children

It hasn't been me out of town, disconnected, out of pocket this time... but the end result has been almost the same. I've been half here the last few weeks, but oh! the stories I can tell!!

A few weeks ago, the Texas Bar Association put out a plea for anyone who could pick up a pro bono case or three to please consider representing either children (as guardian ad litem) removed from the Fundamental Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) ranch in west Texas, or to represent one of the mothers trying to get back their children from state protective custody. My own personal live-in lawyer (daughter Lisa) ended up going out there to represent a few of the mothers.

By going "out there" I do mean Out There. You can look it up on the map, but trust me, while it's not out in the middle of nowhere, you CAN see it from there. Let's just say I didn't worry about her enjoying the night life too much on this trip. And she ended up with two clients, both women close to thirty (one on either side of it) and both women worried sick about their children who had never been away from home before.

Published first on 09/28/07 @
http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/cgi-bin/blogs/voices.php/2007/09/28/p1982...

The Political Question and Moral Accountability
eileen fleming

"My aim is to agitate & disturb people. I'm not selling bread, I'm selling yeast." ~ Unamuno, wall graffiti in Paris, May 1968

Last week in the Al Bureij refugee camp, in central Gaza, a USA made Caterpillar bulldozer was the weapon that brutally murdered 19 year old Mahmoud Khafafi. Bulldozers and tanks entered Mahmoud's farmland village at dawn and uprooted olive trees, razed the land and demolished thirteen homes. Young Palestinians threw stones at the tanks, which began shooting in return. The victim ran behind an olive tree and when the bulldozer began to uproot the tree, Mahmoud was shot in the neck, yet attempted to flee until the blade cut his head off and his brains spilled out. [http://www.mezan.org human rights organization in Gaza gathered the details]

Published First @

http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/diarypage.php?did=4389

September 15, 2007

They Are All Our Children
by Eileen Fleming

"I'm not going to lose my common sense, my direction, only because I've lost my heart, my child. I will do all I can to protect her friends, both Palestinian and Israeli. They are all our children."

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Ever since I returned to America on July 28, 2007, I have been haunted by the memories of Palestinian children who only know Israelis through the barrel of a gun or through their bullet proof glass tombs at the hundreds of checkpoints in Palestine. That is, until I received an email from...