A judge’s race or gender makes for a dramatic difference in the outcome of cases they hear—at least for cases in which race and gender allegedly play a role in the conduct of the parties, according to two recent studies.

The results were the focus of a program about “Diversity on the Bench: Is the ‘Wise Latina’ a Myth?,” sponsored by the ABA Judicial Division at the ABA Midyear Meeting in Orlando on Saturday afternoon. (ABAJOURNAL.COM; http://www.abajournal.com/weekly/article/race_gender_of_judges_make_enormous_differences_in_rulings_studies_find_aba; Feb. 6, 2010)

MYTH OF THE COLOR-BLIND JUDGE: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF RACIAL HARASSMENT CASES (PAT K. CHEW, ROBERT E. KELLEY; WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW; VOL. 86:1117- 1166)

Above Report Last Available Online From: http://lawreview.wustl.edu/inprint/86/5/kelley.pdf

FEMALE JUDGES MATTER: Gender and Collegial Decision-making in the Federal Appellate Courts (Jennifer L. Peresie; The Yale Law Journal; VOL. 114: 1759-1790)

Above Report Last Available Online From: http://www.yalelawjournal.org/images/pdfs/211.pdf

Regardless of the level of interest in the issues of judicial impartiality, judicial accountability, or judicial reform ~ the studies at hand bring a fresh reminder that we are more and more becoming a nation of men rather than a nation of laws contrary to what our system was founded upon. Not diversity, subjective determinations, and the whims of personalities or circumstance but with critical thinking and an objective standard founded within our Constitution.

An online advisory board was launched for Get Your Justice Live (RADIO) to put listeners more in control of the community that they regularly participate in. An environment to freely make suggestions and rate the importance of various issues and formats.

To learn about the advisory board you can visit this link:
http://www.getyourjusticelive.com/advisory-board/

By taking the time to make your comments on the advisory board, your participation will increase the quality of the content that is produced for the entire community.

The issue apparently became known, nationally in fact, when the State of Michigan Department of Human Services sent a warning letter to Lisa Snyder, a resident near Grand Rapids, MI. She was apparently watching three children for about an hour each day before they caught their bus, and the letter alleged she would be violating a law normally used to stop unlicensed “day-care centers.”

The Senate voted 37-0 on November 12, 2009 to exempt baby-sitting from day-care regulations after the state ordered a woman to stop watching her friend’s children before school. Gov. Jennifer Granholm approved the legislation, which already has been passed by the House, finally on November 20, 2009, and the law became enacted on November 24, 2009.

Representative Brian Calley (R-87) will be joining the Get Your Justice Live Radio Program on December 9, 2009 to discuss the Department of Human Services and what led him to take action to restrict DHS from interfering with local babysitters that are doing a great community service for their neighbors. You can listen nationally by calling our streaming number during the live program by dialing 724-898-1660.

The following Representatives brought forth and sponsored the bill that became law: Andy Neumann, Arlan Meekhof, Bert Johnson, Bill Caul, Bill Rogers, Bob Genetski, Brian Calley, Chuck Moss, Cindy Denby, Dan Scripps, Darwin Booher, Dave Hildenbrand, David Agema, Deb Kennedy, Dian Slavens, Douglas Geiss, Dudley Spade, Eileen Kowall, Fred Miller, Gail Haines, Gary McDowell, Gino Polidori, Goeff Hansen, Harold Haugh, Hugh Crawford, James Bolger, Jeff Mayes, Jennifer Haase, Jim Slezak, Jim Stamas, Joel Sheltrown, John Espinoza, John Proos, John Walsh, Joseph Haveman, Justin Amash, Kate Segal, Kenneth Horn, Kenneth Kurtz, Kevin Daley, Kevin Elsenheimer, Kim Meltzer, Larry DeShazor, Lee Gonzales, Lesia Liss, Marc Corriveau, Mark Meadows, Marty Knollenberg, Matt Lori, Michael Lahti, Mike Huckleberry, Paul Opsommer, Paul Scott, Pete Lund, Phil Pavlov, Richard Ball, Richard Hammel, Richard LeBlanc, Rick Jones, Robert Dean, Robert Jones, Roy Schmidt, Sarah Roberts, Shanelle Jackson, Sharon Tyler, Terry Brown, Tim Moore, Tom McMillin, Tom Pearce, Tonya Schuitmaker, Tory Rocca, Vicki Barnett, Wayne Schmidt

Who do you think the proposed policy will affect most? Doctors will pass on the fees to big insurance companies and to the uninsured alike, insurance rates will go up bilking the taxpayers and private industries trying to provide plush benefits and the uninsured will just have to suck it up and pay the higher bills. Our elitist form of State government is really starting to shine through while they all keep their subsidized packages at the expense of Michigan residents.

“It is astounding to me that right now when we are in the middle of a national discussion about lowering the high cost of health care, Michigan Democrats are actually pushing for a new tax on doctors that will make medical treatment more expensive,” said House Republican Leader Kevin Elsenheimer, of Kewadin. “Doctors are going to have to pass these costs onto their patients, making the cost of health care go up.”

If approved, the tax would raise health care costs in Michigan by nearly half a billion dollars annually.

Earlier last week, Get Your Justice Live Radio host Lary Holland interviewed 3-Term Former Michigan Representative Lorence Wenke who recently announced his candidacy for Michigan State Senate for the 20th District. Candidate Wenke (R) issued a challenge to all state employees, including legislators and senators, around the very issue of Health Care premiums.

The Challenge:

All State of Michigan employees should pay a mere 25% of their own health care premiums, which will save Michigan taxpayers over 1 Billion dollars. In fact, former State Representative Lorence Wenke has already cut a check for over $4000.00 back to the State of Michigan to put his money where the challenge is. Lorence indicated that one representative laughed at his challenge.

The Solution:

Rather than destroying Michigan families and businesses by always turning to a tax increase for unsustainable state spending, let’s follow the leadership of cutting back plush benefits and making government employees less elitist and more inline with the rest of the economic positions of Michigan residents. Cutting the fat, like any good business, should be the example of government. Has Andy Dillon given any money back to the State of Michigan taxpayers or is he just anxious to keep his own plush benefits package while everyone else continues to suffer?

Ask yourself these questions and consider calling your own Representatives in your own state to see where they stand on these issues. Take an interest in government before government takes a bigger interest in your pocketbooks. After all we took such an interest in the issue we put together a quick newsletter and sent to all of the decision-makers.

In May we covered the story titled “Kernville man dies after stabbing in child-custody dispute” which discussed a “fight [that] broke out at a home on the 200 block of Bodfish Canyon Road in Bodfish. Crystal Lee Parker, 29, lives at the home and had armed herself with a large knife after people arrived because of the child-custody dispute, according to the sheriff’s office.” The victim in this case was a man that died after the stabbing had occurred within the child-custody dispute.

Just yesterday another case of family court violence broke out on the campus of UCI in California and was covered by The OC Register and also covered by the updated article written by Lary Holland: Family Court is Deadly Business. In the report a UC Irvine graduate student is accused of shooting his ex-wife to death outside on-campus housing Sunday night during a custody exchange of the couple’s 4-year-old son, police announced this morning. The title of the article in the OC Register was UCI slaying suspect had been ordered to double child support which was determined better for the child than the father being able to finish his PhD in particle physics.

The adversarial process seems to be the most prevalent method of divorce, despite many peaceful or “less-adversarial” processes that are available, but not widely understood. For good reason, lawyers certainly make more money on the adversarial process and that seems to be what divorce is all about nowadays, who has the best lawyer.

The Wall Street Journal had a reasonable and well-thought opinion piece on the issue of divorce titled Separate Peace by Stephanie Coontz. In the article she went over the various avenues and costs for different divorce methods that are currently available. The most interesting aspect of the article is that an adversarial divorce is the worst or most expensive avenue to seek a divorce, but the one most pursued.

Hugh McIsaac, a retired director of Family Court Services in Los Angeles and Portland, Ore., advises divorce attorneys to represent their clients’ long-term interests, not their short-term anger. The average cost of a mediated divorce is less than $7,000 and of a collaborative divorce less than $20,000. This compares with nearly $27,000 for a divorce negotiated by rival lawyers and about $78,000 for a fully litigated divorce.

Just looking at the numbers, you can tell which process would drive a person to family court related violence, because many people are pushed to the hilt with debt and stress of the adversarial process.

If we can learn anything from the information shared today, it is that serious considerations need to be reviewed for possible reforms to limit the number of adversarial proceedings in the family court, divorce, and child custody type proceedings. If nothing else it will save parents, save children, and provide a safer outcome of all involved.

Last week in the Detroit Free Press, L.L. Brasier, contributed the piece “P.P.O. requests, petty spats clog up courts” which opened up “A rift between two neighbors over grass clippings, a potty-mouthed text messenger sending notes to a woman he barely knows and a squabble that began four years ago with an empty pizza box — all seemingly bad behavior by people who, it could be argued, should just learn to get along.”

The article also discusses that it has been 15 years since the legislature last acted on the issue of personal protection orders as a tool “against domestic violence.” In Michigan Domestic Violence “Personal Protection Orders” are found in the following sections of law for spouses, ex-spouses, and individuals engaged in stalking or other prohibited conduct beginning at MCL 600.2950 and then continuing sections MCLA 600.2950a-j.

With some jurisdictions claiming 25% and higher increases in personal protection order claims and orders, it may be time to look at their effectiveness and how they are being applied. In some jurisdictions it had been found that evidentiary standards were too low in civil restraining order cases because an individual that is claimed to be violating such an order is subjected to “immediate arrest.” This certainly raises certain constitutional issues with an individual being arrested without probably cause, and raising the evidentiary standard might definitely weed out the more silly claims.

The other issue is federal funding awards to states for the issuance of orders, which seems to cause a rush for judges to err on the side of caution rather than erring on the side that may be right. Federal funding awards to the states and subsequently to the courts seems to place prosecutors and judges in control of their own budgets and how they rule. Constitutional protections were put into place to prevent unnecessary intrusions into the peoples’ lives by their government and ultimately when followed prevents the courts from being clogged with frivolity in the first place.

A final note: Courts currently are performing under contracts rather than remaining impartial arbiters, and when over participation clogs our courts like what you see here, the time for reform to limit the number of cases is necessary. Limiting the caseload starts by increasing the burden of proof to a reasonable standard.

Many of these stories are reported in local newspapers, regional publications, or localized news reports on various television stations, so they escape widespread national scrutiny. The fact remains that theft of records, fraud, embezzlement, bribery schemes, and more have been popping up from state to state which should lead federal authorities to review the guidelines of the program and reduce it to a more management front for needy families. Some initial/preliminary guidelines for changes in the program are listed at Nationwide Blueprint.

In them most current scheme, former clerk of the court Elizabeth Smith is still being investigated on possible misuse of child support enforcement funds that might have been diverted to county Drug Court, over which her husband, Manning Smith, presided according to Solicitor Duffie Stone. Needless to say Judge Manning Smith’s judgeship has been rescinded by South Carolina Supreme Court Justice Jean Toal ,days after his wife was indicted and resigned.

The charges so far, stemming from a grand jury indictment, are embezzling more than $23,500.00 from two public accounts to buy insurance policies for relatives and make payments on a home on Pawleys Island, of which Smith has pleaded not guilty to all charges. Initial charges were handed down on July 20, 2009.

This news has been widely reported in WALB-TV, Hilton Head Island Packet, WTOC, WMBF, and indirectly in Myrtle Beach Sun News. For more information on the Title IV-D program you can visit Nationwide Blueprint.

With the growing number of cases of widespread misuse of funds, it is only a matter of time before sweeping federal audits begin to protect the taxpayers and victims of a free-for-all welfare program gone out of control.

For the purpose of enabling each State to provide, in appropriate cases, foster care and transitional independent living programs for children who otherwise would have been eligible for assistance under the State’s plan approved under part A (as such plan was in effect on June 1, 1995) and adoption assistance for children with special needs, there are authorized to be appropriated for each fiscal year (commencing with the fiscal year which begins October 1, 1980) such sums as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this part. The sums made available under this section shall be used for making payments to States which have submitted, and had approved by the Secretary, State plans under this part.

The program requires state plans for foster care and adoption assistance, allows for federal block grants to the various states, and rewards states for improved adoption scores through incentive programs associated with the operation of state programs.

Pennsylvania has had some recent corruption problems, which it is unknown if that is the cause of the federal government freezing funds across the state, pertaining to judicial corruption. See Pennsylvania Judicial Corruption: What About Judges Jailing Parents for Cash (Feb. 12, 2009)

According to WJACTV.COM, Blair County Commissioners announced Tuesday that they will have to figure out how to survive without $571,000 from the federal government. Blair County is not the only county being affected, with information leading to the entire state’s funding being temporarily frozen. Several counties and the State may have to pay back funds to the federal government due to possible accounting problems with state records.

This move by the federal government could mean that they are starting to pay attention to other areas of concern with programs managed under the Social Security Act, including Title IV-A, Title IV-D, and Title IV-E. For more information about these programs, please see Nationwide Blueprint.

Yesterday, August 4, 2009, WFTV.Com broke the story FDLE: DCF Worker Stole $40K In Tax Dollars.

Corita Adams, a supervisior with the Department of Children and Families’ (DCF) food stamp program quit her job late Tuesday afternoon after she was charged with stealing more than $40,000 from government assistance programs.

WFTV.COM further exposed that:

State agents say Corita Adams used her knowledge from DCF to fraudulently apply for government money.Corita Adams was working at a DCF office when she was arrested. Federal Department of Law Enforcement investigators burst into her office and they say she was surprised to see them.Eyewitness News learned that Adams was well-liked at work and well-respected. She was promoted to supervisor just six months ago after a career at DCF that spanned 15 years.

These issues of state-managed federally subsidized programs in the area of social services are plagued with accountability issues in both the judiciary and the executive branch.

Some additional examples of misspent federally subsidized programs that you might of recently missed:

Report: Fla. Child-Welfare Workers Falsified Data. More than 70 Florida child-welfare workers falsified records in the last two years, leaving 14 children in unsafe homes and causing the state Department of Children and Families to temporarily lose track of at least six other children.

Pennsylvania Judicial Corruption: What About Judges Jailing Parents for Cash? “They sold their oaths of offices to the highest bidders,” Deron Roberts, chief of the FBI’s Scranton office, said at a news conference Monday. (Source:AOL NEWS; 2 Pa. Judges to Plead Guilty to Public Corruption; Orig. Article; Jan. 27, 2009)

Fort Bend Woman Guilty in Child Support Fraud Ring ~ ”Fort Bend County jury has found 42-year-old Debra Hodge guilty of engaging in organized criminal activity for her part in bilking over $40,000 in fraudulent child support from the Texas Attorney General’s Office.”

Child Support Worker Arrested in Bribery Scheme ~ “ORLANDO, Fla. — A former employee of the Department of Revenue’s Child Support Enforcement program was arrested Thursday on bribery charges.” (Local6.Com “Child Support Worker Arrested In Bribery Scheme” March 8, 2007)

Title IV-D Employee Embezzles Quarter of Million in Child Support Enforcement Money ~ “A Natomas woman stands accused of bilking the state Department of Child Support Services of more than $250,000, turning her procurement job into a means of buying a Lexus, hot tub and big-screen television, among other things.”

The Weekly Standard Indicts CSE Title IV-D Welfare Program ~ “There is mounting evidence that the system now encourages marital breakup and exacerbates fatherlessness by creating a winner-take-all game, where the losing parent–commonly a father wanting to save the marriage–is unfairly penalized by the loss of his children and by a federally enforced child support obligation.”

Federal Child Support Enforcement Program Makes Little “Cents” to the Taxpayer ~ “So the man, named Michael Eugene Lamb, is going into prison at the age of 49, sitting there on a federal conviction, and coming out sometime when he is almost 51 years old. The federal system will charge the taxpayers for his 1.5 year confinement at a cost between $30,000.00 to $50,000.00 depending on the facility and not including any health issues of the confined.”

Child Support Clerk Charged With Embezzlement: More Government Corruption ~ “Another County employee, this one in Lauderdale County, has been indicted by a grand jury on felony embezzlement charges for allegedly stealing more than $216,000.00 of program money, paid for by taxpayers, by writing unauthorized checks to herself from January 2002 through April of 2007. This employee was released on a $10,000.00 bond, which no doubt was probably a drop in the bucket considering she has already been sitting on the $216,000.00 plus her lush salary.”

Two Main Media Outlets Reprot More Thieving Title IV-D/CSE Employees ~ “Two separate reports have come out about a Maine Child Support Enforcement Worker (Title IV-D Employee) that has been stealing money orders from children the agency touts to protect. This most recent employee, who is now on administrative leave pending investigation, was reported as intercepting money orders and depositing them in her personal bank account.”

Mounting Accountability Problems With Child Support Programs: Data Stolen ~ “Yuba County scrambled this week to contact 70,000 people whose names and personal information were on a laptop computer stolen from the new Child Support Services office in Linda. County officials said the stolen laptop contained Social Security numbers, birth dates, driver’s license numbers and other private information on 70,000 people+.”

Identity Theft: Opt Out of Family Court Services Before it Happens to YOU! ~ “…customers in at least three states have already experienced serious breaches in their personal information, including social security numbers being compromised and potentially handed over to hackers that might want to steal identities in the last few months alone.”

Mounting accountability problems exist in nearly every area of social services related programs at both the federal and the state levels. The list above represents only a limited list of headlines that were determined to demonstrate corruption, extortion, and other activities to the detriment of the taxpayers.

For more information on these issues, you may contact Lary Holland at the Get Your Justice Live News Network by telephone: 517-325-3789.

Columbus, OH — An Ohio lawmaker has re-introduced legislation that would include a father’s rights in the abortion decision-making process. Under Roe v. Wade, fathers are left out of the equation when a woman considers whether or not to have an abortion that would end the life of their child.

Rep. John Adams, a Republican from Sidney, wants to change that and the legislation he introduced today, House Bill 252, would require the biological father’s consent before an abortion can be done.

The bill would apply to any abortion and would require written consent before it can be done. (Source: LifeNews.Com; July 17, 2009)

After reviewing the entire bill at the Ohio State Legislature website earlier today, it would appear that any person that violates the provisions of the law, if passed, would be guilty of abortion fraud, a misdeameanor of the first degree. However, if the person previously has pleaded guily or has been convicted of a violation of the new law, if passed, would be guilty of abortion fraud classified as a fifth degree felony.

Technically speaking the proposed legislation also would require a pregnant woman to know who the father is, promoting more responsible behavior on everyone’s part, which is a proper move in the right direction. Why? Because it would not be a defense for a mother to simply “not know who the father is.”

Our country is suffering financially and morally as a result of abortions, divorce, separation, child custody disputes, and child support cases. It is high-time to put more emphasis on the cases before they get to the stage of clogging up our court systems nationwide. Stop rewarding for all the negative behavior and start emphasizing positive shifts in public policies affecting the families toward greater responsibility and care for the children that are being born today.

Parental rights and parent-child relationships can be better protected when both parents are required to make decisions about the care, upbringing, and education of their children. Part of that responsibility for the care of our children, certainly begins before the birth.