October 1, 2011 at 11:15 A.M. "Errors" inserted overnight will now be corrected.
September 28, 2011 at 1:29 P.M. A number of obstructions make it difficult for me to access this blog in order to write today. I will struggle to reach this site every day, against a great deal of computer crime, to continue writing these essays. The size of the print copies has become tiny at this blog, for me, through no action of mine. I will try not to allow these tactics to prevent me from communicating or retaining copies of my work. ("What is it like to be plagiarized?" and "'Brideshead Revisited': A Movie Review." Please compare "God is Texting Me!" with the CBS show "A Very Gifted Man.")
Ben Horowitz, "Prosecutor: Man Accused of Killing Priest Impregnated Girl, 11," in The New York Times, September 13, 2011, at p. A25.
William Glaberson, "Shock in Court Over a Lurid Confession," in The New York Times, September 22, 2011, at p. A26.
Kim Swenson, "Georgia Inmate Executed: Raised Racial Issues in Death Penalty," in The New York Times, September 22, 2011 at p. A1.
Donald G. McNeil, "Panel Hears Grim Details of V.D. Test On Inmates," in The New York Times, August 31, 2011 at p. A4.
Among the strange features of current American life is the renewed pervasiveness of dehumanization. Racism aimed against African-Americans -- while still devastatingly real -- is not something nice people admit to in polite society. An exception to this rule may found among some New Jersey Superior Court judges whose "opinions" I recall only too well -- judges who, happily, still admit to disliking "dark people." Otherwise, one does not, say, admit publicly to KKK membership in Bergen County's legal circles. ("New Jersey's KKK Police Shocker" and "Organized Crime Group in New Jersey's State Police.")
Dehumanization of Muslims and assorted "other" little brown people from bizarre places in the world is permissible and popular among our self-described social superiors. The Muslims may even be American citizens, who are now subject to assassination without due process of law. William James spoke for many Americans in concluding that "little brown men are only objects for us." ("Little Brown Men Are Only Objects for Us" and "John Rawls and Justice.")
I can neither confirm nor deny that a plaque bearing this quotation from William James may be found in Christopher Christie's office in Trenton. If so, then Mr. Christie will become even more popular than he is already with arch-conservatives and T-Party members. ("Is Christopher Christie 'Mentally Deranged' and a 'Liar'?" then "U.S. Attorney Says New Jersey is a 'Culture of Corruption.'")
The reduction of others to the ontological status of objects, "things," to which we assign monetary or instrumental value based on OUR goals is thriving: nubile women receive cash value (for a while) in the Hollywood system; Pakistanis killed by robot bombs have "negligible worth" in terms of our "objectives in Asia"; immigrants (legal and illegal) are glorified slaves in the factories of the nation and world; Africa and Latin America are places where we test our drugs in order to make effective medications available to wealthy sick people who can pay outrageous fees for them. Territorial integrity of other nations means nothing to our use of robot bombs. The "little brown people" who suffer and die in our Third World drug tests are "collateral damage." ("'The Constant Gardener': A Movie Review.")
"Gruesome details of American run venereal disease experiments on Guatemalan prisoners, soldiers and mental patients in the years after World War II were revealed this week during hearings before a White House bioethics panel investigating the study's sordid history."
American prisoners and mental patients as well as undisclosed others in society are still subjected to secret experiments, including "psychological torture tests," emerging from intelligence efforts to cope with the so-called "Communist threat." ("Psychological Torture in the American Legal System" and "U.S. Courts Must Not Condone Torture.")
Sadism is one of the ugliest aspects of human nature that seems to arise, spontaneously, with power and secrecy given to scientists who are invited to test their theories on unsuspecting victims.
Manipulations of persons and behind-the-scenes techniques of social control, developed with the eager assistance of lawyers and psychologists oblivious to the evil they have caused, are among the horrors that my child's generation of Americans will struggle against -- if they are to retain their freedoms. I am not optimistic about the survival of Americans' civil liberties. ("Manifesto for the Unfinished American Revolution" and "American Doctors and Torture" then "Foucault, Rose, Davis and Meanings of Prison.")
I fear that future generations will live in a far less free and democratic America (and world) than the country I have known in my life. U.S. lawyers continue to offer assistance to corporations and government -- they do so (willingly) for a small fee -- in the effort to deny Americans their civil liberties for the sake of an illusory security.
Security is always the fascist mantra. Legal professionals who refuse to assist in these security efforts (those who seek to oppose them) will be deemed "unethical" and disbarred, like Lynne Stewart or myself, perhaps. ("Law and Ethics in the Soprano State" and "New Jersey's 'Ethical' Legal System.")
" ... American taxpayers paid for syphilis infected Guatemalan prostitutes to have sex with prisoners. When some of the men failed to become infected through sex, the bacteria were poured into scrapes made on their penises or faces, or even injected by special puncture into their spines." ("An Open Letter to My Torturers in New Jersey, Terry Tuchin and Diana Lisa Riccioli.")
I do not now and I have never suffered from any Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD). ("Is America's Legal Ethics a Lie?" and "Is Senator Bob 'For' Human Rights?")
"About 5,500 Guatemalans were enrolled, about 1,300 of whom were deliberately infected with syphilis, gonorrhea or chancroid. At least 83 DIED, but it was not clear if the experiments killed them. [Plausible denial?] About 700 were treated with antibiotics, records showed; it was not clear if some were never treated."
As usual, mental patients were seen as perfect specimens for sexual violation and objects of cruelty: A mental patient named "Berta" was "first deliberately infected with syphilis and, months later, given penicillin. After that, Dr. John C. Cutler of the Public Health Service, who led the experiments described her as so unwell that 'she appeared [like] she was going to die.' Nevertheless, he injected pus from a male gonorrhea victim into her eyes, uretha and rectum. Four days later, infected in both eyes and bleeding from the urethra, she died."
Was this experiment for Berta's own good, Terry Tuchin? Is this treatment of a helpless "little brown woman" by American professionals not a matter of genuine "feminist" concern? Perhaps Rachel Maddow will be interested in this issue if Lesbians are afflicted? ("A Killing in New Jersey's House of Healing.")
"We live in the era of debased psychology and its 'ingenious experiments in the field of dehuman engineering [-- Ms. Poritz was an engineer before becoming a lawyer and judge --] all for the purpose (as Aldous Huxley recognized half a century ago) of producing good behavior in a craven new world." ("Deborah T. Poritz and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey.")
What is meant by "dehuman engineering" or "decoherence" of the functional psyche? How does a person set out to destroy the mind of another human being, through induced-anxiety resulting from artificial frustrations, without feeling guilt or moral shame? ("Terry Tuchin, Diana Lisa Riccioli, and New Jersey's Agency of Torture" and "American Doctors and Torture.")
"... a sense of outrage at Watson's indifference to the human havoc he had wrought in his cold blooded manipulation of a child's developing personality -- his [the child's] capacity for trust, his ability to love, his openness to the world, his human potentialities. Watson [behaviorist] had taken a normal, healthy, happy infant -- one that reached out to the world and its living forms with intelligent curiosity and delight -- and he had traumatized that infant" -- anyone would have similar aversive reactions! -- "shocking it again and again with strange and clamerous noise, introducing into its vulnerable life and mind a dimension of [unpredictable and permanent] terror which (unidentified and unresolved) must surely have induced a profound and lasting state of neurotic anxiety -- a lifetime of nightmares -- if not a more critical derangement of mental faculties in the form of paranoid schizophrenia."
Ashley Montague & Floyd Matson, The Dehumanization of Man (New York: McGraw Hill, 1983), p. xv, pp. 64-65.
A list of sources detailing corruption and dehumanization will be added to this essay in the days ahead.
Sources:
Books:
Lionel Rubinoff, The Pornography of Power: A Brilliant Inquiry Into Man's Capacity for Evil (New York: Ballantine, 1967).
Stephen F. Eisenman, The Abu Ghraib Effect (London: Reaktion, 2007).
Periodicals:
Karen Rouse, "N.J. Still Facing Bill for Tunnel: A Year Later, But Grows to $274 Million," in The Record, September 30, 2011, at p. A-1. (Millions "disappeared" from the cancelled tunnel project "New Jersey Must Cough Up $271 MILLION." Is this all connected to the P.A. overtime controversy and possible inquiry and/or indictments? Ethics?)
John C. Ensslin, "Accused Doctor Was Disciplined in 2011," in The Record, September 30, 2011, at p. A-1. (Dr. Patricia G. Ilim, possibly linked to Deborah T. Poritz, "distributed controlled dangerous substances beyond the bounds of medical process." "Dr." Terry Tuchin, did you do the same thing? Is the medication that you use in your hynosis interrogation sessions also the so-called "rape drug," Diana Lisa Riccioli and Terry Tuchin? Are your victims informed concerning the great dangers associated with hypnosis and drugging, Terry and Diana?)
Mark Mazetti, Eric Schmidt, Robert F. Worth, "C.I.A. Strike Kills U.S.-Born Militant In a Car in Yemen," in The New York Times, October 1, 2011, at p. A1. (U.S. citizen killed without due process of law by U.S. drone weapons.)
"An Indefensible Punishment: The Death Penalty, Unjust and Arbitrary, Cannot be Made to Conform to the Constitution," (Editorial) in The New York Times, September 22, 2011, at p. A28. (Too little, too late for Troy Davis.)
"Justice and the Suffolk County Police," (Editorial) in The New York Times, September 26, 2011, at p. A28. (County Executive, STEVE LEVY, has cultivated a national reputation as a "hard-liner" on immigration. Would Mr. Levy have taken the same attitude to the arrivals in Ellis Island early in the twentieth century? I doubt it. Mr. Levy is accused of sanctioning violence and other human rights abuses against Latino immigrants and other dark-skinned people. Irony?)
Herb Jackson, "Politics Ties Up Autism Research: 2 GOP Senators Block Funding Bill," in The Record, September 26, 2011, at p. A-1. (Persons like Diana Lisa Riccioli, allegedly, suffering from Autism will be the losers as well as the general public. I sincerely hope that Diana receives the help she needs in an institution, if one is necessary. I trust that we will all be meeting soon, Mr. Christie.)
Nick Clunn & Richard Cowen, "Mayor and Aides Got OT for Irene: Paterson Paid Four $20,000 After Irene," in The Record, September 23, 2011, at p. A-1. (Irene was really good for some people who now get to scam the relief money even if they were untouched by the storm. That's life in the Soprano State.)
Shawn Boburg, "Port Authority to Undergo Audit: Costs, Salaries Questioned After the Toll Hike," in The Record, September 23, 2011, at p. A-3. (Audit of P.A. for scams concerning overtime -- O.T. for architects, right? -- and other forms of compensation. Ethics? The PA chairperson or CEO is now gone and others will be leaving their jobs.)
Joel Schactman, "Schools Fail Performance Test: Paterson's Hopes of Control Dashed," in The Record, September 23, 2011, at p. L-1. (N.J. education continues to decline. "Nihilists in Disneyworld.")
Hannan Adeley, "Clifton Seeks Cause of Sewage," in The Record, September 23, 2011, at p. L-5. (I think I can explain this mystery to the leadership at the home of the mafia. Diana Lisa Riccioli?)
A. P, "Judge Calls FBI Tactics Into Question," in The Record, September 8, 2011, at p. A-15. (Synagogue bombing arranged by FBI agents looking to make an arrest and get themselves in the paper.)
Karen Sudol, "Beldini Conviction Upheld: 3 Years for Bribery, Result of FBI Sting," in The Record, September 7, 2011, at p. A-4. (Leona Beldini is on her way to prison, despite her friendship with Diana Lisa Riccioli -- prison where Ms. Beldini belongs. Will Ms. Riccioli be next?)
Zach Patberg, "Questions Arise Over Timing of Contract: Water Commission Raises Counsel's Pay on Pact Day Awarded," in The Record, August 25, 2011, at p. L-1. ($25,000 bonus for George T. Hanley, Esq., who "took care" of Medina Consultant/Carillo Engineering who will probably show their appreciation to Mr. Hanley's "superiors" in political office later on.)
Nick Clunn, "Developer Fined $1.9 MILLION for Defying DEP Orders: Had No Permit for Work That Remade Hudson Waterfront," in The Record, September 13, 2011, at p. A-1. (Who allowed him to proceed without a permit over a period of years and why was no action taken against this developer before completion of his project? Now it's a "done deal.")
Peter J. Sampson, "Attorney Allowed to Represent Himself: Charged With Plot to Murder Witnesses," in The Record, September 13, 2011, at p. L-3. (Paul J. Bergrin, Esq., attorney who owned whorehouses at which he entertained distinguished members of the bar and judiciary in New Jersey, allegedly, is charged with drug trafficking and plotting with another Paramus attorney" -- on the ethics committee, perhaps? -- "to murder witnesses." Mr. Rabner may appoint his old buddy from the U.S. Attorney's Office, Mr. Bergrin, to the Supreme Court bench along with Mr. Stern. "No More Cover-Ups and Lies, Chief Justice Rabner!")
Carlotta Gall, "Pakistanis Tied to Attack On Americans: New Details Emerge of Ambush at Border," in The New York Times, September 27, 2011, at p. A1. ("Carlotta Gall" is one of the names used by the person or persons also calling him or herself "Manohla Dargis," probably "belonging" to Ros-Leghtinen, Rubio and/or Menendez, who has just discovered what people have been saying for several years. Robot bombs are not the best way to make friends, Carlotta. I wonder how many other names this person, acting for Cuban-American politicians, uses and whether she receives additional "compensation," besides any salary from the newspaper? Conflict-of- interest, Carlotta?)
Alissa J. Rubin, "Gunman Kills C.I.A. Employee at Embassy Annex," in The New York Times, September 27, 2011, at p. A7. (Attacks on U.S. targets "increasing" indicating that multiple foreign intelligence agencies are assisting in the efforts of anti-U.S. forces in the region. Time to go home, Mr. Obama.)
