justice’s posterous

Note to the media pundits: do you have any more speculations to make about the economy? The lawyer for the ex-wife called James Kraig Kahler (city official J. Kraig Kahler), who nevertheless was being given custody and visitation rights, an "absolute monster" who was "rigid and controlling" and "emotionally abused the girls". Bail has been set at $10 million. Too late. http://www.fox4kc.com/wdaf-kahler-murders-lawyer-120109,0,7315787.story

Paul Martikainen aka Kristian Turunen had a history of being abusive. Nevertheless, he was given court-ordered visitation with a toddler. Why. Why why why why why why why. http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20091128/BREAKINGNEWS/91128014/1006/news01/Police+looking+for+dad+in+abduction Read more at http://dastardlydads.blogspot.com/ Read more about fatherhood and child custody issues at the liz library

UPDATE: and, apparently, a criminal record, including aliases:  http://www.wftv.com/news/21764062/detail.html What in heck were you thinking, Judge Charles J. Roberts, giving this man visitation with a toddler? Any visitation at all. Even supervised.  Why? He's a role model?  Nurturing?  Do you think the kid needs to spend time with him?  It's doubtful.  For whose benefit was this? We've got to get off this fatherhood exaltation nonsense already. The man's got a long rap sheet.  Drugs. Dangerous. A liar. An abuser. He's got one fit parent; that ought to be enough for the State. The mother expresses her fear and concern (albeit mothers with concern about fathers generally are accorded the credibility of dried worm meal in family courts).  DCF confirms the abuse of the child. What more is there? What more could you possibly need? What could this man possibly have to offer of benefit that a 3-year-old has to have? Why can't we err (IF it's an "err") your Honor, on the side of children? If you make a mistake and deny a good man his visitation rights, really, it still won't hurt the kid.  We've got exemplary men and women who are parents fighting in the Middle East, separated for months or years from their children. Come ON, already!  Time to quit catering to the "parenting" rights of these men. http://www.wftv.com/video/21763914/index.html

UPDATE: SAFE!  Thanks to the U.S. Coast Guard. (Now, Judge, will you terminate the guy's parental rights, please?) http://www.news-press.com/article/20091201/NEWS01/91201013/1075/Missing-Cocoa-boy-found-safe-off-Sanibel-coast

Alleged model family man and father, baseball coach and all around nice guy Thomas Mangiantini wiped out his family under circumstances that did not (apparently) include a (formally) pending divorce or separation, or the ubiquitous media rationale of financial distress. We suspect: either there really was a possible separation threatened (for multiple possible reasons... someone cheat? someone commit a crime? etc.), or he wasn't really such the all-around nice guy the neighbors say he was. And once again a school system stupidly is calling out the "crisis management team" for students. http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=340178

"Robert J. Beiser's threats against his estranged wife started long before he assembled the weapons to kill her, according to a man who became romantically involved with Teresa Beiser as her marriage disintegrated..." http://www.oregonlive.com/tualatin/index.ssf/2009/11/post.html

"[C]ivilization requires a stable, rational, and consensual moral framework in order to survive... The medicalization of mass murder is a great moral evasion. Substituting the therapeutic worldview for morality will not work... Sick is no adequate substitute for evil." Read the article at http://www.albertmohler.com/2009/11/19/when-morality-collapses-the-therapeutic-evasion/  Consider how the therapeutic mindset, aka therapeutic jurisprudence, plays out in the family courts.

"Teresa Beiser was asking for joint custody of her two children with Robert Beiser in what appeared from court documents to be an amicable dissolution of their marriage." Excellent commentary and links to the news stories at http://dastardlydads.blogspot.com/2009/11/mom-files-for-joint-custody-but-gets.html

Bryon Hilburn "was divorced and had custody of the boy and his two siblings." The child has said that the man was "punishing him". http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gZv2u8UDawH7vbUI65uG1fF7NQ8QD9BODFHO0

"Two weeks before she was killed, Dawn Axsom pleaded with Judge Jose Padilla of Maricopa County Superior Court to let her leave Arizona with her son because she feared Gabriel Schwartz, the toddler's father, would harm her or their boy... Padilla denied the 26-year-old's request and ordered the pair to attend parental counseling together.   Axsom's body was found in her Peoria residence Friday. Police also found the bodies of Schwartz, 28, and Lisa Braden, 56, Axsom's mother." http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2009/10/19/20091019peomurder1020.html This judge should be removed from the bench.  Also see liznotes at thelizlibrary.org on these misguided fatherhood exaltation, joint custody and anti-relocation laws.

"Children living with their only their mothers experienced maltreatment under the Harm Standard at a rate of 26.1 per 1,000 children. Children living with only their dads: 36.6 per 1,000."
 
"What about abuse as such? Children living with only their moms: 10.5 per 1,000. Children living with only their dads: 17.7 per 1,000."
 
PHYSICAL ABUSE: "Children living with only their moms: 6.4 per 1,000 children. Children living with only their dads: 10.5 per 1,000 children. Here's what NIS-3 states: 'When specific types of abuse under the Harm Standard are examined, it is apparent that the findings described in the previous paragraph stem from the disproportionate incidence of physical abuse among children in father-only households...'"
 
NEGLECT: "Children living with only their moms: 16.7 per 1,000 children. Children living with only their dads: 21.9 per 1,000 children."
 
EMOTIONAL NEGLECT: "Children living with only their moms: 3.4 per 1,000 children. Children living with only their fathers: 8.8 per 1,000 children."
 
SERIOUS INJURIES: "Children living with only their moms: 10.0 per 1,000 children. Children living with only their dads: 14.0 per 1,000."
 
MODERATE INJURIES: "Children living with only their moms: 14.7 per 1,000 children. Children living with only their dads: 20.5 per 1,000."
 
ALL MALTREATMENT: "...children living with only their moms: 50.1 per 1,000 children. For children living with only their dads: 65.6 per 1,000."
 
ALL ABUSE: "...children living with only their moms: 18.1 per 1,000 children. For children living only with their dads: 31.0 per 1,000."
 
For more information, see http://dastardlydads.blogspot.com/2009/09/another-look-see-at-nis-3-or-what-do.html and http://www.thelizlibrary.org/liz/statistics.html

Glen Richard Dillon was in violation of a court order mandating supervised visitation when he apparently deliberately smashed his car into a tree resulting in the incineration of his 6-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son. The children's mother had fought for more than 2 years in family court to keep her children safe. http://news.brisbanetimes.com.au/breaking-news-national/i-couldnt-protect-my-kids-grieving-mum-20090902-f8b8.html http://dastardlydads.blogspot.com/2009/09/dad-breaches-court-order-requiring.html