Friday, January 27, 2006

Standing up for family- again

Our good friend Andy Maris, who doesn't have kids, but does have a boatload of good sense went to Olytown with us yesterday, in order to try to get the thick-headed pols to understand that children need BOTH parents in their lives, even after divorce.

His blog, reproduced from www.thurstonpundits.blogspot.com, is below.

He is much more eloquent than the Geez, so I will let him say it.

The Geezer.


Andy sez:


The shared parenting bill is getting the majority of my political attention this session. The bill was up for hearing on Thursday morning and it was quite a battle of good and evil. Thurston County’s most disgraceful bench sitting Mustela nivalis was first to testify against the bill. From what I could gather, his intent was to muddy the water such that only judges and commisioners are capable of determining what a parenting plan should entail.

Though our good friend to talk radio attempted to make it seem like a “complicated process”, it was pretty clear by the end of the hearing that what he REALLY meant to say was “It takes about a year of profiteering from lawyers to empty a man’s bank account. Then and only then, will I bang my gavel on reducing his parenting role to 2 weekends a month and a support check.” But we already knew that.

Senator Kastama has vetted this bill for nearly a decade with the opposition, yet each time they parade out the same sob story and irrelevant statistics. The bill clearly states that when domestic violence and criminal wrong doing are in play, joint custody is out of play. How freaking thick are the skulls that can’t read that? While the background of some of the victims our opponents put on parade today is sad, their argument that this bill puts women in jeopardy for DV is a thin and a cheap tactic to keep the family court money train running smoothly at the expense of our children.

It reminds me of the deposition joke that starts out “So Mr. Smith, when DID you stop beating your wife?” Unfortunately, many family law attorneys and judges (especially in Thurston) finance their yachts by allowing and even encouraging false accusations. Not that the practice cannot be fathomed. After all, who in their right mind discourages stupidity that puts another $30k in their own pocket? I’d think the battered woman from Montesano who stood up to testify would eventually get tired of being a prop for those who like screwing over families and children for profit. The answer to DV is asking for accountability for the shed loads of money flowing from the Violence Against Women Act, not robbing kids of two good parents.

Below are some of the statistics common of children who grow up without fathers. I take serious issue to a few powerful lobbyists holding our state hostage for profit at the expense of families and children.

Fatherless children have higher probabilities of :
o Teen pregnancy
o Dropping out of school
o Committing rape [males]
o Being raped or molested
o Illegal drug use/addiction
o Committing murder or other violent crime
o Being incarcerated for other crime
o Suicide
o Cyclical poverty
o Public Assistance
o Chronic unemployment as adults
o Self esteem issues
o Gang membership
o Not attending college or secondary school
o ...and about 10 thousand more.

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