Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Child abuse: when family courts get it wrong!


By Kathleen Russel – Wed Oct 14, 2009 -- for the CSM


San Rafael, Calif – When a parent harms his or her own child, family courts are supposed to step in and safeguard the victim.

Can you imagine what a tragedy it would be if courts awarded custody to the wrong parent – the abuser?

Actually, according to one conservative estimate, more than 58,000 children per year are ordered by family courts into unsupervised contact with physically or sexually abusive parents following divorce in the United States.

The fact that this type of scandal is taking place in the American justice system defies the imagination. Not since the Roman Catholic Church pedophile scandal has the US seen this level of institutional harm inflicted on innocent children.

Consider the case of Jonea Rogers, a hairstylist from Marin County, Calif. During her costly divorce, she sought help from numerous law enforcement, child protection, and family court authorities to protect her daughter from what medical evidence and reports by the child and her baby sitter suggested could be ongoing neglect or sexual abuse or both by the girl's father or grandfather.

None of the authorities she approached would effectively intervene to protect her daughter. So in 2000, Ms. Rogers eventually felt that she had no choice but to flee with her child to protect her.

More than three years later, this protective mother was caught and jailed for five months, while her daughter was immediately handed over to her alleged abusers. Rogers faced criminal charges for violating a court order by fleeing with her child. After considering the evidence in her case, a jury of her peers completely exonerated her of all wrongdoing.

The very same evidence that exonerated her in the criminal court had been called "frivolous" by the family court judge and disregarded. Despite her acquittal, Rogers was never granted custody of her daughter, who lives with her alleged abusers to this day. She is now forced to pay a fee to visit with her daughter a few times a month in a supervised visitation facility.

As we see in many cases across the country, even when physical or sexual abuse of children is alleged during a divorce, American family courts routinely award custody to the parent with an established record of domestic violence restraining orders, child abuse, neglect, alcoholism, addiction, dangerous mental illness, or a combination.

Meanwhile, the child's other parent, commonly referred to as the "protective parent," is typically demonized by court professionals as an "alienator" for bringing evidence of child abuse to the court's attention.

This happens because the reigning paradigm in family courts across the country is an unscientific, discredited theory known as "Parental Alienation Syndrome," or PAS.

PAS and its many derivatives suggest that the parent who asks the court to protect his or her child by limiting the alleged abuser's access to that child is "alienating" the child from the other parent.

The theory suggests that a parent "coaches" a son or daughter to fabricate false abuse allegations, and the court's attention immediately shifts away from investigating an alleged crime and instead focuses on the "uncooperative parent" who refuses to share custody of the child with the alleged abuser or molester.

PAS is tricky for the courts because parents in heated custody battles often badmouth each other and sometimes exaggerate claims of neglect, and children overhear their parents complaints about each other. Though rare, false allegations of abuse do occur. Research on child sexual abuse indicates that close to 98 percent of children who claim sexual abuse in the context of a high conflict divorce are telling the truth, yet family courts routinely proceed as if the opposite were true.

Protective parents not only lose custody of the children they are trying to protect, but they lose their life savings, too. Many cannot even afford a lawyer to represent their interests, but are saddled with hefty supervised visitation fees and often threatened with a loss of custody if they object to paying the bevy of court-appointed experts that the judge assigns to their case.

Fees quickly add up to tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. Many such parents go bankrupt, making court appeals impossible. The family law "machine" operates as Big Business, and a sophisticated cottage industry has sprung up that appears to be preying on desperate parents and children who are trying to escape family violence.

Four factors conspire against protective parents:

1. Family law judges are granted broad discretion in their decisionmaking;

2. Juries are nonexistent in most family law courtrooms;

3. Costly appeals are out of reach for most litigants; and

4. Children are not afforded a voice in these important proceedings that determine their future. As a result, nothing short of a major overhaul of the family court system will suffice.

Here in California, home to some of the most egregious cases, the Center for Judicial Excellence and its partner organizations in the Safe Child Coalition recently worked with State Sen. Mark Leno (D) of San Francisco to unanimously pass an audit request through the California legislature to address this growing problem.

The request asks the state auditor to investigate the procedures used by family courts to appoint, train, evaluate, and discipline the plethora of professionals they use in cases in Marin and Sacramento counties.

The legislature should also pass two sensible bills in 2010. Assemblyman Jim Beall (D) of San Jose has proposed a bill that would outlaw PAS in state family courts, and a bill by Assemblywoman Fiona Ma (D) of San Francisco would allow children to have a voice in family court proceedings.

Other states must open their eyes to this problem. Family courts are being manipulated in ways that tragically undermine their mission.

We must ensure access to justice for all who find themselves in our nation's family courts. There are at least 58,000 reasons to get serious about reform today.

Kathleen Russell is a cofounder and staff consultant to the Center for Judicial Excellence in Marin County, Calif.

17 comments:

  1. Thank You Mr. Ben Hirsch and SFJ -- One day after publication your interview with The New York Times is number 14 on the most e-mailed articles; it was at one point number 7. That translates into millions of people reading the article.

    UOJ


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    ReplyDelete
  2. UOJ I agree with most of your comments but in Australia the divorce courts give credence to claims mostly by mothers (not the child) of sexual abuse.
    The result is it is not unusual for women to claim this especially if they don't want to share custody or move interstate, the father has little recourse at this point

    ReplyDelete
  3. Tropper is Troubled2:47 AM, October 15, 2009

    In their own words: Tropper and EJF's cynical alliance with R Nochum Eisenstein and VAAD HORABBONIM HAOLAMI LEINYONEI GIYUR.

    About ten years ago the famous late Rav Kreiswirth of Chicago and Belgium decided he had a mission in life, to fight false conversions. But he knew he was at the end of his life, so he recruited R Nochum (Norman) Eisenstein to run the show.

    With the blessings of R Elyashiv and the cooperation of the Israeli Chief Rabbinate they set up a special beth din in Israel that would deal exclusively with conversion issues. Ok so far so good, what could be bad. Then about five years ago along came Tropper armed to the teeth, almost ready to swing onto enemy ships with a knife between his teeth at anyone who resists him, and all pumped up to go care of the tens of millions he had wrangled out two of his latest and richest duly and fully hypnotized supporters, naive BT billionaires r' us Tom Kaplan and Guma Aguiar.

    Tropper with Kaplan's and Aguiar's full help and input set up the now highly controversial EJF scheme. They obviously convinced Eisenstein that they could be of use. Eisenstein is a blunt man who is known for his point blank hatred of anything Modern Orthodox. Ok, so be it. To each his own. But Eisenstein had been itching to go on the offensive against the MOs and in particular their rabbinical organization, the RCA.

    In Tropper and EJF, Eisenstein saw a golden opportunity to launch open war against the RCA, much like in Israel where he was openly at war with the Rabbanut, Israel's Chief Rabbinate insofar as it was connected to the Religious Zionist camp, altho much of the Rabbanut has already been infiltrated by Charedim and Sefardim not part of the RZ world.

    So along comes Tropper with his EJF scheme and two bright and shiny partners, Tom Kaplan and GUma Aguiar, willing to pony up tens of millions as if was water out of a limitless well, and Eisenstein's eyes light up as he sees that these boychiks from treife America are just what he needs to leverage his own VAAD HORABBONIM HAOLAMI LEINYONEI GIYUR's agenda into the heart of the USA, never mind that has to hold his nose as Tropper and Kaplan and Guma Aguiar have another vision all their own hidden in their hearts of outreach to gentiles that they are also willing to bankroll unto kingdom come, that Eisenstein cannot stomach, but he goes ahead with a strategic alliance with this guys all the same, getting them photo-ops with Rav Elyashiv to boot that he probably regrets today given the fall-out with Guma Aguiar and the flood of negative news as Guma Aguiar spills the beans and backs it up with names and Emails about Tropper's fraud and thievery of Guma Aguiar's money and from Guma and Ellen Aguiar's Lillian Jean Kaplan Foundation.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Tropper is Troubled3:28 AM, October 15, 2009

    Eisenstein uses Tropper and EJF to the hilt to further his agenda, and Tropper loves every second of it.

    Since R Nochum Eisenstein has become designated as some sort of "official" point man for Rav Elyashiv for conversion matters and is given regular rare access to Rav Elyashiv which he uses to manipulate the old sage for his own agenda that often seem to be out of character with what Rav Elyashiv wants and says, much like Rav Moshe Feinstein in the last decade of his life when he was very frail and limited was taken prisoner by his grandson Mordy Tendler who then set about controlling and manipulating his grandfather, but many saw thru it and laughed or ignored it, same goes for Eisenstein as people see thru his power plays and laugh at him behind his back and see him for the utter dreykop that he is, but for Tropper Eisenstein is a God-send.

    They are twins made in heaven and Tropper knows that Eisenstein is the real boss. So he gives Eisenstein free reign and input as they then set about conniving together to attack RCA targets in America and RZ targets in Israel. It's their idea of fun, creating mass machlokes and Chillul Hashem on the level of global upheavals.

    At VAAD HORABBONIM HAOLAMI LEINYONEI GIYUR there is a record and electronic trail that is preserved of milestones of open warfare and hostility to RCA and RZ targets that Tropper was smart enough to keep off his own websites, but there was little Tropper could do as Eisenstein both dragged Tropper and EJF into machlokes with the RCA and RZ worlds or simply used the EJF name on his own that any idiot following conversion issues knows is synonymous with Tropper himself backed up and supported by its two founders Tom Kaplan and Guma Aguiar, but Eisenstein did as he wished and Tropper let him because he agreed with him.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Tropper is Troubled3:30 AM, October 15, 2009

    Eisenstein twists Tropper and EJF around his little finger.

    One can start with the most recent posting and move back into time on the VAAD HORABBONIM HAOLAMI LEINYONEI GIYUR page. Now to be fully honest, from a strictly Haredi and serious Torah perspective, some of the noble ideas are ok. But when they hook with EJF or quote and use Tropper and EJF as "support" to give credence for statements, that should raise anyone's eyebrows and get alarm bells ringing.

    It's actually funny, but the web page for VAAD HORABBONIM HAOLAMI LEINYONEI GIYUR has two recent posts with identical titles "American RCA "Converts" Loyal Christian, Parshas Bamidbar 5769", click on this and it's not about that at all but rather about "High Court Tries to Interfere With Conversion Case" while "American RCA "Converts" Loyal Christian, Parshas Tezaveh 5769" has the actual story as it yells and screams at the RCA and making all MOs guilty by association, on issues that have nothing to do with conversions, like low mechitzas and women's prayer groups. For example, it says:

    "In another development, the RCA granted a problematic rabbi from their ranks permission to perform conversions. This rabbi is well-known in the US for allowing low mechitzos in botei knesses, Torah readings in women's minyanim and he even advised appointing a woman posek in every shul "to avoid discriminating against women."..Eternal Jewish Family is voicing grave concerns over the RCA's conduct and has reiterated calls by gedolei Yisroel zt"l vylct"a not to perform false or dubious conversions that lack legitimate oversight and raze the walls of Kerem Beis Yisroel."

    What a good joke this all is, EJF is on the moral high ground to "criticize" others, like the pot calling the kettle black. Such shameless hypocrisy, chutzpa and sheer stupidity!

    This would be like an article that would criticize Chasidim for not following dina demalchusa thereby justifying geneiva in violation of Choshen Mishpat and then illogically use that as a platform to attack some Chasidim for other immoral acts like hypocritically patronizing prostitutes or taking their internal dynastic disputes to secular courts instead of settling in Jewish courts as stipulated by Jewish law.

    But then again, when one is dealing with brawlers like Tropper and Eisentein who have an agenda it is to be expected that they will hit below the belt and throw in the kitchen sink even if it means they therefore show that they are illogical and odd as they implement their war games against the RCA, MOs and RZs at all costs.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Tropper is Troubled3:50 AM, October 15, 2009

    Tropper proved that money can buy what abilities cannot.

    In retrospect, now that the world knows what was behind the "enthusiastic support" of Tropper (it's the money stupid) as revealed in the latest Arutz Sheva interview Jewish Billionaire Sues Prominent US Rabbi made public by Guma Aguiar on 10/08/09, it's hysterical and oh so sad to read in VAAD HORABBONIM HAOLAMI LEINYONEI GIYUR, the story about what EJF had to say as recently as June 12, 2008, something they would not have the audacity to say now that Tropper is up to his neck in legal fights and as Guma sues him and he takes out protection orders as EJF's credibility crumbles and crashes in full public view.

    But that did stop Tropper or R Nochum Eisentsien then from tooting the EJF horn, as if it was endowed with papal infallibility and as if only EJF has access to the seal of divine truth, while behind the scenes mass robbery is taking place by the high and mighty one (Tropper) himself.

    Notice that as a Yankee Tropper gratuitously inserts himself into events in far off Israel, and he's quoted as saying that this meeting he calls (with money as honey for the rabbi bees) is part of a "great salvation" as if he is a perfect candidate for being a false messiah.

    In addition he makes it clear that "only" his approved beth dins can offer the needed "salvation" for converts.

    Notice too, that when he speaks in front of haredi bigs he NEVER mentions the other more devious hidden agenda of EJF to go out and reach out and pay for recruiting gentiles to become Jews which Tom Kaplan and Guma Aguiar underwrote and paid for willingly and happily:

    "EJF: Rabbonim Must Ensure Conversions Performed Only If Candidate Commits to Keep Mitzvas. Following a ruling by the Beis Din Hagodol in Jerusalem that effectively called into question the status of Israel's special conversion courts by invalidating an old conversion, Eternal Jewish Family held a gathering in Jerusalem for rabbonim and dayonim during the first week in June. The gathering was opened by the chairman of EJF's rabbinical committee, Rav Leib Tropper, who spoke of the need to come together to discuss the issue at hand, saying the very act of coming together in large numbers helps bring salvation..He also mentioned the EJF Rabbinical Committee's instructions to undergo conversion only at regular, established botei din."

    ReplyDelete
  7. Tropper is Troubled4:07 AM, October 15, 2009

    When Tropper could peddle his money-influence without hindrance.

    What follows is the record of a Tropper EJF PR piece that's so typical of the snotty holier than thou attitude that Tropper cooks up on the world stage all care of tens of millions from the sucker BT Billionaires Tom Kaplan and Guma Aguiar.

    How stupid those rabbis must feel, now that Tropper is being accused and investigated for fraud by none other than Guma Aguiar his chief co-backer in the past.

    Oh for the days when the Lillian Jean Kaplan name could be used without ill-thoughts.

    Now everyone knows that there was an ugly legal battle between Tom Kaplan and Guma Aguiar over control of the Lillian Jean Kaplan Foundation, Fla. judge tosses out embezzlement case against NbN donor, which Guma Aguiar now fully controls and has accused Tropper of thieving tens of millions from him.

    So in hindsight it's ghastly and it's not so pretty to see what Troppper was doing with the Lillian Jean Kaplan name in July 12, 2006.

    This is also a shameless effort to keep on organizing against the RCA with slogans and hidden words like "support from maranan verabonon from all segments of Yahadus ne'emenes" meaningless Haredi hype:

    "Final Preparation for Geirus-Intermarriage Conference in Jerusalem. Conference is being organized by Horizons, an internationally recognized institute of Jewish education and outreach based in Monsey, New York, and is sponsored by the Lillian Jean Kaplan Jewish Pride Through Education Project. It is in the framework of the Eternal Jewish Family effort. The Rabbinical Committee includes: HaRav Reuven Feinstein, rosh yeshivas Staten Island, HaRav Leib Tropper, rosh yeshivas Kol Yaakov, HaRav Simcha Kook, rav and av beis din of Rechovot, HaRav Shmuel Eliezer Stern, author of Giyur Kehalochoh, and HaRav Nachum Eisenstein, the Chairman of the Vaad HaRabbonim Haolami LeInyonei Giyur founded by HaRav Chaim Kreiswirth zt"l..The conference enjoys the support from maranan verabonon from all segments of Yahadus ne'emenes. It will deal with practical matters regarding proper halachic standards in an effort to prevent faulty conversions."

    ReplyDelete
  8. I am a geek, what can you do, nothing. I am a computer geek, naturally, there are no other kinds of true geeks in the world today. And on top of that I am Torah computer geek.

    About 22 years ago I connected with a guy called Gerry Weisberg who was about to set up a revolutionary new organization for kiruv workers, he was going to rename them kiruv professionals and he offered to have me hook up with him. I was even to be paid for my services at AJOP.

    You see, Gerry Weisberg and the AJOP he was about to set up, had a vision then that few knew about, but I as computer geek grasped right away, that AJOP was going to try to utilize a new thing called the INTERNET, that was really very new and unknown then, to connect all kiruv workers in all sorts of ways. Gerry Weisberg even had a name for it, it was going to be called AJOP-NET, catchy right?, and presented at the opening AJOP convention around 21 years ago.

    Well, I latched on to this idea very quickly being that I was not just a computer geek but an Orthodox BT with lots of ruthless ambition and I concluded that what the heck did Gerry and AJOP need an AJOP-NET for, after all I believe in sharing technology, so while I was working in the main AJOP office the main hard drive disk of the rare and special AJOP computer mysteriously broke, and in any case it was going to be hard to sell the idea to most people who 21 years ago still had not grasped what the Internet would mean as time marched on.

    So I strolled off and registered an important domain name Torag.org in any case few people could grasp what it all meant then.

    I never give Gerry Weisberg or AJOP credit for helping me out and for allowing me to present my ideas at AJOP's first couple of conventions. I make sure that everyone thinks that AJOP had nothing to do with my early launch, but hey ho, I am a geek and a creep, as that girl who worked for me in my office found out when I nestled her tootsies in my loving arms. Us geeks can be warm and loving too you know. But I have received a papal forgiveness from Rabbi Shmuel Kaminetsky and I have promised him that I will be a good boy from now on.

    But in my heart I am a geeky creep. I hope the world does not notice that I am. I heard that Gerry Weisberg lost his memory, good thing or else he could tell a lot of tales about those days, oops sorry, didn't mean to be creepy, just thinking aloud.

    ReplyDelete
  9. The AJOP Follies catches up with Hershel Leiner and he tells a true tale:

    Ok, I see that there is some confusion. I was hired by AJOP when it was under the leadership of the bozo from NIRC Shiya Milikowsky and Yakov Weinberg.

    Weinberg evidently thought that it was a great idea to choose a guy like Shiya Milokowsky who had never done kiruv in the field, neither had I but that is par for the course.

    I had a shady reputation when I was hired, but the NIRC guys at AJOP were desperate to hire a guy who wore a black hat and had a beard like me, they forget that character and honesty is more important. They should have given me a lie detector test and asked if I had ever stolen anything, the meter would have really clicked!

    Also the way New Yorkers like me do things makes the NIRC guys look like amateurs.

    So what did I do, besides negotiating a sky high salary from AJOP, and it still had lots of money coming from the AVI CHAI Foundation of naive BT Billionaire Sanford Bernstein, that I set out to enrich myself, screw AJOP, screw the NIRC bozos, screw kiruv and screw the naive idiots that came to its conventions.

    I was out for numero uno, yours truly, Hershel Leiner with the red cheeks and angelic face and the heart of a ganev and the mind of cut throat.

    I moved the AJOP office from Manhattan to Monsey, home of that other famous guy Leib Tropper who was advising me, he had joined the AJOP board when I got my ED (that's executive director) job, Me and Leib like each other. We have a shprach. I stay away from him and he stays away from me. We mark out our territory.

    What happened next is that the NIRC Bozo Milokowsky found out I was stealing AJOP money pocketing everything that existed and that came in for myself. He was besides himself. He's an amateur. They called in the big guns, like Ephy Buchwald who is Brooklyn brawler at heart and he promptly fired me. There was a bitter and SECRET din Torah where I agreed to go in peace and the AJOP dopes would not be allowed to say a word about me.

    Haha when they started to look through all their records and cabinets they found the apple cores, yashan crumbs from Monsey bakeries, and empty chalev yisroel coffee cups I left them, only.

    I took every last shred of information about who supports AJOP and any place I could get funds from. I had the last laugh on them because I had muzzled them from saying anything "al pi din Torah" while I could also say that I was the respected past ED of AJOP.

    I did the exact same scam when I then went to work at Shor Yoshuv as ED. I was even pictured in the YATED with that cut throat from Chaim Berlin Aron Shechter laying the foundation stone for the new Shor Yoshuv building. We were both smiling, guess why.

    I gave those naive Freifeld chasidim dudes at Shor Yoshuv the same treatment I had given AJOP, it's in my genetic code you see, when they discovered I was a massive crook.

    Now I run another "non-profit" making more profits, naturally, I am very, very ibber klug and bright, for my new venture I got my photo op PR pic taken with ten haredi bigs in Israel, but enough people have latched on by now that I am a crook plain and simple, keep as far as you can away from me, I cannot help it I will pick your pockets as we smile at each other like fakes.

    I am good at faking, like a fake snake, but at least my faking gets results, does yours?

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thieving at AJOP nothing to do with firing MOs5:27 AM, October 15, 2009

    Getting rid of Gerry Weisberg was one thing that the NIRC bozos pushed for. He was not one of them. He was a good organizer. He had the confidence of Sanford Bernstein. He was well-liked and was able to bring together Haredi kiruv workers even though he was MO himself.

    So Yakov Weinberg decided to defenestrate Gerry.

    Weinbergs are good at that among many other things.

    Next they bring on board the ganev Hershel Leiner trumpeting him as the yeshvishe answer to AJOP's ED prayers. Halelukya you could almost hear them say, our frum ED has come to make us rich and richer. Gues what? It was a total blunder. Hershel Leiner turned out to be stealing right under their noses. He took every last penny AJOP had in any account anywhere for himself. After all he had a wife and kids to support, he was a ben Torah, poor bugger.

    Well, Shiya Milikowsky the NIRC bozo from Baltimore seems to have had more than an inkling about Leiner's wrongdoings, and when he was called on the carpet he was forced out as the second president of AJOP because he screwed up with Hershel Leiner on his watch.

    To cover up the shame to NIRC's name, of Yakov Weinberg and Milikowsky the bozo, the presidency of AJOP was handed to Shlomo Porter something he still holds on to unto this very day.

    There are more gaps to fill in and there is more to clarify. But the subject and events of Haredi ganev Hershel Leiner has nothing to do with merely pushing out an MO guy like Gerry Weisberg.

    In retrospect, had Yakov Weinberg and Shiya Milikowsky left Gerry Weisberg in place they would still have retained the good ties to AVI CHAI who walked away disgusted from AJOP after the Hershel Leiner mess and would have nothing to do with AJOP meaning not giving it any more chances and not another another penny.

    After AVI CHAI had pumped in probably at least three million ggod dollars into launching AJOP, after the Hesrhel Leiner scandal AJOP was left pennyless and broke and it was then that it was taken in as a homeless person by Pesach Chometz Lerner at the NCYI who thought he could have some fun with it and perhaps get some milage from it.

    All done with the knowledge, connivance and utter incompetence of Yakov Weinberg who proved that as long as millions were coming in he was a big shot, but after being cut off from AVI CHAI funds he had to rely on NIRC alums like Lerner and Porter, which made them all look like stupid shmuks ripped off with nowhere to go because even the NCYI wouldn't be a good place.

    So then they took the AJOP office to office into Porter's Eitz Chaim center in Baaltimore finally Shllom Porter has had it in his pocket ever since.

    By the way, even at this stage AJOP is NOT the same thing as either Eitz Chaim Center or its NIRC bozo leaders.

    AJOP is for and by the kiruv workers from EVERYWHERE that it helps.

    Now comes the big scandal of why Porter never told the world that he had a sexual predator brother Jack who all, certainly around Baltimore and Boston where he trolled for victims, should have been warned to stay away from him, and instead of Shlomo Porter portraying himself as some sort of grand kiruv leader or some such he is now revealed as just a guy with really bad skeletons in his closet. One, named Jack, just tumbled out big time.

    But Shlomo will find a way to smile and smooth talk his way out of it. It will not be a topic for a workshop on keeping sexual predators at bay at the next or any AJOP convention as long as Shlomo Porter is president of AJOP. That's the way it goes.

    ReplyDelete
  11. VIN is at it again. Hope they break the Einfeld/Veinfeld story to the english readers too.

    Jerusalem - “Religious prisoners are deliberately persecuted,” Deputy Health Minister Rabbi Yaakov Litzman (UTJ) said in response to serious allegations by the secular Israeli media.


    According to a report this week on Israel’s Channel 2 this week, and here Rabbi Litzman applied pressure on Health Ministry psychiatrists to enable charedi sexual molesters prisoners to receive furloughs. The television report even claimed some psychiatrists were threatening to resign over the alleged pressure.


    Yet an official Health Ministry statement paints a very different picture: “While the Deputy Minister was serving as a Knesset member he was contacted by prisoners who were being harassed [by prisoner review panels] and he presented the problem to the proper officials. Recently the complaints have worsened, and ever since he assumed his post the Deputy Minister has been trying to evaluate the criteria, and even suggested to a high-ranking official in the health system that he review the guidelines for furloughs, which prisoners are entitled to by law.

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    “In practice, the prisoner mentioned in the report was not released for his son’s bar mitzvah and no request was submitted to have him released without supervision. This prisoner was released for previous family events with a prison guard escort,” read the statement.


    To counter the mounting allegations in the secular media, Rabbi Litzman agreed to be interviewed on a religious radio station. “Prisoners have rights, too,” he insisted, “and there is no reason for charedi prisoners to be discriminated against and persecuted by the establishment.”


    A spokesman for the Deputy Minister told VIN News that Rabbi Litzman has been involved in prisoners’ rights for years – well before entering the Health Ministry – and even proposed legislation on the issue after he was asked by the family of a charedi prisoner who has already spent ten years behind bars, because he is reluctant to speak openly regarding the sex crimes he was convicted of. According to psychiatrists from the Health Ministry’s Center for Mental Health, prisoners must relate their crime in detail before a review panel each time they apply for a furlough.


    Rabbi Litzman’s statement exposed an ongoing battle between the Deputy Minister and mental health officials at his Ministry. When the latter suddenly found themselves working under Rabbi Litzman they objected, showing particular resistance to a proposal to transfer their authority to an external psychiatric entity.


    Asked whether he would avoid pursuing the issue further following the controversy surrounding the television report, Rabbi Litzman was unambiguous: “Absolutely not! I won’t stop securing rights prisoners serving time for their deeds are entitled to, in accordance with the law and the guidelines, of course.”

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  12. I do not comment often, but I do read UOJ frequently. No one needs my anonymous comments about the validity of issues on either side of Rubashkin, Markey, Tropper, Ohel, or any other person or issue. However, I have found it increasingly difficult to find the comments on an article that are relevant to the subject. Here, there is an article that addresses divorce, family court, child abuse, all great themes for discussion. Nearly all comments allowed onto this post are repeated diatribes about Tropper - no connection whatsoever to the article. Just because this is the lead article on UOJ, these commenters want their message read. Well, there are posts that are focused on those issues, and the copied-pasted comments that are off topic should be rejected. I do not always agree with UOJ or the comments here, but it makes for interesting reading. I hope the blog author will set policy to disallow off-topic comments as well as the repetitive ones that are copied onto every article. Once should do it well.

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  13. Tropper and his PR flacks have been using reverse psychology at times to stop the criticisms on the Daat Torah blog.

    It would of course be in Tropper's best interests that the essays exposing him not be at the top of this blog when millions of additional readers have found their way here via the NY Times.

    ReplyDelete
  14. http://money.cnn.com/2009/10/15/real_estate/foreclosure_crisis_deepens/index.htm

    Foreclosures: 'Worst three months of all time'

    By Les Christie, CNNMoney.com staff writer

    October 15, 2009

    NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Despite concerted government-led and lender-supported efforts to prevent foreclosures, the number of filings hit a record high in the third quarter, according to a report issued Thursday.

    "They were the worst three months of all time," said Rick Sharga, spokesman for RealtyTrac, an online marketer of foreclosed homes.

    During that time, 937,840 homes received a foreclosure letter -- whether a default notice, auction notice or bank repossession, the RealtyTrac report said. That means one in every 136 U.S. homes were in foreclosure, which is a 5% increase from the second quarter and a 23% jump over the third quarter of 2008.

    Nevada continued to be the worst-hit state with one filing for every 23 households. But even tranquil Vermont, where the foreclosure crisis has barely brushed the housing market, saw foreclosure filings jump nearly 170% compared with the third quarter of 2008. Still, that resulted in just one filing for every 5,023 households in the state -- the best record in the country.

    That deluge contributed significantly to the quarter's record 237,052 repossessions, a 21% jump from the previous three months. So far this year lenders have taken back 623,852 homes.

    Most disturbing is that all foreclosures -- not just repossessions -- are rampant despite efforts to corral them. In ever more frequent cases, delinquent borrowers want out of the mortgage worse than the lenders. There are no firm statistics for it, but many industry watchers claim the percentage of REOs caused by borrowers voluntarily walking away from their homes is skyrocketing.

    A study of the trend by the Chicago Booth School of Business and the Kellogg School of Management determined that when home price declines drop home values 10% below the mortgage balances, people start to give up their homes. When "negative equity" approaches 50%, 17% of households default, even when they can still afford their mortgage payments.

    No end in sight
    The foreclosure crisis may not diminish anytime soon. "The fastest growing area is in the 180 days late-plus category, the most seriously delinquent borrowers," Sharga said. "It's going to be a lingering problem."

    Plus, the RealtyTrac statistics may understate the depth of the foreclosure mess because lender and government actions have delayed many filings. As a result, some delinquencies have not been counted on the foreclosure tallies. That means the crisis may not end quickly.

    And because there are so many delinquent borrowers, Sharga predicts the banks will be slow to take back their properties and put the repossessed homes back on the market.

    "It's hard to envision [the banks] putting millions on properties up for sale and cratering prices," he said. "Recovery will be slow and gradual. I don't see home prices getting much better until 2013."

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  15. http://www.chron.com/deadbymistake/maps/ny/?appSession=671125973671089

    Lung collapse after surgery: Below average performance

    Hemorrhaging after surgery: Below average performance

    Dangerous blood clots after surgery: Below average performance

    Accidental puncture or laceration: Below average performance

    Every other category is only average. They are not above average in a single category!

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  16. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives voted on Thursday to allow foreign terrorism suspects from the Guantanamo Bay prison into the United States to face trial.

    Republicans had argued that allowing suspects to face trial in U.S. courts could create security risks and extend American legal protections to those who do not deserve them. But their attempt to strip the measure from the spending bill failed.

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  17. ......I hope the blog author will set policy to disallow off-topic comments as well as the repetitive ones that are copied onto every article.

    *

    Not to ignore your wise observation; nothing is perfect --- but I hesitate to change the "schizoid"-type comment section that attracts so many readers for one reason or another.

    Sincerely,

    UOJ

    ReplyDelete