October 24, 2012 at 3:05 P.M. I can never know whether I will be able to write from one day to the next. If I am able to continue writing, I will add sources to this essay dealing specifically with New Jersey corruption and legal incompetence over the next few days.
I make this text large because copies of my writings at "Against Dark Arts" are printed in a tiny script (for some reason) that is nearly illegible. This increased size in lettering helps with that legibility problem.
"The 'Perversion Files' Came to Light: Boy Scouts' Records On Sexual Abuse Expose a Familiar Pattern of Secrecy and Negligence," in The New York Times, October 20, 2012, at p. A22.
Compare: "Terry Tuchin, Diana Lisa Riccioli, and New Jersey's Agency of Torture" and "An Open Letter to My Torturers in New Jersey, Terry Tuchin and Diana Lisa Riccioli" with "New Jersey's 'Ethical' Legal System" and "Trenton's Nasty Lesbian Love-Fest!" then "Jennifer Velez is a Dyke Magnet!" and "No More Cover-Ups and Lies, Chief Justice Rabner!"
Amy Ellis Nutt & Alexei Friedman, and Jason Grant, "Secret Shame of the Boy Scouts," in The Star Ledger, October 18, 2012, at p. 1.
Colleen Jerkin & Mary Jo Layton, "N.J. Scout Leaders in Sex Files: 'Perversion' Papers Tell of Secret Dismissals," in The Record, October 18, 2012, at p. A-1.
"The Boy Scouts of America has known for nearly a century that scout leaders were preying on boys under ... its protection. Yet for most of those long years, it kept what it knew about scout leaders who were sexual predators locked away in secret 'perversion' files ..." (Times.)
For years the New Jersey Supreme Court has known about OAE abuse of "interrogational hypnosis," used illegally on numerous victims, and of the activities of Diana Lisa Riccioli as well as Terry Tuchin -- activities damaging to persons like Marilyn Straus -- but a cover-up of torture-perversion files to protect members of the court and the Garden State's legal profession, perhaps, has kept the truth from many victims. ("No More Cover-Ups and Lies, Chief Justice Rabner!")
Victims of these "protected" persons or agencies are entitled to the truth about the actions taken against them -- actions taken by Terry Tuchin, Diana Lisa Riccioli, John McGill, Esq. of the OAE and others: Theft of clients, stolen fees, slanders, solicitation of grievances, tampering with witnesses, suborning perjury, obstruction of justice, assaults and sexual assaults, lies and worse cannot be covered-up forever. This is especially true of a public agency that attaches the word "ethics" to its name. ("New Jersey's Office of Attorney Ethics" and "New Jersey's Feces-Covered Supreme Court.")
" ... The Scouts had no right to protect these criminals from the police, from parents and even from troop leaders. They serve as yet another example of the disaster of institutional secrecy, [emphasis added] of the danger when officials decide that an organization [OAE?] deserves protecting more than a child."
Or a "vulnerable woman?" -- right, Ms. Poritz? On how many occasions did you have sex with Marilyn Straus, Diana Lisa Riccioli? Estela De La Cruz? Mary Anne Kriko? Ms. Poritz, were you aware of Diana Lisa Riccioli's activities during the time of your shared "romance"? How often was Ms. Straus under hypnosis or un-conscious, Diana, during these "sexual encounters"? Why did you, Diana, fail to disclose this "relationhip" when acting as her alleged "therapist," and while I was subjected to "interrogational hypnosis" or "torture" at 512 42nd Street, Union City, New Jersey and elsewhere beginning in November, 1988? [See APA Rules of Ethics.] Are you now or were you ever a New Jersey "licensed therapist," Diana Lisa Riccioli? Did Diana Lisa Riccioli claim to be a licensed therapist with the knowledge of Ms. Poritz? Would it be "ethical" for a judge to condone -- or seek to cover-up criminality by a lover -- Ms. Poritz? Ms. De La Cruz? ("Trenton's Nasty Lesbian Love-Fest!" and "Jennifer Velez is a Dyke Magnet!" then "Deborah T. Poritz and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey.")
Mr. Menendez, what knowledge (if any) did you have of these matters concerning me and when did you acquire that knowledge? ("Does Senator Menendez have mafia friends?" and "Senator Bob, the Babe, and the Big Bucks.")
"For an organization that extols TRUSTWORTHINESS, these files lay bare an appalling dissonance." ("John McGill, Esq., the OAE, and New Jersey Corruption" and "New Jersey is Stronger Than the Storm.")
What did you know about my matters, Mr. Rabner, and when did you know it? What steps have you, Mr. Rabner, taken to prevent further harm to the public -- including NYPL users -- caused by persons acting under color of law and the rubric of N.J.'s legal ethics establishment? ("What is it like to be tortured?" and "Censorship and Cruelty in New Jersey.")
Sources:
New York and the World:
"The Final Debate: Mr. Romney Falters On Foreign Policy, Sounding Confused and Incoherent," (Editorial) in The New York Times, October 23, 2012, at p. A22. ("Mr. Romney has nothing really coherent or substantive to say about domestic policy, but at least he can sound energetic and confident about it ...")
Peter Baker & Helene Cooper, "Obama and Romney Bristle From Start Over Foreign Policy: Debate Strategy and Tactics in Last Meeting," in The New York Times, October 23, 2012, at p. A1. (This is how the debates end -- not with a bang but with a whimper.)
Lizette Alvarez, "Florida Officials Defend Social and Ethnic Learning Goals," in The New York Times, October 18, 2012, at p. A20. (Lower standards for the allegedly "inferior species," according to Florida politicians. Racism? Ms. Alvarez is better known as "Iliana Rubio." Manohla Dargis? Carlota Gall? How many false names do you use in your so-called "journalism," Ms. Alvarez? Is Jill Abramson Editor of America's "newspaper of record" aware of politicians' rewriting journalists' articles for her newspaper?)
Scott Shane, "A Biker, a Blonde, a Jihadist and Piles of CIA Cash: A Danish Double Agent's Tale," in The New York Times, October 20, 2012, at p. A11. (Stranger than fiction.)
Michael Wilson, "An Arrest in the News, An Exoneration in Silence," in The New York Times, October 20, 2012, at p. A19. ("TRAVIS TREMMEL," 26, was charged in 2006 with a murder he did not commit. Little effort is being made to be as public with APOLOGIES and exonerations as the authorities were with accusations and insults. I wonder why that is? Is this ethical?)
New Jersey's Continuing Disaster:
Michael Linhorst, "Panel Asks Mandate to Disclose Spying," in The Record, October 16, 2012, at p. A-3. (Please turn over the torture files, OAE.)
Anthony Campisi, "Higher Fine For Human Trafficking," in The Record, October 16, 2012, at p. A-4. (Problems, Diana Lisa Riccioli? 60,000 persons are classified as slaves in America. "Slavery Today.")
Abbott Koloff, "Lyndhurst Cops Interview Van Owner in Luring Probe," in The Record, October 16, 2012, at p. L-3. (Another suspect may be charged with "luring a minor for sexual activity." This is the fifth such incident in four days in America's child porn capitol.)
Harvey Lipman, "Group Fined $2.2 MILLION for Scamming Inmates," in The Record, October 17, 2012, at p. A-4. (Inmates robbed by public servants. The thieves' possible connections to politicians and judges are under investigation. Someone has to protect inmates from crooked politicians in New Jersey.)
Clarcke Cornfield [sic.], "Partial IDs of Alleged Johns Cause Confusion: Initial List Left Out Birthdate [sic.] and Addresses," in The Record, October 17, 2012, at p. A-9. (Why protect persons making prostitution possible, Mr. Menendez? "Senator Bob, the Babe, and the Big Bucks" then "Is Menendez For Sale?" and "New Jersey's Child Sex Industry" "Menendez Consorts With Underage Prostitutes.")
Karen Sudol, "Cops Unite Over Luring Cases: Sharing Reports, Biefing Up [sic.] Patrols," in The Record, October 17, 2012, at p. L-1. (Up to 6 luring cases now -- and the number is growing -- due to networks, allegedly, of PROTECTED child pornographers.)
Kibret Marcos, "Officer Denies Taking Part in COVER-UP: Says Chief Never Ordered Report," in The Record, October 17, 2012, at p. L-1. (Danilo Garcia, a suspended police captain, is accused of protecting suspects with a personal tie to KEN ZISA. What other matters have been covered-up by New Jersey's Supreme Court, OAE, or local politicians to protect "insiders" -- like Diana Lisa Riccioli, Terry Tuchin, or John McGill, Esq.?)
Mary Ann Spoto, "Ex-Judge Loses Appeal of His DWI Suspension," in The Record, October 18, 2012, at p. 17. (George Kapila, Esq., former judge, subject to 4-year license suspension. Only a suspension? So many N.J. judges are drunk or stoned on the bench, allegedly, that this seems excessive: "Deborah T. Poritz and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey" and "Sybil R. Moses and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey.")
Jenna Pizzi, "Mom Pleads Guilty in Abuse of a 9-Year-Old Girl," in The Star Ledger, October 18, 2012, at p. 17. (PLESIE NICHOLS, 36, charged with her boyfriend, ANTHONY ROBERTSON, 29, for "tying-up, beating and starving her 9-year-old daughter." Many offenders in these cases SELL their offspring to people making use of them in the Garden State's child sex industry, allegedly.)
Ed Beeson, "N.J. Hedge Fund, Execs. Accused of Hiding Losses: SEC Yorkville Advisors Got $10 MILLION in EXCESSIVE FEES," in The Star Ledger, October 18, 2012, at p. 22. (Some of these offenders are or were advised by lawyers. No OAE problem? "New Jersey's Politically-Connected Lawyers On the Tit" and "Corrupt Law Firms, Senator Bob, and New Jersey Ethics" then "New Jersey Lawyers' Ethics Farce.")
Ted Sherman, "2 Courts to Sentence Solomon Dwek Today," in The Star Ledger, October 18, 2012, at p. 23. (After setting-up so many partners in crime, Mr. Dwek, asked for time off for his cooperation with the government and "civic-mindedness." No dice. Mr. Dwek has heard the call of Jehova and will become a rabbi.)
Rebecca O'Brien, "Boy, 12, Says Man in Pick-Up Tried to Lure Him: Bergenfield Suspect Resembles Sketch," in The Record, October 24, 2012, at p. L-1. (One of a continuing wave of luring and child abuse cases throughout New Jersey. "An Unpleasant Encounter With New Jersey's State Police.")
Justo Bautista, "N. Arlington Man Faces Child Sex Assault Charges," in The Record, October 10, 2012, at p. L-3. (JOHN MINERVINI, 43, one of dozens of persons charged throughout New Jersey for "procuring" or "sexual assault" on minors. Police resources may be inadequate to deal with the problem.)
Michael Linhorst, "Bank Suing Schroeder Over Loan: Complaint Says Assemblyman Owes More Than $500,000," in The Record, October 10, 2012, at p. L-3. (Scams by New Jersey Assembly member with the assistance of members of the bar, perhaps now in the judiciary." Estela De La Cruz?)
Hugh R. Morley, "Man Gets 10-Year Sentence for Fraud," in The Record, October 10, 2012, at p. L-9. (Mr. Garcia, of North Bergen, New Jersey -- connected to "Big Nicky" Sacco and Bob Menendez, allegedly -- was sentenced to 10 years inside for trying to con banks into giving him $1.5 MILLION and a venture capital firm into forking over another $2 MILLION. Was Mr. Garcia sharing? Gilberto Garcia? Ms. Kriko? Mr. Ginarte?)
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Monday, October 22, 2012
Solomon Dwek Gets 6 Years in Prison, May Become a Rabbi!
October 23, 2012 at 1:45 P.M. A poll taken immediately after the debate in New York found the following results: 87% believe that Mr. Obama won the debate; 10% believe that Mr. Romney won the debate; 3% were undecided. These results were reported on New York 1, Time/Warner, October 23, 2012 at 7:45 A.M., approximately.
I believe that Mr. Obama was, again, the clear winner of the final debate between the major parties' candidates. I am also distressed to realize that this may not matter because of the racial factor in the election. The "race" is still too close to call.
October 22, 2012 at 2:35 P.M. I attempted to sign-in at Computer #2, NYPL, Morningside Heights. That computer was disabled immediately before I could sign-in. As a result I am forced to use a temporary card and pin number. I cannot say whether I will be able to sign-in using my library card tomorrow. I will certainly try to do so. Attempts to prevent me from writing continue, every day. The chair where I sit has been damaged and cannot be raised to a normal level. (The clock in the computer room had to be re-set as it is continually altered causing persons to lose their reservations.)
Shame on you, Mr. Menendez. I am not the only person using library computers.
"6-Year Sentence for Informer in Corruption Case," in The New York Times, October 19, 2012, at p. A28. ("New Jersey Rabbi Charged With Child Abuse" and "Herbert Klitzner, Esq.'s Greed and New Jersey's Hypocrisy!" then "Neil M. Cohen, Esq. and Conduct Unbecoming to the Legislature in New Jersey.")
Ted Sherman & Josh Margolin, The Jersey Sting: Chris Christie and the Most Brazen Case of Jersey-Style Corruption -- Ever (New York: St. Martin's, 2011), pp. 229-247 ("Hudson County Hardball!").
"NEWARK (AP) -- The informer in New Jersey's biggest sting operation [Solomon Dwek, the Rabbi's Son!] was sentenced to six years in prison by a judge who ignored prosecutors' recommendations to impose a lighter term."
The "rabbi's son" has discovered religion, after setting-up fellow corrupt business persons and politicians in the Graden State. ("44 Persons Arrested in New Jersey Corruption Sting" and "Is Union City, New Jersey Meyer Lansky's Whore House?")
It has been suggested that, had Mr. Dwek continued his activities, there would have been no Democrats left unindicted in New Jersey. Among "unindicted co-conspirators" is Senator Robert ("Big Bob") Menendez, allegedly. ("Is Menendez For Sale?" and "Menendez Gets Over On the Feds!")
"The informer, Solomon Dwek, a former real estate investor, pleaded guilty in 2009 in connection with a $50 MILLION bank fraud. [Gilberto Garcia, Esq.?] After his arrest in 2006, Mr. Dwek who is 40, wore a wire for the government and implicated more than 40 defendants."
"Those prosecuted through his cooperation included [sic.] fellow Orthodox Jews, like rabbis who admitted laundering millions of dollars; a Brooklyn man who pleaded guilty to trafficking in human kidneys; and several politicians, including Mayor Peter Camarano, III of Hoboken, New Jersey."
Allegations that Chief Justice Stuart Rabner is personally "connected" (or was affiliated in some way) with these defendants are unconfirmed. ("No More Cover-Ups and Lies, Chief Justice Rabner!" and "Stuart Rabner and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey" then "So Black and So Blue in Prison" and "Richard A. Posner On Voluntary Actions and Criminal Responsibility" then "Chief Justice Rabner and the Decline of the New Jersey Supreme Court" and "New Jersey's Unethical Judiciary.")
"Mr. Dwek faced a maximum of 40 years in prison for bank fraud and money laundering." (Mr. Ramon Gonzales? Ms. Kriko? Ms. Nydia Hernandez and Lillian Munoz? Maybe Bob can help you guys out?)
"Judge Jose Linares of United States District Court praised Mr. Dwek's cooperation but declined to reduce his sentence further, because of the seriousness of his crimes."
Mr. Dwek was ordered to pay $22 million in restitution. ("Does Senator Menendez have mafia friends?" and "Is Senator Menendez a Suspect in Mafia-Political Murder in New Jersey.")
Sources:
New York & the World:
"A Prisoner's Incompetence, A Judge's Discretion," (Editorial) in The New York Times, October 15, 2012, at p. A24. (Is there a right to indefinite delay for an incompetent inmate?)
Paul Krugman, "Death by Ideology," (Op-Ed) in The New York Times, October 15, 2012, at p. A25. (Consequences of Romney/Ryan views on health care law will include deaths of persons in need of health care but unable to pay for it without Obama Care.)
Alissa J. Rubin & Taimoor Shah, "Sucide 'Inside' Attack Kills Six in Afghanistan," in The New York Times, October 16, 2012, at p. A10. (Increasing suggestions of infiltration by Taliban of Karzai government forces.)
"Names of the Dead," in The New York Times, October 16, 2012, at p. A10. (2,123 American service persons killed in Afghanistan; the number killed in Pakistan and Yemen is not known; U.S. involvement in "secret wars" in the region is not reported in American media. Hostility to the U.S. and American military forces is on the rise in Yemen, and elsewhere.)
"If Roe v. Wade Goes: Romney-Ryan Victory Could Result in Recriminalizing Abortion in Much of America," (Editorial) in The New York Times, October 16, 2012, at p. A30. (Romney/Ryan seek end of legal access to abortion for most women in the majority of instances of pregnancy.)
"Adolescents in Grown-Up Jails," (Editorial) in The New York Times, October 16, 2012, at p. A30. (Prescription for disaster.)
Michael K. Gordon, "CIA Officer Among Dead in Bombing by Afghan," in The New York Times, October 17, 2012, at p. A8. (Killings of CIA officers in a number of recent strikes -- in Afghanistan and elsewhere -- suggests they are being targeted by local intelligence agencies by means of "access" to inside information.)
"Politics and the Courts," (Editorial) in The New York Times, October 17, 2012, at p. A30. (What judicial appointments do you expect from Mr. Romney?)
"Key Suspect in 9/11 Attacks Calls U.S. the Bigger Killer," in The New York Times, October 18, 2012, at p. A22. (U.S. is accused of hiding behind an "elastic definition of security." See: "The Wanderer and His Shadow.")
"A Schizophrenic On Death Row," (Editorial) in The New York Times, October 18, 2012, at p. A32.
It had to be Florida: Issues of responsbility and cruel and unusual punishment have arisen, again, in Miami. Please see the following sources for the distinction between "awareness" and "understanding." Anthony Kenney, Freewill and Responsibility: Four Lectures (London: Routledge, 1979), pp. 69-95 and Victor Tadros, Criminal Responsibility (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), pp. 348-373. ("An agent is responsible for an action ... if that action reflects the agent qua agent ...")
The attacks and obstacles to my writing on-line make it impossible for me to know from one day to the next whether I will be able to write further. However, I will do my best to post a list of sources of disgusting corruption, incompetence, dishonesty and other ethical lapses by New Jersey's legal and political establishment in what can only be described as a catastrophically failed jurisdiction, the Garden State.
New Jersey's Absurdity:
Karen Sudol, et als., "Arrest in Fire Killing: Victim Had Worked For Suspect's Father For Years," in The Record, October 5, 2012, at p. A-1. (Questions remain unanswered in this matter which many persons continue to associate with politics and organized crime in Bergen County. The suspect is DANIEL T. ROCHAT of Woodbridge, New Jersey.)
AP, "Teachers Accused of Sex With High School Girls," in The Record, October 5, 2012, at p. A-3. (Three teachers and one administrator -- several more incidents like this have been reported all over the state -- in South Jersey high school are accused of sexual violations of minors in the state that leads the nation in child abuse and child pornography.)
Michael Linhorst, "Senate Fails to Override Port Authority Bill Veto," in The Record, October 5, 2012, at p. A-4. (P.A. cover-up, allegedly, will escape public disclosure laws in New Jersey. Overtime, boys?)
Peter J. Sampson, "Judge Tosses Suit Against FBI by ACLU: Rights Group Alleged N.J. Data Collection Amounted to Profiling," in The Record, October 5, 2012, at p. A-11. (If courts continue to turn their backs on violations of individual rights, where will the people go for justice?)
Richard Cowen, "Sex Attack Suspect Caught: Had Eluded Paterson SWAT Unit," in The Record, October 5, 2012, at p. L-1. (RAFAEL VELEZ, 42, alleged Bob Menendez supporter, and accused child molester apprehended in Newark. "Is Menendez For Sale?" and "New Jersey's Child Sex Industry.")
Harvey Lipman, "Agency to Lose Part of Funding: Payments for Ex-Chief Rejected," in The Record, October 5, 2012, at p. L-1. (Agency loses $900,000 in funding after allegations of corruption surrounding a "retirement nest egg to its former executive director and other 'disallowed' uses ..." Evidently, a swimming pool installed in someone's home may not be in the "public interest.")
William Lamb, "Clifton Man Arrested On Child Porn Charges," in The Record, October 5, 2012, at p. L-7. (PELLEGRINO -- 'BILL' -- CIRASUOLO, 59, who works at Newark airport, an alleged "associate" of Diana Lisa Riccioli, was arrested and charged with possessing and distributing" child porn. The amounts involved and the airport location suggest that this person is part of a continuing and statewide investigation into massive child porn creation and distribution networks based in New Jersey.)
John Petrick, "Criminal Trial Postponed for 'Housewives' Husband," in The Record, October 5, 2012, at p. L-7. (GIUSEPPE -- 'JOE' -- GIUDICE, a.k.a. "Little Joe," facing criminal trial denies mafia affiliations or knowing Diana Lisa Riccioli. Ironically, this man's name means "judge." Ms. Riccioli "don't know from nothing.")
"Judicial Actions: Mandatory Sentences Too Restrictive," (Editorial) in The Record, October 9, 2012, at p. A-8. (New mandatory sentence of 25 years for child molesters will be meaningless in a state where members of the judiciary are linked to organized crime figures and controlled by political mob bosses: "Stuart Rabner and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey" and "Mafia Influence in New Jersey Courts and Politics" then "Judges Protect Child Molesters in Bayonne, New Jersey" and "Superior Court Judge is a Child Molester" and "New Jersey Welcomes Child Molesters!" then "New Jersey's Child Abuse Epidemic" and "Jennifer Velez is a Dyke Magnet!" and "Does Senator Menendez have mafia friends?")
I believe that Mr. Obama was, again, the clear winner of the final debate between the major parties' candidates. I am also distressed to realize that this may not matter because of the racial factor in the election. The "race" is still too close to call.
October 22, 2012 at 2:35 P.M. I attempted to sign-in at Computer #2, NYPL, Morningside Heights. That computer was disabled immediately before I could sign-in. As a result I am forced to use a temporary card and pin number. I cannot say whether I will be able to sign-in using my library card tomorrow. I will certainly try to do so. Attempts to prevent me from writing continue, every day. The chair where I sit has been damaged and cannot be raised to a normal level. (The clock in the computer room had to be re-set as it is continually altered causing persons to lose their reservations.)
Shame on you, Mr. Menendez. I am not the only person using library computers.
"6-Year Sentence for Informer in Corruption Case," in The New York Times, October 19, 2012, at p. A28. ("New Jersey Rabbi Charged With Child Abuse" and "Herbert Klitzner, Esq.'s Greed and New Jersey's Hypocrisy!" then "Neil M. Cohen, Esq. and Conduct Unbecoming to the Legislature in New Jersey.")
Ted Sherman & Josh Margolin, The Jersey Sting: Chris Christie and the Most Brazen Case of Jersey-Style Corruption -- Ever (New York: St. Martin's, 2011), pp. 229-247 ("Hudson County Hardball!").
"NEWARK (AP) -- The informer in New Jersey's biggest sting operation [Solomon Dwek, the Rabbi's Son!] was sentenced to six years in prison by a judge who ignored prosecutors' recommendations to impose a lighter term."
The "rabbi's son" has discovered religion, after setting-up fellow corrupt business persons and politicians in the Graden State. ("44 Persons Arrested in New Jersey Corruption Sting" and "Is Union City, New Jersey Meyer Lansky's Whore House?")
It has been suggested that, had Mr. Dwek continued his activities, there would have been no Democrats left unindicted in New Jersey. Among "unindicted co-conspirators" is Senator Robert ("Big Bob") Menendez, allegedly. ("Is Menendez For Sale?" and "Menendez Gets Over On the Feds!")
"The informer, Solomon Dwek, a former real estate investor, pleaded guilty in 2009 in connection with a $50 MILLION bank fraud. [Gilberto Garcia, Esq.?] After his arrest in 2006, Mr. Dwek who is 40, wore a wire for the government and implicated more than 40 defendants."
"Those prosecuted through his cooperation included [sic.] fellow Orthodox Jews, like rabbis who admitted laundering millions of dollars; a Brooklyn man who pleaded guilty to trafficking in human kidneys; and several politicians, including Mayor Peter Camarano, III of Hoboken, New Jersey."
Allegations that Chief Justice Stuart Rabner is personally "connected" (or was affiliated in some way) with these defendants are unconfirmed. ("No More Cover-Ups and Lies, Chief Justice Rabner!" and "Stuart Rabner and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey" then "So Black and So Blue in Prison" and "Richard A. Posner On Voluntary Actions and Criminal Responsibility" then "Chief Justice Rabner and the Decline of the New Jersey Supreme Court" and "New Jersey's Unethical Judiciary.")
"Mr. Dwek faced a maximum of 40 years in prison for bank fraud and money laundering." (Mr. Ramon Gonzales? Ms. Kriko? Ms. Nydia Hernandez and Lillian Munoz? Maybe Bob can help you guys out?)
"Judge Jose Linares of United States District Court praised Mr. Dwek's cooperation but declined to reduce his sentence further, because of the seriousness of his crimes."
Mr. Dwek was ordered to pay $22 million in restitution. ("Does Senator Menendez have mafia friends?" and "Is Senator Menendez a Suspect in Mafia-Political Murder in New Jersey.")
Sources:
New York & the World:
"A Prisoner's Incompetence, A Judge's Discretion," (Editorial) in The New York Times, October 15, 2012, at p. A24. (Is there a right to indefinite delay for an incompetent inmate?)
Paul Krugman, "Death by Ideology," (Op-Ed) in The New York Times, October 15, 2012, at p. A25. (Consequences of Romney/Ryan views on health care law will include deaths of persons in need of health care but unable to pay for it without Obama Care.)
Alissa J. Rubin & Taimoor Shah, "Sucide 'Inside' Attack Kills Six in Afghanistan," in The New York Times, October 16, 2012, at p. A10. (Increasing suggestions of infiltration by Taliban of Karzai government forces.)
"Names of the Dead," in The New York Times, October 16, 2012, at p. A10. (2,123 American service persons killed in Afghanistan; the number killed in Pakistan and Yemen is not known; U.S. involvement in "secret wars" in the region is not reported in American media. Hostility to the U.S. and American military forces is on the rise in Yemen, and elsewhere.)
"If Roe v. Wade Goes: Romney-Ryan Victory Could Result in Recriminalizing Abortion in Much of America," (Editorial) in The New York Times, October 16, 2012, at p. A30. (Romney/Ryan seek end of legal access to abortion for most women in the majority of instances of pregnancy.)
"Adolescents in Grown-Up Jails," (Editorial) in The New York Times, October 16, 2012, at p. A30. (Prescription for disaster.)
Michael K. Gordon, "CIA Officer Among Dead in Bombing by Afghan," in The New York Times, October 17, 2012, at p. A8. (Killings of CIA officers in a number of recent strikes -- in Afghanistan and elsewhere -- suggests they are being targeted by local intelligence agencies by means of "access" to inside information.)
"Politics and the Courts," (Editorial) in The New York Times, October 17, 2012, at p. A30. (What judicial appointments do you expect from Mr. Romney?)
"Key Suspect in 9/11 Attacks Calls U.S. the Bigger Killer," in The New York Times, October 18, 2012, at p. A22. (U.S. is accused of hiding behind an "elastic definition of security." See: "The Wanderer and His Shadow.")
"A Schizophrenic On Death Row," (Editorial) in The New York Times, October 18, 2012, at p. A32.
It had to be Florida: Issues of responsbility and cruel and unusual punishment have arisen, again, in Miami. Please see the following sources for the distinction between "awareness" and "understanding." Anthony Kenney, Freewill and Responsibility: Four Lectures (London: Routledge, 1979), pp. 69-95 and Victor Tadros, Criminal Responsibility (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), pp. 348-373. ("An agent is responsible for an action ... if that action reflects the agent qua agent ...")
The attacks and obstacles to my writing on-line make it impossible for me to know from one day to the next whether I will be able to write further. However, I will do my best to post a list of sources of disgusting corruption, incompetence, dishonesty and other ethical lapses by New Jersey's legal and political establishment in what can only be described as a catastrophically failed jurisdiction, the Garden State.
New Jersey's Absurdity:
Karen Sudol, et als., "Arrest in Fire Killing: Victim Had Worked For Suspect's Father For Years," in The Record, October 5, 2012, at p. A-1. (Questions remain unanswered in this matter which many persons continue to associate with politics and organized crime in Bergen County. The suspect is DANIEL T. ROCHAT of Woodbridge, New Jersey.)
AP, "Teachers Accused of Sex With High School Girls," in The Record, October 5, 2012, at p. A-3. (Three teachers and one administrator -- several more incidents like this have been reported all over the state -- in South Jersey high school are accused of sexual violations of minors in the state that leads the nation in child abuse and child pornography.)
Michael Linhorst, "Senate Fails to Override Port Authority Bill Veto," in The Record, October 5, 2012, at p. A-4. (P.A. cover-up, allegedly, will escape public disclosure laws in New Jersey. Overtime, boys?)
Peter J. Sampson, "Judge Tosses Suit Against FBI by ACLU: Rights Group Alleged N.J. Data Collection Amounted to Profiling," in The Record, October 5, 2012, at p. A-11. (If courts continue to turn their backs on violations of individual rights, where will the people go for justice?)
Richard Cowen, "Sex Attack Suspect Caught: Had Eluded Paterson SWAT Unit," in The Record, October 5, 2012, at p. L-1. (RAFAEL VELEZ, 42, alleged Bob Menendez supporter, and accused child molester apprehended in Newark. "Is Menendez For Sale?" and "New Jersey's Child Sex Industry.")
Harvey Lipman, "Agency to Lose Part of Funding: Payments for Ex-Chief Rejected," in The Record, October 5, 2012, at p. L-1. (Agency loses $900,000 in funding after allegations of corruption surrounding a "retirement nest egg to its former executive director and other 'disallowed' uses ..." Evidently, a swimming pool installed in someone's home may not be in the "public interest.")
William Lamb, "Clifton Man Arrested On Child Porn Charges," in The Record, October 5, 2012, at p. L-7. (PELLEGRINO -- 'BILL' -- CIRASUOLO, 59, who works at Newark airport, an alleged "associate" of Diana Lisa Riccioli, was arrested and charged with possessing and distributing" child porn. The amounts involved and the airport location suggest that this person is part of a continuing and statewide investigation into massive child porn creation and distribution networks based in New Jersey.)
John Petrick, "Criminal Trial Postponed for 'Housewives' Husband," in The Record, October 5, 2012, at p. L-7. (GIUSEPPE -- 'JOE' -- GIUDICE, a.k.a. "Little Joe," facing criminal trial denies mafia affiliations or knowing Diana Lisa Riccioli. Ironically, this man's name means "judge." Ms. Riccioli "don't know from nothing.")
"Judicial Actions: Mandatory Sentences Too Restrictive," (Editorial) in The Record, October 9, 2012, at p. A-8. (New mandatory sentence of 25 years for child molesters will be meaningless in a state where members of the judiciary are linked to organized crime figures and controlled by political mob bosses: "Stuart Rabner and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey" and "Mafia Influence in New Jersey Courts and Politics" then "Judges Protect Child Molesters in Bayonne, New Jersey" and "Superior Court Judge is a Child Molester" and "New Jersey Welcomes Child Molesters!" then "New Jersey's Child Abuse Epidemic" and "Jennifer Velez is a Dyke Magnet!" and "Does Senator Menendez have mafia friends?")
Friday, October 19, 2012
"Total Recall": A Movie Review.
December 24, 2012 at 12:25 P.M. I have seen "Total Recall" on pay-per-view. I liked it more the second time. However, I feel no need to alter my review -- nor any of my opinions -- in any important way. I will continue to write.
October 24, 2012 at 3:10 P.M. Spacing between some letters has been altered in a way that I cannot repair. I trust that this will not affect the reading of this text. I infer that this is more hostility from New Jersey's hackers.
A.O.Scott, "Even in the Future, It's Not Paranoia if They're Out to Get You," in The New York Times, August 9, 2012, at p. C9. (Terrible.)
"Total Recall" (Columbia Pictures, 2012): DIRECTOR: Len Wiseman; WRITTEN BY: Kurt Wimmer and Mark Bomback; INSPIRED BY: Philip K. Dick's "We Can Remember it For You Wholesale"; CINEMATOGRAPHER: Paul Cameron (bravo!); STARRING: Colin Farrel (Douglas Quaid/Hauser); Kate Beckingsale (Lori Quaid); Jessica Biel (Melina); Bryan Cranston (Cohagen); Bokeem Woodbine (Harry); John Cho (McClane); Bill Nighy (Mathias).
Mark Rowlands, "'Total Recall' and 'The Sixth Day': The Problem of Personal Identity," in Philosophy Explained Through Science Fiction (New York: St. Martin's Press, 2003), pp. 87-120.
Mark Rowlands, Everything I Know I Learned From T.V.: Philosophy For the Unrepentant Couch Potato (London: Ebury Press, 2005), pp. 1-27.
Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination (London: Heineman, 1974).
F.H. Bradley, "Some Remarks On Memory and Inference," in Essays On Truth and Reality (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1914), pp. 353-380.
G.E.M. Anscombe, Collected Philosophical Papers, Volume II: Metaphysics and the Philosophy of Mind (Minn.: University of Minnesota Press, 1981), pp. 103-133 ("On Memory").
Introduction: "I recognize you from my dreams!"
Arnold Schwartzenegger was "successful" in the Paul Verhoeven version of Total Recall (1990) as Quaid/Houser. The focus of that earlier film, however, was on the "memory criterion" of personal identity. Mr. Verhoeven's film touched only lightly on the more disturbing counter-cultural or political themes of the Philip K. Dick short story.
Mr. Dick's dark and ominous concerns with the omnipresence of state power, loss of privacy, psychological manipulations and torture, together with his doubts about the nature of "reality" and/or the metaphysics of power in relation to identity, are not easily translated to cinema. Compare Mark Poster, Foucault, Marxism, History: Mode of Production Versus Mode of Information (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1984), pp. 95-135 with Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish (New York: Vintage, 1979), pp. 170-195.
As the essential embodiment of the postmodern sensibility, Mr. Dick's often poorly-written stories are so loaded with ideas that are characteristic of our times that directors cannot resist the urge to bring his work to the screen. Philip K. Dick's, "Drugs, Hallucinations, and the Quest for Reality," in Lawrence Sutin, ed., The Shifting Realities of Philip K. Dick (New York: Pantheon, 1995), pp. 170-171. ("'Inception': A Movie Review" and "'The Matrix': A Movie Review.")
Orwellian suspicions surrounding manipulations of collective memory (history) have led to doubts about the ways in which all of us, as individuals, are altered through the constant reshaping of the meanings of our memories by powerful forces in society seeking not only to control us, but to enlist our energies in efforts to control others and "constitute" our world(s). ("'The Adjustment Bureau': A Movie Review" and "'Unknown': A Movie Review.")
I was amused to notice that, immediately after the first presidential debate between Mr. Obama and Mr. Romney, viewers concluded that the discussion was "about even and very dull." After the shouting heads proclaimed Mr. Romney the winner, the same persons "remembered" that Mr. Romney had done much better in the debate. ("Presidential Debates" and soon: "What is Memory?")
If the world of human meanings is merely an "elaborate fiction" (Baudrillard/Derrida), then our roles as well as the thematic lines of the narratives that we call our "life-stories," or remembered lives, may be reinvented all the time not by ourselves but in accordance with the wishes of power (by which I do not mean simply the state). ("Conversation on a Train.")
Much of the so-called "problematic of memory" has been explored by the thinkers of the Frankfurt School from a political direction through a celebrated fusion of Freud with Marx:
"If we turn our attention to analysing symbolic forms [art] in the context of mass communications [movies] we must confront a new range of methodological problems. These problems stem primarily from the fact, noted earlier, that mass communication institutes a fundamental break between the production and reception of symbolic forms. ... the depth hermeneutical approach, which I develop as a general framework for cultural analysis, can be adapted to the analysis of ideology. ..."
John B. Thompson, "Introduction," Ideology and Modern Culture (Stanford: Stanford U. Press, 1990), p. 22 (emphasis added). Please see also Juan Galis-Menendez, Paul Ricoeur and the Hermeneutics of Freedom (North Carolina: Lulu, 2004).
If your memories and the meanings of your life's journey is for the government or, say, Hollywood to decide (ideology), then you'll become a mere puppet or robot, a minor actor moved about by a director and writer working from behind the scenes to create the "drama" that is your life. Allegedly, ideology or political programing hidden in everything from t.v. commercials to newscasts, seemingly invisible on the surface of these texts, operating on your subconscious perceptions, determines what you "remember" happening or seeing in the "real" world. The government will remember things for you.
Who won the first presidential debate between Obama and Romney? See Andre Gorz, "The Condition of Post-Marxist Man," in Thomas Doherty, ed., Postmodernism: A Reader (New York: Columbia U. Press, 1993), p. 344 and Terry Eagleton, "Discourse and Ideology," in Ideology (Oxford: Blackwell, 1991), pp. 193-221. ("Antonio Gramsci and Hegemony.")
The ultimate form of dehumanization is total coopting or draining of authenticity for persons transformed into the fools of government agencies or corporations -- persons made into role-players, as I say, in "plots" not of their making that are designed to effectuate their own exploitation.
What is "real" or what is "really happening" is whatever we are told by television stations and other media is the case. Original thought and interpretation is discouraged. The larger narratives in which we find ourselves placed, where we hope to discover our meanings, for most people in contemporary America and (probably) in many other First World states are derived exclusively from movies and television.
History in postmodernist cultures becomes the repackaged recollections of times or events we seem to have lived through and sort of "recall," but which we have understood very differently than our leaders and which are, therefore, reinterpreted so as to be made consistent with official narratives of "our" story. In other words, we must be MADE to see things as our leaders see them as a matter of being "normal."
There is simply nothing more that one can be in postmodernist America than "normal." Luckily, there is little chance that I will be so described. Our biographies are associated with films that coincide with historical events occuring during those years we have "experienced" together that can then be connected to items we may purchase on-line: Batman underwear, James Bond t-shirts, "Total Recall" posters -- all are available on-line for a small price.
Useful sources on these issues include Christopher Norris, "Foucault, Descartes and the Crisis of Reason," in Derrida (Cambridge: Harvard U. Press, 1987), pp. 213-224 and Christopher Norris, "Getting at Truth: Genealogy, Critique and Postmodern Skepticism," in The Truth About Postmodernism (Oxford: Blackwell, 1993), pp. 257-305 then Douglas Knellner, "Simulation, Hyperreality and Implosion," in Jean Baudrillard: From Marxism to Postmodernism and Beyond (Stanford: Stanford U. Press, 1989), pp. 76-84.
We live in comfy prison cells -- like Mr. Quaid's apartment in the movie -- that resemble the settings of our favorite sit-coms or movie adventures.
This raises the question: What is memory? How can memories be so easily manipulated? Does postmodernist culture necessarily involve the invasion of a "subjectivity" we are told does not exist? Why is it convenient for powerful forces in America that the vast bulk of the population is kept "fat, dumb, and happy"?
I. "Even the best illusion is still not real."
If memory may be defined for the moment as "the mind's embodiment of form" and if personality is essentially concerned with how and what we remember as real, then the meanings of our experiences in the story that we tell ourselves of our lives, the ability to transform the point of our memories, is also the power to remake ourselves.
We are -- and can only be -- who we remember ourselves to be. Our remembered narratives explain our intended destinations, intentions, purposes which alone constitute our meanings. Hence, to surrender our memories (in part or totally), through access to the subconscious by way of hypnosis or other violent and unwelcome invasions, is to give up our humanity. This we must never do.
In a media culture cinema becomes the collective memory of a people. Movie screens are the cave wall in which we tell our story of the hunt. Hollywood, like "Total Recall," sells you the memory of adventures "lived" through surrogates in virtual spaces. We can remember it for you wholesale.
This brings us to the plot of this remake which surpasses the original on which it is based.
Colin Farrel is "Douglas Quaid," a factory worker and Walter Mitty-like everyman who will turn out to be a superspy (Houser) involved in an international revolutionary effort to defeat an oppressive military authority controlled by a character bearing a striking resemblance to Mr. Romney.
The movie must have been written during the reign of the Bush/Cheney junta. Real world politics is gestured at in the story that focuses on the metaphysics of power and the vague alternative presented by Bill Nighy, as an Oxbridge version of Che Guevara. Mr. Nighy's character seems to be based on Simon Blackburn mixed with Che. The crux of this issue of identity for the revolutionary leader is how one interprets one's memories now, at this instant of struggle, as a form of commitment. Mathias has been reading Sartre. ("'Che': A Movie Review" and "Time to End the Embargo Against Cuba.")
Mr. Quaid lives in a book-filled home with a beautiful wife, Lori Quaid, played by Kate Beckingsale ("real world" wife of director Len Wiseman). Mr. Farrel provides his best performance on screen as the "stuck-in-a-rut" would-be adventurer and action hero not unlike the vast majority of men in the audience ready for international mystery before their second "Super-Combo." One must earn a second "Super-Combo."
For those who have recently awoken from a coma, a "Super-Combo" is an extra-large dose of popcorn, massive bubbly drink, and one candy item (twizzlers in my case, M&Ms in yours, perhaps).
Is Quaid/Houser "really" made into an agent of conformity even as he believes himself to be a revolutionary? Can our most anti-authoritarian beliefs and actions really be generated by the forces of pacification as yet another mechanism of control? Is it a coincidence that Levis/Coke-Cola manufacture and sell millions of "Che Guevara" t-shirts? Have these massive international corporations become "socialists" or are they just making a buck exploiting young people's radical politics?
Quaid/Houser will discover that his revolutionary efforts have been "scripted" to serve authoritarian purposes. Unless this is all the false memory of an adventure sold to our hero by "Total Recall" as, indeed, the movie's "virtual reality" and simulacra have been sold to audience members, like me.
Is Hollywood "Total Recall"? This is deep, man. The point being that we cannot know for sure. All of which confirms the argument of postmodernist theorists defining our time as an era of inescapable skepticism, suspicion, and doubt as to the very nature of reality. Pass me the popcorn. ("Jacques Derrida's Philosophy as Jazz.")
Lori Quaid will turn out to be an informer for the evil totalitarian authorities. Women. You can't trust them. On the other hand, her mirror-image and fellow mega-babe, "Melina" (played by Jessica Biel), is awesome in tight black leather pants and does some amazing Kung Fu moves. The bitch/babe thing is definitely "hot and happening" in this movie.
In America's national security state, it is increasingly difficult to trust anyone or to establish clear boundaries between public/private in terms of the scope of the law. Techniques of interrogational hypnosis and other forms of manipulation and psychological torture are based on invasion of the psyche for so-called "public purposes" or security reasons. But then, what is not a public purpose? ("Psychological Torture in the American Legal System.")
The absurd or even ridiculous amount of spying on citizens done by the U.S. government has fostered hostilities and paranoia among various ethnic and racial groups. We are lied to so often by politicians and judges as well as corporations and media that "truth" (reality) is almost impossible to recognize or believe anymore. ("Have you no shame, Mr. Rabner?" and "What did you know, Mr. Rabner, and when did you know it?")
Who is Douglas Quaid at each stage in the cinematic story is a function of who he remembers himself to be and what he takes to be his "project." The film dramatizes -- by fragmenting -- the "memory criterion" of identity in metaphysics, but then suggests that memory is now contested territory, something primarily social and not exclusively individual.
Your mind has become a Derridean "text" without an objective or external referent. This makes it ideal for manipulation through alterations by powerful forces that intend to control you or just to sell you something. ("Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Missing Author.")
Mr. Quaid is told about "Total Recall" where he can purchase a vacation not from any one particular place to another, but from himself, that is, a vacation from his every day identity as "Douglas Quaid" into another self or identity as a spy. The fiction that is Quaid's "real" identity can be traded-in for another fiction, "Houser," where the individual is an entirely different person, a James Bond-like "superspy" saving the world.
I noticed posters advertising the forthcoming James Bond adventure Skyfall in the very same theater where I saw "Total Recall." I realize that the men in the audience -- I saw the movie with an almost totally male audience -- are the "real" Douglas Quaids taking a psychological "Club Med" vacation for two hours in that air-conditioned movie theater.
It also becomes clear that my need to place the word "real" in quotation marks is the deepest philosophical point of Mr. Wiseman's movie.
Care for a Che Guevara t-shirt? The same people making the James Bond merchandise will sell you items with Che's picture on them ($20.95 for the shirt!), including lunch boxes and kid's clothes featuring the revolutionary hero for your politically-aware nine year-old. Only in the "People's Republic of Manhattan" can I purchase a Noam Chomsky t-shirt for my toddler and another for myself.
A huge bust of the Buddha is seen illustrating "the world is an illusion" insights drawn from Asian religions and transformed into Hollywood smoke-and-mirrors. Mr. Farrel's Quaid says: "Even the best illusion is still not real."
Moments later the men in the audience were ducking the bullets being fired in the movie. The audience member shelling out $15.50 to see the movie is invited to identify with the protagonist -- you almost cannot help doing so -- in a "modest factory job."
The desire for adventure, being at the center of world events and fought over by two beautiful women -- Lori and Melina -- with a guarantee that justice and women in tight leather pants will win in the end (as they often do in life) is simply irresistible for a generation of men whose adventures play out at desks in corporate cubicles or university libraries. This is life as it should be. I do not know whether I can relate to any of this as I lead a safe and dull existence.
The First World versus Third World dynamics, 1% versus 99% divide, is signalled for audience members by the hero's journey from proletarian dullness to First World splendor, as a feature of his daily commute, undertaken as he reads a battered copy of "Casino Royale." An hommage to Ian Fleming's creation is placed at several key points in the movie.
More interestingly, a Hitchcockian "babe-is-also-the-bitch" thing is happening throughout the movie. Should Ms. Beckingsale worry about this? No, Mr. Wiseman should worry. Never trust a beautiful woman in post-feminist America. Hollywood is reflecting male anxieties/fantasies which are often related. Lori and Melina are obviously the same woman.
Does power corrupt sexual relations? Is power ever entirely absent from the male/female dialectic? Will women in the future always be on top? Let us pause to consider these issues.
The look of the film is classic "Tech-Noir" establishing a relationship with predecessors from "Blade Runner" to "Terminator" to "The Matrix" and Mr. Nolan's "Inception." Action sequences are far from "pointless," Ms. Scott, but are deliberately created to mirror "Disney-like" rides. The violence is cartoon violence because the director does not wish to mar your delight by evoking concern for the pain of characters on screen. "They're not REAL," he says.
II. "I give great wife."
Political ironies in the movie were undetected by the Times reviewer, who failed to realize that the plot device suggesting the earth's devastation after chemical warfare resulting in a division between the planet's wealthy northern hemisphere and poor southern hemisphere, mirrored the tensions between the two women contending either for the hero's destruction or salvation. One woman (Lori) is on the side of exploiters; the other (Melina) is on the side of revolutionaries and freedom fighters. Archetypes of feminine power represent the various forces in our world for Mr. Wiseman.
Chancellor Cohagen (Bryan Cranston of AMC's "Breaking Bad") does a respectable Mitt Romney impersonation, by embodying the greedy few, while Bill Nighy's character symbolizes hope for "change we can believe in." The ultimate resource for which the sides are contending is not oil or coal, but the power to define "reality." Who won the presidential debate? ("And Now, A Word From Our Sponsor ...")
Aside from the political sub-text, there is Mr. Wiseman's fascination with women's puzzling and annoying duality. ("They love you then they hate you!")
The deepest point about the action and fun on-screen concerns the fun itself. Is it real? Or is it make-believe? Is she real or is she a fantasy that she thinks I want or expect? ("I recognize you from my dreams!")
No one can answer such questions.
Media cotton candy is celebrated even as serious questions are raised about the role of Hollywood in the system of oppressions by which we are kept in our places. See Jacques Derrida, Of Grammatology (Baltimore: John Hopkins, 1976), (G. Spivak, trans.) then Hal Foster, Recodings: Art, Spectacle, Cultural Politics (Wash.: Bay Press, 1985), "deconstruction" versus "anti-aesthetics."
Mr. Farrel is at his best as action hero and everyman, bringing humor and modesty along with a sense of plausibility to this imaginative script and to his role. If there is a combination in this character of Harrison Ford and Woody Allen, then Mr. Farrel is it. Quaid/Houser is Walter Mitty enthralled by the dazzling adventure, like the rest of us, but never late for his job.
Ms. Beckingsale prefers to be evil these days. (Marriage?) Ms. Biel is among the most glamorous actresses in tinsel-land who manages to convey a "happy-to-go-to-the-football" game quality that is the secret of the girlfriend appeal that makes for a lasting career in movies. I must say that the movie seems pretty "realistic" to me. Both women look great with their hair messed-up and no makeup. Care for a twizzler? ("'In Time': A Movie Review.")
"I give great wife!" Lori Quaid responds when confronted by Quaid/Houser with their "real" intimacy. Who can doubt this claim? Evidently, women find it much easier than men to separate the physical side of relationships from their deepest emotions. This movie shows remarkable wisdom and understanding of human relationships on the part of Mr. Wiseman.
More seriously, as 9/11 taught us and Mr. Farrel understands, it is not big muscle men who are often called upon to perform heroically. Ordinary men and women may find themselves doing amazing things out of necessity. One way that people find it possible to do such amazing things is by allowing imagination, through the catharsis of art, to inspire them to achieve what may otherwise be impossible.
This is Mr. Wiseman's subtle suggestion on the reality question. We often make the impossible very possible and real -- because we have to. This may be the most American insight in this movie that goes a long way toward explaining trips to the moon and other "miracles" that allow us to feel confident that America can never be counted out of any struggle for greatness.
It is also encouraging that our bookish hero makes it O.K. for young men in the audience to read, even suggesting that the man with a book in his hands often gets the babe. Women need little encouragement to read. Most serious readers in America are women. It is important to recall, gentlemen, that there are some women who are also interested in our minds.
Conclusion: "I'd like to be a spy!"
Our memories and their meanings are personal, not public spaces subject to invasion by the state. We must struggle to make this clear to government and corporations alike. Subconscious minds must not become territory for advertisements and manipulations -- whether political or commercial messages -- aimed at controlling us. Subliminal messages are now everywhere -- often communicating the opposite of what may be intended by those responsible for them.
At the conclusion of the film, after all the thrills and spills, we realize that by means of Quaid/Houser we have once again "saved the world" from the comfort of our movie seats.
Mr. Farrel manages to convey the impression that he is sitting next to you in the movie theater as well as acting on-screen and will join you when you come to see the Bond film. We have earned the gratitude of the babes in our lives and yet another "Super-Combo."
We'll have to see this movie again on pay-per view. Mr. Wiseman is on the side of revolution and social justice (for a small fee) and of us "regular guys" with whom he identifies. Like most "ordinary guys," Mr. Wiseman enjoys going to the movies.
The struggle for memory is an everyday reality for many persons -- including quite a few working class heros home from the war in Afghanistan suffering from traumatic brain injuries -- to whom this movie should be dedicated. We join you in the struggle for memory and healing.
With insistence on freedom comes the certainty that memories can never be taken from us, but only enriched and "represented' in the screen adventures we are asked to share. My memories are also my freedom:
"Any type of amnesia," Ian Hacking writes, "results in something being stolen from oneself; how much worse if it is replaced by deceptive memories, a nonself."
Rewriting the Soul: Multiple Personality and the Sciences of Memory (New Jersey: Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995), p. 264.
October 24, 2012 at 3:10 P.M. Spacing between some letters has been altered in a way that I cannot repair. I trust that this will not affect the reading of this text. I infer that this is more hostility from New Jersey's hackers.
A.O.Scott, "Even in the Future, It's Not Paranoia if They're Out to Get You," in The New York Times, August 9, 2012, at p. C9. (Terrible.)
"Total Recall" (Columbia Pictures, 2012): DIRECTOR: Len Wiseman; WRITTEN BY: Kurt Wimmer and Mark Bomback; INSPIRED BY: Philip K. Dick's "We Can Remember it For You Wholesale"; CINEMATOGRAPHER: Paul Cameron (bravo!); STARRING: Colin Farrel (Douglas Quaid/Hauser); Kate Beckingsale (Lori Quaid); Jessica Biel (Melina); Bryan Cranston (Cohagen); Bokeem Woodbine (Harry); John Cho (McClane); Bill Nighy (Mathias).
Mark Rowlands, "'Total Recall' and 'The Sixth Day': The Problem of Personal Identity," in Philosophy Explained Through Science Fiction (New York: St. Martin's Press, 2003), pp. 87-120.
Mark Rowlands, Everything I Know I Learned From T.V.: Philosophy For the Unrepentant Couch Potato (London: Ebury Press, 2005), pp. 1-27.
Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination (London: Heineman, 1974).
F.H. Bradley, "Some Remarks On Memory and Inference," in Essays On Truth and Reality (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1914), pp. 353-380.
G.E.M. Anscombe, Collected Philosophical Papers, Volume II: Metaphysics and the Philosophy of Mind (Minn.: University of Minnesota Press, 1981), pp. 103-133 ("On Memory").
Introduction: "I recognize you from my dreams!"
Arnold Schwartzenegger was "successful" in the Paul Verhoeven version of Total Recall (1990) as Quaid/Houser. The focus of that earlier film, however, was on the "memory criterion" of personal identity. Mr. Verhoeven's film touched only lightly on the more disturbing counter-cultural or political themes of the Philip K. Dick short story.
Mr. Dick's dark and ominous concerns with the omnipresence of state power, loss of privacy, psychological manipulations and torture, together with his doubts about the nature of "reality" and/or the metaphysics of power in relation to identity, are not easily translated to cinema. Compare Mark Poster, Foucault, Marxism, History: Mode of Production Versus Mode of Information (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1984), pp. 95-135 with Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish (New York: Vintage, 1979), pp. 170-195.
As the essential embodiment of the postmodern sensibility, Mr. Dick's often poorly-written stories are so loaded with ideas that are characteristic of our times that directors cannot resist the urge to bring his work to the screen. Philip K. Dick's, "Drugs, Hallucinations, and the Quest for Reality," in Lawrence Sutin, ed., The Shifting Realities of Philip K. Dick (New York: Pantheon, 1995), pp. 170-171. ("'Inception': A Movie Review" and "'The Matrix': A Movie Review.")
Orwellian suspicions surrounding manipulations of collective memory (history) have led to doubts about the ways in which all of us, as individuals, are altered through the constant reshaping of the meanings of our memories by powerful forces in society seeking not only to control us, but to enlist our energies in efforts to control others and "constitute" our world(s). ("'The Adjustment Bureau': A Movie Review" and "'Unknown': A Movie Review.")
I was amused to notice that, immediately after the first presidential debate between Mr. Obama and Mr. Romney, viewers concluded that the discussion was "about even and very dull." After the shouting heads proclaimed Mr. Romney the winner, the same persons "remembered" that Mr. Romney had done much better in the debate. ("Presidential Debates" and soon: "What is Memory?")
If the world of human meanings is merely an "elaborate fiction" (Baudrillard/Derrida), then our roles as well as the thematic lines of the narratives that we call our "life-stories," or remembered lives, may be reinvented all the time not by ourselves but in accordance with the wishes of power (by which I do not mean simply the state). ("Conversation on a Train.")
Much of the so-called "problematic of memory" has been explored by the thinkers of the Frankfurt School from a political direction through a celebrated fusion of Freud with Marx:
"If we turn our attention to analysing symbolic forms [art] in the context of mass communications [movies] we must confront a new range of methodological problems. These problems stem primarily from the fact, noted earlier, that mass communication institutes a fundamental break between the production and reception of symbolic forms. ... the depth hermeneutical approach, which I develop as a general framework for cultural analysis, can be adapted to the analysis of ideology. ..."
John B. Thompson, "Introduction," Ideology and Modern Culture (Stanford: Stanford U. Press, 1990), p. 22 (emphasis added). Please see also Juan Galis-Menendez, Paul Ricoeur and the Hermeneutics of Freedom (North Carolina: Lulu, 2004).
If your memories and the meanings of your life's journey is for the government or, say, Hollywood to decide (ideology), then you'll become a mere puppet or robot, a minor actor moved about by a director and writer working from behind the scenes to create the "drama" that is your life. Allegedly, ideology or political programing hidden in everything from t.v. commercials to newscasts, seemingly invisible on the surface of these texts, operating on your subconscious perceptions, determines what you "remember" happening or seeing in the "real" world. The government will remember things for you.
Who won the first presidential debate between Obama and Romney? See Andre Gorz, "The Condition of Post-Marxist Man," in Thomas Doherty, ed., Postmodernism: A Reader (New York: Columbia U. Press, 1993), p. 344 and Terry Eagleton, "Discourse and Ideology," in Ideology (Oxford: Blackwell, 1991), pp. 193-221. ("Antonio Gramsci and Hegemony.")
The ultimate form of dehumanization is total coopting or draining of authenticity for persons transformed into the fools of government agencies or corporations -- persons made into role-players, as I say, in "plots" not of their making that are designed to effectuate their own exploitation.
What is "real" or what is "really happening" is whatever we are told by television stations and other media is the case. Original thought and interpretation is discouraged. The larger narratives in which we find ourselves placed, where we hope to discover our meanings, for most people in contemporary America and (probably) in many other First World states are derived exclusively from movies and television.
History in postmodernist cultures becomes the repackaged recollections of times or events we seem to have lived through and sort of "recall," but which we have understood very differently than our leaders and which are, therefore, reinterpreted so as to be made consistent with official narratives of "our" story. In other words, we must be MADE to see things as our leaders see them as a matter of being "normal."
There is simply nothing more that one can be in postmodernist America than "normal." Luckily, there is little chance that I will be so described. Our biographies are associated with films that coincide with historical events occuring during those years we have "experienced" together that can then be connected to items we may purchase on-line: Batman underwear, James Bond t-shirts, "Total Recall" posters -- all are available on-line for a small price.
Useful sources on these issues include Christopher Norris, "Foucault, Descartes and the Crisis of Reason," in Derrida (Cambridge: Harvard U. Press, 1987), pp. 213-224 and Christopher Norris, "Getting at Truth: Genealogy, Critique and Postmodern Skepticism," in The Truth About Postmodernism (Oxford: Blackwell, 1993), pp. 257-305 then Douglas Knellner, "Simulation, Hyperreality and Implosion," in Jean Baudrillard: From Marxism to Postmodernism and Beyond (Stanford: Stanford U. Press, 1989), pp. 76-84.
We live in comfy prison cells -- like Mr. Quaid's apartment in the movie -- that resemble the settings of our favorite sit-coms or movie adventures.
This raises the question: What is memory? How can memories be so easily manipulated? Does postmodernist culture necessarily involve the invasion of a "subjectivity" we are told does not exist? Why is it convenient for powerful forces in America that the vast bulk of the population is kept "fat, dumb, and happy"?
I. "Even the best illusion is still not real."
If memory may be defined for the moment as "the mind's embodiment of form" and if personality is essentially concerned with how and what we remember as real, then the meanings of our experiences in the story that we tell ourselves of our lives, the ability to transform the point of our memories, is also the power to remake ourselves.
We are -- and can only be -- who we remember ourselves to be. Our remembered narratives explain our intended destinations, intentions, purposes which alone constitute our meanings. Hence, to surrender our memories (in part or totally), through access to the subconscious by way of hypnosis or other violent and unwelcome invasions, is to give up our humanity. This we must never do.
In a media culture cinema becomes the collective memory of a people. Movie screens are the cave wall in which we tell our story of the hunt. Hollywood, like "Total Recall," sells you the memory of adventures "lived" through surrogates in virtual spaces. We can remember it for you wholesale.
This brings us to the plot of this remake which surpasses the original on which it is based.
Colin Farrel is "Douglas Quaid," a factory worker and Walter Mitty-like everyman who will turn out to be a superspy (Houser) involved in an international revolutionary effort to defeat an oppressive military authority controlled by a character bearing a striking resemblance to Mr. Romney.
The movie must have been written during the reign of the Bush/Cheney junta. Real world politics is gestured at in the story that focuses on the metaphysics of power and the vague alternative presented by Bill Nighy, as an Oxbridge version of Che Guevara. Mr. Nighy's character seems to be based on Simon Blackburn mixed with Che. The crux of this issue of identity for the revolutionary leader is how one interprets one's memories now, at this instant of struggle, as a form of commitment. Mathias has been reading Sartre. ("'Che': A Movie Review" and "Time to End the Embargo Against Cuba.")
Mr. Quaid lives in a book-filled home with a beautiful wife, Lori Quaid, played by Kate Beckingsale ("real world" wife of director Len Wiseman). Mr. Farrel provides his best performance on screen as the "stuck-in-a-rut" would-be adventurer and action hero not unlike the vast majority of men in the audience ready for international mystery before their second "Super-Combo." One must earn a second "Super-Combo."
For those who have recently awoken from a coma, a "Super-Combo" is an extra-large dose of popcorn, massive bubbly drink, and one candy item (twizzlers in my case, M&Ms in yours, perhaps).
Is Quaid/Houser "really" made into an agent of conformity even as he believes himself to be a revolutionary? Can our most anti-authoritarian beliefs and actions really be generated by the forces of pacification as yet another mechanism of control? Is it a coincidence that Levis/Coke-Cola manufacture and sell millions of "Che Guevara" t-shirts? Have these massive international corporations become "socialists" or are they just making a buck exploiting young people's radical politics?
Quaid/Houser will discover that his revolutionary efforts have been "scripted" to serve authoritarian purposes. Unless this is all the false memory of an adventure sold to our hero by "Total Recall" as, indeed, the movie's "virtual reality" and simulacra have been sold to audience members, like me.
Is Hollywood "Total Recall"? This is deep, man. The point being that we cannot know for sure. All of which confirms the argument of postmodernist theorists defining our time as an era of inescapable skepticism, suspicion, and doubt as to the very nature of reality. Pass me the popcorn. ("Jacques Derrida's Philosophy as Jazz.")
Lori Quaid will turn out to be an informer for the evil totalitarian authorities. Women. You can't trust them. On the other hand, her mirror-image and fellow mega-babe, "Melina" (played by Jessica Biel), is awesome in tight black leather pants and does some amazing Kung Fu moves. The bitch/babe thing is definitely "hot and happening" in this movie.
In America's national security state, it is increasingly difficult to trust anyone or to establish clear boundaries between public/private in terms of the scope of the law. Techniques of interrogational hypnosis and other forms of manipulation and psychological torture are based on invasion of the psyche for so-called "public purposes" or security reasons. But then, what is not a public purpose? ("Psychological Torture in the American Legal System.")
The absurd or even ridiculous amount of spying on citizens done by the U.S. government has fostered hostilities and paranoia among various ethnic and racial groups. We are lied to so often by politicians and judges as well as corporations and media that "truth" (reality) is almost impossible to recognize or believe anymore. ("Have you no shame, Mr. Rabner?" and "What did you know, Mr. Rabner, and when did you know it?")
Who is Douglas Quaid at each stage in the cinematic story is a function of who he remembers himself to be and what he takes to be his "project." The film dramatizes -- by fragmenting -- the "memory criterion" of identity in metaphysics, but then suggests that memory is now contested territory, something primarily social and not exclusively individual.
Your mind has become a Derridean "text" without an objective or external referent. This makes it ideal for manipulation through alterations by powerful forces that intend to control you or just to sell you something. ("Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Missing Author.")
Mr. Quaid is told about "Total Recall" where he can purchase a vacation not from any one particular place to another, but from himself, that is, a vacation from his every day identity as "Douglas Quaid" into another self or identity as a spy. The fiction that is Quaid's "real" identity can be traded-in for another fiction, "Houser," where the individual is an entirely different person, a James Bond-like "superspy" saving the world.
I noticed posters advertising the forthcoming James Bond adventure Skyfall in the very same theater where I saw "Total Recall." I realize that the men in the audience -- I saw the movie with an almost totally male audience -- are the "real" Douglas Quaids taking a psychological "Club Med" vacation for two hours in that air-conditioned movie theater.
It also becomes clear that my need to place the word "real" in quotation marks is the deepest philosophical point of Mr. Wiseman's movie.
Care for a Che Guevara t-shirt? The same people making the James Bond merchandise will sell you items with Che's picture on them ($20.95 for the shirt!), including lunch boxes and kid's clothes featuring the revolutionary hero for your politically-aware nine year-old. Only in the "People's Republic of Manhattan" can I purchase a Noam Chomsky t-shirt for my toddler and another for myself.
A huge bust of the Buddha is seen illustrating "the world is an illusion" insights drawn from Asian religions and transformed into Hollywood smoke-and-mirrors. Mr. Farrel's Quaid says: "Even the best illusion is still not real."
Moments later the men in the audience were ducking the bullets being fired in the movie. The audience member shelling out $15.50 to see the movie is invited to identify with the protagonist -- you almost cannot help doing so -- in a "modest factory job."
The desire for adventure, being at the center of world events and fought over by two beautiful women -- Lori and Melina -- with a guarantee that justice and women in tight leather pants will win in the end (as they often do in life) is simply irresistible for a generation of men whose adventures play out at desks in corporate cubicles or university libraries. This is life as it should be. I do not know whether I can relate to any of this as I lead a safe and dull existence.
The First World versus Third World dynamics, 1% versus 99% divide, is signalled for audience members by the hero's journey from proletarian dullness to First World splendor, as a feature of his daily commute, undertaken as he reads a battered copy of "Casino Royale." An hommage to Ian Fleming's creation is placed at several key points in the movie.
More interestingly, a Hitchcockian "babe-is-also-the-bitch" thing is happening throughout the movie. Should Ms. Beckingsale worry about this? No, Mr. Wiseman should worry. Never trust a beautiful woman in post-feminist America. Hollywood is reflecting male anxieties/fantasies which are often related. Lori and Melina are obviously the same woman.
Does power corrupt sexual relations? Is power ever entirely absent from the male/female dialectic? Will women in the future always be on top? Let us pause to consider these issues.
The look of the film is classic "Tech-Noir" establishing a relationship with predecessors from "Blade Runner" to "Terminator" to "The Matrix" and Mr. Nolan's "Inception." Action sequences are far from "pointless," Ms. Scott, but are deliberately created to mirror "Disney-like" rides. The violence is cartoon violence because the director does not wish to mar your delight by evoking concern for the pain of characters on screen. "They're not REAL," he says.
II. "I give great wife."
Political ironies in the movie were undetected by the Times reviewer, who failed to realize that the plot device suggesting the earth's devastation after chemical warfare resulting in a division between the planet's wealthy northern hemisphere and poor southern hemisphere, mirrored the tensions between the two women contending either for the hero's destruction or salvation. One woman (Lori) is on the side of exploiters; the other (Melina) is on the side of revolutionaries and freedom fighters. Archetypes of feminine power represent the various forces in our world for Mr. Wiseman.
Chancellor Cohagen (Bryan Cranston of AMC's "Breaking Bad") does a respectable Mitt Romney impersonation, by embodying the greedy few, while Bill Nighy's character symbolizes hope for "change we can believe in." The ultimate resource for which the sides are contending is not oil or coal, but the power to define "reality." Who won the presidential debate? ("And Now, A Word From Our Sponsor ...")
Aside from the political sub-text, there is Mr. Wiseman's fascination with women's puzzling and annoying duality. ("They love you then they hate you!")
The deepest point about the action and fun on-screen concerns the fun itself. Is it real? Or is it make-believe? Is she real or is she a fantasy that she thinks I want or expect? ("I recognize you from my dreams!")
No one can answer such questions.
Media cotton candy is celebrated even as serious questions are raised about the role of Hollywood in the system of oppressions by which we are kept in our places. See Jacques Derrida, Of Grammatology (Baltimore: John Hopkins, 1976), (G. Spivak, trans.) then Hal Foster, Recodings: Art, Spectacle, Cultural Politics (Wash.: Bay Press, 1985), "deconstruction" versus "anti-aesthetics."
Mr. Farrel is at his best as action hero and everyman, bringing humor and modesty along with a sense of plausibility to this imaginative script and to his role. If there is a combination in this character of Harrison Ford and Woody Allen, then Mr. Farrel is it. Quaid/Houser is Walter Mitty enthralled by the dazzling adventure, like the rest of us, but never late for his job.
Ms. Beckingsale prefers to be evil these days. (Marriage?) Ms. Biel is among the most glamorous actresses in tinsel-land who manages to convey a "happy-to-go-to-the-football" game quality that is the secret of the girlfriend appeal that makes for a lasting career in movies. I must say that the movie seems pretty "realistic" to me. Both women look great with their hair messed-up and no makeup. Care for a twizzler? ("'In Time': A Movie Review.")
"I give great wife!" Lori Quaid responds when confronted by Quaid/Houser with their "real" intimacy. Who can doubt this claim? Evidently, women find it much easier than men to separate the physical side of relationships from their deepest emotions. This movie shows remarkable wisdom and understanding of human relationships on the part of Mr. Wiseman.
More seriously, as 9/11 taught us and Mr. Farrel understands, it is not big muscle men who are often called upon to perform heroically. Ordinary men and women may find themselves doing amazing things out of necessity. One way that people find it possible to do such amazing things is by allowing imagination, through the catharsis of art, to inspire them to achieve what may otherwise be impossible.
This is Mr. Wiseman's subtle suggestion on the reality question. We often make the impossible very possible and real -- because we have to. This may be the most American insight in this movie that goes a long way toward explaining trips to the moon and other "miracles" that allow us to feel confident that America can never be counted out of any struggle for greatness.
It is also encouraging that our bookish hero makes it O.K. for young men in the audience to read, even suggesting that the man with a book in his hands often gets the babe. Women need little encouragement to read. Most serious readers in America are women. It is important to recall, gentlemen, that there are some women who are also interested in our minds.
Conclusion: "I'd like to be a spy!"
Our memories and their meanings are personal, not public spaces subject to invasion by the state. We must struggle to make this clear to government and corporations alike. Subconscious minds must not become territory for advertisements and manipulations -- whether political or commercial messages -- aimed at controlling us. Subliminal messages are now everywhere -- often communicating the opposite of what may be intended by those responsible for them.
At the conclusion of the film, after all the thrills and spills, we realize that by means of Quaid/Houser we have once again "saved the world" from the comfort of our movie seats.
Mr. Farrel manages to convey the impression that he is sitting next to you in the movie theater as well as acting on-screen and will join you when you come to see the Bond film. We have earned the gratitude of the babes in our lives and yet another "Super-Combo."
We'll have to see this movie again on pay-per view. Mr. Wiseman is on the side of revolution and social justice (for a small fee) and of us "regular guys" with whom he identifies. Like most "ordinary guys," Mr. Wiseman enjoys going to the movies.
The struggle for memory is an everyday reality for many persons -- including quite a few working class heros home from the war in Afghanistan suffering from traumatic brain injuries -- to whom this movie should be dedicated. We join you in the struggle for memory and healing.
With insistence on freedom comes the certainty that memories can never be taken from us, but only enriched and "represented' in the screen adventures we are asked to share. My memories are also my freedom:
"Any type of amnesia," Ian Hacking writes, "results in something being stolen from oneself; how much worse if it is replaced by deceptive memories, a nonself."
Rewriting the Soul: Multiple Personality and the Sciences of Memory (New Jersey: Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995), p. 264.
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
"And Now, A Word From Our Sponsor ..."
Jim Rutenberg & Jeff Zeleny, "Obama and Romney Mount Biting Attacks in Debate Rematch: Tense Encounter as Rivals Woo Undecided," in The New York Times, October 17, 2012, at p. A1.
Last night's second presidential debate was an "entertainment event" like the first meeting between the major party candidates.
President Obama, in my judgment, was the clear winner of this second encounter. We will have to see what the polls say.
Will this victory by Mr. Obama change many voters' minds? I doubt it.
What is this election about? Well, after the economic discussion has passed us by in a deluge of technicalities -- beyond the personality attacks -- I believe that, as usual, race and racism is the most significant issue in the election.
A Mitt Romney supporter wore a t-shirt that said: "Put the WHITE back in the White House!" For many Romney supporters the Republican nominee is less than ideal, but being caucasian, he is still preferable to Mr. Obama.
Mr. Romney has promised to remain a white man. I am sure that he will keep that promise.
This unspoken -- if obvious -- reality in the presidential election (racism) and in all of American politics places the issue of "reaching across the aisle" in perspective.
You cannot have bipartisanship when one party (Republicans) decides that ousting a duly-elected president is the number one priority over the national interest and/or the common good. I have yet to see requests for Mr. Romney's birth certificate even though he was born in Mexico. Wet back? Where's your green card, Mitt?
Mr. Romney's handling of the economy -- if he had been elected president in 2008 -- may well have landed us in a greater mess than the one we are in today. Certainly, Mr. Romney found it difficult to distance himself from George W. Bush. Romney's policies are nearly IDENTICAL to the Bush/Cheney disaster.
This reality of Bush-inspired ineptitude by Romney, which few deny, may not matter to the Republican faithful. Romney's likely and evident helplessness in this Republican-created economic catastrophe should matter to the rest of us.
Another four years of Bush/Cheney-style incompetence may finish off America for the century.
Voters must decide based on the personal qualities of the two candidates (or of any other candidate who strikes their fancy), who is more intelligent and capable under pressure, who is less likely to make a mistake (as on the Libya issue where Mr. Romney was factually wrong!), and more likely to act in the interest of the majority of the people as opposed to excluding, say, 47% as "freeloaders."
Assuming that both men are "good persons" (in the absence of evidence to the contrary at this time), I am pretty confident that Mr. Obama is more likely to protect the national as distinct from any sectarian interest. Surprisingly, for an American politician, Mr. Obama claims to be "for all the people." I believe President Obama on this issue.
If what bothers you, as a voter, is race, I suggest that you think of Mr. Obama as a white man and vote (for your children's sake) for the Democrat who is, clearly, the better man.
If you are one of America's billionaires, then I can certainly understand why you would vote for Mr. Romney.
Look at it this way, if Mr. Obama is undeniably "black" (as Richard Posner says), then Mr. Romney is definitely "green" -- green like those millions of dollars that he has tucked away in the Cayman Islands, or in China, where Uncle Sam and those liberals at The Nation magazine will never get their hands on them. Mr. Romney represents and serves money, not people.
Whatever you do, don't stay home this election. A poor choice between these candidates could have very dire consequences for America's future in the decades to come.
Last night's second presidential debate was an "entertainment event" like the first meeting between the major party candidates.
President Obama, in my judgment, was the clear winner of this second encounter. We will have to see what the polls say.
Will this victory by Mr. Obama change many voters' minds? I doubt it.
What is this election about? Well, after the economic discussion has passed us by in a deluge of technicalities -- beyond the personality attacks -- I believe that, as usual, race and racism is the most significant issue in the election.
A Mitt Romney supporter wore a t-shirt that said: "Put the WHITE back in the White House!" For many Romney supporters the Republican nominee is less than ideal, but being caucasian, he is still preferable to Mr. Obama.
Mr. Romney has promised to remain a white man. I am sure that he will keep that promise.
This unspoken -- if obvious -- reality in the presidential election (racism) and in all of American politics places the issue of "reaching across the aisle" in perspective.
You cannot have bipartisanship when one party (Republicans) decides that ousting a duly-elected president is the number one priority over the national interest and/or the common good. I have yet to see requests for Mr. Romney's birth certificate even though he was born in Mexico. Wet back? Where's your green card, Mitt?
Mr. Romney's handling of the economy -- if he had been elected president in 2008 -- may well have landed us in a greater mess than the one we are in today. Certainly, Mr. Romney found it difficult to distance himself from George W. Bush. Romney's policies are nearly IDENTICAL to the Bush/Cheney disaster.
This reality of Bush-inspired ineptitude by Romney, which few deny, may not matter to the Republican faithful. Romney's likely and evident helplessness in this Republican-created economic catastrophe should matter to the rest of us.
Another four years of Bush/Cheney-style incompetence may finish off America for the century.
Voters must decide based on the personal qualities of the two candidates (or of any other candidate who strikes their fancy), who is more intelligent and capable under pressure, who is less likely to make a mistake (as on the Libya issue where Mr. Romney was factually wrong!), and more likely to act in the interest of the majority of the people as opposed to excluding, say, 47% as "freeloaders."
Assuming that both men are "good persons" (in the absence of evidence to the contrary at this time), I am pretty confident that Mr. Obama is more likely to protect the national as distinct from any sectarian interest. Surprisingly, for an American politician, Mr. Obama claims to be "for all the people." I believe President Obama on this issue.
If what bothers you, as a voter, is race, I suggest that you think of Mr. Obama as a white man and vote (for your children's sake) for the Democrat who is, clearly, the better man.
If you are one of America's billionaires, then I can certainly understand why you would vote for Mr. Romney.
Look at it this way, if Mr. Obama is undeniably "black" (as Richard Posner says), then Mr. Romney is definitely "green" -- green like those millions of dollars that he has tucked away in the Cayman Islands, or in China, where Uncle Sam and those liberals at The Nation magazine will never get their hands on them. Mr. Romney represents and serves money, not people.
Whatever you do, don't stay home this election. A poor choice between these candidates could have very dire consequences for America's future in the decades to come.
Friday, October 12, 2012
Zisa Is Up to His Old Tricks.
October 16, 2012 at 2:20 P.M. Please note that I have no facebook account and no YouTube accounts. I have also never been on "Twitter." I have never had such accounts nor have I visited any of those sites. It may be that persons claiming to be me have created such accounts, but they are entirely bogus, if they exist. I can not access my hotmail or yahoo accounts. I cannot send or receive-mails. I cannot post images at these blogs. My writings are often plagiarized: "What is it like to be plagiarized?" and "'Brideshead Revisited': A Movie Review."
Kibret Marcos, "Zisa Linked to Cops On Trial: Dispatcher Says Ex-Chief Seen On Night of Alleged Tampering," in The Record, October 11, 2012, at p. L-1.
Hackensack cops are charged with helping persons with ties to Ken Zisa through alleged "tampering" with public records. ("New Jersey's 'Ethical' Legal System" and "New Jersey's Office of Attorney Ethics.")
The vice presidential debate was a clear win for Mr. Biden. However, I believe that the debate will have little significance in terms of the outcome of the general election. The second presidential debate will be more important in terms of deciding who is the occupant of the White House for the next four years.
Worse, if the election is close -- which it probably will be -- the struggle to determine the next president will come down to bloody preccint fights in the fifty states.
Who controls the voting machines in local communities will determine the winner. Massive fraud is rightly expected in this election.
The Republican attack machine and dirty tricks brigade tends to be more vicious and less scrupulous than the liberal brigades. (New Jersey's Democrat-mafia machine may be an exception to this rule.)
Hence, if the presidential election comes down to such unsavory particulars, Republicans are likely to steal it.
What will be the consequences of another four years of G.W.-like incompetence and graft for "Blackwater"-type supporters of Republicans?
First, women will lose: Mr. Romney is likely to appoint anti-Roe v.Wade judges to the Supreme Court. This will be only one small part of a roll-back effort against women's procreative and other rights. For this reason alone women should think twice about voting for this Republican ticket.
Second, the disparities in wealth in America, which are already pretty grotesque, are likely to increase even further producing comparable disparities in power that threaten the plausibility of a democracy that takes the rights of all persons to be equally worthy of respect. This is a point made by Vice President Biden in the debate.
New Jersey's nightmare will continue to be ignored in deference to Mr. Christie's "services rendered" and to forestall any derailment of the Trenton Governor's ambitions for succession to the crown. Meanwhile, the mafia will continue to run the Garden State.
Mr. Christie will become "Richard, III" -- biding his time until he can manouvre Mr. Ryan into the Tower of London or a serious political gaff. This should not take long given Mr. Ryan's frequent befuddlement in the debate.
The wars in the Middle East will not go away. Neither party is telling voters about the projected continued U.S. presence in the region, long after our alleged "departure" from Iraq and proposed leave-taking in Afghanistan. A $6 billion embassy and thousands of military persons in Iraq will be matched by equal numbers and expenditures in Kabul.
Israeli interests are pushing for war against Iran. Mr. Romney's ties to the current Israeli Prime Minister and efforts on the Republican candidate's behalf with the U.S.media by Israeli-friendly forces in America will leave Mr. Romney with little choice but to risk a regional conflagration -- something Mr. Biden warned against! -- through a new Persian war.
Nations throughout the world are studying the effects of Israel's intervention in American domestic politics. China, Japan, and others are contemplating "political contributions" through intermediaries to "convenient" candidates in American elections for greater advocacy of their views in Washington, D.C. thanks to Citizens United. This is yet another blow to our democracy.
Pleas for tolerance of dissent will fall on deaf ears when nations can point to the spectacle of public cybercrime and censorship at these blogs and many other sites on-line. ("How censorship works in America.")
I will soon be devoting my 45 minutes per day, after the destruction of my home computer, to a review of "Total Recall" because politics has become so depressing lately.
I am sure that harassments and censorship are meant to discourage communication efforts by me. Never fear, they have the opposite effect. I will be devoting more essays in the future to the politics and corruption of New Jersey and America's tainted (by money) legal system. ("New Jersey's Unethical Judiciary" and "So Black and So Blue in Prison.")
"It is clear that freedom to Skinner," B. F. Skinner, behaviorist psychologist and propagandist for totalitarianism, "is in a literal sense disorderly conduct. [Skinner's] view of reality is that of a proper schoolmaster; there will be no hopping about in his cosmic classroom; students [citizens] will do as they are programed; otherwise we cannot proceed with our science experiment. ..."
Dr. Josef Mengele felt much the same about his victims:
"In short, we must all 'behave.' The science of behavior is really the domestic science of good behavior. [Control?]"
Ashley Montague & Floyd Matson, The Dehumanization of Man (NewYork: McGraw Hill, 1983), p.87. ("Terry Tuchin, Diana Lisa Riccioli, and New Jersey's Agency of Torture" and "No More Cover-Ups and Lies, Chief Justice Rabner!")
Sources:
Declan Walsh, "Taliban Reiterate Vow to Kill Pakistani Girl," in The New York Times, October 13, 2012, at p. A5. (There are thousands of young women like MALALA YOUSAFZAI killed by robot bombs and/or Taliban attacks dismissed as "collateral damage." Let us express the same concern for those precious and lost lives as we do for this brave young woman who captured the media's attention.)
"Names of the Dead," in The New York Times, October 13, 2012, at p. A5. (2,118 now closer to 2,120 dead Americans in Afghanistan. The numbers are still rising. Do want another war with Iran?)
"16 Killed in Suicide Attack in Pakistan," in The New York Times, October 14, 2012, at p. A13. (Growing Taliban influence in Pakistan.)
Mike Kelly, "Center of Political Scandal Dies in Obscurity," in The Record, October 3, 2012, at p. A-1. (Former Sen. Torricelli in New Jersey resigned in disgrace after revelations that he accepted "nice gifts" -- revelations "arranged behind his back," allegedly, by his successor, Mr. Menendez -- lost a "money man" this week with the death of David Chan. Mr. Torricelli has been linked to organized crime, allegedly, and is a member of the bar in New Jersey. Ethics committee, Bob?)
Marc Lacey, "ID Requirement for Voters Halted: PA Judge's Move Praised by Democrats," in The Record, October 3, 2012, at p. A-11. (Massive fraud expected as minority voters will face obstacles to casting their vote.)
Hannan Adeley, "Budget Deadline Looms: Paterson Seeking State Aid," in The Record, October 3, 2012, at p. L-1. (Paterson is an absolute disaster after the hurricane assistance funds disappeared and more "irregularities" appeared. Mayor Jones is in trouble.)
Peter J. Sampson, "Lincoln Park Man Indicted On Child Porn Charges," in The Record, October 3, 2012, at p. L-3. (William Kensing, 46, remains in federal custody for "possession of child porn with intent to distribute same." N.J. leads the nation in the production and distribution of this material.)
Michael Linhurst, "Assemblywoman Wants Tougher Trafficking Laws," in The Record, October 4, 2012, at p. A-4. (Increased human trafficking, especially involving minors, has been detected in New Jersey. Allegations of corruption coincide with these disturbing findings: "New Jersey's Child Sex Industry" and "Is Menendez For Sale?")
John Petrick, "Harassment Claim Leveled Against Judge: Court Administrator Sues, Alleging Abusive Conduct," in The Record, October 4, 2012, at p. L-1. (Judge Donald J. Volkert is accused of "harassing" and "abusive" conduct as well as "insensitivity to women's issues" in light of his behavior towards a court administrator. Did the judge refer to the lady as a "chic"?)
Lin That, "Citizens Group Wants Mayor, Official to Quit: Claims Misuse of North Bergen Workers," in The Record, October 4, 2012, at p. L-1. (North Bergen voters trying to get rid of "Big Nicky" Sacco. Lots of luck.)
Kibret Marcos, "Officer Reaffirms Police Cover-Up Accusations: Defense Lawyers Poke at Inconsistencies," in The Record, October 4, 2012, at p. L-1. (Officer Laura Campos testified to continuing cover-ups to protect friends of former Police Chief KEN ZISA. Officer Campos may face charges of "unethical conduct." Coincidence?)
Scott Fallon, "Groundwater Pollution Brings EPA Officials to Fair Lawn," in The Record, October 4, 2012, at p. L-1. (More corruption-based carcinogens in the ground in the Garden State? Garfield is next.)
Kibret Marcos, "Zisa Linked to Cops On Trial: Dispatcher Says Ex-Chief Seen On Night of Alleged Tampering," in The Record, October 11, 2012, at p. L-1.
Hackensack cops are charged with helping persons with ties to Ken Zisa through alleged "tampering" with public records. ("New Jersey's 'Ethical' Legal System" and "New Jersey's Office of Attorney Ethics.")
The vice presidential debate was a clear win for Mr. Biden. However, I believe that the debate will have little significance in terms of the outcome of the general election. The second presidential debate will be more important in terms of deciding who is the occupant of the White House for the next four years.
Worse, if the election is close -- which it probably will be -- the struggle to determine the next president will come down to bloody preccint fights in the fifty states.
Who controls the voting machines in local communities will determine the winner. Massive fraud is rightly expected in this election.
The Republican attack machine and dirty tricks brigade tends to be more vicious and less scrupulous than the liberal brigades. (New Jersey's Democrat-mafia machine may be an exception to this rule.)
Hence, if the presidential election comes down to such unsavory particulars, Republicans are likely to steal it.
What will be the consequences of another four years of G.W.-like incompetence and graft for "Blackwater"-type supporters of Republicans?
First, women will lose: Mr. Romney is likely to appoint anti-Roe v.Wade judges to the Supreme Court. This will be only one small part of a roll-back effort against women's procreative and other rights. For this reason alone women should think twice about voting for this Republican ticket.
Second, the disparities in wealth in America, which are already pretty grotesque, are likely to increase even further producing comparable disparities in power that threaten the plausibility of a democracy that takes the rights of all persons to be equally worthy of respect. This is a point made by Vice President Biden in the debate.
New Jersey's nightmare will continue to be ignored in deference to Mr. Christie's "services rendered" and to forestall any derailment of the Trenton Governor's ambitions for succession to the crown. Meanwhile, the mafia will continue to run the Garden State.
Mr. Christie will become "Richard, III" -- biding his time until he can manouvre Mr. Ryan into the Tower of London or a serious political gaff. This should not take long given Mr. Ryan's frequent befuddlement in the debate.
The wars in the Middle East will not go away. Neither party is telling voters about the projected continued U.S. presence in the region, long after our alleged "departure" from Iraq and proposed leave-taking in Afghanistan. A $6 billion embassy and thousands of military persons in Iraq will be matched by equal numbers and expenditures in Kabul.
Israeli interests are pushing for war against Iran. Mr. Romney's ties to the current Israeli Prime Minister and efforts on the Republican candidate's behalf with the U.S.media by Israeli-friendly forces in America will leave Mr. Romney with little choice but to risk a regional conflagration -- something Mr. Biden warned against! -- through a new Persian war.
Nations throughout the world are studying the effects of Israel's intervention in American domestic politics. China, Japan, and others are contemplating "political contributions" through intermediaries to "convenient" candidates in American elections for greater advocacy of their views in Washington, D.C. thanks to Citizens United. This is yet another blow to our democracy.
Pleas for tolerance of dissent will fall on deaf ears when nations can point to the spectacle of public cybercrime and censorship at these blogs and many other sites on-line. ("How censorship works in America.")
I will soon be devoting my 45 minutes per day, after the destruction of my home computer, to a review of "Total Recall" because politics has become so depressing lately.
I am sure that harassments and censorship are meant to discourage communication efforts by me. Never fear, they have the opposite effect. I will be devoting more essays in the future to the politics and corruption of New Jersey and America's tainted (by money) legal system. ("New Jersey's Unethical Judiciary" and "So Black and So Blue in Prison.")
"It is clear that freedom to Skinner," B. F. Skinner, behaviorist psychologist and propagandist for totalitarianism, "is in a literal sense disorderly conduct. [Skinner's] view of reality is that of a proper schoolmaster; there will be no hopping about in his cosmic classroom; students [citizens] will do as they are programed; otherwise we cannot proceed with our science experiment. ..."
Dr. Josef Mengele felt much the same about his victims:
"In short, we must all 'behave.' The science of behavior is really the domestic science of good behavior. [Control?]"
Ashley Montague & Floyd Matson, The Dehumanization of Man (NewYork: McGraw Hill, 1983), p.87. ("Terry Tuchin, Diana Lisa Riccioli, and New Jersey's Agency of Torture" and "No More Cover-Ups and Lies, Chief Justice Rabner!")
Sources:
Declan Walsh, "Taliban Reiterate Vow to Kill Pakistani Girl," in The New York Times, October 13, 2012, at p. A5. (There are thousands of young women like MALALA YOUSAFZAI killed by robot bombs and/or Taliban attacks dismissed as "collateral damage." Let us express the same concern for those precious and lost lives as we do for this brave young woman who captured the media's attention.)
"Names of the Dead," in The New York Times, October 13, 2012, at p. A5. (2,118 now closer to 2,120 dead Americans in Afghanistan. The numbers are still rising. Do want another war with Iran?)
"16 Killed in Suicide Attack in Pakistan," in The New York Times, October 14, 2012, at p. A13. (Growing Taliban influence in Pakistan.)
Mike Kelly, "Center of Political Scandal Dies in Obscurity," in The Record, October 3, 2012, at p. A-1. (Former Sen. Torricelli in New Jersey resigned in disgrace after revelations that he accepted "nice gifts" -- revelations "arranged behind his back," allegedly, by his successor, Mr. Menendez -- lost a "money man" this week with the death of David Chan. Mr. Torricelli has been linked to organized crime, allegedly, and is a member of the bar in New Jersey. Ethics committee, Bob?)
Marc Lacey, "ID Requirement for Voters Halted: PA Judge's Move Praised by Democrats," in The Record, October 3, 2012, at p. A-11. (Massive fraud expected as minority voters will face obstacles to casting their vote.)
Hannan Adeley, "Budget Deadline Looms: Paterson Seeking State Aid," in The Record, October 3, 2012, at p. L-1. (Paterson is an absolute disaster after the hurricane assistance funds disappeared and more "irregularities" appeared. Mayor Jones is in trouble.)
Peter J. Sampson, "Lincoln Park Man Indicted On Child Porn Charges," in The Record, October 3, 2012, at p. L-3. (William Kensing, 46, remains in federal custody for "possession of child porn with intent to distribute same." N.J. leads the nation in the production and distribution of this material.)
Michael Linhurst, "Assemblywoman Wants Tougher Trafficking Laws," in The Record, October 4, 2012, at p. A-4. (Increased human trafficking, especially involving minors, has been detected in New Jersey. Allegations of corruption coincide with these disturbing findings: "New Jersey's Child Sex Industry" and "Is Menendez For Sale?")
John Petrick, "Harassment Claim Leveled Against Judge: Court Administrator Sues, Alleging Abusive Conduct," in The Record, October 4, 2012, at p. L-1. (Judge Donald J. Volkert is accused of "harassing" and "abusive" conduct as well as "insensitivity to women's issues" in light of his behavior towards a court administrator. Did the judge refer to the lady as a "chic"?)
Lin That, "Citizens Group Wants Mayor, Official to Quit: Claims Misuse of North Bergen Workers," in The Record, October 4, 2012, at p. L-1. (North Bergen voters trying to get rid of "Big Nicky" Sacco. Lots of luck.)
Kibret Marcos, "Officer Reaffirms Police Cover-Up Accusations: Defense Lawyers Poke at Inconsistencies," in The Record, October 4, 2012, at p. L-1. (Officer Laura Campos testified to continuing cover-ups to protect friends of former Police Chief KEN ZISA. Officer Campos may face charges of "unethical conduct." Coincidence?)
Scott Fallon, "Groundwater Pollution Brings EPA Officials to Fair Lawn," in The Record, October 4, 2012, at p. L-1. (More corruption-based carcinogens in the ground in the Garden State? Garfield is next.)
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Defiance.
October 11, 2012 at 2:10 P.M. All printers at NYPL, Morningside Heights branch, have been disabled, again.
October 10, 2012 at 11:07 A.M. Call received from 646-652-0952. ("New York, N.Y.") How strange that this call originates from the same source, using a different number, as yesterday's call from "Eugene, Oregon." (Mr. Menendez? "Gloria Colon?")
To refer to President Obama as an "obstinate child" is irresponsible and offensive. Why is the U.S. media, mostly, not challenging such comments? Racism? Mr. Romney's eldest son -- explaining his father's remark in the debate said -- that he, like his brothers, sometimes "lied" like an "obstinate child." The purported reference to Mr. Obama was unmistakable and condescending.
October 9, 2012 at 1:55 P.M. As election day approaches, I expect the intensity of the attacks against these blogs to increase. The size of the writing and print today is shrunken and barely legible, for me. I hope it is better for others. At any time I may be prevented from writing against my will. I will continue to struggle, in any way that I can, against censorship and cybercrime. Perhaps with Mr. Zisa's incarceration things will improve in New Jersey.
I received several calls this morning at about 11:27 A.M. allegedly from Eugene, Oregon: 458-201-0296. (Mr. Menendez?)
David E. Sanger, "Romney Strives to Stand Apart in Global Policy: Hits Obama's Record," in The New York Times, October 8, 2012, at p. A1. (Romney 49%; Obama 41%. It is a long way to November 6, 2012.)
William Neuman, "Chavez Wins a Third Term in Venezuela Amid Historically High Turnout," in The New York Times, October 8, 2012, at p. A9. ("A leader gains a new mandate to deepen his social revolution. ...")
Lizette Alvarez, "G.O.P. Aims to Remake Florida Supreme Court," in The New York Times, October 3, 2012, at p. A20. (Politicizing the judiciary. Ms. Alvarez is the instrument, allegedly, of Mr. Rubio and Ms. Ros-Leghtinen. Ms. Alvarez is a card-carrying member of the Republican party.)
S. Saul, "G.O.P. Operative Long Trailed by Allegations of Voter Fraud," in The New York Times, October 5, 2012, at p. A11. (Republican fraud to control election in Florida is alleged. How shocking?)
No one knows who will win the U.S. predidential election which is statistically even at this time. Fluctuations of 5% to 10% during the final weeks of the election are not unusual. If the election is close, I believe that Republicans can and will steal it. The Supreme Court is expected to "call it" for the Republican candidate 5 to 4, whatever the facts may be, on strictly partisan lines.
Whichever candidate wins this election, the American people and our democracy will lose. In what follows, I will do my best to explain this strange claim provided that New Jersey's hackers and the "dirty tricks" brigade can be obstructed in their efforts to prevent me from writing on-line. ("How censorship works in America.")
The American people will lose this election because the choices we are offered embody the limited options for change allowed by the richest section of America's population that finances presidential elections and that "owns" our presidents. Mr. Obama, in my judgment, is preferable to Mr. Romney. However, this may not be saying much.
No one can occupy the oval office for long without serving the interests of wealth and corporate power in America, usually at the expense of ordinary people. Mr. Romney is favored by such wealthy people over President Obama -- who is more hated than I realized by so-called "media elites" -- so that coverage of the election will be slanted in favor of the Republican candidate.
Mr. Romney may well "not lose this year's presidential election no matter how many Americans vote against him because of a concerted plan to turn over the nation's voting machines, state by state, to the computer machine manufacturers, Diboud, Sequoia, and Election System Software (ESS), whose most ingenious model is one that voters are alleged to love -- one where you just touch a screen and the candidate of your choice is supposedly recorded by a black box back of the screen as one vote closer to election. ..."
Gore Vidal, Imperial America: Reflections on the United States of Amnesia (New York: Nation, 2005), p. 29. (Noting elections in which votes were, mysteriously, counted for opposing candidates. Curiously, the beneficiaries of these "errors" were always Republicans.)
Both candidates -- or any other persons who come to occupy their current positions -- will, inevitably, become the servants of wealth in our society. Sometimes the interest of most people will coincide with the interest of the wealthy few; just as often the interest of the many will be sacrificed to the good of the richest of us. Think of this as reverse utilitarianism.
At the moment, wealth has no geographical loyalties.Money is attracted to more money, typically in places like the Cayman islands. Most ordinary Americans will be losers as capital seeks ever-cheaper labor markets. Jobs (workers) will be "bought" where they are cheapest and for the least possible cost -- that is, people will be "hired" in China and India as opposed to Kentucky or New Jersey. No matter who is elected president, this will not change.
Our democracy will also lose this election because crucial issues are not being discussed. The population is not educated by candidates to appreciate the significance of those issues.
No one is going to raise the issue of human rights abuses that have come to define the United States of America to billions of persons in the world as a "pariah nation." (Noam Chomsky)
Neither candidate will spend much time dicussing the decline of the American educational system, especially higher education, and what this portends for the future if the problem is not dealt with, adequately, and very soon. At the moment, we are ignoring the genuine "crisis in education." Being 27th out of 29 countries in science, math, and literary skills among recent univerity graduates is not hunky-dory. ("Who Killed the Liberal Arts?" and "Nihilists in Disneyworld.")
No one will mention the continuing violations of international law in the robot bomb campaigns that have attracted so many protests this week in Pakistan and around the world with several distinguished Americans participating in rallies in South Asia against this barbaric practice.
No one will speak of the tensions and growing anti-Americanism in the Middle East that threaten to explode at any minute, regardless of who is elected president. The increasing influence of Israeli intelligence agencies in American domestic matters and elections is yet another forbidden topic. ("Illegal Payments to Bob Menendez.")
An issue that should concern voters is the loss of America's independent media and its transformation (with a few honorable exceptions) into paid political advertising. Neither candidate will speak of the loss of privacy in America, cybercensorship through "buffers" by politicians and parties, also corporate spying on our purchasing and other "habits" designed to improve the ways in which we are manipulated in order to be deprived of our money. Americans' loss of privacy is not making us safer from terrorism.
No one will touch the issue of racism, corruption, inhumane prisons where inmates are raped, experimented upon, drugged, starved, subjected to horrible violence, even murdered -- all of this takes place to the indifference of our corporate courts. ("So Black and So Blue in Prison" and "Foucault, Rose, Davis and the Meanings of Prison.")
None of these issues will be discussed because they do not trouble our corporate and economic "elite," an oligarchy whose candidates have come to represent, exclusively, themselves, as distinct from the majority of people in the country and world community. I consider the risk that American democracy may become a lie a real danger and great concern worthy of discussion in our presidential "debates."
Forced impoverishment and cybercrime may prevent me from writing at any time. I experience a post-iceberg-on-the-Titanic quality to my daily writing adventures at the New York Public Library. Certainly, if Mr. Romney is elected, my blogs will be destroyed by eager volunteeers collected by Mr. Rubio from South Beach, Miami. ("Cubanazos Pose a Threat to National Security" and "Miami's Cubanoids Protest Against Peace.")
For as long as I continue to write, however, I will speak of the vicious racism that defines American society, at this late date, that may explain the otherwise inexplicable hostility to Mr. Obama among allegedly "liberal" media types, like David Letterman and David Remnick. ("Barack Obama and 'The New Yorker.'")
The reaction to the first presidential debate is highly revealing of the latent tensions between sections of America that are drifting further apart, every day, and whose mutual hatred is disturbing and frightening. ("America's Holocaust.")
"The nation imagined by its founders-- those authors of 'We the People,' who clearly intended this experience in self-government to include the many, not just the privileged few -- is under siege by extraordinary concentrations of corporate power and private wealth, aided and abetted by an autocratic judiciary. There can be only one reponse to this usurpation of democracy: defiance. ..."
Bill Moyers & Bernard A. Weissberger, "The 1 Percent Court," in The Nation, October 8, 2012, at p. 11 (emphasis added).
Sources:
Tim Dickingson, "The Federal Bailout That Saved Romney," in Rolling Stone, September 13, 2012, at p. 52. ("Corporate Food Stamps.")
New York & the World:
Susann Craig & Ben Protess, "A Bigger Paycheck On Wall Street," in The New York Times, October 10, 2012, at p. B1. ("Average pay package of $362,950 ..." among stocktraders unrelated to the performance of their stocks. Nice work if you can get it.)
Rod Nordland, "5 Dead in Attack Involving U.S. and Afghan Troops," in The New York Times, October 1, 2012, at p. A4. (Pattern increasing.)
Mathew Rosenberg & Rod Nordland, "U.S. Abandoning Hopes For Taliban Peace Deal," in The New York Times, October 2, 2012, at p. A1. (They know we are leaving.)
"To Combat Modern Slavery," (Editorial) in The New York Times, October 2, 2012, at p. A1. (Obama is doing something to deal with this issue and also addressing prison rape issues. Romney could not care less about either issue.)
"Mr. Romney's Government Handout: Unlike Most Americans, He Can Take Advantage of a Tax Loophole Useful Only to the Very Rich," (Editorial) in The New York Times, October 2, 2012, at p. A31. (Dinner for the Romney clan is on you, America.)
"Names of the Dead," in The New York Times, October 9, 2012, at p. A9. (Approximately, 10 casualties since the beginning of the month. I write this on October 10, 2012. One of these names is a Latino young man earning his residence status.)
New Jersey's Continuing Farce:
Geoff Mulhill, "A Change in Camden Police: Troubled City Dismantling Force, and County Will Take Over," in The Record, September 24, 2012, at p. A-3. (Camden Police is so corrupt that it will be eliminated. West New York, Union City, Elizabeth and several others are worse. Newark is Switzerland compared to these towns.)
Bill Borrow, "Public Unhappy With Both Choices: Obama, Romney Have Historically Low Poll Ratings," in The Record, September 25, 2012, at p. A-1. (NJ voters are among the most pessimistic about U.S. politics. Many feel politics is "hopeless" based on New Jersey's experience. "Law and Ethics in the Soprano State" and "New Jersey is the Home of the Living Dead.")
John Petrick, "County Must Pay Legal Fees for Ex-Cops: Six Detectives Won Age Bias Suit After Being Forced From Jobs," in The Record, September 25, 2012, at p. L-1. ($627,000 in legal fees plus more in compensation for the fired cops at the expense of Passaic County taxpayers.)
Anthony Campisi, "ACLU Files Suit Over Removal of Political Pins: Action is the Latest in Face-Off With State Police," in The Record, September 25, 2012, at p. L-5. (NJ State Police may face additional monitoring by federal government because of new allegations of racism, lawsuits for abuse, and more trouble: "Albert Florence and New Jersey's Racism" and "Driving While Black [DWB] in New Jersey.")
Richard Cowen, "Board Ousts School Chief: Passaic Dispute is Apparently Over Pay," in The Record, September 26, 2012, at p. L-1. ($218,000 salary, plus other perks for now ousted school chief Robert Holster. Mr. Holster is on PAID leave.)
Matt Freedman, "Bill Would Let Patients Say When It's Time to Die," in The Star Ledger, September 27, 2012, at p. 1. (If only Mr. Rabner and the OAE would consider this option.)
Ed Beeson, "Hedge Fund Head Admits Taking $4 MILLION From Clients," in The Star Ledger, September 27, 2012, at p. 26. (Michael Spak, 44, "scooped" $4 million and counting. Garcia and Kriko? I did not take a dime from my clients. Do you speak to me of "ethics," Mr. Rabner? Who did you partner with at the OAE to get little-old me?)
Aisha Sultan, "Consumer Fighting Back Against Involuntary Internet Tracking," in The Star Ledger, September 27, 2012, at p. 26. (Cybercrime, spyware, from government working with private corporations. Privacy? OAE, do you have a warrant?)
October 10, 2012 at 11:07 A.M. Call received from 646-652-0952. ("New York, N.Y.") How strange that this call originates from the same source, using a different number, as yesterday's call from "Eugene, Oregon." (Mr. Menendez? "Gloria Colon?")
To refer to President Obama as an "obstinate child" is irresponsible and offensive. Why is the U.S. media, mostly, not challenging such comments? Racism? Mr. Romney's eldest son -- explaining his father's remark in the debate said -- that he, like his brothers, sometimes "lied" like an "obstinate child." The purported reference to Mr. Obama was unmistakable and condescending.
October 9, 2012 at 1:55 P.M. As election day approaches, I expect the intensity of the attacks against these blogs to increase. The size of the writing and print today is shrunken and barely legible, for me. I hope it is better for others. At any time I may be prevented from writing against my will. I will continue to struggle, in any way that I can, against censorship and cybercrime. Perhaps with Mr. Zisa's incarceration things will improve in New Jersey.
I received several calls this morning at about 11:27 A.M. allegedly from Eugene, Oregon: 458-201-0296. (Mr. Menendez?)
David E. Sanger, "Romney Strives to Stand Apart in Global Policy: Hits Obama's Record," in The New York Times, October 8, 2012, at p. A1. (Romney 49%; Obama 41%. It is a long way to November 6, 2012.)
William Neuman, "Chavez Wins a Third Term in Venezuela Amid Historically High Turnout," in The New York Times, October 8, 2012, at p. A9. ("A leader gains a new mandate to deepen his social revolution. ...")
Lizette Alvarez, "G.O.P. Aims to Remake Florida Supreme Court," in The New York Times, October 3, 2012, at p. A20. (Politicizing the judiciary. Ms. Alvarez is the instrument, allegedly, of Mr. Rubio and Ms. Ros-Leghtinen. Ms. Alvarez is a card-carrying member of the Republican party.)
S. Saul, "G.O.P. Operative Long Trailed by Allegations of Voter Fraud," in The New York Times, October 5, 2012, at p. A11. (Republican fraud to control election in Florida is alleged. How shocking?)
No one knows who will win the U.S. predidential election which is statistically even at this time. Fluctuations of 5% to 10% during the final weeks of the election are not unusual. If the election is close, I believe that Republicans can and will steal it. The Supreme Court is expected to "call it" for the Republican candidate 5 to 4, whatever the facts may be, on strictly partisan lines.
Whichever candidate wins this election, the American people and our democracy will lose. In what follows, I will do my best to explain this strange claim provided that New Jersey's hackers and the "dirty tricks" brigade can be obstructed in their efforts to prevent me from writing on-line. ("How censorship works in America.")
The American people will lose this election because the choices we are offered embody the limited options for change allowed by the richest section of America's population that finances presidential elections and that "owns" our presidents. Mr. Obama, in my judgment, is preferable to Mr. Romney. However, this may not be saying much.
No one can occupy the oval office for long without serving the interests of wealth and corporate power in America, usually at the expense of ordinary people. Mr. Romney is favored by such wealthy people over President Obama -- who is more hated than I realized by so-called "media elites" -- so that coverage of the election will be slanted in favor of the Republican candidate.
Mr. Romney may well "not lose this year's presidential election no matter how many Americans vote against him because of a concerted plan to turn over the nation's voting machines, state by state, to the computer machine manufacturers, Diboud, Sequoia, and Election System Software (ESS), whose most ingenious model is one that voters are alleged to love -- one where you just touch a screen and the candidate of your choice is supposedly recorded by a black box back of the screen as one vote closer to election. ..."
Gore Vidal, Imperial America: Reflections on the United States of Amnesia (New York: Nation, 2005), p. 29. (Noting elections in which votes were, mysteriously, counted for opposing candidates. Curiously, the beneficiaries of these "errors" were always Republicans.)
Both candidates -- or any other persons who come to occupy their current positions -- will, inevitably, become the servants of wealth in our society. Sometimes the interest of most people will coincide with the interest of the wealthy few; just as often the interest of the many will be sacrificed to the good of the richest of us. Think of this as reverse utilitarianism.
At the moment, wealth has no geographical loyalties.Money is attracted to more money, typically in places like the Cayman islands. Most ordinary Americans will be losers as capital seeks ever-cheaper labor markets. Jobs (workers) will be "bought" where they are cheapest and for the least possible cost -- that is, people will be "hired" in China and India as opposed to Kentucky or New Jersey. No matter who is elected president, this will not change.
Our democracy will also lose this election because crucial issues are not being discussed. The population is not educated by candidates to appreciate the significance of those issues.
No one is going to raise the issue of human rights abuses that have come to define the United States of America to billions of persons in the world as a "pariah nation." (Noam Chomsky)
Neither candidate will spend much time dicussing the decline of the American educational system, especially higher education, and what this portends for the future if the problem is not dealt with, adequately, and very soon. At the moment, we are ignoring the genuine "crisis in education." Being 27th out of 29 countries in science, math, and literary skills among recent univerity graduates is not hunky-dory. ("Who Killed the Liberal Arts?" and "Nihilists in Disneyworld.")
No one will mention the continuing violations of international law in the robot bomb campaigns that have attracted so many protests this week in Pakistan and around the world with several distinguished Americans participating in rallies in South Asia against this barbaric practice.
No one will speak of the tensions and growing anti-Americanism in the Middle East that threaten to explode at any minute, regardless of who is elected president. The increasing influence of Israeli intelligence agencies in American domestic matters and elections is yet another forbidden topic. ("Illegal Payments to Bob Menendez.")
An issue that should concern voters is the loss of America's independent media and its transformation (with a few honorable exceptions) into paid political advertising. Neither candidate will speak of the loss of privacy in America, cybercensorship through "buffers" by politicians and parties, also corporate spying on our purchasing and other "habits" designed to improve the ways in which we are manipulated in order to be deprived of our money. Americans' loss of privacy is not making us safer from terrorism.
No one will touch the issue of racism, corruption, inhumane prisons where inmates are raped, experimented upon, drugged, starved, subjected to horrible violence, even murdered -- all of this takes place to the indifference of our corporate courts. ("So Black and So Blue in Prison" and "Foucault, Rose, Davis and the Meanings of Prison.")
None of these issues will be discussed because they do not trouble our corporate and economic "elite," an oligarchy whose candidates have come to represent, exclusively, themselves, as distinct from the majority of people in the country and world community. I consider the risk that American democracy may become a lie a real danger and great concern worthy of discussion in our presidential "debates."
Forced impoverishment and cybercrime may prevent me from writing at any time. I experience a post-iceberg-on-the-Titanic quality to my daily writing adventures at the New York Public Library. Certainly, if Mr. Romney is elected, my blogs will be destroyed by eager volunteeers collected by Mr. Rubio from South Beach, Miami. ("Cubanazos Pose a Threat to National Security" and "Miami's Cubanoids Protest Against Peace.")
For as long as I continue to write, however, I will speak of the vicious racism that defines American society, at this late date, that may explain the otherwise inexplicable hostility to Mr. Obama among allegedly "liberal" media types, like David Letterman and David Remnick. ("Barack Obama and 'The New Yorker.'")
The reaction to the first presidential debate is highly revealing of the latent tensions between sections of America that are drifting further apart, every day, and whose mutual hatred is disturbing and frightening. ("America's Holocaust.")
"The nation imagined by its founders-- those authors of 'We the People,' who clearly intended this experience in self-government to include the many, not just the privileged few -- is under siege by extraordinary concentrations of corporate power and private wealth, aided and abetted by an autocratic judiciary. There can be only one reponse to this usurpation of democracy: defiance. ..."
Bill Moyers & Bernard A. Weissberger, "The 1 Percent Court," in The Nation, October 8, 2012, at p. 11 (emphasis added).
Sources:
Tim Dickingson, "The Federal Bailout That Saved Romney," in Rolling Stone, September 13, 2012, at p. 52. ("Corporate Food Stamps.")
New York & the World:
Susann Craig & Ben Protess, "A Bigger Paycheck On Wall Street," in The New York Times, October 10, 2012, at p. B1. ("Average pay package of $362,950 ..." among stocktraders unrelated to the performance of their stocks. Nice work if you can get it.)
Rod Nordland, "5 Dead in Attack Involving U.S. and Afghan Troops," in The New York Times, October 1, 2012, at p. A4. (Pattern increasing.)
Mathew Rosenberg & Rod Nordland, "U.S. Abandoning Hopes For Taliban Peace Deal," in The New York Times, October 2, 2012, at p. A1. (They know we are leaving.)
"To Combat Modern Slavery," (Editorial) in The New York Times, October 2, 2012, at p. A1. (Obama is doing something to deal with this issue and also addressing prison rape issues. Romney could not care less about either issue.)
"Mr. Romney's Government Handout: Unlike Most Americans, He Can Take Advantage of a Tax Loophole Useful Only to the Very Rich," (Editorial) in The New York Times, October 2, 2012, at p. A31. (Dinner for the Romney clan is on you, America.)
"Names of the Dead," in The New York Times, October 9, 2012, at p. A9. (Approximately, 10 casualties since the beginning of the month. I write this on October 10, 2012. One of these names is a Latino young man earning his residence status.)
New Jersey's Continuing Farce:
Geoff Mulhill, "A Change in Camden Police: Troubled City Dismantling Force, and County Will Take Over," in The Record, September 24, 2012, at p. A-3. (Camden Police is so corrupt that it will be eliminated. West New York, Union City, Elizabeth and several others are worse. Newark is Switzerland compared to these towns.)
Bill Borrow, "Public Unhappy With Both Choices: Obama, Romney Have Historically Low Poll Ratings," in The Record, September 25, 2012, at p. A-1. (NJ voters are among the most pessimistic about U.S. politics. Many feel politics is "hopeless" based on New Jersey's experience. "Law and Ethics in the Soprano State" and "New Jersey is the Home of the Living Dead.")
John Petrick, "County Must Pay Legal Fees for Ex-Cops: Six Detectives Won Age Bias Suit After Being Forced From Jobs," in The Record, September 25, 2012, at p. L-1. ($627,000 in legal fees plus more in compensation for the fired cops at the expense of Passaic County taxpayers.)
Anthony Campisi, "ACLU Files Suit Over Removal of Political Pins: Action is the Latest in Face-Off With State Police," in The Record, September 25, 2012, at p. L-5. (NJ State Police may face additional monitoring by federal government because of new allegations of racism, lawsuits for abuse, and more trouble: "Albert Florence and New Jersey's Racism" and "Driving While Black [DWB] in New Jersey.")
Richard Cowen, "Board Ousts School Chief: Passaic Dispute is Apparently Over Pay," in The Record, September 26, 2012, at p. L-1. ($218,000 salary, plus other perks for now ousted school chief Robert Holster. Mr. Holster is on PAID leave.)
Matt Freedman, "Bill Would Let Patients Say When It's Time to Die," in The Star Ledger, September 27, 2012, at p. 1. (If only Mr. Rabner and the OAE would consider this option.)
Ed Beeson, "Hedge Fund Head Admits Taking $4 MILLION From Clients," in The Star Ledger, September 27, 2012, at p. 26. (Michael Spak, 44, "scooped" $4 million and counting. Garcia and Kriko? I did not take a dime from my clients. Do you speak to me of "ethics," Mr. Rabner? Who did you partner with at the OAE to get little-old me?)
Aisha Sultan, "Consumer Fighting Back Against Involuntary Internet Tracking," in The Star Ledger, September 27, 2012, at p. 26. (Cybercrime, spyware, from government working with private corporations. Privacy? OAE, do you have a warrant?)
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Presidential Debates.
October 6, 2012 at 12:21 P.M. Harassments and obstructions in connection with this text have been normal for me at these blogs. I expect the harassments and cybercrime to continue. I will do my best to write every day. I hope to complete my review of "Total Recall" over the next few days.
Amy O'Leary, "Paying Hackers, Military Forms Alliance," in The New York Times, October 6, 2012, at p. A1. (U.S. military-intelligence agencies using hackers to target sites on-line. Censorship and cybercrime? Will "targets" include Cuba, Korea, Iran and China?)
Sheila Dewan & Mark Landler, "Jobless Rate Sinks to 7.8% Its Lowest for Obama's Term," in The New York Times, October 6, 2012, at p. A1. (After the first debate, Mr. Obama is at 46%; Mr. Romney is at 42%; 2% undecided as reported today on Melissa Harris-Perry quoting a number of polls.)
"Names of the Dead," in The New York Times, October 6, 2012, at p. A8. (2,114 American service members dead in Afghanistan. Mr. Romney will increase military spending and U.S. involvement in the region; Mr. Obama will bring the troops home in 2014.)
Dalia Lithwick, "One Nation By and For the Corporation," in The Nation, October 8, 2012, at p. 22.
Jamie Ravin, "Citizens United and the Corporate Court," in The Nation, October 8, 2012, at p. 17. (How much free speech can you afford?)
Peter Baker, "A Clash of Philosophies," in The New York Times, October 4, 2012, at p. A1. (Is there a humanitarian role for government in the American community?)
Jeff Zeleny & Jim Ruttenberg, "Obama and Romney, in First Debate, Spar Over Fixing the Economy," in The New York Times, October 4, 2012, at p. A1.
Ethan Bronner, "Voter ID Rules Fail Court Tests Across Country," in The New York Times, October 3, 2012, at p. A1.
Matt Taibbi, "Greed and Debt: How Mitt Romney and Bain Capital Staged an Epic Wealth Grab, Destroyed Jobs -- and Stuck Others With the Bill," in Rolling Stone, September 13, 2012, at p. 42.
Gore Vidal, Imperial America: Reflections On the United States of Amnesia (New York: Nation Books, 2004).
"There you go again, Mitt."
Presidential debates are very much like professional wrestling: less quasi-athletic competitions than show business spectacles.
The first presidential debate between President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney was no exception to this rule. When all the smoke clears, after the flag waving and balloons disappear, when the paid partisan cheerleaders (Charlie Rose, David Letterman?) have been silenced (Republicans immediately called out the troops to declare Mitt Romney the "winner" because, allegedly, "he did not make a fool of himself"), it becomes clear that not much was said and that few minds will be changed by this so-called "debate."
Is there any significance to be attached to this "pseudo-event"? Not really. Persons questioned immediately after the debate found it boring and a draw. After the Republican storm troopers went on the air screaming about Mitt as the new Terminator, everyone began to see Romney as the "winner."
First, President Obama has decided to take the high road in this election by avoiding personal attacks. This may be a mistake. In response to Mr. Romney's hand on heart concern for jobs, Mr. Obama should have alluded to Bain Capital's ruthless and predatory capitalism that left so many Americans WITHOUT jobs and entire families devastated.
Many of those persons impoverished by Bain could not purchase health coverage, but they can today thanks to "Obama Care." In fact, Mr. Romney is a champion in the art of creating jobs in China rather than in America by profitting through leaving many of his fellow citizens unemployed.
Second, Mr. Romney should not have referred to 47% of Americans -- again, like many of the victims of Bain Capital -- as "freeloaders" because they receive some government benefits. Among persons receiving benefits are millions who have worked their entire lives to collect modest social security payments and medicare/medicaid.
Others who are ostensibly "freeloaders" for the Republican presidential candidate are servicemen and -women who have been wounded or suffered from traumas that entitle them to receive government subsidies of some kind. Mr. Romney did not serve in the military. I do not believe the 47% comment was a slip-up.
I think this statement (and others that are more disturbing) reveal some of the ugly undercurrents in this election that have to do with race and class in America. Mr. Obama was accused by Mr. Sununu of New Hampshire of being "too lazy to prepare" for the debate. Coded racism is a daily feature of this increasingly ugly election.
Third, Mr. Romney was permitted to get away with contradicting himself, repeatedly, (lying?) about his position and what he will do. Mr. Taibbi charged Mr. Romney with "lying and selective memory" in his Rolling Stone article. I concur.
Mr. Romney has spent years telling us that he will "cut down on taxes" for "America's movers and shakers" (i.e., the 1%) while increasing military spending and cutting medicaid/medicare benefits for people now in their fifties who have, foolishly, relied on the government to fulfill its commitments and contributed to the system from their earnings. Mitt says, nicely, "screw 'em."
As with Mr. Romney's concern for the environment that, somehow, allows him to favor burning "clean coal" and "oil independence" -- which is really impossible given that oil is a scarce and limited resource -- even as he avoids alternative energies, the Republican candidate also dreams of a strange alchemy that allows for collecting less money and spending more than he takes in without borrowing to make up the difference. Don't try that at home, kids.
Mr. Romney favors government assistance by way of tax cuts (whether he will admit it or not) for the richest members of the population, like himself, and their "enterprises." He offers only cold indifference to the poor, sick people, those injured in war or living on fixed incomes -- that is, "freeloaders."
More importantly, the only way Mr. Romney will be able to increase a military budget that makes up more than 50% of the federal budget, while adding to the tax cuts for his friends and himself, is by borrowing more from China, Japan, and Europe. This is in keeping with Mitt's past practice at Bain where he burdened target companies with debt, ripped-off nice fees for himself, then cut the corporate wreckage loose to go under as he headed to the Cayman Islands in search of tax shelters.
Ironically, Mr. Romney's complaints about generous funds for Wall Street and what I call "corporate food stamp" programs failed to mention that his beloved Bain has been a beneficiary of government generosity in the past and, probably, will be again. Mitt has always been pro-debt (that he can exploit), unconcerned about jobs for the "little people" (like those left out in the cold by Bain), and more than willing to disregard the rights of the poorest and least able Americans who can only be helped by government.
"By making debt the centerpiece of his campaign, Romney was making a calculated bluff of historic dimensions -- placing a massive all-in bet on the rank incompetence of the American press corps. The result has been a brilliant comedy: A man makes a $250 million fortune loading up companies with debt and then extracting million-dollar fees from those same companies, in exchange for the generous service of telling them who needs to be fired in order to service the debt payments he saddled them with in the first place. That same man then runs for president riding on an image of children roasting on flames of debt. ... If Romney pulls off this whopper [lie] you'll have to tip your hat to him: No one in history has ever successfully run for president riding this big a lie. ..." (Taibbi, p. 43, emphasis added.)
"Eat Cake and Lose Weight!"
Mr. Romney's $7 TRILLION package of increased spending and tax cuts just makes no sense from a strictly logical and mathematical standpoint as Mr. Obama insisted throughout the debate. I have reason to believe that Republicans have difficulty with logic. Mr. Romney may be the all-time example of an "up-is-down" thinker. "It's all relative" for Mitt.
In addition to this "corporate welfare" package, Mr. Romney's party continues to favor the war on Americans' civil liberties that has come to define us, in Noam Chomsky's phrase, as a "pariah state" in the world, because of out-of-control surveillance and monitoring of persons who have committed no crimes. No doubt these innocent people -- like Professor Chomsky -- are also "freeloaders." Mr. Ryan calls them the 30% who live off the government discounting their contribution to the political process.
Thinly-veiled racism reared its ugly head as Mr. Romney stated: "I have 5 boys and I am familiar with persons not speaking the truth." The President of the United States of America is not Mr. Romney's "boy." ("Is Western Philosophy Racist?" and "Albert Florence and New Jersey's Racism.")
To win this election, again, Republicans will find it necessary to deny the franchise to millions of Americans -- more of the "freeloaders," perhaps -- especially persons of color. In Florida, 80% of the persons on voter lists deemed "questionable" and therefore to be struck from the rolls are persons of color or immigrants. For Latino politicians (like Marco Rubio or Iliana Ros-Leghtinen) to favor such tactics of disenfranchisement and/or censorship through cybercrime is disgraceful and sad. A similar pattern has been detected in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and elsewhere. ("How censorship works in America.")
It is very likely that Republican-controlled jurisdictions, like Florida, will engage in New Jersey-like fraud -- as, indeed, will New Jersey's politicians since the state's "undead" are expected to vote in droves, usually more than once! -- most of the fraud and disappearing votes will help Mr. Romney. Just ask Al Gore about Florida's "Chits." ("New Jersey is the Home of the Living Dead" and "Is Union City, New Jersey Meyer Lansky's Whore House?" then "Voting in North Bergen, New Jersey.")
If elected, Mr. Romney will become America's "corporate food stamp" president happily permitting the wealthiest 1% of Americans to "freeload" on the rest of us. That's not right, Mitt. ("Book Chats and 'Chits.'")
This November, not for the first time, Republicans will try to "control" the democratic process -- if necessary, through intimidating police presence in voting places and traffic courts as well as Richard Nixon-like "dirty tricks" -- designed to prevent poor people from voting at all. Primarily, Republican efforts will focus on excluding or not counting the votes of the "rabble," mostly brown and "black" people (as Richard Posner likes to say), who are without resources or power in our society except for the ballot.
Please do not stay home this election. Make sure to vote and that your vote is counted. Many good Americans have died for your right to vote freely. Do not allow those deaths to have been in vain.
" ... corporate America arranges elections for us while their media" -- 5 corporations own more than 95% of news outlets in America -- "covers-up those crimes, great and small, that are committed in the process. Although many [Americans] were aware that games were played by those supervising the election in November '04, none of those accountable, like [G.W. Bush's] Secretary of State, has thus far answered the questions put to them by Congressman Conyers. Also, the companies that make the electronic [voting] machines from Diebold to Triad are owned by die hard Republicans who insist that because of 'trade secrets' only their employees can examine the machines. Thus, our elections are privatized." (Vidal, p. ix, emphasis added.)
Amy O'Leary, "Paying Hackers, Military Forms Alliance," in The New York Times, October 6, 2012, at p. A1. (U.S. military-intelligence agencies using hackers to target sites on-line. Censorship and cybercrime? Will "targets" include Cuba, Korea, Iran and China?)
Sheila Dewan & Mark Landler, "Jobless Rate Sinks to 7.8% Its Lowest for Obama's Term," in The New York Times, October 6, 2012, at p. A1. (After the first debate, Mr. Obama is at 46%; Mr. Romney is at 42%; 2% undecided as reported today on Melissa Harris-Perry quoting a number of polls.)
"Names of the Dead," in The New York Times, October 6, 2012, at p. A8. (2,114 American service members dead in Afghanistan. Mr. Romney will increase military spending and U.S. involvement in the region; Mr. Obama will bring the troops home in 2014.)
Dalia Lithwick, "One Nation By and For the Corporation," in The Nation, October 8, 2012, at p. 22.
Jamie Ravin, "Citizens United and the Corporate Court," in The Nation, October 8, 2012, at p. 17. (How much free speech can you afford?)
Peter Baker, "A Clash of Philosophies," in The New York Times, October 4, 2012, at p. A1. (Is there a humanitarian role for government in the American community?)
Jeff Zeleny & Jim Ruttenberg, "Obama and Romney, in First Debate, Spar Over Fixing the Economy," in The New York Times, October 4, 2012, at p. A1.
Ethan Bronner, "Voter ID Rules Fail Court Tests Across Country," in The New York Times, October 3, 2012, at p. A1.
Matt Taibbi, "Greed and Debt: How Mitt Romney and Bain Capital Staged an Epic Wealth Grab, Destroyed Jobs -- and Stuck Others With the Bill," in Rolling Stone, September 13, 2012, at p. 42.
Gore Vidal, Imperial America: Reflections On the United States of Amnesia (New York: Nation Books, 2004).
"There you go again, Mitt."
Presidential debates are very much like professional wrestling: less quasi-athletic competitions than show business spectacles.
The first presidential debate between President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney was no exception to this rule. When all the smoke clears, after the flag waving and balloons disappear, when the paid partisan cheerleaders (Charlie Rose, David Letterman?) have been silenced (Republicans immediately called out the troops to declare Mitt Romney the "winner" because, allegedly, "he did not make a fool of himself"), it becomes clear that not much was said and that few minds will be changed by this so-called "debate."
Is there any significance to be attached to this "pseudo-event"? Not really. Persons questioned immediately after the debate found it boring and a draw. After the Republican storm troopers went on the air screaming about Mitt as the new Terminator, everyone began to see Romney as the "winner."
First, President Obama has decided to take the high road in this election by avoiding personal attacks. This may be a mistake. In response to Mr. Romney's hand on heart concern for jobs, Mr. Obama should have alluded to Bain Capital's ruthless and predatory capitalism that left so many Americans WITHOUT jobs and entire families devastated.
Many of those persons impoverished by Bain could not purchase health coverage, but they can today thanks to "Obama Care." In fact, Mr. Romney is a champion in the art of creating jobs in China rather than in America by profitting through leaving many of his fellow citizens unemployed.
Second, Mr. Romney should not have referred to 47% of Americans -- again, like many of the victims of Bain Capital -- as "freeloaders" because they receive some government benefits. Among persons receiving benefits are millions who have worked their entire lives to collect modest social security payments and medicare/medicaid.
Others who are ostensibly "freeloaders" for the Republican presidential candidate are servicemen and -women who have been wounded or suffered from traumas that entitle them to receive government subsidies of some kind. Mr. Romney did not serve in the military. I do not believe the 47% comment was a slip-up.
I think this statement (and others that are more disturbing) reveal some of the ugly undercurrents in this election that have to do with race and class in America. Mr. Obama was accused by Mr. Sununu of New Hampshire of being "too lazy to prepare" for the debate. Coded racism is a daily feature of this increasingly ugly election.
Third, Mr. Romney was permitted to get away with contradicting himself, repeatedly, (lying?) about his position and what he will do. Mr. Taibbi charged Mr. Romney with "lying and selective memory" in his Rolling Stone article. I concur.
Mr. Romney has spent years telling us that he will "cut down on taxes" for "America's movers and shakers" (i.e., the 1%) while increasing military spending and cutting medicaid/medicare benefits for people now in their fifties who have, foolishly, relied on the government to fulfill its commitments and contributed to the system from their earnings. Mitt says, nicely, "screw 'em."
As with Mr. Romney's concern for the environment that, somehow, allows him to favor burning "clean coal" and "oil independence" -- which is really impossible given that oil is a scarce and limited resource -- even as he avoids alternative energies, the Republican candidate also dreams of a strange alchemy that allows for collecting less money and spending more than he takes in without borrowing to make up the difference. Don't try that at home, kids.
Mr. Romney favors government assistance by way of tax cuts (whether he will admit it or not) for the richest members of the population, like himself, and their "enterprises." He offers only cold indifference to the poor, sick people, those injured in war or living on fixed incomes -- that is, "freeloaders."
More importantly, the only way Mr. Romney will be able to increase a military budget that makes up more than 50% of the federal budget, while adding to the tax cuts for his friends and himself, is by borrowing more from China, Japan, and Europe. This is in keeping with Mitt's past practice at Bain where he burdened target companies with debt, ripped-off nice fees for himself, then cut the corporate wreckage loose to go under as he headed to the Cayman Islands in search of tax shelters.
Ironically, Mr. Romney's complaints about generous funds for Wall Street and what I call "corporate food stamp" programs failed to mention that his beloved Bain has been a beneficiary of government generosity in the past and, probably, will be again. Mitt has always been pro-debt (that he can exploit), unconcerned about jobs for the "little people" (like those left out in the cold by Bain), and more than willing to disregard the rights of the poorest and least able Americans who can only be helped by government.
"By making debt the centerpiece of his campaign, Romney was making a calculated bluff of historic dimensions -- placing a massive all-in bet on the rank incompetence of the American press corps. The result has been a brilliant comedy: A man makes a $250 million fortune loading up companies with debt and then extracting million-dollar fees from those same companies, in exchange for the generous service of telling them who needs to be fired in order to service the debt payments he saddled them with in the first place. That same man then runs for president riding on an image of children roasting on flames of debt. ... If Romney pulls off this whopper [lie] you'll have to tip your hat to him: No one in history has ever successfully run for president riding this big a lie. ..." (Taibbi, p. 43, emphasis added.)
"Eat Cake and Lose Weight!"
Mr. Romney's $7 TRILLION package of increased spending and tax cuts just makes no sense from a strictly logical and mathematical standpoint as Mr. Obama insisted throughout the debate. I have reason to believe that Republicans have difficulty with logic. Mr. Romney may be the all-time example of an "up-is-down" thinker. "It's all relative" for Mitt.
In addition to this "corporate welfare" package, Mr. Romney's party continues to favor the war on Americans' civil liberties that has come to define us, in Noam Chomsky's phrase, as a "pariah state" in the world, because of out-of-control surveillance and monitoring of persons who have committed no crimes. No doubt these innocent people -- like Professor Chomsky -- are also "freeloaders." Mr. Ryan calls them the 30% who live off the government discounting their contribution to the political process.
Thinly-veiled racism reared its ugly head as Mr. Romney stated: "I have 5 boys and I am familiar with persons not speaking the truth." The President of the United States of America is not Mr. Romney's "boy." ("Is Western Philosophy Racist?" and "Albert Florence and New Jersey's Racism.")
To win this election, again, Republicans will find it necessary to deny the franchise to millions of Americans -- more of the "freeloaders," perhaps -- especially persons of color. In Florida, 80% of the persons on voter lists deemed "questionable" and therefore to be struck from the rolls are persons of color or immigrants. For Latino politicians (like Marco Rubio or Iliana Ros-Leghtinen) to favor such tactics of disenfranchisement and/or censorship through cybercrime is disgraceful and sad. A similar pattern has been detected in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and elsewhere. ("How censorship works in America.")
It is very likely that Republican-controlled jurisdictions, like Florida, will engage in New Jersey-like fraud -- as, indeed, will New Jersey's politicians since the state's "undead" are expected to vote in droves, usually more than once! -- most of the fraud and disappearing votes will help Mr. Romney. Just ask Al Gore about Florida's "Chits." ("New Jersey is the Home of the Living Dead" and "Is Union City, New Jersey Meyer Lansky's Whore House?" then "Voting in North Bergen, New Jersey.")
If elected, Mr. Romney will become America's "corporate food stamp" president happily permitting the wealthiest 1% of Americans to "freeload" on the rest of us. That's not right, Mitt. ("Book Chats and 'Chits.'")
This November, not for the first time, Republicans will try to "control" the democratic process -- if necessary, through intimidating police presence in voting places and traffic courts as well as Richard Nixon-like "dirty tricks" -- designed to prevent poor people from voting at all. Primarily, Republican efforts will focus on excluding or not counting the votes of the "rabble," mostly brown and "black" people (as Richard Posner likes to say), who are without resources or power in our society except for the ballot.
Please do not stay home this election. Make sure to vote and that your vote is counted. Many good Americans have died for your right to vote freely. Do not allow those deaths to have been in vain.
" ... corporate America arranges elections for us while their media" -- 5 corporations own more than 95% of news outlets in America -- "covers-up those crimes, great and small, that are committed in the process. Although many [Americans] were aware that games were played by those supervising the election in November '04, none of those accountable, like [G.W. Bush's] Secretary of State, has thus far answered the questions put to them by Congressman Conyers. Also, the companies that make the electronic [voting] machines from Diebold to Triad are owned by die hard Republicans who insist that because of 'trade secrets' only their employees can examine the machines. Thus, our elections are privatized." (Vidal, p. ix, emphasis added.)
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
U.S. to Increase Cybercensorship.
October 3, 2012 at 3:00 P.M. Interruptions in my t.v. signal continue. I expect further obstructions of my communication efforts at any time. Attempts by prosecutors and/or OAE officials to cover-up and suppress "errors" in legal matters have become common. (See the sources quoted below.)
Curiously, the water in my building was shut off without notice today. No doubt this was for emergency repairs and only a coincidence.
Benjamin Weiser, "Judge Calls 2004 Protest Arrests Illegal," in The New York Times, October 2, 2012, at p. A26. (Freedom of speech is daily war in today's America.)
Natasha Singer, "U.S. Is Targeting Web Privacy Rule to Shield Young," in The New York Times, September 28, 2012, at p. A1. ("'The Whole World is Watching,' Mr. Obama.")
President Obama's UN speech nothwithstanding, new measures aimed at controlling on-line speech are in the works.
Naturally, corporations' free speech rights will be protected. Poor human beings, on the other hand, who are tortured and raped without being charged or convicted of a crime, do not concern our Supreme Court. Five of the justices will probably be untroubled by the censorship described in these essays and plog posts that must be aimed at silencing me.
Civil libertarians and free speech advocates are concerned about possible misuse of technology and legislation aimed (ostensibly) at protecting children from Internet "data miners," but actually designed to allow for greater government control and monitoring of electronic communications that are already subject to intense supervision.
I have little doubt that Mr. Romney's election would lead to an effort to destroy my political essays and those of many others holding radical views, probably with the blessings of Chief Justice Roberts.
President Obama's speech before the UN seemed to suggest that freedom of speech was -- or should be -- available to everyone with a cellphone in an age of hypercommunications. China, for instance, is skeptical about this claim in light of our own failures to ensure free speech for persons, like me. In China, I am told, claims to have written an article opposing the government are often designed to get a US visa. The New York Times will worry about Ai Wei Wei in China, not about me and many others like me struggling to be heard right here in New York.
On prior occasions the president's speeches calling for tolerance of dissent on-line have been followed by increasingly repressive measures at home and throughout global electronic communications networks. It is evident that there are forces within the U.S. government that wish to make Mr. Obama appear mendacious to a world audience that marvels at the tensions within the American power-structure.
"Who is in charge in America?" people wonder. There are politicians on the far Right-wing in the Republican party who define the national interest to coincide with their party's political objectives. These people could not care less about undermining the Chief Executive.
I have seen partisan politics in my life, but never anything like this animosity between the major parties. The hostility to Mr. Obama may surpass the hatred directed at the Clintons. Why is Mr. Obama so hated? Race?
"The move comes at a time when major corporations, app developers and data miners appear to be collecting information about the on-line activities of millions of young Internet users" -- also middle-aged Internet users -- "without their parents' awareness, childrens' advocates say."
Adults should worry even more about sanctioned use of spyware by corporations and government agencies, acting secretly and (sometimes) cooperatively, to obtain "data" on "controversial figures." These methods have been used to check on opinions being expressed by persons (like me), books being read, films being seen, networks being formed -- all in violation of well-established First and Fourth Amendment principles.
Organized cybercrime campaigns run by political operatives of various kinds targeting individuals disfavored by politicians are bound to follow. ("How censorship works in America" and "Censorship and Cruelty in New Jersey" then "Torture" and "More in Sadness Than in Anger.")
Government efforts to control who collects data fail to consider the dangers associated with state accumulation of such data about "suspect individuals" under the guise of protecting children. No one can oppose censorship when it is presented as "child protection" even if protecting children has nothing to do with the real purposes of the law or technology being devised to further control our on-line activities.
I can never know whether I will be able to continue writing on-line. If more than two days pass without alterations of these writings it means that I am prevented from writing against my will. No images can be posted at these blogs. I am often prevented from editing my texts, also my writings are plagiarized, censored or suppressed. No response to my requests for information have been received from New Jersey. My profile page and dashboard have been altered against my will. For some reason, my t.v. signal is interfered with on a regular basis. Luckily, I do not have a cellphone. Otherwise, I am sure that my calls would be blocked or recorded.
Sources:
New York & the World:
Kate Zernike, "To Fight Crime, Camden Will Trade In Its Police," in The New York Times, September 29, 2012, at p. A1. (Camden, New Jersey is getting rid of of its highly corrupt police force -- something Elizabeth, Union City and West New York as well as Trenton should also contemplate -- to create a new force in an effort to deal with the most crime-ridden city in the nation.)
Elisabeth Provoledo, "Vatican Says Papyrus Referring to Jesus' Wife Is Probably Fake," in The New York Times, September 29, 2012, at p. A4. (I agree that this text is highly suspect: Fourth century, written in coptic, elliptical and brief. Nonetheless, as per the writings of Elaine Pagels and other scholars, the marital status of Jesus is an open question and, I believe, irrelevant to the validity of Christian teachings.)
Ethan Bronner, "Citizen Held After 9/11 Wins Right to be Tried: Wrongly Imprisoned and Never Charged," in The New York Times, September 29, 2012, at p. A16. (Battle for habeas corpus being fought, again.)
Rich Gladstone & David E. Sanger, "Nod to Obama by Netanyahu On Iran Bomb," in The New York Times, September 28, 2012, at p. A1. (Will Iran get the bomb? The dislike between Israel's P.M. and Mr. Obama is palpable and ominous.)
Charlie Savage, "Election Will Decide Future of Interrogation Methods For Terrorism Suspects," in The New York Times, September 28, 2012, at p. A14. (It is no improvement in respect for civil liberties to avoid torture by killing people with robot bombs.)
Marsi Sucret, "Prisoners' Letters Offer a Window Into Lives Spent Alone in Tiny Cells," in The New York Times, October 2, 2012, at p. A25. (U.S. tortures of inmates includes isolation, starvation, use of chemical lobotomies, both psychological and physical torture is common in prisons for men and women. Rape is also not unusual. Mr. Obama is leading the effort to control prison sexual assaults.)
Liz Robbins, "Connecticut Court Orders Retrial for Man Convicted in '87 Rape, Arson and Murder," in The New York Times, October 2, 2012, at p. A28. (Prosecutors withheld exculpatory evidence. The falsely convicted defendant -- a dishwasher, RICHARD LAPOINTE -- has been imprisoned since 1987 and is now 66. He will be retried, despite the misconduct that resulted in a conviction now questioned by prosecutors themselves. However, a retrial may prevent a lawsuit against the county.)
James Barron, "State Pays $2 MILLION to Settle Man's Wrongful Conviction Lawsuit," in The New York Times, October 2, 2012, at p. A29. (Paid witnesses lied on cue, obstruction of justice, fabrication of evidence by prosecutors has not resulted in ANY ethics actions against these government lawyers.)
New Jersey's Public Catastrophe:
Thomas Beaumont, "Numbers Favoring Obama Right Now: Romney Eyes Debate, Shake-Up in Key States," in The Record, October 1, 2012, at p. A-1. (Closer than it should be. The debates are for Mr. Obama to lose since the president is, clearly, more articulate, better educated, and adept in debate. Maybe that's why they don't like him.)
Heidi Voigt & Rahim Faez, "U.S., Afghan Forces Clash, Leaving 5 Dead: Gunfight Called 'Misunderstanding,'" in The Record, October 1, 2012, at p. A-8. (2,000 dead U.S. troops in Afghanistan; thousands more killed in our secret wars in Pakistan, Yemen, and Bahrain.)
John Reitmeyer & Melissa Hayes, "N.J. Credit Outlook Takes a Hit: Christie Repeats Calls for Tax Cuts," in The Record, September 19, 2012, at p. A-1. (Why would New Jersey lose respect in the financial community? Corruption? Incompetence? Disappearing funds? All of the foregoing reasons?)
"It's the Math: Less Revenue May Affect Credit Rating," (Editorial) in The Record, September 19, 2012, at p. A-12. (N.J.'s credit worth and outlook has been downgraded to "negative." This may prove crucial to continuing to operate government agencies or to providing essential services.)
Denise R. Superville, "Web Ad Leads Cops to Alleged Hookers: Two Arrested in Undercover Operation," in The Record, September 20, 2012, at p. L-3. (Sex services have moved to the Garden State suburbs with police protection and on-line advertising. Children can be "ordered" on-line. The proposed legislation will have zero effect on these industries in New Jersey. This Bergen County operation serviced some of the most affluent communities in the state and may be linked to similar operations elsewhere. Coincidence? Corruption? "New Jersey's Child Sex Industry" and "Is Menendez For Sale?")
Melissa Hayes, "Fairview Man Charged With Sexual Assault," in The Record, September 20, 2012, at p. L-3. (THOMAS PICCIRILLO, 37, was charged with sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a minor. The victim is a 14 year-old not identified in police papers made public. Friend of yours, Diana?)
Jenna Portnoy, "Christie Unleashes New Assaults on Democrats," in The Star Ledger, September 28, 2012, at p. 1. ("Jenna Portnoy" is probably the same person -- or persons -- using the name "Manohla Dargis" at the Times. Is "Manohla Dargis" actually the Bob Menendez brigade?)
Hannan Adeley, "The Undead Can't be Stopped by Parking Tickets: Horror Show Rises From Grave a Year After Police Fine Onlookers," in The Record, October 2, 2012, at p. 1. (Plagiarism? See: "New Jersey is the Home of the Living Dead.")
"Good Sunshine: Government Transparency -- Priceless," (Editorial) in The Record, October 2, 2012, at p. A-8. (N.J.'s "open file" policy and "Open Records Act" are part of the lie that is the state's legal ethics and political integrity system. I renew my request for the truth from the OAE and Supreme Court in Trenton. I make this request, again, under all applicable provisions of N.J. law and the state as well as federal constitutions. "Terry Tuchin, Diana Lisa Riccioli, and New Jersey's Agency of Torture" and "New Jersey's 'Ethical' Legal System" then "Jennifer Velez is a Dyke Magnet!")
Curiously, the water in my building was shut off without notice today. No doubt this was for emergency repairs and only a coincidence.
Benjamin Weiser, "Judge Calls 2004 Protest Arrests Illegal," in The New York Times, October 2, 2012, at p. A26. (Freedom of speech is daily war in today's America.)
Natasha Singer, "U.S. Is Targeting Web Privacy Rule to Shield Young," in The New York Times, September 28, 2012, at p. A1. ("'The Whole World is Watching,' Mr. Obama.")
President Obama's UN speech nothwithstanding, new measures aimed at controlling on-line speech are in the works.
Naturally, corporations' free speech rights will be protected. Poor human beings, on the other hand, who are tortured and raped without being charged or convicted of a crime, do not concern our Supreme Court. Five of the justices will probably be untroubled by the censorship described in these essays and plog posts that must be aimed at silencing me.
Civil libertarians and free speech advocates are concerned about possible misuse of technology and legislation aimed (ostensibly) at protecting children from Internet "data miners," but actually designed to allow for greater government control and monitoring of electronic communications that are already subject to intense supervision.
I have little doubt that Mr. Romney's election would lead to an effort to destroy my political essays and those of many others holding radical views, probably with the blessings of Chief Justice Roberts.
President Obama's speech before the UN seemed to suggest that freedom of speech was -- or should be -- available to everyone with a cellphone in an age of hypercommunications. China, for instance, is skeptical about this claim in light of our own failures to ensure free speech for persons, like me. In China, I am told, claims to have written an article opposing the government are often designed to get a US visa. The New York Times will worry about Ai Wei Wei in China, not about me and many others like me struggling to be heard right here in New York.
On prior occasions the president's speeches calling for tolerance of dissent on-line have been followed by increasingly repressive measures at home and throughout global electronic communications networks. It is evident that there are forces within the U.S. government that wish to make Mr. Obama appear mendacious to a world audience that marvels at the tensions within the American power-structure.
"Who is in charge in America?" people wonder. There are politicians on the far Right-wing in the Republican party who define the national interest to coincide with their party's political objectives. These people could not care less about undermining the Chief Executive.
I have seen partisan politics in my life, but never anything like this animosity between the major parties. The hostility to Mr. Obama may surpass the hatred directed at the Clintons. Why is Mr. Obama so hated? Race?
"The move comes at a time when major corporations, app developers and data miners appear to be collecting information about the on-line activities of millions of young Internet users" -- also middle-aged Internet users -- "without their parents' awareness, childrens' advocates say."
Adults should worry even more about sanctioned use of spyware by corporations and government agencies, acting secretly and (sometimes) cooperatively, to obtain "data" on "controversial figures." These methods have been used to check on opinions being expressed by persons (like me), books being read, films being seen, networks being formed -- all in violation of well-established First and Fourth Amendment principles.
Organized cybercrime campaigns run by political operatives of various kinds targeting individuals disfavored by politicians are bound to follow. ("How censorship works in America" and "Censorship and Cruelty in New Jersey" then "Torture" and "More in Sadness Than in Anger.")
Government efforts to control who collects data fail to consider the dangers associated with state accumulation of such data about "suspect individuals" under the guise of protecting children. No one can oppose censorship when it is presented as "child protection" even if protecting children has nothing to do with the real purposes of the law or technology being devised to further control our on-line activities.
I can never know whether I will be able to continue writing on-line. If more than two days pass without alterations of these writings it means that I am prevented from writing against my will. No images can be posted at these blogs. I am often prevented from editing my texts, also my writings are plagiarized, censored or suppressed. No response to my requests for information have been received from New Jersey. My profile page and dashboard have been altered against my will. For some reason, my t.v. signal is interfered with on a regular basis. Luckily, I do not have a cellphone. Otherwise, I am sure that my calls would be blocked or recorded.
Sources:
New York & the World:
Kate Zernike, "To Fight Crime, Camden Will Trade In Its Police," in The New York Times, September 29, 2012, at p. A1. (Camden, New Jersey is getting rid of of its highly corrupt police force -- something Elizabeth, Union City and West New York as well as Trenton should also contemplate -- to create a new force in an effort to deal with the most crime-ridden city in the nation.)
Elisabeth Provoledo, "Vatican Says Papyrus Referring to Jesus' Wife Is Probably Fake," in The New York Times, September 29, 2012, at p. A4. (I agree that this text is highly suspect: Fourth century, written in coptic, elliptical and brief. Nonetheless, as per the writings of Elaine Pagels and other scholars, the marital status of Jesus is an open question and, I believe, irrelevant to the validity of Christian teachings.)
Ethan Bronner, "Citizen Held After 9/11 Wins Right to be Tried: Wrongly Imprisoned and Never Charged," in The New York Times, September 29, 2012, at p. A16. (Battle for habeas corpus being fought, again.)
Rich Gladstone & David E. Sanger, "Nod to Obama by Netanyahu On Iran Bomb," in The New York Times, September 28, 2012, at p. A1. (Will Iran get the bomb? The dislike between Israel's P.M. and Mr. Obama is palpable and ominous.)
Charlie Savage, "Election Will Decide Future of Interrogation Methods For Terrorism Suspects," in The New York Times, September 28, 2012, at p. A14. (It is no improvement in respect for civil liberties to avoid torture by killing people with robot bombs.)
Marsi Sucret, "Prisoners' Letters Offer a Window Into Lives Spent Alone in Tiny Cells," in The New York Times, October 2, 2012, at p. A25. (U.S. tortures of inmates includes isolation, starvation, use of chemical lobotomies, both psychological and physical torture is common in prisons for men and women. Rape is also not unusual. Mr. Obama is leading the effort to control prison sexual assaults.)
Liz Robbins, "Connecticut Court Orders Retrial for Man Convicted in '87 Rape, Arson and Murder," in The New York Times, October 2, 2012, at p. A28. (Prosecutors withheld exculpatory evidence. The falsely convicted defendant -- a dishwasher, RICHARD LAPOINTE -- has been imprisoned since 1987 and is now 66. He will be retried, despite the misconduct that resulted in a conviction now questioned by prosecutors themselves. However, a retrial may prevent a lawsuit against the county.)
James Barron, "State Pays $2 MILLION to Settle Man's Wrongful Conviction Lawsuit," in The New York Times, October 2, 2012, at p. A29. (Paid witnesses lied on cue, obstruction of justice, fabrication of evidence by prosecutors has not resulted in ANY ethics actions against these government lawyers.)
New Jersey's Public Catastrophe:
Thomas Beaumont, "Numbers Favoring Obama Right Now: Romney Eyes Debate, Shake-Up in Key States," in The Record, October 1, 2012, at p. A-1. (Closer than it should be. The debates are for Mr. Obama to lose since the president is, clearly, more articulate, better educated, and adept in debate. Maybe that's why they don't like him.)
Heidi Voigt & Rahim Faez, "U.S., Afghan Forces Clash, Leaving 5 Dead: Gunfight Called 'Misunderstanding,'" in The Record, October 1, 2012, at p. A-8. (2,000 dead U.S. troops in Afghanistan; thousands more killed in our secret wars in Pakistan, Yemen, and Bahrain.)
John Reitmeyer & Melissa Hayes, "N.J. Credit Outlook Takes a Hit: Christie Repeats Calls for Tax Cuts," in The Record, September 19, 2012, at p. A-1. (Why would New Jersey lose respect in the financial community? Corruption? Incompetence? Disappearing funds? All of the foregoing reasons?)
"It's the Math: Less Revenue May Affect Credit Rating," (Editorial) in The Record, September 19, 2012, at p. A-12. (N.J.'s credit worth and outlook has been downgraded to "negative." This may prove crucial to continuing to operate government agencies or to providing essential services.)
Denise R. Superville, "Web Ad Leads Cops to Alleged Hookers: Two Arrested in Undercover Operation," in The Record, September 20, 2012, at p. L-3. (Sex services have moved to the Garden State suburbs with police protection and on-line advertising. Children can be "ordered" on-line. The proposed legislation will have zero effect on these industries in New Jersey. This Bergen County operation serviced some of the most affluent communities in the state and may be linked to similar operations elsewhere. Coincidence? Corruption? "New Jersey's Child Sex Industry" and "Is Menendez For Sale?")
Melissa Hayes, "Fairview Man Charged With Sexual Assault," in The Record, September 20, 2012, at p. L-3. (THOMAS PICCIRILLO, 37, was charged with sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a minor. The victim is a 14 year-old not identified in police papers made public. Friend of yours, Diana?)
Jenna Portnoy, "Christie Unleashes New Assaults on Democrats," in The Star Ledger, September 28, 2012, at p. 1. ("Jenna Portnoy" is probably the same person -- or persons -- using the name "Manohla Dargis" at the Times. Is "Manohla Dargis" actually the Bob Menendez brigade?)
Hannan Adeley, "The Undead Can't be Stopped by Parking Tickets: Horror Show Rises From Grave a Year After Police Fine Onlookers," in The Record, October 2, 2012, at p. 1. (Plagiarism? See: "New Jersey is the Home of the Living Dead.")
"Good Sunshine: Government Transparency -- Priceless," (Editorial) in The Record, October 2, 2012, at p. A-8. (N.J.'s "open file" policy and "Open Records Act" are part of the lie that is the state's legal ethics and political integrity system. I renew my request for the truth from the OAE and Supreme Court in Trenton. I make this request, again, under all applicable provisions of N.J. law and the state as well as federal constitutions. "Terry Tuchin, Diana Lisa Riccioli, and New Jersey's Agency of Torture" and "New Jersey's 'Ethical' Legal System" then "Jennifer Velez is a Dyke Magnet!")
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