Family Court

Most of my friends have had little to do with family court. Congratulations. It's a strange place.

It's been nearly two years since I separated from my husband. I've learned more about family law and family court that I ever wanted to know. For instance, I've learned that an abusive ex-spouse can continue their abuse through the court system.

I've also learned that justice isn't necessarily just.

Let me tell you about my friends, Mister-M and DW. Mister-M is the author of a blog called The Psycho Ex-Wife. Here's his description of the blog.

"The Psycho Ex Wife is the story about a marriage, divorce, and subsequent custody fight between a loving man, his terroristic ex-wife who is strongly suspected of suffering from Borderline Personality Disorder (at least from our armchair psychologist diagnosis), and the husband's new partner. It is based on true events. . . .

We hope that by sharing this story, we will effect change in the divorce cartel. We don't sugarcoat issues, although we do try to protect the innocent. You will read actual e-mails, transcripts, false child abuse charges, and custody evaluations, the result of over $80,000 in legal fees (not including the psycho ex wife's legal bills) and 4-years of litigation."

Mister-M's blog is not so different from my own. He began anonymously writing on the internet about what had happened to cause the end of his marriage, and then continued on writing about the events of his life. Just like me. He never used real names or photos of anyone involved. Just like me. I don't know what part of the country he lives in or even what time zone he's in. It's all very anonymous.

But now his blog has been shut down by a judge.

I guess the reason this upsets me is because I'm afraid that will BE me someday. Maybe Mister-M went too far. I don't know for sure. All I know for sure is that I learned a tremendous amount from his experiences in dealing with an extremely difficult ex-spouse. And I don't want to lose that resource. And I want it to be there for other people who have an extremely difficult ex-spouse.

Freedom of Speech in the blogosphere

This is the first in a series of posts I will be writing about a situation that is going on with a fellow blogger.  The situation is simply too long and complicated to put in a single post.  I hope you will stick around over the next few days.

The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America says:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Freedom of speech. . . it's something that citizens of the good ol' USA hold dear.  Over the past 235 years many men and women have fought and died to preserve the rights of citizens to proclaim truth.  The freedom to speak or publish your own ideas and opinions is central to American culture.  It's a freedom that we don't always appreciate until we see it threatened.

One of our founding fathers, James Madison, had this to say, "I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations."

Today, I'm here to report to you a "gradual and silent encroachment" on this freedom by none other than...a court of law.

Yes.  A fellow blogger has been ordered by a judge to take down his anonymous blog and to make sure that it cannot be found online by search engines.

And if this blogger cannot do this impossible task, the judge may find him in contempt and throw him in jail.