March 1, 2008 at 11:29 A.M. after an hour or so of trying to work at my MSN group, without much success, being unable to change the image, or to access the various boards, I have decided to work here for a while. I cannot say whether essays at MSN have been altered. Some, no doubt, will be damaged -- again. I will run scans throughout the day. I will continue to try to get back to MSN, or to return to this blog. I will spend part of every day struggling to continue working at MSN and posting new essays examining New Jersey's corruption and continuing criminal conspiracies to violate civil rights.
Ken Belson & David W. Chen, "Sharp Rebuke For Developer In Big Project At Landfills," in The New York Times, February 29, 2008, at p. B1.
Bob Ingle & Sandy McClure, The Soprano State: New Jersey's Culture of Corruption (New York: St. Martin's Press, 2008), entirety.
"The inspector general of New Jersey sharply criticized a developer and a politically powerful law firm, [emphasis added] accusing them of bungling a BILLION-DOLLAR project to clean up landfills in the Meadowlands and replace them with golf courses and houses. The official asked the state attorney general to determine whether a criminal investigation was warranted."
With Anne Milgram in the attorney general's job, N.J.'s powerful political lawyers and corrupt politicians have little to worry about. That's why she's there. Milgram's incompetence is her main qualification. ("Errors" were inserted and corrected in the foregoing sentence.) There is the U.S. attorney's office, of course, which is busy at the moment. Otherwise, the criminals are home free. These tainted law firms have little to worry about from the Office of Attorney Ethics (OAE), which they pretty much control through their political friends, also the poor intellectual and professional level of many attorneys (not all) found in that office.
"... corruption thrives on unchecked conflicts of interest. A New Jersey mayor can also be a member of the state legislature and a partner in a law firm that benefits from legislation he writes. In New Jersey pretty much nothing becomes law unless it benefits somebody financially. Hardly anything happens solely because it is the right thing to do. The public's welfare is often the last thing on the agenda. Unions and other special interest groups call the shots. Everybody else pays for it."
As for the sold-out OAE and DRB -- like most acronyms in New Jersey -- these public entities are corrupt:
"But you ask? Doesn't that violate ethics laws? In other places, definitely. Think of the Garden State's ethics laws as what banking regulations would be like if Bonnie and Clyde made them. Government creates agencies to keep mobsters out, and politicians find ways around them. What about the justice system and the courts? You guessed it. Scandal regularly engulfs judges and the attorney general's office." (Ingle & McClure, p. 4.)
See "Jay Romano and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey" and "James R. Zazzali and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey."
"In a long awaited report issued on Thursday, EnCap Golf Holdings LLC, a subsidiary of a company based in North Carolina, was accused of deliberately misleading [emphasis added] several government agencies about the progress of its cleanup work and its ability to finance the decade-old development despite receiving at least $315 MILLION in loans from local and state agencies."
That's your $315 MILLION going to a company "promising" to do clean up (i.e., "picking up the bodies and radioactive stuff") in the Meadowlands in order to use the site for a "golf course and shopping mall" and doing nada. The developers, apparently, then "deliberately mislead" officials -- that means they lied -- when asked by the inspector general (a Democrat-appointed official, who can't criticize Democrats too much, or she won't get more lucrative appointments) "hey, whatta youz guys doing, there? ..."
The response from EnCap, accurately enough, was: "We ain't doing nothing!"
"Gov. Jon S. Corzine requested the inspector general to investigate the project's finances more than a year ago, after EnCap asked for an additional $450 MILLION" -- more money for nothing and the chicks for free! -- "in bonds backed by future tax revenues of several towns near the landfills."
Bonds are usually short term securities issued by public entities to secure revenues for specific "general welfare" projects.
"After EnCap was declared in default by the state, various banks that invested in the project reached out to Donald J. Trump" -- The Donald said to EnCap: YOU'RE FIRED! -- "to take over its management. In November, Mr. Trump took over the cleanup of the site."
Trump will get the job done in three weeks, plus he'll get everybody tickets for the Giants games. This major fiasco in New Jersey, providing further evidence of sweetheart deals between connected law firms, developers operating through "subsidiaries" (that is, shell companies), and N.J.'s battalions of corrupt politicians -- goes a long way towards explaining why the state is $36 BILLION in the hole and everybody is getting indicted in Trenton. (See "Do I look like I'm negotiating?") In the words of N.J.'s own inspector general:
"Our report revealed significant misrepresentations [you mean, lots of lying?] of qualifications and financial support on behalf of the private entity contracted to perform the remediation and redevelopment of the Meadowlands project ..."
Where's New Jersey's OAE? Anne Milgram? Aren't you concerned about lying by others? Not your own lying at the OAE, of course, only that of others is worrisome. Would N.J.'s highest law enforcement official or her underlings commit cybercrimes, conspire to violate fundamental Constitutional and other civil rights? Or would these persons conspire to cover-up such violations by others? Maybe we'll find out. Ethics?
"The report was also sharply critical of the role played by a lawyer for EnCap from the firm of Decotiis, Fitzpatrick, Cole & Wisler, whose partners have long counseled Democratic governors in New Jersey. Among other things, the inspector general [Mary Jane Cooper] accused members of the firm" -- these are lawyers! -- "of strong-arming state regulators."
What happened to the OAE? Oh, they're too busy going after guys and gals who don't kiss ass and object to torture in county jails. Notice what the inspector general cannot say, so she can keep her position and maybe get a judgeship before the next pack of rats gets into power. In fact, it's always the same leeches "sucking on the public tit in Trenton," as one former town commissioner expressed it to me over espressos and cigars.
"... [The report] spared government officials from any criticism, saying simply that there was a 'lack of communication among government entities,' and offered suggestions for how to avoid similar problems in the future." (emphasis added)
I have a suggestion for Corzine. How about if you avoid dealing with crooks and their mouthpieces in the future? You or your child will not be "spared" criticism or liability for crimes or "unethical conduct." Only N.J. politicians and "powerful lawyers" get such courtesies. Isn't that nice? Not nice for the people, of course, but who cares about them. New Jersey's Supreme Court sure doesn't give a shit about the chumps. Right, Stuart?
"... a spokesman for the attorney general, Anne Milgram, said that the Justice Department was reviewing the report but declined to comment further."
We don't know from nothing. "On the one hand, but on the other hand," Senator Bob said, and then he added: "Where's my cut?"
"Sections of the report amount to a sweeping indictment of New Jersey's political culture, in which large developers work with well-connected law firms to lobby state agencies for the purpose of waving environmental regulations and other rules." (emphasis added)
In other words, they get to pollute and kill people to make a buck.
"... state employees and others believed that members of the DeCotiis firm 'have had the opportunity to meet with elected officials concerning the project as a result of their campaign contributions.' ..."
The lawyers I knew from politically connected firms in Hudson County were utterly cynical about (in their words) "bribing politicians" -- meaning making political contributions -- to "suck the public tit" by being awarded lucrative contracts for public legal defense work, allowing those firms to bill the shit out of local public entities for redundant or unnecessary legal work, usually done by younger lawyers, lawyers whose services were billed at partners' HEFTY rates. Right, Alex?
"You gotta pay to play!" This has become the slogan of prostitutes and lawyers in the Garden State. These are overlapping categories. (The prostitutes and sex workers are usually nicer people than the lawyers, also smarter and better educated.)
"State Senator Kevin J. O'Toole, Republican of Cedar Grove, said the state had a 'black eye' for 'allowing this financial debacle to go forward' and that indictments would not surprise him."
New Jersey does not have a black eye. Rather, the entire state is in intensive care when it comes to ethics, financial bankruptcy and corruption, tainted judges and lawyers, a corrupt legal ethics enforcement process, sold out and mafia-influenced politicians and judges. New Jersey continues to be a disgrace to the United States of America. After learning of these developments, once again, Chief Justice Stuart Rabner "demurred."
Friday, February 29, 2008
Thursday, February 28, 2008
"Michael Clayton": A Movie Review.
February 28, 2008 at 11:33 A.M. This essay has been posted five or six times at my MSN group because hackers like to insert small "errors" overnight. I expect that process to continue. I have discovered many alterations of essays at Critique, also at blogger. I am blocking:
http://view.atdmt.com/VON/iview/msnnkvos02900... (NJ? What a shock?)
Rainy nights in the city give neon and traffic signals a sad and weary look -- like a beautiful woman at 3:00 A.M., after a dance, who removes her shoes, lets her makeup run, takes off an earring and looks up at you, whispering ..."take me home, I'm tired."
I went to see Michael Clayton on a rainy night at one of the great movie theaters in the city, close to Lincoln Center, across the street from what was a Barnes & Noble bookstore.
The movie "palace" was a revival house in the early eighties where I saw lots of classic films on the big screen -- as they were meant to be seen -- which makes a hell of a difference to the experience of a cinematic work of art.
Don't mess with a director's work.
Michael Clayton is in the grand tradition of Hollywood film-making. I don't know writer and director "Tony Gilroy" from the proverbial "hole in the wall." I sense, however, that Gilroy is saturated with film lore and noir culture. This guy lives movies. Me too. ("Gilroy was here?")
This passion for cinema does not prevent us, I am sure, from also "experiencing" what is laughingly called "reality."
Did Mr. Clooney write and direct this movie? Is Mr. Clooney also Tony Gilroy?
George Clooney is "Michael Clayton," a law firm "fixer." The big firms and solos do a lot of cleaning up, tidying their own messes and their clients' troubles. Politicians also usually have fixers. Right, Senator Bob?
I relived some unpleasant memories as I saw the Clooney character arrive at an asshole's home in the middle of the night to forestall a catastrophe for the moron who was giving him shit.
I have done and said many of the things that Mr. Clooney's character did and said in this movie. And so have many other lawyers. Clooney is great as a hardboiled hero and has the verbal patterns of lawyers down pat.
I will never forget late night calls from loyal clients looking to get bail. "Can you get a judge on the phone?"
A free tip for anyone in a criminal jam: Don't try to outsmart your lawyer. Listen to what he or she tells you. Every lawyer has two adversaries -- the opposing attorney and his or her own client. An older lawyer once explained that "you're always walking with a guy who is looking to fuck you over."
If you opt for the joys of criminal defense work, boys and girls, then you should never lose sight of the fact that your clients are (mostly) criminals. Hence, they will look for any chance to beat you -- or their mothers come to think of it -- out of something, anything, since evil is simply what they do and become.
Here's a little gem of an anecdote told to me by a criminal who was in a good mood since I had just gotten him out of something, nothing major, but enough that it might have cost him another ten years in the can. Maybe that is pretty major:
"A tarantula comes upon a turtle at the edge of a river. The tarantula says: 'I want to get to the other side of the river. Will you carry me across?' The turtle says, 'sure.' The turtle (let's call the turtle 'Marilyn') swims across the river with the tarantula on her back. Once across, the tarantula bites the turtle on the neck, allows the poison to paralyze the victim, then takes everything the turtle has and walks away from her. 'Why are you doing this?' The turtle asks, with a final burst of strength, as the tarantula -- let's call the evil spider, 'Diana' -- says over her shoulder 'because it's my nature.' ..." ("Jennifer Velez is a 'Dyke Magnet!'")
My former client -- who has now departed this vale of tears in a hail of gun fire -- was unaware that he was revealing something profound about himself by telling me this charming myth.
Anyway, the Clooney character gets a call to clean up a situation involving a brilliant lead litigator for a big New York defense firm who flips out during a deposition. The bonkers litigator "Arthur Edens" (Eden?) is played with Oscar-worthy brilliance by the great Tom Wilkinson (Falstaff, please, Mr. Wilkinson).
Notice that "Eden" is getting out of the legal profession. "Getting out" is mentioned in the same reverential tones by criminals and lawyers. Getting out is paradise. The permanent digusted look frozen on lawyers' faces comes from dealing with society's vermin and scum, fellow attorneys, especially judges, very much included. There is also a feeling of alienation from the unpleasant aspects of the task, a feeling that "dirty and difficult stuff has to get done."
Sydney Pollack is convincing and powerful as the managing partner in a slimy civil defense firm raking in millions by getting corporate criminals off the hook. At no point do any of these lawyers give a shit about ethics. This is almost a neo-realist documentary.
The slimiest attorneys I knew were civil lawyers, including the ones working for the legal ethics enforcement agency in New Jersey, many of whom are probably on the take. These are the people who run for public office or become judges in the Garden State. They make people sick. And they should. ("New Jersey's 'Ethical' Legal System" and "Law is Dead in New Jersey.")
Tilda Swinton is corporate lawyer "Karen Crowther" without a conscience or any concern other than "success." Anne Milgram, Esq.? Kim Guardagno, Esq.? Nydia Hernandez, Esq.? Mary Anne Kriko, Esq.? Estela De La Cruz? Does this sound familiar "ladies"? ("Trenton's Nasty Lesbian Love-Fest.")
Hypocrisy and ruthlessness are instilled in most law students. Karen's life has become a performance. Her careful rehearsal of "spontaneous" remarks for an interview makes this clear. The legal profession and politics is a gathering place for bad actors who are usually unaware that their performances -- i.e., their lives -- are unconvincing, even to themselves. They usually do their evil behind the backs of victims.
Clooney's "Michael Clayton" makes exactly this discovery that he died and failed to notice the fact during the course of the film realizing what he has become only as he sees the explosion of his vehicle -- a shiny Mercedes that is his real home -- and realizes that it is a symbol for his life. I've been there.
I remember one long session of cross-examination where I destroyed a witness, a young woman, who collapsed into incoherence. My client that day was acquitted, something truly awful which the bastard probably deserved, was avoided. I walked out of court a much richer man. I also felt that something was in danger of dying in me. My German car, silver and gold Rolex, ample girth, expensive suit and tie, were a coffin. I had to escape that fate. And I have.
Little did I realize then that I was a crime victim. My vehicle exploded, except that I was in it at the time. I am now looking for the people who placed a "bomb" in that vehicle -- metaphorically speaking -- and are disappointed that I survived the blast.
At age forty-five, Michael Clayton has come to a fork in the road. The film leaves us with a mystery: Where will Michael go after this? We do not know? He does not know.
For an example of what I call great acting on screen examine the final sequences in this film with Clooney sitting, silently, in the back of a cab. Look at his eyes and you will see everything that has happened in this movie replayed, slowly and haltingly, demonstrating what is meant by psychological trauma and its effects on victims.
Someone suggested that a similar wisdom and sadness is what they see in my eyes along with hatred and disgust for the evil persons thriving in our world. I will neither deny nor confirm the aforementioned assessment of me on the advice of my attorney. ("Law and Ethics in the Soprano State" and "Abuse and Exploitation of Women in New Jersey.")
An earlier Michael Clayton has died; a new self is born. After you've seen this movie, ask yourself whether any of the lawyers in this story (with the possible exception of the Clooney character) is a person you'd like to know and spend time with, or maybe get involved with in a relationship.
If you're honest, then you'll probably decide that these are the sort of people you do not wish to know. I concur.
With all exceptions granted, many N.J. lawyers at least are ignorant and despicable people -- especially the political animals who become judges and ethics officials. I hope I am not being unfair or overgeneralizing. ("Mafia Influence in New Jersey Law and Politics" and "Corrupt Law Firms, Senator Bob, and New Jersey Ethics.")
The horses glimpsed by Michael Clayton that are responsible for saving his life and for his epiphany are a trinity. The Christian symbolism is hard to miss. Also, the horses are reminders of authenticity and a connection to the rural landscape in the scene. This image represents the "homecoming" described in Romanticism. The horses call Michael Clayton "home" to naturalness and peace. Michael is finally "getting out" of the legal profession.
A lawyer looks at a conversational partner and says: "... It's all bullshit." This is tragedy when spoken by a person responsible for law and justice over a lifetime. I have known distinguished attorneys and judges in New Jersey who have felt and said exactly this about law, which is really a judgment about their own lives in law.
I have known some lawyers who piss in their pants with delight when they get to destroy the lives of others. Many of New Jersey's legal flunkies enjoy removing a letter from this review after I make corrections. Think about a person who gets her kicks in such ways.
You sure you want to go to law school, kids? How you doing, Anne Milgram? How's Stuart? Is Stuart your "mentor," Anne? Hey, how's Jaynee flipping the burgers these days? If you people are counting on wearing me out with the daily computer wars and harassments, I am sure that you'll be disappointed. That also goes for the "Cubanoids." ("New Jersey's 'Ethical' Legal System" and "More Mafia Influence in New Jersey's Courts and Politics.")
As for the reality of corporate or public crime and dishonesty in the legal profession, I suggest that you glance at the hundreds of essays in my blogs detailing evils committed by prominent members of the New Jersey bar and judiciary, usually publicly, that are supported by thousands of articles in public media and other sources.
I take today's New York Times in my hand and what do I find? An interesting news story not fully appreciated by the well-meaning journalist writing it who is probably from Wyoming, or North Bergen, New Jersey:
"Nearly a quarter of New Jersey's 615 school districts may have received tainted beef from a California slaughterhouse through a federal school lunch assistance program, [administered by state officials,] state agricultural officials said on Monday."
Winnie Hu, "New Jersey Schools Told to Discard Suspect Beef," in The New York Times, February 26, 2008, at p. B3. ("Winnie Hu" is probably Jay Romano.)
Would it shock us to discover that corporate entities receiving lucrative federal contracts to supply food for children's lunches are "tight" with politicians and judges getting them those contracts? Would it be surprising that these corporate entities increase their profits -- profits that are often in the millions -- by "flushing" their bad stuff into state school systems where it will be distributed to poor kids?
Poor children, usually, don't eat well and need whatever food they can get at school.
It doesn't shock me at all that this food was tainted. Milk for school kids -- was it in California? -- was rumored to have gone bad and to have been sweetened, allegedly, so kids wouldn't notice and drink it anyway.
"In total, New Jersey schools received at least 168,000 pounds of coarse ground beef from the slaughterhouse, the Westland/Hallmark Meat Company in Chicago, Calif., at various times between February 2006 and February 2008, according to state officials [you mean, the same state officials who might have been paid off?] Last week, the company issued the [largest] recall in United States history: 143 million pounds nationwide."
Do you think that 143 MILLION POUNDS of tainted beef is just "a little boo-boo"?
Nobody knows from nothing. It looked like a good deal in New Jersey.
When your kid is poisoned and rushed to the hospital will you know what made that child sick and will you have the resources, say, to sue the state of New Jersey and prove your case? Are you entitled to the truth from government officials even if you don't have millions of dollars to litigate against the state? I think so.
By the way, there is an excellent chance that the closest hospital to your home is one of the facilities being closed because N.J. can't pay the bills as a result of billions in waste and theft of public funds in Trenton.
N.J. is more bankrupt than the people getting discharges at bankruptcy court and with less excuse for it. I wonder whether New Jersey's legal crooks pay their student loans? Whatta-ya say, Anne? Are you and Neil M. Cohen my "superiors"? Stuart Rabner? Deadbeats? Couchpotatos? You gotta be kidding me.
New Jersey may be the only state found to have defrauded investors (lies?) in the state's pension programs and funds, then covered-up the crime by "smoke-machine accounting," more lying, or stonewalling about it, while the people's money continued to disappear from the treasury. These are the people who judge my ethics. I am judging their ethics. Mary Williams Walsh, "Pension Fraud By New Jersey Cited by S.E.C.," in The New York Times, August 19, 2010, at p. A1. (The entire N.J. legal machinery is tainted by the word "fraud.")
Who is "unethical" in New Jersey, Debbie? Stuart? A better question may be: Who is not unethical in New Jersey's legal profession? (See again: "New Jersey's 'Ethical' Legal System" and "New Jersey's Feces-Covered Supreme Court.")
To get a good feel for the real-world version of "Karen Crowther," notice this quotation:
"Lynne Richmond, [Jennifer Velez?] a spokesperson for the State Department of Agriculture [an ethical N.J. attorney?] said that much of the meat had been cooked and frozen before reaching the schools and that there had been no reported problems."
What the hell then? Let's see if we can sell that meat on the agricultural markets for export, say, to Mexico. Better yet, resale and redistribution to the supermarket chains that operate in poor neighborhoods will allow us to, as it were, "make a killing."
N.J. politicians and lawyers -- through a private entity -- can buy the meat at a low price then turn it over at 300% profit. We'll create a corporation called "Bayonne Nutrition for Kids Everywhere." This way we can distance ourselves from the unpleasantness that usually accompanies the murder of poor children in the Third World. ("How to be a Politician or a Lawyer in New Jersey.")
Sure, some "marginal fatalities" will result. In other words, brown people will die. So what? "Collateral damage." There is no way for the "blow-back" from these unfortunate events to get to us since: 1) no scientific evidence can establish the proximate causal connection between our tainted meat and illness, especially where there are intervening factors and other agents involved once it leaves our hands; and 2) "exclusion clauses" limit liability to subsidiary corporate entities and shell companies, preferably with foreign registrations, doing the trading outside the U.S. anyway. 3) The difficulties surrounding legal efforts to "pierce the corporate veil" will come in handy. Realistically, it is highly unlikely (legally speaking) for any trouble to get back to us here in New Jersey if we flip this one over. Besides, we'll get a lot richer -- quickly. It's a "win-win" situation, as they say in game theory. ("Senator Bob Says -- 'Xanadu and You Are Perfect Together!'" and "Is Senator Menendez a Suspect in Mafia-Political Murder in New Jersey?" then "New Jersey Lawyers' Ethics Farce.")
Whatta ya say, fellas? Shall we have our "ethical" N.J. attorneys work out the details? Ethics? Have a fruit basket. ("Stuart Rabner and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey" and "No More Cover-Ups and Lies, Chief Justice Rabner!")
http://view.atdmt.com/VON/iview/msnnkvos02900... (NJ? What a shock?)
Rainy nights in the city give neon and traffic signals a sad and weary look -- like a beautiful woman at 3:00 A.M., after a dance, who removes her shoes, lets her makeup run, takes off an earring and looks up at you, whispering ..."take me home, I'm tired."
I went to see Michael Clayton on a rainy night at one of the great movie theaters in the city, close to Lincoln Center, across the street from what was a Barnes & Noble bookstore.
The movie "palace" was a revival house in the early eighties where I saw lots of classic films on the big screen -- as they were meant to be seen -- which makes a hell of a difference to the experience of a cinematic work of art.
Don't mess with a director's work.
Michael Clayton is in the grand tradition of Hollywood film-making. I don't know writer and director "Tony Gilroy" from the proverbial "hole in the wall." I sense, however, that Gilroy is saturated with film lore and noir culture. This guy lives movies. Me too. ("Gilroy was here?")
This passion for cinema does not prevent us, I am sure, from also "experiencing" what is laughingly called "reality."
Did Mr. Clooney write and direct this movie? Is Mr. Clooney also Tony Gilroy?
George Clooney is "Michael Clayton," a law firm "fixer." The big firms and solos do a lot of cleaning up, tidying their own messes and their clients' troubles. Politicians also usually have fixers. Right, Senator Bob?
I relived some unpleasant memories as I saw the Clooney character arrive at an asshole's home in the middle of the night to forestall a catastrophe for the moron who was giving him shit.
I have done and said many of the things that Mr. Clooney's character did and said in this movie. And so have many other lawyers. Clooney is great as a hardboiled hero and has the verbal patterns of lawyers down pat.
I will never forget late night calls from loyal clients looking to get bail. "Can you get a judge on the phone?"
A free tip for anyone in a criminal jam: Don't try to outsmart your lawyer. Listen to what he or she tells you. Every lawyer has two adversaries -- the opposing attorney and his or her own client. An older lawyer once explained that "you're always walking with a guy who is looking to fuck you over."
If you opt for the joys of criminal defense work, boys and girls, then you should never lose sight of the fact that your clients are (mostly) criminals. Hence, they will look for any chance to beat you -- or their mothers come to think of it -- out of something, anything, since evil is simply what they do and become.
Here's a little gem of an anecdote told to me by a criminal who was in a good mood since I had just gotten him out of something, nothing major, but enough that it might have cost him another ten years in the can. Maybe that is pretty major:
"A tarantula comes upon a turtle at the edge of a river. The tarantula says: 'I want to get to the other side of the river. Will you carry me across?' The turtle says, 'sure.' The turtle (let's call the turtle 'Marilyn') swims across the river with the tarantula on her back. Once across, the tarantula bites the turtle on the neck, allows the poison to paralyze the victim, then takes everything the turtle has and walks away from her. 'Why are you doing this?' The turtle asks, with a final burst of strength, as the tarantula -- let's call the evil spider, 'Diana' -- says over her shoulder 'because it's my nature.' ..." ("Jennifer Velez is a 'Dyke Magnet!'")
My former client -- who has now departed this vale of tears in a hail of gun fire -- was unaware that he was revealing something profound about himself by telling me this charming myth.
Anyway, the Clooney character gets a call to clean up a situation involving a brilliant lead litigator for a big New York defense firm who flips out during a deposition. The bonkers litigator "Arthur Edens" (Eden?) is played with Oscar-worthy brilliance by the great Tom Wilkinson (Falstaff, please, Mr. Wilkinson).
Notice that "Eden" is getting out of the legal profession. "Getting out" is mentioned in the same reverential tones by criminals and lawyers. Getting out is paradise. The permanent digusted look frozen on lawyers' faces comes from dealing with society's vermin and scum, fellow attorneys, especially judges, very much included. There is also a feeling of alienation from the unpleasant aspects of the task, a feeling that "dirty and difficult stuff has to get done."
Sydney Pollack is convincing and powerful as the managing partner in a slimy civil defense firm raking in millions by getting corporate criminals off the hook. At no point do any of these lawyers give a shit about ethics. This is almost a neo-realist documentary.
The slimiest attorneys I knew were civil lawyers, including the ones working for the legal ethics enforcement agency in New Jersey, many of whom are probably on the take. These are the people who run for public office or become judges in the Garden State. They make people sick. And they should. ("New Jersey's 'Ethical' Legal System" and "Law is Dead in New Jersey.")
Tilda Swinton is corporate lawyer "Karen Crowther" without a conscience or any concern other than "success." Anne Milgram, Esq.? Kim Guardagno, Esq.? Nydia Hernandez, Esq.? Mary Anne Kriko, Esq.? Estela De La Cruz? Does this sound familiar "ladies"? ("Trenton's Nasty Lesbian Love-Fest.")
Hypocrisy and ruthlessness are instilled in most law students. Karen's life has become a performance. Her careful rehearsal of "spontaneous" remarks for an interview makes this clear. The legal profession and politics is a gathering place for bad actors who are usually unaware that their performances -- i.e., their lives -- are unconvincing, even to themselves. They usually do their evil behind the backs of victims.
Clooney's "Michael Clayton" makes exactly this discovery that he died and failed to notice the fact during the course of the film realizing what he has become only as he sees the explosion of his vehicle -- a shiny Mercedes that is his real home -- and realizes that it is a symbol for his life. I've been there.
I remember one long session of cross-examination where I destroyed a witness, a young woman, who collapsed into incoherence. My client that day was acquitted, something truly awful which the bastard probably deserved, was avoided. I walked out of court a much richer man. I also felt that something was in danger of dying in me. My German car, silver and gold Rolex, ample girth, expensive suit and tie, were a coffin. I had to escape that fate. And I have.
Little did I realize then that I was a crime victim. My vehicle exploded, except that I was in it at the time. I am now looking for the people who placed a "bomb" in that vehicle -- metaphorically speaking -- and are disappointed that I survived the blast.
At age forty-five, Michael Clayton has come to a fork in the road. The film leaves us with a mystery: Where will Michael go after this? We do not know? He does not know.
For an example of what I call great acting on screen examine the final sequences in this film with Clooney sitting, silently, in the back of a cab. Look at his eyes and you will see everything that has happened in this movie replayed, slowly and haltingly, demonstrating what is meant by psychological trauma and its effects on victims.
Someone suggested that a similar wisdom and sadness is what they see in my eyes along with hatred and disgust for the evil persons thriving in our world. I will neither deny nor confirm the aforementioned assessment of me on the advice of my attorney. ("Law and Ethics in the Soprano State" and "Abuse and Exploitation of Women in New Jersey.")
An earlier Michael Clayton has died; a new self is born. After you've seen this movie, ask yourself whether any of the lawyers in this story (with the possible exception of the Clooney character) is a person you'd like to know and spend time with, or maybe get involved with in a relationship.
If you're honest, then you'll probably decide that these are the sort of people you do not wish to know. I concur.
With all exceptions granted, many N.J. lawyers at least are ignorant and despicable people -- especially the political animals who become judges and ethics officials. I hope I am not being unfair or overgeneralizing. ("Mafia Influence in New Jersey Law and Politics" and "Corrupt Law Firms, Senator Bob, and New Jersey Ethics.")
The horses glimpsed by Michael Clayton that are responsible for saving his life and for his epiphany are a trinity. The Christian symbolism is hard to miss. Also, the horses are reminders of authenticity and a connection to the rural landscape in the scene. This image represents the "homecoming" described in Romanticism. The horses call Michael Clayton "home" to naturalness and peace. Michael is finally "getting out" of the legal profession.
A lawyer looks at a conversational partner and says: "... It's all bullshit." This is tragedy when spoken by a person responsible for law and justice over a lifetime. I have known distinguished attorneys and judges in New Jersey who have felt and said exactly this about law, which is really a judgment about their own lives in law.
I have known some lawyers who piss in their pants with delight when they get to destroy the lives of others. Many of New Jersey's legal flunkies enjoy removing a letter from this review after I make corrections. Think about a person who gets her kicks in such ways.
You sure you want to go to law school, kids? How you doing, Anne Milgram? How's Stuart? Is Stuart your "mentor," Anne? Hey, how's Jaynee flipping the burgers these days? If you people are counting on wearing me out with the daily computer wars and harassments, I am sure that you'll be disappointed. That also goes for the "Cubanoids." ("New Jersey's 'Ethical' Legal System" and "More Mafia Influence in New Jersey's Courts and Politics.")
As for the reality of corporate or public crime and dishonesty in the legal profession, I suggest that you glance at the hundreds of essays in my blogs detailing evils committed by prominent members of the New Jersey bar and judiciary, usually publicly, that are supported by thousands of articles in public media and other sources.
I take today's New York Times in my hand and what do I find? An interesting news story not fully appreciated by the well-meaning journalist writing it who is probably from Wyoming, or North Bergen, New Jersey:
"Nearly a quarter of New Jersey's 615 school districts may have received tainted beef from a California slaughterhouse through a federal school lunch assistance program, [administered by state officials,] state agricultural officials said on Monday."
Winnie Hu, "New Jersey Schools Told to Discard Suspect Beef," in The New York Times, February 26, 2008, at p. B3. ("Winnie Hu" is probably Jay Romano.)
Would it shock us to discover that corporate entities receiving lucrative federal contracts to supply food for children's lunches are "tight" with politicians and judges getting them those contracts? Would it be surprising that these corporate entities increase their profits -- profits that are often in the millions -- by "flushing" their bad stuff into state school systems where it will be distributed to poor kids?
Poor children, usually, don't eat well and need whatever food they can get at school.
It doesn't shock me at all that this food was tainted. Milk for school kids -- was it in California? -- was rumored to have gone bad and to have been sweetened, allegedly, so kids wouldn't notice and drink it anyway.
"In total, New Jersey schools received at least 168,000 pounds of coarse ground beef from the slaughterhouse, the Westland/Hallmark Meat Company in Chicago, Calif., at various times between February 2006 and February 2008, according to state officials [you mean, the same state officials who might have been paid off?] Last week, the company issued the [largest] recall in United States history: 143 million pounds nationwide."
Do you think that 143 MILLION POUNDS of tainted beef is just "a little boo-boo"?
Nobody knows from nothing. It looked like a good deal in New Jersey.
When your kid is poisoned and rushed to the hospital will you know what made that child sick and will you have the resources, say, to sue the state of New Jersey and prove your case? Are you entitled to the truth from government officials even if you don't have millions of dollars to litigate against the state? I think so.
By the way, there is an excellent chance that the closest hospital to your home is one of the facilities being closed because N.J. can't pay the bills as a result of billions in waste and theft of public funds in Trenton.
N.J. is more bankrupt than the people getting discharges at bankruptcy court and with less excuse for it. I wonder whether New Jersey's legal crooks pay their student loans? Whatta-ya say, Anne? Are you and Neil M. Cohen my "superiors"? Stuart Rabner? Deadbeats? Couchpotatos? You gotta be kidding me.
New Jersey may be the only state found to have defrauded investors (lies?) in the state's pension programs and funds, then covered-up the crime by "smoke-machine accounting," more lying, or stonewalling about it, while the people's money continued to disappear from the treasury. These are the people who judge my ethics. I am judging their ethics. Mary Williams Walsh, "Pension Fraud By New Jersey Cited by S.E.C.," in The New York Times, August 19, 2010, at p. A1. (The entire N.J. legal machinery is tainted by the word "fraud.")
Who is "unethical" in New Jersey, Debbie? Stuart? A better question may be: Who is not unethical in New Jersey's legal profession? (See again: "New Jersey's 'Ethical' Legal System" and "New Jersey's Feces-Covered Supreme Court.")
To get a good feel for the real-world version of "Karen Crowther," notice this quotation:
"Lynne Richmond, [Jennifer Velez?] a spokesperson for the State Department of Agriculture [an ethical N.J. attorney?] said that much of the meat had been cooked and frozen before reaching the schools and that there had been no reported problems."
What the hell then? Let's see if we can sell that meat on the agricultural markets for export, say, to Mexico. Better yet, resale and redistribution to the supermarket chains that operate in poor neighborhoods will allow us to, as it were, "make a killing."
N.J. politicians and lawyers -- through a private entity -- can buy the meat at a low price then turn it over at 300% profit. We'll create a corporation called "Bayonne Nutrition for Kids Everywhere." This way we can distance ourselves from the unpleasantness that usually accompanies the murder of poor children in the Third World. ("How to be a Politician or a Lawyer in New Jersey.")
Sure, some "marginal fatalities" will result. In other words, brown people will die. So what? "Collateral damage." There is no way for the "blow-back" from these unfortunate events to get to us since: 1) no scientific evidence can establish the proximate causal connection between our tainted meat and illness, especially where there are intervening factors and other agents involved once it leaves our hands; and 2) "exclusion clauses" limit liability to subsidiary corporate entities and shell companies, preferably with foreign registrations, doing the trading outside the U.S. anyway. 3) The difficulties surrounding legal efforts to "pierce the corporate veil" will come in handy. Realistically, it is highly unlikely (legally speaking) for any trouble to get back to us here in New Jersey if we flip this one over. Besides, we'll get a lot richer -- quickly. It's a "win-win" situation, as they say in game theory. ("Senator Bob Says -- 'Xanadu and You Are Perfect Together!'" and "Is Senator Menendez a Suspect in Mafia-Political Murder in New Jersey?" then "New Jersey Lawyers' Ethics Farce.")
Whatta ya say, fellas? Shall we have our "ethical" N.J. attorneys work out the details? Ethics? Have a fruit basket. ("Stuart Rabner and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey" and "No More Cover-Ups and Lies, Chief Justice Rabner!")
Monday, February 25, 2008
F.B.I. Initiates Multiple Investigations in North Bergen, New Jersey.
April 8, 2008 at 8:35 P.M. calls from 231-732-2268; April 9, 2008 at 11:00 A.M. calls from 603-214-3592. Hours of computer warfare yesterday resulted in defacements of numerous essays. I will correct and repost them.
February 26, 2008 at 8:15 A.M. I am blocked from accessing my MSN hotmail account or group. I cannot change the image or post new essays at this time. I am running new scans. I will struggle throughout the day to return to my e-mail account and group, in order to continue working on my writings.
February 26, 2008 at 10:18 A.M. telephone calls received from 213-363-5185 at 9:33 A.M. I am blocking all of the following as of 10:14 A.M.:
The Soprano State, at p. 71.
Sacco and Menendez are Hudson County's bosses. Hudson is "ground zero" for corruption and mob activity in New Jersey, also for cancer. Mafia, Cuban and traditional, has hovered around Menendez for years, reputedly. Besides, the alleged extortion attempts by way of Menendez crony Donald Scarinsci captured on tape by Dr. Sandoval, "... while a member of the House of Representatives Menendez worked to ease the prison transfer of Nicholas Parlavecchio, a racketeer, convicted of cocaine charges, who was eventually sent to the same federal prison as his son, jailed for similar reasons." Ibid., at p. 76.
The list of mobsters in the Menendez telephone directory is extensive. It is alleged that there are "two sets of books" in North Bergen, including different calculations for Municipal Court "intake" and "expenses." This can neither be confirmed nor denied at this time. That sounds like Union City. (See "Jay Romano and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey" and "Maurice J. Gallipoli and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey.")
Anyone raising such concerns about public expenditures will be "sleeping with the fishes," according to local attorneys.
"The U.S. Attorney's Office in Newark is investigating the North Bergen Housing Authority, which runs four publicly subsidized low-income housing buildings."
Wait till they get to Union City.
"They are looking to see whether certain Housing Authority employees skipped a wait list to give themselves housing, and whether employees took furniture meant to go into public housing."
Public Housing Authorities purchasing (with your money!) plasma t.v. sets that disappear, mysteriously, is not an unusual development in New Jersey's fetid mob swamplands.
"According to a reliable source involved with the investigation" -- reputedly, one of several secret inquiries by the feds in North Bergen and in nearby towns in flower-fragant Hudson County -- "federal officers have been looking at records from the office of Diana Peirano-Ingvaldsen, the long-time executive director of the North Bergen Housing Authority."
"Peirano-Ingvaldsen denied that there was a federal investigation."
"... 'Absolutely not,' Peirano-Ingvaldsen said. 'There was no FBI investigation. They didn't come in and take anything. I have no idea where this is coming from.' ..."
Geez ... her nose got bigger as she made this statement, allegedly.
"Peirano-Ingvaldsen is the niece of Town Commissioner Theresa Ferraro, [friend of Leona Beldini?] who remains the chairperson of the Housing Authority Board of Commissioners and was formerly in charge of the Housing Authority before Peirano-Ingvaldsen [, and who] declined to comment further."
"But Housing Authority Attorney Richard Anastasi said he knew of the investigation."
Stay out barber shops, Mr. Anastasi. Notice, very carefully, the unconsciously revealing words being used by the local mouthpiece (I mean, "attorney") for the outfit in North Bergen:
" ... 'Sure, it exists,' Anastasi said. 'But our people [emphasis added] have cooperated and our records have been left open. [Which set of records?] I challenge them to come and take a look. They'll find nothing. [emphasis added] I know [how?] that they're acting on an anonymous phone call from a disgruntled ex-employee.' ..."
Friends at the F.B.I., Richard? Call the feds if you have information on any of the various corruption investigations and "shenanigans" at local Municipal Courts in Hudson County or anywhere in the Garden State. The feds are very interested. They'll protect your anonymity.
"Our people?" I wonder who is this attorney's client? Think before you answer, if you're a law student or a member of the bar. This is what they call a "tricky question." I also wonder whether Mr. Anastasi has given this issue -- exactly who or what is his client? -- some thought. I suggest that he do so. Same to you, Anne Milgram, Esq.
It may be advisable for an attorney for a government entity in such a situation to suggest that any employees of the public agency who are targets of a criminal inquiry retain private criminal counsel. Ever heard of a conflict of interest, Richard? How about you, Anne Milgram? Stuart? Larry? Does this ring any bells? How much criminal representation-litigation experience do you have, Anne? Don't worry, for you, the problems will be "fixed"; for others, they will be invented or created. Ethics? Come on, Debbie. Let's get real. How many dates do you need with young women to forget something, Debbie? Or do you prefer cash?
I spent 8 or 9 hours yesterday, April 8, 2008, in computer warfare -- running scans, against the same people who have done such things and worse for years in New Jersey. Why are they still committing these infractions? How can a society that tolerates PUBLIC CRIMINALITY recommend the rule of law to other countries? How can New Jersey lawyers for political bosses participate in criminal censorship efforts, while speaking of freedom of speech and civil rights? Do you speak to me of "ethics"?
"... 'The allegations are ludicrous. We'll stand by our record. [I am sure that you will.] I even invited them to come in and check out everything. It's getting so frustrating that these individuals will act on an anonymous phone call."
Are you inviting them to check out "everything" or (like the OAE) everything that you are willing to show them? I am certain that it is very frustrating. It is about to get much more frustrating.
"According to the source, the investigation began after the U.S. Attorney's office received information about the Housing Authority allegedly purchasing new furniture for its buildings, but instead of the furniture ending up in the community rooms, the furniture allegedly went to some of the employees' homes."
"Another side to the investigation centers on whether the Housing Authority circumvented the waiting list for income-qualified potential residents and gave available units to Housing Authority employees."
"Both of these allegations would be federal crimes, because the North Bergen Housing Authority has to abide by strict Housing and Urban Development (HUD) guidelines."
I seem to "recall" connected local officials receiving nice lap tops, finagling cars, phones, together with other items at the tax payers' expense -- to say nothing of the mysterious accounting at Town Hall. Multiple jobs, contracts for buddies who show their appreciation, that's Jersey for ya. Once the feds get their foot in the door, then anything in furtherance of this investigation or other possible federal crimes is, as they say in D.C., "fair game." ("Errors" were inserted and corrected in the previous paragraph. I can't wait to see what they try next.)
"The F.B.I. just doesn't have much of a sense of humor!" A local goon once said to me. He's right. No wonder my access to MSN is blocked by hackers today. Go ahead insert "errors." I will fight to make corrections and continue to write.
February 26, 2008 at 8:15 A.M. I am blocked from accessing my MSN hotmail account or group. I cannot change the image or post new essays at this time. I am running new scans. I will struggle throughout the day to return to my e-mail account and group, in order to continue working on my writings.
February 26, 2008 at 10:18 A.M. telephone calls received from 213-363-5185 at 9:33 A.M. I am blocking all of the following as of 10:14 A.M.:
http://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/N296.MSN/B1656393
http://m1.2mdn.net/viewad/1695817/7-1x1_tracking (criminal violation, spyware)
http://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/N4359.MSN/B263239
http://m1.2mdn.net/viewad/1359940/5-1x1_tracking_pixel.gif (criminal violation, spyware)
Attempts to reach my MSN hotmail account are still blocked. A blank page with the message "Service Not Available" appears on screen and this address:
=98&ct=12040623&cb=siteid=msft&msppjph=1&ver=2.1.6000.1&rn=PEGIFLTX&TPF=d778094d782ead4074cf10c5795cd456
Jim Hague, "F.B.I. Investigates North Bergen Housing Authority," in The North Bergen Reporter, February 24, 2008, at p. 1.
There are several rumored investigations into "financial irregularities" in North Bergen's Municipal "organization." Democratic underboss Nicholas J. Sacco ("Big Nicky") is said to be working strenuously on putting the lid on these recent developments. Senator Bob is scrambling for cover.
The Soprano State, at p. 71.
Sacco and Menendez are Hudson County's bosses. Hudson is "ground zero" for corruption and mob activity in New Jersey, also for cancer. Mafia, Cuban and traditional, has hovered around Menendez for years, reputedly. Besides, the alleged extortion attempts by way of Menendez crony Donald Scarinsci captured on tape by Dr. Sandoval, "... while a member of the House of Representatives Menendez worked to ease the prison transfer of Nicholas Parlavecchio, a racketeer, convicted of cocaine charges, who was eventually sent to the same federal prison as his son, jailed for similar reasons." Ibid., at p. 76.
The list of mobsters in the Menendez telephone directory is extensive. It is alleged that there are "two sets of books" in North Bergen, including different calculations for Municipal Court "intake" and "expenses." This can neither be confirmed nor denied at this time. That sounds like Union City. (See "Jay Romano and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey" and "Maurice J. Gallipoli and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey.")
Anyone raising such concerns about public expenditures will be "sleeping with the fishes," according to local attorneys.
"The U.S. Attorney's Office in Newark is investigating the North Bergen Housing Authority, which runs four publicly subsidized low-income housing buildings."
Wait till they get to Union City.
"They are looking to see whether certain Housing Authority employees skipped a wait list to give themselves housing, and whether employees took furniture meant to go into public housing."
Public Housing Authorities purchasing (with your money!) plasma t.v. sets that disappear, mysteriously, is not an unusual development in New Jersey's fetid mob swamplands.
"According to a reliable source involved with the investigation" -- reputedly, one of several secret inquiries by the feds in North Bergen and in nearby towns in flower-fragant Hudson County -- "federal officers have been looking at records from the office of Diana Peirano-Ingvaldsen, the long-time executive director of the North Bergen Housing Authority."
"Peirano-Ingvaldsen denied that there was a federal investigation."
"... 'Absolutely not,' Peirano-Ingvaldsen said. 'There was no FBI investigation. They didn't come in and take anything. I have no idea where this is coming from.' ..."
Geez ... her nose got bigger as she made this statement, allegedly.
"Peirano-Ingvaldsen is the niece of Town Commissioner Theresa Ferraro, [friend of Leona Beldini?] who remains the chairperson of the Housing Authority Board of Commissioners and was formerly in charge of the Housing Authority before Peirano-Ingvaldsen [, and who] declined to comment further."
"But Housing Authority Attorney Richard Anastasi said he knew of the investigation."
Stay out barber shops, Mr. Anastasi. Notice, very carefully, the unconsciously revealing words being used by the local mouthpiece (I mean, "attorney") for the outfit in North Bergen:
" ... 'Sure, it exists,' Anastasi said. 'But our people [emphasis added] have cooperated and our records have been left open. [Which set of records?] I challenge them to come and take a look. They'll find nothing. [emphasis added] I know [how?] that they're acting on an anonymous phone call from a disgruntled ex-employee.' ..."
Friends at the F.B.I., Richard? Call the feds if you have information on any of the various corruption investigations and "shenanigans" at local Municipal Courts in Hudson County or anywhere in the Garden State. The feds are very interested. They'll protect your anonymity.
"Our people?" I wonder who is this attorney's client? Think before you answer, if you're a law student or a member of the bar. This is what they call a "tricky question." I also wonder whether Mr. Anastasi has given this issue -- exactly who or what is his client? -- some thought. I suggest that he do so. Same to you, Anne Milgram, Esq.
It may be advisable for an attorney for a government entity in such a situation to suggest that any employees of the public agency who are targets of a criminal inquiry retain private criminal counsel. Ever heard of a conflict of interest, Richard? How about you, Anne Milgram? Stuart? Larry? Does this ring any bells? How much criminal representation-litigation experience do you have, Anne? Don't worry, for you, the problems will be "fixed"; for others, they will be invented or created. Ethics? Come on, Debbie. Let's get real. How many dates do you need with young women to forget something, Debbie? Or do you prefer cash?
I spent 8 or 9 hours yesterday, April 8, 2008, in computer warfare -- running scans, against the same people who have done such things and worse for years in New Jersey. Why are they still committing these infractions? How can a society that tolerates PUBLIC CRIMINALITY recommend the rule of law to other countries? How can New Jersey lawyers for political bosses participate in criminal censorship efforts, while speaking of freedom of speech and civil rights? Do you speak to me of "ethics"?
"... 'The allegations are ludicrous. We'll stand by our record. [I am sure that you will.] I even invited them to come in and check out everything. It's getting so frustrating that these individuals will act on an anonymous phone call."
Are you inviting them to check out "everything" or (like the OAE) everything that you are willing to show them? I am certain that it is very frustrating. It is about to get much more frustrating.
"According to the source, the investigation began after the U.S. Attorney's office received information about the Housing Authority allegedly purchasing new furniture for its buildings, but instead of the furniture ending up in the community rooms, the furniture allegedly went to some of the employees' homes."
"Another side to the investigation centers on whether the Housing Authority circumvented the waiting list for income-qualified potential residents and gave available units to Housing Authority employees."
"Both of these allegations would be federal crimes, because the North Bergen Housing Authority has to abide by strict Housing and Urban Development (HUD) guidelines."
I seem to "recall" connected local officials receiving nice lap tops, finagling cars, phones, together with other items at the tax payers' expense -- to say nothing of the mysterious accounting at Town Hall. Multiple jobs, contracts for buddies who show their appreciation, that's Jersey for ya. Once the feds get their foot in the door, then anything in furtherance of this investigation or other possible federal crimes is, as they say in D.C., "fair game." ("Errors" were inserted and corrected in the previous paragraph. I can't wait to see what they try next.)
"The F.B.I. just doesn't have much of a sense of humor!" A local goon once said to me. He's right. No wonder my access to MSN is blocked by hackers today. Go ahead insert "errors." I will fight to make corrections and continue to write.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Corruption May Cost New Jersey 3,000 Jobs!
Continuing computer attacks are making writing very difficult today. I will struggle to continue to write these essays. My goal in directing these criticisms at the most corrupt state legal system in the nation (NJ) is to "nudge" participants in that system in a more "rational" direction -- "for their own good" and not just because of some "quaint" humanitarian notion of "decency." They will thank me for this, eventually, after many of them are indicted perhaps. February 21, 2008 at 10:44 P.M. ("Errors" will be inserted, continually, and corrections will be made on a regular basis.)
David W. Chen, "Corzine Is Said to Weigh Cutting 3,000 Jobs and One Department," in The New York Times, February 20, 2008, at p. B1.
"TRENTON -- Faced with a worsening economy, Gov. Jon S. Corzine is considering reducing the state's work force by 3,000 employees and closing at least one department in the administration as part of his plan to slash up to $2.5 Billion from next year's budget, people who have been briefed on his plan said on Monday."
The unprecedented levels of theft and loss of public funds -- through blatant corruption -- has left N.J. in a desperate situation. Vital public services are threatened and may not be available in a crisis. Attempts to prevent Corzine's budget-fixing efforts and struggle to close many gaps and leaks in the budget process, allowing for grotesque levels of thievery, have not worked -- so far. Maybe they'll arrange for Corzine to have another "accident." If I were Jon Corzine, I'd get a food taster and stay off the Turnpike when being driven by a state trooper with loyalties to one of the secret organizations thriving among Garden State cops -- like the KKK or organized crime, for instance, or the "Lords of Discipline."
"State Senator Barbara Buono, a Democrat from Middlesex County and the chairwoman of the budget committee, said that Mr. Corzine -- who will unveil his budget for the new fiscal year next Tuesday -- was weighing eliminating the Department of Personnel and pushing for an early retirement package -- not layoffs -- to save tens of millions of dollars."
If jobs are not refilled after retirements, then they are effectively lost to the state's economy. Calling something a retirement or layoff does not alter this fact.
"... 'We need to end this longstanding bureaucratic inertia where departments and agencies refuse to face up to wasteful spending practices and a lack of oversight,' Ms. Buono said. [Irony?] 'I think we really need to change the mindset of how government operates.' ..."
Yes, I'd say so. One idea is to stop all the stealing of public funds and the payoffs necessary to get government permits or variances. Another suggestion is to have politicians in Trenton stop accepting cash from corrupt business people and criminals who want to operate in the state -- like the distributors of child porn who are busted regularly in New Jersey, the numbers runners who wave to the police in Union City and North Bergen, the drug dealers in West New York, whose friends in the police department (naturally, everyone denies this) give 'em a call when the heat is rising in exchange for an envelope filled with cash on Friday afternoons.
Ethics? In New Jersey? Whatta ya talking about? (As I write this I am obstructed from regaining access to my hotmail account or group at MSN.)
"Administration officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk about the plan, said that up to 3,000 workers could be affected" -- I guarantee you that Richard J. Codey and Speaker Roberts will not lose their jobs, unfortunately, neither will Stuart Rabner or Jaynee ("Boom, Boom, Rah, Rah!") LaVecchia -- "many of whom would presumably be older and have higher salaries. ..."
If these guys and gals can be "retired" from the system with a hefty pension, then re-hired someplace else -- especially, where it is not clear to the press that a public or quasi-public entity is doing the re-hiring, like a "private" corporation running the Turnpike and Parkway, then these known "ex-employees" will get two bites at the apple and can show their appreciation by dropping a little something in the politicians' laps "for their kids at Christmas time."
"Hey, here's a little something so the kids will remember ya! He, he, he ..." is usually whispered in the ear of an official, right before one of 'them guys' places a thousand dollars in a judge's pocket. All of a sudden, a lawyer finds that his arguments are not so persuasive to the judge who was convinced of their merits only a minute before. Also, a whisper from a politician who wishes to speak to a local judge in his "chambers" -- in the middle of a trial -- produces curious alterations in a judge's interpretation of the evidence in a case. Perhaps the politician merely wishes to chat about the weather, but I doubt it.
Yes, sir, N.J. is highly ethical territory. Right, Terry Tuchin? How much will people getting those fat pensions need to kick back to the politicians? What is Stuart Rabner's cut?
"[Corzine] has called for restructuring the state's troubled finances through a complex plan that would reduce about half of the state's $32 BILLION debt and finance transportation projects by relying on SHARPLY HIGHER TOLLS."
Lots of luck with that. Let us recall some of the sad history that explains who gets elected in New Jersey and why these guys never leave.
Steve Kornacki, "Menendez Haunted by Party's Ghosts," in The New York Observer, September 25, 2006, at p. 5.
"... If Robert Menendez, New Jersey's appointed Democratic incumbent, fails to hold off Republican Tom Kean, Jr., Euclid himself couldn't devise a majority-producing formula for the Democrats."
Menendez did "hold off" Tom Kean -- a decision N.J. voters may come to regret! -- which explains the Democrat concern to "hold off" indictment efforts against "their boy." I suspect that the U.S. Attorney's Office can not be bought off with promises of political goodies or threats, if they don't back off the Jersey Mob. Back in September of 2006, The New York Observer said:
"For now, the Menendez-Kean race is essentially a tie, something of an achievement in its own right for New Jersey's GOP, which typically enjoys all the September success of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. What's more, the most recent polls haven't even measured the impact of a recently revealed federal criminal investigation of Mr. Menendez, the consequences of which Democrats privately describe with words ranging from 'pretty bad' to 'fatal.' "
"... Just consider what else is in the news these days."
"There's Jim McGreevey, some 22 months after skipping town with federal investigations into his gubernatorial administration swirling, who barged back into our lives last week to let us know that the sexual affair with the unqualified Israeli sailor he appointed as his state's homeland security advisor actually began while Mrs. McGreevey lay in a hospital bed clutching the couple's new-born daughter. If that's not enough, Golan Cipel, Mr. McGreevey's supposed romantic partner, has himself re-emerged -- to declare that the governor had actually liquored him up ... and tried to rape him."
"Dem guys, I says to 'em, I says, ... Geez, what are ya doing, there?" These words have been attributed to Richard J. Codey.
"There's also John Lynch, the onetime New Jersey Senate President (and Mr. McGreevey's political godfather), whose plea agreement on federal corruption charges landed on the front page of last Friday's Star Ledger [sic.] -- right next to the news that Mr. McGreevey had been smitten with Mr. Cipel from the 'first kiss.' ... "
"And then there is this week's report from a federal monitor essentially charging Wayne Bryant, a powerful state senator and loyal cog in the feared Camden County Democratic Committee, with shaking down administrators at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey to secure a no-show job for himself."
I thought it was N.J. Senator Joe Coniglio's job to extort money? Oh, they both do that. I see. The Camden Machine recently switched from Hillary to Obama. If Hillary re-takes the lead, they'll switch back. This should give you an idea of the Jersey Boys' sense of loyalty and commitment to political principles in supporting a candidate. It also tells you how much their support is worth. Codey supports Hillary from the north; Norcross and Roberts support the Obama rebellion from the south. This way the "Barons" win no matter the outcome of the election.
"... Mr. Menendez was always playing a risky game, betting that he -- and, more importantly New Jersey's voters -- had heard the last from some of the uglier chapters from his days as Hudson County's Democratic Boss."
Josh Benson, "The Second Time Around, It doesn't Seem So Brave," in The New York Observer, September 25, 2006, at p. 8:
"[McGreevey's] state budget was hopelessly out of balance. His political and ideological allies, frustrated by three years of vascillation on environmental issues, ethics legislation and spending priorities, had turned on him."
"And most seriously his administration was starting to give off the distinct whiff of ethical rot."
"The [former] governor had only shortly before been caught on tape uttering the word 'Machiavelli' to a constituent. (He professes philosophical leanings towards Kant and the author of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People in his new book, but in this context Machiavelli was considered -- at least by federal prosecutors -- to be a code word in an illicit fund-raising scheme.)"
"And, most spectacularly, at least until the famous 'Gay American' speech, Mr. McGreevey's chief fund-raiser and financial patron, real-estate magnate CHARLES KUSHNER, had just been charged with interfering in a federal investigation into campaign finance violations."
A forthcoming essay will discuss the new F.B.I. investigation expected to play itself out over the Spring and Summer, 2008. North Bergen, New Jersey is ground zero for this investigation focusing on the Housing Authority and (allegedly) Municipal Court "books" -- apparently, there may be more than one rumored set of "books" -- and other disappearing items. "You take the money! No, you take the money!"
David W. Chen, "Senator Leaves Budget Post in Ethics Inquiry," in The New York Times, September 26, 2006, at p. B7:
"Responding to pressure from colleagues as well as the governor, State Senator Wayne R. Bryant, one of New Jersey's most powerful legislators, agreed on Monday to step down temporarily as the chairman of the influential Senate Budget Appropriations Committee."
"... According to the monitor's report, the university paid [Bryant] $35,000 a year to do little more than show up perhaps one day a week and read newspapers. At the same time, the university received a substantial increase in state funds. ... the school's financing climbed to more than $4 MILLION annually from $2.8 million."
Many speculate about whether some of that loot was spread among New Jersey's Supreme Court members and other prominent politicians and/or judges. In a state with New Jersey's history, courts and government have lost all credibility. It is widely assumed -- probably accurately -- that real decisions are still made behind the scenes and have nothing to do with laws on the books.
Debbie Poritz was said to be "amenable to persuasion" if she were provided with willing young women as sexual partners. Jaynee LaVecchia is said to have many friends in "Construction and Real Estate" who know how to show their appreciation. I know they'll come after me with framed-up or trumped-up charges. Let's give 'em hell until they do. Lots of struggle against computer attacks today. Verniero doesn't like African-Americans, allegedly. Virginia Long doesn't like anybody whose ancestors weren't on the "Mayflower." (See "A Letter From the DRB, in New Jersey!" and "New Jersey's Feces-Covered Supreme Court.")
"Trenton: Senate Confirms Attorney General," in The New York Times, September 26, 2006, at p. B6:
"Stuart Rabner, a former federal prosecutor who tackled political corruption and international terrorism cases, was confirmed yesterday as New Jersey's new attorney general."
"Tackled"? Good old Stu is now N.J.'s Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Don't you feel safer already? Badda Bing-Badda-Boom.
David W. Chen, "Corzine Is Said to Weigh Cutting 3,000 Jobs and One Department," in The New York Times, February 20, 2008, at p. B1.
"TRENTON -- Faced with a worsening economy, Gov. Jon S. Corzine is considering reducing the state's work force by 3,000 employees and closing at least one department in the administration as part of his plan to slash up to $2.5 Billion from next year's budget, people who have been briefed on his plan said on Monday."
The unprecedented levels of theft and loss of public funds -- through blatant corruption -- has left N.J. in a desperate situation. Vital public services are threatened and may not be available in a crisis. Attempts to prevent Corzine's budget-fixing efforts and struggle to close many gaps and leaks in the budget process, allowing for grotesque levels of thievery, have not worked -- so far. Maybe they'll arrange for Corzine to have another "accident." If I were Jon Corzine, I'd get a food taster and stay off the Turnpike when being driven by a state trooper with loyalties to one of the secret organizations thriving among Garden State cops -- like the KKK or organized crime, for instance, or the "Lords of Discipline."
"State Senator Barbara Buono, a Democrat from Middlesex County and the chairwoman of the budget committee, said that Mr. Corzine -- who will unveil his budget for the new fiscal year next Tuesday -- was weighing eliminating the Department of Personnel and pushing for an early retirement package -- not layoffs -- to save tens of millions of dollars."
If jobs are not refilled after retirements, then they are effectively lost to the state's economy. Calling something a retirement or layoff does not alter this fact.
"... 'We need to end this longstanding bureaucratic inertia where departments and agencies refuse to face up to wasteful spending practices and a lack of oversight,' Ms. Buono said. [Irony?] 'I think we really need to change the mindset of how government operates.' ..."
Yes, I'd say so. One idea is to stop all the stealing of public funds and the payoffs necessary to get government permits or variances. Another suggestion is to have politicians in Trenton stop accepting cash from corrupt business people and criminals who want to operate in the state -- like the distributors of child porn who are busted regularly in New Jersey, the numbers runners who wave to the police in Union City and North Bergen, the drug dealers in West New York, whose friends in the police department (naturally, everyone denies this) give 'em a call when the heat is rising in exchange for an envelope filled with cash on Friday afternoons.
Ethics? In New Jersey? Whatta ya talking about? (As I write this I am obstructed from regaining access to my hotmail account or group at MSN.)
"Administration officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk about the plan, said that up to 3,000 workers could be affected" -- I guarantee you that Richard J. Codey and Speaker Roberts will not lose their jobs, unfortunately, neither will Stuart Rabner or Jaynee ("Boom, Boom, Rah, Rah!") LaVecchia -- "many of whom would presumably be older and have higher salaries. ..."
If these guys and gals can be "retired" from the system with a hefty pension, then re-hired someplace else -- especially, where it is not clear to the press that a public or quasi-public entity is doing the re-hiring, like a "private" corporation running the Turnpike and Parkway, then these known "ex-employees" will get two bites at the apple and can show their appreciation by dropping a little something in the politicians' laps "for their kids at Christmas time."
"Hey, here's a little something so the kids will remember ya! He, he, he ..." is usually whispered in the ear of an official, right before one of 'them guys' places a thousand dollars in a judge's pocket. All of a sudden, a lawyer finds that his arguments are not so persuasive to the judge who was convinced of their merits only a minute before. Also, a whisper from a politician who wishes to speak to a local judge in his "chambers" -- in the middle of a trial -- produces curious alterations in a judge's interpretation of the evidence in a case. Perhaps the politician merely wishes to chat about the weather, but I doubt it.
Yes, sir, N.J. is highly ethical territory. Right, Terry Tuchin? How much will people getting those fat pensions need to kick back to the politicians? What is Stuart Rabner's cut?
"[Corzine] has called for restructuring the state's troubled finances through a complex plan that would reduce about half of the state's $32 BILLION debt and finance transportation projects by relying on SHARPLY HIGHER TOLLS."
Lots of luck with that. Let us recall some of the sad history that explains who gets elected in New Jersey and why these guys never leave.
Steve Kornacki, "Menendez Haunted by Party's Ghosts," in The New York Observer, September 25, 2006, at p. 5.
"... If Robert Menendez, New Jersey's appointed Democratic incumbent, fails to hold off Republican Tom Kean, Jr., Euclid himself couldn't devise a majority-producing formula for the Democrats."
Menendez did "hold off" Tom Kean -- a decision N.J. voters may come to regret! -- which explains the Democrat concern to "hold off" indictment efforts against "their boy." I suspect that the U.S. Attorney's Office can not be bought off with promises of political goodies or threats, if they don't back off the Jersey Mob. Back in September of 2006, The New York Observer said:
"For now, the Menendez-Kean race is essentially a tie, something of an achievement in its own right for New Jersey's GOP, which typically enjoys all the September success of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. What's more, the most recent polls haven't even measured the impact of a recently revealed federal criminal investigation of Mr. Menendez, the consequences of which Democrats privately describe with words ranging from 'pretty bad' to 'fatal.' "
"... Just consider what else is in the news these days."
"There's Jim McGreevey, some 22 months after skipping town with federal investigations into his gubernatorial administration swirling, who barged back into our lives last week to let us know that the sexual affair with the unqualified Israeli sailor he appointed as his state's homeland security advisor actually began while Mrs. McGreevey lay in a hospital bed clutching the couple's new-born daughter. If that's not enough, Golan Cipel, Mr. McGreevey's supposed romantic partner, has himself re-emerged -- to declare that the governor had actually liquored him up ... and tried to rape him."
"Dem guys, I says to 'em, I says, ... Geez, what are ya doing, there?" These words have been attributed to Richard J. Codey.
"There's also John Lynch, the onetime New Jersey Senate President (and Mr. McGreevey's political godfather), whose plea agreement on federal corruption charges landed on the front page of last Friday's Star Ledger [sic.] -- right next to the news that Mr. McGreevey had been smitten with Mr. Cipel from the 'first kiss.' ... "
"And then there is this week's report from a federal monitor essentially charging Wayne Bryant, a powerful state senator and loyal cog in the feared Camden County Democratic Committee, with shaking down administrators at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey to secure a no-show job for himself."
I thought it was N.J. Senator Joe Coniglio's job to extort money? Oh, they both do that. I see. The Camden Machine recently switched from Hillary to Obama. If Hillary re-takes the lead, they'll switch back. This should give you an idea of the Jersey Boys' sense of loyalty and commitment to political principles in supporting a candidate. It also tells you how much their support is worth. Codey supports Hillary from the north; Norcross and Roberts support the Obama rebellion from the south. This way the "Barons" win no matter the outcome of the election.
"... Mr. Menendez was always playing a risky game, betting that he -- and, more importantly New Jersey's voters -- had heard the last from some of the uglier chapters from his days as Hudson County's Democratic Boss."
Josh Benson, "The Second Time Around, It doesn't Seem So Brave," in The New York Observer, September 25, 2006, at p. 8:
"[McGreevey's] state budget was hopelessly out of balance. His political and ideological allies, frustrated by three years of vascillation on environmental issues, ethics legislation and spending priorities, had turned on him."
"And most seriously his administration was starting to give off the distinct whiff of ethical rot."
"The [former] governor had only shortly before been caught on tape uttering the word 'Machiavelli' to a constituent. (He professes philosophical leanings towards Kant and the author of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People in his new book, but in this context Machiavelli was considered -- at least by federal prosecutors -- to be a code word in an illicit fund-raising scheme.)"
"And, most spectacularly, at least until the famous 'Gay American' speech, Mr. McGreevey's chief fund-raiser and financial patron, real-estate magnate CHARLES KUSHNER, had just been charged with interfering in a federal investigation into campaign finance violations."
A forthcoming essay will discuss the new F.B.I. investigation expected to play itself out over the Spring and Summer, 2008. North Bergen, New Jersey is ground zero for this investigation focusing on the Housing Authority and (allegedly) Municipal Court "books" -- apparently, there may be more than one rumored set of "books" -- and other disappearing items. "You take the money! No, you take the money!"
David W. Chen, "Senator Leaves Budget Post in Ethics Inquiry," in The New York Times, September 26, 2006, at p. B7:
"Responding to pressure from colleagues as well as the governor, State Senator Wayne R. Bryant, one of New Jersey's most powerful legislators, agreed on Monday to step down temporarily as the chairman of the influential Senate Budget Appropriations Committee."
"... According to the monitor's report, the university paid [Bryant] $35,000 a year to do little more than show up perhaps one day a week and read newspapers. At the same time, the university received a substantial increase in state funds. ... the school's financing climbed to more than $4 MILLION annually from $2.8 million."
Many speculate about whether some of that loot was spread among New Jersey's Supreme Court members and other prominent politicians and/or judges. In a state with New Jersey's history, courts and government have lost all credibility. It is widely assumed -- probably accurately -- that real decisions are still made behind the scenes and have nothing to do with laws on the books.
Debbie Poritz was said to be "amenable to persuasion" if she were provided with willing young women as sexual partners. Jaynee LaVecchia is said to have many friends in "Construction and Real Estate" who know how to show their appreciation. I know they'll come after me with framed-up or trumped-up charges. Let's give 'em hell until they do. Lots of struggle against computer attacks today. Verniero doesn't like African-Americans, allegedly. Virginia Long doesn't like anybody whose ancestors weren't on the "Mayflower." (See "A Letter From the DRB, in New Jersey!" and "New Jersey's Feces-Covered Supreme Court.")
"Trenton: Senate Confirms Attorney General," in The New York Times, September 26, 2006, at p. B6:
"Stuart Rabner, a former federal prosecutor who tackled political corruption and international terrorism cases, was confirmed yesterday as New Jersey's new attorney general."
"Tackled"? Good old Stu is now N.J.'s Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Don't you feel safer already? Badda Bing-Badda-Boom.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Jersey Boys Order Political Hit on the U.S. Attorney!
"Panel Seeks Testimony on Ashcroft Deal," The New York Times, February 19, 2008, at p. B2.
"NEWARK (AP) -- United States Attorney Christopher J. Christie has been asked to testify before members of Congress about a multi-million-dollar contract his office awarded to former Attorney General John Ashcroft."
The scoop on this item is that Bob Menendez is getting a lot of buzz about being indicted and got on the phone to his pal, Nancy Pelosi. The hearings concerning this type of contract -- which is not unusual for the U.S. Attorney's Office in many jurisdictions -- are an attempt to distract N.J.'s U.S. Attorney and forestall any possible indictment of the junior Senator from the swamplands of Hudson County. I doubt that this will work.
The question to ask is whether the political parties are serious about stopping corruption and mafia involvement in local governments, even when a political price will have to be paid for doing so. The jury is still out on this issue -- at least, in New Jersey. February 26, 2008 at 9:53 A.M. new computer attacks this mroning prevent me from accessing my hotmail account or posting new essays at MSN. I will continue to write, focusing more on New Jersey corruption.
"The hearing before a subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee is scheduled for next Tuesday, the Star Ledger [sic.] of Newark reported on Monday."
After the $100-400 MILLION "inappropriately billed" to federal taxpayers at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ), a Democrat Congress felt "no compelling need" to hold hearings inquiring into this level of fraud and theft, but this fairly standard contract involving a former U.S. Attorney General asked to monitor an entire company's operations, both nationally and internationally -- for a fraction of the sum stolen from UNDNJ -- is a source of concern.
Who's "unethical" this time, boys and girls?
"The subject of the inquiry is a contract that Mr. Ashcroft's Washington law firm received from Mr. Christie's office to serve as a federal monitor. The deal is worth $27 million to $52 million over 18 months."
Get who was chosen to step into this pile of shit:
" ... 'We're interested in knowing about the process by which he was selected to be the monitor and what exactly he's doing to earn the money,' said United States Representative Linda T. Sanchez, Democrat of California."
I bet Linda has reason to believe that if she screws over Ashcroft and Christie, she'll get the big money for a Senate run -- if Ms. Boxer steps down or retires. In any event, Linda will earn cookie points with the Hispanic Caucus for providing some cover for Menendez, even as she kisses some of the right asses in Democrat power circles. Payback by Republicans will be aimed at her, but they probably left out that part of the deal, even as they promised more "face time" for Linda before television cameras.
Is this any way to run a federal prosecutor's office? Should we not allow the U.S. Attorney to do his job? Can law enforcement be effective if the two parties do not cooperate and each accepts "contributions" from different crooks? I doubt it. Geez.
"Mr. Ashcroft was also asked to testify but has not responded, according to Ms. Sanchez's office. A phone message left at Mr. Ashcroft's law firm on Monday was not immediately returned."
"NEWARK (AP) -- United States Attorney Christopher J. Christie has been asked to testify before members of Congress about a multi-million-dollar contract his office awarded to former Attorney General John Ashcroft."
The scoop on this item is that Bob Menendez is getting a lot of buzz about being indicted and got on the phone to his pal, Nancy Pelosi. The hearings concerning this type of contract -- which is not unusual for the U.S. Attorney's Office in many jurisdictions -- are an attempt to distract N.J.'s U.S. Attorney and forestall any possible indictment of the junior Senator from the swamplands of Hudson County. I doubt that this will work.
The question to ask is whether the political parties are serious about stopping corruption and mafia involvement in local governments, even when a political price will have to be paid for doing so. The jury is still out on this issue -- at least, in New Jersey. February 26, 2008 at 9:53 A.M. new computer attacks this mroning prevent me from accessing my hotmail account or posting new essays at MSN. I will continue to write, focusing more on New Jersey corruption.
"The hearing before a subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee is scheduled for next Tuesday, the Star Ledger [sic.] of Newark reported on Monday."
After the $100-400 MILLION "inappropriately billed" to federal taxpayers at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ), a Democrat Congress felt "no compelling need" to hold hearings inquiring into this level of fraud and theft, but this fairly standard contract involving a former U.S. Attorney General asked to monitor an entire company's operations, both nationally and internationally -- for a fraction of the sum stolen from UNDNJ -- is a source of concern.
Who's "unethical" this time, boys and girls?
"The subject of the inquiry is a contract that Mr. Ashcroft's Washington law firm received from Mr. Christie's office to serve as a federal monitor. The deal is worth $27 million to $52 million over 18 months."
Get who was chosen to step into this pile of shit:
" ... 'We're interested in knowing about the process by which he was selected to be the monitor and what exactly he's doing to earn the money,' said United States Representative Linda T. Sanchez, Democrat of California."
I bet Linda has reason to believe that if she screws over Ashcroft and Christie, she'll get the big money for a Senate run -- if Ms. Boxer steps down or retires. In any event, Linda will earn cookie points with the Hispanic Caucus for providing some cover for Menendez, even as she kisses some of the right asses in Democrat power circles. Payback by Republicans will be aimed at her, but they probably left out that part of the deal, even as they promised more "face time" for Linda before television cameras.
Is this any way to run a federal prosecutor's office? Should we not allow the U.S. Attorney to do his job? Can law enforcement be effective if the two parties do not cooperate and each accepts "contributions" from different crooks? I doubt it. Geez.
"Mr. Ashcroft was also asked to testify but has not responded, according to Ms. Sanchez's office. A phone message left at Mr. Ashcroft's law firm on Monday was not immediately returned."
Saturday, February 16, 2008
N.J. State Senator Charged With Extortion!
David Kocieniewski, "Ex-State Senator Is Charged With Extortion," in The New York Times, February 15, 2008, at p. B6.
"NEWARK -- A former New Jersey legislator was indicted on extortion charges in federal court Thursday, accused of using his position on the State Senate Budget Committee to steer millions of tax dollars to a hospital in exchange for more than $100,000 in consulting fees, prosecutors said."
"The former lawmaker JOSEPH CONIGLIO, a Democrat from Paramus who took office in 2002, is charged with funneling the money through a firm he set up after he was appointed to the powerful Budget Committee in 2004."
"The sole client of the firm, VJC Consulting, was Hackensack University Medical Center, which paid $5,000 a month for 'hospital relations,' a field in which Mr. Coniglio, a licensed plumber by trade, had no expertise, according to the United States attorney, Christopher J. Christie." (emphasis added)
"The 26-page indictment charges that Mr. Coniglio was actually selling his influence on the Budget Committee and was being paid to help the hospital win grants from various state agencies and support special requests for money, which are referred to as Christmas Tree items at the State House in Trenton."
I take it that we need not worry about "testicular fortitude" (regardless of gender) at the U.S. Justice Department. Point taken in New Jersey. There's more coming, boys and girls. (See "Jaynee LaVecchia and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey" and "Jay Romano and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey.")
"... 'The allegations against Senator Coniglio in this indictment paint a disgraceful picture of exchanging public tax dollars for personal gain,' Mr. Christie said in a news conference after the indictment was anounced. 'The public has had more than enough of this type of conduct.' ..."
I consider these remarks "temperate" considering that the Jersey Boys (also regardless of gender) have been going for Mr. Christie's head. Rumors suggesting that Barbara Buono and other prominent elected officials in the Garden State -- including a few old Bob Menendez buddies in Union City -- are high on the Justice Department's "to do List" are unconfirmed at this time and can neither be denied nor admitted by anyone. Mr. Christie will not comment on allegations that he discovered a severed horse's head in his bed this morning.
Senator Bob stated through a spokesperson that he is, generally, "against crime."
"Mr. Coniglio appeared here before Michael Shipp, a United States Magistrate" -- reputedly, Mr. Shipp is a remarkably "chipper" fellow, fond of reading occasional mysteries and delighting in bridge playing on alternate weekends -- "and was released on a $250,000 bond. Although he declined to take questions from reporters as he left the courthouse, his lawyer said Mr. Coniglio was innocent of the charges and had supported the hospital before and after he was on the Budget Committee."
Cash up front, Mr. Shyster. What did Coniglio get in "consulting fees" before he was on the Committee? When he got on the committee did he suddenly become much wiser about hospital management issues?
Coniglio's response: "Whatta ya wanna know that fer? Geez ..."
"Mr. Coniglio is one of five Democratic New Jersey legislators to have faced corruption charges in the past year, and the first to face charges in a federal investigation of how and why Christmas Tree items end up in the state budget."
N.J. Bar Association Ethics Committees are even more corrupt entities, with political favors flying back and forth -- favors having more to do with outcomes and dispositions than either the law or facts. (See "New Jersey's 'Ethical' Legal System" and "Maurice J. Gallipoli and Conduct unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey.") Ethics?
"... Mr. Coniglio, 65, was charged with nine counts of extortion, and according to Jeffrey Chiesa, an assistant United States attorney, each charge carries a possible penalty of 20 years in prison and $250,000 fine. He ended his reelection bid in September, after learning that he was likely to face indictment."
We will see each other again.
"NEWARK -- A former New Jersey legislator was indicted on extortion charges in federal court Thursday, accused of using his position on the State Senate Budget Committee to steer millions of tax dollars to a hospital in exchange for more than $100,000 in consulting fees, prosecutors said."
"The former lawmaker JOSEPH CONIGLIO, a Democrat from Paramus who took office in 2002, is charged with funneling the money through a firm he set up after he was appointed to the powerful Budget Committee in 2004."
"The sole client of the firm, VJC Consulting, was Hackensack University Medical Center, which paid $5,000 a month for 'hospital relations,' a field in which Mr. Coniglio, a licensed plumber by trade, had no expertise, according to the United States attorney, Christopher J. Christie." (emphasis added)
"The 26-page indictment charges that Mr. Coniglio was actually selling his influence on the Budget Committee and was being paid to help the hospital win grants from various state agencies and support special requests for money, which are referred to as Christmas Tree items at the State House in Trenton."
I take it that we need not worry about "testicular fortitude" (regardless of gender) at the U.S. Justice Department. Point taken in New Jersey. There's more coming, boys and girls. (See "Jaynee LaVecchia and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey" and "Jay Romano and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey.")
"... 'The allegations against Senator Coniglio in this indictment paint a disgraceful picture of exchanging public tax dollars for personal gain,' Mr. Christie said in a news conference after the indictment was anounced. 'The public has had more than enough of this type of conduct.' ..."
I consider these remarks "temperate" considering that the Jersey Boys (also regardless of gender) have been going for Mr. Christie's head. Rumors suggesting that Barbara Buono and other prominent elected officials in the Garden State -- including a few old Bob Menendez buddies in Union City -- are high on the Justice Department's "to do List" are unconfirmed at this time and can neither be denied nor admitted by anyone. Mr. Christie will not comment on allegations that he discovered a severed horse's head in his bed this morning.
Senator Bob stated through a spokesperson that he is, generally, "against crime."
"Mr. Coniglio appeared here before Michael Shipp, a United States Magistrate" -- reputedly, Mr. Shipp is a remarkably "chipper" fellow, fond of reading occasional mysteries and delighting in bridge playing on alternate weekends -- "and was released on a $250,000 bond. Although he declined to take questions from reporters as he left the courthouse, his lawyer said Mr. Coniglio was innocent of the charges and had supported the hospital before and after he was on the Budget Committee."
Cash up front, Mr. Shyster. What did Coniglio get in "consulting fees" before he was on the Committee? When he got on the committee did he suddenly become much wiser about hospital management issues?
Coniglio's response: "Whatta ya wanna know that fer? Geez ..."
"Mr. Coniglio is one of five Democratic New Jersey legislators to have faced corruption charges in the past year, and the first to face charges in a federal investigation of how and why Christmas Tree items end up in the state budget."
N.J. Bar Association Ethics Committees are even more corrupt entities, with political favors flying back and forth -- favors having more to do with outcomes and dispositions than either the law or facts. (See "New Jersey's 'Ethical' Legal System" and "Maurice J. Gallipoli and Conduct unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey.") Ethics?
"... Mr. Coniglio, 65, was charged with nine counts of extortion, and according to Jeffrey Chiesa, an assistant United States attorney, each charge carries a possible penalty of 20 years in prison and $250,000 fine. He ended his reelection bid in September, after learning that he was likely to face indictment."
We will see each other again.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
The Jersey Boys Go After the U.S. Attorney -- to Cover the Costs of Graft!
February 15, 2008 at 7:22 P.M. My computer monitor is frozen. I have restarted my computer. New problems and attacks against my security system.
February 15, 2008 at 4:20 P.M., despite my efforts, I have never sought or been the subject of a restraining order against anyone, ever, anywhere. I am not running for political office. If nominated, I will not run; if elected, I will not serve. Charges for "extortion" are, apparently, pending against Senator Joe Coniglio, as of today. More political figures are rumored to be facing criminal charges; others soon will be. Stay tuned to this channel.
February 13, 2008 at 12:47 phone call from 603-214-3623. At 1:08 P.M., a call from 517-261-0103. I am blocking:
http://view.atdmt.com/iview/msnnkhac001728x90xWBCBRB00110msn/direct;wi.728;hi.90/01
David Kocieniewski, "Usually on Attack, U.S. Attorney in Newark Finds Himself on the Defensive ," in The New York Times, February 13, 2008, at p. B1.
David W. Chen, "A Hard-Times Road Show on New Jersey Finances," in The New York Times, February 12, 2008, at p. B1.
Winnie Hu, "Schools Revived by Special Aid in New Jersey Brace for a New Formula," in The New York Times, February 12, 2008, at p. B4.
"In the six years that he has been the United States attorney for New Jersey, Christopher J. Christie Jr. has investigated free-holders and governors, party hacks and United States senators, winning indictments against Republicans and Democrats alike and obtaining convictions or guilty pleas against more than 125 public officials without losing a case."
When you combine these convictions with those of conspirators who are not elected officials, but also players in the political system, the convictions soar to well over 200 defendants.
What is the response from Trenton? (See "A Letter From the DRB, in New Jersey!" and "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet!") Senator Bob and the Jersey Boys have been working the phones and calling in favors, allegedly, trying to get rid of Mr. Christie. A judgeship in Alaska does not appeal to him, intimidation hasn't worked. Hence, an effort is underway to finagle a Congressional investigation against Christie that will sidetrack the Justice Department just long enough (they hope!) for a Democrat to be elected president.
In the past members of their own party could be bribed or threatened with a loss of votes by N.J. political hoods. This year they are in trouble in Trenton, allegedly, since neither Mr. Obama nor Senator Clinton wants anything to do with the Jersey Syndicate.
The Times article is a dog's breakfast of allegations and frothy inuendo: "... most political leaders in New Jersey believe [Mr. Christie] plans to run for governor ..." Mr. Christie has denied any interest in being governor -- but if he runs, I sure hope that he wins, regardless of his political affiliation.
Next, we are told of possible Congressional inquiries into the use of monitors, like former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft. Mr. Christie uses former federal officials -- preferably with substantial experience -- because he is skeptical about the New Jersey legal establishment. I share that skepticism. Nothing will come of this, probably, but the newspaper story is a distraction. The Jersey Boys hope that the justice Department lacks "testicular fortitude," as many N.J. judges do. We'll find out. I doubt it.
What is the result of all the graft in the Garden State that the Jersey Syndicate hopes to obscure with this smoke creen?
"EAST BRUNSWICK, N.J. -- The first snide outburst came, as usual, a few minutes into the program when Gov. Jon S. Corzine, relying on a Power-Point slide show several font sizes too small, spoke about New Jersey's fiscal woes, 'Stop lying!' someone blurted."
One of the few politicians in New Jersey who is not lying is Governor Corzine. The Governor's warnings about financial catastrophe are real and serious. Ignoring New Jersey's precarious finances -- which are the result of thievery and corruption on a massive scale, over decades of club-house politics and mafia rule -- will result in severe deprivations for citizens, job loss, disappearing services, honest police officers, fire fighters, teachers not receiving well-earned wage increases and pension benefits, also many students deprived of an education. (See "You Ain't Seen Nothing yet in New Jersey!")
This is not a message people want to hear. However, it is (literally) a life or death matter at this point, since hospitals are also being closed in New Jersey. Corruption poisons the quality of life and causes deaths in New Jersey. People will not receive the care they need in a timely fashion unless these issues are dealt with, seriously and soon. Do not kill the messenger. Listen to what Corzine has to say. A state governor should not be prevented from speaking, silenced by hecklers in his own state, in a society that respects freedom of speech:
"... Then, after suggesting that voters would have a chance to vote him out of office in November 2009, there was so much heckling that he had to stop."
America is not a country where people are gagged because what they say is unpopular. Democracy cannot work that way. The Governor of New Jersey -- and I am anything but an apologist for that government -- is delivering a necessary message of fiscal triage. The state's economy is in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Something needs to be done now to rescue your children's future.
The legal system of the Garden State has already expired, in my opinion, and people are pretending not to notice this fact. It is no answer to these serious accusations to insert "errors" into my writings or send me threatening letters based on manipulations of the system. Threatening a federal prosecutor will not solve N.J.'s problem, it may make things worse for the crooks.
Persons from many places in the world associate N.J. with legal incompetence and political corruption. I am aware of the unfairness in this reality for all of those persons working in the N.J. legal and political system who are not crooks, which is more reason for the powers that be in Trenton to figure out that they have to do something to restore integrity to the system, acknowledge crimes against humanity, make amends and an effort to compensate for such crimes (not necessarily financially, since any moneys or compensatory sums from whatever sources must be returned to the N.J. system for needed improvements). I am discussing symbolic efforts at the very least. (See "Why U.S. Courts Must Not Condone Torture.")
"Faced with $32 BILLION in debt, a depleted transportation fund" -- How did it get depleted? -- "and hundreds of highways and bridges in need of maintenance, Mr. Corzine has proposed increasing tolls 50 percent every four years over 12 years on the New Jersey Turnpike."
Bridges will collapse and there will be a massive number of injured persons, without adequate facilities or resources close by to care for them. Security breaches will result in potential terrorist incidents emanating from N.J. going to other states (two persons were arrested by the feds for planning such a strike in the Fort Dix area). Terrorists will not be apprehended by paid off state officials. Federal resources in New Jersey are "strained" to understate the problem. Legal proceedings in N.J. are regarded as a joke, deservedly. Secrecy and violations of rights are routine aspects of the operations of government and courts that are sworn to prevent such criminality. Pension funds and Christmas Tree items are depriving the state of necessary resources all the time.
What is the daily result of this continuing state of affairs?
"The Paterson [school] district faces a $40 MILLION to $50 MILLION shortfall in its projected $537 MILLION budget for 2008-2009, said Laura Franklin, a district spokeswoman. The 27,000-student district, which will receive a 2 percent increase, is considering layoffs for the first time in several years after having already cut back field trips and school supplies and reduced hours for summer school and recreation programs [you can expect more juvenile crime!] in the last two years."
Similar predicaments are faced by teachers and administrators in Perth Amboy, Elizabeth, Union, Hudson and Essex Counties and elsewhere in New Jersey. Children are suffering and they will be disadvantaged in comparison with students in other states and countries. The educational deprivations will result in social pathologies, increased crime rates and additional financial burdens for the system in terms of police and prison as well as court costs. Elizabeth's public library, where I spent a substantial amount of time as a child, has probably saved lives and steered children in the right direction. Will there be money to keep libraries open in New Jersey?
Anonymous slanders alleging that the U.S. attorney is "unpleasant" or disliked by "unidentified" defense lawyers is neither here nor there. You don't have to like Mr. Christie, he's asking you to refrain from stealing public money. If you steal that money in N.J., then Mr. Christie's going to indict you -- nothing personal.
The steady trickle of money out of the system through theft and sweetheart deals as well as bribery and cronyism continues, every day. New Jersey voters must make it clear to elected officials and judges that this situation is intolerable. What is threatened is both your physical safety and welfare -- along with your civil liberties -- if you live in New Jersey. N.J. legal and political officials must be held accountable for their blatant criminality and incompetence, also for sinister manipulations of the legal system.
February 15, 2008 at 4:20 P.M., despite my efforts, I have never sought or been the subject of a restraining order against anyone, ever, anywhere. I am not running for political office. If nominated, I will not run; if elected, I will not serve. Charges for "extortion" are, apparently, pending against Senator Joe Coniglio, as of today. More political figures are rumored to be facing criminal charges; others soon will be. Stay tuned to this channel.
February 13, 2008 at 12:47 phone call from 603-214-3623. At 1:08 P.M., a call from 517-261-0103. I am blocking:
http://view.atdmt.com/iview/msnnkhac001728x90xWBCBRB00110msn/direct;wi.728;hi.90/01
David Kocieniewski, "Usually on Attack, U.S. Attorney in Newark Finds Himself on the Defensive ," in The New York Times, February 13, 2008, at p. B1.
David W. Chen, "A Hard-Times Road Show on New Jersey Finances," in The New York Times, February 12, 2008, at p. B1.
Winnie Hu, "Schools Revived by Special Aid in New Jersey Brace for a New Formula," in The New York Times, February 12, 2008, at p. B4.
"In the six years that he has been the United States attorney for New Jersey, Christopher J. Christie Jr. has investigated free-holders and governors, party hacks and United States senators, winning indictments against Republicans and Democrats alike and obtaining convictions or guilty pleas against more than 125 public officials without losing a case."
When you combine these convictions with those of conspirators who are not elected officials, but also players in the political system, the convictions soar to well over 200 defendants.
What is the response from Trenton? (See "A Letter From the DRB, in New Jersey!" and "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet!") Senator Bob and the Jersey Boys have been working the phones and calling in favors, allegedly, trying to get rid of Mr. Christie. A judgeship in Alaska does not appeal to him, intimidation hasn't worked. Hence, an effort is underway to finagle a Congressional investigation against Christie that will sidetrack the Justice Department just long enough (they hope!) for a Democrat to be elected president.
In the past members of their own party could be bribed or threatened with a loss of votes by N.J. political hoods. This year they are in trouble in Trenton, allegedly, since neither Mr. Obama nor Senator Clinton wants anything to do with the Jersey Syndicate.
The Times article is a dog's breakfast of allegations and frothy inuendo: "... most political leaders in New Jersey believe [Mr. Christie] plans to run for governor ..." Mr. Christie has denied any interest in being governor -- but if he runs, I sure hope that he wins, regardless of his political affiliation.
Next, we are told of possible Congressional inquiries into the use of monitors, like former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft. Mr. Christie uses former federal officials -- preferably with substantial experience -- because he is skeptical about the New Jersey legal establishment. I share that skepticism. Nothing will come of this, probably, but the newspaper story is a distraction. The Jersey Boys hope that the justice Department lacks "testicular fortitude," as many N.J. judges do. We'll find out. I doubt it.
What is the result of all the graft in the Garden State that the Jersey Syndicate hopes to obscure with this smoke creen?
"EAST BRUNSWICK, N.J. -- The first snide outburst came, as usual, a few minutes into the program when Gov. Jon S. Corzine, relying on a Power-Point slide show several font sizes too small, spoke about New Jersey's fiscal woes, 'Stop lying!' someone blurted."
One of the few politicians in New Jersey who is not lying is Governor Corzine. The Governor's warnings about financial catastrophe are real and serious. Ignoring New Jersey's precarious finances -- which are the result of thievery and corruption on a massive scale, over decades of club-house politics and mafia rule -- will result in severe deprivations for citizens, job loss, disappearing services, honest police officers, fire fighters, teachers not receiving well-earned wage increases and pension benefits, also many students deprived of an education. (See "You Ain't Seen Nothing yet in New Jersey!")
This is not a message people want to hear. However, it is (literally) a life or death matter at this point, since hospitals are also being closed in New Jersey. Corruption poisons the quality of life and causes deaths in New Jersey. People will not receive the care they need in a timely fashion unless these issues are dealt with, seriously and soon. Do not kill the messenger. Listen to what Corzine has to say. A state governor should not be prevented from speaking, silenced by hecklers in his own state, in a society that respects freedom of speech:
"... Then, after suggesting that voters would have a chance to vote him out of office in November 2009, there was so much heckling that he had to stop."
America is not a country where people are gagged because what they say is unpopular. Democracy cannot work that way. The Governor of New Jersey -- and I am anything but an apologist for that government -- is delivering a necessary message of fiscal triage. The state's economy is in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Something needs to be done now to rescue your children's future.
The legal system of the Garden State has already expired, in my opinion, and people are pretending not to notice this fact. It is no answer to these serious accusations to insert "errors" into my writings or send me threatening letters based on manipulations of the system. Threatening a federal prosecutor will not solve N.J.'s problem, it may make things worse for the crooks.
Persons from many places in the world associate N.J. with legal incompetence and political corruption. I am aware of the unfairness in this reality for all of those persons working in the N.J. legal and political system who are not crooks, which is more reason for the powers that be in Trenton to figure out that they have to do something to restore integrity to the system, acknowledge crimes against humanity, make amends and an effort to compensate for such crimes (not necessarily financially, since any moneys or compensatory sums from whatever sources must be returned to the N.J. system for needed improvements). I am discussing symbolic efforts at the very least. (See "Why U.S. Courts Must Not Condone Torture.")
"Faced with $32 BILLION in debt, a depleted transportation fund" -- How did it get depleted? -- "and hundreds of highways and bridges in need of maintenance, Mr. Corzine has proposed increasing tolls 50 percent every four years over 12 years on the New Jersey Turnpike."
Bridges will collapse and there will be a massive number of injured persons, without adequate facilities or resources close by to care for them. Security breaches will result in potential terrorist incidents emanating from N.J. going to other states (two persons were arrested by the feds for planning such a strike in the Fort Dix area). Terrorists will not be apprehended by paid off state officials. Federal resources in New Jersey are "strained" to understate the problem. Legal proceedings in N.J. are regarded as a joke, deservedly. Secrecy and violations of rights are routine aspects of the operations of government and courts that are sworn to prevent such criminality. Pension funds and Christmas Tree items are depriving the state of necessary resources all the time.
What is the daily result of this continuing state of affairs?
"The Paterson [school] district faces a $40 MILLION to $50 MILLION shortfall in its projected $537 MILLION budget for 2008-2009, said Laura Franklin, a district spokeswoman. The 27,000-student district, which will receive a 2 percent increase, is considering layoffs for the first time in several years after having already cut back field trips and school supplies and reduced hours for summer school and recreation programs [you can expect more juvenile crime!] in the last two years."
Similar predicaments are faced by teachers and administrators in Perth Amboy, Elizabeth, Union, Hudson and Essex Counties and elsewhere in New Jersey. Children are suffering and they will be disadvantaged in comparison with students in other states and countries. The educational deprivations will result in social pathologies, increased crime rates and additional financial burdens for the system in terms of police and prison as well as court costs. Elizabeth's public library, where I spent a substantial amount of time as a child, has probably saved lives and steered children in the right direction. Will there be money to keep libraries open in New Jersey?
Anonymous slanders alleging that the U.S. attorney is "unpleasant" or disliked by "unidentified" defense lawyers is neither here nor there. You don't have to like Mr. Christie, he's asking you to refrain from stealing public money. If you steal that money in N.J., then Mr. Christie's going to indict you -- nothing personal.
The steady trickle of money out of the system through theft and sweetheart deals as well as bribery and cronyism continues, every day. New Jersey voters must make it clear to elected officials and judges that this situation is intolerable. What is threatened is both your physical safety and welfare -- along with your civil liberties -- if you live in New Jersey. N.J. legal and political officials must be held accountable for their blatant criminality and incompetence, also for sinister manipulations of the legal system.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
More Mafia Figures Busted in New Jersey and New York.
Jonathan Dienst, Joseph Valiquette and Alice McQuikllan, "Gambino Mafia Family Busted," http://deepbackground.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/02/07/646154.aspx 2/7/2008
William K. Rashbaum, "Dozens Held as Mob Case Links Gambinos to 3 Decades of Crime," in The New York Times, February 8, 2008, at p. A1.
I do not have and will not accept a "Face Book" or "My Space" account. No other part of my anatomy has a "Book" or web page.
A charming new coffee shop has appeared in my neighborhood, providing barrio denizens with "Seattle's Best," which often comes from the home countries of residents. Perfect place to visit with a book or lap-top computer when you come to Manhattan. "Cafe Espresso of New York," 4930 Broadway corner of 207th Street, New York, N.Y. 10034 http://www.cafeespressoofny@verizon.net/
Is J.-Lo really an investor in this establishment? (Spacing may be affected in this essay.)
"The entire hierarchy of the Gambino organized crime family was rounded up Thursday morning in what law enforcement officials are calling the bigest mafia bust in more than 20 years, http://www.wnbc.com/ has learned."
One promiment underworld figure "skipped the light fantastic" (as Tennessee Williams would say), leading to speculation that there is a "leak" in law enforcement circles, evidently from New Jersey's law enforcement community. What a surprise? As a result, a suspected mob killer is on the loose in the tri-state area, probably -- if he's smart -- on his way to Montreal, Canada.
"Dozens of reputed members of the Gambino crime family were charged with murders, drug trafficking, robberies, extortion, and other crimes dating back to the 1970s, authorities said Thursday."
"Some 62 people were being sought or were in custody in the New York area."
Several prominent New Jersey "guys" were among those caught in this federal "pooper scooper." Among the Garden State counties represented in this operation -- in the form of defendants who like the suburbs -- were Hudson and Essex counties (allegedly) and "somewhere in south Jersey." Geez. Mobsters explain that, in the suburbs, "there's less crime and good schools." "Cheech," an "alleged" enforcer for local loan sharks, once explained to me that he had to "think of his kids with all the crooks around." I sympathized with him as we discussed his pending criminal cases. As Cheech liked to say: "Nothing's safe no more."
"... As of Thursday morning, the FBI had arrested 54 people in New York City and its northern suburbs, New Jersey and Long Island. Raids were also under way in Italy." (emphasis added)
The New Jersey "component" of this operation seems to have been omitted from the New York Times coverage. I wonder whether Jay Romano worked on this story from his "perch" in North Bergen, New Jersey. (See "Jay Romano and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey.")
"Beginning with early morning knocks on the doors around the New York City area" -- like Jersey City, New Jersey? -- "the case formed the basis for a roundup that authorities called the biggest such sweep in memory, one that was coordinated with arrests by Italian authorities in Siciliy."
It is interesting that New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram was given a marginal role in this operation and law enforcement in the Garden State has been kept at a not-so-safe distance. This is wise. Mafia figures have infiltrated the halls of government in Trenton and the judiciary, while N.J.'s legal profession has always been "influenced" by underworld figures. For years, West New York's police department was regarded as a branch of organized crime, with cops involved in gambling machine maintenance and giving a heads up to local drug dealers about to be busted, allegedly. Criminals were said to keep a "running tab" with local cops. Let's take a trip down memory lane:
Whenever things get difficult for the Jersey Syndicate, they make it a point to throw someone -- preferably a minority group member from their own Democratic party, like Sharpe James maybe -- to the feds. This serves as a distraction, played up for all its worth through their employees and friends in the media. "We have newspaper people on the payroll," New Jersey politicians say, as they chuckle over their latest thievery. The New York Times? The Star Ledger?
With the budget battle not happening this year, thanks to Corzine's unexpected return to Trenton, after an accident the Jersey Boys planned (or hoped?) would "take him out" permanently, there is little to serve as a smoke screen for long expected "unpleasant" publicity as all of the "Christmas Tree" theft and pension fund games begin to come to light.
New Jersey's Supreme Court decided (with two dissents!) that mental retardation precludes imposition of the death penalty, but not life in prison or a Superior Court judgeship. Politicians breathed a sigh of relief. In fact, mental impairment that is substantial enough -- or severe retardation -- should preclude any criminal liability, if not membership in the New Jersey bar. Two of these so-called justices are willing to see mentally impaired persons, unaware of what is happening to them (or why), be killed by the state.
All of the members of this disgraced Garden State tribunal are unaware of how uncivilized and stupid this entire discussion of the death penalty appears to the rest of the nations of the world, especially those in the developed world. Reactions among New Jersey judges to the recent abolition of the death penalty were muted. Many judges expressed disappointment. Ronald Smothers, "New Jersey Court Says Showing of Mental Retardation Can Block Execution," in The New York Times, June 19, 2007, at p. B4.
Heads will roll in Trenton, many heads will roll and soon. As with any criminal enterprise, everybody in Trenton is secretly informing against their "friends" (not to mention state Supreme Court justices conspiring to get charges filed against their brethren), while pretending to stand-up under the federal pressure. Lots of leaks these days in Trenton. When you hear a New Jersey politician say, "You can trust me!" Run for the hills.
The power of political bosses "running things" is threatening the independence of the judiciary in New Jersey. That's what the U.S. Supreme Court should be worried about. You never know what's really going on in a New Jersey court room, whether the judge got a call from a political boss to screw you over on something in order to "teach a lesson," regardless of the merits of your client's case or your own. (See my forthcoming essay "Emil A. Del Baglivo and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey.")
The bad cops are Codey and Roberts, together with other backstage "operators." The good cops trying to bring the budget mess and culture of thievery under some control are Corzine and (surprisingly) Menendez, who is at least trying to remain or "appear" neutral. "On the one hand," Senator Menendez said, "but on the other hand ..."
You can't blame him. Menendez wants to see how all of this "struggle" will play out before determining where he stands, after taking a poll and consulting with his political contributors. The best hope for New Jersey's Democrats is an honest, young politician -- like Cory Booker, from Newark. Tostones, Bob? How's the struggle against the numbers racket going in Union City? "Let's get tough on crime!" Right, Bob?"
"To gain Mr. Booker's backing last fall, the Devils' principal owner, Jeffrey Vanderbeek, agreed to provide close to 5,000 free tickets each season for local children and $250,000 each year for sports and recreation. He also promised that Newark residents would get first dibs on permanent arena jobs."Andrew Jacobs, "Owners Push New Arena, But Residents Fear Change," in The New York Times, at p. B1.
Jobs and supplemental spending from the building of a new stadium means that the James-Booker mayoralties will combine to bring millions of dollars into Newark. What these men have figured out is that, minorities fighting over crumbs, means that things do not change in a progressive way.
African-Americans have a special moral claim and entitlement that no other ethnic group should claim. This is due to the legacy of slavery based on race. I believe this is an inescapable and irrefutable moral conclusion. Whatever discrimination persons from other ethnic groups have faced simply "pales" by comparison with racism in America. I know that this will make me unpopular with persons from my own ethnic group, but it happens to be true. Hacking into my computer to destroy my writings or threatening me will not change that truth. Probably more threatening letters or worse are on their way to me. (See "A Letter From the DRB, in New Jersey!")
New Jersey should make an emergency request to borrow New York's Attorney General, Mr. Andrew Cuomo. Mr. Cuomo has grown in his current position, actually prosecuting political corruption during his first months in office. This is unheard of zeal in New Jersey, where there are certainly fine county prosecutors neglected by the political structure, even as corruption usually results in a judgeship -- or a spot on the Supreme Court -- for perpetrators. Ethics?
African-Americans have figured out that, as usual, they are getting screwed by the Trenton Syndicate. Sharpe James is an altar boy compared to most New Jersey politicians. Mr. James is no longer actively involved in politics.
James was fined $44,000 for "campaign finance irregularities." In a state where many political contributions are in the form of cash in a brown paper bag, Mr. James decided to declare legally the money he received and to reimburse the moneys deemed "improperly" charged to the city. He also paid the $44,000 fine. Selective leaks to the feds coming out of Trenton, probably, leave the U.S. attorney with no option in the matter. Mr. James should ask himself: "Who is feeding information, accurate or not, to the feds, and why do they want to distract people from the millions -- and even BILLIONS -- disappearing from the pension fund, to say nothing of 'Christmas Tree' items?"
Why Mr. James, I wonder? Why do the Trenton Boys, especially other prominent Essex County politicians -- who shall remain nameless -- feel that they need a distraction right about now? Take a wild guess.
Another dismissal of a questionable administrator at UMDNJ -- where $100-400 MILLION vanished without so much as a "by your leave" -- will result in NO ONE -- NOT ANYBODY -- going to prison because thieves all claim to be white persons. On the other hand, Wayne R. Bryant and Sharpe James may have to look forward to years of legal hassels. Both men -- yes, even Mr. Bryant -- are child-like compared to the big time crooks in the "family-like" organization running much of the Garden State. This explains the putrid aroma of corruption escaping from the corridors of power and New Jersey's Supreme Court chambers. (For an enlightened view of racial matters, see "Sybil R. Moses and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey" and "Jaynee LaVecchia and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey.")
It is not established, at this time, whether "Justice" LaVecchia's name has popped up on some of those federal wire taps of the "alleged" Gambino family membership. (See "Mafia Involvement in New Jersey Law and Politics" and "Law and Ethics in the Soprano State.") I am currently researching, meticulously, a forthcoming essay entitled "New Jersey Chief Justice Stuart Rabner and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey" and see "Deborah T. Poritz and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey." (Attacks on these blogs, hackers and viruses as well as other harassment must be expected from protected criminals near Bayonne, New Jersey.)
"In 2002, struggling to close a huge budget gap" -- which was probably caused by all the money they stole the previous year -- "the New Jersey Legislature hurriedly passed a bill offering thousands of New Jersey employees generous early retirement packages. Unions applauded because layoffs had been averted. Gov. James E. McGreevey claimed the state would save millions by cutting its payroll."
McGreevey was also often accused of "shenanigans," but never (so far!) actually indicted: "... savings have proved negligible compared with the long term cost of the plan. By its own accounting, the state of New Jersey would have to set aside $617 MILLION today to finance those sweetened pensions" -- many such tasty pensions probably went to old buddies of the Jersey Boys who know how to show their appreciation -- "[this will] double the amount [New Jersey] says it will have saved by trimming the work-force and reducing salaries." In other words, they lost twice the money that they claim to have "saved" with their shenanigans. (Hackers recently inserted errors in this last sentence, which I have now corrected.)
How much is coming back to the politicians and judges (many of whom are corrupt, especially among "ethics officials") under the table? I bet it's really tasty and sweet all right. Anybody will retire if they can get one of those "sweet" pensions. So what if you kick back a few grand? It's the suckers' (taxpayers') money anyway. Trenton politicians respond with a horrifying smile and a slurred greeting: "How the hell are ya?"
I don't see how these New Jersey politicians are any different from the mobsters arrested Thursday. In fact, politicians in the Garden State steal more money than these mob guys. The difference is that the politicians wear blue suits from Sears.
More than HALF-A-BILLION quacamoles lost to the taxpayers or forked over by the people as a result of incompetence or worse. (Inserting errors in this text proves my point, by the way, morons.) However, New Jersey's politicians are eager to discuss the proposed law to ban smoking in cars when there are children in a vehicle. It is really your wallet that is being "smoked" by these Jersey Boys (of all genders) with a loud laugh and some Champagne:
"Hey, have a cigar! How about a fruit basket?" Sanctioning a state Supreme Court justice because he gave somebody a business card is a distraction from the politically tainted decision-making of the most disgraced high court in the United States -- New Jersey's Supremes. How do you live with yourself, Stuart Rabner? How do you look in the mirror in the morning, then judge other people when you and your tribunal are covered in the feces of corruption? (See "New Jersey's Feces-Covered Supreme Court.")
A new "error" was inserted and corrected in this essay since last night. February 10, 2008 at 5:44 P.M.
Richard J. Codey -- upon unveiling his portrait as Governor -- said his friends "expected that his picture would hang in a post office." Freudian slip, Richard? Worse, much worse seems to be involved in New Jersey than little-old Freudian slips. No wonder they want to obstruct my communications. They don't want you reading this stuff." (See again: "A Letter From the DRB, in New Jersey!")
These and other pension enhancements" -- that means, "shenanigans" -- "combined with years of skipping payments into the system, have undermined the state's ability to meet its pension obligations without raising taxes, borrowing money or shifting taxes from other state programs, experts and lawmakers warn."Wait till your dad finds out that his pension check may not be coming soon. Won't he be surprised? Will it be O.K. that his pension money was stolen if safety laws say that he can't smoke in the car with the grandkids? I doubt it.
"Oh, happy Father's Day! By the way, dad, your pension is gone. Mazeltov!"
New Jersey's politicians must think people are stupid. As for Stuart Rabner, there is much concern in the African-American community, also among poor people and other minority group members -- whether their so-called representatives in Trenton express it or not -- that Mr. Rabner will continue the "don't ask, don't tell" policies of the current court when it comes to political corruption, cronyism, favoritism, thievery and secrecy that can be denied publicly, all of which has characterized the Poritz-Zazzali Court's dismally failed policies and unsound decisions.
New Jersey's Supreme Court and legal system have become laughing stocks and sources of disgust for decent people everywhere. (I anticipate that "errors" will be inserted in this essay, again, soon. I experienced difficulties in getting back into this blog at 9:41 P.M. These crimes are committed, I believe, by persons responsible for enforcing civil rights laws.)
Where are those reports, Terry? Who gets to read them? What other matters are handled secretly? How many others are tortured or raped in the Garden State? Who else gets raped "for their own good"? How much did you and Diana steal from me? Let us direct these questions to New Jersey's 36 year-old attorney general, Ms. Anne Milgram, when she next "snuggles in conference" with Mr. Rabner.
William K. Rashbaum, "Dozens Held as Mob Case Links Gambinos to 3 Decades of Crime," in The New York Times, February 8, 2008, at p. A1.
I do not have and will not accept a "Face Book" or "My Space" account. No other part of my anatomy has a "Book" or web page.
A charming new coffee shop has appeared in my neighborhood, providing barrio denizens with "Seattle's Best," which often comes from the home countries of residents. Perfect place to visit with a book or lap-top computer when you come to Manhattan. "Cafe Espresso of New York," 4930 Broadway corner of 207th Street, New York, N.Y. 10034 http://www.cafeespressoofny@verizon.net/
Is J.-Lo really an investor in this establishment? (Spacing may be affected in this essay.)
"The entire hierarchy of the Gambino organized crime family was rounded up Thursday morning in what law enforcement officials are calling the bigest mafia bust in more than 20 years, http://www.wnbc.com/ has learned."
One promiment underworld figure "skipped the light fantastic" (as Tennessee Williams would say), leading to speculation that there is a "leak" in law enforcement circles, evidently from New Jersey's law enforcement community. What a surprise? As a result, a suspected mob killer is on the loose in the tri-state area, probably -- if he's smart -- on his way to Montreal, Canada.
"Dozens of reputed members of the Gambino crime family were charged with murders, drug trafficking, robberies, extortion, and other crimes dating back to the 1970s, authorities said Thursday."
"Some 62 people were being sought or were in custody in the New York area."
Several prominent New Jersey "guys" were among those caught in this federal "pooper scooper." Among the Garden State counties represented in this operation -- in the form of defendants who like the suburbs -- were Hudson and Essex counties (allegedly) and "somewhere in south Jersey." Geez. Mobsters explain that, in the suburbs, "there's less crime and good schools." "Cheech," an "alleged" enforcer for local loan sharks, once explained to me that he had to "think of his kids with all the crooks around." I sympathized with him as we discussed his pending criminal cases. As Cheech liked to say: "Nothing's safe no more."
"... As of Thursday morning, the FBI had arrested 54 people in New York City and its northern suburbs, New Jersey and Long Island. Raids were also under way in Italy." (emphasis added)
The New Jersey "component" of this operation seems to have been omitted from the New York Times coverage. I wonder whether Jay Romano worked on this story from his "perch" in North Bergen, New Jersey. (See "Jay Romano and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey.")
"Beginning with early morning knocks on the doors around the New York City area" -- like Jersey City, New Jersey? -- "the case formed the basis for a roundup that authorities called the biggest such sweep in memory, one that was coordinated with arrests by Italian authorities in Siciliy."
It is interesting that New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram was given a marginal role in this operation and law enforcement in the Garden State has been kept at a not-so-safe distance. This is wise. Mafia figures have infiltrated the halls of government in Trenton and the judiciary, while N.J.'s legal profession has always been "influenced" by underworld figures. For years, West New York's police department was regarded as a branch of organized crime, with cops involved in gambling machine maintenance and giving a heads up to local drug dealers about to be busted, allegedly. Criminals were said to keep a "running tab" with local cops. Let's take a trip down memory lane:
Whenever things get difficult for the Jersey Syndicate, they make it a point to throw someone -- preferably a minority group member from their own Democratic party, like Sharpe James maybe -- to the feds. This serves as a distraction, played up for all its worth through their employees and friends in the media. "We have newspaper people on the payroll," New Jersey politicians say, as they chuckle over their latest thievery. The New York Times? The Star Ledger?
With the budget battle not happening this year, thanks to Corzine's unexpected return to Trenton, after an accident the Jersey Boys planned (or hoped?) would "take him out" permanently, there is little to serve as a smoke screen for long expected "unpleasant" publicity as all of the "Christmas Tree" theft and pension fund games begin to come to light.
New Jersey's Supreme Court decided (with two dissents!) that mental retardation precludes imposition of the death penalty, but not life in prison or a Superior Court judgeship. Politicians breathed a sigh of relief. In fact, mental impairment that is substantial enough -- or severe retardation -- should preclude any criminal liability, if not membership in the New Jersey bar. Two of these so-called justices are willing to see mentally impaired persons, unaware of what is happening to them (or why), be killed by the state.
All of the members of this disgraced Garden State tribunal are unaware of how uncivilized and stupid this entire discussion of the death penalty appears to the rest of the nations of the world, especially those in the developed world. Reactions among New Jersey judges to the recent abolition of the death penalty were muted. Many judges expressed disappointment. Ronald Smothers, "New Jersey Court Says Showing of Mental Retardation Can Block Execution," in The New York Times, June 19, 2007, at p. B4.
Heads will roll in Trenton, many heads will roll and soon. As with any criminal enterprise, everybody in Trenton is secretly informing against their "friends" (not to mention state Supreme Court justices conspiring to get charges filed against their brethren), while pretending to stand-up under the federal pressure. Lots of leaks these days in Trenton. When you hear a New Jersey politician say, "You can trust me!" Run for the hills.
The power of political bosses "running things" is threatening the independence of the judiciary in New Jersey. That's what the U.S. Supreme Court should be worried about. You never know what's really going on in a New Jersey court room, whether the judge got a call from a political boss to screw you over on something in order to "teach a lesson," regardless of the merits of your client's case or your own. (See my forthcoming essay "Emil A. Del Baglivo and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey.")
The bad cops are Codey and Roberts, together with other backstage "operators." The good cops trying to bring the budget mess and culture of thievery under some control are Corzine and (surprisingly) Menendez, who is at least trying to remain or "appear" neutral. "On the one hand," Senator Menendez said, "but on the other hand ..."
You can't blame him. Menendez wants to see how all of this "struggle" will play out before determining where he stands, after taking a poll and consulting with his political contributors. The best hope for New Jersey's Democrats is an honest, young politician -- like Cory Booker, from Newark. Tostones, Bob? How's the struggle against the numbers racket going in Union City? "Let's get tough on crime!" Right, Bob?"
"To gain Mr. Booker's backing last fall, the Devils' principal owner, Jeffrey Vanderbeek, agreed to provide close to 5,000 free tickets each season for local children and $250,000 each year for sports and recreation. He also promised that Newark residents would get first dibs on permanent arena jobs."Andrew Jacobs, "Owners Push New Arena, But Residents Fear Change," in The New York Times, at p. B1.
Jobs and supplemental spending from the building of a new stadium means that the James-Booker mayoralties will combine to bring millions of dollars into Newark. What these men have figured out is that, minorities fighting over crumbs, means that things do not change in a progressive way.
African-Americans have a special moral claim and entitlement that no other ethnic group should claim. This is due to the legacy of slavery based on race. I believe this is an inescapable and irrefutable moral conclusion. Whatever discrimination persons from other ethnic groups have faced simply "pales" by comparison with racism in America. I know that this will make me unpopular with persons from my own ethnic group, but it happens to be true. Hacking into my computer to destroy my writings or threatening me will not change that truth. Probably more threatening letters or worse are on their way to me. (See "A Letter From the DRB, in New Jersey!")
New Jersey should make an emergency request to borrow New York's Attorney General, Mr. Andrew Cuomo. Mr. Cuomo has grown in his current position, actually prosecuting political corruption during his first months in office. This is unheard of zeal in New Jersey, where there are certainly fine county prosecutors neglected by the political structure, even as corruption usually results in a judgeship -- or a spot on the Supreme Court -- for perpetrators. Ethics?
African-Americans have figured out that, as usual, they are getting screwed by the Trenton Syndicate. Sharpe James is an altar boy compared to most New Jersey politicians. Mr. James is no longer actively involved in politics.
James was fined $44,000 for "campaign finance irregularities." In a state where many political contributions are in the form of cash in a brown paper bag, Mr. James decided to declare legally the money he received and to reimburse the moneys deemed "improperly" charged to the city. He also paid the $44,000 fine. Selective leaks to the feds coming out of Trenton, probably, leave the U.S. attorney with no option in the matter. Mr. James should ask himself: "Who is feeding information, accurate or not, to the feds, and why do they want to distract people from the millions -- and even BILLIONS -- disappearing from the pension fund, to say nothing of 'Christmas Tree' items?"
Why Mr. James, I wonder? Why do the Trenton Boys, especially other prominent Essex County politicians -- who shall remain nameless -- feel that they need a distraction right about now? Take a wild guess.
Another dismissal of a questionable administrator at UMDNJ -- where $100-400 MILLION vanished without so much as a "by your leave" -- will result in NO ONE -- NOT ANYBODY -- going to prison because thieves all claim to be white persons. On the other hand, Wayne R. Bryant and Sharpe James may have to look forward to years of legal hassels. Both men -- yes, even Mr. Bryant -- are child-like compared to the big time crooks in the "family-like" organization running much of the Garden State. This explains the putrid aroma of corruption escaping from the corridors of power and New Jersey's Supreme Court chambers. (For an enlightened view of racial matters, see "Sybil R. Moses and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey" and "Jaynee LaVecchia and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey.")
It is not established, at this time, whether "Justice" LaVecchia's name has popped up on some of those federal wire taps of the "alleged" Gambino family membership. (See "Mafia Involvement in New Jersey Law and Politics" and "Law and Ethics in the Soprano State.") I am currently researching, meticulously, a forthcoming essay entitled "New Jersey Chief Justice Stuart Rabner and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey" and see "Deborah T. Poritz and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey." (Attacks on these blogs, hackers and viruses as well as other harassment must be expected from protected criminals near Bayonne, New Jersey.)
"In 2002, struggling to close a huge budget gap" -- which was probably caused by all the money they stole the previous year -- "the New Jersey Legislature hurriedly passed a bill offering thousands of New Jersey employees generous early retirement packages. Unions applauded because layoffs had been averted. Gov. James E. McGreevey claimed the state would save millions by cutting its payroll."
McGreevey was also often accused of "shenanigans," but never (so far!) actually indicted: "... savings have proved negligible compared with the long term cost of the plan. By its own accounting, the state of New Jersey would have to set aside $617 MILLION today to finance those sweetened pensions" -- many such tasty pensions probably went to old buddies of the Jersey Boys who know how to show their appreciation -- "[this will] double the amount [New Jersey] says it will have saved by trimming the work-force and reducing salaries." In other words, they lost twice the money that they claim to have "saved" with their shenanigans. (Hackers recently inserted errors in this last sentence, which I have now corrected.)
How much is coming back to the politicians and judges (many of whom are corrupt, especially among "ethics officials") under the table? I bet it's really tasty and sweet all right. Anybody will retire if they can get one of those "sweet" pensions. So what if you kick back a few grand? It's the suckers' (taxpayers') money anyway. Trenton politicians respond with a horrifying smile and a slurred greeting: "How the hell are ya?"
I don't see how these New Jersey politicians are any different from the mobsters arrested Thursday. In fact, politicians in the Garden State steal more money than these mob guys. The difference is that the politicians wear blue suits from Sears.
More than HALF-A-BILLION quacamoles lost to the taxpayers or forked over by the people as a result of incompetence or worse. (Inserting errors in this text proves my point, by the way, morons.) However, New Jersey's politicians are eager to discuss the proposed law to ban smoking in cars when there are children in a vehicle. It is really your wallet that is being "smoked" by these Jersey Boys (of all genders) with a loud laugh and some Champagne:
"Hey, have a cigar! How about a fruit basket?" Sanctioning a state Supreme Court justice because he gave somebody a business card is a distraction from the politically tainted decision-making of the most disgraced high court in the United States -- New Jersey's Supremes. How do you live with yourself, Stuart Rabner? How do you look in the mirror in the morning, then judge other people when you and your tribunal are covered in the feces of corruption? (See "New Jersey's Feces-Covered Supreme Court.")
A new "error" was inserted and corrected in this essay since last night. February 10, 2008 at 5:44 P.M.
Richard J. Codey -- upon unveiling his portrait as Governor -- said his friends "expected that his picture would hang in a post office." Freudian slip, Richard? Worse, much worse seems to be involved in New Jersey than little-old Freudian slips. No wonder they want to obstruct my communications. They don't want you reading this stuff." (See again: "A Letter From the DRB, in New Jersey!")
These and other pension enhancements" -- that means, "shenanigans" -- "combined with years of skipping payments into the system, have undermined the state's ability to meet its pension obligations without raising taxes, borrowing money or shifting taxes from other state programs, experts and lawmakers warn."Wait till your dad finds out that his pension check may not be coming soon. Won't he be surprised? Will it be O.K. that his pension money was stolen if safety laws say that he can't smoke in the car with the grandkids? I doubt it.
"Oh, happy Father's Day! By the way, dad, your pension is gone. Mazeltov!"
New Jersey's politicians must think people are stupid. As for Stuart Rabner, there is much concern in the African-American community, also among poor people and other minority group members -- whether their so-called representatives in Trenton express it or not -- that Mr. Rabner will continue the "don't ask, don't tell" policies of the current court when it comes to political corruption, cronyism, favoritism, thievery and secrecy that can be denied publicly, all of which has characterized the Poritz-Zazzali Court's dismally failed policies and unsound decisions.
New Jersey's Supreme Court and legal system have become laughing stocks and sources of disgust for decent people everywhere. (I anticipate that "errors" will be inserted in this essay, again, soon. I experienced difficulties in getting back into this blog at 9:41 P.M. These crimes are committed, I believe, by persons responsible for enforcing civil rights laws.)
Where are those reports, Terry? Who gets to read them? What other matters are handled secretly? How many others are tortured or raped in the Garden State? Who else gets raped "for their own good"? How much did you and Diana steal from me? Let us direct these questions to New Jersey's 36 year-old attorney general, Ms. Anne Milgram, when she next "snuggles in conference" with Mr. Rabner.
Friday, February 8, 2008
Kwame Anthony Appiah and Experiments in Philosophy.
Paul Bloom, "Morality Studies," in The New York Times, February 3, 2008, at p. 22.
Kwame Anthony Appiah, Experiments in Ethics (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2008).
Judith Jarvis Thompson, "The Trolley Problem" and "The Right to Privacy," in Rights, Restitution, & Risk: Essays in Moral Theory (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1986), pp. 94-135.
Charles Fried, Right and Wrong (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1978), pp. 167-193 ("Roles").
John Boslough, "The Einstein Connection," in Stephen Hawking's Universe (New York: Avon, 1985), pp. 35-48.
Rebecca Goldstein, Incompleteness (New York & London: W.W. Norton, 2005), p. 209. (Godel's acceptance of the "ontological proof" for the existence of God.)
Albert Einstein, "Physics and Reality," in Out of My Later Years (New York: Castle Books, 2005), pp. 59-96.
Hackers are expected to insert "errors" in this text, to vandalize or destroy these writings on a regular basis. I am still unable to print items from this group. I suggest that you print this essay as soon as it appears. I will also print it from another location. February 5, 2008, at 11:51 A.M. Calls received from 410-774-8066 at 10:18 A.M. I am blocking the usual suspects. (See "New Jersey's Feces-Covered Supreme Court" and "Terry Tuchin, Diana Lisa Riccioli, and New Jersey's Agency of Torture.") Blocking:
http://ad.doubleclick.net/adi/N3285.msn-dm/B1714331.99;dcadv=895178;sz=728x90;ord=102410539?clic... (NJ?)
February 26, 2008 at 8:46 A.M. hackers and new obstacles prevent me from accessing my hotmail account or changing my image at MSN. Image-posting is still blocked at blogger. My MSN group is unreachable at this time. Please see "What is it like to be tortured?" I will run scans throughout the day, then again tomorrow, then once more each day thereafter -- until I can regain access to my account. I cannot access or see my own books on-line. The publisher refuses to distribute one of the books, despite my payment of the full ISBN fee. I do not know whether the books are still available for free download. Calls received from 408-587-2152 on February 25, 2008 at 11:05 A.M.
March 3, 2008 at 2:03 P.M. call received from 704-633-8373. A number of essays were vandalized at Critique.
There was an interesting review of a book that I will probably read in today's Times. As usual, an unfortunate subtitle undermined the review, nearly preventing me from reading this essay out of disgust. "As scientists take to explaining right and wrong, Kwame Anthony Appiah examines what this means for "philosophy."
My patience with out-of-control scientism is running out. In fact, Professor Appiah makes it very clear that scientists will never "explain" right and wrong in any deterministic or causal sense:
"Appiah isn't worried at all. He starts by pointing out that philosophy has almost always had an experimental side. David Hume, for instance, was adamant that moral philosophy had to be grounded in facts about human nature, in psychology and history." -- The opposite is just as true, psychology and history are saturated with philosophy, no matter how you study or practice those disciplines! -- "Even Kant, among the most abstract and abstruse of scholars, mixed his moral philosophy with practical observations and suggestions, on topics including child raising."
Nobody denies that empirical studies of the way people think and act or behave are essential to providing the fodder for philosophical reflection and analysis. Any argument that empirical data is relevant to philosophical thinking is superflous. At least since Aristotle, we know that empirical evidence is always good. Of course, facts are important to reasoning about moral matters. Any claim that such empirical studies or data will explain or determine our moral thinking is absurd and false.
"Cases are decided on the facts!" One of my law professors pronounced this wisdom. I thought then and know today that what is a "fact" and how this determination is made is an interpretive judgment made by a so-called "fact-finder," whether this fact-finder is a jury or judge. Such a determination is not a scientific one -- although it may well use scientific or empirical evidence -- rather, it is a judgment, a creative legal, jurisprudential, or even a moral judgment, requiring intelligence and imagination. Artists will be just as instructive to persons making such moral and legal judgments as scientists, perhaps more so.
Thought experiments and hypotheticals are just as crucial to the kind of thinking needed in ethical and metaethical reflection, especially where the goal is to develop functional principles and skilled judgments applying those principals. Indeed, thought experiments also proved vital for the revolution in mathematics and physics in twentieth century science, notably in the writings of Albert Einstein and Kurt Godel. For example, Einstein's demonstrations of the inadequacies of Galileo's and Newton's understanding of gravity as a universal constant, fitting the mechanical and deterministic model of the universe popular in the seventeenth century, was based on a "hypothetical case" or thought experiment:
"Suppose, [Einstein] said, a scientist rides in an elevator in a spaceship far from the influence of the earth's gravity. Imagine that the elevator inside the spacecraft is accelerating upward at the rate of 32 feet per second each second. That's the exact rate an object -- like a canonball dropped from a tower -- is pulled toward the earth by gravity. But in the spaceship's elevator, away from gravity's influence, the scientist's feet still press against the floor as his body resists its upward acceleration and if he drops a stone, it falls to the floor just as on earth."
Einstein is pursuing the purely logical implications of his thought-experiment, long before any of this could be confirmed experimentally -- in fact, experiments only become meaningful when there is a theory or hypothesis to confirm or disconfirm:
"The scientist cannot tell whether the downward pull is caused by gravitation or because of the inertia of his body resisting the upward acceleration of the elevator. This means that there is no difference between acceleration caused by gravitation and acceleration from other sources. Einstein said it was called the principle of equivalence."
John Boslough, Stephen Hawking's Universe (New York: Avon Books, 1985), pp. 29-30. (A single word was deleted from the title to this book since my previous review of this essay. I have now restored that missing word.)
Take a look at the famous essay on mathematical theory and form by G.H. Hardy, I believe, which (as I recall) features references to F.H. Bradley and a number of other thinkers you may not associate with higher mathematics. Madelbrot's work on fractals and Hilary Putnam's writings on the philosophy of mathematics are highly relevant to this discussion concerning the value of a priori reasoning.
Empirical data cannot replace abstract thinking or thought experiments. We need both in all of our serious thinking. Hence, famous hypotheticals -- like the badly understood "Trolley Problem" (which I will discuss in a moment) are vital forms of intellectual weight lifting that helps students and teachers to build intellectual muscles.
The Trolley Problem is mistakenly assumed to establish the validity of utilitarian or consequentialist theories, universally, by demonstrating objective intuitions concerning the balancing of competing goods in terms of the number of benefitted as opposed to harmed persons in making valid ethical choices in tragic cases. Lawyers in North Bergen will ask: "Who do we gotta whack?"
Happily, no one needs to be "whacked." Philosophy is not accounting. People relying on the Trolley Problem are often the same people arguing that we need empirical studies in philosophy and not "abstract" thought experiments -- like the Trolley Problem or John Rawls' various uses of game theory -- thus undermining their own moral epistemology. One more time: We need both "facts" (whatever they are) and "principles" (whatever they may be) in order to do philosophy well. ("John Rawls and Justice.") O.K., here's the Trolley Problem:
"Imagine that you are standing next to a railway track and you see a runaway trolley, with nobody on board, heading toward a group of five people down the track. The only way to save those people is to throw a switch that will divert the train to another track. This will save the five, but unfortunately [it] will kill another person standing on the second track."
Most people intuitively react in favor of "affirmative action," as it were, throwing the switch and killing one in order to save five. Some opt for doing nothing -- usually those in politics or members of New Jersey's disgraced and incompetent Supreme Court -- with the result that all are killed. "The good of the many," Mr. Spock explained to Captain Kirk, "is preferable to the good of the few." Captain Kirk (whose human feelings prevented him from agreeing) responded like a true philosopher -- "except when it's not, Mr. Spock."
What I would do in the trolley situation depends on who is the person that may be killed by my action. What is my relationship to the endangered persons and my role in the situation? (See "Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin.")
For some reason, Mary Wollstonecraft's name is misspelled each time that I read this essay. This is not a name that I am unable to spell. (See "New Jersey's Feces-Covered Supreme Court" and my forthcoming essay concerning the most stupid member of N.J.'s judiciary, Judge Tolentino of Hudson County.)
American pop-philosophy and classic t.v. shows are super-smart and profound about the dilemmas they present to viewers. Example: "If you were on a desert island, like Gilligan, and could only pick one of the two, would you go for -- Ginger or Mary Anne?"
Simplistic analysis in terms of consequences, utilities, and numbers fails to account for the crucial factors of duties, loyalties, rights and agency in assessing the moral worth of actions or results. Much depends on who is the agent compelled to take action? What relationship exists between an agent and persons affected by his or her actions, i.e., victims? What duties and rights are in conflict? And for whom and in what ways do these duties and rights conflict? Judith Jarvis Thompson counters the Trolley Problem with a hypothetical -- posing the identical choice -- where the resulting intuitions are diametrically opposed:
"This time you are to imagine yourself to be a surgeon, a truly great surgeon. Among other things you do, you transplant organs, and you are such a great surgeon that the organs you transplant always take. At the moment you have five patients who need organs. Two need one lung each, two need a kidney each, and the fifth needs a heart. If they do not get those organs today, they will die; if you find organs for them today, you can transplant the organs and they will all live. But where to find the lungs, kidneys, and the heart? The time is almost up when a report is brought to you that a young man who has just come into your clinic for his yearly check up has exactly the right blood type, and is in excellent health. Lo, you have a possible donor. All you need to do is cut him up and distribute his parts among the five who need them. You ask, but he says: 'Sorry. I deeply sympathize, but no.' [I don't blame him!] Would it be morally permissible for you to operate anyway? Everybody to whom I have put this second hypothetical case says, 'No, it would not be morally permissible for you to proceed.'" (p. 95.)
Dr. Mengele would say: "Go ahead, do whatever you want! You can learn from him and save others. In fact, operate on your victim even if you do not need to save others, just for the fun of it or because you find him interesting."
The duties of physicians or therapists preclude violations of patient autonomy, even when the doctor believes that humanity or society may or will benefit from the course of action that he or she intends to pursue, regardless of the wishes of unconsulted victims-patients. To CREATE a dangerous situation for the victim and society, deliberately, in order to justify choices that you, the doctor, deem to be "interesting" is even more evil. God complex. To cover it up afterwards is to add cowardice to a physician's other sins. ("The Experiments in Guatemala" and "American Doctors and Torture.")
In the case of physicians and others with duties of loyalty to individuals or systemic obligations (like judges sworn to uphold the Constitution), the overriding obligations of care and respect for the privacy and freedom as well as the dignity of persons makes secret actions upon the life of a victim (or victims) by a physician or anyone else not only unethical, but (again) evil. Secrecy for years before or after any plausible social justification can be raised makes such actions by a doctor or other professionals much worse. The same goes for any legal system that sanctions or covers-up such despicable actions in violation of the fundamental rights of victims.
This view of the dignity of persons is enshrined in the Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution. (I have just corrected an "error" for the second or third time.) It's not just their crimes or treachery that destroys such errant physicians' lives, but the cover-ups that follow upon their catastrophic errors. (You getting this, Stuart?)
Paul Bloom's review fails to recognize these difficulties or to discuss them at all. I am sure that they were addressed by Professor Appiah, which leads me to wonder whether this reviewer actually read the book he is discussing. I doubt it. This statement is a little puzzling: " ... there is a rich body of theoretical work in behavioral economics and evolutionary psychology that attempts to explore the rationale behind our moral thoughts and feelings."
Whatever the rationale for our moral thoughts and feelings, the worthiness of our actions is subject to objective philosophical assessments. What is meant by a "rationale" for "feelings"? Mr. Bloom does not say and probably does not know. Mr. Bloom is identified, surprisingly, as a Professor of Psychology at Yale University. I doubt it. ("Manohla Dargis Strikes Again!")
Does context explain all? No, Paul. We may not become concentration camp guards, even if the money is good and there are great benefits associated with the position. The same applies when physicians answer an advertisement for a position as state torturers or secret "experimenters" on unsuspecting human beings. No job makes it O.K. to hurt people because you find it interesting to see what they'll do when they are being tortured -- not even if the money and perks are really good. Get it, Terry Tuchin? Mr. Rabner? Debbie Poritz?
I have a "feeling" that my reactions will surprise you if you want to test them. This does not mean that you are allowed to test them without my consent. With consent, you still may not act upon a person's life in certain ways because such ways are deemed offensive in a civilized society. For example, you may not turn a person into a slave or an experimental animal. You may not rape a person because it's fun. Never. Not even once. ("Terry Tuchin, Diana Lisa Riccioli, and New Jersey's Agency of Torture" and "America's Torture Lawyers.")
I suggest not that evil is excused by the desperate dilemmas of persons in America's urban war zones, but that it is not the same moral judgment to condemn the actions of people in desperate situations, people who have been brutalized and violated their entire lives (often by so-called "scientific researchers"), as it is to judge the actions of affluent and comfortable suburbanites. It is the suburbanites in America who get the breaks, not those who deserve them. It is victims -- almost always powerless women or African-Americans -- who are further victimized by a brutal, heartless, stupid, cruel and fraudulent legal system that is abandoning its own ideals. ("Abuse and Exploitation of Women in New Jersey" and "Medical Experimentation and Torture in America.")
My disgust and disdain is reserved especially for so-called judges, lawyers, and doctors creating situations for others that allow them to feel "superior" to those others -- including their colleagues -- and presuming to "fix" the lives of their victims by further wounding them, often as a result of mind-numbing stupidity and unforgivable ignorance, rationalized with deeply flawed arguments such as those found in this inadequate review and massive hypocrisy. By the way, such professionals usually provide their wonderful services to persons -- whose lives are destroyed -- for a substantial fee, paid by tax payers, who are the ultimate victims.
"Warp factor 5, Mr. Spock. Get us out of this evil universe."
Kwame Anthony Appiah, Experiments in Ethics (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2008).
Judith Jarvis Thompson, "The Trolley Problem" and "The Right to Privacy," in Rights, Restitution, & Risk: Essays in Moral Theory (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1986), pp. 94-135.
Charles Fried, Right and Wrong (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1978), pp. 167-193 ("Roles").
John Boslough, "The Einstein Connection," in Stephen Hawking's Universe (New York: Avon, 1985), pp. 35-48.
Rebecca Goldstein, Incompleteness (New York & London: W.W. Norton, 2005), p. 209. (Godel's acceptance of the "ontological proof" for the existence of God.)
Albert Einstein, "Physics and Reality," in Out of My Later Years (New York: Castle Books, 2005), pp. 59-96.
Hackers are expected to insert "errors" in this text, to vandalize or destroy these writings on a regular basis. I am still unable to print items from this group. I suggest that you print this essay as soon as it appears. I will also print it from another location. February 5, 2008, at 11:51 A.M. Calls received from 410-774-8066 at 10:18 A.M. I am blocking the usual suspects. (See "New Jersey's Feces-Covered Supreme Court" and "Terry Tuchin, Diana Lisa Riccioli, and New Jersey's Agency of Torture.") Blocking:
http://ad.doubleclick.net/adi/N3285.msn-dm/B1714331.99;dcadv=895178;sz=728x90;ord=102410539?clic... (NJ?)
February 26, 2008 at 8:46 A.M. hackers and new obstacles prevent me from accessing my hotmail account or changing my image at MSN. Image-posting is still blocked at blogger. My MSN group is unreachable at this time. Please see "What is it like to be tortured?" I will run scans throughout the day, then again tomorrow, then once more each day thereafter -- until I can regain access to my account. I cannot access or see my own books on-line. The publisher refuses to distribute one of the books, despite my payment of the full ISBN fee. I do not know whether the books are still available for free download. Calls received from 408-587-2152 on February 25, 2008 at 11:05 A.M.
March 3, 2008 at 2:03 P.M. call received from 704-633-8373. A number of essays were vandalized at Critique.
There was an interesting review of a book that I will probably read in today's Times. As usual, an unfortunate subtitle undermined the review, nearly preventing me from reading this essay out of disgust. "As scientists take to explaining right and wrong, Kwame Anthony Appiah examines what this means for "philosophy."
My patience with out-of-control scientism is running out. In fact, Professor Appiah makes it very clear that scientists will never "explain" right and wrong in any deterministic or causal sense:
"Appiah isn't worried at all. He starts by pointing out that philosophy has almost always had an experimental side. David Hume, for instance, was adamant that moral philosophy had to be grounded in facts about human nature, in psychology and history." -- The opposite is just as true, psychology and history are saturated with philosophy, no matter how you study or practice those disciplines! -- "Even Kant, among the most abstract and abstruse of scholars, mixed his moral philosophy with practical observations and suggestions, on topics including child raising."
Nobody denies that empirical studies of the way people think and act or behave are essential to providing the fodder for philosophical reflection and analysis. Any argument that empirical data is relevant to philosophical thinking is superflous. At least since Aristotle, we know that empirical evidence is always good. Of course, facts are important to reasoning about moral matters. Any claim that such empirical studies or data will explain or determine our moral thinking is absurd and false.
"Cases are decided on the facts!" One of my law professors pronounced this wisdom. I thought then and know today that what is a "fact" and how this determination is made is an interpretive judgment made by a so-called "fact-finder," whether this fact-finder is a jury or judge. Such a determination is not a scientific one -- although it may well use scientific or empirical evidence -- rather, it is a judgment, a creative legal, jurisprudential, or even a moral judgment, requiring intelligence and imagination. Artists will be just as instructive to persons making such moral and legal judgments as scientists, perhaps more so.
Thought experiments and hypotheticals are just as crucial to the kind of thinking needed in ethical and metaethical reflection, especially where the goal is to develop functional principles and skilled judgments applying those principals. Indeed, thought experiments also proved vital for the revolution in mathematics and physics in twentieth century science, notably in the writings of Albert Einstein and Kurt Godel. For example, Einstein's demonstrations of the inadequacies of Galileo's and Newton's understanding of gravity as a universal constant, fitting the mechanical and deterministic model of the universe popular in the seventeenth century, was based on a "hypothetical case" or thought experiment:
"Suppose, [Einstein] said, a scientist rides in an elevator in a spaceship far from the influence of the earth's gravity. Imagine that the elevator inside the spacecraft is accelerating upward at the rate of 32 feet per second each second. That's the exact rate an object -- like a canonball dropped from a tower -- is pulled toward the earth by gravity. But in the spaceship's elevator, away from gravity's influence, the scientist's feet still press against the floor as his body resists its upward acceleration and if he drops a stone, it falls to the floor just as on earth."
Einstein is pursuing the purely logical implications of his thought-experiment, long before any of this could be confirmed experimentally -- in fact, experiments only become meaningful when there is a theory or hypothesis to confirm or disconfirm:
"The scientist cannot tell whether the downward pull is caused by gravitation or because of the inertia of his body resisting the upward acceleration of the elevator. This means that there is no difference between acceleration caused by gravitation and acceleration from other sources. Einstein said it was called the principle of equivalence."
John Boslough, Stephen Hawking's Universe (New York: Avon Books, 1985), pp. 29-30. (A single word was deleted from the title to this book since my previous review of this essay. I have now restored that missing word.)
Take a look at the famous essay on mathematical theory and form by G.H. Hardy, I believe, which (as I recall) features references to F.H. Bradley and a number of other thinkers you may not associate with higher mathematics. Madelbrot's work on fractals and Hilary Putnam's writings on the philosophy of mathematics are highly relevant to this discussion concerning the value of a priori reasoning.
Empirical data cannot replace abstract thinking or thought experiments. We need both in all of our serious thinking. Hence, famous hypotheticals -- like the badly understood "Trolley Problem" (which I will discuss in a moment) are vital forms of intellectual weight lifting that helps students and teachers to build intellectual muscles.
The Trolley Problem is mistakenly assumed to establish the validity of utilitarian or consequentialist theories, universally, by demonstrating objective intuitions concerning the balancing of competing goods in terms of the number of benefitted as opposed to harmed persons in making valid ethical choices in tragic cases. Lawyers in North Bergen will ask: "Who do we gotta whack?"
Happily, no one needs to be "whacked." Philosophy is not accounting. People relying on the Trolley Problem are often the same people arguing that we need empirical studies in philosophy and not "abstract" thought experiments -- like the Trolley Problem or John Rawls' various uses of game theory -- thus undermining their own moral epistemology. One more time: We need both "facts" (whatever they are) and "principles" (whatever they may be) in order to do philosophy well. ("John Rawls and Justice.") O.K., here's the Trolley Problem:
"Imagine that you are standing next to a railway track and you see a runaway trolley, with nobody on board, heading toward a group of five people down the track. The only way to save those people is to throw a switch that will divert the train to another track. This will save the five, but unfortunately [it] will kill another person standing on the second track."
Most people intuitively react in favor of "affirmative action," as it were, throwing the switch and killing one in order to save five. Some opt for doing nothing -- usually those in politics or members of New Jersey's disgraced and incompetent Supreme Court -- with the result that all are killed. "The good of the many," Mr. Spock explained to Captain Kirk, "is preferable to the good of the few." Captain Kirk (whose human feelings prevented him from agreeing) responded like a true philosopher -- "except when it's not, Mr. Spock."
What I would do in the trolley situation depends on who is the person that may be killed by my action. What is my relationship to the endangered persons and my role in the situation? (See "Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin.")
For some reason, Mary Wollstonecraft's name is misspelled each time that I read this essay. This is not a name that I am unable to spell. (See "New Jersey's Feces-Covered Supreme Court" and my forthcoming essay concerning the most stupid member of N.J.'s judiciary, Judge Tolentino of Hudson County.)
American pop-philosophy and classic t.v. shows are super-smart and profound about the dilemmas they present to viewers. Example: "If you were on a desert island, like Gilligan, and could only pick one of the two, would you go for -- Ginger or Mary Anne?"
This is the sort of intellectual puzzle that troubled Socrates and nearly killed Kierkegaard. It makes you want to jump on to that out-of-control trolley. (I would need to test each of those two women, for many years, before deciding the matter -- perhaps both of them at the same time would be permitted to share my company "for their own good.")
Simplistic analysis in terms of consequences, utilities, and numbers fails to account for the crucial factors of duties, loyalties, rights and agency in assessing the moral worth of actions or results. Much depends on who is the agent compelled to take action? What relationship exists between an agent and persons affected by his or her actions, i.e., victims? What duties and rights are in conflict? And for whom and in what ways do these duties and rights conflict? Judith Jarvis Thompson counters the Trolley Problem with a hypothetical -- posing the identical choice -- where the resulting intuitions are diametrically opposed:
"This time you are to imagine yourself to be a surgeon, a truly great surgeon. Among other things you do, you transplant organs, and you are such a great surgeon that the organs you transplant always take. At the moment you have five patients who need organs. Two need one lung each, two need a kidney each, and the fifth needs a heart. If they do not get those organs today, they will die; if you find organs for them today, you can transplant the organs and they will all live. But where to find the lungs, kidneys, and the heart? The time is almost up when a report is brought to you that a young man who has just come into your clinic for his yearly check up has exactly the right blood type, and is in excellent health. Lo, you have a possible donor. All you need to do is cut him up and distribute his parts among the five who need them. You ask, but he says: 'Sorry. I deeply sympathize, but no.' [I don't blame him!] Would it be morally permissible for you to operate anyway? Everybody to whom I have put this second hypothetical case says, 'No, it would not be morally permissible for you to proceed.'" (p. 95.)
Dr. Mengele would say: "Go ahead, do whatever you want! You can learn from him and save others. In fact, operate on your victim even if you do not need to save others, just for the fun of it or because you find him interesting."
The duties of physicians or therapists preclude violations of patient autonomy, even when the doctor believes that humanity or society may or will benefit from the course of action that he or she intends to pursue, regardless of the wishes of unconsulted victims-patients. To CREATE a dangerous situation for the victim and society, deliberately, in order to justify choices that you, the doctor, deem to be "interesting" is even more evil. God complex. To cover it up afterwards is to add cowardice to a physician's other sins. ("The Experiments in Guatemala" and "American Doctors and Torture.")
In the case of physicians and others with duties of loyalty to individuals or systemic obligations (like judges sworn to uphold the Constitution), the overriding obligations of care and respect for the privacy and freedom as well as the dignity of persons makes secret actions upon the life of a victim (or victims) by a physician or anyone else not only unethical, but (again) evil. Secrecy for years before or after any plausible social justification can be raised makes such actions by a doctor or other professionals much worse. The same goes for any legal system that sanctions or covers-up such despicable actions in violation of the fundamental rights of victims.
This view of the dignity of persons is enshrined in the Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution. (I have just corrected an "error" for the second or third time.) It's not just their crimes or treachery that destroys such errant physicians' lives, but the cover-ups that follow upon their catastrophic errors. (You getting this, Stuart?)
Paul Bloom's review fails to recognize these difficulties or to discuss them at all. I am sure that they were addressed by Professor Appiah, which leads me to wonder whether this reviewer actually read the book he is discussing. I doubt it. This statement is a little puzzling: " ... there is a rich body of theoretical work in behavioral economics and evolutionary psychology that attempts to explore the rationale behind our moral thoughts and feelings."
Whatever the rationale for our moral thoughts and feelings, the worthiness of our actions is subject to objective philosophical assessments. What is meant by a "rationale" for "feelings"? Mr. Bloom does not say and probably does not know. Mr. Bloom is identified, surprisingly, as a Professor of Psychology at Yale University. I doubt it. ("Manohla Dargis Strikes Again!")
Does context explain all? No, Paul. We may not become concentration camp guards, even if the money is good and there are great benefits associated with the position. The same applies when physicians answer an advertisement for a position as state torturers or secret "experimenters" on unsuspecting human beings. No job makes it O.K. to hurt people because you find it interesting to see what they'll do when they are being tortured -- not even if the money and perks are really good. Get it, Terry Tuchin? Mr. Rabner? Debbie Poritz?
I have a "feeling" that my reactions will surprise you if you want to test them. This does not mean that you are allowed to test them without my consent. With consent, you still may not act upon a person's life in certain ways because such ways are deemed offensive in a civilized society. For example, you may not turn a person into a slave or an experimental animal. You may not rape a person because it's fun. Never. Not even once. ("Terry Tuchin, Diana Lisa Riccioli, and New Jersey's Agency of Torture" and "America's Torture Lawyers.")
I suggest not that evil is excused by the desperate dilemmas of persons in America's urban war zones, but that it is not the same moral judgment to condemn the actions of people in desperate situations, people who have been brutalized and violated their entire lives (often by so-called "scientific researchers"), as it is to judge the actions of affluent and comfortable suburbanites. It is the suburbanites in America who get the breaks, not those who deserve them. It is victims -- almost always powerless women or African-Americans -- who are further victimized by a brutal, heartless, stupid, cruel and fraudulent legal system that is abandoning its own ideals. ("Abuse and Exploitation of Women in New Jersey" and "Medical Experimentation and Torture in America.")
My disgust and disdain is reserved especially for so-called judges, lawyers, and doctors creating situations for others that allow them to feel "superior" to those others -- including their colleagues -- and presuming to "fix" the lives of their victims by further wounding them, often as a result of mind-numbing stupidity and unforgivable ignorance, rationalized with deeply flawed arguments such as those found in this inadequate review and massive hypocrisy. By the way, such professionals usually provide their wonderful services to persons -- whose lives are destroyed -- for a substantial fee, paid by tax payers, who are the ultimate victims.
"Warp factor 5, Mr. Spock. Get us out of this evil universe."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)