Shot in the Dark

Category: Family Law

  • In Re: The Matter Of Brandon Eich: Comment 1 Of Many

    To:  Gay rights supporters doing the end-zone happy dance (to an impeccable techno beat) over the lynching of Brandon Eich From: Mitch Berg, uppity libertarian-conservative Christian Re:  Forgiveness and Memory Dear activists, To all of you who are doing the end-zone happy dance over the ouster of Brandon Eich as CEO at Mozilla?   A couple…

  • This Is What Democracy Acts Like

    Most people – even pro-“choice” Democrats – h favor some sort of restriction on later-term abortions, like the proposed 20 week limit in Texas: A recent WSJ/NBC news poll has some data that might shock Democrats: Wendy Davis and her sneakers aside, a plurality of Americans support 20 week abortion bans of the kind passed in Texas.…

  • Hold The Straw

    One of the least useful arguments against gay marriage was “so it’s about love?  So if you love your goat, or a child, you could marry them?” Neither goats nor children (age of consent laws notwithstanding) have standing to sign contracts, of course.  It’s kind of a strawman. But the other, inevitable part of the argument…

  • Rear Guard Action

    The GOP minority in the Senate managed to filibuster the daycare union jamdown last night – as in “up until 7AM”. It wasn’t a “filibuster”, per se – the GOP added over 80 amendments to the jamdown, and debated them vigorously.  As of sixish AM, they’d gotten through a couple dozen, with dozens to go,…

  • Upside

    I’ve long said that the upside to any change in the law recognizing “gay marriage” would be that finally, once and for all, we could dispense with the notion of the Magic Gay Couple; more loving, more solid, more just-plain-worthy than all of us dirty imperfect Breeders. Cable TV host David Tutera and his, er, husband…

  • It’s That Ongoing War On Children, I Guess

    Joe Doakes from Como Park emails: Science has spoken.  We must ban divorce, for the future health of the children. You’re not a science denier, are you? Joe Doakes Como Park Silly Doakes. Only the right kind of science counts.

  • Nobody Can Stop At One

    Joe Doakes from Como Park writes to the Minnesota Bar Association: To the Chairman: The amendment to prevent gay marriage from being court-imposed on equal protection grounds, was defeated. Gay marriage is only a matter of time. Our statutes are mostly gender-neutral already, it won’t be hard to adapt to “spouse-spouse.” But after we substitute…

  • Back To The Parental Plantation

    On most issues, I’m pretty detached – clinical, really.  Politics, really, is mostly just politics. But my blood shot from Scandinavian cool to full boil yesterday with the news that our plutocratic playboy rent-a-governor vetoed the Custody Reform bill we talked about earlier this week: Gov. Mark Dayton has vetoed the final bill of 2012, an attempt…

  • Off In Limbo

    With all of the billionaire-pork-bill signing and job-creation-bill-vetoing of the last week of the legislative session, there is one curious omission,. It’s HF 322, the bill to change Minnesota’s family court laws to provide a rebuttable presumption of joint physical custody in divorce cases. That means that unless there is a clear, compelling reason not to –…

  • Hope For Change

    I’ve had not a few things to say about the family law system in this country, and in this state, over the years.  The disintegration of the family is a plague on the society – and needs to be addressed. But while we’re working on fixing that, there’s some slightly-lower-hanging fruit to deal with; the…

  • Marginal Notes On A Marginal Poll

    I’m going to go back to Dave Mindeman’s piece at mnpACT, about the most recent Public Policy Polling (PPP) survey of Minnesota politics, for the numbers on some issues that don’t pertain to Governor Dayton and the Legislature. Minnesota’s constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage is headed for a close vote. 48% of voters say…

  • Toss

    The other day, Sally Jo Sorenson at snarkblog Blue Stem Prairie wrote: Just this morning Bluestem observed that we simply can’t make this stuff up about the Republican Party of Minnesota when it comes to scandal and mayhem. And if she could make stuff up, she’d be writing for Cucking Stool. But I digress: Tonight on…

  • Same Sex Marriage: “Shut Up”, They Explained

    I’ve written about this before; I think the bill requiring a referendum on a Marriage Amendment is…: …a bad idea because I don’t think it’s the sort of stuff that should be in the Constitution. …a great idea because it’ll undercut the DFL in the 2o12 elections.  “But you’re playing politics with civil rights, Berg!”…

  • Chanting Points Memo: “It’s About Rights”

    As I’ve pointed out in the past, I’m deeply ambivalent about pretty much everything in the Gay Marriage mix; gay marriage itself, sure, but straight marriage too, and amending the constitution to protect it as well. Yesterday, if you were at the Capitol, you saw a Madison-like outpouring of support for gay rights and opposition…

  • Theatre Website Of The Absurd

    Further proof that my “Logic For Leftybloggers” series – especially the piece two weeks ago on the Tu Quoque Ad Hominem – is long, looong, lo-o-o-o-ong overdue comes in a piece yesterday at the Minnesota Birkeydependent where Andy Birkey, taking a rare break from covering Bradlee Dean, writes: In testimony before Minnesota Senate and House committees…

  • Why The Marriage Amendment Is A Good Idea

    In my “Why The Marriage Amendment Is A Bad Idea” post, I note that using the full weight and power of government to define marriage is noxious, if you believe in limited government. Of course, the DFL side fully believes in using the full weight and power of government for everything;  they’d vacate the Rights…

  • The Duck Sounds Like A Dog

    Tony Jones, writing at MinnPost,notes that M the “Marriage Amendment” is, as he says, a “ploy”: Dear State Senator Geoff Michel and Representative Pat Mazorol, Your party’s move to put to a statewide vote a constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between a man and a woman is unnecessary (we already have a state law on…

  • The Good Republican (As Of May 3)

    Representative John Kriesel is getting plaudits from the crowd that normally wouldn’t spit on a Republican if he were on fire, because he opposes the GOP’s Marriage Amendment proposal: John Kriesel, R-Cottage Grove, is the first Republican in the Minnesota Legislature to announce his opposition to a proposed amendment to the Minnesota Constitution that would ban…

  • Fighting Fighting With Wedges By Fighting With More Wedges

    Lori Sturdevant demands that we “Just say no to wedge politics” in a piece called, conveniently, “Just say no to wedge politics…” As six middle-aged, white male Republican legislators — all married in the eyes of Minnesota law — left the briefing room Tuesday after announcing their push for a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage,…

  • Submitted Without Comment

    I am a firm believer in the sanctity of marriage. So it’s a tragedy, truly, that Scarlett Johannson and, er, whatshisface are calling it quits: “After long and careful consideration on both our parts, we’ve decided to end our marriage,” they say in a joint statement. “We entered our relationship with love and it’s with…

  • Condolences

    The death of ones’ child is every parent’s worst nightmare; it stalks every parent, I suspect, from birth until the parent isn’t able to worry about it anymore.  There is no lighter side, no joking, no redeeming quality to the subject, even when it’s just a nightmare that you can wake up from. When it’s…

  • The New, Hysterical McCarthyism

    I was a little leery of tackling the Tom Hackbarth story last week.    Not because I didn’t think I had the story right; Hackbarth’s behavior was unseemly, as was that of those who piled on to add detail to the story based purely on innuendo and supposition.   No, I was leery mostly because whenever the…

  • A Matter Of Choice

    As I’ve written in the past, single-sex marriage is not my marquee issue, personally. Oh, I know what I believe; that marriage is about having kids, and kids grow up best with functional parents of both genders.  It’s a belief that should inform a lot of family-law issues (which is why I support gay adoption;…

  • The Game-Changer

    I’ve said it many times in this forum; Gay Marriage isn’t the biggest issue to me. Oh, I believe “marriage” is about a guy and a gal and having kids, sure enough.  I believe that marriage is something sanctioned by the God I believe in.   I believe the religious reason is rooted in an…

  • Cue Alanis Morisette, Part MMCCCLXXVII

    Domestic violence activist caps her hubby of five days: A 45-year-old woman, charged with ending a domestic dispute by killing her 26-year-old husband of five days, is a registered lobbyist for a group fighting domestic violence. Arelisha Bridges was ordered held without bond in the Fulton County Jail. She is scheduled for a preliminary hearing…