Father Torches Car in Protest Over Child Support

Anchorage Daily News ^ | October 18, 2002 | Tataboline Brant

[RogerFGay]

CHILD SUPPORT: Officials say suspect had threatened staff before.

Two floors of the 19-story Atwood Building were evacuated Thursday morning after a man parked his blue Mercedes near the building's entrance, doused the car with gasoline and set it ablaze.

[Happygal]

And obviously very stupid too.

I'm not going to disagree with you :-)

[ladyjane]

Hmmmm... This man is indefensible. I'm sure that many other divorced women will support your position. But I don't think there's any point to your doing it here.

Why not? The guy is a loser. He kicked out the window in the police car? Can you imagine being married to that? You think freepers support that kind of lunacy?

[Catspaw]

Depends on the model and year. But even if he can afford a nice car, certainly a rational person wouldn't justify a court ordering someone to pay an unjustifiably high amount to someone else, just because of the sense that he can afford it. If that's the way government power works, they can take everything you and your family and your decendents have from you, without justification.

Lanny? Lanny Davis, is that you?

You're spinning this one so hard you could double as a posthole digger.

[MadIvan]

Yes, they are going to listen to someone setting his own car on fire rather than think him a psychotic. Not bloody likely.

Ivan

[ambrose]

A lot of the hardship from child support orders stem from the fact that divorced men often immediately shack up with a new and younger broad who wants children of her own. So suddenly he's supporting two litters of children.

[rolling_stone]

He tried before to get them to listen, it would be interesting to hear the real details of his cases...

[MadIvan]

He tried before to get them to listen, it would be interesting to hear the real details of his cases...

If his case is egregious, he'd be better off getting the media, or even Free Republic, to hear it. Setting his car on fire is going to do nothing except create further expense for himself.

Ivan

[cornelis]

Mistreat a dog and antagonize him long enough and the animal will become mean and bite.

[RogerFGay]

No, I'm saying that Jed has to get a grip on himself and use the institutions of representative government to get the bureaucracy under control.

Right now, I'd estimate it would cost someone around $5 billion a year to pay government representatives to stop causing the problem they intentionally created. He would have to compete with the $4 billion a year taxpayers provide to pay states to continue the program, which is one of the major reasons the program exists.

You're just way off blaming Jed Magby for what corrupt politicians have done, and avoiding responsibility as a citizen by leaving people like Jed Magby to their mercy. The Constitutional mechanism for keeping so-called "representative democracy" (which does not exist in American or the UK) in check, is the judiciary.

In my view, Jed Magby may have burned his car in protest in the wrong place. Dealing with judicial corruption is more important than the bureacrats. If the courts did their job, the bureacrats would be as impotent as they should be. Secondly however, we as citizens, do need to do something about the corruption of our legislatures. In the US, we have two small corrupt political parties that have controlled political power for generations. This isn't democracy and the two parties know they can get away with any type of corruption they agree on.

But finally, what should we do about the media? The US Constitution reminds us that "the press" is an inseparable instrument of democracy and freedom. But all we've gotten from them on the issue of child support, is years of fraudulent propaganda and support for corrupt oppressive government.

[MadIvan]

There is a difference between lashing out in anger and using one's anger effectively.

Ivan

[Conservative til I die]

I'm gonna engage my favorite FR hobby and make a bet on when the first post shows up giving a "Hell Yeah!" to this loon, because wimmin iz the debbil and child support is a liberal tool to destroy the idea of the father. I give it 7 posts. Mind you, I haven't read the thread yet, so...

[MadIvan]

I'm not blaming him for bureaucrats being incompetent. I'm saying he's being inappropriate and what is more, ineffective, in how he's expressing his displeasure. That is the point. I don't see why you and others are rushing to the defence of burning a car in a parking lot - it just shows how ineffective he has been in dealing with this situation.

Ivan

[RogerFGay]

Catspaw -- that is you. Have you let your ex off the floor yet?

You're spinning this one so hard you could double as a posthole digger.

This is the real no-spin zone. Allowing government unlimited arbitrary power is a very, very bad thing.

[cornelis]

A caged dog has no effective use for his anger.

[Conservative til I die]

OK, I've read 12 posts so far and it seems like everyone of them is anti child support. One "genius" even mannaged to drop Himmler's name. Sad.

Serves those bitches right for getting pregnant. Let them support the kids themselves. Right?

[RogerFGay]

A lot of the hardship from child support orders stem from the fact that ...

... the amounts awarded as "child support" are arbitrarily and irrationally high and not adjusted to actual economic circumstances.

[saminfl]

Aren't fathers supposed to support their children? My daughter was married for 8 years to a wife beater. When he tried to kill her (he was out of jail before she was out of the emergency room), they were divorced. He moved to Texas, she with us in Florida. He argued that he could not afford child support because he needed the money to pay for her airfare to see him. The judge allowed him to pay $50/week. My wife and I did most of the support for our granddaughter. This asshole made 100k last year and still only pays $50/week. He took the frequent flier miles my granddaughter earned and took him and his new wife to Italy on vacation last year. My daughter is going back to court for a raise.

[Conservative til I die]

Yes. Like you, I believe that fathers shouldn't have to be burdened by having to actually support their kids. Those friggin Democrats, trying to implement the crazy idea that fathers have a legal obligation to care for their children monetarily if they refuse to stay in the home.

[RogerFGay]

Please see my post #10.

[MadIvan]

A caged dog has no effective use for his anger.

Fortunately he's a human being, and thus should be able to think his way out of the cage. If not, then he is nothing more than an animal who should be locked up before he harms others.

Ivan