Mission Statement of New Jersey's Judiciary:
"We are an independent branch of government constitutionally entrusted with the fair and just resolution of disputes in order to preserve the rule of law and to protect the rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the United States and this State." (emphasis added)
April 10, 2008 at 3:22 P.M. 561-482-7092.
March 29, 2008 at 11:46 A.M. My cable signal was blocked this morning. Accessing these sites has been very difficult. I will not post new essays under these conditions. I will continue to fight. More criticisms of New Jersey criminality in the the courts and government are coming up.
March 29, 2008 at 4:13 P.M. Several attempts to post this essay at blogger were frustrated by hackers and other obstacles, including illegal interference with my cable signal. I will continue to try to post it and to work on new essays exploring criminality in New Jersey's legal institutions. I will provide more names of crooked or incompetent judges and other officials. How many of them are being disbarred? Arrested?
March 26, 2008 at 2:49 P.M. more computer harassment earlier today.
I was working on some difficult fusion arguments, weaving together insights from theoretical physics with some readings in the philosophy of science and jurisprudence, when some typical computer harassment (no doubt caused by the usual suspects in New Jersey) made me lose the thread of my argument. I will come back to the text that I was working on. I will hold the shape of my discourse in my mind until I do. Maybe it's time to "keep it real" with the powers-that-be in Trenton.
I envy not in any moods
The captive void of noble rage,
The linnet born within the cage,
That never knew the summer woods:
I am walking down Broadway on Sunday -- minding my own business (as I usually do) -- when a woman walks directly before me sporting the most beautiful ass that I have seen for at least a year. I suspect she has some Cuban genetic endowment that explains this superior adaptation. The femi-Nazis are shrieking at this point -- "See, it's all about sex! He's just interested in sex with a woman that he thinks he loves!" I will be accused of "objectifying" women. This implies that the aforesaid woman's beautiful ass has now become a "reified abstraction," like a perfect ass just floating in Plato's heaven, not belonging to anyone. This is not true.
In the interest of thematic cogency, I have decided to call this delightful young lady "Emma Woodhouse." I have provided her -- besides her glorious ass -- with an illustrious ancestry, as it were, which I will not discuss as I am a gentleman. It is necessary, apparently, for me to explain to N.J. psychobabblers that human beings are sexual creatures. They are also much more than sexual creatures. Is Sigmund Freud still studied in psychology school? Maybe between sessions with rats? Clearly, not.
No one is going to make me feel guilty about a healthy, perfectly normal sexual reaction and attraction, i.e., an erection, generously provided to me by this kind soul, Ms. Woodhouse, or by any other attractive woman. I will not act on such feelings, of course, because it would be disloyal to the very few women who have been or are in my life in a meaningful way. Emma must be a Cuban-British person.
I envy not the beast that takes
His license in the field of time,
Unfettered by the sense of crime,
To whom a conscience never wakes;
This normal sexuality is entirely distinct from my passion and need for someone playing a vital role in my life's story and journey. A person whose life is entangled with mine over decades, whose importance in the transformations and meanings of my psyche's adventure is unique -- or matched by very few others -- is a little more than some "fantasy" or an illicit lust. One would have to be an imbecile not to see that. Incidentally, I am "for" lust. And so are you. Like Pascal, I see that we are angels as well as beasts. To remain closer to the angel side of this polarity, we need a few others who matter to us and for whom, we matter.
To be deprived of such a person's company is an irreparable injury, while being invaded in the inmost recesses of one's emotions and subconscious memories -- through unwanted questioning under hypnosis or drugging, for example -- is properly called torture. Such torture is usually accompanied by the laughter of torturers. (See "Terry Tuchin, Diana Lisa Riccioli, and New Jersey's Agency of Torture" and "What is it like to be tortured?")
O.K., lets get some cards on the table. My life's journey is entangled with the narratives of only a tiny number of others, that is, in a fundamental way. In a general sense, of course, my life is connected to every other life on the planet. I want and need those few intimate others to be with me, if they want to be with me. I want to play a role in their lives, if they want or need me to play that role. My friendships, sexual desires, affections and loyalties (indeed, my spirituality) are not the business of the state -- and never will be. (One new "error" since this morning.) These personal concerns will not be affected by any sovereign's command. The heart cannot be made to want or to cease from desiring for as long I breathe the strengthening air of this jewelled island. "Staten island?" No, Manhattan.
I recognize the same right to freedom in personal relationships in all others, which is why I favor same-sex unions or gay marriage rights. My opinions and values -- most of all, my feelings -- are my business. None of this inner dialogue is the state's province or subject to unsought public inquiry.
I don't give a shit what you think of me in Trenton. I don't care about the opinions of lowlife scumbuckets, like Diana or Tuchin. Not even the opinions of those they serve and before whom they grovel concern me very much. That means you, Stuart. They shouldn't concern me at all. The opinions of others should have little bearing on such personal life-values for any of us. Your emotions are your own. Your life should be your own. Your loves must be your own.
Nor, what may count itself as blest,
The heart that never plighted troth,
But stagnates in the weeds of sloth;
Nor any want-begotten rest.
I don't want and won't accept N.J. psychobabblers' or crooked judges' advice on these matters. Deleting letters from my writings, threats, insults -- whether from the OAE, DRB, or any other Trenton acronym, or even the Garden State's political mafia in ass-covering mode -- will not change my view of this matter. I will not be intimidated by anyone. I cannot accept or take seriously the ethical judgments of people committing ethics infractions and crimes against the Constitution on a daily basis in the most corrupt and befouled jurisdiction in the nation. The very words "ethics" and "ought" on the lips of N.J.'s Supreme Court justices is now a source of laughter everywhere in the world, including New Jersey.
N.J. is America's overstuffed legal toilet, where the likes of Stuart Rabner and Jaynee LaVecchia float around, allowing the stench of corruption and feces of criminality to pile up. Things are getting much worse, not better by playing these games with my work. They will come back to haunt you. More hostility, deligitimation, undermining of credibility for New Jersey institutions visibly involved in this disgusting pattern of CRIMINAL censorship and desperate cover-ups, after the "Philosophy Cafe" episode, will only undermine what little credibility and respect for judicial decisions remains available in the Garden State.
Laws always depend on both credibility and respect. Without respect or legitimacy -- N.J. has probably lost both in its legal insitutions! -- no legal system can function effectively. These great crimes must be acknowledged by New Jersey. Some attempt should be made to remedy these wrongs. I won't keep any money. You can relax. This isn't about money, for me, but recognition of great wrongs suffered at the hands of people who should have known better than they did and who continue to multiply their many sins with transparent cover-ups.
You want to take out another letter from one of my sentences now? I want those reports and videos prepared by Tuchin and Riccioli, preferably before the forthcoming indictment of Senator Bob, or the next wave of mafia-related scandals engulfs the politics and tribunals of the fetid "Garden State." How are the pension funds, boys and girls? EnCap Golf? Christmas Tree items? Xanadu? What part of this do you not get?
I hold it true, what'er befall;
I feel it when I sorrow most,
'Tis better to have loved and lost,
Than never to have loved at all.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Monday, March 24, 2008
Anne Milgram Does it Again!
March 24, 2008 at 9:50 A.M. I experienced many difficulties accessing this site today. I had to sign in twice. "Errors" will probably be inserted in these essays throughout the day. At my MSN group at 9:22 A.M. I blocked:
http://rtm-ext.ebay.com/rtm
http://ad.farm.mediaplex.com/ad/js/711-55224-877...
Considering that I do not have ebay account, this seems odd -- as does my frequent ebay designation as a "power seller." I am also blocking:
http://view.atdmt.com/iview/msnnkhac001728x90xWBCBRB00110msn/direct;wi.728;hi.90/01
Kareem Fahim, "Immigration Referrals by Police Draw Scrutiny," in The New York Times, March 23, 2008, at p. 21. (Metro Section)
Patrick McGeehan & Nina Bernstein, "Businesses Say New York's Clout Is Emigrating, With Visa Policies to Blame," in The New York Times, March 24, 2008, at p. B1.
"WOODBURY, N.J. -- A green card holder from Guatemala said he was asked about his immigration status last month when he went to pick up his nephew from the West Depford, N.J., police station."
"An illegal immigrant from Mexico was arrested March 5 when the car in which he was a PASSENGER was pulled over for rolling through a stop sign in South Harrison Township, N.J."
A passenger has no liability for the errors of a driver. There was no legal basis for asking any questions of this passenger. Unless the police officer "observed" the status of the person's immigration papers from a mere glance in his direction, these questions put to the passenger were illegal. If based on ethnicity and/or race -- which would not surprise me! -- they could have been criminal.
"Seven months after the state attorney general, Anne Milgram, ordered local police departments in New Jersey to question people they arrest for certain crimes about their immigration status and to report illegal immigrants to federal authorities, the rate of such referrals has nearly doubled."
Latino identity has been criminalized by Ms. Milgram, who is said to regard Latino males as her "inferiors." Right, Anne? Still upset that I kicked your ass in debates? Did I do better than Anne Milgram in law school? Have I read more books than Ms. Milgram, despite not being a dyke? These are grave faults.
"But immigrants and their advocates say that some people have been unfairly swept up in the dragnet because of overzealous enforcement or confusion over how Ms. Milgram's directive was supposed to be implemented, creating a chilling effect on some immigrants' relationship with the police."
An underground network exists in New Jersey and in most big states, providing cover for people from other countries, together with documents (usually good and bad fakes, also for the really enterprising, genuine documents are available), allowing for bypassing the authorities on all important matters. Non-idiots in law enforcement are well aware of this reality.
Cooperation from these underground communities and people is vital if cops are to prevent future crimes and terrorist incidents. The current policies are designed to achieve the opposite of trust in these communities. This is what is known among us simple folks as idiotic.
Try to get this through your skull if you're in N.J. law enforcement, especially if you are responsible for preventing future terrorist attacks against Americans. You cannot solve this problem by rounding up every immigrant in the state. The people you're looking for will have valid paperwork, bearing all-American names. They will look like you and your fellow officers. They may be one of your fellow officers. (One "error" inserted and corrected -- we're doing good so far.)
The effectiveness of law enforcement in this difficult area or any other in which the opposition -- i.e., criminals or terrorists -- will be organized and international, with resources in the millions or billions (like the big drug cartels), will depend on intelligence and penetration, not torture and strong arm stuff. Macho swagger will not help. There will be no one for you to "beat up," necessarily, and even lots of trips to the weight room may not help.
Similarly, you will not prevail in an argument with me, or someone like me, by taking letters out of my sentences or engaging in other sabotage efforts against Internet texts. Americans do not and should not have to do such things or to put up with such affronts.
Americans have arguments that are indestructible, in my opinion. In fact, I have made some of them in defense of our Constitutional system. (See "Manifesto for the Unfinished American Revolution" and "Why I am not an ethical relativist.") One of my arguments is that you have every right to be a nihilist, relativist, Marxist or Right-Winger, along with any other view on ultimate matters that you may wish to adopt, as long as you do not seek to suppress the speech of others.
We need smart people. We need well-educated persons, intellectuals, to cope with our pressing troubles -- including the terrorism issue. The person who will see the associations between discoveries in the sciences and philosophy, developments in law and aesthetics may not be the individual that you expect to be brilliant. Be open to that possibility of being surprised by people.
If you -- all of us -- are not open to unexpected genius or ability in persons, others will be. The best and the brightest people from all over the world must continue to be attracted to this country and city, before all others, if we are to remain the great nation and world capital that we have been during past two centuries.
"... 'This is imposing an incredible human cost on these immigrants,' said Maria Juega of the Latin American Legal Defense and Education Fund. 'They fear contact with authority. Any remote or direct link with the government is now a risk for an immigrant.' ..."
Any sane person should dread contacts with the authorities in New Jersey, since it is necessary to figure out: 1) whether one is dealing with the Gambinos and/or Lucheses; then 2) to discern whether a political boss has been sufficiently appeased (i.e., bribed) in order to ensure delivery of public services already paid for with one's taxes, usually paid for twice-over and then some.
In West New York, a person identifying himself as a cop, went to immigrants' homes to collect payments -- this seemed strange to immigrants confirming that Americans are simply "bizarre" -- payments for delivery of police services if they were ever needed. (Another "error" inserted and corrected since last night.) Immigrants paid up in case they needed the cops or firefighters in an emergency, paid usually every week. Think about that. Who is getting exploited?
Hackers are altering my possessives again. Oh, boy! Most people here illegally are exploited in about a million ways. They are treated like shit by N.J. bosses making money off of them, then ignored as stupid or ignorant, when many of these workers happen to be very well educated. Most are struggling to escape poverty in their native countries, after having completed their educations. In some cases, professionals in poor countries cannot find employment and seek survival wages in America, despite being competent engineers, chemists, accountants. I met many immigrants -- most were illegal and in menial jobs -- who were far better educated than the lawyers AND judges I dealt with on a daily basis.
"The directive was anounced last August amid outrage after a triple murder in which one of the suspects was an illegal immigrant who had been released on bail after previous arrests. It urged officers to inquire about citizenship and nationality when booking people for felonies or drunken driving."
It is not a good idea to allow headlines to dictate social policies because you will then receive dozens of unfavorable headlines when the failed "trendy" policy explodes in your face a few months down the road. Our national schizophrenia on immigration is hurting us in other ways:
"... senior executives of some of the country's biggest corporations, like Alcoa, have been complaining that American immigration policies are thwarting New York's ability to compete with other world capitols."
We are losing scientists and engineers, theorists and intellectuals to other countries. This is affecting American high tech industries. More than 60% of American Ph.D.s in science and engineering are born outside the U.S. Many of these people have decided that the prospects of a visit to lovely downtown Guantanamo or Abu Ghraib do not seem very promising, opting instead for cushy jobs in Paris. American competitiveness is being affected by this nonsense. (See "This is my first torture.")
Is this the kind of thing that N.J.'s brilliant attorney general wishes to leave as a legacy of her years in office -- yet another chapter in New Jersey's narrative of incompetence and criminality, insensitivity and exploitation, ethnic discrimination and bias in the most corrupt government in the nation? I hope not. Back to the "lesbian love-fest." Ms. Milgram's only response to this question continues to be: "...Whatever."
http://rtm-ext.ebay.com/rtm
http://ad.farm.mediaplex.com/ad/js/711-55224-877...
Considering that I do not have ebay account, this seems odd -- as does my frequent ebay designation as a "power seller." I am also blocking:
http://view.atdmt.com/iview/msnnkhac001728x90xWBCBRB00110msn/direct;wi.728;hi.90/01
Kareem Fahim, "Immigration Referrals by Police Draw Scrutiny," in The New York Times, March 23, 2008, at p. 21. (Metro Section)
Patrick McGeehan & Nina Bernstein, "Businesses Say New York's Clout Is Emigrating, With Visa Policies to Blame," in The New York Times, March 24, 2008, at p. B1.
"WOODBURY, N.J. -- A green card holder from Guatemala said he was asked about his immigration status last month when he went to pick up his nephew from the West Depford, N.J., police station."
"An illegal immigrant from Mexico was arrested March 5 when the car in which he was a PASSENGER was pulled over for rolling through a stop sign in South Harrison Township, N.J."
A passenger has no liability for the errors of a driver. There was no legal basis for asking any questions of this passenger. Unless the police officer "observed" the status of the person's immigration papers from a mere glance in his direction, these questions put to the passenger were illegal. If based on ethnicity and/or race -- which would not surprise me! -- they could have been criminal.
"Seven months after the state attorney general, Anne Milgram, ordered local police departments in New Jersey to question people they arrest for certain crimes about their immigration status and to report illegal immigrants to federal authorities, the rate of such referrals has nearly doubled."
Latino identity has been criminalized by Ms. Milgram, who is said to regard Latino males as her "inferiors." Right, Anne? Still upset that I kicked your ass in debates? Did I do better than Anne Milgram in law school? Have I read more books than Ms. Milgram, despite not being a dyke? These are grave faults.
"But immigrants and their advocates say that some people have been unfairly swept up in the dragnet because of overzealous enforcement or confusion over how Ms. Milgram's directive was supposed to be implemented, creating a chilling effect on some immigrants' relationship with the police."
An underground network exists in New Jersey and in most big states, providing cover for people from other countries, together with documents (usually good and bad fakes, also for the really enterprising, genuine documents are available), allowing for bypassing the authorities on all important matters. Non-idiots in law enforcement are well aware of this reality.
Cooperation from these underground communities and people is vital if cops are to prevent future crimes and terrorist incidents. The current policies are designed to achieve the opposite of trust in these communities. This is what is known among us simple folks as idiotic.
Try to get this through your skull if you're in N.J. law enforcement, especially if you are responsible for preventing future terrorist attacks against Americans. You cannot solve this problem by rounding up every immigrant in the state. The people you're looking for will have valid paperwork, bearing all-American names. They will look like you and your fellow officers. They may be one of your fellow officers. (One "error" inserted and corrected -- we're doing good so far.)
The effectiveness of law enforcement in this difficult area or any other in which the opposition -- i.e., criminals or terrorists -- will be organized and international, with resources in the millions or billions (like the big drug cartels), will depend on intelligence and penetration, not torture and strong arm stuff. Macho swagger will not help. There will be no one for you to "beat up," necessarily, and even lots of trips to the weight room may not help.
Similarly, you will not prevail in an argument with me, or someone like me, by taking letters out of my sentences or engaging in other sabotage efforts against Internet texts. Americans do not and should not have to do such things or to put up with such affronts.
Americans have arguments that are indestructible, in my opinion. In fact, I have made some of them in defense of our Constitutional system. (See "Manifesto for the Unfinished American Revolution" and "Why I am not an ethical relativist.") One of my arguments is that you have every right to be a nihilist, relativist, Marxist or Right-Winger, along with any other view on ultimate matters that you may wish to adopt, as long as you do not seek to suppress the speech of others.
We need smart people. We need well-educated persons, intellectuals, to cope with our pressing troubles -- including the terrorism issue. The person who will see the associations between discoveries in the sciences and philosophy, developments in law and aesthetics may not be the individual that you expect to be brilliant. Be open to that possibility of being surprised by people.
If you -- all of us -- are not open to unexpected genius or ability in persons, others will be. The best and the brightest people from all over the world must continue to be attracted to this country and city, before all others, if we are to remain the great nation and world capital that we have been during past two centuries.
"... 'This is imposing an incredible human cost on these immigrants,' said Maria Juega of the Latin American Legal Defense and Education Fund. 'They fear contact with authority. Any remote or direct link with the government is now a risk for an immigrant.' ..."
Any sane person should dread contacts with the authorities in New Jersey, since it is necessary to figure out: 1) whether one is dealing with the Gambinos and/or Lucheses; then 2) to discern whether a political boss has been sufficiently appeased (i.e., bribed) in order to ensure delivery of public services already paid for with one's taxes, usually paid for twice-over and then some.
In West New York, a person identifying himself as a cop, went to immigrants' homes to collect payments -- this seemed strange to immigrants confirming that Americans are simply "bizarre" -- payments for delivery of police services if they were ever needed. (Another "error" inserted and corrected since last night.) Immigrants paid up in case they needed the cops or firefighters in an emergency, paid usually every week. Think about that. Who is getting exploited?
Hackers are altering my possessives again. Oh, boy! Most people here illegally are exploited in about a million ways. They are treated like shit by N.J. bosses making money off of them, then ignored as stupid or ignorant, when many of these workers happen to be very well educated. Most are struggling to escape poverty in their native countries, after having completed their educations. In some cases, professionals in poor countries cannot find employment and seek survival wages in America, despite being competent engineers, chemists, accountants. I met many immigrants -- most were illegal and in menial jobs -- who were far better educated than the lawyers AND judges I dealt with on a daily basis.
"The directive was anounced last August amid outrage after a triple murder in which one of the suspects was an illegal immigrant who had been released on bail after previous arrests. It urged officers to inquire about citizenship and nationality when booking people for felonies or drunken driving."
It is not a good idea to allow headlines to dictate social policies because you will then receive dozens of unfavorable headlines when the failed "trendy" policy explodes in your face a few months down the road. Our national schizophrenia on immigration is hurting us in other ways:
"... senior executives of some of the country's biggest corporations, like Alcoa, have been complaining that American immigration policies are thwarting New York's ability to compete with other world capitols."
We are losing scientists and engineers, theorists and intellectuals to other countries. This is affecting American high tech industries. More than 60% of American Ph.D.s in science and engineering are born outside the U.S. Many of these people have decided that the prospects of a visit to lovely downtown Guantanamo or Abu Ghraib do not seem very promising, opting instead for cushy jobs in Paris. American competitiveness is being affected by this nonsense. (See "This is my first torture.")
Is this the kind of thing that N.J.'s brilliant attorney general wishes to leave as a legacy of her years in office -- yet another chapter in New Jersey's narrative of incompetence and criminality, insensitivity and exploitation, ethnic discrimination and bias in the most corrupt government in the nation? I hope not. Back to the "lesbian love-fest." Ms. Milgram's only response to this question continues to be: "...Whatever."
Friday, March 14, 2008
"I love my country too much to be a nationalist."
March 16, 2008 at 11:45 A.M. new computer attacks and obstructions make it very difficult to write today. I will continue to struggle to do my work. Spacing has been affected in several essays dealing with scientific and philosophical issues. The reasons for these attacks are explained below and see "Censorship and Cruelty in New Jersey."
March 15, 2008 at 9:27 P.M. I noticed a new hacking into my group just now, difficulties in regaining access to it, numerous obstacles to writing and even trouble getting back to this blog. I will try tomorrow -- again the next day and the one after that -- until I can do my work. Please see "New Jersey's 'Ethical' Legal System." I will struggle to correct "errors" inserted in all vandalized essays. (See also "Deborah T. Poritz and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey.")
Calls from 321-779-3962 on March 14, 2008 at 12:08 P.M. Also, 718-229-2517. Several anonymous calls as well as the usual "marketers" were received. At 11:26 A.M. I blocked:
http://ad.doubleclick.net/adj/N3753.msn/B271049... (NJ, AG?)
http://ad.doubleclick.net/adj/N3285.msn-dm/B171... ("Ex-Cubanaza M.D.?")
March 15, 2008 at 9:27 P.M. I noticed a new hacking into my group just now, difficulties in regaining access to it, numerous obstacles to writing and even trouble getting back to this blog. I will try tomorrow -- again the next day and the one after that -- until I can do my work. Please see "New Jersey's 'Ethical' Legal System." I will struggle to correct "errors" inserted in all vandalized essays. (See also "Deborah T. Poritz and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey.")
Calls from 321-779-3962 on March 14, 2008 at 12:08 P.M. Also, 718-229-2517. Several anonymous calls as well as the usual "marketers" were received. At 11:26 A.M. I blocked:
http://ad.doubleclick.net/adj/N3753.msn/B271049... (NJ, AG?)
http://ad.doubleclick.net/adj/N3285.msn-dm/B171... ("Ex-Cubanaza M.D.?")
I was unable to print items from my msn group, Critique. Attempts to print from my group left me with a blank page bearing this address:
http://view.atdmt.com/iview/msnnkhac001728x90xWBCBRB00110msn/direct;wi.728;hi.90/01
Reinaldo Arenas, Before Night Falls (New York & London: Penguin, 1994).
Albert Camus, Resistance, Rebellion, and Death (New York: Vintage, 1960).
George Orwell, A Collection of Essays (New York: Harcourt, Brace & Jovanovich, 1953).
Merrill D. Peterson, ed., The Portable Thomas Jefferson (London & New York: Penguin, 1975).
After experiencing censorship and destruction of creative work, for years, as well as the horrors of psychological tortures and worse, along with forced encounters with persons -- unable to perceive the reality of other human beings' pains -- an abyss opens at my feet that can only be described by the word evil. I realize that the mystery evoked by this word "evil" may be bottomless. Pathology, sin, malice are inadequate words to get at the agony that I and so many others have known. Today the image in my MSN group has been blocked three times (so far), numerous "errors" have appeared in several essays, again. Orchestrated frustration-inducement and inserted "anxieties" combined with artificial financial pressures making use of government power. Ethics?
Ironically and very sadly, Cuban-Americans and their N.J. partners in crime are probably prominent among my cyber-tormentors. The sort of people who speak of freedom and democracy, who are quite prepared to recommend these values to others, often have very little understanding of what these words really mean. Brutality and oppression come in many forms and may be justified by any number of ideologies or causes. I am sure that all such justifications and rationalizations are bandaids on something hideous and dangerous that lurks in the human heart, something associated with the will to power, control, mastery over others. (See "What is it like to be tortured?")
There is no significant difference between Batista's thugs and Castro's jailers. There are such monsters in every human society, including the U.S., as evidenced by the images from Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. It is most worrisome and appalling that this malignancy is subtle, hidden away behind a veneer of normality and hypocrisy, usually in unexpected places -- like churches and other religious institutions, or even in American courtrooms.
It was reported in The New York Times that $74 MILLION per year are devoted to efforts to destabilize the Cuban government. This may have something to do with the security efforts undertaken by that government. How much might be accomplished if these funds were devoted to improving the quality of life for individual Cubans? How many more friends would we have on the island? How much more cooperation could we expect from Cuban officials with our anti-terrorism efforts if this money were offered for humanitarian causes? These are your tax dollars at work. Miami's anti-Castro brigades are often the beneficiaries of these sums of money. Opposition to Fidel Castro is frequently about $74 MILLION per year in government "welfare," in a manner of speaking.
A torturer is usually someone who sees himself as a defender of virtue and the "right middle class values." Most frightening of all is a tendency to associate political brutality and violence with notions of masculinity and military power that I have found, from childhood, utterly repulsive. This is true despite my enthusiastic heterosexuality. Anyone who says such things or who feels a need to paint or write poetry, or to create literary fiction -- something as worthless and financially unrewarding as, say, short stories or essays -- will immediately be called a "queer" or "fag." This is supposed to make us cringe in horror at being described in such terms. This is especially true in macho Latino culture, I am afraid, and among the worst of these "steroid-cultures" is the Cuban-American variety, which involves an exaggeration of Cuban machista mores from the nineteen fifties transferred to the twenty-first century. Whether in the sunny splendors of South Beach or the putridness of New Jersey, macho swagger does not appeal to me. (Any more "errors" to be inserted?)
This may well shock you if you are a "Cubanoid" or Cubanazo, I don't give a shit if you call me a "fag." In fact, I think of it as a compliment even if I am not gay. Most of the great artists and many philosophers that I admire happen to be gay -- except when they're not, of course -- so calling me gay is not something that offends me. On the other hand, fascism offends me. I am also not Norwegian. If someone is under the impression that I am a visitor from Norway and speaks to me in that lovely language, I will explain that I am not (despite my Viking-like appearance) a Norwegian. I offer much the same response when it comes to accusations of "gayness." Other people's sexual proclivities or adventures are also not my business and should not be subject to the censure of any observers. Public corruption and greed should be punished regardless of the race, creed, or sexual-orientation of the offender.
This principle will be difficult for some people to grasp: "There is no sin in being gay." Furthermore, all of the world's religions contain this message if you look for it: Love, regardless of the genders of the persons involved in loving relationships, is what we are here to learn and experience. Hurting other people, physically and in other ways, is what we should seek to avoid.
The fascist temperament -- and I am sure that there is such a thing -- is offended and irritated by all complex thought, intelligence, abstract ideas, authentic art, beauty in all its forms. The goal for the fascist is uniformity. Hence, the fondness for the militarization of culture. (Susan Sontag) The idea of difference, experimentation, creativity and self-invention is profoundly distressing to such persons -- who are almost always men -- because such creativity and self-invention forces the fascist to see the arbitrariness and falsity of his own view of life and constructed identity.
For fascists, disagreement and originality are to be crushed violently. By killing or beating up someone smarter than you are or who disagrees with you, you prove that you and your beliefs are better than his, that is, in the fascistic mindset. In fact, what you establish "beyond a reasonable doubt" is your inability to defend those beliefs rationally. This does not mean that your beliefs are false or mistaken. Others may be better able to defend them. It may only mean that you are stupid. Your stupidity would also explain the attractiveness of fascism for you. At this point, letters will be deleted from (or added to) some of the words in this essay. I will have to make corrections many times.
By destroying all that challenges this cherished fascistic notion of normality or the good (goodness is rare and anything but normal), the fascist may convince himself that his own lies are true. In other words, that he is a good and normal person and that "weirdos" deserve what they get. The seductions of power are disguised behind a "responsibility" to be "adults" and "follow the rules." The rules, naturally, are only those created by and serving the fascist's interests. Every fascist supports censorship. They usually favor death penalties and are against gun control, for the excellent reason that a man can always get his gun up, even if other ... eh, "items" fail to rise.
Hannah Arendt's talk of "banality" in association with evil; Jacobo Timmerman's discussion of the torturer's curious thought processes and that human beings morally deformed by such work tend to have their own logic of self-justification, even as they desperately seek their victims' approval and legitimation, all come close to the mark. At some deep level, violence and fascist brutality are desperate attempts to destroy the complexity that baffles and frightens simple men and the women who immitate them. Fascists are persons who want everything to be clear and to inhabit a place of intellectual safety where a cherished worldview will not be questioned. There is no such place.
America is about the opposite notion. The U.S. Constitution is designed to promote dispersal and division of power on the assumption that government power is a necessary evil, at best, and that the individual must come before the state. Conscience, expression, worship are matters of autonomy that must not concern government, as long as the rights of others to the same autonomy is respected by citizens. (See "Manifesto for the Unfinished American Revolution" and my essay "Ayn Rand's Critique of Immanuel Kant's Philosophy," which was defaced by self-described advocates Randian freedom.)
These are still radical, inspiring, and endangered ideas, threatened by America's own political leaders and judges often enough, but nevertheless still holding on to viability in this dangerous time. Our freedoms are always in peril. However, American contrariness and independence is resourceful and close to indestructible. Americans do not like dictators and will react, eventually, to any attempts to limit their freedoms. I am sure that American popular opinion is undergoing such a reaction now in calling for "change" from the failed policies of the past.
Complexity and contradiction is part of what we are since they are essential to freedom. No one can tell you what is right for you, except your own reason and heart. And what you discover to be right and true, for you, will remain objectively and even absolutely right and true, no matter who approves or disapproves of those judgments, as long as you respect the same autonomy in others. With or without the freedom to say that 2 + 2 = 4, it remains the case that 2 + 2 = 4. In discovering that freedom and equality are right for you, you are also learning what is due to all other people. Treat others as you would wish to be treated. This means that loss of your freedom -- even the loss of that weird guy's freedom who is heard typing at all hours -- is the loss of every other person's freedom. Albert Camus speaks for all of us weirdos:
"Tyrants indulge in monologues over millions of solitudes. If we reject oppression and falsehood, on the other hand, this is because we reject solitude. Every insubordinate person, when he rises up against oppression, reaffirms thereby the solidarity of all men. [Even more so, of all women.] No, it is not you or a distant newspaper that you defend by resisting oppression, but the entire community that unites us over and above frontiers."
It was for this reason that Camus said that: "I love my country too much to be a nationalist." Real love for the United States of America is devotion to the Constitution, which is explicitly a universal defense of the freedom and equality of persons and their protection from the State. "No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law." My freedom to speak is also yours. Geographical limitations do not enter into this promise, which should apply at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib -- and some day, even in New Jersey.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
More From New Jersey's Tainted Legal Profession.
"Meadowlands Scandal Sounds Familiar," Home News Tribune, March 9, 2008.
http://www.thnt.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20080309&Category=OPINION01&ArtNo=803090449...
"Anyone with a memory for disastrous public contracts read the Inspector General's report on the EnCap Meadowlands project last week with a drowning sense of deja vu. Wind the clock back several years and you might have replaced EnCap with Parsons Infrastructure and Technology Group, the company given nearly $600 MILLION to privatize and modernize the state's vehicle inspection system."
That's $600 MILLION of YOUR money, if you live in New Jersey. This massive fraud was greased by attorneys in government and private practice. An essay concerning the criminal and unethical conduct of a number of N.J. attorneys is forthcoming. Where are Trenton's notorious acronyms? OAE? DRB? AG? Xanadu will cost residents of New Jersey BILLIONS for an unfinished mall. To his credit, Richard J. Codey has suggested that this latest disaster should be brought under control, rather than throwing more money at an unfixable situation. Nobody's listening.
"The Parsons contract was eventually declared a 'mamoth boondoggle' by a state agency. [In other words, a scam.] What Parsons lacked in expertise and experience, it more than made up for with sizable campaign contributions, influential lobbyists and even a few jobs to some important folk. When the report was made public, there was a great deal of finger-pointing and angry denunciations of pay to play. And state lawmakers said it would not happen again. It has."
Xanadu?
"The story of EnCap is virtually identical to that of Parsons in every important way. According to the Inspector General the company had neither the expertise nor the experience to do the job it promised; neither did it have the investors or the financial backing it said it did. But it gave to candidates, hired one of the state's most politically connected law firms, [Did they also hire the OAE?] got access to the folks who mattered, and landed the project and plenty of public money that seems to have been relentlessly squandered."
It's all about who you know and whether you are willing to share the bucks when they come in from the government treasury. I heard a former partner of a prominent N.J. politician discussing their cynical grab for dollars in terms of Trenton's contracted legal services, services that were often redundant, unnecessary, or overbilled.
I heard chuckles from political lawyers discussing "phone calls" to politicians to "fix" little ethical messes, like theft of client funds. To discover that the same people "fixing" things become important officials and judges in the Garden State is to realize that the poison of corruption and mafia influence taints every decision by those tribunals, making a mockery of the state's so-called "ethics proceedings."
"And so, nine years, five administrations and HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS into a project that was going to turn some stinking old landfills into luxurious golf courses and high-rent residences, the project is knee-deep in garbage."
And the shit of legal corruption, deservedly, covers the Brennan Courthouse. None of the attorneys greasing these massive criminal frauds have been subjected to ethics charges. If they were, the situations would be "fixed," quietly and smoothly. Maybe public pressure can change that -- for a little while. (For a view of a typical New Jersey Superior Court judge, see "Maurice J. Gallipoli and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey.")
I am not interested in being nice after being subjected to a torture chamber. More judicial profiles are coming up. New "errors" inserted and corrected overnight. March 13, 2008 at 8:37 A.M. Keep it up fellas, you're helping to prove my point.
"The Inspector General has asked the state Attorney General's Office to look into possible criminal behavior."
Waste of time with Anne Milgram around. Don't bother to expect much from the A.G. I am sure that Ms. Milgram is a wonderful pastry chef, but this little situation is way over her head. No more "errors" inserted by hackers?
"In particular, the company seems to have wilfully misled [lied to?] public agencies in an attempt to get money from both state and local sources, and the law firm comes in for a good deal of censure and questionable tactics."
If any of these lawyers were minority solos, they'd be disbarred by the state, unceremoniously, with the eager assistance of minority frontpersons, the house slaves of the legal machinery. Lying that results in theft of public money in the millions is just fine -- for some people in New Jersey's legal practice. Who wants to talk to me about "ethics"?
"The Inspector General did not investigate public officials, even though the office's summation speaks to a political system that allowed it to happen: 'The project is a study in what can go wrong when a public body with high-minded public policy goals and compelled by its status to engage in fair dealing joins forces with a private entity whose primary goal is to maximize its profit and operates in a buyer beware atmosphere."
Never give a sucker an even break. Rumors of payoffs and political favors for OAE and DRB officials are unconfirmed, though highly likely to be true. Under existing federal criminal law (yes, there is such a thing), silent acquiescence in criminal conduct is grounds for equal liability and impositions of identical penalties. ("Terry Tuchin, Diana Lisa Riccioli, and New Jersey's Agency of Torture.")
"The real question to be answered is how a 'public body with high-minded public policy goals' came to be duped for so long and so much."
They were sharing in the booty, in every sense, that's how they were "duped." OAE? How much did you steal from my office?
"The suspicion in this instance is that high-minded public policy played a poor second fiddle to the greed of public officials and the buddy system still at work in Trenton. The only one, in fact, who seems to have acted both competently and openly was Gov. Jon S. Corzine, when he refused to endorse yet more loans and instead ordered the Inspector General's investigation."
Nothing in N.J.'s legal establishment -- which is essentially coopted by the criminal culture of warped legal practice -- will bring about change. To have such people judge the ethics of anyone is a disgusting form of hypocrisy and farce. You are right to be appalled and furious if you live in the Garden State. The Soprano State, pp. 35-40. ("Deborah T. Poritz and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey.")
"Several law makers and public policy groups have called for an investigation by Chris Christie, the federal prosecutor in New Jersey. It's a good idea. The public policy system has failed, yet again. An outsider is needed to find out how and when Trenton keeps going wrong."
http://www.thnt.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20080309&Category=OPINION01&ArtNo=803090449...
"Anyone with a memory for disastrous public contracts read the Inspector General's report on the EnCap Meadowlands project last week with a drowning sense of deja vu. Wind the clock back several years and you might have replaced EnCap with Parsons Infrastructure and Technology Group, the company given nearly $600 MILLION to privatize and modernize the state's vehicle inspection system."
That's $600 MILLION of YOUR money, if you live in New Jersey. This massive fraud was greased by attorneys in government and private practice. An essay concerning the criminal and unethical conduct of a number of N.J. attorneys is forthcoming. Where are Trenton's notorious acronyms? OAE? DRB? AG? Xanadu will cost residents of New Jersey BILLIONS for an unfinished mall. To his credit, Richard J. Codey has suggested that this latest disaster should be brought under control, rather than throwing more money at an unfixable situation. Nobody's listening.
"The Parsons contract was eventually declared a 'mamoth boondoggle' by a state agency. [In other words, a scam.] What Parsons lacked in expertise and experience, it more than made up for with sizable campaign contributions, influential lobbyists and even a few jobs to some important folk. When the report was made public, there was a great deal of finger-pointing and angry denunciations of pay to play. And state lawmakers said it would not happen again. It has."
Xanadu?
"The story of EnCap is virtually identical to that of Parsons in every important way. According to the Inspector General the company had neither the expertise nor the experience to do the job it promised; neither did it have the investors or the financial backing it said it did. But it gave to candidates, hired one of the state's most politically connected law firms, [Did they also hire the OAE?] got access to the folks who mattered, and landed the project and plenty of public money that seems to have been relentlessly squandered."
It's all about who you know and whether you are willing to share the bucks when they come in from the government treasury. I heard a former partner of a prominent N.J. politician discussing their cynical grab for dollars in terms of Trenton's contracted legal services, services that were often redundant, unnecessary, or overbilled.
I heard chuckles from political lawyers discussing "phone calls" to politicians to "fix" little ethical messes, like theft of client funds. To discover that the same people "fixing" things become important officials and judges in the Garden State is to realize that the poison of corruption and mafia influence taints every decision by those tribunals, making a mockery of the state's so-called "ethics proceedings."
"And so, nine years, five administrations and HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS into a project that was going to turn some stinking old landfills into luxurious golf courses and high-rent residences, the project is knee-deep in garbage."
And the shit of legal corruption, deservedly, covers the Brennan Courthouse. None of the attorneys greasing these massive criminal frauds have been subjected to ethics charges. If they were, the situations would be "fixed," quietly and smoothly. Maybe public pressure can change that -- for a little while. (For a view of a typical New Jersey Superior Court judge, see "Maurice J. Gallipoli and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey.")
I am not interested in being nice after being subjected to a torture chamber. More judicial profiles are coming up. New "errors" inserted and corrected overnight. March 13, 2008 at 8:37 A.M. Keep it up fellas, you're helping to prove my point.
"The Inspector General has asked the state Attorney General's Office to look into possible criminal behavior."
Waste of time with Anne Milgram around. Don't bother to expect much from the A.G. I am sure that Ms. Milgram is a wonderful pastry chef, but this little situation is way over her head. No more "errors" inserted by hackers?
"In particular, the company seems to have wilfully misled [lied to?] public agencies in an attempt to get money from both state and local sources, and the law firm comes in for a good deal of censure and questionable tactics."
If any of these lawyers were minority solos, they'd be disbarred by the state, unceremoniously, with the eager assistance of minority frontpersons, the house slaves of the legal machinery. Lying that results in theft of public money in the millions is just fine -- for some people in New Jersey's legal practice. Who wants to talk to me about "ethics"?
"The Inspector General did not investigate public officials, even though the office's summation speaks to a political system that allowed it to happen: 'The project is a study in what can go wrong when a public body with high-minded public policy goals and compelled by its status to engage in fair dealing joins forces with a private entity whose primary goal is to maximize its profit and operates in a buyer beware atmosphere."
Never give a sucker an even break. Rumors of payoffs and political favors for OAE and DRB officials are unconfirmed, though highly likely to be true. Under existing federal criminal law (yes, there is such a thing), silent acquiescence in criminal conduct is grounds for equal liability and impositions of identical penalties. ("Terry Tuchin, Diana Lisa Riccioli, and New Jersey's Agency of Torture.")
"The real question to be answered is how a 'public body with high-minded public policy goals' came to be duped for so long and so much."
They were sharing in the booty, in every sense, that's how they were "duped." OAE? How much did you steal from my office?
"The suspicion in this instance is that high-minded public policy played a poor second fiddle to the greed of public officials and the buddy system still at work in Trenton. The only one, in fact, who seems to have acted both competently and openly was Gov. Jon S. Corzine, when he refused to endorse yet more loans and instead ordered the Inspector General's investigation."
Nothing in N.J.'s legal establishment -- which is essentially coopted by the criminal culture of warped legal practice -- will bring about change. To have such people judge the ethics of anyone is a disgusting form of hypocrisy and farce. You are right to be appalled and furious if you live in the Garden State. The Soprano State, pp. 35-40. ("Deborah T. Poritz and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey.")
"Several law makers and public policy groups have called for an investigation by Chris Christie, the federal prosecutor in New Jersey. It's a good idea. The public policy system has failed, yet again. An outsider is needed to find out how and when Trenton keeps going wrong."
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
N.J. Based Prostitution Ring and N.Y.'s "Pay-For-Luv-Guv"!
Danny Hakim & William K. Rashbaum, "Spitzer, Linked to Sex Ring As a Client, Gives an Apology," in The New York Times, March 11, 2008, at p. A1.
William K. Rashbaum, "Revelations About the Governor Began in Routine Tax Inquiry," in The New York Times, March 11, 2008, at p. A1.
"ALBANY -- Gov. Eliot Spitzer was a client of a high end prostitution ring broken up last week by federal authorities, according to law enforcement officials, a development that threatened to end his career" -- which provides ample grounds for ethics charges for any attorney, leading to disbarment, which should make Deborah T. Poritz and others in Trenton very nervous -- "and turned the state's political world upside down."
I wonder how Diana is feeling the pressure these days? How's the "family-like" organization, Diana? How do you like Paramus? Close to the mall? Is your neighbor Joe Coniglio?
"Mr. Spitzer's involvement with the prostitution operation came last week, the officials said, as federal prosecutors charged four people with operating the service, Emperor's Club V.I.P. Mr. Spitzer was caught on a federal wiretap discussing payments and arranging to meet a prostitute in a Washington hotel room last month. The affidavit, which did not identify Mr. Spitzer by name, [the preferred pseudonym was "George Fox"] indicated that he had used the prostitution service before, although it was not clear how often."
Apparently, Mr. Spitzer had earned a $500.00 credit. Strangely, no green stamps were mentioned. This prostitution service was based in Cliffside Park, N.J. (no surprise!) and had global reach. N.J. is a "friendly jurisdiction" for this type of business and other shady or mob activity. Commercial sex should be legalized in order to get rid of the criminal element, as much as possible, to protect sex workers, while avoiding the disclosure of private, consensual adult behavior.
None of this behavior -- if freely-chosen by adults -- should be the government's business. The continuing hypocrisy about the reality of human sexual behavior drains law enforcement resources that might be better used to protect children who are forced into this "business" and to curtail illegal drug sales. I have never paid for nor have I (sadly) been paid for sex. No, I would not accept money for sex -- or I'd be in New Jersey's judiciary with the other whores.
With legalization, client lists would be subject to privacy laws. Sex workers could be granted a limited "privilege and confidentiality right," like other "professionals" in related industries -- such as attorneys and Hollywood agents, also psychotherapists and psychos who are therapists. Diana? Tuchin?
Mr. Spitzer's troubles began as a result of routine tax inquiries. That's what is known, prosaically, as "bullshit." The I.R.S. does not set up shop to investigate finances for a person and industry unless a little bird has told them something really intriguing. I suspect that this "little bird" came from New Jersey. Again, politicians in Trenton should be purchasing indictment insurance. A major prostitution service does not operate in New Jersey without taking care of the local "businesspeople" and allowing politicians or judges (both?) to "dip their wicks," as it were. Who wanted to get Spitzer? The mob? The same people who went after Bernard Kerik?
Investigators detected movement of thousands of dollars in Spitzer's cash. "The money ended up in the bank accounts of what appeared to be shell companies, corporations that essentially had no real business." Their real business is to launder money that comes back to politicians in the form of political contributions and suitcases filled with so-called "clean" cash. Mr. Spitzer made his name by crusading against questionable financial practices on Wall Street. I am sure that money laundering is highly questionable. Right, Senator Bob? ("Does Senator Menendez Have Mafia Friends?")
I know of several Hudson County attorneys who described counting $300,000 in cash at a closing for some gentlemen from foreign parts purchasing properties with a view of the city. I wondered whether they remembered to inform the IRS of this transaction. What the hell, huh?
$1,000 to $5,000 an hour for young women sounds like a lot of money, but they only keep a fraction of that cash and have lots of costs. Legalization would get rid of exploiters, allow prostitutes to deduct their expenses, give customers privacy rights as well as allowing sex workers to establish professional identities as "corporations" or "limited partnerships" (depending on the tax angles), retaining their own privacy. Most of all, legalization gives sex workers safety, respect, independence and generates fair taxes for government.
Destruction of someone's career and pain to family members are unnecessary side effects of what boils down to a consensual sexual act between a man and woman, where money was given by one person to another. Whatever we feel about such behavior -- I hope no person would ever wish to engage in such conduct, sex for money -- that decision belongs to what Kant called the "autonomous" realm. There are complications in Spitzer's case since he had sent people to prison for less reprehensible conduct and was the chief executive of the state at the time of this disclosure of his "pay-for-luv" habit.
You should not use people as "means" to your "ends." However, if one adult person chooses to be used for purposes of sexual gratification by another adult who chooses to spend money to obtain that gratification, despite the disapproval of others, then (I suppose) in a free society, the State should stay out of the matter as long as no one is hurt. Neither side of this pleasant exchange interests me. However, I will not judge my neighbors who disagree. Furthermore, I am sure that it is a tragic loss for New York to be deprived of a good governor because of this nonsense. It is also unfortunate for Mr. Spitzer to suffer personal career damage or destruction as a result of this lethal lapse in judgment and world-level display of hypocrisy. The sleaze aimed at Governor Patterson probably comes from the same people in New Jersey and not Mr. Cuomo.
This is the sort of unethical conduct we expect from New Jersey politicians, not New York's chief executive. Chris Christie may spoil my fun after he is sworn-in. Is it true that I will hear from you after you are Governor of New Jersey, Mr. Christie? I amstill waiting, Chris.
William K. Rashbaum, "Revelations About the Governor Began in Routine Tax Inquiry," in The New York Times, March 11, 2008, at p. A1.
"ALBANY -- Gov. Eliot Spitzer was a client of a high end prostitution ring broken up last week by federal authorities, according to law enforcement officials, a development that threatened to end his career" -- which provides ample grounds for ethics charges for any attorney, leading to disbarment, which should make Deborah T. Poritz and others in Trenton very nervous -- "and turned the state's political world upside down."
I wonder how Diana is feeling the pressure these days? How's the "family-like" organization, Diana? How do you like Paramus? Close to the mall? Is your neighbor Joe Coniglio?
"Mr. Spitzer's involvement with the prostitution operation came last week, the officials said, as federal prosecutors charged four people with operating the service, Emperor's Club V.I.P. Mr. Spitzer was caught on a federal wiretap discussing payments and arranging to meet a prostitute in a Washington hotel room last month. The affidavit, which did not identify Mr. Spitzer by name, [the preferred pseudonym was "George Fox"] indicated that he had used the prostitution service before, although it was not clear how often."
Apparently, Mr. Spitzer had earned a $500.00 credit. Strangely, no green stamps were mentioned. This prostitution service was based in Cliffside Park, N.J. (no surprise!) and had global reach. N.J. is a "friendly jurisdiction" for this type of business and other shady or mob activity. Commercial sex should be legalized in order to get rid of the criminal element, as much as possible, to protect sex workers, while avoiding the disclosure of private, consensual adult behavior.
None of this behavior -- if freely-chosen by adults -- should be the government's business. The continuing hypocrisy about the reality of human sexual behavior drains law enforcement resources that might be better used to protect children who are forced into this "business" and to curtail illegal drug sales. I have never paid for nor have I (sadly) been paid for sex. No, I would not accept money for sex -- or I'd be in New Jersey's judiciary with the other whores.
With legalization, client lists would be subject to privacy laws. Sex workers could be granted a limited "privilege and confidentiality right," like other "professionals" in related industries -- such as attorneys and Hollywood agents, also psychotherapists and psychos who are therapists. Diana? Tuchin?
Mr. Spitzer's troubles began as a result of routine tax inquiries. That's what is known, prosaically, as "bullshit." The I.R.S. does not set up shop to investigate finances for a person and industry unless a little bird has told them something really intriguing. I suspect that this "little bird" came from New Jersey. Again, politicians in Trenton should be purchasing indictment insurance. A major prostitution service does not operate in New Jersey without taking care of the local "businesspeople" and allowing politicians or judges (both?) to "dip their wicks," as it were. Who wanted to get Spitzer? The mob? The same people who went after Bernard Kerik?
Investigators detected movement of thousands of dollars in Spitzer's cash. "The money ended up in the bank accounts of what appeared to be shell companies, corporations that essentially had no real business." Their real business is to launder money that comes back to politicians in the form of political contributions and suitcases filled with so-called "clean" cash. Mr. Spitzer made his name by crusading against questionable financial practices on Wall Street. I am sure that money laundering is highly questionable. Right, Senator Bob? ("Does Senator Menendez Have Mafia Friends?")
I know of several Hudson County attorneys who described counting $300,000 in cash at a closing for some gentlemen from foreign parts purchasing properties with a view of the city. I wondered whether they remembered to inform the IRS of this transaction. What the hell, huh?
$1,000 to $5,000 an hour for young women sounds like a lot of money, but they only keep a fraction of that cash and have lots of costs. Legalization would get rid of exploiters, allow prostitutes to deduct their expenses, give customers privacy rights as well as allowing sex workers to establish professional identities as "corporations" or "limited partnerships" (depending on the tax angles), retaining their own privacy. Most of all, legalization gives sex workers safety, respect, independence and generates fair taxes for government.
Destruction of someone's career and pain to family members are unnecessary side effects of what boils down to a consensual sexual act between a man and woman, where money was given by one person to another. Whatever we feel about such behavior -- I hope no person would ever wish to engage in such conduct, sex for money -- that decision belongs to what Kant called the "autonomous" realm. There are complications in Spitzer's case since he had sent people to prison for less reprehensible conduct and was the chief executive of the state at the time of this disclosure of his "pay-for-luv" habit.
You should not use people as "means" to your "ends." However, if one adult person chooses to be used for purposes of sexual gratification by another adult who chooses to spend money to obtain that gratification, despite the disapproval of others, then (I suppose) in a free society, the State should stay out of the matter as long as no one is hurt. Neither side of this pleasant exchange interests me. However, I will not judge my neighbors who disagree. Furthermore, I am sure that it is a tragic loss for New York to be deprived of a good governor because of this nonsense. It is also unfortunate for Mr. Spitzer to suffer personal career damage or destruction as a result of this lethal lapse in judgment and world-level display of hypocrisy. The sleaze aimed at Governor Patterson probably comes from the same people in New Jersey and not Mr. Cuomo.
This is the sort of unethical conduct we expect from New Jersey politicians, not New York's chief executive. Chris Christie may spoil my fun after he is sworn-in. Is it true that I will hear from you after you are Governor of New Jersey, Mr. Christie? I amstill waiting, Chris.
Monday, March 10, 2008
New Jersey's Third-World Ethics.
March 6, 2008 at 10:33 A.M. new "errors" were inserted in this essay posted moments ago. I will now correct them. I will continue to do my best to correct "errors" inserted in these writings, on a daily basis, by persons responsible for enforcing First Amendment protections.
Ken Belson, "Delay, Turmoil and High Costs Plague Meadowlands Project," in The New York Times, March 5, 2008, at p. B1.
" ... Nearly a decade later, the $1 BILLION project, hard by the New Jersey Turnpike, is what the state's inspector general calls a 'study in what can go wrong.' There are no homes or hotels, Four Landfills, none completely tamed, still sit where sand traps and water hazards were supposed to perplex golfers."
"That project is just across Route 3, the Main Street of the Meadowlands, from Xanadu, an ungainly 2.3 million square foot complex rising next to Giants Stadium that almost drove one developer into bankruptcy, fell more than a year behind schedule and has filled less than half its retail and entertainment space."
"Together the two projects -- backed in part by nearly $1 BILLION in low-interest loans, tax breaks and infrastructure investments by public agencies -- are reminders of the enormous hurdles to be faced when trying to build in the Meadowlands, a much sought-after location because of its proximity to major highways and millions of affluent consumers."
That's your BILLION smackers being pissed away. Pay attention now: "The problem-plagued projects" -- Senator Bob is said to have his finger in the Xanadu pie by way of surrogate, Kay LiCausi -- "also provide a window into the New Jersey pay-to-play culture populated by well-connected lobbyists, double-dealing politicians ["on the one hand, but on the other hand"] and bare knuckled deal-makers who are called on to navigate the maze of regulatory agencies that often frustrate developers, particularly those from outside New Jersey." (emphasis added)
Spacing has been affected by my old friends from Hudson County, either moron Tolentino or one of her ex-law clerks. Perhaps one of the other assholes in the Garden State now facing indictment. As they whisper in Jersey City, you gotta get some local talent and then you got to leave some milk and cookies for the boys. Hire local muscle and some bribe-delivering shysters. Bosses gotta wet their beaks. The Jersey City mob will have to deal with me forever. Ain't that reassuring? I think so.
"... 'It's a very complex place geologically, politically and structurally,' said Thomas H. Bruinooge, a lawyer and developer in Rutherford who in the 1960s helped establish the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission, a planning agency that has tried to recast a region once known for its pig farms [still is, different pigs] and garbage dumps. [different garbage] 'And this is a third-world country when it comes to ethics.' ..." (emphasis added -- and how!)
When the newspaper of record -- which has rarely met a Democrat it didn't like -- gets to this level during a presidential election season ... you know that something stinks in New Jersey. Most people in New Jersey, most lawyers -- most people in the world! -- equate New Jersey with mafia-controlled government, bribery of police, sold-out and corrupt tribunals, everything thought of as the opposite of ethics. Trenton knows this and has adopted a "let's pretend everything is fine" attitude or "kill the messenger." I don't think this strategy will work.
New Jersey is a political catastrophe and betrayal of all sound jurisprudential notions. New Jersey's legal system -- with all exceptions granted -- sickens and disgraces the people of the United States of America. It should. The state's Supreme Court is a revolting example of rewarding political ass-kissers and whores with powerful judicial appointments. (See "New Jersey's Feces-Covered Supreme Court" and "New Jersey's Crimes Against Humanity.")
"Part of the inspector general's focus was EnCap's powerful law firm, DeCotiis, Fitzpatrick, Cole & Wisler, whose partners have counseled New Jersey governors for years, and which also represents the developers of Xanadu. In the past, the firm helped wear down mayors' and councils' resistance to new homes in North Arlington, Lyndhurst and other towns in the Meadowlands."
"The towns were told by the developers -- and misled [you mean, lied to by N.J. lawyers and developers as well as politicians?] -- that mostly private money would be used to remediate the unsightly landfills, which could later be the sites of new homes. However, although EnCap contributed an equity stake of $35 million, the Department of Environmental Protection and other state agencies ended up providing about $300 MILLION in low-interest financing. EnCap may yet receive $100 MILLION more in reimbursements to finish the project."
"... 'This deal is dirtier than the stuff in the landfill,' said Jeff Titel, the chapter director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. 'This thing is the Baghdad of redevelopment.' ..."
Where did all that money go?
What New Jersey's legion of crooked politicians have placed in that radioactive landfill is the U.S. Constitution. We cannot allow that process of trashing your Constitutional rights to continue. Give the feds a call if you can help to put these crooks in prison.
Ken Belson, "Delay, Turmoil and High Costs Plague Meadowlands Project," in The New York Times, March 5, 2008, at p. B1.
" ... Nearly a decade later, the $1 BILLION project, hard by the New Jersey Turnpike, is what the state's inspector general calls a 'study in what can go wrong.' There are no homes or hotels, Four Landfills, none completely tamed, still sit where sand traps and water hazards were supposed to perplex golfers."
"That project is just across Route 3, the Main Street of the Meadowlands, from Xanadu, an ungainly 2.3 million square foot complex rising next to Giants Stadium that almost drove one developer into bankruptcy, fell more than a year behind schedule and has filled less than half its retail and entertainment space."
"Together the two projects -- backed in part by nearly $1 BILLION in low-interest loans, tax breaks and infrastructure investments by public agencies -- are reminders of the enormous hurdles to be faced when trying to build in the Meadowlands, a much sought-after location because of its proximity to major highways and millions of affluent consumers."
That's your BILLION smackers being pissed away. Pay attention now: "The problem-plagued projects" -- Senator Bob is said to have his finger in the Xanadu pie by way of surrogate, Kay LiCausi -- "also provide a window into the New Jersey pay-to-play culture populated by well-connected lobbyists, double-dealing politicians ["on the one hand, but on the other hand"] and bare knuckled deal-makers who are called on to navigate the maze of regulatory agencies that often frustrate developers, particularly those from outside New Jersey." (emphasis added)
Spacing has been affected by my old friends from Hudson County, either moron Tolentino or one of her ex-law clerks. Perhaps one of the other assholes in the Garden State now facing indictment. As they whisper in Jersey City, you gotta get some local talent and then you got to leave some milk and cookies for the boys. Hire local muscle and some bribe-delivering shysters. Bosses gotta wet their beaks. The Jersey City mob will have to deal with me forever. Ain't that reassuring? I think so.
"... 'It's a very complex place geologically, politically and structurally,' said Thomas H. Bruinooge, a lawyer and developer in Rutherford who in the 1960s helped establish the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission, a planning agency that has tried to recast a region once known for its pig farms [still is, different pigs] and garbage dumps. [different garbage] 'And this is a third-world country when it comes to ethics.' ..." (emphasis added -- and how!)
When the newspaper of record -- which has rarely met a Democrat it didn't like -- gets to this level during a presidential election season ... you know that something stinks in New Jersey. Most people in New Jersey, most lawyers -- most people in the world! -- equate New Jersey with mafia-controlled government, bribery of police, sold-out and corrupt tribunals, everything thought of as the opposite of ethics. Trenton knows this and has adopted a "let's pretend everything is fine" attitude or "kill the messenger." I don't think this strategy will work.
New Jersey is a political catastrophe and betrayal of all sound jurisprudential notions. New Jersey's legal system -- with all exceptions granted -- sickens and disgraces the people of the United States of America. It should. The state's Supreme Court is a revolting example of rewarding political ass-kissers and whores with powerful judicial appointments. (See "New Jersey's Feces-Covered Supreme Court" and "New Jersey's Crimes Against Humanity.")
"Part of the inspector general's focus was EnCap's powerful law firm, DeCotiis, Fitzpatrick, Cole & Wisler, whose partners have counseled New Jersey governors for years, and which also represents the developers of Xanadu. In the past, the firm helped wear down mayors' and councils' resistance to new homes in North Arlington, Lyndhurst and other towns in the Meadowlands."
"The towns were told by the developers -- and misled [you mean, lied to by N.J. lawyers and developers as well as politicians?] -- that mostly private money would be used to remediate the unsightly landfills, which could later be the sites of new homes. However, although EnCap contributed an equity stake of $35 million, the Department of Environmental Protection and other state agencies ended up providing about $300 MILLION in low-interest financing. EnCap may yet receive $100 MILLION more in reimbursements to finish the project."
"... 'This deal is dirtier than the stuff in the landfill,' said Jeff Titel, the chapter director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. 'This thing is the Baghdad of redevelopment.' ..."
Where did all that money go?
What New Jersey's legion of crooked politicians have placed in that radioactive landfill is the U.S. Constitution. We cannot allow that process of trashing your Constitutional rights to continue. Give the feds a call if you can help to put these crooks in prison.
Cyber Rebels in Cuba Do Not Carry Guns!
Ironically, I am posting this essay after correcting "errors" inserted by N.J. hackers who do not like my criticisms of Senator Bob. It may be that these Cuban students have as much freedom as I do. Maybe more. I wonder how many of them have been tortured or see their writings defaced and vandalized to the indifference of governmental authorities. (Please see "New Jersey's Third-World Ethics" and "Senator Bob, the Babe, and the Big Bucks.") March 10, 2008 at 2:29 P.M.
In fact, newly discovered alterations of the spacing of sentences in this text suggests that Cuban-American Fascist elements can only threaten the freedom of persons struggling for self-expression, whether in the U.S. or Cuba. (I have just corrected an "error" in the foregoing sentence.) The Cubanoids from Miami or elsewhere are deserving of political "Preparation-H," not of your support. It saddens me to think that such persons are the most visible representatives of the Cuban-American community in America. No more "errors" inserted today? March 13, 2008 at 9:40 A.M. Any more "errors" to be inserted today, boys?
James C. McKinley, Jr., "Cyber-Rebels In Cuba Defy the State's Limits," in The New York Times, March 6, 2008, at p. A1.
"HAVANA -- A growing underground network of young people armed with computer memory sticks, digital cameras and clandestine Internet hookups has been mounting some challenges to the Cuban government in recent months, spreading news that the official state media try to suppress."
The Internet is a powerful tool for Democracy and freedom of expression. The Cuban government -- no government -- can contain ideas or the spread of intellectual curiosity, along with a growing desire to take the Cuban "brand" of socialism to a new level -- a level that allows for greater Democratic freedom and the inviolability of basic human rights. (See "Umberto Eco and the Semiotics of Power" as well as my book -- which I cannot see because of hackers -- entitled: Paul Ricouer and the Hermeneutics of Freedom.)
Before we deplore the undeniable repressions of the Cuban political reality, consider that a high official of the Cuban government met with students "face-to-face" in a no-holds-barred, question and answer session, and also that the video tape of the event is circulating in the capitol city.
Cuba is opening up. New ideas are wedging their way into the society. Do you wish to encourage or discourage that process? With a lifting of the embargo, MORE cultural exchanges, a greater participation by Cuba's brilliant young people in the global intellectual conversation of humanity -- the liberation of Cuban scientific and cultural creativity -- will result in improvements in the quality of life for all people, billions of dollars will flow into the economy, while allowing the Revolution to retain greater social equality resulting from the events of 1959. The goal for Cubans may be to bring their Revolution closer to completion by allowing for greater personal freedoms and economic prosperity, without a loss of social equality.
Today's Cuban Revolutionaries are a "Geek Squad." They do not carry guns, only digital cameras and laptops. They are not aiming missiles at the U.S. Students only have questions for the American people, especially for intellectuals and artists in this society. Where is the political courage and conscience of America's young people? From one "Geek" to others in Havana -- Venceremos. (No accents on this keyboard.)
In Havana, today's revolutionaries dress like fighters in the Matrix. "Whoa ..."
"Last month students at a prestigious computer science university videotaped an ugly confrontation they had with Ricardo Alarcon, the President of the National Assembly."
If this were 1963, those students would already be in prison or dead.
"Mr. Alarcon seemed flummoxed when students grilled him on why they could not travel abroad, stay at hotels, earn better wages or use search engines like Google. The video spread like wildfire through Havana, passed from person to person, and seriously damaged Mr. Alarcon's reputation in some circles. "
Can you imagine an unscripted encounter between Mr. Bush or Mr. Cheney and a group of sophisticated interlocutors concerning the state of the world? It is difficult to do so these days. Once upon a time, such a thing was not unheard of in American politics.
Cuba's Revolutionary government -- like any government, ANYWHERE -- belongs to you, the people, especially if you are a young person or any kind of student. Cuban students have the admiration and support of intellectuals and dissidents all over the world, struggling (as you are) to speak freely, facing the consequences (which can be devastating, also anywhere) for presuming to think and speak FREELY. Any more "errors" inserted in my essays today? Probably, just a few. ("How Censorship Works in America" and "More Censorship and Cybercrime.")
Like all of you: I am not a slave. I am a free human being. I will think and speak freely, regardless of who approves of my opinions. Being tortured and otherwise "penalized" has not altered my position on this matter. In the immortal words of Billy Joel at his concert in Moscow: "Don't take any shit!"
Whether your would-be silencers are Right-wing Cubanoids from Miami (more "Preparation H" anyone?), or the Cuban Revolutionary government's "nomenklatura," the result is exactly the same -- the suppression of that liberty for which Jose Marti suffered and died, which is the real promise of the United States of America to every person in the country and world. That liberty with equality and a healthy suspicion of government power is what the U.S. Constitution is all about. ("Manifesto for the Unfinished American Revolution.") Don't let anybody tell you something different about America.
Ideas cannot be jailed, tortured, beaten or suppressed for long, not even in New Jersey. I promise you that in some ways, New Jersey is as bad or WORSE (as fraudulent and just as sinister) as the Cuban government at its worst. The "Internet cannot be regulated" and the struggle to make use of this conversation (where we are right now) will never be won by political hacks in any society. In a battle of wits, government hacks -- in every nation -- are unarmed. This is fortunate. Keep fighting. I will struggle with you. Soon. Always.
In fact, newly discovered alterations of the spacing of sentences in this text suggests that Cuban-American Fascist elements can only threaten the freedom of persons struggling for self-expression, whether in the U.S. or Cuba. (I have just corrected an "error" in the foregoing sentence.) The Cubanoids from Miami or elsewhere are deserving of political "Preparation-H," not of your support. It saddens me to think that such persons are the most visible representatives of the Cuban-American community in America. No more "errors" inserted today? March 13, 2008 at 9:40 A.M. Any more "errors" to be inserted today, boys?
James C. McKinley, Jr., "Cyber-Rebels In Cuba Defy the State's Limits," in The New York Times, March 6, 2008, at p. A1.
"HAVANA -- A growing underground network of young people armed with computer memory sticks, digital cameras and clandestine Internet hookups has been mounting some challenges to the Cuban government in recent months, spreading news that the official state media try to suppress."
The Internet is a powerful tool for Democracy and freedom of expression. The Cuban government -- no government -- can contain ideas or the spread of intellectual curiosity, along with a growing desire to take the Cuban "brand" of socialism to a new level -- a level that allows for greater Democratic freedom and the inviolability of basic human rights. (See "Umberto Eco and the Semiotics of Power" as well as my book -- which I cannot see because of hackers -- entitled: Paul Ricouer and the Hermeneutics of Freedom.)
Before we deplore the undeniable repressions of the Cuban political reality, consider that a high official of the Cuban government met with students "face-to-face" in a no-holds-barred, question and answer session, and also that the video tape of the event is circulating in the capitol city.
Cuba is opening up. New ideas are wedging their way into the society. Do you wish to encourage or discourage that process? With a lifting of the embargo, MORE cultural exchanges, a greater participation by Cuba's brilliant young people in the global intellectual conversation of humanity -- the liberation of Cuban scientific and cultural creativity -- will result in improvements in the quality of life for all people, billions of dollars will flow into the economy, while allowing the Revolution to retain greater social equality resulting from the events of 1959. The goal for Cubans may be to bring their Revolution closer to completion by allowing for greater personal freedoms and economic prosperity, without a loss of social equality.
Today's Cuban Revolutionaries are a "Geek Squad." They do not carry guns, only digital cameras and laptops. They are not aiming missiles at the U.S. Students only have questions for the American people, especially for intellectuals and artists in this society. Where is the political courage and conscience of America's young people? From one "Geek" to others in Havana -- Venceremos. (No accents on this keyboard.)
In Havana, today's revolutionaries dress like fighters in the Matrix. "Whoa ..."
"Last month students at a prestigious computer science university videotaped an ugly confrontation they had with Ricardo Alarcon, the President of the National Assembly."
If this were 1963, those students would already be in prison or dead.
"Mr. Alarcon seemed flummoxed when students grilled him on why they could not travel abroad, stay at hotels, earn better wages or use search engines like Google. The video spread like wildfire through Havana, passed from person to person, and seriously damaged Mr. Alarcon's reputation in some circles. "
Can you imagine an unscripted encounter between Mr. Bush or Mr. Cheney and a group of sophisticated interlocutors concerning the state of the world? It is difficult to do so these days. Once upon a time, such a thing was not unheard of in American politics.
Cuba's Revolutionary government -- like any government, ANYWHERE -- belongs to you, the people, especially if you are a young person or any kind of student. Cuban students have the admiration and support of intellectuals and dissidents all over the world, struggling (as you are) to speak freely, facing the consequences (which can be devastating, also anywhere) for presuming to think and speak FREELY. Any more "errors" inserted in my essays today? Probably, just a few. ("How Censorship Works in America" and "More Censorship and Cybercrime.")
Like all of you: I am not a slave. I am a free human being. I will think and speak freely, regardless of who approves of my opinions. Being tortured and otherwise "penalized" has not altered my position on this matter. In the immortal words of Billy Joel at his concert in Moscow: "Don't take any shit!"
Whether your would-be silencers are Right-wing Cubanoids from Miami (more "Preparation H" anyone?), or the Cuban Revolutionary government's "nomenklatura," the result is exactly the same -- the suppression of that liberty for which Jose Marti suffered and died, which is the real promise of the United States of America to every person in the country and world. That liberty with equality and a healthy suspicion of government power is what the U.S. Constitution is all about. ("Manifesto for the Unfinished American Revolution.") Don't let anybody tell you something different about America.
Ideas cannot be jailed, tortured, beaten or suppressed for long, not even in New Jersey. I promise you that in some ways, New Jersey is as bad or WORSE (as fraudulent and just as sinister) as the Cuban government at its worst. The "Internet cannot be regulated" and the struggle to make use of this conversation (where we are right now) will never be won by political hacks in any society. In a battle of wits, government hacks -- in every nation -- are unarmed. This is fortunate. Keep fighting. I will struggle with you. Soon. Always.
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