.D., or even a hundred years ago.”^[12] Moore affirms that Qur’anic statements regarding human development make it clear that the book is of divine origin, concluding: “This proves to me that Muhammad must have been a messenger of God or Allah.”^[13]

Controversy

Moore’s work on the Qur’an has aroused controversy among embryologists such as PZ Myers.^[14] In 2002, Moore chose not to be interviewed by the Wall Street Journal on the subject of his work on Islam, stating that “it’s been ten or eleven years since I was involved in the Qur’an.”^[15]

(numbering is auto:  these are footnotes 12-15, below, despite the numbering):

[edit]

Obviously, I went all the way down the rabbit hole on this one.

“Kyrie Eleison!” (“Lord, have mercy”)

But out of a little concern for reason — is this the type of mentality who we want running the place and adjusting laws to suit themselves?

Hence, we need limited government (the REAL kind, not the Republican kind) and to yes, alter some institutions and practices previously collaborated upon, IF the plan is to save the legislative process, due process, or the concept of individual rights.

Notice any progressions, any devolution, any connections among the language of conferences, commissions, task forces, projects and books about?

• Domestic Violence IN the family law system
• Protecting Children & Families (and animals)
• Batterers IN their families and in the family law system
• The Jargons of the Psycho-Legal-Sociologist Expert Collaborations

The visits involved a child who allegedly was victimized during a visit at Children Services offices on Reeves Road on April 27, 2011. The biological parents are charged with raping the child, accused of sodomizing her.

Nick Kerosky, Children Services executive director, could not be reached to clarify whether Moon supervised the visits directly or whether she supervised employees who handled the visits. Kerosky confirmed earlier this week that one employee had been disciplined for her involvement in that child’s case but didn’t identify her until Friday.

Kerosky said an internal investigation of the incident is ongoing, so there might be additional disciplinary action forthcoming. Moon has a “good work record,” a letter attached to the form says.

The alleged sexual assaults, supposedly videotaped on a cellphone, have touched off criminal investigations of the parents and Children Services, as well two administrative reviews by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

A man repeatedly shot his adult son and two sisters-in-law in his living room, killing them in front of his terminally ill wife, then fatally shot himself on the front porch as family tension about the cancer-stricken woman’s care apparently boiled over, authorities said.

An earlier dispute about whether the woman should have been fed tea and toast or the orange her husband had peeled for her apparently set off the shooter Monday, 63-year-old Paul Gilkey.

The sick woman, 59-year-old Darlene Gilkey, who’s dying of cancer, witnessed the shootings from a hospital bed in her living room but was uninjured, Hocking County Sheriff Lanny Northsaid. . .

Killed inside the home were Darlene Gilkey’s sisters, Barbara Mohler, 70, of New Straitsville, and Dorothy Cherry, 63, of New Plymouth. Also killed was Paul Gilkey’s son, Leroy Gilkey, 38, of Columbus.

. . .Investigators say Leroy Gilkey had power of attorney over his mother, a fact that added to Paul Gilkey’s stress, according to Peggy Gilkey.

 and

If this weren’t enough, Ohio is now collaborating with the Battered Women’s Justice Project:

The Ohio IPV Collaborative Builds Competency Within Child Protective Services

The Ohio IPV Collaborative works to build Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) competency within child protective services agencies and fosters enhanced partnerships among child welfare, courts, DV/IPV service providers and other critical stakeholders, consistent with several recommendations in the Greenbook, a landmark 1999 publication.  The Greenbook set forth guiding principles and sixty-three recommendations from the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges.

Why is it so hard to accept?

Year, 2009

Development of a Framework for Identifying and Explicating the Context of Domestic Violence in Custody Cases and its Implications for Custody Determinations

SERIOUSLY?

(apparently, yes!) 

Battered Women’s Justice Project, Praxis, AFCC & NCJFCJ as paid for (funded) by the OVW and its May, 2010 workgroup moderated by a Canadian Sociologist.  (That seems “appropriate” for something funded by American taxpayers):

BWJP and its project partner, Praxis International, are expanding recent multidisciplinary efforts to more effectively protect the safety and wellbeing of children and their parents in the family court system by crafting a more practical framework for identifying, understanding and accounting for the contexts and implications of domestic violence in custody arrangements and parenting plans.

Why should there be ANY parenting plan after certain levels of assault, battery, death threat, or sexual abuse of minors?  I am sure it would send a very clear message to the nation if a solid rule would set up:  You beat your wife, you molest your kids, you don’t get second chances.   We, the public, are simply unwilling to finance your desire for second, third, fourth, fifth, or other attempts to create a warm family feeling for men (or women) who lack understanding of what’s criminal and what’s not, and what children are — and are not — for.  You will have to go find work, or someone else, who also will have the right to report your assaulting behind if you don’t get it straight.

But no — instead, the practitioners (networking with other practitioners)  apparently endorse the concept is that such parents are going to stay “IN” the family court system, despite domestic violence by (a parent), for a good while.  This is wonderful for getting along with organizations which profit from the same funding source — HHS, and DOJ — and avoids antagonizing those in the family law system by reporting on what they are actually doing! I mean, financially!

BWJP and Praxis staff  have formed a National Workgroup with representatives from the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) and the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts(AFCC).  In consultation with leading researchers and practitioners, {{Not mentioned:  PARENTS}}  they have begun to examine the institutional processes by which family courts commonly reach and/or facilitate crucial parenting decisions, including the use of auxiliary advisors such as custody evaluators, guardians ad litem and court appointed special advocates.  The intent is to identify the ways in which current institutional practices produce both problematic and helpful results for children and their parents.

NOTE:  The head of NCJFCJ in 2007-2008 was Susan Carbon.  How, she is heading up the Office of Violence Against Women (if I got which title straight), i.e., the DOJ funding stream.  Get it?  Before that, she was a family judge in New Hampshire, where this nice parenting coordination association got started, and has a handbook adopted from the Indiana version of the same thing.  AND so, a project coming from a nice collaboration between two or three of these groups (NCJFCJ, AFCC & BWJP) is naturally going to be entail continuing involvement of the family IN the family law system, which two out of three of those organizations are involved with already (and AFCC helped create to start with):

Again;BWJP and its project partner, Praxis International, are expanding recent multidisciplinary efforts to more effectively protect the safety and wellbeing of children and their parents in the family court system by crafting a more practical framework for identifying, understanding and accounting for the contexts and implications of domestic violence in custody arrangements and parenting plans. They intend to find some positive results of such involvements when DV or Child Abuse has happened (which tend to be a great cause of “disputed custody” which then gives the courts/state jurisdiction over the parent’s children, even if one parent is completely innocent of any child abuse or criminal activity:

The intent is to identify the ways in which current institutional practices produce both problematic and helpful results for children and their parents.

RESULTS?

I am unaware of any “helpful results” for children or their parents to date; but am sure if enough funding is produced, some will be found.  (the “helpful results” site has a few “invisible mother alerts,” this last one being from Ohio, dating to YESTERDAY (referenced above):

Dad jailed for binding daughter, locking her in dog cage (Springfield Township, Ohio)

. . .a father is accused of binding his daughter’s hands and legs with duct tape, locking her in a dog cage, photographing her and having the images posted on Facebook. . . While the girl was in the cage, he dropped small amounts of water on her face. The child was trapped in the cage for about 20 minutes until her brother let her out. . .

To get back at her father, she began pouring water on his head and in his ear, according to police.

Tapke bound his daughter again with duct tape and stuck her back in the cage. Then, he ordered his son to go to the garage and retrieve the electrical jump pack so he could electrify the cage as another means of punishment for his daughter.

Tapke never actually attempted to shock the cage, but he threatened to several times. His son obeyed his father and brought the jump pack in from the garage, which was set in front of the cage so the girl could see it.

Finally, Tapke let the girl out of the cage and her grandmother helped her remove the tuct tape.

Once again, it appears that the father here is custodial. Notice that dad JAMES TAPKE is jail, but it isn’t “clear” who is caring for these kids. There’s no mention of a mother either–just a passing reference to a grandmother. 

It seems that BWJP, however, is on the job in Ohio also, collaborating to prevent domestic violence:

The Ohio IPV Collaborative Builds Competency Within Child Protective Services

Differential Response (aka Alternative Response) has emerged as an expanded continuum of child protection responses. The model recognizes that child protective service agencies receive broad variations in incoming reports and that an investigative response is not always the most productive for the family or most beneficial for the child. It differs from traditional responses in that it is more attuned to child and family strengths and their self-articulated needs. Most significantly, services are provided without the traditional requirement of a formal disposition (substantiated or unsubstantiated) of maltreatment or risk for maltreatment. Currently, a three year evaluation of Ohio’s Differential Response is being conducted by theHuman Services Research Institute.  (CLICKED ON, WE SEE THAT):

HRSI has a history focusing on people with disabilities and mental health problems.  Is domestic violence a mental health problem?  Or are so may people interested in “treating” it that now it’s been diagnosed as one?

With funding from the U.S. Children’s Bureau, HSRI is conducting a three-year evaluation of the Differential Response (DR) Initiative in Ohio, a best-practices approach to serving families reported for child abuse or neglect.** DR provides an alternative to the traditional child welfare investigative approach, rather offering families a more critical role in assuring the safety and well-being of their children. Ohio is one of three states who are implementing a DR model and the Children’s Bureau is funding a cross-site QIC evaluation of the three sites to contribute to the scientific evidence of the effectiveness of this approach; HSRI’s evaluation will significantly contribute to this effort.

Moving on  . . . ..

Year, 2008:

Reconceptualizing Child Custody:

Past, Present, and Future—Lawyers

and Psychologists* Working Together

A Continuing Education Conference

(in other words, basically ABA & APA)*

Year, 2007

Changing the Culture of Custody  (Pennsylvania)

 (more on this, below, in fact most of today’s post is on this).

Year, 2006

Rethinking Domestic Violence (Donald Dutton, book)

Presents an analysis of domestic violence research that crosses disciplinary lines, including sociology, psychology, criminology, affective neuropsychology, and criminal justice.

&

U.B.C. Law Review

BOOK REVIEW: RETHINKING DOMESTIC VIOLENCE by Donald G. Dutton, Vancouver: UBC Press, 2006, 432 pp. ¹

June, 2008

41 U.B.C. L. Rev. 179

Excerpt

In Rethinking Domestic Violence, Donald Dutton opens his book with the stated aim of refuting what he describes as feminist “dogma preservation” ² in the field.** He seeks to dislodge the perceived dominance of this perspective by providing his own “more enlightened” ³ and “dispassionate” viewpoint, one which disputes the relevance of gender to domestic violence and foregrounds a gender-neutral and exclusively psychological account of its causes. Dutton argues that because personality disorders have not been acknowledged as the real cause of domestic violence, legal responses to domestic violence have been misguided and ineffective.Dutton extends these two primary themes throughout the entire book. Dutton designates the first seven chapters to explaining why feminist accounts that identify gender and gender inequality as relevant to domestic violence are wrong and he argues that “women use violence in intimate relationships to the same extent as men, for the same reasons, and with largely the same results.” ⁴

((**a review of the same book on Dutton’s site says the book is “distinctly feminist” in viewpoint.  ”He has gathered the latest work from multiple disciplines to create a volume that will surely be a cornerstone of a radical, distinctly feminist rethinking of domestic violence practice.”I doubt it…)

(Dr. Dutton teaches in the Dept. of Psychology at Univ. of British Columbia)

MEANWHILE:

BATTERERS INTERVENTION PROGRAMS ARE GETTING NICELY ORGANIZED, STANDARDIZED, Certified, etc.

BISC-MI Welcomes You!!!

Click for additional information

. . .

Year, 2002?

The Batterer As Parent:

NOW LET’S LOOK AT SOME OF THIS PROGRESSIVE LANGUAGE CREEP, AS FACILITATED BY CERTAIN ASSOCIATIONS (see subject of post)

Year, 2007

(follow up from 2004 start of a Commission for Justice Initiatives to do exactly this type of activity)

Commission for Justice Initiatives in Pennsylvania PUBLIC RESOURCES In May 2004, at the request and with the support of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, then Pennsylvania Bar Association President Michael H. Reedestablished the Commission for Justice Initiatives in Pennsylvania. Guided by the basic tenet that the justice system needs to be responsive to the expectations and needs of the communities it serves, the commission identifies, develops and recommends the implementation of programs and practices designed to improve the administration of justice in Pennsylvania, educate the public about justice and the judicial system, and enhance the public’s trust and confidence in Pennsylvania’s justice system.

Changing the Culture of Custody  (Pennsylvania)

@@@

Also found at http://www15.brinkster.com/ncfcpgh/Report.pdf  (ALL font changes mine in the quote):

Chairman’s Introduction  (Chairman was The Hon. Thomas King Kistler)

The adoption of the Gold Standard Model set forth in this report, and the associated programs, will immediately change the course for the future of family separations and subsequent parenting arrangements. Children will be exposed to a far less contentious system, and will bear fewer emotional scars for the rest of their lives.

(Please note absence of parent representatives on the committee:)

Beginning in 2005, at the request of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, a Committee of experienced practitioners from many disciplines began the process of seeking a truly new and innovative way to resolve “custody” cases with less cost, delay and anguish. Through their dedicated and continuous efforts this Committee now offers the following report.

Over the last two years, the Committee has held 21 full day meetings, and conducted research projects and numerous investigative visits to courts to determine the best options for separating families.

Best according to whose definition?

Arnold Shienvold, Ph.D.,** brought great understanding of the dynamics of separation, as a clinical psychologist; Judy Shopp, {{Hover cursor for some of her qualifications & associations}} contributed vast knowledge on Alternative Dispute Resolution and mediation, and edited this report; Kathy Morrison {{PCADV}} represented the Domestic Violence community and their suggestions; Kim Nieves and Don Harris brought the expertise of the AOPC office, and its statistical gathering muscle; Maria Cognetti** {{AFCC presenter}} spoke for all of the family law practitioners {{??}}; Cindy Stoltz and Amy Ross added the perspective of Court Administration who will have to ‘run’ any system created; Gregg Warner illustrated the legislative interests and needs; Frank Cervone* spoke tirelessly on behalf of children and their needs; and Common Pleas Judges Manny Bertin (Montgomery), Chet Harhut (Lackawanna),** Katherine Platt (Chester), and Larry Kaplan (Allegheny) contributed their vast and varied experiences with family court matters over thousands of cases. This group was brought together and coalesced under the guidance and efforts of Marie Queen, of the Pennsylvania Bar Association. My sincere thanks and admiration go to each of them.

Some of the Personnel above:

SHIENVOLD appears to be lead personnel here, which basically says that AFCC’s standards are going to be the Gold Standard.

Dr. Shienvold’s name appeared on protests at the Lackawanna County Courthouse in recent months as a problem professional.  Nevertheless, his firm is part of a contract for expert witnesses hired by (don’t quote me, but I did look it up) the State of Pennsylvania.  Not mentioned:  He’s AFCC Board Member and I heard President-Elect.  Surprise, surprise, they recommend a Rule of Civil Procedure for Parent Coordinators.  Past models from Florida (where Parenting Coordination was successfully lobbied for, with the help of establishing a Florida Chapter of AFCC first, etc. Next up (if not there already) — pass a law in Pennsylvania (as in Florida) allowing judges to order parenting coordination over the objections of either parent.

You should read the report (I did).

**Ms. Cognetti — “Vice President of AAML” presenting alongside Dr. Shienvold at a JOINT AFCC-AAML conference, this past December, in Phillie:

ADVANCED ISSUES IN CHILD CUSTODY:  EVALUATION, LITIGATION & SETTLEMENT   “An exceptional, advanced-level training opportunity co-sponsored by two premier family law organizations”

• Learn the latest advanced practice skills and strategies • Earn continuing education credit • Expand your practice through unparalleled networking opportunities • An interdisciplinary faculty of leaders in the field • The latest research on children, custody, separation and divorce

Topics include:

Witness Preparation Direct and Cross Examination Child Development and Attachment Child Relocation Disputes Mental Health Consultation

Parental Alienation  Psychological Testing Domestic Abuse Bias and Opinion Formulation Ethics: Best Interests or Zealous Advocacy?

Cognetti & Shienvold  (Cognetti is probably also AFCC member, but I’m not sure):

Program Committee

Kenneth P. Altshuler, Esq., AAML President-Elect Nancy Zalusky Berg, Esq., AAML Fellow Maria Cognetti, Esq., AAML Vice President Gaetano (“Guy”) Ferro, Esq., AAML Past President Madeline Marzano-Lesnevich, Esq., AAML Vice President Arnold T. Shienvold, Ph.D., AFCC President Elect Robert M. Smith, Esq., AFCC Past President

Frank Cervone (I didn’t know the name) testified recently in re:  Penn State Child Abuse Allegations;

About Frank P. Cervone

Mr. Cervone currently serves as the Executive Director of Support Center for Child Advocates, the nation’s oldest and largest program dedicated exclusively to providing pro bono legal services for abused and neglected children. Since its founding in 1977, Child Advocates has trained more than 3,500 attorneys who contribute pro bono services valued at more than $4.6 million annually.

. . .

Mr. Cervone serves as Chair of the Pennsylvania Children’s Trust Fund. He chaired the Advisory Committee on Child Welfare Services and served as member of the Advisory Committee on Adoption Law, of the Joint State Government Commission, the research arm of the Pennsylvania General Assembly.. . .

He also serves as a member of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania Juvenile Court Procedural Rules Committee, and as member of the National Advisory Committee for the National Quality Improvement Center {{“QIC” pops up later on this post; learn the term}} on the Representation of Children in the Child Welfare System. He is a member of the Board of the Philadelphia Children’s Alliance and member of the American Bar Association Section of Litigation Children’s Rights Litigation Committee Working Group. He is a founder and co-director of the National Children’s Law Network.

Mr. Cervone is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and Villanova University School of Law, and he has a Masters Degree in Theology and Ministry from LaSalle University.

Here’s an update on his RECENT testimony after the Penn State Abuse:

CHESTER HARHUT:

Well, here’s a 2008 article stating how concerned he is there aren’t more volunteer to protect the kids in the court:

Finding allies for children in court

For President Judge Chester Harhut, the idea of bringing in volunteers to help children in the court system has been a long time coming.

BY ERIN L. NISSLEY STAFF WRITER Published: Monday, May 5, 2008 1:00 AM EDT

For President Judge Chester Harhut, the idea of bringing in volunteers to help children in the court system has been a long time coming.

The county received grant money more than five years ago to launch a program that paired children in abuse and neglect cases with advocates who would spend time getting to know their needs. But Judge Harhut and other court officials had a hard time finding an agency that would take a leading role in the project, including screening volunteers and coordinating training.

I think what speaks most loudly for The Hon. Harhut is how the FBI has raided his court, after repeated complaints about abusive practices by the GAL, he appointed — it turns out, she is without lease, without contract, not an employee, and taking advantage of public property to work her magic on the families.  The community also expressed repeated concerns also about supervised visitation and parenting coordinator Ann Marie Termini, including parents being forced to pay cash, and in short, they are pretty well upset and picketing the courthouse weekly.

FBI VISITS LACKAWANNA COURTHOUSE   (Note:  Lackawanna County is just north of the more famous Luzerne County, where 3 judges went down in a racketeering scandal).

PREDICTABLY (given who was on the Commission for Justice Initiatives, Changing the Culture of Custody Committee — a whole lot of AFCC) (incl. Harhut), the next order of business was pushing through PARENTing COORDINATION in Statute form.  Who better to “evaluate” this than some of the same folks, and here it is:

http://www.momjiananderer.com/articles_pdfs/steve_articles/article.pdf  A Task force of course has to issue a report.  Here’s who was on the Task Force (The document is only 15pp double-spaced, might as well read it, too!).  Notice:  Ph.D.’s, Ed.D.s (a few), Esqs & JD’s, and Judges.

• $$$  Steven J. Anderer, J.D., Ph.D. – $$$
• Rachel L. Baturin, MPH, J.D.
• The Hon. Robert J. Bigham
• $$$ Steven Cohen, Ph.D.  (see 2006 article cowritten by 3 members of this task force:  Cohen, Orlow & Iannuzelli)** (see his ad/link for PC’s, below)
• Kimberly Cox, Esq.
• $$$ Mark B. Dischell, Esq.
• John C. Howett, Jr., Esq.
• $$$ Jane Iannuzelli, M.Ed.D., M.A.
• Samuel Knapp, Ed.D.
• The Hon. Robert J. Matthews
• $$$ Eve Orlow, Ed.D., M.S. {Member of PA State board of Psychologists)
• The Hon. Katherine B.L. Platt
• $$$ Arnold Shienvold, Ph.D.
• $$$ Michele Southworth, J.D., LMFT**
• $$$ David J. Steerman, Esq.  (List reads “David Michele Steerman” @ PCCentral)
• Cynthia K. Stoltz, Esq.
• $$$ Anne Marie Termini, Ed.D., M.S., LPC ** (and why I bothered to type out this list!)
• The  Hon. Jeannine Turgeon
• The Honorable David N. Wecht

$$$

For Comparison, Several of the Above are already listed at PARENTING COORDINATION CENTRAL.  Marked with $$ signs next to their bullet, above!

So, those on the task force have been found:  writing together, training as parent coordinators together, presenting at AFCC/APA conferences together, and etc. , and their websites are pretty uniformly pushing HARD for parenting coordination, which I’ll spare you here (but have seen enough of!).  Whether or not all those makred $$ have taken their trainings with Boyan/Termini, I don’t know — but here are the elaborate details of how much participants will be charged to learn what:

http://www.parentingcoordinationcentral.com/pg91.cfm.   To register, go to the amazing, the invisibly incorporated (that I can see) http://www.cooperativeparenting.com/:

Susan Boyan and Ann Marie Termini are co-founders of the Cooperative Parenting Institute (CPI). The CPI is an organization {{WHERE??}} whose mission is to promote the healing and enhancement of family relationships. The Institute offers a wide range of services and resources to assist families as well as professionals with a successful transition from a one to two home family. The professionals at CPI are dedicated to educating the public, judges, legal and mental health professionals on the effects of divorce and time-sharing arrangements on the development of children.

Family Law Judges and Attorneys don’t know this already?   Hey, but if it’s tax-deductible as CLE or something, bring it on!

As I read the references to this short piece (found at Anderer site, above), it’s clear they are basically AFCC professionals citing AFCC professionals, in typical language:  Other states have done it thus (not mentioning, which AFCC professionals were involved IN those other states).   By this rationale, we should just “go with the flow.”

What happened to the concept of independence of the Judicial and Legislative Branches?  The report rationalizes:  We already have a civil rule that allows this and “Judges in at least 15 counties have appointed parenting coordinators”  -(see the list.  I wonder how many are AFCC members!).   A THIEF could use the same rationale:  ”But I’ve already been in the habit, shouldn’t you decriminalize theft?  All this debate over it is causing undue conflict for the parties in question!”

None of the august assemblage seemed to think that an actual layperson (they’re apparently the priesthood, so I call others “laypeople”) to keep them honest, among other things, or inject a little new blood into the deliberations!  Particularly as Ms. Termini has an obvious conflict of interest, being a parent coordinator already, and advocate of it.

***Steve Cohen, Ph.D. Page promoting Parent Coordination as if it were just something that “just happens” bcause of litigious parents.. It’s addressed to attorneys, to handle families that “just don’t want to change”:

Attorneys:  why should you consider a parent coordinator for your client?

You have probably heard the old joke: How many psychologists does it take to change a light bulb? One — but it really has to want to change.

Many family law clients don’t really want to change . .  (etc. . ..  )

Speaking of Mandatory Services Ordered:

For Dr. Orlow’s link (above) I notice that the link to Center Psychological Services also talks about Montgomery County’s Mandatory Parent Education Services “Our Children First” (cf.  KidsFirst out of some other counties, which I blogged on plenty, see “Muklewicz”).  $60 a pop or not custody modification hearing for you!  The Montgomery County Parent Seminar Registration site doesn’t even tell viewers who the provider is — it’s a website contact form, and parents “will be contacted.”

Enclosed form (same link) says:

Pursuant to Montgomery County Local Rule N. 1915.3, in an action for custody, partial custody or visitation, both parents must attend an approved educational seminar on the general responsibilities of separated and divorced parents.

About The Seminar

OUR CHILDREN FIRST seminar is a four-hour workshop in which instructors and participants will explore the potential social, emotional, psychological and economic implications on children during the divorce process. This seminar is for adults only; no childcare is available and children are not permitted to attend.

PRE-REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED. To Register:

1) Complete the form below; 2) Enclose your $60.00 check or money order, payable to CPS

Dr. Orlow’s blurb on Center for Psychological Services:

Eve Orlow, Ed.D., M.S.

Areas of Interest/Specialty:
Individuals; couples; Families, Individual Psychotherapy; Parenting issues;

Parenting adolescents with adjustment issues.

Separating parents, divorcing parents, Parenting coordination.

Ardmore

Was this blurb the same before she was assigned on the task force as to whether to mandate parenting coordination?

ABA, APA, AFCC & AAML — so far (above), right?

Lackawanna Bar site highlights Termini’s PC operation:

Cooperative Parenting Programs

ADMINISTRATOR:
Ann Marie Termini, Ed. S., M.S.
Lackawanna County Family Court (963-6512) -
and Clarks Summit, PA (586-5669)

HISTORY: 
In effect for three (3) years in Lackawanna County

COMMISSION ON JUSTICE INITiATIVES (etc) says, “Bring it on! for high-conflict families!”

But:

PARENTS + FBI in LACKAWANNA COUNTY, PA, see it a little differently.

Here is selected feedback from “Scranton Political Times” on the Co-parenting/Termini thread!

Lackawonderful wrote: Let me see if I have this straight…. Ann Marie Termini lists her credentials as Ed.S. (Education Specialist), M.S. (Master’s in Education) and L.P.C. (Licensed Professional Counsellor).  She does not have her Ph.D. and she is not a psychologist! From the invoices for this year, through August 2011 she has billed Lackawanna County for consultation and as the CoParenting Coodinator (???). over $44K! Basically, we, the taxpayers, will be paying (based on her billing so far this year) $80k + to a Social Worker…. Someone in the county should take a walk up the street to Scranton Counselling and see what a social woker position in Scranton really commands, and I assure you it is no where near $80K…. Again the taxpayers are getting the raw end of the stick!!!

or, by “resignation please” (Oct. 2011)

Are we going to find out what Termini did to earn all that cash?  Funny how that job didn’t go out for advertising every year.  Most contract work is supposed to be bid out, isn’t it? This stuff pisses off everybody who reads it.  Everybody who works at 200 Adams Ave is so disgusted they want to walk out.  That Court Administrators Office run by Claire is a shinning example of deplorable work ethic and professional conduct. More like a barn full of fat animals if you ask me.

or, by “redrider” (oct. 2011):

no not bad day at the office  anne marie terminni testified in another county during a custody case she was just a consultant for lackawanna county i was ordered in wyoming county court to attend coparenting with terminni i started getting bills in the mail from lackawanna county but my case has nothing to do with lackawanna county how can someone whos seeing you in her private practice  all of a sudden start sending you bills from lackawanna county courts and she would only accept money orders for payments i think that something fishy goin on

Why don’t we just centralize it — one class, one idea, nationwide — and at least cut down on the opportunities for overbilling.  This guy from California seems to have the concept down– get certified with the court, get the classes online, pay people $45 per referrals, and sit back with the on-line ATM machine!   (found when i looked for the Wyoming class — good SEO placement, Dr. Ari!)

(PROBABLY UNRELATED TO OUR Ms. TERMINI, HERE>>>)

http://www.onlineparentclass.com/About-Online-Parent-Class.aspx

(What this really is all about is professional expansion for educationists and psychologists anyhow….)

(CONT’D @ Here is selected feedback from “Scranton Political Times” on the Co-parenting/Termini thread!)

or by Joe Pilchesky summarizing her earnings — which he took the time to ascertain:

\

And finally, here’s the image of a “Right to Know” letter (from Mr. P.) re: Termini.  Images of the payment vouchers are on the same thread.  How many other people in ANY other counties have even asked?

Summarized from images above (and his responses from the RTK), he writes:

However, it seems that the Hon. Chester Harhut (see “Commission for Justice Initiatives” “Changing the Culture of Custody Committee”) DID by court order (not contract bid out, not competitive process, that we can see) appoint GAL Danielle M. Ross for this county, in approximately 2008.   When Joe Pilchesky discovered this information, he filed the civil suit against those who hired her improperly — it’s a good filing — and after the FBI came in and said, “We’ll investigate!” that apparently removed his standing to sue!

From the payment vouchers, for example, January 2011 (link = image), “Services to Lackawanna Family Court,” part was “consulting specialist” ($20/hour) and part, parenting coordinator ($60.00/hour) for  total of $7,050 (hours for the month — 163.50).   I’d sure like to see the county payroll disbursing this.

Which just goes to show that if the right people say “parent coordinator” often enough, they will be well-rewarded for the repetitious talk by the creation of a new income stream, at taxpayer/parent cost.

Year, 2008:

Reconceptualizing Child Custody:

Past, Present, and Future—Lawyers

and Psychologists Working Together

A Continuing Education Conference

Seminar topics include, but are not limited to: • Representation of children’s interests in matters of disputed custody

• Admissibility of expert testimony • Parent coordination • Effective interventions with high-conflict families • Considering allegations of abuse and neglect in contested cases • Crafting visitation, access, and parenting time • Alternatives to the adversarial process (Other planned activities include a mock trial involving expert psychological testimony . . .. )

This was in Chicago and Cosponsored by:  American Psychological Association (APA) & American Bar Association Section of Family Law (ABA)

This was big news — if you knew enough to frequent parenting coordination sites, or had picked up the phrase among colleagues.  Here’s Matthew Sullivan, Ph.D., Parent Coordinator (etc.) advertising on his site, right opposite the link to “Child Alienation” and an ad for the AFCC conference 2012:

Reconceptualizing Child Custody:Past Present and Future- Lawyers and Psychologists Working Together, co-sponsored by the American Psychological Association and the Family Law section of the American Bar Association. Dr Sullivan will be one of numerous presenters at this amazing collaborative effort of Legal and Psychological professionals. The conference will take place in Chicago. Please see the preliminary brochure below:

And, prior to this:

Year, 2002

Batterers As Fathers:

Rethinking and Reconceptualizing Policy and Practice

Believe it or not, this is an idea posted at “VAWNet”

by David Mandel for the Non-Violence Alliance (2002)

This paper describes an approach to intervention and prevention with children exposed to domestic violence that enforces the concepts of batterer accountability and change. The author asks and addresses a series of questions about holding batterers accountable for their behavior by utilizing existing legal and social work processes, making recommendations about systems change that may best enhance the safety of battered women and their children.

Clicking on the “Non-Violence Alliance” (“endingviolence.com”) one sees “DMA (David Mandel Associates, LLC), which, a nice 2011 link to the left, leads to:

Newsletter: January 2011

QIC-NRF National Advisory Board Members

The national advisory board brings together representatives from numerous disciplines, including law, fatherhood, child welfare and child protection services, courts, front-line practice, research, policy and academia. Ten members were selected for the board and approved by the U.S. Children’s Bureau. Board members assist the quality improvement center in identifying issues and barriers to involving non-resident fathers in child welfare cases; guide the selection of research focus, requests for proposal and site selection; and act as a resource regarding multidisciplinary issues and methods that may contribute to comprehensive assessment and experimentation.

The board members are:

Scott E. Cade
Deputy Commissioner
New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance

John Chacon
Independent Community Programming Consultant  (FOR WHAT?)

Richard T. Cozzola
Supervisory Attorney of the Children’s Law Project
Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago

Susan N. Dreyfus
Secretary
Washington Department of Social and Health Services

http://www.modelsforchange.net/reform-progress/96

Michael Hayes
Director of Family Strengthening Initiative
Office of Attorney General, State of Texas

Mark Kiselica
Fellow and Former President
Society for the Psychological Study of Men and Masculinity, American Psychological Association
Professor, Department of Counselor Education
College of New Jersey

Erwin McEwen
Director
Illinois Department of Child and Family Services

Fernando Mederos
Director of Special Projects, Fatherhood
Massachusetts Department of Social Services

Maurice Moore
Program Associate
Annie E. Casey Foundation (has its fingers in almost every fatherhood or children’s project around)

Stephen M. Rubin
Judge Pro Tempore
Pima County Superior Court (Arizona)

I promise this will be interesting, IF this is your cup of tea.  If you don’t have a sense of humor, Lord help you, and quit now, this post will irritate you!

Retranslated, that little intro tells you I’m not feeling well (given these contexts, and psychologically) today, so you get offerings, and that’s it.  Then again, I’ve been studying these topics long enough, and have a unique enough viewpoint, they might also be worth considering under Who moved The Cheese and “You did WHAT!?$#@?? with my money, Congress?”

ONE

including a recent significant ruling from Orange County, California (mother was awarded damages, including some punitive, of $4.9 million for social worker abuses causing in appropriate removal of her children.  It took her six years to get them back, and supervised visitation and child abuse allegations — by the child, not the mom — threats, and all kinds of horrible events were involved in this case.

In other words, it was a fairly typical situation when molestation crops up as a topic.   Father is put on supervised visitation, monitors begin threatening the girls AND the mother when one girl (autistic) resists, and they follow through on the threat, and stick the kid in foster care.  To add to the interest, this is a mother from Seal Beach, where another allegedly “fairly typical” divorce ended last fall in an 8-person massacre.  If these are “typical” we are in serious trouble.  I commented on this in another forum:  If you care to read it, see my 2nd & 3rd comments on this thread, today:  (About the Nonprofits Front Groups that help traffick kids (and just exhaust their parents to get an “unfit” declaration).   I started this thread to stop irritating people on the other threads who preferred banter and in-fighting to strategizing based on analysis, which possibly helped keep both sets of blood pressures down a notch.  I can ignore them and they can more easily ignore me.

In my comment I reminded us that this was such a major issue that a Georgia Senator and her husband were (possibly) murdered while she was in the process of exposing it; there are a number of individuals who simply don’t buy that Nancy Schaefer’s husband murdered her, then committed suicide.  Among these is Garland Favorito, who says he was close to the family and gives a year-later follow up.   So it was  rather heavy-duty morning.

TWO, San Francisco’s New Sheriff was just arraigned on DV charges.

Some details here — I don’t know how “national” the coverage on this one is.  I haven’t followed this one so closely, but for women in certain situations (yes, me, too) who have in the past hoped that sheriffs might help them stop a crime in progress, or report one just committed, the sense that the head of the place has issues with it himself, and problems with women, is naturally disturbing.  There have been also in various places, allegations and lawsuits against district attorneys or their employees surrounding rape, etc., by coworkers, and of course i’ve already blogged “Dubious Doings by District Attorneys.”  These men and women, some of who have given their lives in the line of duty, including literally to protect victims in a ‘domestic dispute” in process (and involving bullets, also have the capacity to sit back and do nothing with impunity.  The cumulative effect of, between family law and criminal elements, wonder where to go for justice — or assistance — gets discouraging year after year.  Here’s some news on this matter:

Also, in San Francisco, an incoming sheriff, Ross Mirkarimi, is now on the spot for domestic violence against his wife:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-sf-sheriff-domestic-violence-jpeg-09ad6.jpg-20120113,0,4587269.photo

SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco’s new sheriff is scheduled to appear in court on allegations he mistreated his wife in front of their toddler son and told her not to tell anybody about it.

Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi (meer-kah-REEM’-ee) is expected to plead not guilty at his arraignment Thursday afternoon in San Francisco Superior Court.

Mirkarimi’s lawyer, Robert Waggener, says he will likely ask for a speedy trial.

Prosecutors have charged the 50-year-old sheriff with domestic violence battery, child endangerment and dissuading a witness. The three misdemeanor charges come after a New Year’s Eve incident with his wife, Eliana Lopez, at their home.

This is not just any old sheriff (no offence, men and women serving on the forces!) but a former SF Supervisor;

. . .

• Reentry for Ex-Offenders: Formation of the Safe Communities Reentry Council to help reintegrate the formerly incarcerated — recognizing the reentry process as a critical opportunity to break the cycle of crime and violence and reduce California’s worst-in-the-nation recidivism rate.
• Ross was born in Chicago to an Iranian father and mother of Russian descent.Ross spent most of his youth in Rhode Island, obtained his undergraduate degree from St. Louis University (Political Science and Russian Literature), and earned Master’s degrees from Golden Gate University (Economics) and the University of San Francisco (Environmental Science/Management). He is also a graduate of the San Francisco Police Academy, where he was class president.Prior to being elected Supervisor, Ross served as an investigator with the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office for almost nine years, specializing in economic and environmental crimes.Community organizing and activism have always been a significant part of Ross’s life, as student body president of St. Louis University, president of the Missouri Public Interest Research Group (MOPIRG), and co-founder of the California Green Party.

He would seem to be well-educated and well-qualified, unless the charges are true.  Per enotes.com, he’s very progressive, and was even a member of NOW

Reparations bill

Mirkarimi also authored a piece of reparations bill, which would give descendants of those displaced by the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency from the Western Addition priority in obtaining affordable housing. During the 1960s the city tore down much of the historic Fillmore district, most of whose resident’s were permanently removed. Two-thirds of those displaced were African American.^[27]

Makes sense to me….  He also was in favor of public (not private) regulated medical marijuana dispensaries (controversial enough?) and

On April 21, 2009, Ross Mirkarimi became a father, as Eliana Lopez, a Venezuelan TV star whom he met at an environmental conference in Brazil, gave birth to his son, Theo Aureliano Mirkarimi.^[7][8]

I do note:

He grew up inJamestown, Rhode Island, where he graduated from the Catholic, all-male Bishop Hendricken High School in 1979.

Here’s some SFWeekly on the issue, with plenty of links, including one showing Eliana denying the abuse  and speaking about her neighbor’s insistence on prosecution.  Me, I’m noticing the size differencene (husband/wife), don’t have enough facts to make a call (and it’s not my call), but if it’s true, it sure is a matter of concern, and — sorry — attending an all male Catholic high school (even though sounds like a good one) says something to me.

Ross Mirkarimi Update: Eliana Lopez Admits She Talked to Neighbor, But Denies Abuse

(from SFweekly blog).

By Lauren Smiley Wed., Jan. 18 2012 at 6:00 PM

Police Interview Second Witness In Domestic Violence Incident 

A copy of Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi’s arrest warrant was released to the media today, painting a disturbing picture of what allegedly took place between Mirkarimi and his wife, Eliana Lopez, during a reported New Year’s Eve domestic dispute.

According to the warrant, Mirkarimi was taking his family to lunch on Dec. 31 when Lopez asked him if, after his inauguration, she could travel to Venezuela to visit her family with their 2-year-old son, Theo. Mirkarimi reportedly lost his cool, and began screaming “fuck you,” to Lopez.

“Fuck you, fuck you, you are trying to take Theo away from me,” Mirkarimi reportedly said. He then allegedly turned the car around and told her that he wasn’t taking them to eat, saying something to the effect of “she didn’t deserve to eat.”

The fight escalated when the couple returned to their Western Addition home, where Mirkarimi allegedly pushed, pulled, grabbed, and verbally abused Lopez, according to the document.

Lopez ran outside the house, telling him that she would call the police. The couple’s son was screaming and crying, too. Mirkarimi repeatedly apologized to his wife and begged her to come back into the house, per the warrant.

The next day, Lopez visited her neighbor, Ivory Madison, and told her about the domestic violence dispute. She was in tears and asked Madison to video the bruise on her arm, explaining that she wanted all of it recorded in case Mirkarimi tried to take their son away.

On Jan. 12 — after the incident had been reported to police — officers contacted “another neighbor” who claims Lopez told her about the New Year’s Eve fight. She reportedly told the witness that it was the second time in 2011 that Mirkarimi had abused her. She showed her the bruise on her arm, which was a “pretty big” brown injury that appeared to be a hand or finger marks, according to police.

One of the women reporting him actually helped host a fundraiser to get him elected:

Ross Mirkarimi Update: Neighbor Who Reported Domestic Violence Fundraised for New Sheriff

By Erin Sherbert Mon., Jan. 9 2012 at 8:00 AM

Comments (3) 

Categories: Politics

But a quick Google search shows that it’s not exactly his political enemies, but rather his political allies who are “the forces at work” in this ongoing case. Ivory Madison, the neighbor who called police to report the alleged domestic violence, is also the same woman who helped get Mirkarimi elected.

According to ActBlue, a democratic political action committee, Madison hosted a fundraiser for Mirkarimi on Oct. 15, 2011. Here’s what the invite said:

Please Join Us In Support of Ross Mirkarimi For Sheriff!

Spend some quality time with Ross, his wife Eliana Lopez, and their son

Hosted by Ivory Madison & Abraham Mertens, Jane Morrison, Thea Selby, and Gladys Holder Soto

etc.  This ain’t over yet.  

THREE:

Will show in next few posts, I hope.  Have been seeing the need to incorporate and address the different angles that come up when Juvenile Justice Diversionary programs (i.e., help them, don’t jail them) run into the family law’s approach, which is the more diversions the better, and the dangers of being a mother in this day and time, once physical assaults have occurred and jumpstarted some legal action.   Family Court is a great place for batterers (that’s what the DV orgs call such people, as does the book’ The Batterer as Parent”) aka “parent” as the father-friendly AFCC groups like to call them.

The problem the Juvenile Justice groups confront is very, very real — which is racist incarceration practices.  It’s a large and wide-ranging topic, so I can’t say a whole lot more, just now.

I also have been feeling, not just seeing, the influence of the outfits that are able to operate with more freedom because they are under-reported; they are rarely front-page news, although they help create it and censor it in times, through simply buying out media.  I’m talking about nonprofits like ALEC, or The New American Century.

Really, these are tough times, and it requires sound thinking.   I’d love to just ignore all this and put my nose to the grindstone again, but year after year of doing exactly that (while children in the home, or after they were — overnight, and again right on the cusp of success for them and me both — NOT in my home) one knows better than to just charge off as IF one were totally free to choose, when in context, one is not.

Years of disruption of income for women without supportive families is particularly worrisome.  We have no job stability or social stability, and quite frankly, recreating onesself in relationship to the communities where one has fought the courts and or one’s ex for so long, after which discovering the means of betrayal (within supposedly supportive government institutions) — how’d you like to do this for approximately 20, 30, possibly 40, possibly til the day you die, years?    Particularly when you know you can contribute and have in the past, when it was possible to work for a few years in a row on single projects, or at a single line of work?

This experience actually is better preparation for war (or, as such, business startups) than for any professional occupations or things one can do in a time of peace, which this isn’t.  My experience of marriage AND family (of origin) has been one of nonstop tribal-style warfare, and most of the war appeared to be over shutting down basic expressions of sentient life, use of one’s mind, and humanity.  Things like choice.  Or seeking to protect the fruits of my own efforts for a season or maybe even two in a row.  and I know my case was better than many, although perhaps not for the length.

Yesterday, I spent time (hours) with an acquaintance who had a social worker set her up and remove children without any order, or due process, while a restraining order was on.  (Munchausen’s by Proxy).  I looked up the social worker who did this thing, by name (not my state) and found she had barely completed a bachelor’s in social science (it took maybe 5 years), worked briefly for an entity which got HHS block grants in the area, it doesn’t appear this person ever lived outside the immediate geographic area (which the mother had, as had the father in the case)– and suddenly this erstwhile social worker becomes Director of Family Court Services?

Not only does this particular mother have no contact with her kids, to speak of, she also has no LIFE outside fighting this case (now at the federal level) and for periods she also had no home.  The custody reversal kicked her out of her own home without somewhere to go, apparently deprived of community property, and for a time she was simply living in her car in a cold climate (not the first mother I know this has happened to).    And yet, the FR groups still say, the courts are biased against men?  WHERE?

The story is grindingly simple and I noted that the process again began with ordering supervised visitation to the mother, immediately.  Give us your assets, and pay to see your kids that you gave birth to.

Land of the free and home of the brave? ?   Brave yes — free, no.

Added to all this, one never really (?) gets over loss of relationship with one’s children, and particularly not when it was known to in violation of due process, and without a factual or legal basis on the record as to why, and suspiciously corresponded with one guy’s high child support arrears (through not working) and a few other middle-aged female’s known empty nests (one, opted for abortion + snatch someone else’s kids, the other, after two (at least) known failed relationships, needed to have some kids around possibly for church social status — and free housekeeping).  Women are no less complicit in these matters than men, although I do believe more equality in government (meaning, CONGRESS!) might bring out the best — not the worst — in human nature.

SO,  BELOW THIS LINE iS WHERE THE POST’S TITLE CONTENT BEGINS.  JUST LOOKING….

+ + + + + + = = = = = + + + + + + = = = = = + + + + + + = = = = = + + + + + + = = = = = + + + + + + = = = = =

From the “90FD series” which apparently may represent the Partnership With Universities to Fix Things series:

1115 Grants Awarded in FY 2011

Section 1115 Grants: Partnership to Strengthen Families: Child Support Enforcement and University Partnerships

(check it out).

If one grant catches my attention, I often go look for similar ones on TAGGS.  Which means I often have two or three reports of various sorts to browse, scan and possibly check out, going at a time.  This helps me (i’m a scanner; hey– it takes all kinds!) to build a little mental database of what’s going on in the free money to help solve society’s problems by standardizing & circulating answers to almost every question  (similar to catechism, only supposedly not religious) business, which is what HHS is pretty well invested in.  Actually YOU are invested if you file an income tax return, or have it withheld.  Make that a “WE.”

It’s becoming clearer and clearer that TAGGS database wasn’t actually designed for human use outside the people administering the grants.  I mean:  The third column here is supposed to actually describe what the Award is about — it’s “Award Title”

Results 1 to 305 of 305 matches.
Page 1 of 1	1

Well, that really narrows it down, thanks for the explanation.   One year’s salary (average administrative secretarial?) for “STATE OF GEORGIA” award.  Glad you found something to put in that field called “Award Title.”

Now we can start with the research:  Is it bigger than a breadbox?  Is it a consumable or an invisible intangible?   Can I link to it, and who is selling it?   Should I search for it at HHS or within the GA Dept of HUMAN RESOURcES?

MN is doing this kind of labelling too, obviously.  So is TN, only TN can’t make up its mind what to call itself in the Grantee Institution field . . . . .

“TN ST” or “STATE OF TENNESSEE” (depending on how it was entered) and CHARLES BRYSON (or “MR. CHARLES BRYSON”) are quite active, and I wonder if this too involves some ‘retooling” of the child support system.  Most grants have a partial clue to what’s going on, but some really do not:

Any particular reason why the name of an award is simply the name of the state, or the department within the state?   Hello, I am applying for a grant, my Company  is “BROKEN ARROW PROMISES”   I promise to XYZ.   OK, but the public needs to know what the grant is for, so we’ll just call it the  BROKEN ARROW PROMISES grant, which will explain where their taxes are going.

Here’s a simple search of all grants to this department, showing a few different DUNS#, some NO DUNS# (oops), and over $6 billion of grants, which we already know is going to include literal TANF (food stamps, cash aid) Child Support Enforcement, Medicaid, Foster Care and Adoption Assistance,, research grants to some hospitals surely, support of various institutes in a university here and there, no doubt, and of course it is going to include the ominpresent:  Marriage and Fatherhood promotion funding, I imagine, and possibly Access/visitation (if this department is the State Grantee).  This is a fraction of federal aid to TN, but it represents only grants from HHS to this agency within the state:

(1) this amount relates to a very few award series, which i’m not going to look up just now, except that this is certainly an interesting award title for something representing $67 million of funding, don’t you think?

the “TNSOSR” is labeled CFDA code 93667 which reads “Social Services Block Grant”

the “TNLIEA is labeled CFDA code 93568 which reads ‘Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program’ (LIHEAP).  Why were some awards labeled simply LIHEAP and this, LIEA?  I don’t know.

(2) — THE LARGEST CATEGORY (to this State Dept.) includes TANF itself, grants from OCSE, and other, plus a mere $182K to Access/Visitation.   So far in 2012 — just for reference — over $20.8 million has been distributed, or at least awarded, under the DUNS# 878556299

Another chunk of awards (a large chunk) is for Child Care, which it shows is part of TANF.  Makes sense that child care assistance helps people get to their jobs.  It’s a lot of money, isn’t it!

STILL under the largest chunk if funding marked “(2)” above, here are the 2011 awards to this department, showing a variety of award purposes:

We see awards 90FD0129, 0139, 0148, 0171, and 0177 in a variety of budget years, (0177 being budget year 1).   FD0129 (Showing “zero” in 2011) began in 2008, is marked “discretionary” and disbursed $156K.  For what (??) who knows?  Click on any hyperlink to learn more about the award, like when it started.   FD0139 began in 2009 (recovery act year, not really good news, as recovery act awards have a reputation by now as not well monitored) and amount is $218,764 — for What?  WHAT “family services” — marriage promotion?

Charles Bryson is one of two listed IV-D contacts (Private Collection Agency Policy — though none listed for TN).

A few search results here — this is a NCSEA (National Child Support Enforcement Association) porta-conference flyer, i.e, products for sale.  The logo reads “Innovate, Collaborate, Communicate” and “Planting the Seeds of the Modern Family” which definitely seems to be how CSE agencies (local) see themselves anyhow.

NCSEA is excited to introduce our 2011 Annual Conference workshop recordings, the NCSEA Portable Conference–a great way to get the most from the 2011 NCSEA Annual Conference experience.

Six workshop sessions (listed below) were recorded–including audio and video recordings, synched to the Power Point Presentation--and made available for purchase in CD or Streaming format, requiring Microsoft Silverlight (www.Silverlight.net). Please be sure that your system can accommodate the streaming interface recording. No refunds are available for technical difficulties.

If you were unable to attend NCSEA’s Annual Conference, you can now share in the valuable information presented at the workshops.

NCSEA Portable Conference Pricing

The Portable Conference is available in a bundle including all six workshops. Individual workshops may not be purchased separately.

• NCSEA members $ 250 • Non-members $ 375

Don’t ever say your child support issues are “local” or your county is the most corrupt in the nation.  Strategies are nationalized.  For those of us non-members (and note — the public CANNOT become members – at least in California, you actually have to be a child support director to become a member!) So even if a parent had $375 to spare (unlikely in the days of expanding and innovating child support agencies), he or she would also have to have a friend in the agency.  Get a look at this! (Still from the portable conference site)

Collaboration & Communication -the New Face of the Innovative Child Support Agency

The role of child support agencies appears to be expanding to include innovations, more collaborations, and better communications. New ideas for programs to reach out to our customers and partners are being tested. Child support agencies are increasingly involved with new initiatives to help parents become more responsible and better able to care for their children and themselves… Work force and prisoner reentry initiatives in child support offices are becoming more popular nationally as we work with NCPs {{noncustodial parents}} to help them meet their responsibilities. Learn how your agency can better serve its community. We’ll discuss some new initiatives, how they started and how they are being funded at a time when we all have to do more with less.

Presenters:

Alicia Key, IV-D Director, Child Support Division, Office of the Texas Attorney General

Angela Anton, Assistant Jefferson (KY) County Attorney, Child Support Division {{REmember, Kentucky has the “Turning It Around” extort your Dads into fatherhood program participation once they’ve been arrested for nonpayment?}}

Kimberly Dent, Human Services Program Administrator 3, Ohio Department of Job and Family Services

Amy B. Gober (Moderator), Senior Associate, Center for the Support of Families

{{Sure, that’s really helping….Children don’t need food, they need better relationship skills classes for their parents, etc.}}

Here’s our Mr. Bryson as participant.  Notice all the grants he’s overseeing in TN:

Reducing Adversarial Relationships: How Child Support Agencies Take On Access and Visitation

Enjoy a frank discussion on how and why to improve the access and visitation program in your state/office. Best practices are shared on how to work with both parents in developing communication tools and conflict resolution ideas for the betterment of the child. Presenters:

Russell Eastman, Manager, Georgia Division of Child Support Services Charles Bryson, Director, Tennessee Child Support Field Operations and Management Gerry White, Compliance and Program Development Manager, Families First.** Ann Russell (Moderator), Program Specialist, OCSE

**Families First is a major Atlanta-based organization, I’ve actually had a mother ask me to investigate this one, and began to.  Anyhow, Mr. White shows up at a nice fatherhood conference here:

Families First Presents Workshop at 10th Annual International Fatherhood Conference

The National Partnership for Community Leadership held its 10^th Annual International Fatherhood Conference June 10-13^th in Washington DC. The goal of the conference is to build strong family relationships, and this year’s theme: “Reconnecting Fathers to Families: At Home & Abroad” emphasized the need to educate the world about the importance of responsible fatherhood.

Dr. Gerry White and Freddie Wilson represented Families First at the conference and presented a workshop entitled “Quantitative Study of Factors that Impact Parental Involvement Among African American Unwed Fathers.” This workshop identified key factors associated with father involvement through programmatic and research findings. It also provided specific strategies for assisting fathers with improving involvement, and detailed how responsible fatherhood involvement is multi-dimensional.

NPCL (above) IS about pushing fathers’ rights, period.   It has many ways of doing this, and its CEO, “Dr. Jeffrey Johnston” bio reads — in part –

Dr. Johnson is a nationally recognized authority in the areas of leadership, employment and training, urban poverty and youth employment.  A particular focus of Dr. Johnson’s work has been on the plight of African-American men and families.  He is regularly invited to testify before the United States Congress on matters pertaining to low-income fathers and strengthening families. He played a principal role in passage of the first national fatherhood legislation in Congress, The Fathers Count Bill.  Dr. Johnson is also the author of several publications including Fatherhood Development: A Curriculum for Young Fathers.

and I think we get the general emphasis here, right?  So this is a group Families First is advertising (its conference) and Families First is, among many other things, receiving support — or at least partnering with — two Georgia Counties (Cobb & Fulton) and Depts. of Human Resources.  Its Program leader — known to be associating with a major fatherhood promoter (Dr. Johnston, who holds 3 degrees from UMichigan), and has been given by way of NCSEA portaconference (and obviously the live NCSEA conference) — a nationwide platform alongside three other seriously heavyweight Child Support Personnel (Mr. Bryson of TN being the Title IV-D contact, and we can see from TAGGS a hint of the budget size this relates to).

This should further illustrate how HHS supported and Government-supported Nonprofits are being allowed to drive policy for the entire nation (which is, FYI, over 50% female) in places they don’t have access to, and often don’t know exist.

re:

I have blogged this before, use “search.”  I had somethings to say about the Ohio branch, and learned a lot researching it about how Ohio is put together these days, particularly its “Fatherhood Commission.”

“YOWSA!” — I don’t remember if I’d seen this particular little project by the Colorado Dynamic Duo of “center for policy research” (the 6 to 7-woman team whose leadership includes Jessica Pearson, whose origins date back to the beginning of AFCC) and “Policy Studies, Inc.”   This is from 2006 and is comparing Colorado (Small state) Tennessee (medium state) and Texas (large-state) versions of how to set up Access visitation programming.  Every parent should read it, and see how the ‘team” includes a mingling of the courts, child support, and often a third party.  in TEXAS this was simple — go to the fatherhood program administrator.

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cse/pol/DCL/2007/dcl-07-07a.pdf  This was funded by the OCSE, not through grant, but by task order.  Suggest look it up on USaspending.gov.  It also mentions assigning “parenting plan coordinator” and estimates costs, or reports them.  Acknowledgements show the trio in each state:

We wish to thank the following people for their invaluable assistance during this project:

Colorado:

Pam Hennessey, Child Support Enforcement Coordinator, Colorado Judicial Department Cindy Savage, Director, Office of Dispute Resolution, Colorado Judicial Department Pam Gagel, Family Court Facilitator, Denver District Court

Tennessee:

Elizabeth A. Sykes, Deputy Director, Administrative Office of the Courts Mary Rose Zingale, Programs Manager, Administrative Office of the Courts Charles Bryson, Director of Field Operations and Management, Tennessee Child Support Division

Texas:

Michael Hayes, Manager of Collaborations, Fatherhood and Family Initiatives, Child Support Division Alisha Key, Director, Texas Office of Court Administration Arlene Pace, Access and Visitation Coordinator, Child Support Division

This ACF site (year, 2004) itself shows where the major source of referrals is coming, and how the goal of the program (or at least measured criteria) includes “increased noncustodial parenting time.”  http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cse/pubs/2004/reports/prelim_access_visitation_grants/texas.html

State Access Program Coordinator:
Arlene Pace
Office of the Attorney General
Child Support Division
PO Box 12017
Austin, Texas 78711-2017

Internet: Arlene.pace@cs.oag.state.tx.us

Annual Federal Grant Award: $621,404
Minimum 10% State Match: $ 69,045
Number of Minor Age Children in Single (Biological) Parent Households: 721,702

This shows a “love” for supervised visitation outcomes in the A/V funding.  This gets interesting when A/V program coordinators happen to also be operating such centers (Google “Helen O. Page” for that one)

Services Provided

Poor people are particularly targeted for these services (and their Title IV-D cases or IV-A help justify it), plus, although so much of program literature pushing fatherhood programs loves to bring up race, and the plight of the African-American male and his disenfranchisement, true as this may be (though it seems to pale compared to African-American Females overall, who couldn’t even vote until the 1900s, and whose position in slavery in prior generations (for those whose genealogy this applies to) included being used by masters for breeding by way of rape as well.  But in the A/V programs in Texas, it’s mostly poor Caucasians getting these services:

Annual Income

Race/Ethnicity

I also find it odd that being as there’s such an interest from the head of HHS to measure ethnicity, the system has more “unknowns” that actually identified customers…. If I had a program like this, I’d know by looking at results that there either wasn’t good measurements being taken, or that my categories needed adjustment. Nevertheless, in fy2012, there’s hope to expand A/V functionality even further.

Look at this:  Of the sources which the Feds seem actually interested in (columns, 1, 2 & 3) very little self-referrals are occurring.  Referals are coming from the courts and child support systems itself (2,724) which indicates it was NOT the grassroots desire for these services.  Moreover, 2,724/3,779 “other” indicates that referrals are coming from outside the main anticipated sources — so where were these coming from?  Fatherhood groups?  Who really knows?

Source of Client Referrals

Outcomes

(etc.)

STILL footnoting the TENNESSEE grants above (the chart with several DUNS# and some amounts with no DUNS#):

(3)

Being curious, I went to the USASPENDING.gov site, and found over $93 million in 63 grants to this DUNS#, all starting in 2009.  Recommended to do.  OF these $90 million (50 awards were on the commission on aging, and the two awards/grants (for once, the amounts match with HHS) relate to Medicaid, and are not on this blog’s lists of topics.  Just FYI.

Here’s one from WV that parallels the descriptive powers of the TN one in red font above:  Award is named after Grantee Institution; they are one and the same:

and I wonder what’s the difference between HEALTH HUMAN RESOURCES and FAMILIES SERVICES? in West Virginia.  Why is one a Resource (implies tangibles to be drawn from) and the other a Service? (implies good deeds, actions what is served).  Either way, the resources of HHS are going to both departments:

Or here are some from Texas, which got a lot of this OCSE Section 1115 Waiver grants, which (I think) the whole 90FD series represents anyhow:

In other words, in the OCSE Research Grants 1115 Waiver, one would like to know What Research for What Purpose is said new grant.  Particularly when it’s for $0.70 million in a year of economic recession nationwide!  So, we are told, hello, it’s a 1115 Waiver.  (the CFDA category — I didn’t include in printout– would tell that).  Then it’s in support of a PAID INITIATIVE.  I get the idea it entails payments — but which initiative?  Does anyone have a clue how to pick the main words out of a very long title, and stick them in a short data entry field?  Appparently not.

So viewers can call up a VERY busy Michael Hayes (possibly on a plane to the next Fatherhood Summit; last year it was in MN), and ask him?  And who’s Kammi Siemens?   . . . . Here are some more:

This is hardly a surprising award title, given the field, but does make me wonder why — IF the idea is to help the children — it might not be a better idea to help build the assets of the household they are living in, and cut down on the middlemen and brokers.  And, if there are Urban Mothers now paying child support to their custody-switched kids, is there a parallel program to help them build THEIR assets?  Or is the process just to jail them if they get in arrears based on the concept that it’s wilful, and not “inability to pay” as is assumed with so many fathers (at least in the program literature supporting fatherhood via OCSE).

Here’s a similar one in Washington STate, this time through a different agency:

Here’s another in washington that, on it ssurface, would appear to be an efficient way of locating hidden assets from noncustodial parents and doing something about it — and this was defunded.  In Year 1 of the budget.

Whoever thought up the family court system sure was brilliant.  It is a system for STRIPPING assets (including real estate) via stripping parents of access to their children, and sitting back placing bets on the winner when said parents tries to get time or even a glimpse of the absentee children.  Then the fight is, of course, somewhat “fixed” through Access/Visitation funding, which only one of the players is informed of.

Here’s some from Wisconsin — which is the home state of the Inter(?)national branch of AFCC:

How much more improvement is possible than providing pro-bono legal help (and encouragement) to sue for custody modification orders, help which is not available to the custodial (mother) to defend from; and/or all kinds of programs to Compromise Arrears on the basis of altered custody situations, or other change of circumstances, such as perhaps finding out that there are compromise of arrears programs around?

Here’s what a simple google search of “Grant 90 FD” blew in the door:

SOURCE:  Another Nice report from Jessica Pearson & Center for Policy Research (date, maybe 2006)

COLLECTING CHILD SUPPORT FROM LOW-INCOME NCPS: WHAT COLORADO HAS TRIED AND LEARNED

• An Evaluation of the Responsible Fatherhood Program of El Paso County, Colorado
• (OCSE Grant #: 90-FD-0004/01)
• FORGIVING ARREARS: An Evaluation of the Colorado Arrears Forgiveness Demonstration Project (OCSE Grant #: 90-FD-0028/01)

  This presentation will discuss various interventions to promote child support payment among low-income NCPs in Colorado. They are: (1) referring unemployed or underemployed NCPs to the El Paso County Parent Opportunity Project (POP), a responsible fatherhood program offering assistance with employment, child support, and child access (August 1998 – April 2001); (2) referring NCPs who were paroled or released from a state prison to the Denver Work and Family Center (WFC), a one-stop center offering assistance with employment, child support. and family reunification (August 1999 – March 15, 2001); (3) offering NCPs with child support arrears the possibility of reducing or eliminating arrears owed to the state by making complete and timely child support payments over a ten-month period of time (May 2001 – February 2002); and (4) reducing the child support burden by dropping debt and retroactive support obligations for a random sample of NCPs with new child support orders (February – December 1998). These interventions were implemented and evaluated under several demonstration and evaluation grants awarded by the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement to the Colorado Division of Child Support Enforcement.

Hopefully you get the gist of the program, 1, 2, 3 & 4, which you helped pay to demonstrate and evalute (OCSE did):  In order, responsible Fatherhood, help with access (increased access to one’s kids).   Helping reunite men coming out of prison with their families, reducing arrears, and dropping retroactive support for some people with NEW orders.   OCSE was awarding these grants to Colorado “Division of Child Support Enforcement.”

Remember, the Demo States were Colorado (small), Tennessee (medium) and Texas (large).  COlorado, I found out, has many trade names, some of which sound like an arm of government when they aren’t.  For the record, here they are, past, present and trade names.  This is just FYI: (I just searched ‘child support enforcement”)

Found 11 matching record(s).  Viewing page 1 of 1. # ID Number Document Number Name  Event Status Form Formation Date 1 20031200845  20031200845 AMERICAN CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT INC. Articles of Incorporation Name Changed DPC 06/20/2003 2 20031200845  AMERICAN CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT INC., Dissolved November 30, 2004 Batch Event Administratively Dissolved DPC 06/20/2003 3 19931046695  19931046695 CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT OF COLORADO Register a Trademark Expired TM/L0035 05/04/1993 4 20021159113  20021159113 COALITION FOR CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT Articles of Incorporation Name Changed DNC 06/11/2002 5 20021159113  COALITION FOR CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT, Delinquent August 1, 2005 Batch Event Delinquent DNC 06/11/2002 6 20091675201  20091675201 CSE Child Support Enforcement Co. Trade Name Withdrawn FO 12/29/2009 7 20041071101  20041071101 CSE CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENTCO. Trade Name Expired FPC 02/26/2004 8 20001209752  20001209752 EL PASO COUNTY CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT UNIT Trade Name Effective DPC 10/27/2000 9 19991113541  19991113541 EL PASO/TELLER COUNTIES CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT UNIT ADMINISTERED FOR THE DEPT. OF SOCIAL SERVICES BY MAXIMUS Trade Name Effective FPC 06/15/1999 10 20001209751  20001209751 TELLER COUNTY CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT UNIT Trade Name Effective DPC 10/27/2000 11 20111041261  20111041261 U.S. Child Support Enforcement Inc Articles of Incorporation Good Standing DPC 01/20/2011

Whatever . . .  let’s go find some more “90FD” grant expenditures.

Now, while the projects listed above, that Dr. Pearson helped evaluate, had 90FD grants, it apepars that this small, but very influentional nonprofit, is specializing in SPECIAL INTEREST grants along the “90FI” series, (at least when it comes to grants received from HHS — this doesn’t include contracts, or anything from other arms of government) if you click on the link above.  Here they are:

AWARD ACTIONS

Showing: 1 – 21 of 21 Award Actions

SO, while 90FD0004 was Evaluating the REsponsible Fatherhood Program, and the 90FI grant series probably helped Center for Policy Research produce a nice report talking about the responsible fatherhood program, let’s look at the extent of “Responsible Fatherhood Program” grant (this ONE award) in Colorado, which apparently started in 2006, so let’s figure Dr. Pearson’s report gave it a thumbs-up?

$10 million: – that’s a nice chunk of change, right?