Absurdistan In America

Quote:

"Thus does child support simultaneously corrupt both public
ethics and private morals, turning children into cash prizes and
even "cash crops." One girl tells a Toronto newspaper of her
savvy career plans: "I'm going to marry a really rich guy, then
divorce him," she says. "But first I'm going to have his kids, so
I get child support.""

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Absurdistan in America
http://mensnewsdaily.com/archive/a-e...ille092503.htm
September 25, 2003

by Stephen Baskerville, Ph.D.


In Iowa, the government has confiscated the savings of
11-year-old Rylan Nitzschke. Rylan saved $220 from chores and
shoveling snow, but that now belongs to Iowa. Why? Rylan's father
allegedly owes child support (to Rylan), and his father's name
was on the boy's bank account.
OK, so this is a mistake, and Iowa will return the boy's savings,
right? Wrong. State officials have no intention of returning the
money. After all, they receive federal funds for each dollar they
collect (and for each father they incarcerate). Rylan's piggy
bank helps balance the budget.
As Congress prepares to pass the Welfare Reform bill, the
Washington Times reports that child support enforcement officials
are ecstatic over provisions that will allow them to plunder and
criminalize more citizens, using children as the justification.
Yet no evidence indicates that there is, or ever has been, a
problem of unpaid child support other than that created by the
government. The child support "crisis" consists of little more
than the government seizing people's children, imposing patently
impossible debts on parents (and others) who have done nothing to
incur those debts, and then arresting those who, quite
predictably, cannot pay.
Now this dishonest and discredited hoax is creating a Western
version of "Absurdistan" - the name given by East European
dissidents to the Soviet dictatorships that were not only
repressive but, at times, simply buffoonish.
West Virginia officials cleaned out the bank account of an
85-year-old grandmother whose son allegedly owed child support.
The son paid in none of the $6,450 taken from the account, which
comprised her life savings. She was also charged a $75 processing
fee.
Canada has a name for such grandmothers: "deadbeat accomplices."
These are grandparents, second wives, or other relatives, who can
be forced to disclose and part with their savings to government
officials.
In California, minor boys raped by adult women must pay child
support to the criminals who raped them. "State law entitles the
child to support from both parents, even though the boy is
considered the victim of statutory rape," the district attorney's
office says. One boy was drugged before the sex. Kansas courts
have likewise held that "the issue of consent to sexual activity
under the criminal statutes is irrelevant in a civil action to
determine paternity and for support of a minor child born of such
activity." So much for not letting criminals profit from their
crimes.
The elderly can also become targets of rape-for-profit. A
disabled 85-year-old man, sexually assaulted by his housekeeper
and awarded damages for the assault, was ordered to pay her child
support, and his pension was garnished. The court denied him
access to the child.
According to the Keystone Cops who enforce child support, a
"child" is not a dependent minor but any recipient of their
chivalry. "We've got some 40- to 45-year-old 'kids' running
around who are owed child support," says Nick Young, enforcement
director in Virginia. In Ohio, a 77-year-old great grandfather
who had always paid on time was told he owed $45,000 in back
child support and had his wages garnished, even though his
youngest child was 46 years old.
In Canada, runaway children sue their parents for child support.
In California, a 50-year-old divorce lawyer successfully sued his
own parents for child support because, he said, depression
rendered him unable to work. Startlingly, such suits were
probably intended by a legislature dominated by trial lawyers.
Judge Melinda Johnson observed that the statute is "unambiguous,"
and an attorney notes, "The statute didn't come about by
accident."
In Canada and Australia, stepfathers are now ordered to pay the
custodians of their stepchildren. Stuart Miller of the American
Fathers Coalition comments wryly that such rulings open the door
to multiple marriages to obtain multiple child support proceeds
from multiple men without the inconvenience of multiple children.
In fact, this is already happening, as judges allow
"double-dipping," whereby both the biological father and
stepfather are ordered to pay full child support to the same
custodian for the same children.
Child support has little to do with providing for children. Its
purpose is to redistribute money - and power - among grown-ups.
Iowa officials say the only way Rylan's father can prevent the
looting of Rylan's savings in the future is to give the boy's
money to the adult with custody.
But the miracle is that Rylan bothers with chores at all. Rylan's
father "owes" his son money, according to the government, not
because Rylan earns it through hard work but because his mother
divorced the old man. Rylan can simply demand the money of his
father, and the state will make him cough it up. Why teach
youngsters to work when you can teach them to sue.
Indeed, some states now force fathers to pay college tuition. So
kids, don't work to save for college or study hard for a
scholarship. If you can convince your mother to divorce your
father, the government will force Dad to pay at the barrel of a
gun. Once fathers can be forced to pay law school tuition the
machine will be completely self-financing.
States create instant deadbeats simply by increasing burdens. In
Virginia, the author of sharply increased guidelines, William
Rodgers of William and Mary College, tells officials that if they
do not like his formula, he would "create a schedule to suit."
Presumably Dr. Rodgers proposes the guidelines he considers fair
and reasonable. But if Virginia officials prefer guidelines that
are not fair and reasonable, he can provide those too. This is
Groucho Marx government: "Those are my principles. If you don't
like them, I have others."
Thus does child support simultaneously corrupt both public ethics
and private morals, turning children into cash prizes and even
"cash crops." One girl tells a Toronto newspaper of her savvy
career plans: "I'm going to marry a really rich guy, then divorce
him," she says. "But first I'm going to have his kids, so I get
child support."

Stephen Baskerville
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--
" I'm a man... But, I can change... If I have to... I guess. "
The Man Prayer, Red Green.

On Fri, 26 Sep 2003 15:53:54 +0000, Andre Lieven wrote:

Quote:

"Thus does child support simultaneously corrupt both public ethics and
private morals, turning children into cash prizes and even "cash crops."
One girl tells a Toronto newspaper of her savvy career plans: "I'm going
to marry a really rich guy, then divorce him," she says. "But first I'm
going to have his kids, so I get child support.""

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Absurdistan in America
http://mensnewsdaily.com/archive/a-e...ille092503.htm
September 25, 2003

by Stephen Baskerville, Ph.D.

Is'nt it amusing when the prosecute the Tyco's and Enron's of our country
for the same thing the government does wholesale on a daily basis.

What's even more amusing is the fact that the average, uh, person on the
street is oblivious.

NOT!

On Fri, 26 Sep 2003 15:53:54 +0000, Andre Lieven wrote:

Quote:

"Thus does child support simultaneously corrupt both public ethics and
private morals, turning children into cash prizes and even "cash crops."
One girl tells a Toronto newspaper of her savvy career plans: "I'm going
to marry a really rich guy, then divorce him," she says. "But first I'm
going to have his kids, so I get child support.""

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Absurdistan in America
http://mensnewsdaily.com/archive/a-e...ille092503.htm
September 25, 2003

by Stephen Baskerville, Ph.D.

Is'nt it amusing when the prosecute the Tyco's and Enron's of our country
for the same thing the government does wholesale on a daily basis.

What's even more amusing is the fact that the average, uh, person on the
street is oblivious.

NOT!

On Fri, 26 Sep 2003 15:53:54 +0000, Andre Lieven wrote:

Quote:

"Thus does child support simultaneously corrupt both public ethics and
private morals, turning children into cash prizes and even "cash crops."
One girl tells a Toronto newspaper of her savvy career plans: "I'm going
to marry a really rich guy, then divorce him," she says. "But first I'm
going to have his kids, so I get child support.""

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Absurdistan in America
http://mensnewsdaily.com/archive/a-e...ille092503.htm
September 25, 2003

by Stephen Baskerville, Ph.D.

Is'nt it amusing when the prosecute the Tyco's and Enron's of our country
for the same thing the government does wholesale on a daily basis.

What's even more amusing is the fact that the average, uh, person on the
street is oblivious.

NOT!