SIGHTINGS

 


Ken Newell Is 'Not Guilty'
Ken Newell has gone to court countless times since being charged by his ex-wife with twenty-six (26) counts of domestic violence, but he was found innocent of the final two charges last month during a bench trial before Judge Mark Coven. This means that the embattled father was not guilty of any of the twenty-six charges brought against him.

The only problem he has remaining is that he was forced to admit to "Admission to Sufficient Fact" in August when his witness did not show and Judge Coven refused to continue the trial. But Atty. Chester Darling remains confident they will be able to remove that blemish on appeal.

Chief Justice Margaret Marshall Violates Ethics; Attends Partisan, Political Event
If a judge were to attend the annual meeting of any fathers organization, the outcry would extend from the Berkshires to the farthest points of Boston Harbor. The judge would be punished or removed, as he should. 

But Margaret Marshall, Chief of the SJC, was an honored guest at the Annual Gala of the Women's Bar Association last month. Over 1600 guests appeared, including many other judges. The Women's Bar Association is a highly partisan organization which lobbies extensively both in the courts, which Marshall controls, and in the legislature.

It was a political event, which is also forbidden to judges. The featured speaker was Dee Dee Myers, former press secretary for Bill Clinton. She received a rousing burst of applause when she predicted that Gore would win by a large margin. (We do not know how loudly Marshall applauded.) But Myers' loudest applause came when she announced that Hillary would win New York. She noted that she and Marshall are both married to the New York Times because they both have husbands who are employed there. (We pointed out this tremendous conflict when Marshall was nominated to be Chief of the SJC and the Boston Globe was lobbying heavily for her without revealing that her husband is a well-known columnist at the Times, which owns both the Globe and the Worcester Telegram.)

Chief Justice Promotes Homosexuality
Chief Justice Marshall was applauding when the Women's Bar honored the lawyer who obtained an unconstitutional gag order against the parents who exposed the Fistgate scandal. The lawyer is attempting to stop the citizens from learning what occurred at Fistgate. The suit is still active in Marshall's courts and the Justice may eventually have to rule on it herself. Yet there she was honoring this lesbian lawyer, Mary Bonauto, who may appear personally before her in this case. The gag order has commentators across the country laughing at our courts which violate the U.S. Constitution so casually.

Many women lawyers are concerned about the negative effect on women that Marshall is having as the first female to lead the courts of the state.

MassNews Is 'Blasted' at Gala
Massachusetts News was "blasted" by the lesbian lawyer, Mary Bonauto, when she received her award, according to sources who were at the Gala. She referred to what we wrote in our last issue. We are sorry to say that no one has reported exactly what she said so we cannot speculate. (We do not feel comfortable identifying Bonauto as a "lesbian;" we do so because that is her choice.)

"Special Education" Reform Begins in Boston
After years of abuse, the special education system of Massachusetts which Governor Cellucci calls a "time bomb," has begun to be reformed. The City of Boston has begun a program of "integration," which will reduce the number of special-education students who have only similar students in their classes. 

The MCAS revealed that not one of the students in a special education program was able to pass the eighth- or tenth-grade exam in math or English. This clearly shows that special education has not only absorbed a large part of the vast increase in school spending over the last decade, but that it has failed to educate the disabled.

The "segregation" of disabled students has been the principal complaint of their parents, and nearly fifty percent of special students are in separate classes in Boston as compared to only seventeen percent for the entire state. But the idea that only separate special-education classes can succeed has been the dogma of the education establishment.  Separation both removes "difficult" students from regular teachers' classes and helps to create jobs in a burgeoning special education empire.

The problems of Massachusetts' special education program were revealed in a book-length report by Dr. Edmund Moscovitch, "Special Education: Good Intentions Gone Awry," written in 1993 for the Pioneer Institute.

The special education system is fueled by the vast number of dubious "attention deficit disorder" diagnoses made by clinical psychologists.

"The ambiguity in the definition of 'special education' helps explain the increase in Massachusetts' special education enrollment.... Studies have found that more than eighty percent of the student population would conceivably be classified as learning disabled under the definition currently in use...."

Fall River Bishop Supports Catholic Higher Education
While most Catholic academics are trying to efface the last vestiges of their religious identity and join the secular-humanists, Bishop Sean O'Malley of Fall River has taken a different stance. He has been named to an advisory board of the Cardinal Newman Society in its effort to help Catholic colleges implement the pope's call for Catholic schools to bear witness to their faith in their teaching and research.

Boston Bar Promotes Gay Marriage
Mary L. Bonauto is apparently very popular with lawyers. She works for Gay & Lesbian Advocates and Defenders and is the lawyer who sued the parents who reported what happened at Fistgate. She received an award last month from the Women's Bar Association.

She also appeared at an educational meeting for lawyers last month sponsored by the "Family Law" section of the Boston Bar Association about "Civil Unions in Vermont: How Will This New Marital Status Affect Your Practice?" She presented a subtle message that gay marriage is good by telling the lawyers how to counsel those who are in a civil union with respect to "probate and inheritance issues, access to employee benefits, divorce and myriad other issues." In addition, she gave the options for "recognition and equal treatment of civil unions in Massachusetts." Nobody presented the other side - the legal reasoning for Massachusetts lawyers to reject unions made in Vermont.

Harshbarger Criticizing Clintons 
Former Attorney General Scott Harshbarger may be gaining some perspective as president of Common Cause in Washington. He's reporting that the Clintons had over four hundred overnight guests at the White House and Camp David since Mrs. Clinton began her New York senate campaign. These guests contributed over $100,000 to her campaign and over half a million dollars in "soft money" to Democratic campaigns. 

"What is particularly shocking," Harshbarger told The New York Times, "is that it appears no lessons were learned from scandals of 1996, and that the current occupants of the White House are using it as a personal trophy and not the people's house. What amazes me is that there is no sense of limits or shame.  Now to use it in furtherance of one of the occupant's personal political goals in the State of New York is a new low."

Harshbarger thinks that we need more "campaign finance" laws. He ought to consider that it is the current set of campaign finance laws from the 1970s that requires candidates to endlessly solicit small contributions. He should advocate the repeal of these laws and the restoration of political free speech, instead of a new set of restrictions, like Massachusetts' "clean elections" law or Rep. Meehan's bill in Congress, that only lawyers and lobbyists will understand. 

If he did, maybe they wouldn't have to change the linen so often at the White House.

Drug Co., Psychiatric Assoc. Sued over Ritalin; Kennedy Fights for Big Drug Company
A class-action lawsuit has been filed in two states against Novartis Pharmaceutical Company, the American Psychiatric Association and others for conspiring to promote diagnoses of attention-deficit disorder (ADD) and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). But Sen. Kennedy is on the other side.

The drug maker and the psychiatrists will have to refute the charge being made by many doctors and scientists that the diagnosis is "a fraud based on subjective assessments." Novartis could be forced to refund millions, even billions, of dollars to patients that it has made from the sale of Ritalin over the past forty years. The suit alleges that the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, a nonprofit advocacy group, takes millions of dollars from drug makers to promote the idea that ADD is a brain disease susceptible to treatment by the drugs.

Meanwhile, Congress is considering a bill sponsored by Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy and Pete Domenici that would provide millions more federal dollars to promote ADD diagnoses that would profit the drug makers. Domenici's wife served on NAMI's board of directors for three years, but he will not tell whether he received campaign contributions from pharmaceutical companies.

Ken Newell Is Psychologically Coerced by Courts
Ken Newell got the same psychological torture last month that another father, Harry Stewart, got last year. Stewart was sentenced to jail for six months even though he had done nothing wrong. Although Newell has never been violent to anyone, including his wife or children, he was forced by the courts to attend a batterers' program for the past ten months at a cost to him of over $1000. When the final session came on October 10, Newell was told by this private group that he would not get a certificate unless he signed a confession admitting to acts of violence.

When confronted with that reality at his last meeting of the 10-month program, Newell realized he was in the exact same situation as Harry Stewart had been when he too was told to sign a confession when he tried to enroll in a similar group. Because Stewart refused to lie, the judge sent Stewart to jail. And Newell has the same judge, Mark Coven. Newell had no lawyer or time to consider his options. When faced with the coercion of "Sign or Go to Jail," he became a very reluctant signer who was forced to lie in order to avoid jail. As a result the program sent a form called "Letter of Discharge" to the Quincy District Court certifying that Newell had completed his course, including a check of the box, "He has accepted responsibility for violent and coercive behavior." 

The name of the private organization that has the power to send innocent fathers to jail for trying to maintain their families is PAVE, an acronym for Preventing Abuse and Violence Through Education, which is a division of Spectrum Inc./Right Turn.

Computers Harmful In Elementary Schools Says Harvard Professor
The use of computers for elementary school children can be very damaging, Prof. Edward Miller says. His Report was written for the Alliance for Children, an international student advocacy group.

"Computers pose serious health hazards to children," he notes, including repetitive stress injuries, eyestrain, obesity, as well as social and emotional damage. 

Young children need more time for contact with other children and adults and for physical activity.  "Yet many schools have cut already minimal offerings in these areas to shift time and money to expensive, unproven technology." There is no evidence that computers motivate children to learn faster or better, the report says. "The computer, like the TV, can be a mesmerizing babysitter."

Nor is there any evidence that computer ability at an early age is the route toward high-paying high-tech jobs.  "The technology in schools today will be obsolete long before five-year-olds graduate." 

"It has been so widely assumed that computers are essential in childhood that there has been almost no public debate," says Joan Almond, the U.S. Coordinator for the Alliance.

Last December, Massachusetts News reported on "Computer Mania in the Schools:  Technology will make matters worse."   Former State Board of Education Chairman John Silber said, "The most obvious use of a computer in the early grades is as a baby sitter because it entertains the children.  And this, I believe, explains why many teachers love it." 

Wellesley Citizens Fighting Pornography at Gateway News
A group of Wellesley citizens is trying to stop the sale of pornographic materials at Gateway News on Washington Street in Lower Falls. 

They say the store is selling "graphic and deviant books, videos and magazines directly across the aisle from children's comic books." According to them, no attempt is made to hide the contents of these materials or prohibit access by children.

They have sent a petition with 43 names attached to every member of the Board of Selectmen, the Planning Commission and the landlord, but none have responded to the petition.

According to the citizens, "every government door has been slammed in our faces." They desire that "the people of Wellesley know of this egregious situation."

Their contact is Jesse Rogers at 781-237-1676. 

Eileen McNamara Is Very Nasty to Jr. High Males
Eileen McNamara was vitriolic to males in junior high school in a column she wrote about the boy in Brockton who wears dresses to school. First, she defended the lesbian judge who ordered the school to allow the boy to attend class dressed in women's clothes even though it obviously disrupted the school. She opined that the school could discipline the boy if he continues to make sexual advances against any other boy.

And then she said, "His behavior warrants discipline; his wardrobe, no matter how threatening it might be to his male classmates, does not." 

That type of vitriolic sarcasm has no place in a civilized society that is trying to help a young person who has obvious psychological problems.

But it does show the hate for males, of any age, expressed by yet another professional-feminist at Boston's "leading newspaper." 

Lesbian Judge Was Biased
The lesbian judge, who ruled that a boy could attend school in Brockton while dressed as a girl, has refused to recuse herself and the press has supported her decision that her orientation would not affect her ruling. But the homosexual legal organization, GLAD, has issued a press release hailing the decision and revealing that its attorneys are the ones who brought the case. Although the boy obviously needs psychological help, the attorneys at GLAD agree with the judge that "exposing children to diversity at an early age serves the important social goals of increasing their ability to tolerate differences" and teaches "respect for everyone's unique personal  experience." It's sad to see someone using an innocent child to promote their political interests.

Why Is Globe Writing About Death Penalty in Texas?
The Globe has written so many inaccurate "news" stories about the death penalty in Texas that one must wonder why this is happening in an election year. A typical story was the one that was on page two last month with the large headline, "Report slams death penalty process in Texas." The "Report" was prepared by the legal services lawyers who represent these people. Of course, they believe the system is unfair. The lawyers denied that the timing of the report was to embarrass Gov. Bush. They said they wrote it for the leaders of Texas to take a role in "managing the problem."

But if the Report was designed only for leaders in Texas, how did it end up in  the editorial offices of a newspaper in Boston the day before it was released? The Globe merely says mysteriously a copy of it was "obtained by the Globe." Why don't they tell us it came from campaign headquarters?

It cited four examples of what it believes were "serious injustices." But none of these people have been executed. So their fate has nothing whatsoever to do with the death penalty. You can find horrible mistakes of criminal justice in any state, including Massachusetts. It is inevitable. But the dirty work of the Globe was accomplished because everyone saw the headline and no reader has the time to analyze the story.

Chief Justice Suzanne DelVecchio Still Doesn't Get It
The Chief Justice of our trial courts, Suzanne DelVecchio, still doesn't understand that judges are not supposed to attend partisan political organizations. Many judges have complained over the years that it can become very lonely being a judge. But this doesn't bother the gregarious, bubbly DelVecchio. She attends them anyhow and says whatever comes to her mind. So she was upset when she was disinvited from speaking at a Catholic dinner after she attended the partisan and political Lesbian & Gay Bar Association and told them she supported their push for gay marriage. She was breaking all the rules when she attended that event, particularly when her court will probably be ruling on that very subject. She complained to her professional-feminist friends at the Globe who had Eileen McNamara write another of her vitriolic attacks against the Catholics. McNamara was probably right about one thing. A judge should probably not attend a Catholic event either. It does get lonely at the top, Suzanne. If you can't take that you'd better get another job and stop damaging professional women. This is not a "giggling" job.

Harvard Press Rejects Book Which Praises Marriage
Although Harvard Press was going to publish the best-seller, The Case for Marriage: Why Married People Are Happier, Healthier, and Better Off Financially, its Board of Syndics, which is an anonymous body, took the very unusual step of rejecting the book, according to a Wall Street Journal article. "The book enrages orthodox feminists," the newspaper wrote, "because of what it says - that marriage matters - and not the way it says it. The tragedy is that efforts to suppress this book have been made, not simply by popular polemicists, but by America's foremost university - Harvard - an institution designed to sustain open and honest debate."

Share Your Sunday Globe
Share your Sunday Globe with a neighbor and you'll save money and help the environment. After all, the Sunday Globe costs $2 and about 85% of it is advertising. Since it weighs 5 1/2 lbs. or more, over 1500 tons of paper from the Sunday paper are going into our landfills. The Globe is 100% for the environment so they would appreciate it if we would all do this and help them save paper. Why not share with your neighbor? 

Beacon Hill Inst. Gains Recognition
The Beacon Hill Institute has added to the number of states that are using its computer program to analyze the effect of many variables on state and local taxes. They have added California, Arizona, Michigan, New York and Pennsylvania to its list of previous users, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas and Virginia. 

Fighting for Bourne Bridge
They're still fighting down on the Cape to keep 7,000 to 10,000 additional cars a day from using the Bourne Bridge, which would result if a huge commercial complex is built in Bourne. A color map of the site and other info is available from the Association for the Preservation of Cape Cod at www.apcc.org.