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PASWO #2 (with caveat regarding slack; see below):
February 3, 2006, Judge Punch heard testimony in the case. [The father] entered into evidence 16 exhibits taken from the Internet, 12 of which are photographs of the SubGenius event, X-Day. Kohl has never attended X-Day and is not in any of the pictures. Rachel Bevilacqua is depicted in many of these photos, often wearing skimpy costumes or completely nude, while participating in X-Day and Detroit Devival events.

The judge, allegedly a very strict Catholic, became outraged at the photos of the X-Day parody of Mel Gibson's movie The Passion of the Christ -- especially the photo where Jesus [Steve Bevilacqua] is wearing clown makeup and carrying a crucifix with a pool-noodle dollar sign on it while being beaten by a crowd of SubGenii, including a topless woman with a "dildo".

Judge Punch lost his temper completely, and began to shout abuse at Ms. Bevilacqua, calling her a "pervert," "mentally ill," "lying," and a participant in "sex orgies." The judge ordered that Rachel is to have absolutely no contact with her son, not even in writing, because he felt the pictures of X-Day performance art were evidence enough to suspect "severe mental illness..."
I have mixed feelings about this because, so far, nobody has been forthcoming about how much of this the child was exposed to, if there was any third-party assessment by the court of whether or not the child was in any danger, possibly subject either to violent peer sanction or self-injury, and so forth.

It is entirely possible that Ms. Bevilacqua was diligent about firewalling off her activities that are the province and privilege of adulthood. If that's the case then the ruling is entirely out of line, especially without third-party verification. In either case, his behavior from the bench is completely unprofessional and inappropriate.

Source material here. Note that a search through Google news shows nothing, which may indicate that this is another publicity stunt by Reverend Stang. I'd wait a few days and check to see if this pans out as legit.

Date: 2006-02-22 10:07 pm (UTC)

More Info...

Date: 2006-02-23 03:51 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] -pollox.livejournal.com
this came across the Seattle Subgenius list, has more links. Quite possibly not objective, but...

(quoting)
Rev. Mary Magdalen, AKA Rachel Bevilacqua, is going through a mother's
worst nightmare: A New York judge has stripped her of her custody
rights, and her young yetichild has been taken away.

ALL BECAUSE SHE DID WHAT ANY SUBGENIUS WOULD DO.

Read more on her blog:

http://rbevilacqua.blogspot.com/

Donations to her legal defense fund are greatly appreciated.

More links:

http://subgenius.com/updates/maghelp.html
http://revstang.blogspot.com/
http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/49384#1218430

Rachel's story is spreading far and wide across the Internets (TM) but
please help spread the word so that she can get the help she needs to
right this horrible, Conspiracy-stained antislack injustice.
(/quote)

Date: 2006-02-23 07:17 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] gromm.livejournal.com
his behavior from the bench is completely unprofessional and inappropriate.

This isn't unusual though. Judges pass judgement without the need to hold back their opinions or feelings for professionalism sake. They represent the government's ideals of moral behaviour, and moral outrage is part of that.

Moreover, most judges in the US have political career aspirations, and part of that means expressing quite publicly what you think is wrong with the world. So throwing a tantrum like this is likely to get the attention of people in the Republican party, for instance. The system provides positive reinforcement for this sort of crap.

That's no excuse for his behaviour though. He just spouted on a stream of outdated crap that could be disproven in about three seconds of testimony from any psychiatrist. Being a swinging pervert is no indicator of mental illness, let alone a measure of parental fitness.

Date: 2006-02-23 08:16 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] woggie.livejournal.com
Wait. We already have a Judge Judy. Now you're saying we have a Judge Punch too???

Date: 2006-02-25 05:44 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lazarus834.livejournal.com
Arrgh! The conspiracy is taking over! Killing our church starting at the top!
Bob Save Us!

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