{"id":91,"date":"2003-02-13T20:50:55","date_gmt":"2003-02-13T23:50:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ericbrooks.com\/soapbox\/?p=91"},"modified":"2011-06-02T11:54:58","modified_gmt":"2011-06-02T15:54:58","slug":"power-of-the-web","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/soapbox\/power-of-the-web\/","title":{"rendered":"Power of the web"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wow!!! I wasn’t expecting that kind of a response… thanks everyone! :0)<\/p>\n

Just a little testament to the power of the web. And miracles.<\/p>\n

It was far from a “One Man War”, believe me. You don’t get out of these things without a lot of money (*waves to in-laws*), massive legal firepower, and friends.<\/p>\n

Just a quick backdrop…
\nIt started in 2000. My wife partnered with a former co-worker, after the company they worked for, folded. Their home remodeling company was doing decent… but then they were offered to buy a rival company run by a sleazeball. It was supposed to put their company ahead of the game… but it was a scam. The (former) owner was slowly draining the funds. Before you knew it tens of thousands of dollars worth of checks were bouncing. We lost our house. Faced several bouts of jail time, as my wife’s partner left her holding the bag. Kids were getting depressed and missing school, so CPS was called by the school… things got worse and worse.<\/p>\n

We needed help. Not punishment.<\/strong><\/p>\n

As usual the state had other plans… despite our biggest problem being money (or the lack thereof), they still found ways to fine us for everything from Animal abuse (reaaaally long story there), to CPS taking the kids, having us pay child support for it, and a demand we pay our landlord $2,250 to keep the landlord’s house from foreclosing (to which they snicker and say “Oh, Eric, you make that sound like a hostage situation” *raises eyebrow*). The entire story is long, boring, very detailed and can fill a novel. I’ll probably write it someday…
\n
\nThe point is, I did the Brookskidz Defense Fund<\/strong> when they were taken away. It was only months after the whole KayCee fiasco… but we were desperate. A lot of my friends were burned from her, and yet surprisingly, they were still compassionate enough to help me. I only asked for $5.00 donations, but people were sending $25’s (one even sent $100!). When asked what to do with the money if it wasn’t enough or over the goal, almost everyone selected the “Take the kids out to celebrate.” option.<\/p>\n

It totaled to a little over $250 in a week’s time. It wasn’t really enough to retain a decent lawyer (and it was too dangerous too keep on the web after we got the kids back.).<\/p>\n

So in came Faith<\/b> offering her services.
\n(Well, I was asked NOT to tell anyone, but after this summer’s bickering… is there anyone out there that DOESN’T know at this point????)<\/p>\n

To bring a lawyer in this late in the game would have been bad. You’re “discouraged” from using a lawyer by CPS, anyway, because it makes you look “guilty” (besides, they may lose their case or something, *GASP*. People… get a fucking lawyer ASAP, ok?). So Faith worked with Carole and me, devised strategies, and what to say… gave us a lot of peace of mind (As a friend who was here the night before a hearing can attest<\/a>.).<\/p>\n

The strategy worked great. The judge was nodding in agreement to a lot of the points we brought up… but no one could have imagined my work on the web was the target this time. They were granted another 6 months to supervise our progress, and a court order forbidding any mention of kids on any site I control (including work). You see, they knew I was badmouthing them online somewhere. They never found “Enemy of the State”, but If I can’t mention “kids”, I sure as hell can’t mention CPS. See?<\/p>\n

After my job sent a corporate lawyer in, things changed. The visits dwindled, the threats were lighter, and it seemed they wanted to close the case… Faith worked with us, and if she needed to come up here to kick someone’s ass, she was ready…<\/p>\n

This was all made possible through the power of the web.<\/strong>
\nA place for me to vent when the pressure made me insane… the helping hands who heard my story. Offered assistance, money, legal help, insight, good thoughts, and prayers.<\/p>\n

I’ll never forget that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was far from a "One Man War" it took a lot of friends, and I’ll never forget that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-91","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-enemy-of-the-state"],"yoast_head":"\nPower of the web - SoApBoX<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/soapbox\/power-of-the-web\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Power of the web - SoApBoX\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It was far from a "One Man War" it took a lot of friends, and I'll never forget that.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/soapbox\/power-of-the-web\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SoApBoX\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"EricBrooksDotComWeb\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"EricBrooksDotComWeb\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2003-02-13T23:50:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-06-02T15:54:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Eric Brooks\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@EricBrooksCom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@EricBrooksCom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Eric Brooks\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/soapbox\/power-of-the-web\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/soapbox\/power-of-the-web\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Eric Brooks\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/soapbox\/#\/schema\/person\/8ff62df16d2105a698b2aa19323dca30\"},\"headline\":\"Power of the web\",\"datePublished\":\"2003-02-13T23:50:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-06-02T15:54:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/soapbox\/power-of-the-web\/\"},\"wordCount\":687,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/soapbox\/#\/schema\/person\/8ff62df16d2105a698b2aa19323dca30\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Enemy of the State\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/soapbox\/power-of-the-web\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/soapbox\/power-of-the-web\/\",\"name\":\"Power of the web - SoApBoX\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/soapbox\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2003-02-13T23:50:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-06-02T15:54:58+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/soapbox\/power-of-the-web\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/soapbox\/power-of-the-web\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/soapbox\/power-of-the-web\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/soapbox\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Power of the web\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/soapbox\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/soapbox\/\",\"name\":\"SoApBoX\",\"description\":\"Rants and Raves of Eric Brooks. 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