Virtual Visitation – No Substitute for Real Cooperation

Judge Orders ‘Virtual Visitation’ for Father & Son Based on New Law

CHICAGO, Feb. 6 /PRNewswire/ — Cook County Judge Michael Panter utilized Fathers’ Rights Attorney Jeffery Leving’s new Virtual Visitation Law by awarding Leving’s client internet “web visitation” yesterday. This Las Vegas father will now enjoy video conferencing with his infant Chicago son twice weekly. This virtual visitation supplements the father’s “in-person” visitation as ordered by the court.

Attorney Jeffery Leving (http://dadsrights.com/), who co-authored the Illinois Virtual Visitation Law, which just went into effect this new year says “now geographically removed non-custodial fathers can have the next best thing to ‘in-person’ visitation with state-of-the-art technology.”

The new Illinois Virtual Visitation Law now updates the legal system with current technology to facilitate the critical father-child relationship when parents are separated. This will allow many military, incarcerated or other long distant non-custodial parents the legal right to utilize technologies such as email, telephone, internet and video conferencing to maintain contact with their children.

Known for advocating strong family bonds, Chicago divorce attorney Jeffery Leving and his firm have been reuniting fathers and children since 1981. Leving was selected as an expert resource for the first White House Roundtable and Town Hall Meeting in Chicago on Responsible Fatherhood.

For more information about “Virtual Visitation”, contact Jennifer Whiteside @ 312.296.3666.

Source: Law Offices of Jeffery M. Leving

I have a hard time believing that  this makes a difference for an infant.  And unless your equipment is really high end – it would be worthless for an older child. the times my company has tried livestreams the feed has been so choppy as to be un-useable.

I feel for the dads and moms out there who struggle with custody – but it I don’t know if technology will get you farther than old-fashioned adulthood coupled with cooperation.

Editor M Goes Electric

So for Christmas my hubby - Editor W, got me a new guitar. And today was my first lesson with it. I loved taking lessons with my acoustic but I think this new electric baby is taking it to a new level for me. I love my dear Caledonia. Yes, that’s her name, deal with it.

2010, Editor M Goes Electric!

2010 so far…

2010 so far….

Accomplishments: worked out, did 2 loads of laundry, made my hubby hash for the first time, also made a successful walnut torte.

Pluses: new snow, Dragon Age, successful walnut torte, Hudson Hounds going strong in the playoffs.

Minuses: …can’t think of anything. yippee!

Wishes: That all the folks I love get a little something extra from the world this year!

2010 – welcome!

For 2010, more:

• Writing
• Breakfasts
• Exercise
• Laughing
• Visiting

Less:

• Complaining
• Sitting
• Watching
• Second Guessing
• Putting up with it

There. Now go forth and prosper!

Happy-Making Video

Privacy boon-(doggle)

I was just reading about a new tool that Google will soon offer, allowing users to see the information collected about them by Google apps.

Bits: Google Offers Users a Peek At Stored Data, explores the different features available in the new tool.

“Everyone always talks about the weather, but no one ever does anything about it.”

So…once we know all that’s going on with the information that Google collects on us – what can we do about it?

Breast Health

It’s important. So do a breast exam and remind the people you love to do them as well.

 

Here’s some info on how to do a Breast Exam: http://breastcancer.about.com/od/risk/tp/bse_illustrated.htm

 

Also Check out these sites for more info:

National Breast Cancer Awareness Month

National Feel Your Boobies Week  Oct 9th thru 16th

 

 

 

 

In Praise of the American Worker

It’s Labor Day Weekend!  Time to take a few days off to rest and relax. But before I go, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on what Labor Day means…

According to the U.S. Dept of Labor, the first Monday in September ”constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.”

Amen.

We always talk about executives and politicians when we talk about our country and its economic well-being. During good times or when a company is flush, CEOs get all the credit. Media outlets do big, glossy profiles of the head of the next big thing and talk about how important they are to the future of the company/industry/world. During the current economic crisis, politicians are being counted on to “save” us.  Stimulus checks and tax breaks are touted in every paper as the way in which the country will be put right.

I counter that it will be the workers who save us.

What will bring us out of the current economic lull is the hard work and sacrifice of the common worker. All around the country, employees are rolling up their sleeves and working harder. They’re learning new skills to be more valuable. They’re taking unpaid vacations and cutting back hours to help their companies stay afloat.

Will they be thanked? No.

Should they be? Yes.

When I was just entering the workplace, American workers were often compared unfavorably to workers in Asian countries. It was believed that American workers were fat, lazy and spoiled, while companies based in the Asia-Pacific region were chock-full of workers who lived and breathed for their company.  Of course, any hard statistics that you could pull showed that the American worker put in more hours and had less vacation time than workers in most other industrialized nations.

The prejudice that American workers are somehow less than others has continued and frankly, it’s time for  it to stop.

So… this weekend: Stop. Reflect. And give yourself an “Attaboy!” for all the work you do. You work hard. You are the backbone, savior and protector of this country, its economy and its citizens. 

Thank you and pass the lemonade.

Defining Social Networks To Punish

The State of Illinois enacted a law which bans convicted sex offenders from using social networking site.  Fine. Good.

I’m anti-sex offender, so frankly it seems fine by me if they don’t get to reconnect with their high school buds on Facebook.

The rub — and there always is one — is that the law defines a social network as:

an Internet website containing profile web pages of the members of the website that include the names or nicknames of such members, photographs placed on the profile web pages by such members, or any other personal or personally identifying information about such members and links to other profile web pages on social networking websites of friends or associates of such members that can be accessed by other members or visitors to the website. A social networking website provides members of or visitors to such website the ability to leave messages or comments on the profile web page that are visible to all or some visitors to the profile web page and may also include a form of electronic mail for members of the social networking website.

Taking a good look at that language….hmmm, really? what doesn’t that fit?

• If a columnist for the NYTimes has a 50 x 50 pixel photo next to his byline and the site allows users to comment…it fits.

• The official site for my town – which is where I go to find changes in the garbage schedule and a calendar of zoning board meetings – has user and contributor photos, email, comments…if fits.

• In my industry, big companies are looking to employ all manner of interactive, community-driven, Web 2.0 & 3.0 type enhancements to even the most staid of corporate urls….it fits.

What this law does is ban convicted sex offenders from the Internet. And I’d be willing to consider that viable on a case by case basis, but I want a judge to say “Your crimes were so heinous, I ban you from the Internet.” What I don’t want is selectively-enforced, loosely interpreted legislation that bans all sex offenders from the Internet.

Deciding someone’s actions merit a BAN is an important consideration in that a ban could severly impact a person’s ability to lead a normal, productive life. And if someone is banned from living a normal, productive life – that person is going to have to go for an abnormal, destructive life. I don’t think we want that.

Personally, once a person has served their time, they should be helped (if at all willing) to normalize. If we give them a chance to lead normal lives with access to online newspapers and services, we might not have to be so worried about them. If we decide they will always be outcasts – that is how they will always think and act.