Saturday, June 29, 2013

American Minute with Bill Federer JUNE 29 -Henry Clay 'For the chastisement of our sins the rod of Providence may be suspended over us'


American Minute with Bill Federer
JUNE 29 -Henry Clay 'For the chastisement of our sins the rod of Providence may be suspended over us' 
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"I would rather be right than President," answered Henry Clay, when someone told him that his stand against slavery would cost him the election.

Clay was five times a candidate for U.S. President, once coming within 5,000 votes.

The son of a Baptist minister, Henry Clay studied law under George Wythe, served in Congress over 40 years, and was elected Speaker of the House 6 times.



Henry Clay stated in 1841:

"Patriotism, which, catching its inspiration from the immortal God...animates and prompts to deeds of self-sacrifice, of valor, of devotion, and of death itself-that is public virtue, that is the noblest, the sublimest of all public virtues."


Clay was part of the "Great Triumvirate," with Daniel Webster and John Calhoun which led Congress during the early to mid-1800's.

He helped negotiate the treaty that ended the War of 1812 and was key to John Quincy Adams being the 6th President instead of Andrew Jackson.


In 1824, Clay supported the Greeks who wished to be free from the Muslim Ottoman Empire, and he supported South Americans wanting freedom from Spain.

Abraham Lincoln described Henry Clay in a eulogy, July 6, 1852:

"When Greece rose against the Turks and struck for liberty, his name was mingled with the battle-cry of freedom.

When South America threw off the thraldom of Spain, his speeches were read at the head of her armies by Bolivar.

His name has been, and will continue to be, hallowed in two hemisphere... Clay was without an equal...He exorcised the demon which possessed the body politic...

Mr. Clay's efforts in behalf of the South Americans, and afterwards, in behalf of the Greeks, in the times of their respective struggles for civil liberty are among the finest on record."


In 1832, when an Asiatic Cholera epidemic ravaged New York, Henry Clay recommended a Day of: "Public humiliation, prayer and fasting to be observed by the people of the United States with religious solemnity."


Henry Clay was second cousin's of abolitionist Cassius Marcellus Clay, and in 1816, helped establish the American Colonization Society to aid free American blacks in founding Monrovia, Liberia, West Africa.


Clay addressed the Kentucky Colonization Society in Frankfort, 1829:

"Eighteen hundred years have rolled away since the Son of God, our blessed Redeemer, offered Himself on Mount Calvary for the salvation of our species...

When we shall, as soon we must, be translated from this into another form of existence, is the hope presumptuous that we shall behold the common Father of the whites and blacks, the great Ruler of the Universe, cast his all-seeing eye upon civilized and regenerated Africa, its cultivated fields, its coasts studded with numerous cities, adorned with towering temples dedicated to the pure religion of His Redeeming Son?"

Known as "The Great Compromiser," Clay opposed the Mexican-American War, and struggled to maintain the Union between the North and the South by proposing "The Compromise of 1850."


Henry Clay told the Senate, February 5, 1850:

"I hope it will not be out of place to do here, what again and again I have done in my private chamber, to implore of Him who holds the destinies of nations and individuals in His hands, to bestow upon our country His blessing, to calm the violence and rage of party, to still passion, to allow reason once more to resume its empire.

And may I not ask of Him too, sir, to bestow on his humble servant...the blessing of his smiles, and of strength and ability to perform the work which now lies before him?...

I implore, as the best blessing which Heaven can bestow upon me...that if the direct event of the dissolution of this Union is to happen, I shall not survive to behold the sad and heart-rending spectacle."



Nine year before the Civil War began, Henry Clay died from tuberculosis on JUNE 29, 1852.

He was the first American to lie in state in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda.

The State of Kentucky placed a statue of Henry Clay in the U.S. Capitol's Statuary Hall. Fifteen counties across America are named after him.

In 1957, a Senate Committee headed by John F. Kennedy named him one of the 5 best Senators ever.

Rep. John C. Breckinridge recalled Henry Clay as having said:

"The vanity of the world, and its insufficiency to satisfy the soul of man, has been long a settled conviction of my mind. Man's inability to secure by his own merits the approbation of God, I feel to be true...

I trust in the atonement of the Saviour of mercy, as the ground of my acceptance and of my hope of salvation."


Warning America, Henry Clay addressed the Senate, July 22, 1850, stating:

"If there be a war...I will not assert what party would prevail...for you know, sir, what all history teaches...that few wars...have ever terminated in the accomplishment of the objects for which they were commenced...

Think alone of our God, our country, our consciences, and our glorious Union; that Union without which we shall be torn into hostile fragments, and sooner or later become the victims of military despotism, or foreign domination..."

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Clay continued:

"What will be the judgment of mankind...who are looking upon the progress of this scheme of self-government as being that which holds out the highest hopes...of ameliorating the condition of mankind...

Will not all the monarchs of the old world pronounce our glorious republic a disgraceful failure?

When you come into the bosom of your family...to converse with the partner of your fortunes...and...she asks you, 'Is there any danger of civil war? Is there any danger of the torch being applied to any portion of the country?'...

What response, Mr. President, can you make to that wife of your choice, and those children with whom you have been blessed by God? Will you go home and leave all in disorder and confusion... Sir, we shall stand condemned by all human judgment...

It is possible that, for the chastisement of our sins and transgressions, the rod of Providence may be still applied to us, may be still suspended over us...

I pray to Almighty God that it may not lead to the most unhappy and disastrous consequences to our beloved country"

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In re Yohan K. and Marika K., 2013 IL App (1st) 123472 (June 19, 2013)

In re Yohan K. and Marika K., 2013 IL App (1st) 123472 (June 19, 2013)

The Family Defense Center has been appellate counsel for parents who had been subject to separation from their children based upon the claims of a child abuse pediatrician that the "most likely" explanation for their infant son's medical findings was abusive causation. On June 19, 2013, the Illinois Appellate Court issued a ruling finding in favor of the parents on all points! Our analysis of the Appellate Court's holdings (which, as a published opinion, should have a huge impact for families in Illinois once it becomes final, and can also serve as persuasive authority in other jurisdictions) can be found below. The full 49-page opinion -- which is truly impressive for the Appellate Court's mastery of the complicated facts -- can be found here: http://www.state.il.us/court/Opinions/AppellateCourt/2013/1stDistrict/1123472.pdf

 On June 19, 2013, after a two-year-long ordeal battling allegations that their infant son had been abused, Family Defense Center clients Teresa G. and K.S. finally received vindication from the Illinois Appellate Court. The unanimous opinion exonerates Teresa and K., holding that an accusation of child abuse cannot be sustained based solely on a claim that the child’s “constellation of injuries” (*i.e*., the mere existence of a certain type or number of injuries) is indicative of abusive causation. This ruling has the potential for far-ranging impact not just in Illinois, but in jurisdictions across the country where parents and caretakers are forced to defend themselves from speculative and vague accusations of child abuse lodged by the State under the guise of “medical opinion.”

 Teresa and K. had been targeted with allegations of child abuse when their then-4-week-old son Yohan experienced seizures and was taken to Children’s Memorial Hospital of Chicago (“CMH,” now the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital) on June 6, 2011. Exams identified intracranial and retinal hemorrhages and skeletal imaging revealed an abnormality at his left knee, later mis-diagnosed by CMH doctors as a fracture (the appellate court concludes that there never was a fracture). The CMH child abuse pediatrician declared the injuries suspicious for abuse and called the DCFS hotline, ultimately causing the parents to lose temporary custody of Yohan and his older sister Marika for a period of 15 months.

 In formulating opinions about the cause of Yohan’s medical findings, CMH physicians failed to give any consideration to: (1) rickets as a potential explanation for the skeletal irregularity or (2) benign enlarged intracranial spaces as a potential explanation for the intracranial bleeding and retinal hemorrhages. At trial, where the parents were represented by outstanding private trial counsel Ellen R. Domph, three highly-credentialed and nationally-recognized physicians testified that Yohan did, in fact, have both of these pre-existing medical conditions, which are known to mimic signs of abuse. In finding that the children had been abused and neglected, however, the trial court deferred to the medical witnesses of the State and the Public Guardian appointed to represent Yohan and Marika as guardian *ad litem* (“GAL”)—among the total eleven medical experts who testified at the hearing, the State and GAL witnesses included a child abuse pediatrician, pediatric neurologist, pediatric orthopedist, and pediatric ophthalmologist—and their theory that the so-called “constellation of injuries” is sufficient to sustain a conclusion of abusive causation. The trial court, however, declined to name a perpetrator of abuse despite Teresa and K. having been Yohan’s only caretakers. At the subsequent dispositional hearing, the court returned the children to the custody of K. and Teresa over the objections of the GAL and State’s Attorney. The GAL and State’s Attorney maintained that because the parents refused to accept the “abuse” conclusions of the trial court and continued to assert their innocence (and not accuse each other of being an abuse perpetrator), they therefore had failed to engage in “meaningful therapy” which, according to them, required an “acknowledgement that Yohan was abused.”

Not content with the judicial finding of abuse it had obtained in the trial court, the GAL filed an appeal of the trial court’s decision to return the children to their parents, asking the Appellate Court to vacate the order returning the children home and, instead, to place Yohan and Marika in the guardianship of the State child welfare agency. Teresa and K. filed a cross-appeal challenging the trial court’s finding of abuse as unsupported by either fact or law.

 In its June 19 ruling, the Appellate Court of Illinois, First District, resoundingly rejects the theories pressed by the State and GAL. Instead, the Appellate Court concludes that the trial court’s findings of abuse were erroneous and contrary to the manifest weight of the evidence, acknowledging that the parents had been “thrust into a nightmare.” The Appellate Court directs that a determination of abusive causation cannot be inferred from the “constellation” of alleged injuries and, moreover, that where the State has failed to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that any single injury was caused by abuse, the State has not satisfied its burden of proof (Paragraphs 144-47):

 The [State and GAL] experts testified using the “constellation” of injuries theory and, therefore, speculated and generalized about the possible mechanisms causing the injuries in areas outside of their expertise [and] assumed there must have been a connection between Yohan’s head-related findings and the suspected fracture even though there was no basis in evidence or law for this conclusion . . . . Instead of evaluating and weighing the evidence and expert testimony as to each alleged injury, the trial court allowed the proponents to elude their burden of proof by claiming that the “constellation” of Yohan’s injuries created a preponderance of evidence that he was abused.

This “constellation” of injuries theory allowed the trial court to conclude that Yohan had been abused even though not one of his individual injuries within the constellation had been proven to be by abuse and where highly experienced and credentialed, nationally-recognized doctors provided well-reasoned medical explanations, albeit rare ones, to explain each of his injuries. The [State and GAL] offered no evidence that an injury is more likely to be caused by abuse merely because a second injury is alleged to exist, particularly where there are reasonable nonabuse explanations offered for each of the individual conditions. Not only did the [State and GAL] fail to provide any authority for their “constellation” of injuries theory, but they failed to identify any specific facts showing it should apply to Yohan. The “constellation” theory invited the [State and GAL] experts to improperly rely on assumptions about injuries outside their respective specialties . . . .

 The Appellate Court faults the trial court for ignoring many critical facts that could not be reconciled with the theories offered by the State and GAL experts, and for deferring to experts who were less experienced, less qualified, and less credentialed than the parents’ experts in the relevant areas of medicine. The Appellate Court also confronts key factual errors the trial court had made in its ruling and the deficiencies in the evaluation CMH had performed during Yohan’s hospitalization. This effort by the reviewing court, which no doubt required a meticulous and thorough review of the entire record, is notable given the density of the technical medical testimony and evidence submitted during trial.

Independent of the trial court’s error in entering findings of abuse and neglect, the Appellate Court denies the GAL’s claim that the trial court erred in returning the children home to Teresa and K.S. where the lower court’s ruling was consistent with all of the evidence at the dispositional hearing. Specifically, the Appellate Court squarely rejects the GAL’s notion that when there has been an adjudication of abuse, a parent’s therapy is not “meaningful” unless the parent acknowledges that her child was a victim of abuse:

 The [State and GAL] offer no support for their suggestion that an acknowledgement of abuse is a per se requirement for therapy to be considered meaningful. To require that the parents must “acknowledge” the truth of a trial court’s nonfinal findings of fact to be deemed to have had “meaningful therapy” has no precedent. . . . We complete reject any notion that parents should be declared unable to care for their children merely because they persist in their own belief of innocence of wrongdoing, particularly here where their insistence is supported by the evidence.

This decision is subject still to a potential petition for rehearing and/or potential petition for leave to appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court. Given Appellate Court’s unanimous, well-reasoned, and factually-supported opinion, however, the Family Defense Center is cautiously optimistic that the opinion will stand as a very useful precedent for advocates for wrongly-accused caretakers in complex medical cases.

Melissa L. Staas
Staff Attorney The Family Defense Center
*70 East Lake Street, Suite 1100*
*Chicago, Illinois 60601*
312-251-9800 x12 (t.)
312-251-9801 (f.)
www.familydefensecenter.org

*The Family Defense Center is the 2010 winner of the "Excellent Emerging Organization" Award, by the Axelson Center for Non-Profit Management.*

Friday, June 28, 2013

American Minute with Bill Federer JUNE 28 - Did Franklin foresee the Rise...and the Fall of the Constitution?


American Minute with Bill Federer
JUNE 28 - Did Franklin foresee the Rise...and the Fall of the Constitution?
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The Constitutional Convention was in a deadlock over how large and small states could be represented equally.

Some delegates left.



Then, on JUNE 28, 1787, 81-year-old Benjamin Franklin spoke and shortly after, the U.S. Constitution became a reality.

Franklin stated:

"Groping as it were in the dark to find political truth, and scarce able to distinguish it when presented to us, how has it happened, Sir, that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly applying to the Father of lights...

In the beginning of the Contest with Great Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayer in this room for Divine protection.

Our prayers, Sir, were heard and they were graciously answered.

All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a Superintending Providence in our favor...

And have we now forgotten that powerful Friend? or do we imagine we no longer need His assistance?"

Franklin concluded:

"We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writings, that 'except the Lord build the House, they labor in vain that build it.'...

I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed...no better than the Builders of Babel."



Ben Franklin gave another address at the Constitutional Convention, 1787, titled Dangers of a Salaried Bureaucracy:

"Sir, there are two passions which have a powerful influence in the affairs of men...ambition and avarice-the love of power and the love of money...

When united...they have...the most violent effects.

Place before the eyes of such men a post of honor, that shall, at the same time, be a place of profit, and they will move heaven and earth to obtain it...

What kind are the men that will strive for this profitable preeminence, through all the bustle of cabal, the heat of contention, the infinite mutual abuse of parties, tearing to pieces the best of characters?

It will not be the wise and moderate, the lovers of peace and good order, the men fittest for the trust.

It will be the bold and the violent, the men of strong passions and indefatigable activity in their selfish pursuits.

These will thrust themselves into your government and be your rulers...
"

Franklin explained further:

"There will always be a party for giving more to the rulers, that the rulers may be able, in return, to give more to them.

All history informs us, there has been...a kind of warfare between the governing and the governed; the one striving to obtain more for its support, and the other to pay less...

Generally, indeed, the ruling power carries...and we see the revenues of princes constantly increasing, and we see that they are never satisfied, but always in want of more.

The more the people are discontented with the oppression of taxes, the greater need the prince has of money to distribute among his partisans, and pay the troops that are to suppress all resistance, and enable him to plunder at pleasure.

There is scarce a king in a hundred who would not, if he could, follow the example of Pharaoh-get first all the people's money, then all their lands, and then make them and their children servants for ever.

It will be said that we do not propose to establish kings...But there is a natural inclination in mankind to kingly government...

They would rather have one tyrant than five hundred. It gives more of the appearance of equality among citizens; and that they like.

I am apprehensive, therefore-perhaps too apprehensive-that the government of the States may, in future times, end in a monarchy...and a king will the sooner be set over us."


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