Columns by Edgar J Steele, Attorney for the Damned

All of Edgar's columns may be found at

http://www.conspiracypenpal.com/columnlist.htm

The ones related to the Christines are-

Sent: Thursday, November 14, 2002 6:54 PM
Subject: Christine Family Tragedy - an update

Christine Family Tragedy - an update

by Edgar J. Steele

November 15, 2002

Tonight (Friday, November 15), Dateline NBC will air its segment on the Christine family's travails (9-10 pm ET and Pacific Time, check your TV Schedule for local time).

Read the Whole email

Mommy, Why Can't You Be With Us?

by Edgar J. Steele

May 28, 2002

And the King shall answer and say unto them,
verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have
done it unto one of the least of these my brethren,
ye have done it unto me.
                 --- Matthew 25:40

Roseburg, Oregon.  "Mommy, why can't you be with us?"  With that, Ruth Christine sank into her chair at the sentencing hearing this morning, sobbing uncontrollably.  She had just repeated for the Judge a question posed yesterday over the telephone by her daughter, Lidia, who clearly did not understand the import of what was playing out in this sleepy central Oregon hamlet. Neither did the other two elder Christine children, Miriam, the youngster whose condition set this entire tragedy in motion, nor 6-year-old Bethany, whose testimony was key in sending her parents, Ruth and Brian, to prison for 7-1/2 years and 12-1/2 years, respectfully.  Within minutes of Ruth's collapse, that was the judge's ruling, following the guilty verdicts rendered by a jury two weeks ago.

Read the whole article

Guilty of Caring  by Edgar J. Steele  May 11, 2002

Day 4 :  State vs. Christine - A Family Divided

by Edgar J. Steele

May 5, 2002

Roseburg, Oregon. It is exceedingly difficult to talk about a case while you're trying it, knowing that anything you say is immediately shown to the other side. The temptation is to toss out diversion, but that merely muddies the water for most followers and makes the post-trial analysis seemed more than a little contrived.

Thus, there are whole aspects of this case that I simply cannot address just yet. But I will later on - believe me.

One of the most interesting turns that things took on Friday, once we finally got to some witnesses, was the decidedly smarmy nature of the state's case. The state seems to have decided to place the character of Brian and Ruth Christine on trial. I think that was a mistake....and a fatal mistake, hopefully.

I know I wouldn't want to have to try to take apart a former Eagle Scout and his wife, who once was a missionary for Mother Theresa, on moral grounds.

Day 1 :  State vs. Christine - A Family Divided

by Edgar J. Steele

April 30, 2002

Roseburg, Oregon.  This will be a brief update concerning the "kidnap your own kids and go to jail" trial of Ruth and Brian Christine, which got underway today in this picturesque, hilly and wooded locale situated in west-central Oregon.  I'll provide others as we go along, time permitting.

Today Tomorrow 

by Edgar J. Steele

April 17, 2002

This will be a quick report to members of my list about recent events, primarily in the Christine case, since that trial is now less than two weeks away. 

As you may remember, Brian and Ruth Christine face life in prison (adding up all the penalties for the laundry list of charges levied against them) for having rescued their children from the snatch-n-sell Nazis of the rogue Oregon State Department of Services to Children and Families (SCF).

Please tune in to NBC's Today Show tomorrow morning (April 18) for a live interview of Ruth Christine and myself in the NBC studios in Manhattan. The show starts at 7:00 am (taped replay in other time zones), but they haven't yet picked the exact time slot. I notice that they tend to run these interviews during the first hour, however. Matt Lauer is the scheduled interviewer.

It Takes A Village Idiot (to destroy a family)

by Edgar J. Steele 

See the happy moron.

He doesn't give a damn.

I wish I were a moron.

My God...perhaps I am.

  --- Ogden Nash 

March 20, 2002

Meet Yinka and Vanessa Fasinro.  They are a couple like any you might know.  They live in North Carolina, often characterized as a bastion of conservative living.  Take a few minutes and walk along with me in their shoes.  The ones they are wearing right now - today.  Learn how their lives are being vandalized at this very minute by our - that's as in yours and my - legal system.

This is just another in a flood of CPS nightmare stories washing through American society.

The more I write in this area, the angrier I become.  First, read their email of this morning, reproduced below, then the rest of this piece.  You'll be mad as hell, too - I promise.  But, it will be good for you - I promise that, too.

The Wicked Stepgovernment
by Edgar J. Steele
March 7, 2002
 
And let us reflect that, having banished from our land that religious intolerance
under which mankind so long bled and suffered, we have yet gained little if we countenance
 a political intolerance as despotic, as wicked, and capable of as bitter and bloody persecutions.
          - - Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1801
 
Much is made these days of ours being a government of laws, rather than of men.  The difference is bound up in the concept that men are subject to bias.  At best, we tend to see the world as we would like it to be, not how it really is.  Often, our wishes are born of personal desire or, worse, avarice.  Being subject to law supposedly ensures that we are all treated equally.  That's the theory.
 
But, there's a problem with theories.  For example, in theory, Communism appears to be the greatest socio-economic system around.  In practice, well...one need only look to the shambles made of one of the greatest countries in the world during the last century by Communism:  Russia.  Other examples abound:  Cuba, for instance. 
 
Academicians excuse examples of Communism-as-failure by sniffing, "Well, they just didn't do it right."  Do it right, say the academics, and it will work just like the textbooks say.  That's why they are academics, of course.  Those who can't do, and all that.  They just don't get the notion that if something requires laboratory conditions to succeed, it will fail in the real world. 

When Dreams Become Nightmares

February 25, 2002

Ever have a dream where life was just perfect?  That everything you did and said was the epitome of grace and everybody was kind and supportive?  Ever have a dream just like that, but which suddenly took a nasty turn to reveal its true nature and show it for the nightmare that it really was?  That's about when you wake up in a cold sweat, grateful to be given back your mundane existence, right?

Dream along with me for a moment. Imagine that you are in your late twenties.

Imagine that you and your wife (or husband) have three beautiful little girls - blond, blue eyed and button cute.

Imagine that your wife is (or you are) pregnant again, due to deliver in a month.

Now, imagine that you are traveling around the country with your family in your motor home, hoping to see as much as possible before the girls reach school age. Imagine stopping for a time in a picture-book perfect little town.

Baby Abbey Rose Christine - Safe at Last!

by Edgar J. Steele

October 26, 2001

Baby Abbey Rose Christine is on her way home to Indiana with grandmother Teri Christine.  There she finally will meet her year-old sister, Olivia, who has been living with Teri since birth.

 
This stunning result issued from a Missoula courtroom yesterday following a hearing closed to the public.  In a temporary custody ruling, Missoula County District Judge Ed McLean ruled that the best interests of Abbey would be served by placing her with her paternal grandmother and older sister.  In passing, the judge noted that this would also be in Olivia's best interests, demonstrating a degree of compassion that has been singularly lacking in the way that Montana has treated the Christine family to date. 
 
Temporary custody is the category in which children are "parked" in foster homes while the system decides what to do with them; generally, the children continue officially to be wards of the state.
 
In a surprise ruling, Judge McLean also awarded temporary guardianship of Abbey to Teri Christine, thereby surrendering jurisdiction to the Indiana court in which a permanent guardianship now will be processed.  The judge's decision effectively ends the companion case for guardianship, filed in Montana by Teri Christine after Abbey was born.  Guardianship entitles the one so designated to make all decisions concerning the child.  Temporary guardianship is often the precursor to permanent guardianship, which requires a lengthy legal process.
Handcuffed mother gives birth - baby snatched - nurses weep!

by Edgar J. Steele 

September 26, 2001

September 26, 2001.  Ruth Christine gave birth to her fifth child in Missoula, Montana the night before last.  Before the mother's pain killers had even worn off, little Abbey Rose was seized by Montana authorities and is now being held at an undisclosed location.  Ruth was shackled and handcuffed to the bed upon which she gave birth.  Hospital attendants who witnessed the birth reportedly wept at the spectacle.
    The baby girl's condition is unknown, but Ruth is mightily worried.  "Brian (Ruth's husband) has severe allergies, for which he requires constant medication and which little Abbey Rose might inherit.  Without the colostrum that my breast milk would have provided, I worry about my baby's health."  Colostrum, the mother's milk that is usually a baby's first few meals, provides important immune system reinforcement.  No breast feeding.  No bonding.  No kidding.

You choose: Idaho Thought Police or the Oregon Child Nazis?

by Edgar J. Steele

August 19, 2001

This is going to be a status report on the two cases you know about my involvement with and a third that I think you might be interested in, one that I have only just signed onto.