Barb's thoughts on the day, August 14th:
See Crespo v. Crespo, the New Jersey case in which Justice Francis Schultz wrote that Fourteenth Amendment Due Process requires a clear and convincing standard in domestic viollence matters.  See it here, it has not yet been officially published.

Thanks to an extremely fine woman, talented and devoted to justice, has supplied us with the available email addresses of the representatives and senators of all 50 States.  One man has supplied the email addresses of clerks of all courts in New Hampshire.  How about some other guys getting into the act and supplying us the email addresses of clerks of all courts in the other 49 States?  Anyone for D.C.?

The RADAR contingent will be lobbying today in the U.S. Congress re VAWA.

The Family Preservation Festival, on for August 15 & 16 (Friday and Saturday), raises awareness that parental rights should be respected and protected by society and government. The event is free to all participants at Upper Senate Park in Washington DC.  The groups will be accepting new/packaged stuffed animals for delivery to the Children's Hospital at this event. For more information or to assist, please visit our website at http://www.dcfestival2008.com or call toll-free at 800-883-9619 x2.

The  2008 Equal Parenting Bike Trek from Michigan will end at the DC Festival 2008 at the Upper Senate Park.

Fathers 4 Justice and Families 4 Justice are playing a major role in this year's DC rally in Upper Senate Park.

Friday Aug 15
7:30P.M.-9:00 P.M. Training Hyatt Grand Teton Room. F4J Merchandise will be available for purchase.
 
Saturday Aug 16
Rally/festival starts 9:00
2:00 F4J merchandise for sale at Hyatt Yosemite Room
2:30 Press Conference for Justice March
3:00 Brian Holladay to speak at rally Upper Senate Park
3:30 Justice March begins
4:30 Demonstration in front of White House
8:00 After party To Be Announced

This is the big event that everything else has been leading to. If you are having trouble with arrangements such as travel or room sharing go to http://tinyurl.com/65nccx and follow the ridesharing link.    If you are unsure where to be while in DC call Brian Holladay at 440-388-4023    For more information for our involvement go to www.f4j.com.

Barb's thoughts on the day, August 11th:
The fine woman has now sent me all the reps and sens through Ohio, almost another 1000 addresses just yesterday.  I'll probably have to start a third Yahoo announcement-only group: 25 States in one group, 25 in another.  As soon as these are all uploaded to Yahoo, we shall have a mailing list of well over 10,000 and climbing daily.

C'mon guys, give the woman, a true patriot and humanitarian, a hand by helping with all the clerks and secretaries in the courts and assistants and staff at lawfirms across this country.   All those newspapers are laying off people.  We can be the new Internet newspaper.  WE can become the mainstream media!!!

BUT . . . I have something else of import to share with you.  Last night, around 9 o'clock I sent an email from my Yahoo list to around 4000 people regarding Bruce Eden's need for sworn, notarized affidavits in a New Jersey case, Crespo v. Crespo, in which a judge declared New Jersey's domestic violence laws unconstitutional.  My email read:

Need for Affidavits by men falsely accused of domestic violence or denied restraining orders in valid cases simply because they were men

Bruce Eden, Civil Rights Director of the New Jersey & New York Chapters of DADS (Dads Against Discrimination) is seeking

• sworn, notarized AFFIDAVITS of anyone falsely accused of domestic violence that had copies of police reports, orders, or consent orders dropping the domestic violence charges for negotiated financial and custody issues and

• sworn, notarized AFFIDAVITS from those men who sought valid restraining
  orders but were turned away because they were men.
  

The background:  About 3 weeks ago, in Crespo v. Crespo [click, not yet on Westlaw], a New Jersey case, a judge declared New Jersey's domestic violence laws unconstitutional.   Major newspapers and mainstream New York City morning drive-time radio stations (millions of listeners). picked up on the decision and gave a lot of space and time talking about false allegations of domestic violence.

The reason Bruce Eden wants the affidavits:  Eden wants to present the affidavits to the New Jersey Supreme Court if and when the state attorney general's office, in league with the battered women's coalitions, appeal the decision in Crespo v. Crespo to the state's highest court in the near future.

Please send the notarized affidavits to Bruce Eden at the following address:

Bruce Eden, Civil Rights Director
DADS (Dads Against Discrimination)
P.O. Box 4075
Wayne, New Jersey 07474

If you have questions, you can write to Eden at  b_eden@verizon.net

The DADS website is http://www.dadsamerica.org/NJ

Thanks,
Barbara

Then I received two emails from a Massachusetts employment-discrimination lawyer, a tall, full woman who has been practicing 30 years.   These left me saddened and concerned.   I had received one email from her last week after I sent out NewsWithViews Carey Roberts' August 2d article entitled "THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION GOES OVER TO THE DARK SIDE."  Here are her emails to me with my responses to her interleaved.

FROM: Wendy Kaplan, 8/5/2008 1:13 PM

One of my best friends from college was savagely murdered by her estranged husband.

 

People like you endanger other women to wind up in the same fate.

 

In over 25 years representing women victims of male violence, there have been 100s of valid complaints and precisely 3 which were lies, a rate of probably 1 in 200.

 

You should choose your crusades more carefully.

I did not respond.  She was bad-mouthing me because I supported an author who wrote a rational, thoughtfully written article supporting our cause.  No matter, I believed her stats were wrong but her loss was real.  Sometimes silence is more.

Then last night, after I sent the email seeking affidavits for the N.J. DADs organization, I received:

FROM: Wendy Kaplan, 8/10/2008 9:35 PM

WANTED:  OBITUARIES OF WOMEN KILLED BY THEIR CURRENT OR FORMER HUSBANDS OR BOYFRIENDS;  EMERGENCY ROOM RECORDS DOCUMENTING SERIOUS INJURIES TO WOMEN INJURED BY THEIR CURRENT OR FORMER HUSBANDS OR BOYFRIENDS--

I responded:

FROM: Barbara C. Johnson, 8/10/2008 11:15 PM

Wendy,
I can send this to RADAR and see if they have statistics of this nature.
I am personally not the keeper of such stats or studies.
Do you want me to send it to them?

I am sorry for the tragedy regarding your friend.
I am of the mind that the restraining orders enlarge any existing animosity between a couple.
Often the restraining order is used only as a weapon to get hubby out of the house expediently.
Often the restraining order is used only as a weapon to get sole custody expediently.
What a restraining order is NOT going to do is keep peace or make peace.
And it certainly is NOT going to restrain anyone -- male or female -- who is intent on committing bodily harm to another.

The men's groups have kept lots of guys who were incensed (sp?) by being served with restraining orders.
Guys who work at home cannot continue working.
Guys who store their trucks for a landscaping business at home cannot access their equipment.
Guys cannot get their financial papers necessary for the divorce proceedings.
Sometimes the police will help them gain access, but sometimes they do not or stall providing that help.
Guys cannot see their kids.
Many guys are cleaned out financially . . . totally.  I have seen incredible devastation of their lives.
VAWA has done so much damage.  It was enacted with good intentions, but it has gone awry.
Now it is just one more cause of the ongoing holocaust of the American family.

By the way, women are also victimized by retraining orders.  Men have learned to use them as women have done for years: as a weapon in divorce.   The men are far less successful in getting them against women but on occasion they do.
Women tend to get them against them when they are druggies or alcoholics.
I've had women phone saying, I've been clean for two years and I cannot get my kids back.
Digging further, one finds, they did not pass each random test, they were in default of an OUI charge or two, etc.
Some of the women are breeding OOW and that is their business.
I have met women who have four kids by four men and get child support from all of them.
I have met women who have given the name of four men until the blood test or the DNA test comes up with a winner of the OOW lottery.
These are some of the women who lose their kids to DSS and foster care and ultimately to adoption.  The State used to get $40,000 for a child if adopted within a year; $90,000 for a special needs kid.  The $40K kid turns into a $90K kid after they put the kid on Ritalin or Zoloft or one of the other mind-altering drugs.

Groping a woman under her T-shirt behind the office files is mild in comparison with the fact patterns seen in the family courts.

I am sure that losing your friend was traumatic.  I have lost a few friends by natural causes and their loss was traumatic for me, so I can imagine how badly you felt when you lost your friend from a despicable unnatural cause of death.  Terrible.  Terrible.

But you must not let that tragedy blind you to the other tragedies that occurring in our world.  You must keep honed your skills and ability to remain objective.

Anger on its own will not help  . . . you or anyone else.

Please feel free to send me any comments or criticism.  I'm open to it all.
Barbara
P.S.  You might want to make it to the hearing on September 22d in front of Judge Tauro, Courtroom 22, US. District Court, re whether fed ct will impose discipline identical to that imposed by the Mass. SJC in the bar proceeding against me.   Currently my license is still valid in the fed courts.  We shall get an answer sometime this Fall.  The non-evidentiary hearing should be interesting.  In the meantime, read Drano ##187 and 188 on my website.  Those will being you up to date.

Now I know that perfectly good women, too, can lose their children to DSS or CPS on false allegations, but I did not feel like writing a thesis last night.   But Wendy wrote me again.

FROM: Wendy Kaplan, 8/10/2008 11:37 PM

you are full of shit, and a disservice to women

 

in 30 years of representing victims of violence, I've seen 3 false claims--and hundreds of valid ones

 

and yes, the restraining orders often work

 

please stop sending me your emails

 

since you have been disbarred, you should stop representing yourself as an attorney at law

I responded again:
Barb's thoughts on the day, August 10th:
The fine woman has continued to send me email addresses for representatives and senators.  The latest are from  Indiana, Kansas. Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, and Montana.  So the totals are currently: over 5000 email addresses in my original announcement-only Yahoo group, another 1900 addresses to be added to that list; and another 3000 to be added to a second announcement-only Yahoo group for the government people . . . a second group so I can upload 200 rather than only 100 people a day to the lists.  That means we have reached 10,000 up-to-date email addresses.  We are now a legitimate organization, given Harry Bowles' definition.    I want to see another 10,000 email addresses.  If necessary, I can create a third announcement-only Yahoo group.

But it certainly would be terrific if one of you can find me the telephone number of the CEO or President of Yahoo.  I would like to expedite the task of uploading emails.   I'm willing to do the talking, just find me the phone number(s).  Thanks!

P.S. The inmate letters in the Innocence Insisted by . . . series are up to 36.  Please try to contact criminal defense counsel for those inmates.  You will be blessed for your humane efforts.
 
P.P.S.  Recommended reads, The Kingmakers: How the Media Threatens Our Security and Our Democracy by Mike Gravel and David Eisenbach; Citizen Power: A Mandate for Change by Mike Gravel.

Barb's thoughts on the day, August 8th:

Late edition:  A fine woman has sent me also the email addresses of all the reps and sens from Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, and Iowa, again, hundreds upon hundreds of email addresses.    Why don't a few of you begin doing some States?  Do NOT worry about duplication, Yahoo takes care of that.

Please read Barb's thoughts on the day, August 5th, for the ways in which you can help with the fight  That same loyal fan has sent me also all the reps and sens from Arizona, Alaska, and Arkansas, hundreds of email addresses.  How about those of you from other States jumping in and helping!!??

Inmate letters uploaded, by the way, are up to 35.  More coming.  See the Innocence Insisted by . . . Series.  One phoned yesterday, a 3-way call with his wife.  Go to his website, put up by his devoted wife, Dusti,
http://www.freedomprojects.bravehost.com/ which tells the whole story.

A bit of history from Harry Bowles of Texas for real patriots. not just "mouth warriors":

Dear Barbara:

In 1993, myself & Ray Dittmar established "Advocates for HONEST, ETHICAL, LEGAL PRACTICE-Texas", a/k/a "HELP-Texas", as a legal reform group to fight judicial corruption in the CIVIL District courts of Harris County, Texas (Houston).  We built a membership of about 100 supporters with about 20 as very active warriors.  In the short period of two (2) years, we validated that the entire County & State judiciary was 100% corrupt.  We did all the things you espouse and much, much more.  We published pamphlets and periodicals describing in intimate detail the who, the how and the why of the corruption, we held public protests in front of the State & Federal Courts, Appellate courts, the State Bar offices, The District attorney office.  We gave speeches to various groups and networked Statewide with other reformers.  Finally in the election of 1996, we targeted the most corrupt judge, waged an election campaign against her and the voters kicked her off the bench.  As far as I know, to this day, we are the only reform group that can claim the victory of getting one lousy judge disgraced and kicked off the bench.

 

The effort it took in human resource was considerable in terms of donated man hours.  We then put together an instructional package on how anyone, anywhere could duplicate our efforts with the same results.  We titled it "The Bureaucrat Assault Package".  To defray the cost of the printing and mailing, we advertised it for $ 19.95 in various "patriot literature".  We sold probably 50 packages nationwide, but never had one report of anyone using the package in an election.  We did receive many complaints from so called "Patriots" scolding us for asking people to pay for the package, instead of offering it free to the world.

 

And there is the problem.  Please read your quote below, "The judicial system is broken......"

 

Over the years we established that 99.999999999...% of the so called Patriots are what we term as "Mouth warriors".  All mouth and no fight!  One group in particular "Americans for whatever"...epitomizes the "mouth warrior" syndrome more than any.  Nationwide, we have not located any group willing to join in a pro active, united movement to fight corruption.

 

These mouth warriors do not and will never understand that you cannot fight corruption by filing the "best paperwork" in the Court.  Their continuing naivety is truly amazing.  There is no magic bullet, and God is not on their side despite their ratings to the contrary.  The Constitutions have been reduced to toilet paper, and the culprit behind all of this mayhem is the STATE BAR OF TEXAS, or any state bar.  We put together a pamphlet describing just how the BAR works, etc. etc.  We lobbied the State Legislature (85% lawyers), and so much more.  Over the 15 years since founding of HELP-Texas, one thing did happen.

 

There are 70,000+ licensed lawyers in Texas, the BAR unified the mainstream BAR lawyers and judges into a monolithic, impenetrable fortress and there is the lesson of how to achieve success and smite down your enemies.  It is a numbers and money game.  If you have the body count and the money you win.  Without a sizeable number of real warriors willing to put their bodies into the war, it simply cannot be done.  When giving speeches to groups, I always started with:

 

In establishing and promoting a cause,

 

"If you are 1 protester, you are viewed by the establishment as a nut case."

"If you are 10 protesters, you are viewed as a terrorist group."

"If you are 10,000 protesters, you are accepted as a legitimate organization."

 

It is all in the numbers, and that is what no group has been able to capture, hence no chance at reform.

 

Another book detailing the hows and whys will join the dozens if not hundreds printed over the years, all read by the mouth warriors, and nothing will happen as with all the previous books espousing the cause of reform.  Until the so called Patriots understand nothing can be achieved without body count and dedication in a unified effort, nothing will change, no reason to.

 

HELP-Texas tried for 15 years and failed.  If you come up with a method or way to turn the rag tag mouth warrior army into a real army, let me know and I assure HELP-Texas will join the war.   

 

Best wishes in your fight.

HELP-Texas

Harry L. Bowles

Barb's thoughts on the day, August 7th:
Please read Barb's thoughs on the day, August 5th, for the ways in which you can help with the fight  A loyal fan from North Dakota has sent me around 200 names.  How about those of you from other States jumping in and helping!!

Inmate letters uploaded, by the way, are up to 32.  More coming.  See the Innocence Insisted by . . . Series.

Barb's thoughts on the day, August 5th:
Do not let Barb's thoughts mislead you: the alphabetical list of files on this website and the Drano Series table are still below.  The VAWA materials in the column a bit below on the right-hand side of your screen will be avaiable fot archival purposes in a separate file as soon as we get to August 18th, when the lobbying and the DCFestival have played out.
Why, I'll even put Barb's thoughts in a separate file, too.  Maybe I'll keep a week of my thoughts here at the top of the page.  I have not yet made up my mind.  What I HAVE made up my mind about is something that popped into it tonight, when I was trying to fall asleep but couldn't:

Many of you have read my emails scolding everyone about endlessly complaining on the e-lists to other people who are endlessly complaining about the courts and lawyers and corruption. "You are sending coals to Newcastle.  Let's send those complaints to people who have no idea about the injustice in the courts."  And . . . let's send those complaints to people who have not only an idea about the injustice in the courts but also have the knowledge and power to do
something about it.

Many of you have also written me asking, How can I help?  I finally have the answer!!!

We have to create a buzz in places where the buzz will have an impact on those who are holding the power but have refused to use it to correct injustice within the Halls of Justice.   Clerks of all kinds in the courts from coast to coast.  Assistants in law offices from coast to coast.  Soooooooooooooooo. 

Look up the courts in your area, capture the email addresses of the clerks from the lowest to the highest.  They all have beefs .  That's human nature.  Send those email addresses to me.  I'll add them to the falseallegations_com list on Yahoo (at Yahoo's limited rate of 100 per day).  They will be educated about your problems.  I promise.  But for a few hard-"bums" here and there, they will not ask to be removed from the list.  They will create the buzz we want throughout their court. 
No one will be able to point fingers, for no one will know where the buzz began.  It will have been able to start with any
one of them in the clerk's office.  (Maybe we will find a few anonymous whistleblowers!!!)

Ditto with lawfirms in your area.  During this vacation period, I've gotten auto-reponses from attorneys on vacation. They say "Contact X at ______@_____.com."  Get the email addresses of the attorneys.  Send a test mail, get an auto-reply
with similar instructions.  Send me the emails of the attorneys and of the administrative assistants and other assistants.
I'll add those, too, to the falseallegations_com list on Yahoo.

In this way, we shall NOT be sending coals to Newcastle but to those areas where there is no coal, no dirty problems created by a justice system that has gone awry.

Do the same, of course, with State and Federal representatives and senators.  They are the ones who are making badly written laws, laws that do not have the proper set of teeth iin them, laws that allow judges to use tooooooo much discretion to ignore your requests, your motions, and your constitutional civil rights.

Thanks, thanks , thanks for your anticipated assistance.  I need the assistance badly.   I've begun thinking and drafting
the outline for my book on court reform.  I can see it will take even more thought.  My ideas are developing more and more each day.  When I begin writing the book, I want it to to take form quickly.  I'll take the time to add the email addresses, but
I shall not have the time to do the digging for them on the computer.  That's where YOU and YOU and YOU come in.  Thanks, thanks, thanks!!!

Barb's thoughts on the day, August 4th:
One of the most important events for the progress in judicial reform is ooming up in 10 days:

We hope you are making plans to come to Washington DC, August 14th, a week from Thursday and
participate in the biggest lobbying event our movement has ever held! e

We will be distributing the attached flyer [CLICK[ to all 535 Senators and Representatives and holding meetings 
with legislative aides. This flyer contains the strongest message we have ever delivered on Capitol Hill: 
“VAWA Has Gone Off the Rails.”  We will meet at 1:00 for a brief orientation, then divide up and fan out 
across Capitol Hill. We’ll wrap up around 4:30. If you can join us, please contact Ron Grignol:
rgrignol@hotmail.com for location information and other details.

Sincerely,
The RADAR Team

Barb's thoughts on the day, August 3d:
Judging by the quantity of emails I've received on the subject within the last 24 hours, something I wrote on some e-list must have provoked thought on "common law" today.  Rather than get into a rhetorical or esoteric discussion on my Home Page, I suggest that you all put "common law" and "case law" into a Google search tool.  In today's world, the terms "common law" and "case law" have become synonymous despite the difference in their origins.

In the era of the Star Chamber and the Kangaroo Court, Sir Edward Coke and King James in England--in the early 1600s--got into a debate about whether the King's law came above or below the common law, and Coke, if I remember correctly, was sent to the Tower to cool off.   A little damp stone covered by old and new feces with a few rats running around--even if you do not get the rack-- will be enough to cool you off.   Queen Elizabeth's ancestors or predecessors were not the gentle sovereigns the parade-prone soverieigns of today would like you to think.

Juries, too, were different.    Juries in Lords' cases were comprised of Lords.  Juries in merchant cases were comprised
of merchants.   Villagers were judged by other villagers.   The population was small and the juries knew the defendants.  Today, jurors who know the defendant are excused from being on the jury.  
 
The differences are diverse and many.   In fact, it may be argued that the "common law" has changed in baby steps by court decisions every 10-or-so years.   The merger of law and equity courts only decdes ago has also wrought changes.  

So, you'll not get too far asking a judge today to rule in your case as a judge or jury would have ruled in 16th or 17th century England.  You can argue the history of Law, you can cite the cases, but you must keep your expectations low. 
Let them get higher only if our society changes profoundly.

Postscript: Coke's Reports were written in French and Latin and were not necessarily what happened in the case; they were his personal conclusions or opinions regarding the case.

Barb's thoughts on the day, August 2d:
Morning.  Phone rings while I'm in bed.  Having been there only a few hours, I wearily reached over to pick up the
receiver, rolled over, sat up, put it to my ear, and said "Good morning."   Silence.   "I'm here if you're there," said I. 

"I said I want to speak to Barbara Johnson.  Is there anything about that you don't understand?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't hear you."   Silence.   He'd hung up.

To the Texan (I'm assuming . . . his accent), I'm sorry you were having such a bad day.

But miracles do happen  If you will all note, I had lost the envelope for Pete Jenkins,  #12 of my Innocence Insisted series, and wrote in "his" file, about 10 days ago:

Pete Jenkins
Somewhere
I lost the envelope with his address. 
If anyone knows this man and knows where he is, let me know.

Lo and behold, this morning, I also received a second letter from Pete Jenkins.  He is imprisoned in Tiptonville, Tennessee, on an aggravated rape charge arising from a DHS case, one based only on hearsay and NO physical evidence.

Barb's thoughts on the day, July 29th:
Anxiety increasing: The Bar's brief is due on August 15th.
Will have to write a reply brief when it arrives.
The non-evidentiary hearing in federal court is scheduled for September 22d at 2:15 PM in Courtroom 22.
What will Judge Tauro do?  Will he have the courage to reject
Mass. SJC Chief Judge Margaret Marshall's request to impose identical discipline?

What do I do about the people who, knowing about the disbarment, still call for help?

This morning, Jeff G's phone call from New Hampshire.  At the end of January of 2006, the N.H. Supreme Court found in his favor on the custody of his children.  The court simply cannot give the children to a third party under certain circumstances.  See In the Matter of Jeffery G. & Janette P.   Jeffrey is a civil engineer.  Janette, a chemist.   No drugs or alcohol involved here, folks . . . but lots of animosity between Jeff and Jan.  She brought a dozen false accusations of abuse against him, but they were all dismissed or dropped.  (In one phonecall, I did not learn all the gritty details.).

A day later,  his sister got custody of the couple's children from a Maine court., which ignored the N.H. decision.

It appears he is ready to go into federal court.  Fortunately he has New Hampshire Tigress-in-your-tank Attorney Paula Werme helping him.

Maine and his sister are looking for $26,000 in child-support arrears, calculated at the rate of $600 week, based on what
he made when he was employed.  Now he is self-employed and making nowhere enough to pay that child support . . .
plus it was he who was to get custody.   (Mom, who had fled twice with the kids, finally returned to her folks in Massachusetts and had agreed in writing to shared custody/parenting.)   NOTE: Maine and his sister are not looking to Mom to contribute to those arrearages.    What to do?

Did I really need a call like that one to wake me?  Another call proving that the courts should NOT be in the family-law business.  The PKPA and other Uniform laws are useless.  They make "things" worse. 

To get my mind off the call, I began thinking about plebeian, well, mundane, tasks of my life:

Where to put on this Home Page the list of inmates' letters in the new Innocence Insisted series?
Where to put on this Home Page the news alerts about the campaign against VAWA?
Both the Update and Alerts sections are important.
Where do I put the new RADAR's Action Alert to email the ABA president.  Hell, right here will be fine!

To temporarily solve this problem of the other RADAR Alerts, I have added the following multi-column section.