New Code of Conduct for Judges Adopted

Apparently this is the first established code of conduct for judges. It is overseen by Judges to enforce this when complaints are received of judicial wrongdoing.

The first link is to the Code which is a pdf file and the second link is the news article on this.

http://www.uscourts.gov/library/Proposed_Revised_Code_02-29-08.pdf

http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1205232267963

While it is a first step, the question is whether or not the Judges can oversee themselves effectively.

Public Oversight Being Outlawed?

I received an alert regarding an Assembly Bill that was heard last week. I thought you should be made aware of it:

"AB 1877 (Adams) is being heard on by the CA Assembly Judiciary Committee Tuesday March 25. This bill would make disclosing a custody evaluation report an act that would potentially allow the court to sanction you and remove your child. This is a report you paid a great deal of money for. This would mean that you could not show the report to an oversight agency, your therapist, law enforcement, or any organization trying to bring sunlight into the dark family court system."

"Existing law provides that in any contested proceeding involving child custody or visitation rights, the court may appoint a child custody evaluator to conduct a child custody evaluation in cases
where the court determines it is in the best interests of the child. If directed by the court, the court-appointed child custody evaluator shall file a written confidential report on his or her evaluation, which report shall not be made available other than as specified. In addition, any information obtained from access to a juvenile court case file is confidential and shall only be disseminated as specified."

"This bill would provide that the unwarranted disclosure of the report may result in the imposition by the court of specified sanctions. Furthermore, when making orders regarding the physical or legal custody of the child, the court shall consider the unwarranted disclosure of the report in determining the best interests of the child. The bill would require that the Judicial Council, by January 1, 2010, adopt a form that informs the report recipient of the confidentiality of the report and the potential consequences for the unwarranted disclosure of the report; and adopt a rule to require that, when a court-ordered child custody evaluation report is served on the parties, the form shall be included with the report."

If this or any other type of similar bill that uses confidentiality to avoid oversight is passed, we are in big trouble. Remember, not all Judges, attorneys, social workers and Evaluators are honest, caring and competent

If you've been reading my post, we have had "judges" who do crossword puzzles and solitaire during Juvenile Dependency hearings, Evaluators who 'evaluate' without even SEEING the person, and other, at best, incompetent activities.

Oversight IS in the best interest of the children.

Where's the Judge?

As blogged several times over the past months I have been following a case wherein an African -American teen was the subject of an alleged racially motivated communication by a Judge in the Juvenile Delinquency Court. This case was also covered in depth a couple of months ago in the Metro News where it was reported that the District Attorney in the case took the fall for making the remark. The case is still ongoing but reportedly the Judge in this case has been ironically or coincidently transferred to Civil court last week.

Over in the Dependency court, I have continued to get reports of injustice by a "Judge" there. Even the BAR Association's recent 2007 Survey listed this judge as one of the lower ranked ones as far as being fair, etc. There are several families that I know of that are scrambling to get out of that courtroom so they can get a fair hearing. Reportedly, even County Counsel and the DA in one case are conspiring to get out of this Judge's courtroom.

And another complaint by a man who was held hostage in Fremont Hospital saying he was forcibly drugged with power psych drugs. He is really pissed off. (This usually takes a Judge to okay from what I know, but it wouldn't surprise me if that wasn't followed.

Look For Yourself, Find Out For Yourself

Thinking for Yourself is Now a Crime Published on Saturday, January 05, 2008.

By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS

What was the greatest failure of 2007? President Bush's "surge" in Iraq? The decline in the value of the US dollar? Subprime mortgages? No. The greatest failure of 2007 was the newly sworn in Democratic Congress.

The American people's attempt in November 2006 to rein in a rogue government, which has committed the US to costly military adventures while running roughshod over the US Constitution, failed. Replacing Republicans with Democrats in the House and Senate has made no difference.

The assault on the US Constitution by the Democratic Party is as determined as the assault by the Republicans. On October 23, 2007, the House passed a bill sponsored by California Democratic congresswoman Jane Harman, chairwoman of a Homeland Security subcommittee, that overturns the constitutionally guaranteed rights to free expression, association, and assembly.

The bill passed the House on a vote of 404-6. In the Senate the bill is sponsored by Maine Republican Susan Collins and apparently faces no meaningful opposition.

Harman's bill is called the "Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act. "When HR 1955 becomes law, it will create a commission tasked with identifying extremist people, groups, and ideas. The commission will hold hearings around the country, taking testimony and compiling a list of dangerous people and beliefs. The bill will, in short, create massive terrorism in the United States. But the perpetrators of terrorism will not be Muslim terrorists; they will be government agents and fellow citizens.

We are beginning to see who will be the inmates of the detention centers being built in the US by Halliburton under government contract.

Who will be on the "extremist beliefs" list? The answer is: civil libertarians, critics of Israel, 9/11 skeptics, critics of the administration's wars and foreign policies, critics of the administration's use of kidnapping, rendition, torture and violation of the Geneva Conventions, and critics of the administration's spying on Americans. Anyone in the way of a powerful interest group--such as environmentalists opposing politically connected developers--is also a candidate for the list.

The "Extremist Beliefs Commission" is the mechanism for identifying Americans who pose "a threat to domestic security" and a threat of "homegrown terrorism" that "cannot be easily prevented through traditional federal intelligence or law enforcement efforts."

This bill is a boon for nasty people. That SOB who stole your girlfriend, that hussy who stole your boyfriend, the gun owner next door--just report them to Homeland Security as holders of extreme beliefs. Homeland Security needs suspects, so they are not going to check. Under the new regime, accusation is evidence. Moreover, "our" elected representatives will never admit that they voted for a bill and created an "Extremist Belief Commission" for which there is neither need nor constitutional basis.

That boss who harasses you for coming late to work--he's a good candidate to be reported; so is that minority employee that you can't fire for any normal reason. So is the husband of that good-looking woman you have been unable to seduce. Every kind of quarrel and jealousy can now be settled with a phone call to Homeland Security.

Soon Halliburton will be building more detention centers.

Americans are so far removed from the roots of their liberty that they just don't get it. Most Americans don't know what habeas corpus is or why it is important to them. But they know what they want, and Jane Harman has given them a new way to settle scores and to advance their own interests.

Even educated liberals believe that the US Constitution is a "living document" that can be changed to mean whatever it needs to mean in order to accommodate some new important cause, such as abortion and legal privileges for minorities and the handicapped. Today it is the "war on terror" that the Constitution must accommodate. Tomorrow it can be the war on whomever or whatever.

Think about it. More than six years ago the World Trade Center and Pentagon were attacked. The US government blamed it on al Qaeda. The 9/11 Commission Report has been subjected to criticism by a large number of qualified people--including the commission's chairman and co-chairman.

Since 9/11 there have been no terrorist attacks in the US. The FBI has tried to orchestrate a few, but the "terrorist plots" never got beyond talk organized and led by FBI agents. There are no visible extremist groups other than the neoconservatives that control the government in Washington. But somehow the House of Representatives overwhelmingly sees a need to create a commission to take testimony and search out extremist views (outside of Washington, of course).

This search for extremist views comes after President Bush and the Justice (sic) Department declared that the President can ignore habeas corpus, ignore the Geneva Conventions, seize people without evidence, hold them indefinitely without presenting charges, torture them until they confess to some made up crime, and take over the government by declaring an emergency. Of course, none of these "patriotic" views are extremist.

The search for extremist views follows also the granting of contracts to Halliburton to build detention centers in the US. No member of Congress or the executive branch ever explained the need for the detention centers or who the detainees would be. Of course, there is nothing extremist about building detention centers in the US for undisclosed inmates.

Clearly the detention centers are not meant to just stand there empty. Thanks to 2007's greatest failure--the Democratic Congress--there is to be an "Extremist Beliefs Commission" to secure inmates for Bush's detention centers.

President Bush promises us that the wars he has launched will cause the "untamed fire of freedom" to "reach the darkest corners of our world." Meanwhile in America the fire of freedom has not only been tamed but also is being extinguished.

The light of liberty has gone out in the United States.

Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Contributing Editor of National Review. He is coauthor of The Tyranny of Good Intentions. He can be reached at: PaulCraigRoberts@yahoo.com

Copyright © 2006-2007 BlackListedNews.com

A Review of Crestwood Behavioral Treatment Center

I received an email from a woman regarding her experience with Crestwood in San Jose. First, here is Crestwood's philosophy from their website:

"Each consumer on our campus... is given an individual rehabilitation plan, empowering and motivating consumers to be active participants in their recovery. Our personalized recovery plans help consumers develop skills to allow them to achieve a more independent, productive and satisfying lifestyle."

Here is the review: "Crestwood is horrible…it’s a warehouse basically. What concerned me initially was I was never asked for my ID when I would visit the youth who is now by law an adult. Never…I could have been anyone, and walked right in the door. In the person’s words that 'lived' there, 'I’m learning how to be a criminal.' Contraband was constantly being smuggled in – as this person would tell me, 'guess I’m getting high tonight.' I guess that’s nothing new if one is put in that sort of environment however, he was supposed to get well there. Moreover whenever I questioned anything I was either not taken seriously or blamed or told, 'This is the way it is.' It's almost threatening to voice any concern and I really think it's because they don't want to be held accountable, so they make it imposing to voice a concern or complaint. Is that not what and how historically all human rights' injustices have been handled?"

Inside the 'Broken' System -The Beat Goes On

A few weeks ago I had opportunity to visit a Social Services executive where the subject of the recent San Jose Mercury series re Juvenile Dependency was brought up. This was right after Mr. Gary Proctor retired from his Dependency Services business but before his tragic suicide. There was a little consternation that the sudden retirement would leave the court system in a lurch, also not giving much time to find another firm to take on the representation of parents who enter the foster care system. That, at that time, those that had bid to take it on submitted higher bids than was already being expended was seen as an unfortunate ironic outcome of the Mercury series.

We covered the history of CPS and its relationship to the District Attorney's Office (who represent the children) and the Legal Dependency Services (representing the parents) which was both illuminating and somewhat validating. I had started to see that the DA's office actually ran the whole show, with Social Workers and Dependency Services following their lead. This had been denied months ago when I brought it up to another person, but it was virtually confirmed with this higher-up administrator. A former District Attorney had priorly been in Juvenile Dependency and was the most knowledgable in dependency matters so 'everyone' deferred to the DA office on such matters. So, the playing field was greatly slanted to the point that Social Workers was in essence working for the District Attorney Office. This, reportedly, has been gradually being rectified but still has some ways to go.

Of course, the District Attorney Office has their own Social Workers on the payroll which I never understood and neither does Social Services! Especially when the DA's Social Worker that I encountered were doing 'assessments' of a grandmother and father without even interviewing them! They must be damn good to pull that off especially when a judge accepts their 'findings'.

Funny enough, it was commented on how the Reporter for the SJ Merc, Karen DaSa was not trusted due to past experiences with the reporter not accurately reporting the data, slanting it, or reporting unverified data as fact when not verified. But the point here was that the Judges were not ratted out on since they were quite probably the source of information for the reporter. I responded agreeably, saying I know of one 'judge' that should have been exposed. As it turned out we were both talking about the same 'Judge' in dependency services. So not only are the parents complaining about this person but also Social Services!

Tragically, a couple of weeks later, Mr. Gary Proctor committed suicide. The only comment here from me on that are the various reactions that I received from parents and such who were involved with his dependency services; from pointing the finger at the San Jose Mercury News to 'conspiracy theory' type allegations, I found very interesting. My take is that I had not helped straighten out this mess fast enough which has now resulted in another life wasted.

I then walked over to the Office of County Counsel who represent CPS to clear the air on a couple of accusations that had been sent to me. That went well enough and hope that subject doesn't come up again. However, the SJ Merc News series came up and it was mentioned how surprised they were upon reading that someone in the DA Office would actually falsify records which came as a surprise to me since all the complaints I get is that false reports are a common occurrence with everyone involved to one degree or another. It was a fine meeting overall and hopefully will be useful in resolving other complaints.

An interesting lesson in civics and politics.

Meanwhile, I continue to get complaints from parents regarding Social Workers, a certain 'judge', and the lawyers involved in this system that are supposed to be Court Partners to act in the best interest of the children and keeping families together.