The RAnts of RA

Non-newsworthy 2008 election candidates and their issues.

Watching the network news channels, specifically Fox News and CNN, a viewer would be led to believe there are only two candidates running in the upcoming 2008 Presidential Election: Some black guy named Obama that no ones ever heard of and the infamous Hillary Clinton, feminist champion in the flesh.

On a side-note, why is it that so called “feminist” supporters tend to look so masculine. After all, I can’t think of a soul that would make the mistake of calling Hillary feminine. She will never achieve the imperial air of the illustrious matriarchal figure, Barbara Bush. Now she has the look of a great woman, even if her sons both deserved a few more trips to the woodshed in their earlier years.

At any rate…

Congressman Ron Paul announced his candidacy several weeks ago.

Now this is a guy you can get excited about. He is honest and isn’t afraid to stand-alone as he’s shown it in the past. Patriots across the country were pulling for him last year, when he introduced a bill intent on abolishing the income tax.

Talk about a guy with no fear…just try taking on the IRS sometime.

It’s like David and Goliath, kind of a one-sided battle. Of course David does manage to come out on top once in while, but who wants to be David – and have to fight the battle in the first place?

My point is not that Congressman Ron Paul is in the race but that there are at least 16 other campaigns, which have been announced as of this writing, why aren’t we hearing about them? Is it not news in this country when a man decides to seek public office, let alone the highest office in the country?

When a man — a sitting Congressman isn’t considered news worthy or relevant to this election, voters can assume one of two things: Either certain candidates are subsidizing the news, namely organizations backing women or minorities, or the station is biased toward certain candidates.

If the major news networks want to be seen as “fair and balanced,” they must start telling voters the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Stop making up ignorant news stories about “Hillary” and start reporting real news.

Who knows? Maybe 2008 will be the year that voters finally make up their minds to vote their hearts and minds, instead of voting for “the lesser of two evils.” Evil will always be evil, no matter how you dress it up.

America was never intended to be the two-party system the Congress has created. We, as voters, have a duty and obligation to vote for the best “person,” not the best “party.”

Who’s reaching out to the young people? Have you encouraged a young person or even a senior citizen to get out there and vote? Sometimes they just need a ride or someone to remind them.

Parents, are you discussing politics with your children? Do they understand the voting process? Don’t leave it up to schools or others to educate your child on not only the mechanics of voting but also on discuss your own views and listen to theirs. Take a part in the process. It’s a huge opportunity to talk to friends, family members, neighbors and co-workers.

Some crazy person started a rumor that it is impolite to discuss religion and politics. How will you ever expand your thinking? How will you gain a real education, unless you can calmly and rationally discuss your views?

If you think you can really gain an understanding of the important issues (however they are defined) by reading/watching or listening to the major news outlets, you are missing the boat. You are accepting the lies being told and having all the issues framed for you.

For a true understanding of the process and the issues you must actively participate.

• Attend a local speaking event. Your local college, community organization, or local lobbying groups often host local forums. Call your legislators’ local office and ask for a listing of scheduled events. Many even have weekly roundtable meetings.
• Volunteer for your local candidate by stuffing envelopes, manning the phones, walking a beat or handing out fliers. There are a great many positions that need to be filled in any candidacy.
• Host a political blog, website or e-mail newsletter.
• Contact your candidate; make an appointment to meet with him/her or send an e-mail with your questions and concerns.

One lady just gushed on CNN, “I’m so excited I have so many choices.” Who is she kidding? If CNN doesn’t cover it, it didn’t happen. While they are busy peddling Hillary to us with a shovel, other worthy 2008 candidates are left begging for money so they can purchase enough air time get a foot in the race.

There is something seriously wrong with our system. This is still America isn’t it? Home of the free, land of the brave! Some how that is not the image we are seeing.

I’ll leave you with one word:

VOTE!

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• Before Tancredo or Ron Paul can get Elected

In recent years we’ve heard a great deal about missing and exploited children. As any parent can testify our heart goes out to that family, when ever a child is missing. It’s your worst nightmare come true.

What if the state removes a child from their home without just cause? Without following proper investigative procedures? What if the state then takes further unfair advantage of a family by publicly charging a parent with kidnapping?

If you think it can’t happen. Think again.

As a previous foster child, who has witnessed first-hand the games social workers play with the emotions of children and their parents, I wish I could tell you it’s a rare occasion, but that would be a lie.

A quick glance on the Child Abduction Section of the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s website will show the truth.

Child abduction is a serious and traumatic crime. While everyone has become aware of  frightening “stranger kidnappings,” abductions are most often carried out by people who  know the child. The District Attorney’s Office is committed to combating both types of  abductions and to protecting the custody rights of parents and legal guardians throughout  Los Angeles County.

While I certainly can sympathize with any parent who’s child is missing. One parents rights do not take precedence over the others’. This is why divorce is such a terrible thing. A child can not be split in half. In most cases, the non-custodial parent is not a threat to the well-being of the child.

Let’s focus on those cases where the child has been “kidnapped” from the state. The child has been ripped from their mothers arms, the only security he/she has ever known and  placed into foster care.

A reasonable person would argue, that the parents must have done something wrong. The state doesn’t just come in a steal a child for no apparent reason.

You are right, of course.

Government Supported Kidnapping

The state doesn’t just take a child for no reason, they take them for a much more sinister reason. Money! We aren’t talking just a few bucks here and there. We are talking about a billion dollar industry, compliments of our Federal Government.

Warehousing children has become big business over the past twenty years.

For fiscal year 1998,  Federal expenditures to States for major child welfare programs  exceeded $4.5 billion. This figure includes child welfare services, foster care,  adoption assistance, and family preservation and support, but excludes Medicaid dollars, an important source of treatment funding for children and families.

Parental Abduction

Every last child on display has been abducted by a parent, not a stranger.

It’s a perfect racket, really. Children are abducted by “caseworkers”  on a flimsy excuse such as having a “dirty house” or “educational  neglect,” then placed in foster care. The state receives money for each child  placed into the system, they are paid again when the child is moved and yet again, when that child is adopted.

The worst part is that low or modest income families are most often targeted, in courts  set-up to prevent justice from taking place. Parents are gag-ordered by the judge and  prevented from talking about their case — to “protect the  child’s  privacy.”

The parents are often forced to submit to psychological evaluations, at their own  expense — which they most likely can not afford, by psychologists who are on the  courts payroll and find in the courts favor every time.

If a family is provided legal council the attorney is often ill prepared at best,  in the courts debt at worst, and at times refuses to do even the least bit of  research on the families behalf.

Financial Ruin

A family who was barely making ends meet before the children were abducted, now finds themselves  in dire straights, putting everything on the line for that chance the court will find mercy  and return their children.

If the parents are lucky enough to have the children returned, the family is often totally destroyed. The children, traumatized by their ordeal, are unable to sleep, revert to bed-wetting  if they were potty trained, are terrified of being removed again. They often lash-out at anyone  and everyone.

Their trust in their parent has been destroyed. Their secure little world has been ruptured. They now know their parent is powerless to protect them. Most will require many years of therapy and life will never again be the same for them.

I have purposely avoided using specific case histories here. Not because they don’t exist, because they do, in the hundreds of thousands, each and every year. However, the individual stories are in many cases so outlandish as to be considered fantasy. I can assure you this is far from fantasy and is in fact, a parents worst nightmare.

You are probably wondering what you can do. You can start by questioning every story you see in the media. Ask yourself…What details have they left out? What aren’t they telling us? The media puts a slant on every story they report, often omitting vital facts of the case.

If you know someone who has lost their children to the state, be there for them. Lend them moral support. Offer to go to court with them, be a character witness and write letters.

Parents are not perfect and often make mistakes in their parenting. The vast majority are not monsters and want the same things you want for your children.

It is not a crime to be poor. Support parents rights.

Today (2001/03/01) I had the pleasure to take my wife and son to the California state capitol. We accompanied a group of homeschooling families that are in Sacramento for the next couple days on group field trips. We took the capitol tour together and had the opportunity to watch a session of the state assembly. Though, admittedly, I am not very familiar with our states laws, I am a self-declared minimalist – I believe less government is better in almost every regard.

Sacramento, CA

I had the ‘pleasure’ all right. There were at least two bills on the table for vote today. One of which specified March second as the ‘Nationwide Reading Day’ (or something to that effect). Nationwide? From a bill in CA? Amazing. I didn’t know we had that authority. What’s more, I was impressed to see the number of ‘co-authors’ for the bill. The total number was in the realm of seventy. Yes seventy. No, you’re not reading that incorrectly, and yes, we only have seventy-nine assembly ‘persons’. You’ll have to excuse those three or four that did not coauthor – I’m sure it wasn’t by design. I think they were all deathly ill, attending to funerals or otherwise incapable of being there for the opportunity to co-sponsor such important legislation. Yes, that was sarcasm; but unfortunately, no, I’m not making it up.

It’s important legislation like this that keeps me up at night. And rightfully so.

And that’s not all. Special consideration was made for the individuals (and families of) that lost their lives in the driving incident in Santa Barbara last week. With all due respects, the respect and ‘moment of silence’ are perfectly satisfactory, but it should be understood that it is little more than political posturing – of course. Especially when this ‘moment of silence’ was followed quickly by statements about how we need to work harder on handgun regulation – where did that come from? It was an AUTOMOBILE ACCIDENT. No weapons of any kind were involved. But some politicians obviously felt it necessary to take that opportunity to speak out about their need to stifle your second amendment rights: over an auto accident.

After some more ludicrous discussion, the assembly came to a discussion about colon cancer being the second largest cause of death nationally – or something to that extent. I wasn’t sure exactly what the point of this discussion was, since they brought up several means of detecting colon cancer and how ‘simple’ it was to remove, if found in time. Great. There was discussion about how the legislators should have an ‘awareness campaign’ within their districts, but I don’t think there was any political force behind it. If people don’t want to go to doctors are they going to force them? Does the assembly hope to author a bill that would require Californians to get a rectal exam every year? What was the point of this?

My concern in this is that within the short session today (it couldn’t have been more than an hour and ten minutes) they managed to bring up both firearm legislation and something to do with people dying from colon cancer. Why? I think they should instead spend their time and energy fighting the greater evil of our state: stupidity. I think that if you look back at each murder, accidental death and ‘near death experience’ throughout the world, much less the country or ‘tiny’ state of California, you’ll find that the number one cause of death and accidents is *stupidity*. Where is the drive to educate people on common sense, or to eliminate the widespread following that stupidity claims? In fact, stupidity is so abundant that several of the assembly ‘persons’ were obviously infected. Where is the call to arms against it now? I think you’ll hold your breath a long time if you wait for it.

Remember, you won’t always be in the majority.

Regards,

Shawn K. Hall