John Murtari is a family rights activist who hasn’t eaten solid food for 87 days, since July 31 when he reported to jail to serve a 6-month sentence for “willful failure to pay child support.” Murtari’s not eating, his act of non-cooperation, is his way of taking a stand against the immorality of family court where there is no due process and parents can lose custody with no trial by jury.
The day before his last court hearing to ask for an early release John Murtari sent this newsletter to members of his organization A Kids Right. In it he says:
Many times “professionals” are asking you to “do what’s best for your kids” by choosing something that doesn’t make sense given the facts or ignoring the great love you have for your children...It is so easy to lose Faith and agree to injustice. When we do that we diminish ourselves and the importance we have in the lives of our children.
Murtari didn’t get the early release he asked for. He didn’t get any of the things he asked for. But the day may not have been without progress. In a recent email he states:
My attorney told me the judge stated a couple of times that this case should have never been tried in Onondaga County, which is where Syracuse is located…My attorney thought that was ironic since we have been trying to tell them the venue for this case was wrong ever since the beginning.
On Monday my attorney had faxed a letter to the judge regarding the status of negotiations…in the final paragraph he asked the Court to arrange to have me transported from the jail to the courthouse on Tuesday. When my attorney did not see me at the courthouse Tuesday he asked the judge why they didn’t get the transport request in his letter. He was told they didn’t read that far down.
Our chance of winning on appeal looks a lot better based on what the judge said.
Murtari should be released December 1, 2006
To write to John Murtari:
John Murtari, POD 5A-7
Inmate Correspondence
555 S. State Street
Syracuse, NY 13202-2104
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Roger Knight said,
October 26, 2006 at 3:31 pm
Luek said,
GO JOHN GO!
You are making the bastards pay!
October 26, 2006 at 5:08 pm
AlMartin said,
TMOTS
October 27, 2006 at 5:23 am
kingatao said,
October 27, 2006 at 7:39 am
Teri Stoddard said,
October 27, 2006 at 7:47 am
roadkill1965 said,
October 27, 2006 at 2:30 pm
mruffolo said,
Thoreau considers an honest citizen’s options when facing immoral acts of government.
“I heartily accept the motto, “That government is best which governs least”; and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically.”
“The mass of men serve the state thus, not as men mainly, but as machines, with their bodies. They are the standing army, and the militia, jailers, constables, posse comitatus, etc. In most cases there is no free exercise whatever of the judgement or of the moral sense; but they put themselves on a level with wood and earth and stones; and wooden men can perhaps be manufactured that will serve the purpose as well. Such command no more respect than men of straw or a lump of dirt. They have the same sort of worth only as horses and dogs. Yet such as these even are commonly esteemed good citizens. Others–as most legislators, politicians, lawyers, ministers, and office-holders–serve the state chiefly with their heads; and, as the rarely make any moral distinctions, they are as likely to serve the devil, without intending it, as God. A very few–as heroes, patriots, martyrs, reformers in the great sense, and men–serve the state with their consciences also, and so necessarily resist it for the most part; and they are commonly treated as enemies by it. A wise man will only be useful as a man, and will not submit to be “clay,” and “stop a hole to keep the wind away,” but leave that office to his dust at least.”
“Under a government which imprisons unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison.”
“If the tax-gatherer, or any other public officer, asks me, as one has done, “But what shall I do?” my answer is, “If you really wish to do anything, resign your office.” When the subject has refused allegiance, and the officer has resigned from office, then the revolution is accomplished.”
“I do not wish to quarrel with any man or nation. I do not wish to split hairs, to make fine distinctions, or set myself up as better than my neighbors. I seek rather, I may say, even an excuse for conforming to the laws of the land. I am but too ready to conform to them.”
‘The lawyer’s truth is not Truth, but consistency or a consistent expediency. Truth is always in harmony with herself, and is not concerned chiefly to reveal the justice that may consist with wrong-doing. He well deserves to be called, as he has been called, the Defender of the Constitution. There are really no blows to be given him but defensive ones. He is not a leader, but a follower. His leaders are the men of ‘87. “I have never made an effort,” he says, “and never propose to make an effort; I have never countenanced an effort, and never mean to countenance an effort, to disturb the arrangement as originally made, by which various States came into the Union.” Still thinking of the sanction which the Constitution gives to slavery, he says, “Because it was part of the original compact–let it stand.”‘
“If we were left solely to the wordy wit of legislators in Congress for our guidance, uncorrected by the seasonable experience and the effectual complaints of the people, America would not long retain her rank among the nations. For eighteen hundred years, though perchance I have no right to say it, the New Testament has been written; yet where is the legislator who has wisdom and practical talent enough to avail himself of the light which it sheds on the science of legislation.”
http://www.constitution.org/civ/civildis.htm
October 27, 2006 at 4:22 pm