BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

If there was ever a good reason to get a plan together to get the U.S. out of Iraq in due time, the assault & rape of our women in uniform is a very good one. I am all for equality. I was born with a couple genetic problems that would have precluded me from joining the military. But my father, of blessed memory, was in the Army. My uncle, of blessed memory, was a Navy War Hero who was on a ship sunk by the Germans and spent some time in a military hospital after rescuing a number of men. My father in law, also of blessed memory, was in the Canadian Army and served in the U.K. during World War II, having done hand to hand combat with German soldier. There's a graveyard in Oxford, Mass. with gravestones with my last name on them - many of them fought as infantry and naval men during the Revolutionary War. I believe that while war is profane, defense is compulsory. And if you're an able bodied woman, who wants to serve their country via the military - I say - go for...

Oh yes -- our tax dollars HARD at work: From THE CONFLUENCE: WASHINGTON (AFP) - CIA agents are offering the potency drug Viagra and other gifts to win over Afghan warlords in the US-led war against Taliban insurgents, the Washington Post reported on Friday. Alright, why does the CIA hate Afghani women and goats so much they have to hand over viagra to warlords? "Whatever it takes to make friends and influence people — whether it’s building a school or handing out Viagra,” one CIA operative who has worked in Afghanistan was quoted as saying. The aging chieftains often have up to four wives and are open to the Viagra pill as a way to “put them back in an authoritative position,” said another official... Life is now much more HARD in the Afghani resistance. It seems giving out birthcontrol to hapless burkha-clad women is a problem, but giving viagra to their nasty old husbands is strategy to win the war on terrorism. If most of these old dudes have at least four wives a...

A new study in Qatar shows that 42% of women support the use of violence against them, prompting calls for an education campaign in the Gulf emirate with the popular tribal saying that "A sister is one hair in her brother's beard." The study conducted by the Supreme Council for Family Affairs in Qatar revealed that 41.97% of Qatari women believe they deserve the physical abuse at the hands of their male relatives. "Many of these girls have suffered rape and sexual harassment, but violence also includes beating and psychological abuse," said Kulthum Al Ghanem, Professor of Social Sciences at Qatar University and author of the study. The study revealed that husbands rank first in the list of abusers, followed by brothers and fathers. Beating and physical assault is the most prevalent form of domestic violence (65%), followed by insults and name calling. The study also registered other forms of abuse, such as deprivation of basic rights, rape, forced pregnancy, div...

I have told 3 judges and number of the abuse victims I coach: ANGER MANAGEMENT DOESN'T WORK ON THESE GUYS. Sometimes its uncomfortable being right. Some things need no comment. This is one of them. Man hits woman on way to anger control class 27-year-old Minnesota man pleads guilty to fifth-degree assault charges Justin John Boudin may have done his anger management homework, but he apparently didn't learn his lesson. The 27-year-old Minnesota man pleaded guilty to fifth-degree assault charges for losing his temper on the way to class. According to the criminal complaint, Boudin was waiting at a bus stop in August when he harassed a 59-year-old woman. Witnesses say he yelled "Why don't you show me some respect?" at the woman. The complaint says when she took out her cell to call police, he punched her in the face. When a 63-year-old man tried to stop him, Boudin hit him with a blue folder. Then he ran, dropping the folder. Police were able to track him down usin...

WHAT. THE. F***?!?!?!? I'm trying to think of an award "worthy" of this judge in Maryland. Or perhaps a combo of awards... I used to paralegal and believe me, I met more bad lawyers than I did good. But this? Well, this kinda judge is in a class all his own! Please let me know what you think after reading this: Deluded Judge Suggests Domestic Violence Victim: Wanted to Be Hit By Karen Houppert Domestic violence cases are notoriously difficult to prosecute. But every once in a while, prosecutors get handed the tools for a conviction on a silver platter: An impartial eyewitness who just happens to be a police officer. Such was the case in a domestic violence trial that made the local papers here in Maryland last week. A cop pulling into an Exxon station saw a man hit his girlfriend in the face three times, called in back-up and had the man arrested. But according to Anne Arundel County Circuit Judge Paul Harris, who is "probably as against domestic violence as anybod...

BRAUNSTEIN'S TRIFECTA: ANGRY, VINDICTIVE or MENTALLY ILL The Virginia Tech massacre is not that far behind us - we still worry about the stigma of those with mental health issues and how to deal with its sufferers in an equitable fashion. My latest trial fixation was on the Peter Braunstein case. Braunstein's defense made the age old 'but he was mentally ill and no responsible' plea. They even went so far as to try to paint his ex-girlfriend as a sexual temptress who drove him to it. (how many times do ex boyfriends try this one on a much smaller scale everyday?) Baruch Hashem the jury saw through that in uner 4 hours. Braunstein is obviously mentally ill but there is a legal element distinguishing what he did from that of a deranged person - he was calculating. He assaulted & raped a woman, set up a situation to have her let him into her house to do so, and then ran from NYC going to hotels, flophouses and see hookers along the way only to end the chase with a...

BLAMING THE VICTIM IS SHAMEFUL I can't stand injustice. I never could. I got myself in trouble repeatedly at school for telling the truth and not knowing when to keep my mouth shut. My father, of blessed memory, had this same problem. He ended up as a Lieutenant with the Sheriff's Department where he lived. Me? I just vent about it on this blog... (and in therapy). When I worked as a paralegal there were times I had to go to court to file papers or get the clerk for a particular judge to sign off on them. I got to sit through some proceedings or parts of them that really disgusted me. But this one in the news recently is particularly heinous. Since learning about Destructive Narcissism and Sociopathy and now working with Domestic Violence victims, who, like me, were victimized by people like this - certain trials have fascinated me. O.J. was interesting but obvious after all was said and done. The BTK Killer was good. Scott Peterson was personally riveting because he w...