DECEMBER 2000 PRINT EDITION
DECEMBER 2000 PRINT EDITION
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December 2000 Letters SJC
Still Stealing from Lawyers' Clients Lawyers
in Massachusetts are required to take any interest from money that belongs to
their clients and give it to the courts to be used by the "poverty
lawyers." This has been the law that the Supreme Judicial Court in 1990
decided should be applied where interest is "small,"
in the opinion of the lawyer. The
courts of our state are not troubled even though the practice was questioned by
the U. S. Supreme Court in 1998 when it ruled that even "small"
interest can not be touched by the state courts because it is the property of
the clients. But the Massachusetts courts are waiting for a "direct
order" from the Supreme Court, which they will undoubtedly receive when
another case finally wends its way to the high court in about a year. The
Massachusetts courts are saying that they're not violating the Constitution
because they take the interest only if it is too small for a client to obtain it
as a practical matter. But
all lawyers know this is not true. Large amounts of clients' interest are going
to the courts because the lawyers are afraid of getting into trouble. They're a
lot more worried about getting the SJC angry than getting a client angry. This
letter is from a typical client who is upset by this system which sends $10
million each year to those lawyers who belong to the Massachusetts Bar
Association or the Boston Bar Association - only about 50% of the lawyers in the
state - to spend on their favorite political projects. Please
Help I
am expecting a substantial settlement from a securities arbitration case and
have directed my attorney in Boston to have the funds paid into a separate
account (the check will be made payable to both me and his law firm).
I made it clear that I do not want one single penny accruing to the
benefit of Legal Services [i.e., the "poverty lawyers]. He
has refused and is insisting only a general client account will accept the
monies. He claims that the Mass law
requires him to put all funds into the IOLTA account. I dispute this but he
ignores me. To
avoid this, I have directed that the funds be paid by an electronic check and
that the monies be wired into and immediately out of his so-called client
account. He
has again refused and insists that only a paper check will suffice. I
point out that the settlement agreement with the New York Stock Exchange only
designates "check;" and that if it does not specify a paper check,
that an electronic check will be consistent with the settlement. He
then says that HIS bank will not do wire transfers.
He
is doing an end run around me. What
can I do? -
F. Patricia Callahan Editor's
Comment: Ms. Callahan has indicated to us that she wonders whether she is
getting this treatment because she is a woman. Be assured that everyone is
treated in this manner. More Letters... Former
Reporter Lauds Mass News -
George Burdick Not
All High-Schoolers Care About Sex There
are many things in this article that are completely untrue. I am a high-school
student, so I live this every day. The article says boys are being made fun of
and harassed if they are not sexually active, but I know many people at school
that don't even care about others' relationships. It wouldn't make any
difference to them whether or not their friends were having sex or not. The
statement "Every girl you see today ... is dressed so that all of her
physical attributes are not only open to view but are merchandised" is also
completely false. There are maybe 10 or 15 people dressed that way at my school.
The majority of the girls wear normal clothes. -
Name Withheld Editor's
Comment: :We're very happy that you boys are not being harassed by your peers.
That is good news. However, we were not saying that the pressure is from your
peers. Rather, it is from the schools. As you say, most students are
withstanding the tremendous pressure to be sexually active. However, the adults
continue to flood you with that message. The quote from the Center for Disease
Control in column four of our story clearly stated the attitude of this federal
agency which is the leader in sex education for all the schools in the country:
If you're not sexually active, you're strange. The
reason that this is so important to you is because the survival of the family as
an institution is at stake. The professional feminists of NOW who approve of
rampant sexual activity have been very candid in stating that they believe women
will not be free as long as we have marriage. Their goal is to totally eliminate
marriage. We are coming ever closer to accomplishing that. The
professional feminists are happy that the number of babies being born to single
mothers will soon surpass those with a father and a mother. However, this isn't
fair to the children because all of the data shows that these babies will not
have as happy a life and are more likely to be into drugs, etc. than those with
two parents. This will especially impact boys because they need a father.
Without a father's influence, we are seeing more gangs, problems with school,
etc. The schools are now telling the lie that all boys are "violent"
and "cruel." The Boston Globe said that in a large headline addressed
to mothers last month. Although we are having excellent economic times, we are
heading for serious problems if we continue to ignore those problems. We
are encouraged to hear that most of the girls in your school wear "normal
clothes." Thanks
for your letter. We
Want More Nev Moore I
have very much enjoyed Moore's previous articles, as have my colleagues. You
appear to be a well-educated man; therefore, I am surprised that you have
apparently dropped Moore as a contributor. Her articles appeal to the
"thinking" man (and woman, of course) and impart credibility not only
to the issues, but to the publication. Many men involved in the fathers'
movement have heard her speak out on those issues and appreciate the impact her
voice carries, often being heard where their voices are not. I
hope that she is not receiving the "Jacoby" treatment. Speaking for
myself and many of my friends and colleagues, I hope you will publish more of
her engaging social commentary. -
Bill Holland Editor's
Comment: :Nev is a very busy lady. We also hope we will be able to get more
stories from her. But we believe that Mike Harris is another refreshing voice,
from an ordinary man who has suffered under the courts of Massachusetts. The
column to which you refer was on our website. It's also in this print edition. Happy
to See Paper With 'Gumption' In my opinion, the "dumbing down of America" has led to the election of dangerous people who use their positions within the government to "force" their unwanted agendas upon the citizenry. Parents wonder why their children are having problems in school. In my belief, this is because a large amount of teachers are teaching subjects they should not be teaching or teaching in ways that reflect their own agendas, e.g., the homosexual agenda. I am speaking from experience: my mother was involved in a homosexual relationship for many years with a schoolteacher in the Mass. school system. Also, I was married to a woman who decided that she was a lesbian after many years of marriage. Teachers
unions have too much influence in the government. When the teachers threaten,
"Strike," they are given what they want. The teachers fill students'
heads with teachings about people's right to disobey authority, which later
leads students into trouble. The teachers set the example by their
"strikes" and proclaimed opinions on certain matters, including
homosexuality. Teachers should not be allowed to teach "fisting" to
youngsters who are easily impressed by their teachers. If
the U.S. government were smart, they would have taken the same action against
striking teachers as was taken against the striking air traffic controllers
years ago. They were fired once they refused to return to work. Also,
I would like to clear something up: a "phobia" is something that a
person has fear of. The homosexual crowd calls someone who does not share the
same beliefs as he or she does, a "homophobe." So-called
"homophobes" are not afraid of homosexuals; we simply do not want
anything to do with them. -
Name Withheld Home-Schooling
Frees Children -
Diane Berry Article
Contains Anti-Gay Bias In
fact, the majority of people who attended the meeting were, like myself,
straight parents, teachers or residents who came to show their support for the
Newton Public Schools' policy of teaching respect for human differences, for
Superintendent Jeffrey Young and for gay elementary school teacher David Gaita,
who "came out" to his students last year. I
presume that Ms. Greenleaf does not know very many people from Newton, so
perhaps she can be forgiven for not recognizing that the audience included many,
many straight people who support teaching tolerance and acceptance of
homosexuals, bisexuals and transgendered persons. After all, one cannot tell a
person's sexual orientation merely by looking at them. But Ms. Greenleaf's
anti-gay bias is clear because only a handful of speakers at the meeting
identified themselves as gay or lesbian, while the vast majority of people who
challenged the positions espoused by Newton Parents for Moderation either
indicated they were straight or did not refer to their sexual orientation at
all. How she concluded that most of the audience was comprised of homosexuals,
therefore, is beyond me. -
Ted Hess-Mahan Editor's
Comment: :We asked Sam Washburn, the President of Parents for Moderation and the
moderator at the meeting for his comment. He replied, "I thought Susan's
article was the most well balanced of the coverage our meeting received. She got
most of the facts right. Keep up the good work. The Globe's coverage was
terrible. They published two hatchet-job pieces before calling and asking for an
interview 'to get our side of the story.' At that point I told them that until
they publish the letter to the editor I sent in response to the Eileen McNamara
column, I wouldn't speak with them. I confronted the West Weekly editor, Carol
something, on Newtv this week about their low journalistic standards. She
wouldn't let me finish and seemed to blame me for their one-sided coverage!
Pretty arrogant, I'd say." Not
All Transsexuals Need to be Cured To
be sure, there are a small number of proclaimed transsexuals and
gender-conflicted individuals who have other psychological problems that must be
addressed. I have worked with hundreds of these folks (transsexuals and
cross-dressers and their families) and I can tell you that the vast majority of
them have found great satisfaction and happiness in expressing what they feel is
their true nature. Some do it through clothes and through social communities in
which deep, supportive, lifelong friendships are developed. Some simply live in
the gender they prefer. And some elect to have surgery. Just
as in any cross-section of the population, these folks run the gamut from
extremely healthy and well adjusted to emotionally disturbed. But to label all
people with transgender issues as sick and in need of a cure shows hubris and an
ignorance that is unbelievable. -
Niela Miller Editor's
Comment: :There are varying opinions among professionals as to the cause for
these differences. Ms. Miller feels strongly about her opinion, as she should.
But there are others who differ. By helping hundreds of these people to
"affirm" their differences, even Ms. Miller must agree that it is
within the realm of possibility that she is not helping them at all. Not
All Hebrews are Jews The
article states, "The real revolution occurred 4000 years earlier when the
Jews were told to honor their wives." This is true, but a bit more
information is needed to make it complete. Although
the Jews (tribe of Judah) received the instruction to which you refer, the
instruction was directed to all the twelve tribes of Hebrews (or Israelites). A
common misconception is that the Jews are the sole and exclusive Biblical
"chosen people" of God. In reality, there are eleven tribes that are
very much part of God's chosen people, but who are absolutely not Jews. As
we Hebrews say, all Jews are Hebrews but not all Hebrews are Jews. If you desire
more information about the history of Hebrews, you should contact Rabbi Ed
Mason. His email address is pastor2801@juno.com. Please,
please, please keep up the good work that you do, shining light on the evil
deeds. -
Lawrence Hutt Catholicism
Will Stand Up to Femi-Nazis In
this case of a feminist nun justly removed for usurping the role of a priest,
Eagan's anger also indicates bitter resentment over a failed revolution. Eagan's
fellow travelers in Women-Church may have actually believed that they would
force Catholicism to abandon its 2000-year tradition of male priesthood. Now,
with even the Jesuit Urban Center cracking down on liturgical abuses, it should
be apparent to everyone that the dissident attempt to overthrow Catholic
orthodoxy has collapsed. If
the members of Women-Church have something in common besides their theological
positions, it is their actuarial projections. Aging, marginalized refugees from
the nineteen-sixties, they are increasingly irrelevant in the church of Pope
John Paul II. In another generation they will be gone, and their crackpot ideas
will be consigned to the dustbin of history. -
C.J. Doyle Questions
of Religion It
is interesting to note how little we know of the world's faiths as we gather
closer and closer together. There is bound to be friction over that which is
sacred. The Christian expects that at the proper time, the confusion will be
resolved by God. For all those other faiths that believe in the same
eventuality, there is a variety of assurances as to where and when. How
much of the world's religion, i.e. faith in a Supreme Being, will fit under
Globalism's umbrella of Tolerance? Is
Israel a religion trying to be a government, while the Arab community is a
government trying to be a religion? I
hope you will have more writings regarding the various faiths in our midst. -
Margaret Goduti Massachusetts
Witch Writes You
said that he is an atheist because he denies that Jesus is the Messiah. Not only
do Unitarians do that, but also the founders of monotheism itself, the Jews. There
is a major religion that is atheist, believing in no deity whatsoever: Buddhism. Are
you willing to call Jews Atheists? Buddhists, people with no religion? Why must
a religion have a fanciful belief in God? Isn't it enough that it believes in
the life of the spirit and its development? I
hope to see the day when Boston U's (sic) theology department is headed by three
people: a Jew, a Buddhist and a witch. What will your narrow, bigoted mind think
of that, huh? Your
real objection is that the world, in its greater sophistication, is passing you
by and paying no heed to your outdated concepts. I
am a witch. I believe in neither a messiah nor the need for one. I don't believe
in a god of any kind, including his nemesis, the so-called Satan. Yet I do
believe in developing the spirit. If we are fools like you long enough, we will
all become wise, even you. Doesn't it make you feel better that there is hope
for you, grand ignoramus that you are? -
Witch Vortex, a.k.a. Roger Davis Editor's
Comment: :We have gone over this road so many times that it becomes a trifle
tedious. The reason that people say that Vanderhooft is an atheist is not
because he doesn't believe in the divinity of Jesus. He is an atheist because he
is a member of the Unitarian Church which founded humanism and does not believe
in a God. They believe that man can solve all his problems alone. There is
nothing wrong with that. There are many good atheists and many bad Christians.
But it is a fact. A Unitarian should not be in charge of theology at a Catholic
college anymore than the Unitarians should choose a Christian to head their
Beacon Hill Press division. Obviously,
the Jews believe in the same God as Christians because Jesus and his disciples
were all Jews. If you wish to read more about Unitarians, go to our archives and
search for Unitarian. We have written a lot about this because we believe it is
a very important subject. Father
O'Donohoe Violated his Promise At
a meeting on November 17,1999, at Our Lady of Christian Help, Fr. O'Donohue
failed to present this teaching of the Catholic Church during his presentation
that was supposed to be about the teachings of the Catholic Church regarding
homosexual issues. When this was brought to the attention of Bishop Murphy of
the Archdiocese of Boston, Fr. O'Donohue was told by Bishop Murphy, who was
speaking for Cardinal Law, that he must teach that the Catholic Church says
those who engage in homosexual acts must realize that they are called to
chastity as stated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. #2359
states: "Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of
self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by support of disinterested
friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and
resolutely approach Christian perfection." If
Fr. O'Donohue failed to state this teaching of the Catholic Church, then he has
violated his promise to the authorities of the Archdiocese of Boston. If he does
not keep his word of honor to Bishop Murphy and Cardinal Law, then he is in
grave error. Cardinal Law and Bishop Murphy trusted him when he gave his word on
this teaching. -
Alice Slattery Crèche
Controversy Shows Serious Problem Up
until 1965 the basis for our law was firmly grounded in biblical morality and
the Judeo-Christian roots of Western civilization. But that changed with the
right to privacy rulings-which include abortion and homosexuality etc. We
have witnessed a tremendous revolution in recent decades and the tempo is
picking up. The courts have given us a pagan America-which is why the Unitarian
Church and the Lexington schools can function as adjuncts to one another without
worrying about church/state issues. It
is altogether fitting that a nation that has allowed the slaughter of millions
of unborn children should also allow homosexuals into its schools to basically
recruit sex partners under the guise of "tolerance." We
have let the ACLU drive Christ and Christian traditions out of the public
square. But the world is not spiritually neutral - something has to fill the
void and whatever it is will be something hostile to Christianity. We now have
pagan and homosexual judges, legislators and governors. They are ruling
according to their own moral and spiritual worldview-and giving us quite another
America in the process. Parents
should not wonder when they find their kids participating in gay nightlife and
contracting incurable diseases. They should consider it the cost of giving them
a "free" education. -
Lawrence Andrade Clinton
Wrong On Domestic Violence Christina
Hoff Sommers, author of the widely acclaimed book, Who Stole Feminism? and who,
according to Camille Paglia, "uses ingenious detective work to unmask the
shocking fraud and propaganda of establishment feminism," has conducted
important work in the field of domestic violence statistics. In Who Stole
Feminism? Sommers writes that "the estimates of the number of women beaten
per second" varies. She sites sources that assert the number is 5, 7.4, 12,
and even as high as 18. So
who is telling the truth? Why isn't there any uniformity in such crucial
numbers? Not to take away from the fact men harm women-just as women harm
men-but it is unacceptable for domestic violence statistics to be such a mess
and really more fictional than factual. This does monumental damage to our
culture, especially to young girls who are led to believe they must always be
wary of the male gender and of masculinity as a whole. It's
time to return to sanity when talking about domestic violence. Is it too much
for President Clinton to learn elementary math? Or does he know that the public
will simply not buy the gross figure of 2.6 million boyfriends beating up 2.6
million girlfriends every year? I'm not certain, but I am sure that the war
against men has run incredibly thin. And President Clinton needs to purchase a
calculator. -
Tony Zizza Partial
Birth Abortions Too Common How
disturbing it was to see Dr. Leroy Carhart very gently and lovingly hold little
puppies, yet with those same hands, take a pair of scissors and force them into
the base of the skull of a baby, remove the scissors and then introduce a
suction catheter into this hole and evacuate the skull contents and again-with
these same hands-throw the now dead baby away like it is trash. How
can People Magazine write that this "procedure" is only done 650 times
annually in the U.S. when 1200 of these "procedures" are done annually
in New Jersey alone? Did they ever talk to Dr. Martin Haskell? He was the person
who presented a paper entitled "Dilation and Extraction for Late Second
Trimester Abortion" at the National Abortion Federation Risk Management
Seminar in Dallas. In it he described, in detail, the dying of a child not yet
born. The
"procedure" is not quick. It takes three days. He also told AM News,
"I'll be quite frank. Most of my abortions are elective in that 20-24 week
range ... In my particular case, probably 20 percent are for genetic reasons.
And the other 80 percent are purely elective." Did
they ever talk to Ron Fitzsimmons who is or was the executive director of the
National Coalition of Abortion Providers? On Night Line (another who did not do
its homework), he said that only five hundred partial birth abortions are done a
year. After the president vetoed the Partial Birth Abortion Ban, Fitzsimmons
said he "lied through his teeth" to protect abortion rights. Did
they ever do a story on Julie and Alex Armas, of Douglasville, GA, who agreed to
experimental surgery that might save their developing unborn child from a
life-altering birth defect? They also agreed to have it documented. The
photograph resulted in an image of their son Samuel, too young to survive
outside the womb, reaching out from Julie's uterus and touching his surgeon's
hand. Samuel Alexander Armas was born Dec. 2, 1999. Now
that would be an awesome story! -
Patty Machunski 'Bubble
Zone' Law Zaps Free Speech According
to the bubble zone law, anti-abortionists are supposed to know if a Planned
Parenthood volunteer escort is also an employee so that the Zone law applies to
them also-all this by osmosis. It does not make any common sense and I hear a
court challenge coming soon. Pro-lifers'
free speech is banned in Boston to an extent. It would have been easy for
Planned Parenthood to have evidence of any crimes outside with its high-tech
video security system. Suppression of the pro-life message under the guise of
public safety is happening more and more. No matter how unpopular the truth
outside is, the truth will continue to march on. -
Bob Mayo Ted
Kennedy is a Hypocrite If
Senator Kennedy truly believes that the Senate needs diversity, I highly suggest
he do the right and honorable thing: step aside and graciously give his seat to
one of his challengers, maybe African-American Republican Jack Robinson or
perhaps female Libertarian Carla Howell. Okay,
that's a bit naive. However, Senator Kennedy should at least have the decency
and courage to agree to debate the other candidates. You
never know, it may lead to more diversity! - Brock
N. Cordeiro |