I Can't Believe This is America-Land of the Free

Recently the brutal beatings of three black men in Philadelphia has been splashed all over TV and the Web for America to view our "police work" in action. While this brutal attack on our civil liberties and 'domestic violence' occurs every day, with all races, it is still shocking to see and still a terrible tragedy. What struck me the most though, is the mother of one of the black men that was beaten so severely chose to speak out recently. One line that she uttered in her dismay and contempt for the police actions displayed in the USA was "In this country, you are innocent until proven guilty, and the police should not be excused for their behavior....."

I thought about that particular phrase 'innocent until proven guilty' and my first visceral reaction was to myself that hasn't been the case in America for decades. That poor naive woman.

I remembered a time not so long ago when I thought the very same thing: 'innocent until proven guilty'. It had to be true; that's what they taught us in school, right? Wrong.

Reality and the court system have absolutely nothing in common. The US court system is the biggest dog & pony show, complete with smoking mirrors and smoking guns that it would make Barnum blush like a school girl. The 'suckers' are the people who expect any kind of law or justice to prevail in the current tangled web of lies and broken justice scales that passes for "court system" in this country.

I have procured a number of attorneys to 'represent' my interests, enforce the various rulings of the courts, and to fight for some form of justice to prevail for nearly the past decade. Boy, have I been sorely disillusioned and coerced, to name just a few. But never have I been 'represented' by an attorney yet. In the same number of years, I have had the service of 9 practicing attorneys. I have never seen more deception, lies and corruption widely spread except in the Republican party.

On May 6, Tuesday of this week, my 'Volunteer' attorney, from the Volunteer Lawyer Project of the Polk County Bar, threw me under the bus. In a nutshell, he not only lied to me about the services he would perform, but he wasted 10 months of valuable time for me. This at least the third time this has happened to me regarding "my" attorney(s). In all cases, the ones most profoundly affected and ultimately hurt by this 'family' law attorney were(are) my children.

Just for starters, my ex husband has been liberally committing felonies. Now I'm no lawyer (Praise the Lord), but I was under the silly assumption that lawyer kinda sorta meant "one whose profession is advising/representing others in matters of law".

Brad Ex is not paying enough child support. He never pays on time. He is behind on child support. He has at least 5 bank accounts, a 401k, stock, high credit- you name it. He only pays child support on half of his income. He refuses to follow what the Divorce Decree mandated that he follow. I could go on and on. Brad Ex IS a Deadbeat Dad.

Because my attorney was a 'volunteer' lawyer, the unwritten agreement is that he would handle all the legal proceedings, and I would do all the "leg work". The written agreement, however, clearly states that the 'volunteer attorney' is to treat his client just like any other client, and perform the duties and services of a paying client. Here's where the rub occurs in reality.

I was perfectly fine doing all the leg work. I am a tenacious fact collector by nature. I have everything documented- hence I like to write- duh. I am good at getting information, and being able to prove facts that I find.

For the past 5 years, and very aggressively for the past 10 months, I have been preparing my case against Brad Ex, my ex husband. I crossed all the T's and dotted all the i's. For the same amount of time, Brad Ex has been duly ignoring any court rulings against him, openly defying judges, and continuously lying in/out of court. He is a psychopath(diagnosed), and a pathological liar(as court reported by my 1st divorce attorney). I may not know all the horrible things that he has been doing for the past 16 years, but I do keep finding an awfully lot of his illegal activity.

It is pretty easy to pick out the lies in open court when you have the previous rulings in front of you, and he openly accuses me, my attorney and the Judge of "lying" to try to "get him" in contempt. And since I'm usually the "petitioner", I get to go first to testify in court with the (mostly) contempt charges. This court procedure, however, leaves the door wide open for Brad Ex to completely contradict everything I just testified to before him. Then the Judge is put on the spot to decide who is telling the truth.

BUT, and this is a big BUT, this is where I thought that documentation, witnesses etc. come in to play with the attorney that is supposed to be "representing' your interests. Every single time my attorney has a chance to nail Brad Ex to the wall by his balls with the truth, my attorney suddenly becomes impotent- no matter what the actual gender of my attorney is. Brad Ex is simply a blow-hard adult BULLY who continuously breaks the law. Why can't people who went to Law School bring him down with the truth??!! That's all I'm asking. Let the truth prevail.

After the Judge rules like Brad Ex and I are on an even keel is just a tad bit tardy to be bringing up the documentation that proves Brad Ex is lying, doncha thunk? This is the kinda shit that all my attorneys have been routinely doing. Another bad law practice is that MY attorneys have been listening to Brad Ex, who is a pathological liar, and then Brad Ex cast doubt about me telling the truth. Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't MY attorneys supposed to represent ME, especially if I can PROVE what Brad Ex is saying is a lie??!!

Besides Brad Ex's habit of lying all the time, he has never followed ONE SINGLE DEADLINE that the court has imposed on him. For FIVE YEARS!! Not one. Isn't this 'contempt of court'??
And the lack of any punishment or consequences for his actions only serves to encourage his illegal behaviours.

After this horrendous bad behaviour from Brad Ex for the past 5 years, now comes this Judge Bitch to rule against me, even though it is Brad Ex that is not following anything on the Decree, or Judges orders, and she gives me less than 3 weeks to comply with the installation of the washer and dryer- which is pretty much a physical impossibility for me to do- but with a new ruling twist- I will be found in contempt of court if I DON'T FOLLOW THE COURT'S DEADLINE. WTF??!!

Brad Ex gets to disobey 5 effing YEARS of court rulings and deadlines(with absolutely NO punishments whatsoever; and this last court deadline was by March 31, 2008 Brad Ex was to have the washer/dryer installed and working, and it wasn't even mentioned by Judge Bitch on April 28th, 2008!!)but I get less than 3 weeks to comply with a physically impossible order. Not to mention that Brad Ex never got an estimate until April 28th, 2008. What would YOU do?

Now we come full circle. The lack of justice that prevails in the street with the 'police' beating innocent people, clear up to the court system that won't work for honest people who are simply trying to follow the law, permeates the American system to no end.

I don't see how we can change such a huge monster that is out of control as the US court system. I don't have the answers; but I know it has to work to keep innocent people free, and free from harm to keep the America I know.

20/20 All We Have Left Is HOPE

Sheila