Corrupt, Inefficient, Lazy, Stupid

Enough to drive you to Suicide...

You may recognize these words if you've read or seen Alec Baldwin recently as he is referring to his divorce from Hell.

Welcome to our club Alec... They don't interview us for national TV. I wish I would have seen it but I had a power failure. In most cases celebrities could escape the mundane crap regular Joe's are subjected too. But since the divorce system is driven by the judiciary and greed, they can't escape either.

Alec's Quotes

Here are some things Alec said and my response...

"I don't care if the judges and the lawyers die of heart attacks in the process of getting their job done."

Not very likely Alec. These jerks live the good life, better than you. You work long hours on set, they work short hours and adjourn to golf. Their job is to pass out shit and take none, and from their side, they have very low stress.

I pick this quote because its probably a common misconception, so many people probably figure if their was a simple solution we'd see it. Well there is a simple solution, but the resistance will be immense.

• Hold all divorce industry people accountable to new higher ethics standards without loopholes.
• Remove the bar association conflict of interest for judges.
• Citizenry should know about a judge or not vote, if a quorum of informed voters relative to total voters can not be obtained, declare the election null.
• When only one political party is represented, delay the election to the general election so that all voters can decide, rather than letting the party bosses decide. This is a problem that goes beyond the judiciary in this era of two mediocre unresponsive political parties.
• Give the lawyers a taste of their own medicine. When they milk a case, come unprepared, or what ever else, sanction them, then jail them, it won't take long to make major improvements.
• Subject lawyers to consumer protection laws rather than the incestuous union (bar association) they belong to.
  
• Rather than triple billing for errors, require a triple rebate as some consumer laws now dictate by law.
  

Oh but the lawyers won't like this. Too fuckin bad, its for the good of the people, the family structure, the economy, and the innocent child victims. This country was founded by "We the people", not "We the privileged class".

"The judges are like pit bosses in Vegas casinos. Their job is to make sure everybody stays at the table and keeps gambling."

A very interesting analogy, showing the corruption of judges, who aren't interested in solving problems, just keeping lawyers fat and happy so their own bar ratings stay good.

"We all take chances when we get married."

And with this corrupt system where the outcome can ruin your life, one wonders where the future of the institution of marriage that has severed our children well for thousands of years, is headed.

"When I'm with her, I'm happy", said Alec referring to his daughter.

Why is the court so blind to this. A loving parent is happy to be with their child and the child is happy to be with the parent. We were guaranteed the "right to pursue happiness" and the court is constantly interfering. As adults we are more able to cope with this unhappiness, although as an adult we also know that this is inescapable injustice and as such it leads to severe depression. But the innocent child being deprived of access to a loving parent is a serious crime.

And as I advise people, speak up. I did, I let the judge and all the divorce industry representatives present in his chambers, know that the opposition's interference in my custody was child abuse. At that point I was ejected and made to sit in the hall for 10 minutes like a school child caught passing notes. I was called back in where the judge announced that all the guilty parties agreed "No error at law was made". Well la de dah, skip the CYA and call it as it is.

Baldwin Describes 'Parental Alienation Syndrome'

There are groups like NOW that fight fiercely against this in order to maintain the status quo to maintain the upper hand for their members. Interesting that the radical feminist cause trumps the interest of innocent children, even daughters who will grow up to be wounded women by the absence of their Father.

We can only hope Alec makes use of his tremendous wealth to battle the radical and entrenched that are destroying families. This isn't a Father's only issue so it should be resolved for estranged mothers as well.

Corrupt

Today's judiciary is corrupt by design. One of the biggest flaws is management and labor are in the same labor union - the bar association. It is the job of the judge to MANAGE the case, the lawyers and the parties. In a perfect world, a "professional" lawyer would aspire to a set of ethics and conduct and self management. But divorce court will never be confused with "perfect", unless you follow it by "fuckup". When a lawyer is unprepared, opposition counsel can motion for sanctions, they never do. The judge with his almighty god-like power could simply instruct the lawyers or even hold an unprepared lawyer in contempt. That will rarely happen. The judge needs the votes of the bar, the labor union that he is to manage, in order to keep being a judge. Conflict of interest by design.

My judge was well liked by the lawyers. He worked 3 hours per day, and let the lawyers do what ever they wanted, he let them milk the case for all they could get. And when he finally got close to getting in trouble for not managing his case load, he threatened me. How can he threaten me, I vote him in after he gets the bar association backing. But I don't count, because I'm in the minority, he will get re-elected without my vote. Half the people are not there long enough or are not observant enough to catch up to his games. Eighty percent of the voters don't even know who he is and they'll re-elect him because he belongs to an exclusive club, he has brand/name recognition, he belongs to our local political dynasty, guaranteed employment for life unless he really screws up badly.

Inefficient

The divorce court is the most inefficient way of dealing with a troubled marriage. The word doesn't even begin to describe it. Inefficiency is encouraged in the divorce system and goes well with laziness. The use of computers and the method of handling financial issues shows this clearly.

As a computer professional I am truly appalled at their lack of skill. I mention this in a recent post on my Popular Technology Blog. The computer masks their inefficiency with neat laser crisp output, but behind the scenes you see them using yellow pads and long hand math, just as they did in the movie Apollo 13 in 1969, nearly half a century ago. They say the wheels of justice move slow, sometimes I wonder if you can call that moving at all.

If you are lucky they may outsource financial issues, but more likely that will occur only for pension issues that have particular legal issues. Actually you should demand they be separated and sent to a CDFP, a CPA specializing in divorce financial issues. Why? First even this level of CPA is cheaper than any lawyer, second, he knows what he's doing, and third he's not a math moron who could care less like your lawyer is. Oh your finances are simple, lets take this simple problem, 5 components of a house valuation need to add up to the total value of the house. Sound simple for a college graduate? Should be, my 9 year old son can do it. Well that's a sucker bet becuase we're talking about shyster lawyers who don't care. Yes, my lawyer made multiple mistakes of over $10,000 because he left his laptop on his spotless desk with his wonderfully distracting penthouse view. Some scribbling on a yellow pad didn't get transferred to Excel and wha lah, crisp clean computer output with errors.

Another favorite financial tactic favored by math moron lawyers is commingling of disparate funds. This would no doubt make any auditor, CPA, or financially trained person loose their lunch. There is a reason that you can't commingle the values of a house (illiquid), savings (liquid), investments (commissions), pensions (should be, but are not protected, tax consequences). If you want to take your chances that they will err in your favor, consider Vegas, your odds are better, otherwise consider a CDFP.

But that's OK, because my lawyer billed for screwing up, billed for the argument that it took for me to convince him that he really couldn't add 5 numbers and that he and not Excel made the error, and then I had to pay for him to correct it. Where else can you triple your income by being a fuckup? (jqism) Powerful incentive to be inefficient and lazy. Dumb? No I don't think so.

Lazy

There are huge incentives to be lazy. If a judge were to actually manage his cases and the lawyers, they would become bothered and withdraw their valuable bar rating causing him to loose his job. So for the judge to be popular, he lets the lawyers run wild, its easy. The lawyer's don't care about the specifics of your case, they have a worn out cookie cutter they will use, its easy and they still get paid. And sometimes even the divorcing parties are lazy, failing to manage these lawyer consultants on their payroll. Lawyer's make that difficult.

Stupid

Now I have a disagreement here. I'll admit that they act stupid, but I don't believe they are truly stupid. They're stupid like a fox. They pretend to be stupid when it suits their purpose. They appear stupid because they don't give a shit. They get paid no matter what, so they don't care to do things right. A contingency lawyer or corporate lawyer get paid for results, divorce lawyers get paid no matter what.

Don't give a shit

Back in the 60s it was the summer of peace and love, now in the 21st century we live in a time where no one gives a shit about anything. My judge has a cushy job for life, only works 3 hours a day and gets paid over $100,000 a year. He gets paid whether or not he's working, no matter how many lives he ruins by his inattention. He even steals money from kids to pay lawyers. And still he gets paid, after all he is the closet to having God like power on Earth. Why? Because many uninformed voters who could give a shit about who the judges are, vote for the local brand name, members of several political dynasty families. We left the land of royalty two centuries ago because we believed that the people not blood lines should rule. How ironic that we forgot why the hell we came here and are voting for blood lines. God save the queen, why don't we bring her over here to rule, then we wouldn't have to be bothered voting.

Suicide

Alec Baldwin said he prayed his life would end. He seriously contemplated suicide and the only thing that stopped him is his concern for his daughter loosing her father. What anguish. Those of us in it know the feeling. We wrestle with it. We wonder how much more we can take before we explode, before we run to escape the heavy hand of the judiciary gone wild. NCP Father's have one of the highest suicide rates around. I understand it well, and this blog is like the tip of the iceberg, you are seeing maybe 10% of the anguish I have experienced. At over 300 posts, I easily have 3000 more I could write. And even then, these are just words, their is no way to fully describe the terrible feelings that you experience.

It's all about money

No surprise here, the root of the evil in the divorce system is money. Ultimately they are stealing from the children which is truly evil. Even the guardian's who are paid to protect the children's interest are not immune from the greedy feeding frenzy. The system is designed to suck you clean of all your money. And by that I mean all of it. What you have, what you saved, your pension, social security, retirement accounts, even the home you live in.

There is a whole industry of lawyers, social workers, psychological testing, custody evaluators, parenting monitor and classes, every one with their greedy little hands scooping money out of your child's piggy bank like a starving glutton.

If you want a nice visual on this, watch Intolerable Cruelty where George Clooney has nightmares about becoming his boss, a man barely alive but still obsessed with billable hours. I have to warn you, it will either make you laugh or cry, there isn't much in between. If it makes you laugh its because it hits the mark. If it makes you cry its because your judiciary inflicted wounds are still to fresh.

If you have no children, well they're still stealing. If you have no money, they'll find some you didn't know you had. If you are living in a box under a bridge, then they just won't take your case.

Change is avoided

In today's brave new world order of globalization and short term profit motives, we as people are expected to be infitately flexible, innovative, and adaptable, as if we were made of liquid rather than thin flesh and brittle bone. But the justice system is immune to the world around it, creeping at its petty pace, loosing races with snails as it steadfastly avoids change in every aspect of the justice system.

Many people are college educated, nearly everyone is literate. Why does the court require we pay our entire life saving to someone who used to represent the uneducated and illiterate? And they do this despite evidence that shows that a party is in fact representing themselves better than a lawyer. What? Do I blaspheme? Am I arrogant? Nope, I give a shit about the outcome and the lawyers don't. For me this is about my life savings and my own flesh and blood, for them I am just a billing code that is another step toward full partner. That my friends is an advantage that can not be underestimated.

If you want anything done better than half ass, you've got to give a shit. Pun Intended. (jqism)

Here's the routine, your lawyer goes behind closed doors and bullshits with various court employees, flirting with cute ones, socializing, on your dime, while you are expected to sit in the hall like an statue or an asshole quietly staring ahead at the wall symbolizing your respect for the "honorable" court. Day after day, losing work and pay. Forty five days for me. All in the off chance that someone may need you to answer a question, which they rarely do, especially with lax case management. If you protest this old bad habit, you are threatened with contempt and a bench warrant for your arrest, at your work place which will earn you some points with your employer. In this day and age of cell phones etc, is there a reason for this other than "tradition".

Economic Devastation

The economic devastation done to both parents, the children, and the wide ripple effect hitting their creditors as they can't meet their bills, while parasite lawyers feed on their misery is nothing short of legalized thievery.

Family Devastation

An unrepairable marriage is a shame. But the court system takes repairable marriages, ups the antagonism, plays on emotions, lies to obtain cooperation of their clients into this financial and family structure suicide.

Conclusion

So I'm glad ABC News decided to run a story on this underbelly of our government. But will anything move forward? Or will people just shake their heads and be happy that it didn't happen to them, happy not giving a shit?

For all of you in that category, consider this, there for the grace of God go you... You've been lucky, I was too, for quite some time, but when you're luck runs out and you are dragged into court, get ready for the most stomach churning ride of your life. You will be lucky to get out alive, but you won't think so, you won't have a shred of dignity, money, or hope, that will be squeezed out of you like blood from a rock.

And worst of all you will be demoted from Father to NCP. As a Father you take so much for granted, as an NCP, you will need to fight for every inch on the miles of rights you used to have.

BTW, I have "shared" custody in name only. But when I read the 91 pages of divorce decree I had all the restrictions of an NCP and then some. When I noticed this they said well that's so you have a "path to normalcy". So they can milk me for each attempt to remove an NCP limitation for the next decade. A piece of shit by any other name is still a piece of shit, cover it in sugar and you won't be fooled. This call it one thing to make it more palatable is frequently used, just as passing out final decrees that are far from over.


Status: Final Draft - Last Updated 09/22/08 5:50 PM
Post has been split, this post only deals with the Interview Press Release
The next one will deal with the Book Excerpt
And the third will deal with the reaction, as reported by others.