[AKidsRight.Org] Parents Act (Jedi & Vaders) Canada, Israel, & US / Conference in Michigan

jmurtari@AKidsRight.org

Good People & People of Faith,

1. Fathers and Families Conference - June 17-18, Detroit, MI
2. Canada - Robin climbs bridge!
3. US Parent joins terrorists - no problem bombing!
4. TORONTO SUN: COLUMNIST: THANE BURNETT: "Super dads or duds?"
5. Batman - Appearance in Tel Aviv, Israel 

I'd like to share some world-wide news stories for your review and
comment.  I hesitate to pander to 'movies' -- but what about Jedi
Knights and Lord Vaders?  It's good to see positive action taken --
but what about the parent who wanted to build bombs and destroy
buildings because the 'government took his kids.'

We can understand this parent's pain -- but what is he thinking of to
destroy buildings?  To kill other parents and children -- to cause
other painful separations.  Truly, the Dark Side.

Yes, he is the 'extreme' -- but what about us?  I can't help but think
of those words from Yoda, "Revenge, hatred, and fear -- lead to the
Dark Side..."  How many of us haven't gone through those emotions --
many times!  What about 'fear'?

The emotion that makes us victims, that makes us 'strike back' without
thinking, that paralyzes us from taking positive action and drains our
confidence in goodness.  Fear.  Fear of losing the love of our
children, our purpose, our well being...

Many, many Jedi below and that is a very good thing!  But can we
broaden our hearts?  Can we make the goal not just 'fathers', but also
mothers -- parents?  Can we broaden our effort to protect those
families separated by CPS and social workers because of 'suspected'
abuse?   Aren't we all parents?

1. Fathers and Families Conference - June 17-18, Detroit, MI
------------------------------------------------------------
[ NOTE - If you are able please seriously consider attending this
conference.  It is being professionally done.  I encourage you to
visit the web site.  It will be great opportunity to discuss strategy
and goals.]

Contact:      Dan Diebolt  <dandiebolt@yahoo.com>
Phone:        (734) 322-2974 
Date-Time::   June 17 & 18, 2005 
Location::    Detroit Metro Airport Marriott Hotel 
Group-Name::  Family Rights Coalition 
Web-Site::    http://www.fathers05.org/

Description:: This is an unprecedented educational and national 
planning conference on the American family crisis that is devouring 
the foundation and infrastructure of our nation. Gathering here will 
be parents, state and federal leaders, advocates, experts, 
professionals, academicians, clergy, journalists and other citizens 
from around the country to collaborate on unified strategies to combat 
a threat far more virulent to American life than global terrorism. 

Unlike the foreign menaces of World War II and the international 
battle fronts of today, the greatest enemy we Americans now face is 
the one destroying us from within by dismantling our families one at a 
time. This enemy does not speak a foreign language nor appear any 
different than any other American citizen, yet it is the most 
effective terrorist organization our nation has ever faced. It has 
infiltrated our state and federal governments, our institutions of 
higher learning, our legal system, our monetary system and, indeed, 
the entire fabric of American life. 

With key emphasis on the integrity of the parent-child relationship, 
conference participants will learn about the specifics of the American 
family crisis as well as solutions from nationally recognized 
speakers. Conference attendees will understand how the epidemic of 
failed marriages and out of wedlock births that is destroying the 
culture of family that once made America great is now the most 
relentless force extinguishing the torch of individual liberty in our 
country. 

Through presentations, question and answer sessions, networking and 
conferencing, participants will share their collective knowledge to 
grasp the dynamics of the current family crisis and substantively 
contribute to a rigorous national dialog on reform of our family law 
system as well as federal and state policies governing our 
families. This conference will be a unique, informative and exciting 
gathering for all who attend. 

2. Canada - Robin climbs bridge!
--------------------------------
Submitted by: "Nick Kovats" <f4k@rogers.com> 
Man climbs Jacques-Cartier Bridge 
Police close bridge to traffic  

May 23, 2005 

MONTREAL -- A man dressed as Robin, Batman's loyal sidekick, climbed a major 
Montreal bridge on Monday to push for more rights for fathers.  

Traffic on the Jacques-Cartier Bridge was disrupted for more than two hours 
before police arrested the man, who had unfurled a banner with the message 
Egalite parentale (Parental Equality).  

The man is a member of Fathers 4 Justice, an international group that fights 
for fathers' rights during divorce proceedings.  

The group also staged a protest Saturday when a man dressed as Spider-Man 
climbed a cross in Mount Royal Park. He was not charged.  

© Canadian Press 2005 

3. US Parent joins terrorists - no problem bombing!
---------------------------------------------------
http://www.nj.com/news/expresstimes/pa/index.ssf?/base/news-0/11169255097710.xml 

FBI arrests local man in al-Qaida bomb sale sting 
Slate Belt resident said to hate U.S. 
Tuesday, May 24, 2005 
By RUSS FLANAGAN, JEFF SCHOGOL and GEORGE WACKER 
The Express-Times 

A Northampton County man who allegedly told undercover agents he has
"no loyalty for America" was charged Monday with plotting to build a
bomb and sell it to terrorists.

Ronald Allen Grecula, 68, who rents office space in Upper Mount Bethel
Township, was arrested in Houston on Friday after working out a deal
with undercover agents to build the bomb with hydrogen chlorine and
sell it to al-Qaida or its affiliates, authorities said.

During the meeting with the agents, Grecula said he could construct
the bomb and would have no problem with the buyers using it against
American targets, authorities said.

Grecula told the agents he was angry with the American government for
taking away his two children, now 14 and 7, whom he kidnapped and
whisked away to Malta in 2002.

Grecula later served a year in prison on that charge.  

"I lost everything, thanks to our wonderful judicial laws," Grecula
told an undercover agent, according to court documents. "The bottom
line is this: That my country has taken everything away from me. So,
and they have beat me, they have tortured me, they have taken my
children away."

----------------------------
Submitted by: "Peter Cornakovic" <peter.corn@lycos.com> 

According to a complaint, Grecula asked the confidential source to
find a client for a large bomb he was willing to build and sell. He
specifically mentioned Al Qaeda, but indicated he would sell it to any
such group. Negotiations continued between April and Friday, the
complaint stated.

Grecula told the source he could buy all the bomb components -
including hydrogen chlorine - at a welding store, and that he was
educated as a mechanical engineer and experimented with alternative
fuels and energy.

"If we had one of those in this room right now filled with hydrogen
chlorine, this hotel wouldn't be here. It would be a crater in the
ground," Grecula said during a meeting Friday with the confidential
source and an undercover officer who presented himself as an Al Qaeda
agent.

Grecula said he would be willing to build the bomb in exchange for
custody of his two children. His estranged wife lives in Houston;
efforts to reach her were unsuccessful.

The confidential source also told authorities Grecula wanted help in
hiring an assassin to kill his estranged wife. Shelby said no federal
charges were expected to emerge from those allegations.

4. TORONTO SUN: COLUMNIST: THANE BURNETT: "Super dads or duds?" 
---------------------------------------------------------------
Submitted by: Teri Stoddard <shared.parenting.works@gmail.com>

 http://torontosun.com/News/Columnists/Burnett_Thane/2005/05/25/1054368.html 

TORONTO SUN

Wed, May 25, 2005

 "Super dads or duds?"

 By THANE BURNETT

Their covert actions have begun. Further high-level targets
assessed. Risks evaluated. Police action anticipated.

"We will get the prime minister's attention," vows the splinter cell's
spokesman, Steve Osborne.

Caught between my line and Osborne's east coast cell phone, you can
almost hear the hum of a spy computer kicking in and picking up on
this subversive chatter. It would all seem threatening and risky to
national security, if he weren't talking about fed-up dads in baggy
super hero tights.

Across the country in May -- which Osborne's associates have
dramatically dubbed the "Month of Mayhem" -- members of the child
custody lobby group, Fathers 4 Justice, have been pulling off stunts
after pulling on comic book leotards.

Their antics may seem silly and more than childish, but they also
speak volumes about how far the court system has pushed many
fathers. Facing huge restrictions or simply banned from seeing their
own kids altogether -- when all many have done is get a divorce -- the
extremists among them have finally banded together in a group that
could be called the "Ex-men." Pow! Bang! Zoweee! The newest social
anarchist is a pudgy and balding Boy Wonder who just wants to see his
kids.

Yesterday, two men appeared in a Quebec court, after one of them
dressed up as Batman's sidekick, Robin, and climbed onto Montreal's
Jacques Cartier Bridge.

 "If I am here climbing a bridge, it's because I have no other
 alternative," Benoit Leroux told a French TV network. "The family
 courts don't recognize our rights. I haven't seen my children for two
 years."

His daring deed came after another Fathers 4 Justice activist, dressed
as Spider-Man, climbed the cross on top of Mount Royal on Saturday. He
stayed up for two hours.

On May 6, local father Brad Mastin -- in a Superman cape -- shimmied
up scaffolding outside Old City Hall.

Across the country, like-minded dads have been climbing cranes in
B.C. and Toronto and tossing packets of purple-dyed flour at
Yellowknife politicians.

And last week, the group set loose thousands of live crickets in MPs
offices and court houses, including around the GTA.

"They represent voices which are lost (in the courts)," says Fathers 4
Justice spokesman, Osborne, a New Brunswick dad who hasn't seen his
two teenagers in six years.

They now live in the Toronto area, after he was denied visiting
rights.  For years, fathers -- in North America and the U.K. -- have
complained about inequities in custody battles. Osborne says, in many
cases, fathers have no hope of having custody, and are "treated as
nothing more than a wallet."

No one cared to listen -- until they pulled superhero suits from
closets. Last year, the main branch of the father's rights group
gained world attention, when a man dressed as Batman climbed the front
of Buckingham Palace. After that, St. Paul's Cathedral and Downing
Street were next.

Suddenly, people were at least looking up.

"You have to ask yourself, 'Why would someone do that?" says Kris
Titus, a 32-year-old Orono mom.  Last December, during a Fathers 4
Justice stunt, and dressed as Wonder Woman, she crashed a family law
Christmas dinner. Along with a man garbed as Batman -- and as annoyed
lawyers looked on -- they took over a balcony on the second floor of
the University Club, in downtown Toronto.

Both still face mischief charges for the non-violent stunt.

Having gone through a divorce, and seen her new husband wrestle with
the system with his first wife, Titus -- who works in an accounting
office -- wanted to lash out.

 "This is not just about men -- how many women, second wives and
 grandmothers, are being hijacked here," she asks.

 "How would you respond if someone came to you and said, 'I'm now
 going to take your children away?

 "Now ask why people are putting on these costumes."

Their Month of Mayhem continues, marking a deadline for the federal
government to take their plight seriously.

Next month, they'll rest for the next round, says Osborne, a onetime
ship builder turned activist.

  "We have 15 more people prepared to be arrested," he says.

They are a misfit legion of social avengers. And while they don't fill
out the tights as well as they might, it's been forever since divorced
fathers had anyone to look up to for help.

5. Batman - Appearance in Tel Aviv, Israel 
------------------------------------------
http://www.israelnewsagency.com/batmanisraelfathersrights6640529.html

ISRAEL NEWS AGENCY   29 MAY, 2004
"Batman Joins Israel Fathers Rights Demonstration in Tel Aviv"

Tel Aviv----May 29......Fathers Rights "Superdad" Batman joined over
50 civil rights activists in a demonstration this morning at the
Family Court House in Tel Aviv, Israel. Fathers4Justice Israel, Horut
Shava (Shared Parenting) and the Israel Fathers Rights Association
were protesting against gender bias discrimination by family courts
and child welfare departments in Israel. 

This morning's demonstration was a huge success," said Fathers4Justice
Israel spokesperson Joel Leyden. "We had several fathers and human
rights groups attending and speaking with one message. That we must do
all we can for all of our children and abolish an outdated and
destructive Knesset custodian law from 1962. This law, which
discriminates against men due to gender bias states that all children
in Israel up to the age of six are automatically secure custody by
their mothers. Leyden adds: "Fathers Rights organizations with the
advice of leading child psychologists are demanding that this law be
replaced with modern, basic and healthy reforms for Israeli children
and their fathers." 

The 4 hour protest, which was held under a scorching Middle East sun,
took place outside of the Hamehozi courthouse in Tel Aviv. It caught
the eye of hundreds of attorneys and their clients. "At one point, the
police attempted to stop the demonstration and tried to disperse the
group," said Leyden. "We later discovered, that it was actually the
family court judges inside who had complained to the police. But due
to the fact that we had prior written authorization and the
cooperation of the Israel police, the rally continued. 

This fathers rights demonstration took on a more human tone as
"Superdad" Batman joined the civil rights activists.

"We have learned much from the nonviolent, highly visible and friendly
campaigns of Fathers4Justice in England, the US and Canada," said
Leyden.  "We are here to gather support, not alienate anyone. Having
Superheros such as Batman, Spiderman and Superman representing us
offers a warm touch to both the children for which we have been
separated from and the public which needs to learn that most dads are
loving, caring and responsible fathers who love their children no less
than the mothers do. When the courts and child welfare departments in
Israel separate father from child they are inflicting a devastating
blow to that child's emotional and mental development."

"The family court judges are creating a nation of orphans in spite of
the fact that the fathers are still alive,". said Michael Krongauz, a
spokesperson of the Israel Children's Rights organization Children
Need Both Parents. "These children will soon become alienated from
their fathers and develop personality disorders, loss of self esteem
and take to drugs due to to present social and judicial environment
here in Israel," said Krongauz.  "A person who stands by and watches
passively as children are victimized are as guilty as the criminals
themselves."

-- 
                                       John Murtari
____________________________________________________________________
Coordinator                            AKidsRight.Org
jmurtari@AKidsRight.Org                "A Kid's Right to BOTH parents"
Toll Free (877) 635-1968(x-211)        http://www.AKidsRight.Org/

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