Lary Holland: Official Blog, Links, and Resources

The Kalamazoo Gazette, August 27, 2007, published a letter to the editor from Darrick Scott-Farnsworth. Darrick Scott-Farnsworth is the Executive Director of A Child's Right, an organization that supports the concept of equal custody and equal parenting.

I have personally met Mr. Farnsworth and value his opinions. He poses an interesting argument, and his argument is certainly well-supported by the facts regarding Michigan's, and this Nation's, various policies over the family. Most of the policies regarding family in America are focused on failing welfare services and creative schemes for states to acquire more federal funding.

Michigan fails children, fails parents, and essentially cannibalizes its' population for the survival of various bureaucracies.

The funding mechanisms behind state programs largely contribute to longterm negative consequences, like single-parent households and multiple-generations of welfare participants living off the tax rolls, instead of positive outcomes and participant productivity contributing to the tax rolls. We need to reshape this Nation's welfare policies to become entirely gender neutral and eliminate the rolls associated with the sexes. Making rolls equal will certainly be a step in the right direction that will force self-accountability and productivity on both sides of the "great divide."

Custody changes could help women

Some feminists and politicians complain about there being a pay gap between men and women, but fight tooth and nail against actually promoting any legislation that would truly do anything about it. It has been common knowledge for years that women, on average, do not make the same amount as men doing the same type of work because women tend to take more time off to raise children.

It is also common knowledge that children are denied equal time with both of their fit parents when it comes to custody disputes, with the majority of cases and custody time being awarded to mothers.

This denying of parenting time to fathers exacerbates the continuing pay gap between sexes because fathers are being coerced into maintaining full-time employment to make ends meet and pay bloated child support.

Furthermore, the government has fostered the overall belief that it is more important for men to work and earn then it is for women.

We must get the laws changed to recognize parents are equal and that children need both of their parents to develop and thrive. We must raise the importance of the father in the home by having a presumption of equal child custody law.

Darrick Scott-Farnsworth

Lary Holland at the Flint Gear Grinders' Car Show in Fenton, MI. The event was at Mo Doggies Bar and Grill with over 45 participating cars in the event.

Representative Brenda Clack, in the Michigan House of Representatives, is currently holding up House Bill 4564, Michigan's Presumption of Equal Custody Bill, that creates a presumption that both parents should be involved a substantially equal amount of time in their children's lives as long as the same school schedule can be maintained.

Michigan House Bill 4564 is the right thing for parents, children, and taxpayers. Stop the government waste on programs that can be eliminated when there are two fit parents involved in their own children's lives. It takes a family to raise a child, not a community. Urge Representative to stop hold our children and Michigan House Bill 4564 hostage.

For more information about House Bill 4564 feel free to email me at laryholland@sbcglobal.net or visit http://www.squidoo.com/hb4564, created by Robert Pedersen. 

Mo Doggies Bar and Grill hosted the Flint Gear Grinders Car Show in Fenton, MI. Equal Parenting information was distributed throughout the event and over the PA System.

Thanks to the Flint Gear Grinders, Mo Doggies, and all of the sponsors that made this event possible for area parents, children, and the community.

The Grim Reaper came to collect a little bit early again and he granted me an adjournment "sine die" while I complete my work here.

I met a gentleman the other day named Mr. Reaper, he was an old friend. He came to collect a bit early and granted me another adjournment, this one "sine die."

Some of you may have heard that either the Friend of the Court attempted a mail bomb hit on me or I was in a freak accident. The reality of it was, I was in an explosion. This explosion was at point blank range and it happened on Thursday in the middle of the day. I was standing next to a truck with a large gasoline tank, the kind that holds over 30 gallons or more. As I approached the tank on the driver's side I heard the sound of a canon and a blaze of metal and fire exploded into me.

I was able to block the main fireball (the majority of it) from my face with my left forearm. Unfortunately, bare skin does not hold up very well against Gasoline Liquid, Gasoline Vapor, and the Explosive Force necessary to escape a solid rusty metal tank.

http://www.burnsurgery.com/Documents/gasoline_safety.doc

Now some things that I happened to learn about was:

"In spite of the routine use of gasoline, many people are unaware of or unappreciative of the dangers of gasoline. Gasoline is dangerous because it is highly volatile – the fumes are capable of ignition up to 12 feet away from a pooled source.  This inherent danger is further multiplied by its explosive potential. Flammables burn at close to room temperature (100 degrees F), when they are near a spark, flame, or even static electricity. It can float on water and may spread long distances, making ignition and flash back possible. Gasoline vapor is highly explosive and may ignite as a “fireball” with a temperature of 15,000 degrees F."

Now again, my forearm was able to stop the majority of the fireball as I was escaping on the tail end of the concussive force of the tank exploding into me. As I was hit with the entire force of the metal and rust fragmentation I was also splashed with gasoline and remained on fire. As the doctors have already asked, are you sure that you didn't black out from the force? I keep replying, I wanted to, but I didn't really have time to fall asleep while I was on fire. I immediately had to focused on putting fires out that were still on my body, tearing off clothing and extinguishing open flames that were still on me. This was successful after a considerable amount of damage to my arms and abdominal region both through bruising, shrapnel, and burns.

I obtained a ride from a family member to the nearest walk-in clinic and asked if they were equipped to handle the damage that has occurred to me as it was becoming pretty critical at this point. I needed immediate x-rays to see if my left ribs pierced my lungs, because I was having problems breathing and the amount of visible trauma that had occurred to that general area was pretty visible. They were unable to handle any of the care except to wrap me up. They contacted an ambulance to get me to the nearest hospital. Their surgeon was not equipped to address the damage to my left arm. I received a tetanus shot and a vallium shot and eventually an iv which I refused for sometime. I had to get over it, to get treated.

I was taken by ambulance and arrived at one of Michigan's Burn Centers for them to begin working on me. Each day has been a new set of issues associated with the blast, but it looks like I am finally on my last full day at the Hospital. I will be checking out tomorrow after I am cleared by a neurologist and an ear nose and throat specialist regarding some equilibrium and migraine issues. The bottom line is, I have alot of work to do, and I don't have time to lay down and die. We all have alot of work to do, so let's get it done!

• Support: the Bike Trek for Equal Parenting Trip (August 11 - 18, 2007)
• Support: the DC Rally for Equal Parenting (August 18, 2007)
• Support: Budget Cuts for Title IV-D Services
• Support: House Bill 4564

If it isn't the actual child support enforcement officers stealing from the taxpayers, then its more greedy participants aiming to defraud taxpayers, parents, and children of green. The Title IV-D program is plagued with overparticipation, fraud, and misrepresentation to the public that money is destined for children, but in reality the money goes into everyone else's pockets but the children's. The Katy Times, serving Katy, Tx and the surrounding suburban communities released the story on June 1, 2007 about a Fort Bend, Indiana Woman being found guilty in another Child Support Fraud Scheme. (Katy Times, "Fort Bend Woman Guilty in Child Support Fraud Ring," June 1, 2007)

• Child Support Worker Arrested In Bribery Scheme http://www.laryholland.com/serendipity/archives/329-Child-Support-Worker-Arrested-in-Bribery-Scheme.html
• Title IV-D Employee Embezzles Quarter of Million in Child Support Money http://www.laryholland.com/serendipity/archives/311-Title-IV-D-Employee-Embezzles-Quarter-of-Million-in-Child-Support-Enforcement-Money.html

The Free Lance-Star

I agree with Wayne Wood's Op-Ed that was published recently in the Free Lance-Star titled "Putting names on pizza boxes won't fix child support problems" (Free Lance-Star, May 30, 2007) People and papers across this country are already combatting the propaganda that the various interested beneficiaries of the Title IV-D Money Machine are releasing in an effort to retain their own jobs. The Title IV-D Money Machine serves the Greedy not the Needy.

Article Below in Entirety

I read and appreciated the honesty of Stephen Baskerville's op-ed.

It is an extremely honest evaluation of the out-of-control child-support system we have in our country. Using pizza boxes to promote this injustice makes one shake one's head in disgust.

One would have thought that with the billions spent by the government to collect child support, the problem would have been corrected. But alas, we all know how our government programs work. It's a system that supports cottage industries surrounding the collection of child support.

It takes two parents to raise a child--not the government, and certainly not pictures of parents on pizza boxes. Who in their right mind as a business owner would even promote this? I know where I would not be buying my pizza.

At least Mr. Baskerville's op-ed was a breath of fresh air. Thank you for that. It feels good to see a paper tell the truth