On 25 Jun 98, Vladimir Z. Nuri was found to have commented thusly:
apparently one of the 4 horsemen of the infocalypse...?!?! whatever can be used as an excuse to take away rights, eh?
[news clip regarding new Deadbeat Parents federal law excised] I have a strong feeling that this new law is going to turn around and bite the Great Society II (GSII) advocates in their federal ass. Considering some of the minimum limits regarding child support sums in arrears, it really won't take any time for prominent members, subscribers, and believers in GSII, including Friends of Bill and Friends of Hillary, to find themselves on the other side of a federal arrest warrant. The $5000 limit could be reached in a matter of a few months, it seems, for quite a few of even the "middle-class" child support payers. (Anyone reading this who pays child support willing to divulge how many months it would take for them to reach that limit?) I don't believe that deadbeat parents should evade their responsibility, but this law pretty much is the wrong way to deal with it. Prosecutors of any stripe are not going to bother with making a judgment regarding 'intent', which they probably don't consider their duty anyway. They will have a formulae all worked out in concert with the presiding judge--whose duty should be the 'justice' end of any bum rap, deciding the issue of 'intent'--to nail anyone who violates the letter (and disregard the question of the violation of the spirit) of the law. The poor will necessarily cop a plea and probably do some federal time AND/or find themselves assessed federal fines that will essentially make them indentured servants to the state for years. The rich will work a deal to stay out of prison since the feds don't want to waste time with the delaying tactics of their savvy lawyers. Perhaps at some point, after thousands of well-meaning but misfortunate parents find themselves considered felons in their society because they got behind in the support although there was no clear intent to do so, the law or certain elements of it will be sensibly repealed or reformed to target those whose intent to evade is really indisputable. There are probably as well "minor" provisions and clauses in the law not reported in the news clip, but which certainly make life impossible for the well- meaning to obtain complete rehabilitation; those parts of the code would need attention as well. Mitch Halloran Research (Bio)chemist Duzen Laboratories Group Ankara TURKEY mitch@duzen.com.tr "Tonight, again, the strong and arrogant opponent felt the bitter taste of defeat at your hands" ---Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, addressing the jubilant Iranian soccer team whose very unexpected victory over the US eliminated them from the France 1998 World Cup