From Pets to Pretenders, etc.

Just a few notes today...

* My dog stole and ate my blue tooth headset AGAIN. I have now purchased my third headset, each one progressively higher in quality (and price). Possibly, my dog intuitively knows when I am thinking about getting new gadgets. I'll have to monitor my thoughts or put on a tin foil hat or something.

* In an earlier posting, I mentioned a Judge making an off the record 'joke' about a young teenager to the a Public Defender and District Attorney. The Public Pretender Defender relayed it to the mother with alarm. The mother and three different advocate groups met with the Public Defender to ask her to declare a conflict of interest, get a retrial, etc. The Public Defender apparently reversed her position and decided that it was not a conflict of interest. The fuse has been lit to the powderkeg...

* I'm still getting reports of Social Workers from CPS being involved in, well, childish games, to retaliate against parents demanding their rights be upheld. If those Social Workers just DID THEIR JOBS and spent less time inventing ways to harass the parents and cover their behind, maybe things would go better for everyone involved.

* One of my clients reported that the effects of the psych meds he was forced to take is loss of sexual function and blurred vision. He isn't very happy with the services he received at Oakland's Heritage Psych hospital.

* Another one of my clients had been accused of sexual abuse of his child. CPS reversed its finding to 'unsubstantiated' after months and months of communicating. The case also is in Family Courts and they reportedly refuses to change their 'finding' even thought they initially took the labeling of the father from CPS. So, more fighting on that front.

* The District Attorney's office has a glitch in their computer. Apparently, when listing out charges of assault and or battery, their template automatically adds the penal code requirement that the defendant has to register as a "Sexual Offender" even though there was no sexual assault at all.

United Nations Declaration of Human Rights

Article 12.

"No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks."

All in the Family

Monterey - A father has his middle-aged son Conserved for various trumped up reasons, shipping him off to several different 'Rest Homes' because of various alleged disorders. However, to spice up the story, the son is actually married to a Psychologist. She says she would know if she is sleeping next to a psychotic or schizophrenic.

The father and his attorney managed to have the wife discredited due to her own undue influence on the husband/son which results in a Restraining Order being placed on the wife. While that is being fought in court, the actual marriage of one year is annulled by the Judge!!!

The wife has to spend a ton of money she doesn't have since the father started taking away any assets putting the wife in an even more precarious position just to survive let alone fight the fight.

She does manage to get a hold placed on the annulment of the marriage, the restraining order gets lifted and things appear to start turning around for the better. But, the father is playing a shell game with the son, moving him from place to place and doing whatever he can to prevent any visitors (the wife) from seeing the son/husband!

The husband/son, it appears is now so whipped that he won't speak up for himself and says he needs to ask permission from his father for everything, including seeing his wife!

The wife has gone to the different Agencies and such and she reports that they are very concerned about the controlling nature of the father so they have been reporting this as well. She also has to pay for her own independent psychiatric evaluation to 'prove' she AND her husband are quite capable of taking care of themselves, which by the way, cost her $2000.

But, it remains a court battle which hopefully will be resolved sooner than later.

It goes without saying, the wife has been having a real tough time fighting this battle but she has been quite the trooper on demanding her rights as well as her husbands'.

From everything I see, the court system and attorneys KNOW that the use of psychs is a complete fallacy and they are just minions to use for one's own purposes. Buying an 'official' opinion to counter another's official opinion on "mental health issues" is a complete racket. And guess who loses?

United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Article 5.

"No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."

A Talk With a Veteran of Desert Storm and the Iraqi War

Several months ago I had the honor of speaking with a veteran of the Desert Storm war and Iraqi War.

As background to this, note the recent CBS News investigative story which in short, found, "In 2005, for example, ... there were at least 6,256 suicides among those who served in the armed forces. That’s 120 each and every week, in just one year."

and

"One age group stood out. Veterans aged 20 through 24, those who have served during the war on terror. They had the highest suicide rate among all veterans, estimated between two and four times higher than civilians the same age. (The suicide rate for non-veterans is 8.3 per 100,000, while the rate for veterans was found to be between 22.9 and 31.9 per 100,000.)

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/13/cbsnews_investigates/main3496471.shtml

Now check out this from Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, "During World War II, U.S. Army Brigadier General S.L.A. Marshall's singularly unexpected discovery was that, of every hundred men along the line of fire during the combat period, an average of only 15 to 20 'would take any part with their weapons.' This was consistently true, "whether the action was spread over a day, or two days, or three."

Lt. Col. Dave Grossman's article on why the vast majority of soldiers refuse to kill a fellow human being ends with, "We may never understand the nature of the force in humankind that causes us to strongly resist killing fellow human beings, but we can be thankful for it. And although military leaders responsible for winning a war may be distressed by this force, as a species we can view it with pride. It is there, it is strong, and it gives us cause to believe that there may just be hope for human-kind after all."

In between the beginning and the end he writes of the psychological ops taken upon our soldiers to condition them to kill and desensitize them to taking another life. I encourage you to read the full article

http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/greatergood/current_issue/grossman.html

And a short narrative of my talk with the Desert Storm/Iraqi War veteran:

Wounded during the war with serious concussions due to IEDs exploding nearby on three separate occasions, one requiring eye surgery, and shot in the knee she came to Silicon Valley as she felt she could get a job using her expertise.

Upon departing for Iraqi, she and her fellow soldiers were given psych –based indoctrination (pavlovian conditioning) through videos containing subliminal messages of bombings and killings, while playing rock music videos; the same music over and over. Various similar types of conditioning tactics are used throughout her stay in Iraqi as a continuing practice. She reports soldiers buying into to the mind control and seeing how it resulted in various human rights violations not only against the ‘enemy’ but her fellow soldiers. This included sexual assault by others.

She was in military intelligence with top secret clearances however she became so incensed with the tactics utilized by Psy-Ops she had to transfer out of the unit, changing her military operations specialty (MOS; military lingo!) to Medic. I won’t relay her Medic stories. And she wouldn’t relay her Intelligence stories.

She commented on how the mainstream media portrays Iraqi in a very degraded state but it is far from the truth. By example, when she entered Bagdad, she was shocked to see Burger Kings, Baskin-Robbins, Hardy Shoe Stores, etc., that it was a melting pot of cultures – Bosnians, Australians, Germans and Japanese, you name it all represented there living, working. And the Iraqi women there don’t all wear Burkhas but dress in western suits, etc.

Essentially, she reports, practically everything seen on TV is a scripted, staged, event to portray a specific reality and I think you know what that reality is.

Humorously, she relayed how one of the forward staging areas is next to Saddam’s hunting grounds (literally) where there is a forest and this land is stocked with animals such as hyenas, deer, etc., right in the middle of the desert. And that THE Palace was converted into the Army store for the soldiers.

Miltary Bases /Camps are kept up only if there is a General there, otherwise, they are degraded. And apparently, generals are not there very often unless for photo-op.

She had to purchase her own Kevlar vests as the ones provided to her couldn’t stop any bullets. They were soon provided two iron plates to slide into vests which only added more weight and heat especially inside the humvee with no air conditioning. (This woman is five foot-one, by the way.) Add to that, carrying her M16 and two side-arms, etc.

The conditions of the military vehicles (HumVees) were very poor; holes the size of “midgets”, bald tires, etc., and that getting them repaired was next to impossible. When she saw government contracted corporations such as Halliburton there and they were driving around the brand new H3 Hummers, Cadillac Escalades and BMWs, she concluded that they (the soldiers) were not anyone important and this ‘war’ was really just profiteering by these corporations and those behind it.

She was actually approached by Halliburton to work for them but she declined as she would not support what they were doing.

She found the GREAT majority of Iraqi people very nice, helpful and understanding.

Upon returning to the States for transitioning and to handle her post traumatic stress, she was offered psych drugs and behavioral therapy which she refused as she just wanted to ‘decompress’. It goes without saying, she received no real help.

I don't know about you, but it looks like the psych brainwashing techniques have created a tremendously conflicted stressful mindset in our soldiers who are coerced into inhumane acts in direct contradiction to their basic innate goodness.

United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Article 10.

"Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him."

The Games Social Workers Play

Met a couple yesterday who had their family ripped apart from them for over 6 months now. They have been made to jump through hoops yet there is no end in sight. The Judge had ordered unsupervised visits for the mother however the Social Worker canceled them because the mother gave one of her children a piece of candy on Halloween. But it was okay to give the kid a piece of candy on his birthday a couple of days later.

One of the more common complaints is the continual contradictory actions and statements made by Social Workers that drive parents around the bend. For example, one S/W says children are very resilient however turn around and say that parents could have scarred their children for life.

How would you react if your children were taken away from you? Is there a way one is SUPPOSED to act? If a parent is angry about it, then he/she is accused of not being emotionally stable. If a parent is calm about it, he/she is accused of not being concerned. Crying? Definitely emotionally unstable. It gets really wacky and the parents feel they cannot win but they can't complain as they will be subject to retaliation.

Ever see a supervised visitation which also included a psychologist observing the father? The one I saw looked pretty spooky. There is no way any evaluation of a visit can be accurate with a Social Worker watching, a Psychologist taking copious notes, and Sheriff deputies standing in the next room. It had the air of a mad doctor involved in some type of Nazi experiment of some sort.

Apparently, there must be some training manual that teaches Social Workers how to worsen an already volatile setting. (It wouldn't surprise me.) However, per reports, the organizational atmosphere at the Dept of Family & Children Services appears to, no pun intended, foster a somewhat fearful attitude by the Social Workers. They try to cover up their crimes so they don't get in trouble and then start to act like how THEY are treated.

United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Article 9.

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

Families No Longer Shut Out of Dependency Hearings

If you've been down to the Terraine Street Courthouse where juvenile dependency issues are heard, you may have seen signs posted on the walls saying that families and friends ARE allowed in the courtrooms unless otherwise specified by a judicial officer. Wonder what caused that to happen?

Word has it that a Judge found out that Social Workers and County Counsels were telling parents that no one else was allowed in the courtroom because it was "confidential". Me thinks that was being said to prevent anyone else from seeing how truth can be twisted, how incompetent they can be and other dishonest tactics that are utilized. (And if you think I am for some reason biased, one day I was in the waiting room overhearing two Sheriff Deputies talking about a case that I was familiar with. Both were commenting that the Social Worker didn't know what he was doing and that the attorney was there just for the money or something.)

The Judge ordered signs placed around the waiting rooms AND reportedly issued an official memo to ALL concerned including the Dept of Family & Children Services that the Judicial Officers are the only ones who can decide that, NOT the Social Worker or County Counsel.

So, all families and friends are welcome in the Juvenile Dependency court hearings. This is actually VERY IMPORTANT as it puts more pressure on everyone to run things by the book.

Well, today, I got another call from a mother DESPERATELY wanting help in getting her children back from CPS. They have held onto her children since May of this year. More accusations of lying and or incompetent Social Workers stringing the mom along including attempts to use a Psych assessment to label her.

You know, I don't even promote into this area yet these parents somehow are finding me. I wonder what would happen if I started promoting?

United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Article 8.

"Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law."

Social Services or Socialist Servitude?

A Child Protective Services (CPS) case in Monterey finally came to a sane conclusion. A mother got in an argument with her daughter almost a year ago, when the mom slapped the teenaged girl. CPS came and took not only the daughter but the two younger boys away from the mother. The daughter was eventually returned to the mother but in an all too familiar logic defying tactic, the younger boys were not. The mother was made to jump through all manner of hoops for many months, made more difficult because the Social Worker's supervisor was good friends with the lady who was given the two young boys. She complained all the way up the chain of command, given promises and such but no joy. Mom contacted me a few months ago in total despair. Bringing her back to life and willing to fight the battle, she persisted until she finally got her two younger boys home last week, so the whole family will be together for the holidays.

I have another CPS case in the Alameda County, where the mother was told by her Public Defender and Social Worker that she needed to take psych medications or she wouldn't get her daughter back. Even though it wasn't court ordered, it would 'look' bad if she didn't do it. She nonetheless fought back, refusing to take the drugs, and this is starting to turn around in her favor but she has a long way to go. There is a lot more to this case, but the county is using her psych eval against her to prevent her from reuniting with her children even though I have yet to find a Welfare & Institution code that permits that. From what I know the psych assessments are only to be used to determine what services the parent should have to help on reuniting the family. However, Social Workers, District Attorneys read these 'assessments' which automatically label the mother in a negative light resulting in an injustice. Suffice to say she has found two other psychologists who have given her different evaluations.

United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Article 7.

"All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination."

Telecare Heritage Psych Hospital

"Our Purpose: Telecare exists to help people with mental impairments realize their full potential." - from Telecare website.

Sounds great. Lets hear what Bill has to say after his 14 day forced medication stay at Oakland's Heritage Hospital(with some grammatical and writer's license taken to smooth out the story):

"Robert socks me in the side of neck and jaw. He's restrained while I staggered to my room. I'm told to take deep breaths, forget it and move on. I demand the police be called but the staff refuses. I asked for medical attention but was told I wasn't hurt, to move on and not to bring it up anymore."

"I was intensively questioned by two Social Workers asking if I was gay, was I beaten as a child, etc. I was told a doctor would be coming to see me for my injuries but that didn't happen until two days later."

"During group therapy, Alice began to strip off her clothes in front of us all, saying if she is going to be crucified, she may as well be naked. She was tackled by half-a-dozen nurses, techs and specialists.

"Due to the medications, I'm in a total daze, vision is worse than normal, swollen foot. I am suffering from mild akathesia plus some abdominal pain.

"The pay phone was jammed. Calls can come in - none out. I begged the Nurse to let me use the hospital phone.

"Alice has been screaming and yelling for several hours now. The nurse tells me nothing can be done about it, we're trying. Finally, Alice was led to her room by Techs and Nurses. Silence at last."

"I was woken at 6:15 in the morning for a blood test/exam. The Nurse calls me, sweetheart, which I don't mind but I do mind the condition I woke up IN: Stiff legs, swollen foot. I'm in a total daze from the drugging. My speech is slurred and I my voice is so wrecked I can barely talk. I can't hold a thought more than a few seconds. The staff tells me, 'We just want you better, Bill.' I am now on 10 prescription drugs, five of them anti-psychotics."

"While I was in the phone booth, Alice spat on me. I reported that to the Nurse and I was reprimanded for not staying away from Alice."

"Psych students from Chabot College file in to begin 'studying us' - complete with their 'how-are-yous'. I withdraw to my room and hope for a miracle."

"I was told by Dr. Oz that I was to be discharged. I got a voucher for a cab. I took the cab for awhile and then decided to walk the rest of way home, free as a bird. Truly, unbelievably free."

Well, sounds like Bill realized his full potential.

And apparently, so has Telecare, a for-profit organization. Cut and pasted from a newspaper article, "In 2004, Telecare corporation received $32,253,017 in Alameda county contract dollars, an increase of 20% since 2002.

Valley Medical Center Psychs Go Fascist

A short story of one victim's experience who went there for help. She was told by the Psychiatrist that she was being put on an involuntary hold because, it's "the way we do things", that an appointment to see anyone would take several months but by being put on an involuntary hold the wait wouldn't be so long. The Psychiatrist omitted telling her that she was not at liberty to leave until the ambulance drivers walked in to take her away.

While imprisoned in the psych ward, the victim was threatened to being forcibly injected if she continued to refuse medication. She complained to the Director of the 'facility' who brushed her off, saying they were "pulling your leg" and did nothing.

The nurse was hostile, yelling at her while shaking a finger in her face in response to a request for assistance to find out when the court date would be so she could fight for her rights and get out of the psych hospital.

The Judge discharged her saying there was no evidence of intent to harm self or others.

Your Tail is Showing and I'm Gonna to Pull It.

* But first, Confucius would turn in his grave if he saw this: Had Chinese lunch today so received the obligatory fortune cookie that contained this fortune: "Someone will invite you to a Karaoke party." What the... !!!! Nothing is sacred anymore.

* Was contacted by a young man who had been held in an Oakland Psychiatric Hospital for 14 days. He is REALLY pissed with the vile treatment he received there, from being assaulted by other patients to being forced to take 5 different psych medications at the same time.

* DA Tomfoolery: Apparently a tactic used by the District Attorney office at least in Juvenile Dependency Court when they are not prepared is to switch lawyers back and forth. This way the DA can tell the Judge she is not prepared as she was not at the last hearing.

* And what about the lady who is on welfare, lives in a $1,000,000 home in Santa Clara and is being supplied foster care children? Of course, just because it smells, walks, quacks and looks like a duck, doesn't mean it is a duck.

* Does a DUI from 7 years ago make someone an unfit parent? That seems to be the case according to a couple of Social Workers at CPS.

* And whats the deal with the highly paid Psychiatrist for the county refusing to turn over medical records to one of her victims?

Colored Justice in Santa Clara

As mentioned in an earlier entry, I was watching a trial in Juvenile Court in a case of a young African-American teen accused of Assault and Battery. The Judge found him Guilty.

A white male witness to the incident was questioned by the prosecuting DA about a prior arrest for burglary in an effort to discredit him as a witness. He testified that the charges were dropped because the actual burglar was reported to be 4-5 inches shorter than him AND was African-American. So, the DA is either completely incompetent or purposely omitted the facts of that case in an effort to destroy a person's reputation.

However, aside from the inconsistency of the case specifics, it has been alleged that behind closed doors, the Judge made a racially slanted comment to both the DA and the Public Defender, that the accused teen probably goes door to door robbing everyone.

Does it end there? Not quite. The Probation Officer (white) reportedly came over to the house a couple days after the trial and greeted the teen with a, "How's my N***a?"

The mother has decided to either appeal the decision or demand a completely new trial with a different judge.

One Ring to Rule Them All

A pattern has been emerging portraying a cabal of Attorneys and Psychologists who have become partners in a crime ring to pervert justice in Family/Divorce Court here in Santa Clara County.

The routine usually follows this sequence: The husband is involved in unethical activities, ranging from affairs, to child abuse and as low as pedophilia. The wife, following the trail of breadcrumbs, confronts the husband or otherwise starts to take action, understandably distraught.

The husband contacts an attorney and the scam is put into play: Before any court proceedings, the husband starts to abscond with any investments and assets, even selling the house from underneath the wife's nose. Meanwhile, the psychologist is taken out from the attorney's back pocket and is used to deliver psychological evaluations claiming the wife is suffering from all manner of disorders and mania to show not only how delusional she is, but that she should not have custody of the children.

The husband wins custody of the children and to top it off, the wife has to pay child support. Remember, she already no longer has a home, is burdened with spiraling legal costs, and is under continual stress for the safety of her children and losing any visitation at all. (Part of the strategy is the game of erosion.)

In some cases, miraculously, the husband 'finds religion', even to the extent of carrying a bible around with him everywhere.

The wives are too scared to report it to the proper agencies in fear that they will lose their children completely. And of course, it wouldn't be believed.

This Investigator had called one of the accused Psychologists who was outwardly willing to communicate but then later refused any calls. It was soon reported a few weeks ago that this Psychologist (who by the way also teaches/taught Ethics) is now involved in litigation that may expose his high percentage of negative evaluations towards females. This would discredit him completely if all comes out.

(There are also similar reports from Orange County of this type of activity however it also includes Judges. Remember, Judges are attorneys who have practiced in their community. If they do not recuse themselves, then there is a problem of influence there.)

Algorithm for Approaches to Treating Patients Wanting to Leave Against Medical Advice

From, Psychosomatics, The Journal of Consultation and Liaison Psychiatry

Brain Mapping Santa Clara County

An anecdote of my travels through the County in determining its actual character...

Some months ago I was speaking to an Attorney who has practiced here in Santa Clara for over 25 years. We were trading stories of sort and he had mentioned that he would never take case against the County as he has seen that the DA's Office uses the police department to go after people to destroy their reputation and thus the case.

In talking to another attorney and a para-legal, both pretty much felt the same way, with the attorney who had a lot of experience in juvenile dependency court, saying it was run in a fascist manner.

Intrigued, I went down to the Independent Police Auditor Office (IPA). This office monitors how the San Jose Police Department handles or doesn't handle complaints against them. I asked the Investigator what percentage of the complaints the IPA receives have to do with police retaliation. According to her, there was very little if any. (However, the number of complaints regarding discourteous, unprofessional conduct by the SJPD has increased dramatically this year.)

Coming Soon: A talk with the Chief of Police and the Commander of Internal Affairs.

Psych Assessment Slammed By Judge

A Psychologist's "expert" evaluation was deemed to have less value than used toilet paper in a decision handed down by a Santa Clara Juvenile Dependency Court Judge last week. In a hotly contested battle between a San Jose family and the Dept. of Family & Children Services, the County attempted to smear a family member through an "expert" psychological assessment.

The psychologist, a hired hand by the County, by the way his assessment read, 'cut and paste' his fairy tale from the case files without verifying any of the data personally in some lower form of tea leaf reading. Apparently, he must have felt his 'Hello, Kitty' Certificate would have enough authority to sway the court.

By the way, in asking the family member when she was interviewed by that psychologist, she exclaimed she didn't even know who that person was let alone being interviewed by him.

Fortunately, the Judge saw through the sham, not only lending no credence to the assessment, but making it a point to specifically highlight the complete bogus nature of it in her Decision.

There are so many different aspects of this case in relation to County Counsel, Social Workers and others in the system that are so mind-boggling, it defies logic, let alone humanity.

In my past meetings with the Director of Family & Children Services, Dr. Norma Sparks, she has always maintained that the Department does everything possible to keep families intact. Well, in this case her Social Workers and Court partners seem to want to make her look dishonest or ...

Warning: Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS)

ILLUSTRATION: Matt Mahurin

Being touted as the replacement for Electro Convulsive Terrorism Therapy (ECT), research has been heading towards official clinical trials on a more wide scale basis. There have been already over 60 trials using magnetic fields. Bottom line is that with Psychiatry's history of failure and abuses this technology will undoubtedly be applied toward controlling Man and not actually helping.

Here is a brief description of the process, as written by these PsychoAnaltrists, in a 1999 article:

Mark S. George, MD; Sarah H. Lisanby, MD; Harold A. Sackeim, PhD

"Transcranial magnetic stimulation involves placing an electromagnetic coil on the scalp. High-intensity current is rapidly turned on and off in the coil through the discharge of capacitors. This produces a time-varying magnetic field that lasts for about 100 to 200 microseconds. The magnetic field typically has a strength of about 2 T* (40,000 times the earth's magnetic field, or about the same intensity as the static magnetic field used in clinical magnetic resonance imaging). The proximity of the brain to the time-varying magnetic field results in current flow in neural tissue."

BTW, Lisanby receives lecture fees and or grants from the manufacturers of the rTMS machines, according to the Journal of ECT where she wrote a lengthy commercial.

(*tesla n. ( Abbr. T ) The unit of magnetic density in the International System of Units.)

Dunce Caps Still in Use in San Jose School

Do San Jose schools still use dunce caps? Several months ago, a complaint was filed against a middle school as a mother's son on more than one occasion was made to wear an orange cone on his head, and sit in the corner in front of the whole class. The teacher told the class to, "ignore the dunce". I don't know what disciplinary action was taken on the teacher but she apparently was transferred to another school. That the boy was african-american, I am sure raised more than a few eyebrows. However, I am sure the School Administrators were surprised to find out that the boy's foster mother was white!

The solution the school district took was, in short, to stonewall the whole thing and attempt to transfer the boy to another school.

This took a turn for the worse when the boy purchased a clear plastic play pellet gun with orange handle from another student. A police officer mirandized the young boy and interrogated him without the parent there. The Vice Principal had the child write a statement, "under penalty of perjury" even thought the boy didn't even know what 'perjury' meant.

Should police be allowed to interrogate our children without parental or legal representation?

Santa Clara Juvenile Court - How Come So Many Hispanics?

I was asked by the mother of a son who is quite probably being railroaded to attend the trial. So, I spent a couple of hours at Juvenile Court today in downtown San Jose. While in the waiting room, there was a complete lack of representation of cultures there; it was majorly hispanic, and then african-american. The lawyers and sheriffs were mostly white though (and the Judge). I don't know what that all means however. Could be nothing.

The mother (african-american) was upset that a police officer was going to be a witness even though he wasn't even present at the scene of the incident but I think that was stopped by her and her Public Defender. The County Counsel made a proposal / deal with the Public Defender but that was turned down. They decided to go for it.

At one point, for a couple of minutes, the Judge was going unconscious, yawning, eyes flickering shut but he valiantly fought through it to his credit. It was a little distracting as I was more interested in seeing if he was going to make it or not than listening to the testimony.

Right now, the case could go either way. Hopefully, the Judge can see through color.

(Un)Social Worker on the Loose

I've been working a case involving CPS taking a 2-year old girl away from her parents. Reportedly, one of the original Social Workers on this case told the father and grandmother to say,"Goodbye", to the young girl because she is 'white' and is easily adoptable. Another Social Worker now on the case was reportedly asked by the Judge why the father's sister was never called back regarding visitation let alone consideration for placement. The Social Worker apparently told the Judge, he had no intention of calling the sister back. This didn't go over too well with the Judge from what I was told. He then had a court order to do an assessment on the sister's house as it was NEVER done in the first place - they were going to just adopt the child out to foster care! While going through the motions of doing that, he tells the sister that he has no intention of granting any visitation or placement to her at all! Unfortunately, for him, the call was on a speaker phone and there was a witness to the call and fortunately for the family, that decision is no longer in his hands. More to come.

Institutional Racism in Santa Clara's Welfare System?

From an October 2006 paper entitled, "Synthesis of Research on Disproportionality in Child Welfare: An Update", by Robert B. Hill, Ph.D.:

"Youth of color, especially blacks and Hispanics, continue to be overrepresented in juvenile institutions. Many studies show that racially disparate treatment occurs at various stages of juvenile processing. For example, black youth are more likely than white youth - with the same offenses - to be referred to juvenile court in order to be detained prior to trial in secure facilities, to be formally charged in juvenile court, to be waived for disposition in adult courts, and to be committed to a juvenile or adult correctional institution. According to one study, about 15 percent of foster children are placed in child welfare because of delinquent behavior or status offenses (Youth Law Center, 2000)."

"Although this summary concludes that race is a factor in CPS (Child Protective Services) decision making at various stages and that there are disparities in the treatment of minority children and families, we are not able to identify the causes of minority disproportionality based on these studies."

Okay - I am sure a pretty penny was paid for that 40 page research paper. I was excited that maybe the ACTUAL reason for the disparity was found but flipping to the end I only found the above quote.

Well, I had been told by Dept of Family & Children Services executives that the situation has been improving over the last couple of years. All I know is that when I go to the courthouse on Terraine street, in downtown San Jose, virtually everyone there is NOT white. And that only took one paragraph to communicate and was free of charge.

Black Yoda, the Chihuahua

There's a moral to this somewhere...

Late last week while driving, I saw a dinky black dog with no collar roaming the streets. Being the sucker for lost dogs, I pulled over to find out what the deal was. This puppy chihuahua was all black, no collar and REALLY small. Due to his black color, round head and huge ears, I temporarily named him, Black Yoda.

Holding him in my lap, I took him to Petsmart, bought some chihuahua food, a chihuahua collar and of course a matching chihuahua leash Then it was off to search for the owner. Being it was Halloween evening, of course every house visited I was offered candy (and sympathy) but no home for Black Yoda.

In a stroke of luck the owner had placed signs at Safeway and my roommate spotted the sign so calls were made to reunify Black Yoda with mom and her son. I handed over Black Yoda, the leash, collar and food. His real name, it turns out is, Taco.

And off they went.

What, no reward?! Not even payback for my expenses?! Whats this world coming to?!!!

Several days later, the owner and her son came over to my house and handed me a home-made banana nut bread cake and a very sincere thank you card!

Another successful investigation - that's why I get paid the big bucks.

Pharmacy Fraud

There's been a scam ongoing for probably over a year here in San Jose, exploiting the elderly Vietnamese. This pharmacy approached these elderly people selling them a service wherein if they forward their prescriptions to the company, it will order the medications from an on-line pharmacy and then deliver the medication to their front door. Excellent service in concept. However, the company added medications to each prescription and then fraudulently billed Medicare. The elderly, who did not speak much english, were not able to understand what was going so started coming forward. Complaints were sent to the San Jose Police Department and Medicare Fraud Unit. The Medicare Fraud Unit is now actively investigating this, interviewing each of the victims.

Throwing the Gauntlet

As an advocate for Human Rights here in Silicon Valley I have encountered no shortage of abuses. I thought it time to communicate broadly in order to raise awareness so that others will not be unsuspectingly victimized.

I have no shortage of people who have contacted my organization pleading for help. From accusations of police brutality, institutional racism, fraud, abuses by CPS (Child Protection Services), injustices by Judges, incompetent and outright criminal behavior by psychologists and psychiatrists, you name it.

This isn't a tabloid blog so there will be no irresponsible name calling and such. But I hope this blog serves to warn others of the traps that exist which will steal your life and your loved one's lives away.

There is a different type of war here in the Silicon Valley. It is about greed, status, fear of change and a long term ingrained mindset of the county that forbids real human rights for EVERYONE unless you have enough money, connections, and the like.

Don't get me wrong, I have also met many wonderful people who are doing what they can to improve society from their position, both in the non-profit sector and various government agencies.

But, until Human Rights exist for ALL, then the job is not done.

So, at this point in time, you might be asking for specific examples.

Here goes:

A few days ago I was contacted by a young man named, "Bob", who was taken by the police to a Psychiatric Center on an involuntary commitment of 72 hours. Bob was reportedly assaulted twice by other patients while in there. He was forced to take psychiatric medications under threat of physical force. Just yesterday he was ordered to an additional 14 day hold including more court-ordered psychiatric medications, three different ones. Bob had not legal representation to speak of. There is more to the story. Bob reported many things, but one thing he said was that his Psychiatrist spoke very little english. There is A LOT more to this whole story, believe me.

Not convinced yet, I imagine...

How about a young toddler being taken away from his parents due to false reports by Social Workers AND psychological assessments done on the parents without the Psychologist even interviewing the parents? The parents thought they would get justice in the court system, however found that to be far from the truth. And this isn't just one isolated case.

And what about the San Jose Police? Well, the last five interactions I have had with a Police Officer resulted in some pretty rude behavior on their part 4 out of 5 times. And four of those times, I had approached them to report possible criminal activity or request simple help.

Well, I started to see why there has been a cry of racism. But in all fairness, I have spoken to the Chief of Police as well as several officers in Internal Affairs and each were courteous and caring.

Tasers? Well, if I was standing next to a cop and a crook came running at me with a stick and he got tasered by the cop, okay, fine by me. If the crook was writhing on the ground in pain and got tasered again, I'd probably start thinking. But 3, 4, 5, 6 or more times? Starting to look like torture to me.

There's A LOT more. Too much. As I continue on this blog, it'll get more technologically fancy and stuff.

If you haven't read the Universal Declaration of Human Rights recently, I strongly suggest you Google it, read them, and decide to do even more to make them a reality.

Come back tomorrow for the story of a fraudulent on-line pharmacy being investigated here in San Jose.