There WILL Be a Family Court System Audit in California

For Immediate Release:
July 2, 2009

Contact:
Kathleen Russell 415-250-1180
Steve Burdo 415-261-4784

Legislature Passes Historic Audit of California Family Court System

Stories of court-ordered child abuse inspire unanimous support

After 17 months of delays and procedural hurdles, California’s Joint Legislative Audit Committee (JLAC) yesterday unanimously passed a request by Senator Mark Leno and numerous co-authors to audit the California Family Court system with respect to the use of court appointees in child custody disputes.

“We applaud Senator Leno’s leadership in rectifying this critical miscarriage of justice, since court appointees have profited off of these tragic cases for far too long with virtually no oversight or accountability,” said the Center for Judicial Excellence’s Kathleen Russell.

The request was prompted by ongoing complaints from across the state that children are routinely being forced by family courts to live with parents they’ve accused of physical or sexual abuse.

“For many years litigants from Family Court have argued that the system needs improvement and does not adequately serve the needs of California’s children and families,” said Senator Leno. “After personally meeting with litigants and hearing their stories, I am convinced an audit would bring clarity to these concerns and identify any issues the Legislature may need to address.”

Lawmakers from both parties lined up in unanimous support for the audit, with testimony from co-authors Assemblyman Jim Beall (D- San Jose) and Republican Caucus Chair Cameron Smyth (R- Santa Clarita). Supporters of the audit packed the hearing room, many who have battled for years to protect their children from court-ordered abuse.

“A young girl was taken from her mother and given to her father who was a convicted drug felon and domestic violence abuser,” said Assembly member Beall. “The 14-year-old girl’s body was found two years after she disappeared, buried in the backyard of the father’s home, having been raped and murdered.”

Assemblyman Cameron Smyth praised the vote, saying, “I’m proud of the support for this audit from members on both sides of the aisle. Children’s lives are being impacted every day in our family court system, and I think we all recognize the importance of making sure that the process of appointing mediators is fair, consistent and in the best interests of our kids.”

The approved request mandates that the State Auditor investigate and report on family courts in the counties of Marin and Sacramento, and the work is scheduled to begin immediately, according to JLAC staff.

Clink on the following link to view the Marin Independent Journal’s coverage of this emerging story:
http://www.marinij.com/marinnews/ci_12736575

Click here to watch video footage of the 24-minute hearing from the California Channel, which begins at 46:33 mins:
http://www.calchannel.com/channel/viewVideo/523

###

Kathleen Russell, Consultant
Center for Judicial Excellence
1206 Third Street
San Rafael, CA 94901
415.250.1180 cell
www.CenterforJudicialExcellence.org Read more!

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Belize Survivor, part 77

For seventy years, Joshua Harrison had paddled up-river in his dory. His patience was that of the river itself. In the treacherous shallows he would navigate with a pole, and as he passed through the clear emerald eddies, he would deftly switch to his paddle in one fluid movement. At the age of seventy-six, the old black man was well-acquainted with both joy and pain. Life was always hard, but sweet, and with patience all things eventually came to pass. This year his bumper crop of watermelons had ripened, crisp and sweet, at the very peak of perfection, and had yielded him more money than any other season in his memory. So, Joshua had rewarded himself by investing in a little five-horsepower outboard motor.

Now, with a battered straw hat pulled low over his brow, old Joshua steered upstream in the old mahogany dory, staring into the deep green river. Although his eyes were rheumy, he could still make out the shape of the large tarpon as it glided beneath him. They had much in common. The tarpon had swum upstream from the sea for over a hundred miles, and like Joshua, it had fought the current every step of the way in the failing strength of old age. Soon the fish would spawn in the fresh mountain water; then it would die. But for Joshua, things would be easier now. His callused black hand was steady on the rudder as he listened contentedly to the hum of the machine.

Joshua could not know that he was destined to outlive his outboard motor. Twelve years would pass, the machine would die, crops would fail, and he would find himself paddling upstream once again. But even then, the old man would never complain, or give any thought to the irony. He was a river man, not a philosopher.

Read more!

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They're Your Kids, Be Their Dad and Pay Up: Child Support Head, Nicholas Soppa, Not Paying Child Support

The Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) is such a wonderful government office that serves our children courtesy of our tax dollars. Nationally, so many children would be in utter despair, in poverty, were it not for the diligent efforts of OCSE in pursing monies from noncustodial parents.

However, OCSE has morphed and extended its original interests. The child support collections aren't so much about the children as they are a means for the states to secure extra income for custody litigation and building supervised visitation centers for parents with violent, criminal histories.

Who is running these agencies? First, we have the lovely David Gray Ross of Maryland. Then, we have Nicholas Soppa...interestingly also of Maryland.

For information about the national Project Save Our Children task force, contact Nick Soppa at 202-401-4677 or nicholas.soppa@acf.hhs.gov project manager

Our elected appointed officials are running game in our government offices. I know that's of no news to many of you, but agenda is bleeding all over the place...in the name of "saving our children."

How is Nicholas Soppa saving our children?

I'm glad you asked.

Nicholas Soppa is on work-release and is spending his weekends in a Calvert County jail for...um...how do I tell you this?...FAILURE TO PAY CHILD SUPPORT!!!

Courtesy of the Calvert County Circuit Court, case #04C08001101

Defendant/Respondent Information

Party Type: Defendant
Party No.:1
Name: Soppa, Nicholas Henry
Address: 1368 Jordan Drive
City: Shady Side
State:MD
Zip Code:20764
Address: 5071 MUDDY CREEK ROAD
City: West River
State:MD
Zip Code:20778


Doc No./Seq No.: 32/0
File Date: 01/15/2009
Close Date:01/14/2009
Decision:Granted
Document Name: Pendente Lite Consent Order

ORDERED: Plaintiff and defendant are awarded joint legal custody of the minor children.

ORDERED: Plaintiff awarded primary residential custody and defendant has reasonable rights of visitation.

ORDERED: Defendant to pay $1406 a month for child support via wage withholding.

ORDERED: Defendant to pay any past due amounts and late fees on the first and second mortgages of the marital home as of January, 2009.

ORDERED: Beginning 2/1/09, defendant to pay plaintiff $1600 a month which she will use to assist with paying the monthly mortgage.

ORDERED: Defendant agrees to pay his monthly portion of the car insurance for the vehicles that are in his possession.

ORDERED: Defendant to maintain the current health insurance coverage for the children and the plaintiff and provide health cards.

ORDERED: The marital home will be listed for sale immediately, any repairs to be split equally.

ORDERED: Plaintiff shall have exclusive use and possision of the marital home until it is sold.


Doc No./Seq No.: 45/0
File Date: 05/19/2009
Close Date:
Decision:
Document Name: Open Court Proceedings/Hearing Held

Plaintiff appeared with counsel. Defendant appeared pro se for hearing on petition for contempt. Defendant admits contempt. Deft to pay plaintiff $12,000 by 6/2/09. If deft fails to pay he is to report to CCDC at 12:00Noon to serve 30 ays sentence with work release. Review hearing set for 6/2/09 9am. No parties need to appear if $12,000 is paid. (Judge Krug - Spear Rep)#2

Doc No./Seq No.: 48/0
File Date: 06/02/2009
Close Date:Decision:
Document Name: Open Court Proceedings/Hearing Held

Plaintiff appeared with counsel. Defendant appeared w/o counsel for status review of contempt. Defendant to report to CCDC on Thursday 6/4/09 4pm to serve 30 day sentence if $12,000 not paid. Work Release Authorized (Judge Krug - Spear Rep)#2 Faxed to CCDC

Doc No./Seq No.: 54/0
File Date: 06/12/2009
Close Date:
Decision:
Document Name: Pre-trial Conference

Defendant may be released on 06/14/09 at 6:30 p.m. and the balance of the sentence may be served on weekends (Friday at 6:30 p.m. to Sunday at 6:30 p.m.) beginning 06/19/09.

Isn't this admirable? This surely teaches the children a great lesson and sets a great example for the millions of men that are sooooo fucked by the nasty feminist court system.

Oh, but wait a minute...men are running the court system...and the government offices. And this is who we have meddling in our business, changing child support rules and procedures.

Access/visitation is all about eliminating child support via joint custody and custody switching orders, and making money from continuous litigation. Your tax dollars, hard at work. Read more!

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Ex-Wife is Accusing Me of Being a Pedophile in a Custody Battle

Dear Reader,

So you've got the old "false accusation" argument going on? Bad for you if you are innocent, which you are, until proven guilty, right? But sometimes, I think they problem is that people don't know what a pedophile is. So let's define it:

pedophile

an adult who is sexually attracted to young children.

Well, that's according to Dictionary.com.

More specifically, according to medicine, which defines things on the basis of pathology, it is:

a psychological disorder in which an adult experiences a sexual preference for prepubescent children

Going a little bit deeper, according to the quack DSM IV:

pedophilia is specified as a form of paraphilia in which a person either has acted on intense sexual urges towards children, or experiences recurrent sexual urges towards and fantasies about children that cause distress or interpersonal difficulty

The disorder is common among people who commit child sexual abuse however, some offenders do not meet the clinical diagnosis standards for pedophilia. In strictly behavioral contexts, the word "pedophilia" has been used to refer to child sexual abuse itself, also called "pedophilic behavior"

So, are you are pedophile?

I know, the word sounds so harsh and yucky, but now you have a specific definition. There are still so many ways to wiggle out of it though, like men who have sex with men, but do not define themselves as gay...

What is important to remember is that there is no cure for pedophilia. You're basically a pedophile for life. You can read more on Wikipedia, if need be, because I can't stand to copy and paste any more.

Many people come to my website looking for rights for pedophiles and rights for pedophile fathers. Hopefully, you are not one of them.

Good luck. Read more!

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Belize Survivor, part 76

"I brought you some tea."

Alexis tried to open her eyes, but one of them was swollen shut. Her head ached unbearably as the morning sunshine came through the open windows of the bedroom. As she tried to speak, the blood began to seep from her cracked lower lip.

"Why the hell did you make me do that to you?" Max asked.

She didn't answer, but tried to sit up without success. Her left arm and leg were huge and swollen black and blue. Jordan sat on the bed looking at his mother. Now sixteen months old, he was too young to know what had happened, but could sense something was wrong. He crawled over to his mother, lifted her shirt and began to nurse. She cried in pain as he bumped her arm. Finally Max arranged some pillows to support the baby's weight.

"You shouldn't make me that angry, Ntombi. I don't like to hurt you."

"What do you want me to do?" Alexis mumbled through puffy lips. "Tell you I'm sorry again? Apologize for pissing you off?"

"I don't know,” he said, contrite at last. “You make me crazy sometimes. I don't know why or how, but you always manage to push my buttons."

"I don't want to push your buttons," she mumbled in pain. “Maybe you can help me recognize what they are in advance so I don't do it."

* * * *

Alexis kept her thoughts to herself as they got in the truck to go to Belize City. Max got in the driver's seat. He squeezed her knee and smiled.

“Boy, it's really a beautiful day, isn't it, Ntombi? The mud's drying up; the sun's out. Tell you what. As a special treat I'll take you to a nice restaurant today. Would you like that?"

"Sure, that would be great," she replied in a monotone. In her private mindset, she found his cheerfulness was as oppressive as his anger.

"You're not still mad at me? That was two weeks ago."

"No," she lied. Unbelievable, she thought to herself. He is still seeking my approval.

Her mind drifted back to earlier that morning when they'd had sex; it couldn't be called lovemaking. He never tried to pleasure her sexually, and she no longer cared. She hated his touch, the sound of his voice as he grunted and sweated on top of her like a pig; she hated the look on his face when he reached climax. Sex was now nothing more than submission. It was something she endured because she had no choice.
Anyway, none of it mattered anymore. The cruelty, the jibes, the constant badgering – they had all taken their toll. Alexis didn't want to leave Belize; the land was beautiful; she would miss the jungle and the new friends she'd made, but it was over. I'm out of here, she thought. I can't live like this anymore. She focused on her plans; today she would make her escape. She intended on inventing some excuse to stay in the van while Max went to make purchases. Then she'd take Jordan to the airline ticket office and grab a fast taxi to the airport. Hopefully, they'd be out of Belize before Max had time to track them down.

In the end, the attempt proved to be a miserable failure. As Alexis had gathered a small bag of clothes and diapers from the van, Max returned unexpectedly and confronted her. She sought the help of a policeman passing by, but he refused to interfere when he discovered it was merely a domestic squabble.

"It's okay, Officer. My wife has just been under a lot of stress lately. I'll take care of her." As the policeman left, Max turned to Alexis with a clenched fist and steely eyes. "What is the meaning of this?"

"I'm afraid to live with you anymore," she cried. "I don't want to go back into the bush and be alone with you."

"You're married to me. You made a commitment to live with me for a lifetime. We've bonded. That's my son you have there." His face was terrifying as he hovered over her.

"Maybe we never should have had a child. You don't like my mothering. You don't like my – anything. Nothing I do is ever good enough. You say you love me, but you don't even like me. You told me you fell in love with me because I was vivacious and spirited, and you've condemned me for the same qualities ever since. Now you spend every ounce of energy trying to change me into someone else. What is it you really want from me, Max?"

"I want a woman who will be a credit to me, a good mother for my children, a dutiful wife who will grace my side like a lady. What do you want?"

"I want you to be kind to me,” she cried. “I want you to treat me like a person who has merit and worth, whose thoughts and feelings are valid. I want a man I can love and respect."

“I knew it,” Max said triumphantly. “You don't respect me!"

"Respect and fear are two different emotions. A husband should be a supporter, a defender. It's not right for a woman to fear her husband."

"And it's not right for you to humiliate your husband in public,” he interrupted.

"You asked me a question,” she said, vehemently. “Now you won't even let me answer. I want to respect you without having to be afraid of you. I want to be the gracious woman you're talking about. I want to be a good partner, to share life's experiences, and still take time to smell the roses."

"Let's get something to eat.” Max seemed to be relaxing a little. “Then we'll get out of the city and go home. You don't need to be afraid. We'll talk some more once we get back, and we'll work it out. I promise."

That night, back at the house on the river, Max embraced Alexis as they lay in bed together. He caressed her body gently and then ran his hand up to the hollow of her neck. Without warning, he tightened his grip around her neck, cutting off her air supply. She tore at his hand, fighting for breath.

"That's twice you've tried to walk out on me, once on Owen's farm, and now again here in Belize. So you listen and listen well. If you ever do leave me, you'll go alone. No baby. Do you understand? Absolutely alone. And if you ever try to take my child away from me again, I'll fucking kill you." Read more!

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Guess Who's Killing the Children

From Child Deaths Resulting From Inflicted Injuries: Household Risk Factors and Perpetrator Characteristics, by Patricia G. Schnitzer, PhD and Bernard G. Ewigman, MD, MSPH, 2005 (emphasis mine)

We identified 149 inflicted-injury deaths in our population during the 8-year study period. Children residing in households with unrelated adults were nearly 50 times as likely to die of inflicted injuries than children residing with 2 biological parents (adjusted odds ratio: 47.6; 95% confidence interval: 10.4–218). Children in households with a single parent and no other adults in residence had no increased risk of inflicted-injury death (adjusted odds ratio: 0.9; 95% confidence interval: 0.6–1.9). Perpetrators were identified in 132 (88.6%) of the cases. The majority of known perpetrators were male (71.2%), and most were the child's father (34.9%) or the boyfriend of the child's mother (24.2%). In households with unrelated adults, most perpetrators (83.9%) were the unrelated adult household member, and only 2 (6.5%) perpetrators were the biological parent of the child.

But women are the child abusers, huh?

Wait a minute though. Using the information supplied above, the "support natural/biological family" crowd's assertion that the biological family is best, is correct; HOWEVER, single parent households (single moms) are just as safe AND STILL on top of that, it is the biological fathers that are doing the killing.

Phoenix toddler killed by father in murder-suicide remembered

...Teigan Peters died on Father's Day at a campsite along the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. According to police, the 3-year-old's father, Ryan Peters, shot her and then killed himself.

...Investigators said Teigan's father was upset over the custody arrangement.

One more time, in case you didn't understand (emphasis mine):

Starling et al33 speculated that male caregivers are more dangerous then female caregivers. Our data offer support for this hypothesis and identify households in which a young child resides with his or her mother and her boyfriend as dramatically higher risk. In these high-risk households, the boyfriend was typically responsible for caring for the child at the time of the fatal-injury event and was the perpetrator of abuse. At the same time, it is important to note that although the relative risk is greater in households with unrelated adults, the most common male perpetrator of fatal inflicted injury was the child's biological father; nearly equal numbers of children were killed by their biological fathers as by other related and unrelated males, combined. For all household-composition categories, >70% of known perpetrators in our study were male, and >70% of known perpetrators lived with the decedent child.

See Also: Fathers and father figures are responsible for most child fatalities from physical abuse; mothers are held responsible in more cases of neglect abuse, including "failure to protect" from father abuse Read more!

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Belize Survivor, part 75

When he returned with the baby forty-five minutes later, Max saw Alexis speaking with a big strapping Spanish boy who was picking out tomatoes. As the handsome young man left with his purchase, she could see her husband’s anger written all over his face.

"Who is that guy you were talking to?” he demanded.

"I don’t know,” she said. “I think he’s one of Rick’s workers. I don’t even know his name.”

"Well, stay away from him. You don’t need to be hanging out with these Spanish guys."

Max was in a mood; she could feel it coming on, so for the rest of the day, Alexis remained quiet but tense. As much as possible, she gave Max a wide berth, and answered his questions without offering anything extra, trying to avoid any remarks that might be deemed controversial. But still, a feeling of foreboding came over her as they rode home together in the truck. Max was somber and she could feel profound fear creeping into her consciousness. As they pulled in the rear of Michael’s property, and got out of the truck, Max started again with his verbal invective. As she carried Jordan up the back steps, she made the mistake of defending herself.

"I just think I should be able to carry on a conversation with whomever I want. It's not like I see other people very often. It gets lonely up in the bush. What’s wrong with a little social time in Cayo on a Saturday? You had a beer with Rick.”

"And who were you spending time with when I was in Guatemala buying the water pump? Some other little Spanish boy? Or perhaps that same one? If he works for Rick and Suzy, it’s only a short ride across the river and downstream."

"You’re being absurd. We didn’t even know Rick and Suzy yet.”

"Stop arguing with me, okay?” Max shouted. “You listen to me. I call the shots in this relationship and I don't want you associating with guys like that. End of discussion.

Now just shut the fuck up."

Alexis shook her head, close to tears. She put the sleeping baby in his shortened hammock and set the stick to hold it open. Then she went back into the kitchen to put away the provisions they’d bought.

"Oh no," she said aloud. Things had just gotten worse.

"What's the matter now?"

"I forgot the box of provisions in town. I had the girl in the store box them up for me, and I forgot to pick them up on the way home."

"You dumb-ass!” Max said angrily. “I can't believe this. I have the responsibilities of running our whole show and you can't even remember to bring home the groceries.
Now we're going to have to go all the way back into town tomorrow. That's half a day's work, plus gas and wear and tear on the truck. None of the dories run on Sundays. Hell, you'll be lucky to get the proprietor to open his store so we can get the stuff."

"I'm sorry, Max. It was a simple mistake."

"Right. ‘Simple’ being the operative word here. How the hell you gave birth, I’ll never know. You're not mature enough to be anybody's mother. You still need a mother yourself, someone to wipe your nose for you.”

Alexis burned at the insults. "I said I'm sorry."

"Words are cheap. Now fix me some dinner."

Without the groceries, there wasn't much of a selection. One thing that had been especially difficult for Alexis was to learn to prepare local foods, a situation made more difficult because many were best prepared by frying. Max preferred steamed or baked food; Alexis had a stove but no oven. She missed foods like cheese and apples, and yearned for crackers, yogurt, and whole wheat bread. Face it, she thought. All she could fix tonight would be a little leftover beans, some steamed plantain, and maybe fried eggplant. She hoped it would be adequate because that was all they had. Nightfall came quickly in the tropics, and Alexis constantly fought with the kerosene lamps. They were dim and temperamental. She was already emotional, and could barely see what she was cooking. At last the meal was ready.

"Here's your dinner," Alexis called as she put the food out. "I'm putting it on the table. Please eat it while it's still hot."

Max walked over and sat down. "Aren't you having any?"

"No. I'm not hungry. I'm just tired. I think I'll go to bed."

She had been in the bedroom less than one minute when she heard the crash of the plate and Max's cursing. He stormed in and tore her out of bed, hauling her into the living room by the arm. "What do you mean by putting that crap in front of me?"

"Shhh, not so loud,” she said, terrified. “You'll wake the baby."

"I don't care if I wake the whole goddamn river valley,” he screamed. “What's the big idea of putting that pig slop on my plate? Do you really expect me to eat that? You sure as hell aren't having any."

"I don't like eggplant. I thought you did. I'm sorry."

"Sorry!" he screamed in rage. "I've heard sorry out of you a few too many times lately. This time you're going to learn sorry."

Instantaneously, he cracked Alexis on the side of the face. She screamed and backed away from him as he grabbed her by the shoulders and shoved her against the wall. He crushed her nose sideways with his finger and cursed her again. "You've had this coming for a long time, you uppity little bitch."
Then he drove her head against the corner of the exposed beam and she collapsed, feeling the warm blood trickle down the back of her neck.

"Stop! Please don't hurt me," she cried.

"You fuckin' bitch! What about your smart mouth? All the times you've hurt me? How about all the times you humiliated me in public? Associating with people you have no business hanging out with? How about when you flirted with that jerk with the big dick on the day before our wedding? Huh? Go on. Answer me. You always have an answer for everything. Well, this time you can scream and cry all you want. There's nobody to hear you and nobody to help. It's about time I taught you a little respect. Now get your ass up."

Max lifted her to her feet and she felt another powerful punch to her upper arm. No longer coherent, blood dribbled down her chin from the split in her lip. She could hear the baby crying, and felt a last hard kick to her thigh before dropping to the floor for a second time.

Read more!

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Ms Hyde Gives Her Opinion of Me Based on One Post

I have "stumbled upon" MsHyde http://mshyde.stumbleupon.com/review/33918038/, who has stated,

"Abused or not, you're still a sexist gender fascist."

Apparently, MsHyde aka Milla is a "tranny" (or maybe just tranny-friendly) "woman from Sheckaago, Illinois, USA." (those are not my words, so don't jump on my ass, again)

Milla is responding to a post I wrote nearly a year ago when I first began this site, Profile of My Abuser. It is one of my most frequently read posts as people internationally must be looking for characteristics of abusive persons.

I provided a brief description of my abuser with the best words I could utilize at that time. If MsHyde knew any fucking thing outside of this one post, she'd understand that I wouldn't be at the top of the list for being a "sexist gender fascist." But I'll excuse her ignorance on the account of her failing to read shit or getting to know me or the context from which I wrote the piece.

And not that it is any of Milla's fucking business, but I am writing from a heterosexual viewpoint in which I am fully indoctrinated in the privilege that comes along with it. I have no problem with admitting it if she doesn't mind checking herself in the comment section of my blog if she really wanted to school me or engage in meaningful dialog. Read more!

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