Wonder if God got the subpoena?

The Associated Press: Pastor’s Wife: Church Is a Divorce Asset

First off, if what the Pastor’s wife says is true this is horrendous and this man needs to be removed from financial responsibility of that church. The majority of pastors (whether you agree with them or not) are hardworking honest people, which is why these accusations need to be treated seriously. You do not need a man running a house of god (or any non-profit institution, for that matter) to be treating it like his “own personal piggy bank”.

But the solution is not to bring the church and its members in and divide what they have put forward to the church between two people in a private dispute. The solution. . .well, part of the solution involves putting this man in another institution for a while, one with bars of the non communal type.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Guess who’s back

Report: Family wants Tawana Brawley case reopened – CNN.com

In case you don’t remember this case, Tawana Brawley was the woman who claimed that a group of white men raped her, smeared her with feces, then scrawled racial slurs on her body. A grand jury ultimately concluded that the whole story was a hoax, which I think they did after indicting a ham sandwich earlier in the day.

Well, now Brawley’s mother and stepfather have demanded that this whole case be resurrected. “New York state owes my daughter. They owe her the truth,” said Glenda Brawley. She may be listed as the mother, but she has to have a big hairy set to say that.
No ma’am, the state does not owe your daughter the truth. Actually your daughter owed the state the truth, but apparently she wouldn’t know the truth if it cornered her in an alley and . . .well, you know.

And on this one, I have to commend CNN for not repeating the name of one of the men implicated in the case, who won a defamation case against Brawley, Sharpton (real surprise to see him in the middle of this one), and others. That is one man who is owed at least some peace of mind.

What is even funnier is that the mother and stepfather (and note the absence of Ms Brawley, who has changed her name and become a nurse) present no new evidence. Instead they demand that Spitzer and Cuomo re-investigate this case. Based on what? The first time, they did not even have enough evidence to convince a grand jury, but now they “owe (their daughter) the truth”? Sure they do.

I’m not one to believe in conspiracies for the most part, but doesn’t anybody else think of this as a little bit convenient based upon the marches for the hate crimes that happened over this past week around the Justice Department? If this is a conspiracy, it’s not the smartest one put together, but you have to wonder.

Anyway, Mike Nifong thinks this group needs to check themselves. We are still (at least on paper) a society where you are innocent until proven guilty, and definitely innocent if you cannot even get past a grand jury

Powered by ScribeFire.

A situation I hope I never find myself in.

Paternity shock begets push to test babies – National – theage.com.au

I would hope that I never was in this sort of situation, but I can’t really tell you right now. And if you’ve not had a DNA test, you really can’t either. That’s not a slur on your partners, or saying that there’s any proof, but outside of that test, you just do not know. Even if you are 99.999999999 percent sure, unless you were attached to that person 24 7 there is always going to be the possibility. The mother in the relationship holds the ultimate trump card in that she knows all the possible fathers; the father, on the other hand, does not.

And I love the story about the father who cut the umbilical cord, tattooed his child’s name and then was told by the mother that he wasn’t the father. And by love I mean absolutely deplore. And what about the mother telling them? I’m sure that didn’t harm the child any to have his paternity used as a weapon.

Now these fathers are being cut out of their children’s lives. Well, at least their rights are, which really isn’t that different from this side of the Pacific. I wonder if their money is being returned? Nah, that would harm the child, as opposed to what the mother did. No harm, no cash, no foul.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Where’s the motivation for the government?

Reform child support to encourage parents to pay — baltimoresun.com

While I undoubtedly say Amen to all of what Mr. Cohen says, he must realize that is an uphill battle. The state has a sword of Damocles to dangle over the head of non custodial parents and particularly fathers. Oppose them, and you look like you are opposing children. Do you think the state will willingly give that up? If you had those powers to collect any other type of debt, would you willingly give them up? I don’t think you would, and it looks like we’re going to have to pry that power out of the CSE’s cold, dead hands.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Let justice ring

Macomb Daily : Dad not guilty of felony child support charge 11/17/07
l

Too often I read about this or that father being sentence to two, three years of hard labor (which really improves their odds of paying child support, by the way), so it’s nice to hear that one father was actually acquitted of these charges. And I don’t really like to do negative after negative story without breaking it up.

Corey Flener found the prospect of four years in the slam and a fine lifted when a jury decided the state had failed to prove him guilty of “felony child support” (I love that phrasing. I’m sure what they meant was felony non payment of child support but the other has more meaning to me as well).

Keep in mind that this doesn’t completely get him out of the way of jail time. He still faces a civil show-cause hearing (where the burden is much lighter for the state) for failure to pay two $2,300 lump sum amounts. But at least the felony mark is off the table for now.

The action was brought by the Michigan State Attorney General’s office as a crackdown on child support. Glad to see Cox’s still burning that midnight oil.

Powered by ScribeFire.

CSE workers see child support as their own: no bleep, Sherlock

Woman says she stole to pay for casino trips – News – The Olympian – Olympia, Washington

As I say on these stories when they come up, you have to wonder whether these are rogue caseworkers or whether they’re just taking what they learn on the job to the next level. I wonder if she tipped any single mothers or fathers up there. You could say that’s child support. It doesn’t help the children it’s meant for, but then again when does the interest and penalty help the children either.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Another bit of good news for fathers on child support

Broward mayor won’t pay support for child he fathered 20 years ago — South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com

Surprisingly out of Florida, a father will not have to pay for a child that he fathered 20 years ago because the mother already collected child support from the presumed father. A magistrate found that Broward County Mayor Josephus Eggelleton won’t have to pay for a child that he acknowledged as his.

There are two thoughts out of this.  The first is that at least the system found that a mother can’t dip her hand in the piggy bank twice for child support.  That’s good.  And I love how the lawyer can say with a straight face that the child shouldn’t be punished:

Sanders’ attorney, Robert Barrar, said Tuesday he intends to appeal Beilly’s decision. “The child should be entitled to compensation. The child shouldn’t be penalized for what happened all those years ago,” he said.

And exactly how is not paying your client, the mother, because she already got paid “punishing” the child. If anything, the child was just as punished by your client not revealing to her son who his father was or might be. Why isn’t the child suing the mother for withholding that little bit of information.

I said that there were two thoughts on this one. The second thought is as to the man who paid for the child support. Shouldn’t he be compensated? After all, even if you allow for the fact that somebody could have more than two parents, that would mean that his duty to support his child should have been halved. And if he should be compensated, then by whom? By the mayor, or by the mother?

Powered by ScribeFire.

Please, don’t do the cse job for them.

FayObserver.com – Current Article Page

Bad enough when they try to make us live barely above poverty level.  It’s worse when we start offing ourselves for them.  I’m not whitebread enough to say things like “Club Fed” or imply that prison is a walk in the park, but try to keep things in perspective.
Well, there are at least two more kids who won’t have much child support anymore.  Then again, did they have any life insurance on them?  I’m sure the Scotland Child Support Enforcement Agency is hard at work on that question.  No sense mourning the dead, I suppose.

Powered by ScribeFire.

First Missouri, now Arizona

Audit: Child Support Enforcement Needs Improvement

This audit doesn’t go anywhere near in depth as the one done by Montee (or at least, the news story doesn’t), but it’s indicative.   I wonder how many over- and underpayments they would find in Arizona.  Of course we all know that Missouri was just a lone example blown way out of proportion by an “irresponsible” auditor.  Of couse, and the Titanic just stopped to pick up some ice.

Powered by ScribeFire.

What you didn’t pull the “best interests of the child” card?

Man buys truck, can’t get tag – News – WSAV.com – Savannah / Hilton Head

Many of you have dealt with the DMV before, which is about as pleasant as going to the doctor for your annual meet-and-greet with “Mr. Jellyfinger”, as one of my favorite radio sports hosts dubbed the dude who did the prostate exam.  It’s no fun.  You have to have your paperwork in gear, you have to wait for an inordinate amount of time.  And I love how those places always seem to be adequattely staffed.  For instance, I’ve never seen three or more booths in a row empty while thirty people are waiting.
And as we all know, the CSE loves ripping the rights of non custodials, and that includes ripping driver’s licenses or ripping tags or the ability to get new tags.  Somedays I wonder why they don’t cut to the chase and start enslaving non custodials literally.  Then again, maybe I shouldn’t.  I know if brains were dynamite some CSEs couldn’t blow their noses.  That should tell me how dangerous ideas are in their presence.
It’s bad enough when you have a severe child support debt and can’t get a car (which hampers your ability to do things like get a job or income.  Minor things, those).  Even worse is when the reason you can’t get that car tagged is because the owner  has a child support lien on the car.  That’s what happened in this case.
And the CSE administrator goes through the child support enforcement agency playbook.  He minimizes the damage, he quotes verbatum from administrative guidelines.  Just about the only thing he doesn’t do in this case is pull the “it’s the best interests of the child” card (at least directly).  Perhaps its was the presence of a reporter or a camera.
Also David Lowe, head parasite down at the Child Support Enforcement agency, says that it “really doesn’t happen all that often”.  While it would be good to take him at his word, I think I would like some numbers just to be sure.  After all, if a Texas state attorney general can refer to $600 or $700 as “a couple of hundred” in child support, I suspect it might happen a little more often than Mr. Lowe suggests.
Oh yeah, I fired off an e-mail to CARFAX and to the reporter in question, but so far on CARFAX they don’t seem to have a record for child support liens.  That could make background checking a little hard.  Anyway props for Mr. Lowe doing what his underlines he should have  and only when the reporter came calling.  That says “responsibility” and “prompt action” like nothing ever will.

Powered by ScribeFire.