"More Bad Judges"
Thursday, January 8, 2004 at 12:41PM Jack Newfield of The Nation has a piece about the Bush administration's latest crop of federal judicial nominees. Needless to say, he does not approve, concluding:
Bush is trying to transform America through lifetime judicial appointments for this biased batch and their clones. The bottom line is that the reckless Bushies are willing to violate computer privacy and vandalize the Bill of Rights to expedite this transformation. George W. Bush was appointed President by the Supreme Court after losing the popular vote by more than 500,000. Now he is trying to use the courts to legislate a mandate the voters never gave him by abusing the power of appointment and ignoring the Constitution's "advise and consent" clause.
You can read the whole thing here. (via How Appealing)
Reader Comments (796)
As one who is in the computer industry, my guess is it's been removed. All other links are working... funny this one isn't!
anonymous wrote:
"...Does that mean that Judge Weller deserves to be shot? Absolutely not. It's not his fault that my Husband and his ex wife were selfish assholes.. he did his job. If they didn't want him to make those decisions, they should have stopped the fight."
agree 100%It is horrible that anyone would think of, or do that to anyone especially a person who is trying to help people. I hope he makes the most speedy and complete recovery, then moves on to make our courts more effective. Hopefully, in your case and in mine, things that are mentioned could be adressed like stopping the fights by some means unknown to us know, the enforcement of court orders by the courts themselves, without the parent having to bankrupt themselves at the expense of the parent who is wronged again, andother things that are needed, but the system hasn't caught up with yet. All in all, the hope for a better court system is what needs to beimplemented. There are not enough judges for thecaseloads, there should be non-conflict of interest groups can advise the judges with truths, instead of mis-truths, for them to base their order's on, and the children, their education, activities and development should come before adult visitation fairness in every instance. Anon, I agree with you, and i feel wesee through the same set of eyes...we need tomake sure the children are taken care of first.
Hope things will get better for you and me both,but mostly for our children. One thing for sure,we spent way too much good money chasing after the right thing for the children and to protect ourselves. This, is the worst part of the problem, that is, that attorney's make about 25 times an hour more than we do, and after an emotional go-nowhere day in court, it makes mefeel guilty for spending it not on the kids.
May the grace of god, and new knowledge from innovative court reform shine down on Washoe County Family Court, and more importantly,may Chuck Weller get well as soon as possible.
Inappropriate remarks have been posted in this forum, some of them overly aggressive, some of them slanderous, some of them heartless, and some of them attempting to tie the many concerned parents and activists across the state of Nevada who have joined Nevadans For Equal Parenting to this tragic series of events.
Nevadans For Equal Parenting advocate for legislative change aimed at reforming the Nevada divorce industry. In our ongoing attempts to reform the law and the divorce establishment in Nevada, over the past five years dozens of our members have met with officials and legislators in attempts to bring about such overdue change.
The Nevada divorce industry's status quo is harmful to families, single parents, and most of all children. Many of you here have commented positively about the need for these changes. Nevada's parents thank you.
While close to the issues that have received renewed debate in the aftermath of this week's tragic events, Nevadans For Equal Parenting are not affiliated with any insensitive comments concerning Judge Weller appearing here and elsewhere. However, neither do we endorse the Nevada divorce industry's and family court's respective records, both of which remain to be discussed fairly and intelligently in the forum of public opinion and the state legislature.
We wish Judge Weller and his family and friends all the very best. All of Nevada certainly also extend heartfelt sympathies to the ones left behind to cope with a lifetime of pain as the consequence of yet another failure centered on divorce and custody plays itself out.
Unless this forum is moderated for extreme and slanderous statements, we prefer not to link here. Those of you who wish to engage in meaningful dialog and who may wish to join your peers in bringing about positive change in Carson City are encouraged to join us.
I was simply asking that everyone ponder he questions- be more open-minded. Darren could not have been a complete monster. Charla married him, had a child with him; she was with him for over 10 years.
I was not picking sides, just pointing out that we only seem to be seeing one side: that of the victim of the crime. We don't hear what might inadvertently make the criminal appear more human. That's the way the media works.
Yes, we must "understand his rage."
I fully understand it: it's the rage of a man who discovers that the rest of the world expects him to actually control his impulses.
I never said that she shouldn't get anything. But divorce shouldn't be about punishing anyone monetarily or otherwise.
And it isn't. It's about honoring one's word. He promised to support his wife until death. He then decided he didn't want to do that.
What is reported to have happened in the past year in the Mack divorce is not healthy.
Yeah, he decided that he didn't want to be a grownup.
It's one thing for the daughter's support. But as for the spousal support: He's required to support her for eternity; she's required to be dependent on him for eternity.
He volunteered for the job, then decided he didn't want to do it, because he'd rather spend the money on swinging.
I'm not sure where you got all your tom-catting, fornicating information, but even if that was the case, the marriage would have been better simply ended- without the perpetual litigation that just continually fueled the fire.
In other words, impoverish the one who upheld their end of the deal, and enrich the one who didn't.
Yeah, there's a great idea. That will really ensure that kids aren't hurt.
It's precisely the biased attitude you're showing that makes these cases all the worse. You say "these things always come out" - I hope if they don't, you'll feel differently.
That is what DID come out. That's what happened in this case.
This is precisely the part where our Family Court fails everyone miserable: the sides are pre-judged, cases are pre-decided.
Wrong. This is what came out in the case, in the course of the decision being reached.
It is way too much of a win-lose system. They do nothing to empower the two parents to behave as adults and support the kids.
And you swerved into the problem: Darren refused to be an adult, and refused to support the family he made.
The point is also not whether our courthouse needs bulletproof glass, but why.
Because there are a lot of people like Darren Mack who are incapable of accepting that they are not the center of the universe, and they will strike out against anyone who dares tell them otherwise. And you're cheerfully enabling them.
We, as a community, need to focus on what went wrong in the system. And fix what is wrong in the system. The system we have obviously cannot be accepted as "good enough."
Well, we can make fornication and adultery capital crimes.
But their marriage soured and they agreed to separate in July 2004. By February 2005, the couple filed for divorce.
Obviously, to many here this is a male/female issue, rather than sticking to the facts of this case. For that reason alone, I don't believe this discussion can lead to any insight and I'll not post again.
May all involved find the peace and comfort needed during these difficult times.
You seem to have all the answers. You seem to be incredibly angry, as well.
It's rather unfortunate.
Their are shades that can let light in and still no one can see through. It seems that the immediate answer for saftey in the Courthouse would be to install shutters that allow light in or the top-down, bottom-up Hunter Douglass blinds that cost about $100 to install per window. This can, for a low-cost, immediately,stop anyone else who might copy-cat the horrible-incomprehensible shooting of a judge or others, from visually seeing into thoseoffices. A long-term answer will take a long-time, probably as long a scheduling a Family Court hearing, and it should, at any expense, be designed to protect all the people at the courthouse, not just the judges, from outsideview.
My condolences to the children, parents and family of Charla Mack. She won't be forgotten.
Also hope that the clerk that was injured makes a complete and speedy recovery, too.
It can't be he said/she said system.
It can't be a win-lose situation.
It has to be "the children's best interest."Nothing more, nothing less.
"The children's best interest" will come about by fixing a very, very broken system.
...It will come about by discovering the truth behind 'why our Family Court needs bulletproof glass.'
When that day arrives, we will have a true Family Court.
*****
Let's all pray that the day arrives soon. Let's all pray for the families that the day will have arrived too late for...
Run Darren Run! j/k
Darren and Charla Mack were swingers. Clearly, neither parent sounds like a thouroughbred.
Chuck Weller is an abusive drunk and had a terrible reputation as an attorney within the community as being without a morale compass.
A bunch of winners, all of them....
The court precedings where the information about Darren Mack is coming from makes no reference to evidence of his lifestyle. Have we forgotten that evidence is what proves the accusation, not the accusation itself. If you read the whole court precedings and the motions filed (its not a sealed case, go ahead and look it up), there is no evidence linking Darren Mack to the accusations made by Shawn Meador and Charla Mack. The plaintiffs, Shawn Meador and Charla Mack, provided no evidence to support their wild accusations, and Darren Mack provided plenty of evidence refuting their unfounded accusations which the Judge refused to hear.
Before you judge anyone dedicate yourself to knowing the facts about him. You dont know him just as I dont know you. Nothing will ever make what he did okay but he is not the complete monster most of you ignorantly proclaim him to be.
Remember: "The freedom of the press is limited to those who own one"
sympathy for all the families is in order right now, instead of calling names and starting rumours, imho.
My prayers go out to all that are suffereing because of this situation.....
Oh, and one more thing, whoever posted that they shouldn't have to keep up the "standard of living for the rest of our lives" - that too is an ignorant statement. This was about a 10 year marriage. That certainly does not mean spousal support for the rest of Charla's life. I can't stand the ignorance!
Please explain how my comment was ignorant.
How long was the spousal support ordered for? Was there a time limit? I didn't read that anywhere.
And, if I'm not mistaken, you are bashing and *itching as well. Please help stop the ignorance and enlighten us instead.
And, by the way, I was in court, in front of the Judge who voluntarily sought help through the Betty Ford Clinic.. I did not agree with his decision, but it is what it is.
And, I agree George - Judge Weller did his job. Perhaps if the parties involved were taking care of business in the first place, Judge Weller would not have had to step in and FORCE them to do the right thing (or try to anyways - too late now).
i didn't realize it was what people are saying on the street.
I still think it is important to be extra-sensitive sensitive right now for all concerned, and also, I apologize for anything I have said in earlier posts that might inflict more pain into the situation.
May the knowledge gained from this horrible situation create a healing and a basis foranalyzation of what leads to these kinds ofsituations, for if this has happened, thereare many cases with people who feel their lives were displaced without just cause, who have contained their grief, not acted in a violent manner,but still feel their cases should be heard again, and in a different light, altogether,from the beginning.
'slanderous' statements?
Well if that isn't a double standard I don't know what is.. what about all those nasty remarks you've made about Judge Mcgee, and other local authority figures? That isn't slander?
Too late now.
Dwelling on what happened, could have happened, or should have happened in this case is pointless. The Mack's private lives need to remain just that: private. It no longer matters who was right or wrong.
Not to say that something shouldn't be learned from their case. The community needs to take knowledge and work at fixing the very broken Family Court system so that it works better for everyone involved, ensuring that this type of situation does not come up again.
Let's not let it become too late for anyone else.
Exploiting the activities of the people who brought them into this world, while making some money for A&E, would only serve to further harm three innocent children.
It's not their fault they were brought into this world. They certainly should not have to pay any more of a price because of what the people who brought them into this world may or may not have done.
Leave the kids alone. Let them get back to being kids.