NPO Blog Archive

“Marion Jones was sentenced Friday to six months in prison for lying about using steroids and a check-fraud scam, despite her plea that she not be separated from her two young children ‘even for a short period of time.’

“‘I ask you to be as merciful as a human being can be,’ said Jones, who cried on her husband’s shoulder after she was sentenced…

“As she beseeched the judge for a lighter sentence, the disgraced former Olympic champion talked at length about her children, including the infant son she’s still nursing.”–SI.com, 1/11/08

Throughout the family law system and to a lesser degree the criminal law system, mothers are able to avoid taking full responsibility for their actions, misdeeds, or crimes by hiding behind their children. Disgraced former Olympian Marion Jones tries the same shtick here, though (surprisingly) it didn’t work too well. If she were white and as pretty as Debra Lafave she probably could have avoided jail altogether.

The full story is below. Thanks to Ronald, a reader, for sending it to me.

Jones hit with six-month sentence
SI.com
January 11, 2008

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) — Marion Jones was sentenced Friday to six months in prison for lying about using steroids and a check-fraud scam, despite her plea that she not be separated from her two young children “even for a short period of time.”

“I ask you to be as merciful as a human being can be,” said Jones, who cried on her husband’s shoulder after she was sentenced.

U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas gave her the maximum under her plea deal “because of the need for general deterrence and the need to promote respect for the law.”
As she beseeched the judge for a lighter sentence, the disgraced former Olympic champion talked at length about her children, including the infant son she’s still nursing.

“My passion in life has always been my family,” Jones said. “I know the day is quickly approaching when my boys ask me about these current events. I intend to be honest and forthright … and guide them into not making the same mistakes.”

The sentence completes a stunning fall for the woman who was once the most celebrated female athlete in the world. She won three gold and two bronze medals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

After long denying she ever had used performance-enhancing drugs, Jones admitted last October she lied to federal investigators in November 2003, acknowledging she took the designer steroid “the clear” from September 2000 to July 2001. “The clear” has been linked to BALCO, the lab at the center of the steroids scandal in professional sports.

She also admitted lying about her knowledge of the involvement of Tim Montgomery, the father of her older son Monty, in a scheme to cash millions of dollars worth of stolen or forged checks. Montgomery and several others have been convicted in that scam. They include Jones’ former coach Olympic champion Steve Riddick, who was to be sentenced later Friday.

“The crops are all in and the peaches are rotting,
The oranges piled in their creosote dumps;
They’re flying ’em back to the Mexican border
To pay all their money to wade back again…

“Some of us are illegal, and some are not wanted,
Our work contract’s out and we have to move on;
Six hundred miles to that Mexican border,
They chase us like outlaws, like rustlers, like thieves.”–from Woody Guthrie’s “Deportee”

In this Lalo Alcaraz cartoon, presidential hopefuls are taking turns beating up on an immigrant man. Immigration reform is certainly a legitimate issue, but I can do without the relentless immigrant-bashing. Divorced fathers should remember–the same pandering politician who draws applause for beating up on “illegal immigrants” today probably beat up on “deadbeat dads” yesterday, and will do so tomorrow, too.

I was pleased that during the final New Hampshire debate John Edwards praised the sacrifices his father made to provide for him and his siblings. Edwards explained that his father, Wallace Edwards, had worked hard in a mill for 37 years, and the camera panned to Wallace as he sat in the audience.

Edwards has mentioned this on several occasions, and some say he’s using his dad as a prop. Regardless, it’s nice to see his dad and others in that generation of men given their due.

One of the greatest distortions of modern feminism is the way the sacrifices that tens of millions of men like Wallace Edwards made have been disregarded. I detailed this in my column Hate My Father? No Ma’am! (World Net Daily, 4/8/02), criticizing the “successful feminist re-writing of the pre-feminist past as a virtual dark ages where men lived like nobles and women were their serfs.” I wrote:

“Tens of millions of male blue collar workers–who put their bodies on the line in the coal mines and steel mills so their wives and children could live in safety and comfort–have been turned into oppressors. Their wives and children, for whom these men sacrificed so much, have been turned into their victims.

“Edited out of our history are the tragedies of millions of American men who were killed or maimed on what German socialist Rosa Luxemburg called the ‘battlefield of labor.’ The miners who died in cave-ins, explosions, or of black lung disease. The sailors and fisherman who died at sea. The oil refinery workers killed in explosions. The factory workers killed in industrial accidents. The construction workers who died carving train tracks and then highways through majestic mountain cliffs or the scorching desert. The construction workers who died building our bridges, dams, high rises, stadiums, and apartments.

“All of them have been forgotten, in part because there is no natural constituency which would like to remember them–the right generally does not dwell on yesterday’s struggling blue collar workers and heroic union men, and the left is beholden to the feminists, for whom any mention of men as special contributors or as victims is strictly forbidden.”

I would also add that it is equally obscene the way feminist family law movement portrays men who work long hours at stressful or dangerous jobs to support their families as men who are not “taking responsibility” for their kids by not being their kids’ primary caregivers.

I’ll have to show this to the leader of my son’s Boy Scout troop. From Boy Scout saves Maldives president (Associated Press, 1/8/08): “COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – A quick-thinking Boy Scout foiled an assassination attempt on the president of the Maldives on Tuesday, grabbing an attacker’s knife as the man leapt from a crowd and lunged at the leader, an official said. “President Maumoon Gayoom was unhurt, but his shirt was ripped as the attacker tried a second time to stab him before being overpowered by security guards, government spokesman Mohammed Shareef said. “‘One brave boy saved the president’s life,’ he said.
“Mohammed Jaisham Ibrahim, wearing his blue Maldives scout uniform with a blue kerchief, was standing in the crowd to greet Gayoom on Hoarafushi, one of the 1,190 coral islands in the Indian Ocean that make up the Maldives. “The attacker hid a knife in the Maldivian flag as he awaited Gayoom’s arrival, then lunged at the president, Shareef said. “Ibrahim reached out and grabbed the blade, and he was cut on the hand, according to the government. “There was blood on the president’s shirt, but it was not his but the boy’s,” Shareef said… “Boy Scouts in the Maldives are similar to their U.S. counterparts, receiving training in first aid and participating in activities like camping. Their motto is the same as well: ‘Be Prepared.'” The full article is here.

Livonia, Michigan–On Sunday, January 13, I hand-delivered approximately 300 falsely accused fathers” stories to Presidential candidate Mitt Romney. These described the often heartbreaking effects of false restraining orders on parents and on children. I delivered the statements to Romney at his campaign rally in Livonia, Michigan, near Detroit. Romney is competing in the Michigan Republican primary contest, which will be decided on January 15.

On January 6, activist Richard Smaglick had asked Romney about the false restraining order issue in New Hampshire. (Hear the question and Romney”s full response by clicking HERE.) Romney had replied that he did not recall a case in which the restraining order law had improperly interfered with the rights of parents, “but if you”re familiar with such, let us know.’

So we decided to let him know. Last Friday and Saturday, our members responded in droves to our request for their restraining order stories. We compiled over 100 from Romney”s home state, Massachusetts, and Glenn Sacks provided over 150 from elsewhere around the country, all of this in less than 24 hours.

I hopped a plane early Sunday and attended the noon rally in Michigan. There, I handed Romney the 300 statements. Richard and I also distributed a press release to major media, and discussed the restraining order issue with reporters and campaign staff. Press stories about the event may appear before long. Michigan activists such as James Semerad and Larry Holland also were busy on behalf of family court reform, buttonholing various politicians at the numerous political events leading up to Tuesday”s primary election.

The 300 statements came from a retired Massachusetts judge, several attorneys, fathers, mothers, grandparents, stepparents, aunts, uncles, doctors, engineers, teachers, veterans, and more.

Here”s something else Romney said in response to Smaglick”s question in New Hampshire: “I would like us to see a more aggressive and vigilant going-after of people who frivolously bring actions against one another when they know it”s falsely provided.’  Hmmmmm. . . .

These actions are a good step towards educating major politicians about a serious flaw in our laws that is damaging the lives of children and bringing down injustice onto many adults.

Thanks to all who answered the call for an email account of your personal experiences with restraining orders  — we”re just sorry that we cannot thank each one of you individually.

From TMZ.com’s Pam to Rick — I’m Pregnant, Get Lost! (1/9/08):

“TMZ has learned the divorce between Pam Anderson and Rick Salomon is back on and Pam is pregnant!

“You’ll recall Anderson filed for divorce last month, but called it off just days later. But sources tell TMZ she is now moving forward with the divorce, even though we know she’s pregnant with his baby.

“Salomon has told friends he believes she is ‘acting crazy’ because of the pregnancy and hopes she will settle back into the marriage. Interestingly, in her divorce petition, Anderson asked for spousal support but not child support.

“The couple were married in Las Vegas on October 6.”

Is that a misprint? Let me summarize:

1) Pamela Anderson makes vastly more money than Rick Solomon.

2) Pamela Anderson marries him and divorces him three months later.

3) Pamela Anderson demands alimony.

And she deserves alimony because…..huh?

To learn more about alimony in general, see my blog post Some Thoughts on Dr. Helen’s Piece ‘Should Alimony Die a Quick Death?’ or click here.

In baseball, a pitcher will sometimes intentionally walk a strong hitter in order to face a weaker hitter. In the photo, a catcher is signaling for an intentional walk to Barry Bonds, baseball’s greatest hitter over the past 20 years.

In political debates on gender issues, feminists often “intentionally walk” strong opponents in order to deal with weaker ones. The purpose is to avoid arguing with articulate, reasonable advocates and instead get easy wins by counterposing feminist views with those of the loonies, misogynists, conspiracy theorists, homophobes, and others who inhabit the nether regions of the fatherhood movement.

One recent example is feminist Peggy Drexler’s recent Huffington Post column Of Basters And Bias (12/31/07). Drexler, who authored Raising Boys Without Men: How Maverick Moms Are Creating the Next Generation of Exceptional Men in 2005, is an advocate for Single Motherhood by Choice and lesbian double mothers.

It”s one thing to be respectful of gays and gay parents. It”s quite another to engineer a deceptive study and use it to assert that lesbian families are a better environment in which to raise boys than heterosexual families, as Drexler has done. In Drexler”s world, lesbian families–protected from fathers and their toxic masculinity–are the best environments in which to raise boys. Married heterosexual mothers try their best, but the positive influence these hapless moms try to impart to their children is overwhelmed by that of the malevolent family patriarch.

I have criticized Drexler’s work in several newspaper columns, including Are Boys Really Better off Without Fathers? (San Francisco Chronicle, Seattle Post Intelligencer & others, 9/6/05), Raising Boys Without Men: Lesbian Parents Good, Dads Bad (World Net Daily, 9/10/05), and Are Single Mothers the ‘New American Family?’ (World Net Daily, 9/28/06).

Drexler is aware of these criticisms. Yet in Of Basters And Bias, as she has done many times, Drexler disparages opponents of Single Motherhood by Choice by quoting a few cranks who wrote nasty letters and blog comments. Instead of quoting and critiquing my arguments or those of other critics such as Maggie Gallagher, she quotes loony gems such as “Go back to Russia where you belong, you commie bitch.”

Well, in the spirit of Russia and commies, it was Lenin who said that the proper way to win a political debate is to counter your opponents’ best arguments, not their worst. Peggy, if you want to make a convincing and intellectually honest argument, you’ll have to deal with real opponents and real arguments. But you won’t. So even though I’m certainly no Barry Bonds, I guess I’ll just shut up and walk to first base…