Reader Mailbag: The Future of Transportation - Via Meadia
The New Republic: Obama “Close to Carter Territory” - Via Meadia
Plantation Politics - Indiana Barrister
So Obama Inherited a Mess, Did He? From Whom? - AT (Yardley)
Money, Twisted: Caught in the Devil's Bargain - AT (Benko)
The Constitutionalism of The Federalist Papers - TIC (Allen)
September 9, 2012
September 8, 2012
September 8, 2012
A Nation of Sandra Flukes - NRO (Steyn)
Noonan: The Democrats' Soft Extremism - WSJ (Noonan)
The Materialist Superstition - TIC (Gilder)
Tonight, We Are Young…and Unemployed - Via Meadia
The Death of Conventions - Via Meadia
Friendship Trumps Politics - AT (Lawrence)
The Value of a College Education - AT (Blanchard)
Liberals' Goal - Improving Society - AT (Gammon)
Obama's Closed Conceptual Universe - AT (Butrick)
Undisciplined - City Journal (MacDonald)
The Age of Obama - Anno Domini 2 - Heritage Lectures (Krauthammer)
Social Security: Disaster Is Closer Than It Appears - AT (Smith)
Noonan: The Democrats' Soft Extremism - WSJ (Noonan)
The Materialist Superstition - TIC (Gilder)
Tonight, We Are Young…and Unemployed - Via Meadia
The Death of Conventions - Via Meadia
Friendship Trumps Politics - AT (Lawrence)
The Value of a College Education - AT (Blanchard)
Liberals' Goal - Improving Society - AT (Gammon)
Obama's Closed Conceptual Universe - AT (Butrick)
Undisciplined - City Journal (MacDonald)
The Age of Obama - Anno Domini 2 - Heritage Lectures (Krauthammer)
Social Security: Disaster Is Closer Than It Appears - AT (Smith)
September 7, 2012
September 7, 2012
Seneca's On The Shortness of Life: Required Reading Before the Final Exam - Musings of a Christian Humanist
The Conservative Crack-Up That Wasn’t - Liberty Law Blog (Greve)
The Music of Roman Hurko and the Principle of Noble Accessibility - NLM (Clayton)
Racial Preferences in ObamaCare - AT (Favish)
See-Get: Choom Gang Economic Theory - AT (Riler)
Misuse of a Metaphor: In Search of the City on a Hill - TIC (Willson)
Making Men out of Boys - Chronicles Magazine (Minick)
Sackett v. EPA and the Due Process Deficit in Environmental Law - Volokh (Adler)
Why Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 Is a Great Book - Musings of a Christian Humanist
The Surrogate Uterus: The AGR Case and Melissa Brisman - Public Discourse (Cassidy)
The Conservative Crack-Up That Wasn’t - Liberty Law Blog (Greve)
The Music of Roman Hurko and the Principle of Noble Accessibility - NLM (Clayton)
Racial Preferences in ObamaCare - AT (Favish)
See-Get: Choom Gang Economic Theory - AT (Riler)
Misuse of a Metaphor: In Search of the City on a Hill - TIC (Willson)
Making Men out of Boys - Chronicles Magazine (Minick)
Sackett v. EPA and the Due Process Deficit in Environmental Law - Volokh (Adler)
Why Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 Is a Great Book - Musings of a Christian Humanist
The Surrogate Uterus: The AGR Case and Melissa Brisman - Public Discourse (Cassidy)
September 6, 2012
September 6, 2012
Abortion, More Abortion, Yet More Abortion - TAC (McClarey)
Unions, Democrats Gut California Pension Reform - Via Meadia
We should tune in to the Romney and Ryan show - The Telegraph (Daley)
The Surrogate Uterus: Baby M and the Bioethics Commission Report - Public Discourse (Cassidy)
America’s Crisis of Political Legitimacy - TIC (DeLong)
Uncanny Tales of the Moral Imagination - TIC (Pournelle)
The Takings Clause and Government Destruction of Homeless Persons’ Property - Volokh (Somin)
“Government Is the Only Thing that We All Belong To” - Liberty Law Blog (Samuelson)
Tyler Cowen Does a MOOC - Via Meadia
Being Civil in Mean Times - Musings of a Christian Humanist
Cameron Steers UK to the Right - Via Meadia
Unions, Democrats Gut California Pension Reform - Via Meadia
We should tune in to the Romney and Ryan show - The Telegraph (Daley)
The Surrogate Uterus: Baby M and the Bioethics Commission Report - Public Discourse (Cassidy)
America’s Crisis of Political Legitimacy - TIC (DeLong)
Uncanny Tales of the Moral Imagination - TIC (Pournelle)
The Takings Clause and Government Destruction of Homeless Persons’ Property - Volokh (Somin)
“Government Is the Only Thing that We All Belong To” - Liberty Law Blog (Samuelson)
Tyler Cowen Does a MOOC - Via Meadia
Being Civil in Mean Times - Musings of a Christian Humanist
Cameron Steers UK to the Right - Via Meadia
Reflections on Family Law
Note: I do not reveal any client information in the following paragraphs. This is a fictional episode in its entirety, relating general attitudes of the current middle-class culture.
The middle-aged client, carrying a torrid novel, gasped when I revealed that, in reviewing the trial court's judgment, there was no issue to appeal. "So, they're just going to get away with it?" "Get away with what?" I asked, noting that the child, while having increased behavioral issues when with the other parent, was hardly acting out of the norm, and had not been abused in any way. "Such small changes", I added, "would hardly justify a change in custody or visitation...you need to show something serious to a judge in order to have a custody order change." "Well", came the reply with a sob, "I will just have to keep trying."
This vignette, I suspect, would be familiar to many a practitioner of family law. The sobbing or angry client, dealing with the effects of ordered minimum visitation, angry at the legal system for failing to correct what they see as some form of injustice, especially when they feel controlled or manipulated by the other parent.
I often wonder at the root of these feelings. I suspect that in some part, my clients are affected by the natural sense of disorder resulting from dealing with a divorce or out-of-wedlock birth. That is, the individual has some sense that something is wrong, but lack any faculty to attribute it, so the confusion and anger becomes free floating. Deep down I suspect that most of these people are aware of their own fault in creating the situation, but that is far too difficult to acknowledge, and so it become attributed to the other parent.
In such cases, the law too often becomes a tool which the damaged individuals (for it is often both parents who are psychologically impaired by the former relationship) seek to control or lash out at the other individual. Accusations of relationship rape, adultery, drug use, and domestic violence are legion, and (especially when dealing with a pro se party or a rapacious lawyer), too often discussed on the basis of flimsy evidence - used as "mud flinging". And so protective orders are issued, no-contact orders are entered, custodies are changed, and parties become willing to lie to try and get their way with their children.
Rather interestingly, the possessive pronouns used reveal quite easily how parties feel. A client will refer to what the other is doing to "my son" or "my daughter", when the pronoun "our" would be more correct. What I suspect is at the root of this is the refusal to accept a continued relationship with the other person, a requirement of frank acknowledgement would be to the person who is (knowingly or unknowingly) mourning the end of the time with the other person that produced the child.
I often wonder about the Catholic Church's insistence on the procreative and unitive aspects of sexual relations, and how it plays not not just mystically, but emotionally and physically. As I have mused above, the damaged client often seeks to use the law not just to protect the child or children, but to "get at" the other person in some way. It's almost as if the individual blames the other for their unmarried state with children and all of the additional work and expense involved, which (with the limited exception of rape or true abandonment) is almost always a shared fault.
This affects the lawyer in a few ways. One is that lawyers become jaded about anything reported by a client purporting to cast the other as some sort of monster, as such things may play out to be lies or exaggerations, and lawyers find it much more difficult to believe their clients. Moreover, with the widespread advent of emotionally "venting", the report from the client that "I saw [insert bad thing here] on Facebook" something about the other becomes an instant red-flag of problems for the lawyer. Another negative effect is that good lawyers, who are aware of their clients' own problems, and aware of the weakness and difficulties of their own cases, are blamed for "not making a strong case", for failing to get the change of custody, or are fired for not being enough of a "bulldog". And so, good lawyers rapidly flee family law, sick of the accusations, the emotional treacle (see here: Death by Treacle) and the inability to get clients to compromise.
The middle-aged client, carrying a torrid novel, gasped when I revealed that, in reviewing the trial court's judgment, there was no issue to appeal. "So, they're just going to get away with it?" "Get away with what?" I asked, noting that the child, while having increased behavioral issues when with the other parent, was hardly acting out of the norm, and had not been abused in any way. "Such small changes", I added, "would hardly justify a change in custody or visitation...you need to show something serious to a judge in order to have a custody order change." "Well", came the reply with a sob, "I will just have to keep trying."
This vignette, I suspect, would be familiar to many a practitioner of family law. The sobbing or angry client, dealing with the effects of ordered minimum visitation, angry at the legal system for failing to correct what they see as some form of injustice, especially when they feel controlled or manipulated by the other parent.
I often wonder at the root of these feelings. I suspect that in some part, my clients are affected by the natural sense of disorder resulting from dealing with a divorce or out-of-wedlock birth. That is, the individual has some sense that something is wrong, but lack any faculty to attribute it, so the confusion and anger becomes free floating. Deep down I suspect that most of these people are aware of their own fault in creating the situation, but that is far too difficult to acknowledge, and so it become attributed to the other parent.
In such cases, the law too often becomes a tool which the damaged individuals (for it is often both parents who are psychologically impaired by the former relationship) seek to control or lash out at the other individual. Accusations of relationship rape, adultery, drug use, and domestic violence are legion, and (especially when dealing with a pro se party or a rapacious lawyer), too often discussed on the basis of flimsy evidence - used as "mud flinging". And so protective orders are issued, no-contact orders are entered, custodies are changed, and parties become willing to lie to try and get their way with their children.
Rather interestingly, the possessive pronouns used reveal quite easily how parties feel. A client will refer to what the other is doing to "my son" or "my daughter", when the pronoun "our" would be more correct. What I suspect is at the root of this is the refusal to accept a continued relationship with the other person, a requirement of frank acknowledgement would be to the person who is (knowingly or unknowingly) mourning the end of the time with the other person that produced the child.
I often wonder about the Catholic Church's insistence on the procreative and unitive aspects of sexual relations, and how it plays not not just mystically, but emotionally and physically. As I have mused above, the damaged client often seeks to use the law not just to protect the child or children, but to "get at" the other person in some way. It's almost as if the individual blames the other for their unmarried state with children and all of the additional work and expense involved, which (with the limited exception of rape or true abandonment) is almost always a shared fault.
This affects the lawyer in a few ways. One is that lawyers become jaded about anything reported by a client purporting to cast the other as some sort of monster, as such things may play out to be lies or exaggerations, and lawyers find it much more difficult to believe their clients. Moreover, with the widespread advent of emotionally "venting", the report from the client that "I saw [insert bad thing here] on Facebook" something about the other becomes an instant red-flag of problems for the lawyer. Another negative effect is that good lawyers, who are aware of their clients' own problems, and aware of the weakness and difficulties of their own cases, are blamed for "not making a strong case", for failing to get the change of custody, or are fired for not being enough of a "bulldog". And so, good lawyers rapidly flee family law, sick of the accusations, the emotional treacle (see here: Death by Treacle) and the inability to get clients to compromise.
September 5, 2012
September 5, 2012
Eurozone Begins to Fracture - Via Meadia
How Nature Made a Comeback - WSJ (Sterba)
The Templeton Effect - The Chronicle of Higher Education (Schneider)
Why The Phantom Tollbooth is a Gateway to Great Books and Great Ideas- Musings of a Christian Humanist
Why Life Matters - TAC (Bonchamps)
The First Refuge of Scoundrels - AT (McCann)
Race-Bait-and-Switch - AT (Becker)
Is Organic Food Healthier or Safer? - Volokh (Adler)
Study Finds No Benefit to Organic Food - Via Meadia
Sending Your Tax Dollars To People Who Hate Us - Via Meadia
Democrats Retreat on Civil Liberties in 2012 Platform - Mother Jones (Serwer)
Academic Hacks Quote Own Papers To Boost Standing - Via Meadia
Sanctity of Human Life: Democratic and Republican Platforms - MoJ (Sisk)
Valerie Jarrett: The woman behind the HHS mandate, and much more - Pundit & Pundette
Constitutional Interpretation as Fairness: Ronald Dworkin and the Axioms of Obamacare - Liberty Law Blog (Watson)
How Nature Made a Comeback - WSJ (Sterba)
The Templeton Effect - The Chronicle of Higher Education (Schneider)
Why The Phantom Tollbooth is a Gateway to Great Books and Great Ideas- Musings of a Christian Humanist
Why Life Matters - TAC (Bonchamps)
The First Refuge of Scoundrels - AT (McCann)
Race-Bait-and-Switch - AT (Becker)
Is Organic Food Healthier or Safer? - Volokh (Adler)
Study Finds No Benefit to Organic Food - Via Meadia
Sending Your Tax Dollars To People Who Hate Us - Via Meadia
Democrats Retreat on Civil Liberties in 2012 Platform - Mother Jones (Serwer)
Academic Hacks Quote Own Papers To Boost Standing - Via Meadia
Sanctity of Human Life: Democratic and Republican Platforms - MoJ (Sisk)
Valerie Jarrett: The woman behind the HHS mandate, and much more - Pundit & Pundette
Constitutional Interpretation as Fairness: Ronald Dworkin and the Axioms of Obamacare - Liberty Law Blog (Watson)
September 4, 2012
September 4, 2012
Obama’s America — And Ours - TIC (Buchanan)
This Month’s Liberty Forum: Michael Oakeshott’s Liberalism and its Rule of Law - Liberty Law Blog (Reinsch)
Michael Oakeshott on the Rule of Law and the Liberal Order - Liberty Law Blog (Fuller)
Oakeshott’s Ideal of the Liberal State - Liberty Law Blog (Corey)
Oakeshott and the Separation of Powers - Liberty Law Blog (Shubow)
The President’s Failure. And His Challenge. - Via Meadia (Berkowitz)
When the Ugly is the Good - Liberty Law Blog (Masugi)
In Defense of Voting Regulations - Public Discourse (Holloway)
A Delegate's-Eye-View of the RNC Convention - AT (Zelikovsky)
Why Blame Obama? - AT (Hoven)
The Democrats' Anti-Woman, Anti-Gay Elephant in the Room - AT (Levy)
Catholic Bishops Target Obama in Lawsuits - FedSoc Blog (Publius)
How Recessions Help Build Prosperity - Via Meadia
America’s Obsessive Campaign - Via Meadia
A pox on a pox on both your houses - TAC (Zummo)
Obama 2016 Review - TAC (McClarey)
A Real Dilemma - Pileus (Cleveland)
Clint Eastwood Speaks Truth to Power at the RNC - Maverick Philosopher
The War on Terror and the Quest for Community - TIC (Weiner)
This Month’s Liberty Forum: Michael Oakeshott’s Liberalism and its Rule of Law - Liberty Law Blog (Reinsch)
Michael Oakeshott on the Rule of Law and the Liberal Order - Liberty Law Blog (Fuller)
Oakeshott’s Ideal of the Liberal State - Liberty Law Blog (Corey)
Oakeshott and the Separation of Powers - Liberty Law Blog (Shubow)
The President’s Failure. And His Challenge. - Via Meadia (Berkowitz)
When the Ugly is the Good - Liberty Law Blog (Masugi)
In Defense of Voting Regulations - Public Discourse (Holloway)
A Delegate's-Eye-View of the RNC Convention - AT (Zelikovsky)
Why Blame Obama? - AT (Hoven)
The Democrats' Anti-Woman, Anti-Gay Elephant in the Room - AT (Levy)
Catholic Bishops Target Obama in Lawsuits - FedSoc Blog (Publius)
How Recessions Help Build Prosperity - Via Meadia
America’s Obsessive Campaign - Via Meadia
A pox on a pox on both your houses - TAC (Zummo)
Obama 2016 Review - TAC (McClarey)
A Real Dilemma - Pileus (Cleveland)
Clint Eastwood Speaks Truth to Power at the RNC - Maverick Philosopher
The War on Terror and the Quest for Community - TIC (Weiner)
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