Kim Lueddeke, "Comp Time Under Fire: Garfield Police Chief Logs 400 Hours in 4 Years on Top of $168,000 Salary," in The Record, August 14, 2012, at p. A-1. (Chief Kevin Amos is "on the tit.")
Janet Renshaw & Mary Ann Spoto, "Solomon is Christie's Pick for High Court: Superior Court Judge is Former Prosecutor Who Once Headed BPU," in The Star Ledger, July 17, 2012, at p. 1.
AP, "F.B.I. Raids The Home of the Mayor of Trenton," in The New York Times, July 17, 2012, at p. A24.
Mr. Christie has grown tired of grandstanding by Democrats concerned (please don't laugh) about judicial "integrity" and "independence" all of a sudden in opposing the governor's judicial nominees.
Mr. Christie has done his homework and found the most impeccable choice for a spot on the high court: Lee Solomon is Christie's guy.
I do not know Mr. Solomon. He was reputed to be "competent" as a prosecutor with good political skills. These qualities are rare on the New Jersey Supreme Court these days. As they say in Trenton, "who is Solomon's godfather?" Mr. Norcross? Mr. Sweeney? Party affiliation may mean nothing. ("Is Stephen M. Sweeney, Esq. a Liar?" and "George E. Norcross, III is the Boss of New Jersey's Politics and Law.")
I am not aware of any rumors or allegations against Mr. Solomon. This is also unusual with regard to N.J. political and legal officials. Mr. Solomon may be the only candidate for the New Jersey Supreme Court on whom George E. Norcross, III and Chris Christie agree. But then, in the words of Assembly Speaker Oliver, Christopher Christie, Esq. is "mentally deranged and a liar." ("Is Chrisopher Christie 'Mentally Deranged' and a 'Liar'?")
New Jersey politics makes for very strange bedfellows. The recent romance between Christie and Norcross is just plain weird. ("Is there a gay marriage right?")
I am sure that Judge Solomon (aptly named!) will be loyal to his political protectors. This is often the problem with New Jersey judges -- an unofficial system of loyalties and tribute at the expense of the law and its public processes. ("Law and Ethics in the Soprano State" and "New Jersey's Politically-Connected Lawyers On the Tit.")
Will Mr. Norcross call on Judge Solomon for favors? If he does, will Mr. Solomon be able to refuse favors for his political godfather(s)? I doubt it.
Is this soiled system and tainted legal reality the so-called "judicial independence" that prevents the governor from asking judges to share in financial pain like all other public servants, Chief Justice Rabner? ("No More Cover-Ups and Lies, Chief Justice Rabner!")
An F.B.I. raid at the home of the Democratic mayor of Trenton, Tony Mack, (attorney?) suggests levels of cronyism and corruption worthy of Union City:
"Agents also searched the home of Mr. Mack's brother, Raphiel Mack, and Joseph Giorgianni, ["Joey-Lollipops"] a convicted former sex offender" -- Mr. Giorgianni did time for having sex with a 14 year-old girl who may be a friend of (or supplied by) Diana Lisa Riccioli -- "who was one of the mayor's biggest campaign donors." ("Trenton's Nasty Lesbian Love-Fest!" and "Jennifer Velez is a Dyke Magnet!")
Trenton's "business administrator" under Mr. Mack pleaded "guilty to [theft] ... Mr. Mack's housing director quit after it was learned he had [also] been convicted of theft. The mayor's chief of staff was arrested after being accused of trying to buy heroin on the street. [Does the OAE's Mr. McGill know Trenton's Mayor Mack?] His half-brother, Stanley David, pleaded guilty this year to official misconduct for directing Trenton Water Works crews to perform private side jobs using city equipment and billing the city."
I'd call that misappropriation of city equipment "theft." ("New Jersey's 'Ethical' Legal System" and "New Jersey's Office of Attorney Ethics.")
Business as usual in New Jersey. Right, John Bruno? Good luck with your ethics troubles, Mr. Bruno. I wonder whether John Bruno visited my sites at the request of officials or politicians?
A list of sources detailing further corruption and incompetence in New Jersey politics and law will be attached to this essay in the days ahead. If more than two days pass without a new post from me, it means that I am prevented, illegally, from writing on-line.
Sources:
Richard Cowen, et als., "Police Find Woman in Locked Room: Alleged Gang Member Charged With Restraint Cops Say Lasted 2 Years," in The Record, August 14, 2012, at p. A-1. (Michael Mendes, possible supporter of Senator Robert -- "Big Bob" -- Menendez and friend of many police officers in West New York and Elizabeth, perhaps, is facing kidnapping charges. "Justice For Mumia Abu-Jamal.")
Anthony Campisi & John Reitmeyer, "Shroeder Urged to Resign: Democrats Call on Bergen GOP to Return $45,000 Donations," in The Record, August 14, 2012, at p. L-1. (Time to go, Mr. Shroeder. Bob Yudin, what do you say? Is Terry Tuchin your guy, Mr. Yudin? "An Open Letter to My Torturers in New Jersey, Terry Tuchin and Diana Lisa Riccioli.")
Stephanie Akin, "Zisa Will Ask Judge to Void Verdict: Claims Misconduct by Prosecutors," in The Record, August 14, 2012, at p. L-3. (Zisa family "connections" to Diana Lisa Riccioli are not denied to my knowledge.)
Melissa Hayes, "Developer Seeking Answers on $6 Million Investment: Says Accused Legislator Could Not Produce Paperwork," in The Record, August 10, 2012, at p. A-1. (How much of the $6 MILLION was used for bribery of New Jersey politicians? Is that why Shroeder can't produce the paperwork?)
Pete Yost, "Goldman Sachs AVOIDS Justice Prosecution," in The Record, August 10, 2012, at p. A-1. (An investment firm bearing much responsibility for the fiscal crisis and economic suffering of millions -- not only in the U.S. -- which was "serviced" by a number of prominent New Jersey law firms, will not be prosecuted for what appears to be "obvious fraud." Mr. Corzine will probably not face ANY criminal inquiry, despite testimony by his colleagues concerning his "appropriation" of client funds to cover "shortfalls" at MF Global and the insulation of Mr. Corzine's funds before the crisis that Mr. Corzine claimed he "did not see coming." I will be writing about these matters at greater length very soon. Mr. Corzine is the former governor of New Jersey who appointed Stuart Rabner as Chief Justice and is represented by several "politically connected" N.J. law firms, including the DeCottis firm: "New Jersey's Politically Connected Lawyers On the Tit" and "Corrupt Law Firms, Senator Bob, and New Jersey Ethics." Do you speak to me of "ethics," Mr. Rabner?)
Adam Liptak, "Scalia Says He Had No 'Falling Out' With Chief Justice," in The New York Times, July 19, 2012, at p. A21. (Credibility issues for Nino who also auggested that the U.S. Supreme Court is "not political." "Law and Morals" and "Law and Morality.")
Adam Liptak & Allison Kopicki, "Public's Opinion of Supreme Court Drops After Health Care Law Decision," in The New York Times, July 19, 2012, at p. A21. (41% of Americans approve of the Supreme Court's performance. Most people -- 51% -- believe that U.S. Supreme Court's decisions are based on partisan politics. In New Jersey, about the same number believe that corruption has more to do with judicial results than law: "New Jersey's Feces-Covered Supreme Court" and "Law and Ethics in the Soprano State" then "New Jersey Supreme Court's Implosion" and "New Jersey's Legal System is a Whore House.")
Susan K. Livio, "Investigation Widens Into Allegedly Dangerous Research at State Centers," in The Star Ledger, July 17, 2012, at p. 1. (Patients subjected to "dangerous research" or "experimental treatments" without their consent or knowledge. Have they been raped? Assaulted? Stolen from? "Terry Tuchin, Diana Lisa Riccioli, and New Jersey's Agency of Torture" and "Psychological Torture in the American Legal System" then see the sources quoted in "'Inception': A Movie Review.")
James Quirk & Kim Lueddeke, "Shooting Case Was Balancing Act for Prosecutor," in The Record, July 12, 2012, at p. A-1. (Cover-up of targeting African-Americans in Bergen County is alleged.)
Kim Lueddeke, "New Look at Teens' Shooting: Garfield Chief Defends Police Response," in The Record, July 12, 2012, at p. A-1. (ANOTHER shooting of an African-American child? More cover-ups and indifference from Mr. Christie, Mr. Chiesa, Mr. Rabner.)
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Book Chats and "Chits."
August 15, 2012 at 2:01 P.M. I am unable to access the list of posts for "Against Dark Arts," which is left blank by some criminal obstruction to my writings. However, I am able to create a new post. I hope.
A second essay dealing with New Jersey corruption will be posted, eventually, if I am able to regain access to my blog posts at some time in the future. I am writing at the Morningside Heights branch of the NYPL. I cannot make use of italics or bold script at these blogs. Harassments and obstructions are continuous as I struggle to write at my blogs. Nevertheless, I will continue to write.
Martin Amis, "Why I Left England," in The New Republic, August 23, 2012, at p. 3. (Will England survive Mr. Amis' departure? Will Britain survive the Olympics as well as the loss of Naughty-Novelist and "Sherlock" to the Hitch's "Watson, Martin Amis? Rest assured, America: There will always be an England. On the other hand, will Brooklyn and America survive the presence of Martin Amis? No one knows. Several leaders of the Labour party have sought political asylum in the Honduran Embassy in London. Mr. Assange's presence has left the Equadorian Embassy too crowded for further guests. The British Foreign Secretary has recoiled from the suggestion that the U.K. may invade a sovereign country's embassy in London when reminded that there are British embassies in many strange parts of the world -- like the United States of America and France.)
Andrew Ferguson, "Gore Vidal's Fan Club: What Exactly Did They Admire About the Man?," in The Weekly Standard, August 13, 2012, at p. 20.
"The most puzzling thing about the career of Gore Vidal, who went toes up last week at 86, was the reverence in which he was held by people who might have known better. He was famous for anouncing 'the death of the novel'" -- Vidal's point concerned the loss of the READER of serious fiction -- "as an art form, and as if to prove the point he kept writing them. No one who survived a reading of 'Kalki' or 'Myron' or 'Creation' or 'Duluth' will recall the experience with anything other than revulsion and self-loathing. It is true that, when sober, he could be good on television, and few talents nowadays are more highly prized. And it's true that, as an essayist, he could sometimes impress the reader with a kind of goofball charm; [Vidal was a "mere dabbler," perhaps?] ... However, when you measure these achievements from a career spanning seven decades, they amount to no more than a handful, soon to turn to dust." ("'Revolutionary Road': A Movie Review" and "'The Reader': A Movie Review.")
In a brief (but not brief enough!) article "ANDREW FERGUSON," allegedly, dips his pen in venom to attack a great writer who is no longer around to defend himself. Are behind-the-back smears a specialty, Andy? (Is this the work of "Manohla Dargis"? Or of "Brooks Barnes," perhaps? "Carlotta Gall?")
It is no longer worth dying, it seems, since wriggling and hideous creatures slither out from beneath their rocks in the media to attack one's reputation. Is it ethical for journalists to cooperate with censorship and cybercrime efforts, Ms. Dargis? Mr. Ferguson? I wonder whether Mr. Ferguson has visited my sites and/or debated me at the behest of Republican friends? ("Manohla Dargis Strikes Again!")
The person who actually wrote this review -- whoever he or she may be -- has opened Mr. Vidal's coffin in order to relieve him- or herself in it. Luckily, it was the wrong coffin. I shudder to think of the fate of Mr. Buckley's remains at the hands of this monster. ("Saying Goodbye to William F. Buckley, Jr.")
What we admire about Gore Vidal -- or William F. Buckley, Jr. for that matter -- is literary skill or even genius in the case of Mr. Vidal. Envy defines the writer of this vicious and offensive attack upon a great novelist whose life-work includes at least two masterpieces, "Myra Breckingridge" and "Lincoln." It takes little courage to attack a deceased polemicist. About the dead one should speak only the truth. ("Dormi Bene, Gore Vidal.")
In addition to these novels, of course, Vidal is generally regarded as the finest American essayist of the twentieth century, possibly the best English-language master of the essay form in our time. This is to say nothing of the most poignant and beautifully-crafted memoir that I have read, "Palimpsest."
I had the good fortune to meet and discuss some things with Mr. Vidal. I cannot claim to have been a friend of his. However, Vidal was certainly a friend of mine. He will remain a presence in my thoughts and writings for as long as I live. ("An Evening With Gore Vidal" and "Abrazo.")
Sadly, not only would this disgusting diatribe not surprise Gore Vidal, but he expected such treatment after his death from lunatic Right-wingers, like Marco Rubio and Paul Ryan, or their employees. I urge all readers to ponder Vidal's critique of Ayn Rand.
Mr. Ferguson will never write anything to compare with Vidal's prose nor is he capable of reading that prose very well. Vidal suggested, accurately, that serious or literary fiction was losing the general reader to the movies in the late twentieth century. This observation is now a demonstrable statistical fact. Nonetheless, Vidal recommended that we continue to read and write good novels. Some of us plan to do just that -- reading and writing until the last bugle calls, as it were. ("Shakespeare's Black Prince" and "Master and Commander.")
The "Angel of Ravello" also mourned the loss of education among his fellow citizens and the decline of journalism into paid political advertising, as demonstrated by Mr. Ferguson.
There are those who believe that Mitt Romney wrote this essay attacking Gore Vidal. Happily, Mr. Romney has explained that, due to all of the big words in the article, he could not even read it. This may prove Mr. Vidal's point concerning the "average" person's abandonment of the novel to television commercials. Mr. Rubio is fond of sports. Iliana Ros-Leghtinen favors "The Reader's Digest" condensations of abbreviated books. Paul Ryan is a member of the Ayn Rand fan club whose members get together to deny food to the poor on Thanksgiving Day.
I believe the Republican presidential nominee-to-be on this issue. I herewith absolve Mitt Romney of all blame for this excretion by Mr. Ferguson and for the rag in which it appeared.
Mr. Ferguson, please take your medications, regularly, and remove your soiled underpants rather than sharing their contents with your unfortunate readers.
A second essay dealing with New Jersey corruption will be posted, eventually, if I am able to regain access to my blog posts at some time in the future. I am writing at the Morningside Heights branch of the NYPL. I cannot make use of italics or bold script at these blogs. Harassments and obstructions are continuous as I struggle to write at my blogs. Nevertheless, I will continue to write.
Martin Amis, "Why I Left England," in The New Republic, August 23, 2012, at p. 3. (Will England survive Mr. Amis' departure? Will Britain survive the Olympics as well as the loss of Naughty-Novelist and "Sherlock" to the Hitch's "Watson, Martin Amis? Rest assured, America: There will always be an England. On the other hand, will Brooklyn and America survive the presence of Martin Amis? No one knows. Several leaders of the Labour party have sought political asylum in the Honduran Embassy in London. Mr. Assange's presence has left the Equadorian Embassy too crowded for further guests. The British Foreign Secretary has recoiled from the suggestion that the U.K. may invade a sovereign country's embassy in London when reminded that there are British embassies in many strange parts of the world -- like the United States of America and France.)
Andrew Ferguson, "Gore Vidal's Fan Club: What Exactly Did They Admire About the Man?," in The Weekly Standard, August 13, 2012, at p. 20.
"The most puzzling thing about the career of Gore Vidal, who went toes up last week at 86, was the reverence in which he was held by people who might have known better. He was famous for anouncing 'the death of the novel'" -- Vidal's point concerned the loss of the READER of serious fiction -- "as an art form, and as if to prove the point he kept writing them. No one who survived a reading of 'Kalki' or 'Myron' or 'Creation' or 'Duluth' will recall the experience with anything other than revulsion and self-loathing. It is true that, when sober, he could be good on television, and few talents nowadays are more highly prized. And it's true that, as an essayist, he could sometimes impress the reader with a kind of goofball charm; [Vidal was a "mere dabbler," perhaps?] ... However, when you measure these achievements from a career spanning seven decades, they amount to no more than a handful, soon to turn to dust." ("'Revolutionary Road': A Movie Review" and "'The Reader': A Movie Review.")
In a brief (but not brief enough!) article "ANDREW FERGUSON," allegedly, dips his pen in venom to attack a great writer who is no longer around to defend himself. Are behind-the-back smears a specialty, Andy? (Is this the work of "Manohla Dargis"? Or of "Brooks Barnes," perhaps? "Carlotta Gall?")
It is no longer worth dying, it seems, since wriggling and hideous creatures slither out from beneath their rocks in the media to attack one's reputation. Is it ethical for journalists to cooperate with censorship and cybercrime efforts, Ms. Dargis? Mr. Ferguson? I wonder whether Mr. Ferguson has visited my sites and/or debated me at the behest of Republican friends? ("Manohla Dargis Strikes Again!")
The person who actually wrote this review -- whoever he or she may be -- has opened Mr. Vidal's coffin in order to relieve him- or herself in it. Luckily, it was the wrong coffin. I shudder to think of the fate of Mr. Buckley's remains at the hands of this monster. ("Saying Goodbye to William F. Buckley, Jr.")
What we admire about Gore Vidal -- or William F. Buckley, Jr. for that matter -- is literary skill or even genius in the case of Mr. Vidal. Envy defines the writer of this vicious and offensive attack upon a great novelist whose life-work includes at least two masterpieces, "Myra Breckingridge" and "Lincoln." It takes little courage to attack a deceased polemicist. About the dead one should speak only the truth. ("Dormi Bene, Gore Vidal.")
In addition to these novels, of course, Vidal is generally regarded as the finest American essayist of the twentieth century, possibly the best English-language master of the essay form in our time. This is to say nothing of the most poignant and beautifully-crafted memoir that I have read, "Palimpsest."
I had the good fortune to meet and discuss some things with Mr. Vidal. I cannot claim to have been a friend of his. However, Vidal was certainly a friend of mine. He will remain a presence in my thoughts and writings for as long as I live. ("An Evening With Gore Vidal" and "Abrazo.")
Sadly, not only would this disgusting diatribe not surprise Gore Vidal, but he expected such treatment after his death from lunatic Right-wingers, like Marco Rubio and Paul Ryan, or their employees. I urge all readers to ponder Vidal's critique of Ayn Rand.
Mr. Ferguson will never write anything to compare with Vidal's prose nor is he capable of reading that prose very well. Vidal suggested, accurately, that serious or literary fiction was losing the general reader to the movies in the late twentieth century. This observation is now a demonstrable statistical fact. Nonetheless, Vidal recommended that we continue to read and write good novels. Some of us plan to do just that -- reading and writing until the last bugle calls, as it were. ("Shakespeare's Black Prince" and "Master and Commander.")
The "Angel of Ravello" also mourned the loss of education among his fellow citizens and the decline of journalism into paid political advertising, as demonstrated by Mr. Ferguson.
There are those who believe that Mitt Romney wrote this essay attacking Gore Vidal. Happily, Mr. Romney has explained that, due to all of the big words in the article, he could not even read it. This may prove Mr. Vidal's point concerning the "average" person's abandonment of the novel to television commercials. Mr. Rubio is fond of sports. Iliana Ros-Leghtinen favors "The Reader's Digest" condensations of abbreviated books. Paul Ryan is a member of the Ayn Rand fan club whose members get together to deny food to the poor on Thanksgiving Day.
I believe the Republican presidential nominee-to-be on this issue. I herewith absolve Mitt Romney of all blame for this excretion by Mr. Ferguson and for the rag in which it appeared.
Mr. Ferguson, please take your medications, regularly, and remove your soiled underpants rather than sharing their contents with your unfortunate readers.
Monday, August 13, 2012
New Jersey Judges Protect Their Own.
August 14, 2012 at 2:30 P.M. The device to reserve computers, downstairs at the Morningside Heights branch of the NYPL was disabled today. I was forced to use the services of a librarian to make a reservation. I cannot say whether this will allow "others" access to these texts or opportunities for further vandalism of these sites.
Monsy Alvarado, "Ex-Pal Park Cop Accuses Chief and Captain: Alleges Payoff, Filing False Reports," in The Record, August 4, 2012, at p. L-3. (Terry Tuchin filed false reports that are now covered-up by the OAE, allegedly. Right, John McGill, Esq.? Any reports filed with the N.J. Supreme Court and/or OAE and/or any other entity by "therapist" Diana Lisa Riccioli, Debbie Poritz? Was Diana still involved in a sexual relationship with Marilyn Straus when she filed those reports? Was Diana involved in a sexual relationship with then Chief Justice Deborah T. Poritz when she filed reports to be considered by the Poritz Supreme Court? Why have these reports not been shown to me?)
Vivian Yee, "Court Exempts Judges From New Jersey's Curbs On Benefits," in The New York Times, June 25, 2012, at p. A22. (New Jersey judges protecting their wallets at the expense of the public interest.)
Salvator Rizzo, "Jersey's Jobless Rate Skyrockets: At 9.6 Percent, State is Highest Above National Average in Decades," in The Star Ledger, July 20, 2012, at p. 1. (Why Christie is making cuts and taking drastic actions to control spending and waste.)
John Petrick, "Attorney Faces 4-Year Sentence After Admitting to Client Thefts," in The Record, June 25, 2012, at p. L-1. (CARLO COPPA, 62, allegedly of the Ethics Committee of the New Jersey Bar Association and, probably, connected to Jaynee LaVecchia or other members of the judiciary and/or politics, faces 4 years in prison and disbarment for life for STEALING $1 MILLION in client funds. I never took a dime from a client. A number of attorneys who engaged in illegal efforts against me, allegedly at the request of the OAE, may have done some similar dipping into their trust accounts: Edgar Navarete? Jose Ginarte? Gilberto Garcia? Ramon Gonzales? Do you boys have ethics troubles? Persons like Mr. Coppa and John McGill, Esq. of the OAE -- Mr. McGill may also be facing ethics and/or criminal charges -- call me "unethical." I call them unethical. What do you think?)
James Quirk, "Friends and Family Plan," in The Record, June 27, 2012, at p. A-1. (Group of family friends all on the public payroll, some with MULTIPLE PAYCHECKS, scooped $2 MILLION in New Jersey taxpayer-provided salaries.)
"New Jersey judges and justices are constitutionally protected from a new law requiring state employees to contribute more toward their health and retirement benefits, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled on Thursday, damaging one of Gov. Chris Christie's signature legislative victories and creating the awkward spectacle of judges taking action TO PRESERVE THEIR OWN COMPENSATION." (emphasis added!)
New Jersey's judges are forbidden by their own ethical standards from ruling in matters where their personal gain is at issue. This wage cut situation looks (to me) like it involves judges' self-interest.
Ignoring this important ethical provision as well as broader conflict of interest principles, the Rabner Supreme Court in Trenton essentially decided that the governor's austerity cuts that will affect all other public servants -- including teachers, cops, firefighters, secretaries -- cannot affect judges. (New Jersey's Legal System is a Whore House" and "New Jersey's 'Ethical' Legal System.")
Judicial salaries and "perks" are sacred. This is in addition to any alleged cash-in-an-envelope type payments which are not exactly unheard of among members of the New Jersey judiciary. The "little people" can eat cake. ("New Jersey's Feces-Covered Supreme Court" and "New Jersey Supreme Court's Implosion.")
Judges are among the best and highest paid public servants in the Garden State. Blue collar workers -- who are taking a hit already -- are much less well-insulated, financially, to absorb the hardship. ("New Jersey's Judges Disgrace America" and "New Jersey's Unethical Judiciary.")
Judges earn considerably more than the majority of struggling public workers, workers already living with the effects of dire financial conditions in New Jersey -- including a hell of a pension burden, often due to persons drawing several pensions while holding down multiple full-time government jobs. (See my list of sources below.)
Worse are the economic effects of years of mismanagement, waste, THEFT, corruption and cronyism in Trenton that the state's judges have too often ignored or benefitted from. ("Law and Ethics in the Soprano State" and "New Jersey is the Home of the Living Dead.")
Judges will not share in the civil service burden because, says the Supreme Court, their "independence" and "apolitical" role may be threatened if the governor asks them to accept a pay cut. Rabner recused himself from the proceedings for the sake of "appearances." ("Christie Rails Against New Jersey's Judges" and "Deborah T. Poritz and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey" and "New Jersey Supreme Court's Implosion.")
The ostensible rationale for the decision -- get this! -- is concern for the "independence of the judiciary" in the state with the most politically-tainted appointment process for judges in the nation. This so-called "reason" for the court's decision is absurd or laughable. ("Judge Alexander Carver, III Plays Ball" and "Jay Romano and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey.")
Mr. Rabner, allegedly, discussed the decision with Angelo ("The Horn") Prisco and George E. Norcross, III before orchestrating the result from behind the scenes, "independently." ("Stuart Rabner and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey" and "No More Cover-Ups and Lies, Chief Justice Rabner!" then "Jaynee LaVecchia and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey" and, again, "New Jersey's Supreme Court's Implosion.")
The decision is self-serving and hypocritical. It is also ridiculous. Judges salaries are already set in a highly political process, as indeed every aspect of judges' lives is INTENSELY political in New Jersey, from appointment to retirement, creating loyalties among judges to various "bosses" and politicians who insure their continued employment or the opposite. ("George E. Norcross, III is the Boss of New Jersey's Politics and Law" and "New Jersey's Judges Disgrace America" then "Virginia Long's Departure" and "Helen Hoens and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey.")
"Mr. Christie [has] called for a Constitutional Amendment that could allow the governor's office and Legislature to reduce judges' salaries."
Mr. Christie described N.J. judges as "unelected, unresponsive, public servants."
He left out: "Greedy, selfish, corrupt, incompetent, unfeeling and unethical."
I will do my best to add a list of sources to accompany this text in the days ahead.
Usually, after a controversial essay, New Jersey-based hackers prevent me from writing for several days. I will try to write every day at this location or some other site on-line. If more than two days pass without a comment from me, it means that I am prevented from writing illegally.
Sources:
James Quirk, "Retirement Didn't Keep Ex-Chief Off the County Payroll," in The Record, June 21, 2012, at p. A-1. (Retired Bergen County Police Chief -- who is already drawing a FULL pension -- comes back on the payroll as a police captain [$163,555.00] after being paid for 115 sick days [$56,000]. How long can New Jersey keep bleeding money like this?)
Julie Hirshfield-Davis, "Obama Leads in National Polls: Romney Seen as Out of Touch," in The Record, June 21, 2012, at p. A-5. (Ryan will not help or hurt with key voters in crucial electoral states -- Latinos, women, weel-educated non-professionals who are often unemployed as a result of Romney-like "vulture capitalism.")
David Lightman, "Hispanics Hold the Key in Swing States for Election," in The Record, June 21, 2012, at p. A-5. (Polls in August, 2012 confirm vital role for Latinos. Obama's lead is increasing in these communities. In my opinion, Mr. Biden beats Governor Romney in the Latino community. Senator Rubio has zero effect on these numbers.)
AP, "Website Used for Prostitution is Legal: Retired FDU Professor [N.J.] Among Those Charged in the Case," in The Record, June 21, 2012, at p. A-10. (Some of the so-called prostitutes were "underage" -- 12 years-old, allegedly -- yet the activity was never a problem in the Garden State. "New Jersey's Child Sex Industry" and "Is Senator Menendez For Sale?")
Susan K. Livio, "State Suspends Doctor in Probe of Improper Study: Allegedly Used Disabled Patients," in The Record, August 4, 2012, at p. A-3. (Human experimentation on unsuspecting cancer patients by suspended physician. "Terry Tuchin, Diana Lisa Riccioli, and New Jersey's Agency of Torture.")
Melissa Hayes, Zach Patberg, Chris Harris, "A $400,000 'Mistake' -- Lawmaker Accused of Writing Bad Checks," in The Record, August 4, 2012, at p. A-1. (Assemblyman ROBERT SHROEDER wrote $400,000 in bad checks. In 14 years of law practice not one of my trust account checks bounced.)
Karen Sudol, "Hawthorne Man Posed as Officer, Police Say," in The Record, August 4, 2012, at p. L-1. (Some N.J. lawyers like to call a colleague's clients pretending to be someone they're not. Right, Gilberto Garcia? John McGill? Ms. Kriko? Edgar Navarete?)
Melissa Hayes, "Assemblyman Sued Over $500,000 Investment: It's Latest Legal Issue With His Finances," in The Record, August 8, 2012, at p. A-1. (Thank goodness these public servants are caring for N.J.'s economy.)
"Phony Cops Rob Men of Cash in North Bergen," in The Record, August 8, 2012, at p. L-3. (Since genuine cops are stealing in Hudson County, why not do a little stealing yourself in you're a criminal. In fact, many cops do a little crime or "favors" on the side to make ends meet. "North Bergen is the Home of La Cosa Nostra.")
Monsy Alvarado, "Ex-Pal Park Cop Accuses Chief and Captain: Alleges Payoff, Filing False Reports," in The Record, August 4, 2012, at p. L-3. (Terry Tuchin filed false reports that are now covered-up by the OAE, allegedly. Right, John McGill, Esq.? Any reports filed with the N.J. Supreme Court and/or OAE and/or any other entity by "therapist" Diana Lisa Riccioli, Debbie Poritz? Was Diana still involved in a sexual relationship with Marilyn Straus when she filed those reports? Was Diana involved in a sexual relationship with then Chief Justice Deborah T. Poritz when she filed reports to be considered by the Poritz Supreme Court? Why have these reports not been shown to me?)
Vivian Yee, "Court Exempts Judges From New Jersey's Curbs On Benefits," in The New York Times, June 25, 2012, at p. A22. (New Jersey judges protecting their wallets at the expense of the public interest.)
Salvator Rizzo, "Jersey's Jobless Rate Skyrockets: At 9.6 Percent, State is Highest Above National Average in Decades," in The Star Ledger, July 20, 2012, at p. 1. (Why Christie is making cuts and taking drastic actions to control spending and waste.)
John Petrick, "Attorney Faces 4-Year Sentence After Admitting to Client Thefts," in The Record, June 25, 2012, at p. L-1. (CARLO COPPA, 62, allegedly of the Ethics Committee of the New Jersey Bar Association and, probably, connected to Jaynee LaVecchia or other members of the judiciary and/or politics, faces 4 years in prison and disbarment for life for STEALING $1 MILLION in client funds. I never took a dime from a client. A number of attorneys who engaged in illegal efforts against me, allegedly at the request of the OAE, may have done some similar dipping into their trust accounts: Edgar Navarete? Jose Ginarte? Gilberto Garcia? Ramon Gonzales? Do you boys have ethics troubles? Persons like Mr. Coppa and John McGill, Esq. of the OAE -- Mr. McGill may also be facing ethics and/or criminal charges -- call me "unethical." I call them unethical. What do you think?)
James Quirk, "Friends and Family Plan," in The Record, June 27, 2012, at p. A-1. (Group of family friends all on the public payroll, some with MULTIPLE PAYCHECKS, scooped $2 MILLION in New Jersey taxpayer-provided salaries.)
"New Jersey judges and justices are constitutionally protected from a new law requiring state employees to contribute more toward their health and retirement benefits, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled on Thursday, damaging one of Gov. Chris Christie's signature legislative victories and creating the awkward spectacle of judges taking action TO PRESERVE THEIR OWN COMPENSATION." (emphasis added!)
New Jersey's judges are forbidden by their own ethical standards from ruling in matters where their personal gain is at issue. This wage cut situation looks (to me) like it involves judges' self-interest.
Ignoring this important ethical provision as well as broader conflict of interest principles, the Rabner Supreme Court in Trenton essentially decided that the governor's austerity cuts that will affect all other public servants -- including teachers, cops, firefighters, secretaries -- cannot affect judges. (New Jersey's Legal System is a Whore House" and "New Jersey's 'Ethical' Legal System.")
Judicial salaries and "perks" are sacred. This is in addition to any alleged cash-in-an-envelope type payments which are not exactly unheard of among members of the New Jersey judiciary. The "little people" can eat cake. ("New Jersey's Feces-Covered Supreme Court" and "New Jersey Supreme Court's Implosion.")
Judges are among the best and highest paid public servants in the Garden State. Blue collar workers -- who are taking a hit already -- are much less well-insulated, financially, to absorb the hardship. ("New Jersey's Judges Disgrace America" and "New Jersey's Unethical Judiciary.")
Judges earn considerably more than the majority of struggling public workers, workers already living with the effects of dire financial conditions in New Jersey -- including a hell of a pension burden, often due to persons drawing several pensions while holding down multiple full-time government jobs. (See my list of sources below.)
Worse are the economic effects of years of mismanagement, waste, THEFT, corruption and cronyism in Trenton that the state's judges have too often ignored or benefitted from. ("Law and Ethics in the Soprano State" and "New Jersey is the Home of the Living Dead.")
Judges will not share in the civil service burden because, says the Supreme Court, their "independence" and "apolitical" role may be threatened if the governor asks them to accept a pay cut. Rabner recused himself from the proceedings for the sake of "appearances." ("Christie Rails Against New Jersey's Judges" and "Deborah T. Poritz and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey" and "New Jersey Supreme Court's Implosion.")
The ostensible rationale for the decision -- get this! -- is concern for the "independence of the judiciary" in the state with the most politically-tainted appointment process for judges in the nation. This so-called "reason" for the court's decision is absurd or laughable. ("Judge Alexander Carver, III Plays Ball" and "Jay Romano and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey.")
Mr. Rabner, allegedly, discussed the decision with Angelo ("The Horn") Prisco and George E. Norcross, III before orchestrating the result from behind the scenes, "independently." ("Stuart Rabner and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey" and "No More Cover-Ups and Lies, Chief Justice Rabner!" then "Jaynee LaVecchia and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey" and, again, "New Jersey's Supreme Court's Implosion.")
The decision is self-serving and hypocritical. It is also ridiculous. Judges salaries are already set in a highly political process, as indeed every aspect of judges' lives is INTENSELY political in New Jersey, from appointment to retirement, creating loyalties among judges to various "bosses" and politicians who insure their continued employment or the opposite. ("George E. Norcross, III is the Boss of New Jersey's Politics and Law" and "New Jersey's Judges Disgrace America" then "Virginia Long's Departure" and "Helen Hoens and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey.")
"Mr. Christie [has] called for a Constitutional Amendment that could allow the governor's office and Legislature to reduce judges' salaries."
Mr. Christie described N.J. judges as "unelected, unresponsive, public servants."
He left out: "Greedy, selfish, corrupt, incompetent, unfeeling and unethical."
I will do my best to add a list of sources to accompany this text in the days ahead.
Usually, after a controversial essay, New Jersey-based hackers prevent me from writing for several days. I will try to write every day at this location or some other site on-line. If more than two days pass without a comment from me, it means that I am prevented from writing illegally.
Sources:
James Quirk, "Retirement Didn't Keep Ex-Chief Off the County Payroll," in The Record, June 21, 2012, at p. A-1. (Retired Bergen County Police Chief -- who is already drawing a FULL pension -- comes back on the payroll as a police captain [$163,555.00] after being paid for 115 sick days [$56,000]. How long can New Jersey keep bleeding money like this?)
Julie Hirshfield-Davis, "Obama Leads in National Polls: Romney Seen as Out of Touch," in The Record, June 21, 2012, at p. A-5. (Ryan will not help or hurt with key voters in crucial electoral states -- Latinos, women, weel-educated non-professionals who are often unemployed as a result of Romney-like "vulture capitalism.")
David Lightman, "Hispanics Hold the Key in Swing States for Election," in The Record, June 21, 2012, at p. A-5. (Polls in August, 2012 confirm vital role for Latinos. Obama's lead is increasing in these communities. In my opinion, Mr. Biden beats Governor Romney in the Latino community. Senator Rubio has zero effect on these numbers.)
AP, "Website Used for Prostitution is Legal: Retired FDU Professor [N.J.] Among Those Charged in the Case," in The Record, June 21, 2012, at p. A-10. (Some of the so-called prostitutes were "underage" -- 12 years-old, allegedly -- yet the activity was never a problem in the Garden State. "New Jersey's Child Sex Industry" and "Is Senator Menendez For Sale?")
Susan K. Livio, "State Suspends Doctor in Probe of Improper Study: Allegedly Used Disabled Patients," in The Record, August 4, 2012, at p. A-3. (Human experimentation on unsuspecting cancer patients by suspended physician. "Terry Tuchin, Diana Lisa Riccioli, and New Jersey's Agency of Torture.")
Melissa Hayes, Zach Patberg, Chris Harris, "A $400,000 'Mistake' -- Lawmaker Accused of Writing Bad Checks," in The Record, August 4, 2012, at p. A-1. (Assemblyman ROBERT SHROEDER wrote $400,000 in bad checks. In 14 years of law practice not one of my trust account checks bounced.)
Karen Sudol, "Hawthorne Man Posed as Officer, Police Say," in The Record, August 4, 2012, at p. L-1. (Some N.J. lawyers like to call a colleague's clients pretending to be someone they're not. Right, Gilberto Garcia? John McGill? Ms. Kriko? Edgar Navarete?)
Melissa Hayes, "Assemblyman Sued Over $500,000 Investment: It's Latest Legal Issue With His Finances," in The Record, August 8, 2012, at p. A-1. (Thank goodness these public servants are caring for N.J.'s economy.)
"Phony Cops Rob Men of Cash in North Bergen," in The Record, August 8, 2012, at p. L-3. (Since genuine cops are stealing in Hudson County, why not do a little stealing yourself in you're a criminal. In fact, many cops do a little crime or "favors" on the side to make ends meet. "North Bergen is the Home of La Cosa Nostra.")
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Erasing Painful Memories.
Jerry Adler, "Erasing Painful Memories," in Scientific American, May, 2012, at p. 56.
Benedict Carey, "Paralyzed, Moving a Robot With Their Minds," in The New York Times, May 17, 2012, at p. A17.
Ian Hacking, Rewriting the Soul: Multiple Personality and the Sciences of Memory (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1984).
Richard Wollheim, The Thread of Life (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1984).
This essay was posted several times at Google Groups in an effort to protect the text from inserted "errors" and other attempts to destroy it. It is not my intention to embarass "Jerry Adler" who may also be "Larissa MacFarquhar" and/or "Jim Holt." Nevertheless, the assumptions made in this essay in Scientific American are deeply mistaken and, with all due respect, offensive to basic human dignity. I feel an obligation to respond to this author. ("The Mind/Body Problem and Freedom" and "Incoherence in The New Yorker.")
No italics or bold script are available to me after the alterations of my blogger dashboard. It is a small miracle that I am able to post this essay here -- if I succeed in doing so. Cybercrime and alterations of texts are always expected. Interruptions in my writing efforts are also anticipated. I have chosen not to place titles in quotation marks despite lacking italics. I regret the circumstances under which this work is written. I will try to make corrections of "errors" that continue to be inserted in the text.
I.
Among the errors committed by purported brain scientists is "category mistakes" (Gilbert Ryle) concerning the nature of memory. Deleting or removing painful memories is probably an impossible or absurd goal for scientists to pursue. Worse, it may be idiotic, psychologically and morally, even to attempt such a thing. (See my forthcoming essay "'Total Recall': A Movie Review" and "'Unknown': A Movie Review.")
Memory altreration is likely to be a harmful practice for persons to attempt or engage in, particularly for those lacking a sophisticated understanding of the workings of memory or the mind, consciousness, or the development of identity as an unfolding or interpretation of memories over time. To remove a hurtful memory -- a memory which may be meaningful or happy at the same time! -- is to damage or diminish identity. ("Is it Art?" and "Bernard Williams and Identity.")
Reacting to the latest bundle of confusions on this issue, I am struck by three objections to this project of removing painful memories: Several assumptions are shared by those engaged in the effort to "alter minds." For the sake of brevity I will ignore technical distinctions in philosophy or social theory relevant to this analysis. I will assume, for the purposes of this discussion, that readers are familiar with the necessary distinctions among humanists as well as scientists. (See my forthcoming essay "What is Memory?" and "John Searle and David Chalmers on Consciousness" then, again, "The Mind/Body Problem and Freedom.")
The first objection focuses on the conceptual confusions surrounding memory and memories. The concept of memory is not defined in Mr. Adler's discussion and analysis, nor is any effort made to accomodate the literature on the role of memory in mental life from Wittgenstein and Freud to Anscombe and Gardner, Bergson and Ricoeur.
Tensions in psychological, neurological, philosophical understandings of memory relevant to what, allegedly, can be removed from recollection -- to say nothing about how we should go about doing so -- are ignored by Mr. Adler. Perhaps Mr. Adler's assumed name was inspired by Alfred Adler who would have been horrified at the suggestion that ANY painful memory should be "removed."
Psychoanalysis seeks not the removal of painful memories, but exactly the opposite: Where there is suppression, the analysand and analyst struggle to bring the light of conscious AWARENESS to what is denied conscious existence in order to begin healing. This process can never take place with an analyst serving a mixed agenda or, say, the state rather than the subject of analysis.
The pain associated with traumatic recollections must be, simultaneously, accepted and rejected in the effort of "transcendence through archetypal displacement" recommended by Carl Jung and R.D. Laing. Hence, the importance of art and the shadow puppetry of cinema, for example, as a means of redeeming repressed memories. ("'The Reader': A Movie Review.")
A single painful memory cannot, as a practical matter, be isolated from other memories (painful or not), good or bad, nor from the values and shaping influences that determine or create character as a product of our choices within constraints. Indeed, we are often forced to choose within insurmountable and tragic constraints in order to remember so as to become the persons we are. (See William Styron's "Sophie's Choice" and John Fowles' "The Magus.")
Existentialist psychologists (Karl Jaspers, Rollo May) and Jungians (Judith Singer, Marie Luise Von Franz) will be helpful on these issues. ("Derek Parfit's Ethics" and "What is Enlightenment?")
The mind is like a system. Memory is akin to an eternal process in that system. A single memory may impact on the entirety of the psychic system or self, especially when it is traumatic or important -- sometimes for joyful reasons -- setting in motion a network of associations that are affective and temporal. A crucial memory cannot be isolated -- like a marble -- in a specific corner of the non-material entity that is the mind as distinct from the brain making that mind possible. ("Consciousness and Computers" and "Mind and Machine.")
This is NOT to deny in any way, the necessity of the brain working properly to the mind's healthy existence and functioning, as I readily acknowledge -- including cerebral or biochemical processes to the powers of recollection -- but it is to insist that the brain is not alone sufficient to UNDERSTAND memory, nor is the mind or memory reducible to cerebral chemical functions. Language and social-cultural functions -- for example, boundary questions -- are crucial to both mind and memory. ("The Entanglements Are Primary" and, again, see my forthcoming essay: "What is Memory?" Specifically, the discussion of "representational theories" of memory is recommended.)
Removal of a painful memory, therefore, may result in severe and unexpected harm to all aspects of the affected psyche, notably to the formulation of an integrated or unified identity or self. The personality of a victim of such an invasion may disintegrate. ("'The Adjustment Bureau': A Movie Review" and "'Unknown': A Movie Review.")
Blunders and lack of clarity concerning what is at issue in the attempt to biochemically (drugs) or, insanely, SURGICALLY (yes, this has been suggested quite seriously!), worse is behavioristically, to remove memories of traumatic events in a person's life result from an archaic, if persistent, logical atomism or positivism and reductivism as well as materialism among some alleged brain scientists unable to transition to a new scientific paradigm in biology and elsewhere. For example, a scientific paradigm emerging in chemistry and physics, also linguistics and hermeneutic theory, brain science, too -- sees cerebral functioning and mental life even more so -- as "integrative and holistic" systems that are mutually dependent. In other words, "narratives." ("Ted Hondereich Says: 'You Are Not Free!'")
Current scientific thinking in terms of networks and holograms sees memory as INTEGRATIVE in identity-formation and -preservation. This connective essence of memory suggests that removal of memories may be like pulling on a thread that unravels a fine cloth -- until there is nothing left of the cloth. The "cloth" being the delicate matter of the self. ("'Dark Shadows': A Movie Review.")
Each memory is colored with affect or meaning -- again, this is especially true of traumatic memory -- impacting on all other recollections and powers of the psyche, or on the future capacity to recall anything in the afflicted person. Memory preservation and INTERPRETATION is always a present action (now) that is reactive to changing conditions as core elements of the self are conveyed into the future. The contrast between realist, critical realist, constructivist and hermeneutic theories of memory is unrecognized by Mr. Adler who simply fails to display expert knowledge on the subject of memory. (Martin Gardner and Howard Gardner should be quoted, Mr. Adler.)
I cannot explain how or why "Mr. Adler" has managed to place this essay in Scientific American. What is more, Mr. Adler seems to assume, unknowingly, CONFLICTING theories of memory in his discussion. ("The 'Galatea Scenario' and the Mind/Body Problem" then "Immanuel Kant and the Narrative of Freedom.")
Richard Wollheim's "The Thread of Life" -- also Charles Rycroft and R.D. Laing -- may prove to be very helpful on these issues. I call the reader's attention to the early work of Dr. Laing in British army hospitals with victims of severe trauma and memory loss. The novels of Pat Barker are also highly recommended, especially "The Eye in the Door" and the works of Aldous Huxley. Much recent scholarship in the archives of neurology and psychology has focused on this issue of memory loss and recovery through "form" or narrativity. (Please see my short stories "The Soldier and the Ballerina" and "God is Texting Me!")
Sadly, I am unable to quote much of this scholarship due to space limitations and the usual harassments. I was unable to write at all yesterday due to obstructions. I suggest to therapists that they make use of cinema and literature in their efforts to assist persons seeking to recover memories after traumatic experiences. By discussing the actions of characters on stage or screen, in novels or drama, issues afflicting individual sufferers can be examined or modelled. In this way workable solutions to personal dilemmas can be found. ("R.D. Laing and Evil" then "Behaviorism is Evil.")
II.
A second objection to Mr. Adler's argument concerns the issue of respect for persons, autonomy rights and ethical constraints on experimentation which are treated disdainfully by this author.
Persons are not "rats on a carousel" whose minds may be violated without their consent as part of some ill-advised effort to remove or rearrange memories to test a crackpot theory of mind/brain identity. Persons are entitled to respect and privacy under the law and applicable ethical standards. ("Psychological Torture in the American Legal System" and "Dehumanization.")
The most likely result of the sort of chemical brain alteration discussed by this author is severe HARM to victims. Perhaps this is what persons proposing such hideous experiments desire -- to damage persons for life. Psychoanalysis and psychology must not be used as "weapons" to harm persons.
Although this issue has been recognized by the American Psychoanalytic Association (APA), which condemns any and all cooperation by psychotherapists in torture or forced interrogation, American psychologists have deployed causistic methods and distinctions to make it very vague indeed whether or when a psychologist may assist government in torturing persons. Many American psychologists have assisted in such atrocities, both at home and elsewhere. ("American Doctors and Torture" and "Is America's Legal Ethics a Lie?" then "An Open Letter to My Torturers in New Jersey, Terry Tuchin and Diana Lisa Riccioli.")
Victimized persons may be destroyed, as persons, through alterations of brain chemistry. There are profound and pervasive effects from even well-intentioned (if badly understood) interventions in neurological networks. Mumia Abu-Jamal writes of witnessing the chemical lobotomization of inmates as a means of inmate control in America's prisons. "Behavioristic lobotomization" is also attempted in prisons and elsewhere. ("Freedom for Mumia Abu-Jamal" and "Justice for Mumia Abu-Jamal.")
The brain's ability to compensate in unsuspected ways for traumatic injury indicates that social-therapeutic, linguistic, and other factors -- physical and non-physical -- are involved in cerebral/mental life. It is also abundantly clear that physicians are still learning about the brain and hardly in a position to declare certainties about the consequences of experimental procedures. Under such circumstances, using human beings to learn "what will happen" is barbaric and evil. ("Terry Tuchin, Diana Lisa Riccioli, and New Jersey's Agency of Torture" and "Behaviorism is Evil" then "Brian Greene and The Science of Memory.")
What we remember has much to do with our linguistic capacities, including the image-based and syntax-like connections between events recalled and meanings or interpretations associated with those events. A useful contrast for philosophers is provided by A.J. Ayer and Elizabeth Anscombe as against Hans-Georg Gadamer and Paul Ricoeur as well as R.D. Laing and Jean-Paul Sartre. ("Out of the Past.")
Affect colors all memories and is related to the brain's healing powers that redefine the meanings of memories all the time, every day, through every act of recollection. ("'The English Patient': A Movie Review" and "'Unknown': A Movie Review.")
A reduction of memory to a single neurochemical state or process in a small region of the brain is ludricous as well as bad science. The suggestion is also philosophically incoherent and bad psychology. Compare Henri Bergson and Edmund Husserl with Ludwig Bingswanger and Michel Foucault for a different understanding of what is meant by "bioethics" in the context of therapeutic relations. (See Foucault's interest in the case of Ellen West as analyzed in James Miller's biography of Foucault.)
III.
A third objection to Mr. Adler's argument is the "psychological continuity" problem which suggests that painful memories -- whether desired or not -- may be essential to preserving relationships which are fundamental to survival for a person. Again: a memory may be both painful and happy or desired. For example, recalling the birth of a child by her mother or that same child's departure for college as remembered by her father.
To remove a painful memory from the mind -- something which may be impossible, even in theory -- would be like dimantling or interrupting the narrative of the self in time, as a "project of self-realization." ("Immanuel Kant and the Narrative of Freedom.")
The so-called "virtues" of character emerge from dialectical evolutions or interpretations in a moral direction that are only possible for individuals who decide on the meanings of their memories. All selfhood is about the realization of identity in time through form. By "form" is meant art or some other expressive endeavor -- like philosophy or science, law or medicine. (''In Time': A Movie Review" then "Shakespeare's Black Prince.")
Removal of memories may produce false consciousness or distorted recollections of the past leading to deformations of the psyche making any kind of self-realization or survival, for that matter, impossible. What we remember doing and how we judge our actions will determine possible developments of character:
"Any experience modifies consciousness. Be it subliminal or traumatic, there is no psychic or physical happening which does not alter the complex of our identity. [Hypnosis?] In the flux of the instantaneous, the impact, like that of the charged particles streaming through our planet, is infinitesimal and unperceived. But personal being is process; it is in perpetual change. ..." (Steiner, p. 25.)
Memory was described by the ancients as the "mother of the muses." The creation of art drawing on memories provides for the articulation of the ego. Accordingly, memory is the only possible mother of the self. By memory here is meant all recollections of what constitutes a life -- painful memories very much included. Perhaps painful memories are especially crucial to the making of art as well as identities. The fashioning of a self may be a work of art. (Nietzsche, Bradley, Kierkegaard.)
It is the things and persons whose recollection are most entangled in affective relations that we must treasure if we are to learn the meaning of the "stories that we are." (Gadamer, Ricoeur.)
No doubt the effort to prevent me from writing or speaking is about denying me the use of form for survival or self-realization in a "high-tech" torture chamber. ("What is it like to be tortured?" and "How censorship works in America.")
To prevent any human being from writing or creating art is to seek to destroy that person's inner meanings or expressive contents. Censorship negates the humanity of persons. Torture destroys that humanity. ("Censorship, Again?" then "How censorship works in America" and "Censorship and Cruelty in New Jersey.")
The price in terms of emotional suffering for recollection of traumatic or painful memories may be very high, but we must choose the suffering in order to earn the meanings we desire for ourselves and our loved-ones, so that we may become the persons we are. ("Bernard Williams and Identity" then "Friedrich Nietzsche on Self-Realization.")
The pain from loss of persons we love, or from sharing in their sufferings, is part of the joy and intimacy we derive by loving them -- against the world if necessary. Evelyn Waugh suggests that to know and love one other human being is the beginning of all wisdom. ("The Allegory of the Cave" then "'Brideshead Revisited': A Movie Review" and "What is it like to be plagiarized?" and see "Shadowlands.")
For Plato -- and his admirer, St. Augustine -- memory is the repository of that fundamental emotional wisdom of humanity associated with the process of individual recollection, as when a baby "remembers" that the smiling face before her belongs to her parent, and social recollection, as in the writing of history. In this "fountain of recollections" at the center of the self we discover what Augustine called: "the divine in ourselves." ('''The Fountain': A Movie Review.")
I recall a Holocaust survivor and scholar making a similar point in urging students to "remember" the events of the Holocaust. As a college professor, he showed a film of the Holocaust that was very graphic because it depicted events in his own difficult life. The tears in his eyes were overcome by a sense of the importance of discussing and sharing his impressions of the historical events in which all of our lives are implicated. I believe that this is one of Tolstoy's most important lessons to his readers concerning the meaning of history and (for him) religious faith: "We must remember to remember."
Suffering "recalls" us to our humanity and to the deeper or shared sources of that humanity in culture or language. Far from wishing to forget the traumatic memory of his imprisonment, for example, Alexander Solzhenitsyn thanked God for the clarity of his remembered pain:
"All the writers who wrote about prison but did not themselves serve time there considered it their duty to express sympathy for prisoners and to curse prison. I ... have served time there. I nourished my soul there, [Nelson Mandela?] and I say without hesitation: BLESS YOU PRISON, for having been in my life."
The Gulag Archipelago (New York: Harper & Row, 1973-75), Vol. II, p. 615.
Benedict Carey, "Paralyzed, Moving a Robot With Their Minds," in The New York Times, May 17, 2012, at p. A17.
Ian Hacking, Rewriting the Soul: Multiple Personality and the Sciences of Memory (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1984).
Richard Wollheim, The Thread of Life (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1984).
This essay was posted several times at Google Groups in an effort to protect the text from inserted "errors" and other attempts to destroy it. It is not my intention to embarass "Jerry Adler" who may also be "Larissa MacFarquhar" and/or "Jim Holt." Nevertheless, the assumptions made in this essay in Scientific American are deeply mistaken and, with all due respect, offensive to basic human dignity. I feel an obligation to respond to this author. ("The Mind/Body Problem and Freedom" and "Incoherence in The New Yorker.")
No italics or bold script are available to me after the alterations of my blogger dashboard. It is a small miracle that I am able to post this essay here -- if I succeed in doing so. Cybercrime and alterations of texts are always expected. Interruptions in my writing efforts are also anticipated. I have chosen not to place titles in quotation marks despite lacking italics. I regret the circumstances under which this work is written. I will try to make corrections of "errors" that continue to be inserted in the text.
I.
Among the errors committed by purported brain scientists is "category mistakes" (Gilbert Ryle) concerning the nature of memory. Deleting or removing painful memories is probably an impossible or absurd goal for scientists to pursue. Worse, it may be idiotic, psychologically and morally, even to attempt such a thing. (See my forthcoming essay "'Total Recall': A Movie Review" and "'Unknown': A Movie Review.")
Memory altreration is likely to be a harmful practice for persons to attempt or engage in, particularly for those lacking a sophisticated understanding of the workings of memory or the mind, consciousness, or the development of identity as an unfolding or interpretation of memories over time. To remove a hurtful memory -- a memory which may be meaningful or happy at the same time! -- is to damage or diminish identity. ("Is it Art?" and "Bernard Williams and Identity.")
Reacting to the latest bundle of confusions on this issue, I am struck by three objections to this project of removing painful memories: Several assumptions are shared by those engaged in the effort to "alter minds." For the sake of brevity I will ignore technical distinctions in philosophy or social theory relevant to this analysis. I will assume, for the purposes of this discussion, that readers are familiar with the necessary distinctions among humanists as well as scientists. (See my forthcoming essay "What is Memory?" and "John Searle and David Chalmers on Consciousness" then, again, "The Mind/Body Problem and Freedom.")
The first objection focuses on the conceptual confusions surrounding memory and memories. The concept of memory is not defined in Mr. Adler's discussion and analysis, nor is any effort made to accomodate the literature on the role of memory in mental life from Wittgenstein and Freud to Anscombe and Gardner, Bergson and Ricoeur.
Tensions in psychological, neurological, philosophical understandings of memory relevant to what, allegedly, can be removed from recollection -- to say nothing about how we should go about doing so -- are ignored by Mr. Adler. Perhaps Mr. Adler's assumed name was inspired by Alfred Adler who would have been horrified at the suggestion that ANY painful memory should be "removed."
Psychoanalysis seeks not the removal of painful memories, but exactly the opposite: Where there is suppression, the analysand and analyst struggle to bring the light of conscious AWARENESS to what is denied conscious existence in order to begin healing. This process can never take place with an analyst serving a mixed agenda or, say, the state rather than the subject of analysis.
The pain associated with traumatic recollections must be, simultaneously, accepted and rejected in the effort of "transcendence through archetypal displacement" recommended by Carl Jung and R.D. Laing. Hence, the importance of art and the shadow puppetry of cinema, for example, as a means of redeeming repressed memories. ("'The Reader': A Movie Review.")
A single painful memory cannot, as a practical matter, be isolated from other memories (painful or not), good or bad, nor from the values and shaping influences that determine or create character as a product of our choices within constraints. Indeed, we are often forced to choose within insurmountable and tragic constraints in order to remember so as to become the persons we are. (See William Styron's "Sophie's Choice" and John Fowles' "The Magus.")
Existentialist psychologists (Karl Jaspers, Rollo May) and Jungians (Judith Singer, Marie Luise Von Franz) will be helpful on these issues. ("Derek Parfit's Ethics" and "What is Enlightenment?")
The mind is like a system. Memory is akin to an eternal process in that system. A single memory may impact on the entirety of the psychic system or self, especially when it is traumatic or important -- sometimes for joyful reasons -- setting in motion a network of associations that are affective and temporal. A crucial memory cannot be isolated -- like a marble -- in a specific corner of the non-material entity that is the mind as distinct from the brain making that mind possible. ("Consciousness and Computers" and "Mind and Machine.")
This is NOT to deny in any way, the necessity of the brain working properly to the mind's healthy existence and functioning, as I readily acknowledge -- including cerebral or biochemical processes to the powers of recollection -- but it is to insist that the brain is not alone sufficient to UNDERSTAND memory, nor is the mind or memory reducible to cerebral chemical functions. Language and social-cultural functions -- for example, boundary questions -- are crucial to both mind and memory. ("The Entanglements Are Primary" and, again, see my forthcoming essay: "What is Memory?" Specifically, the discussion of "representational theories" of memory is recommended.)
Removal of a painful memory, therefore, may result in severe and unexpected harm to all aspects of the affected psyche, notably to the formulation of an integrated or unified identity or self. The personality of a victim of such an invasion may disintegrate. ("'The Adjustment Bureau': A Movie Review" and "'Unknown': A Movie Review.")
Blunders and lack of clarity concerning what is at issue in the attempt to biochemically (drugs) or, insanely, SURGICALLY (yes, this has been suggested quite seriously!), worse is behavioristically, to remove memories of traumatic events in a person's life result from an archaic, if persistent, logical atomism or positivism and reductivism as well as materialism among some alleged brain scientists unable to transition to a new scientific paradigm in biology and elsewhere. For example, a scientific paradigm emerging in chemistry and physics, also linguistics and hermeneutic theory, brain science, too -- sees cerebral functioning and mental life even more so -- as "integrative and holistic" systems that are mutually dependent. In other words, "narratives." ("Ted Hondereich Says: 'You Are Not Free!'")
Current scientific thinking in terms of networks and holograms sees memory as INTEGRATIVE in identity-formation and -preservation. This connective essence of memory suggests that removal of memories may be like pulling on a thread that unravels a fine cloth -- until there is nothing left of the cloth. The "cloth" being the delicate matter of the self. ("'Dark Shadows': A Movie Review.")
Each memory is colored with affect or meaning -- again, this is especially true of traumatic memory -- impacting on all other recollections and powers of the psyche, or on the future capacity to recall anything in the afflicted person. Memory preservation and INTERPRETATION is always a present action (now) that is reactive to changing conditions as core elements of the self are conveyed into the future. The contrast between realist, critical realist, constructivist and hermeneutic theories of memory is unrecognized by Mr. Adler who simply fails to display expert knowledge on the subject of memory. (Martin Gardner and Howard Gardner should be quoted, Mr. Adler.)
I cannot explain how or why "Mr. Adler" has managed to place this essay in Scientific American. What is more, Mr. Adler seems to assume, unknowingly, CONFLICTING theories of memory in his discussion. ("The 'Galatea Scenario' and the Mind/Body Problem" then "Immanuel Kant and the Narrative of Freedom.")
Richard Wollheim's "The Thread of Life" -- also Charles Rycroft and R.D. Laing -- may prove to be very helpful on these issues. I call the reader's attention to the early work of Dr. Laing in British army hospitals with victims of severe trauma and memory loss. The novels of Pat Barker are also highly recommended, especially "The Eye in the Door" and the works of Aldous Huxley. Much recent scholarship in the archives of neurology and psychology has focused on this issue of memory loss and recovery through "form" or narrativity. (Please see my short stories "The Soldier and the Ballerina" and "God is Texting Me!")
Sadly, I am unable to quote much of this scholarship due to space limitations and the usual harassments. I was unable to write at all yesterday due to obstructions. I suggest to therapists that they make use of cinema and literature in their efforts to assist persons seeking to recover memories after traumatic experiences. By discussing the actions of characters on stage or screen, in novels or drama, issues afflicting individual sufferers can be examined or modelled. In this way workable solutions to personal dilemmas can be found. ("R.D. Laing and Evil" then "Behaviorism is Evil.")
II.
A second objection to Mr. Adler's argument concerns the issue of respect for persons, autonomy rights and ethical constraints on experimentation which are treated disdainfully by this author.
Persons are not "rats on a carousel" whose minds may be violated without their consent as part of some ill-advised effort to remove or rearrange memories to test a crackpot theory of mind/brain identity. Persons are entitled to respect and privacy under the law and applicable ethical standards. ("Psychological Torture in the American Legal System" and "Dehumanization.")
The most likely result of the sort of chemical brain alteration discussed by this author is severe HARM to victims. Perhaps this is what persons proposing such hideous experiments desire -- to damage persons for life. Psychoanalysis and psychology must not be used as "weapons" to harm persons.
Although this issue has been recognized by the American Psychoanalytic Association (APA), which condemns any and all cooperation by psychotherapists in torture or forced interrogation, American psychologists have deployed causistic methods and distinctions to make it very vague indeed whether or when a psychologist may assist government in torturing persons. Many American psychologists have assisted in such atrocities, both at home and elsewhere. ("American Doctors and Torture" and "Is America's Legal Ethics a Lie?" then "An Open Letter to My Torturers in New Jersey, Terry Tuchin and Diana Lisa Riccioli.")
Victimized persons may be destroyed, as persons, through alterations of brain chemistry. There are profound and pervasive effects from even well-intentioned (if badly understood) interventions in neurological networks. Mumia Abu-Jamal writes of witnessing the chemical lobotomization of inmates as a means of inmate control in America's prisons. "Behavioristic lobotomization" is also attempted in prisons and elsewhere. ("Freedom for Mumia Abu-Jamal" and "Justice for Mumia Abu-Jamal.")
The brain's ability to compensate in unsuspected ways for traumatic injury indicates that social-therapeutic, linguistic, and other factors -- physical and non-physical -- are involved in cerebral/mental life. It is also abundantly clear that physicians are still learning about the brain and hardly in a position to declare certainties about the consequences of experimental procedures. Under such circumstances, using human beings to learn "what will happen" is barbaric and evil. ("Terry Tuchin, Diana Lisa Riccioli, and New Jersey's Agency of Torture" and "Behaviorism is Evil" then "Brian Greene and The Science of Memory.")
What we remember has much to do with our linguistic capacities, including the image-based and syntax-like connections between events recalled and meanings or interpretations associated with those events. A useful contrast for philosophers is provided by A.J. Ayer and Elizabeth Anscombe as against Hans-Georg Gadamer and Paul Ricoeur as well as R.D. Laing and Jean-Paul Sartre. ("Out of the Past.")
Affect colors all memories and is related to the brain's healing powers that redefine the meanings of memories all the time, every day, through every act of recollection. ("'The English Patient': A Movie Review" and "'Unknown': A Movie Review.")
A reduction of memory to a single neurochemical state or process in a small region of the brain is ludricous as well as bad science. The suggestion is also philosophically incoherent and bad psychology. Compare Henri Bergson and Edmund Husserl with Ludwig Bingswanger and Michel Foucault for a different understanding of what is meant by "bioethics" in the context of therapeutic relations. (See Foucault's interest in the case of Ellen West as analyzed in James Miller's biography of Foucault.)
III.
A third objection to Mr. Adler's argument is the "psychological continuity" problem which suggests that painful memories -- whether desired or not -- may be essential to preserving relationships which are fundamental to survival for a person. Again: a memory may be both painful and happy or desired. For example, recalling the birth of a child by her mother or that same child's departure for college as remembered by her father.
To remove a painful memory from the mind -- something which may be impossible, even in theory -- would be like dimantling or interrupting the narrative of the self in time, as a "project of self-realization." ("Immanuel Kant and the Narrative of Freedom.")
The so-called "virtues" of character emerge from dialectical evolutions or interpretations in a moral direction that are only possible for individuals who decide on the meanings of their memories. All selfhood is about the realization of identity in time through form. By "form" is meant art or some other expressive endeavor -- like philosophy or science, law or medicine. (''In Time': A Movie Review" then "Shakespeare's Black Prince.")
Removal of memories may produce false consciousness or distorted recollections of the past leading to deformations of the psyche making any kind of self-realization or survival, for that matter, impossible. What we remember doing and how we judge our actions will determine possible developments of character:
"Any experience modifies consciousness. Be it subliminal or traumatic, there is no psychic or physical happening which does not alter the complex of our identity. [Hypnosis?] In the flux of the instantaneous, the impact, like that of the charged particles streaming through our planet, is infinitesimal and unperceived. But personal being is process; it is in perpetual change. ..." (Steiner, p. 25.)
Memory was described by the ancients as the "mother of the muses." The creation of art drawing on memories provides for the articulation of the ego. Accordingly, memory is the only possible mother of the self. By memory here is meant all recollections of what constitutes a life -- painful memories very much included. Perhaps painful memories are especially crucial to the making of art as well as identities. The fashioning of a self may be a work of art. (Nietzsche, Bradley, Kierkegaard.)
It is the things and persons whose recollection are most entangled in affective relations that we must treasure if we are to learn the meaning of the "stories that we are." (Gadamer, Ricoeur.)
No doubt the effort to prevent me from writing or speaking is about denying me the use of form for survival or self-realization in a "high-tech" torture chamber. ("What is it like to be tortured?" and "How censorship works in America.")
To prevent any human being from writing or creating art is to seek to destroy that person's inner meanings or expressive contents. Censorship negates the humanity of persons. Torture destroys that humanity. ("Censorship, Again?" then "How censorship works in America" and "Censorship and Cruelty in New Jersey.")
The price in terms of emotional suffering for recollection of traumatic or painful memories may be very high, but we must choose the suffering in order to earn the meanings we desire for ourselves and our loved-ones, so that we may become the persons we are. ("Bernard Williams and Identity" then "Friedrich Nietzsche on Self-Realization.")
The pain from loss of persons we love, or from sharing in their sufferings, is part of the joy and intimacy we derive by loving them -- against the world if necessary. Evelyn Waugh suggests that to know and love one other human being is the beginning of all wisdom. ("The Allegory of the Cave" then "'Brideshead Revisited': A Movie Review" and "What is it like to be plagiarized?" and see "Shadowlands.")
For Plato -- and his admirer, St. Augustine -- memory is the repository of that fundamental emotional wisdom of humanity associated with the process of individual recollection, as when a baby "remembers" that the smiling face before her belongs to her parent, and social recollection, as in the writing of history. In this "fountain of recollections" at the center of the self we discover what Augustine called: "the divine in ourselves." ('''The Fountain': A Movie Review.")
I recall a Holocaust survivor and scholar making a similar point in urging students to "remember" the events of the Holocaust. As a college professor, he showed a film of the Holocaust that was very graphic because it depicted events in his own difficult life. The tears in his eyes were overcome by a sense of the importance of discussing and sharing his impressions of the historical events in which all of our lives are implicated. I believe that this is one of Tolstoy's most important lessons to his readers concerning the meaning of history and (for him) religious faith: "We must remember to remember."
Suffering "recalls" us to our humanity and to the deeper or shared sources of that humanity in culture or language. Far from wishing to forget the traumatic memory of his imprisonment, for example, Alexander Solzhenitsyn thanked God for the clarity of his remembered pain:
"All the writers who wrote about prison but did not themselves serve time there considered it their duty to express sympathy for prisoners and to curse prison. I ... have served time there. I nourished my soul there, [Nelson Mandela?] and I say without hesitation: BLESS YOU PRISON, for having been in my life."
The Gulag Archipelago (New York: Harper & Row, 1973-75), Vol. II, p. 615.
Saturday, August 4, 2012
New Jersey Attacks!
August 4, 2012 at 1:51 P.M. I attempted to sign-in using my NYPL card at the Morningside Heights branch of the library. I was assigned to computer number #4. I was denied access to the Internet and a pop-up indicated "Windows Not Working." This is the second time I am typing these words as they were previously deleted.
My hand shakes as I type these words from anxiety and anger at these violations of my rights and yours. I will continue to write. ("How censorship works in America.")
I do not know whether I will be able to use my library card to sign-in to or reserve a NYPL computer again, after today. I will try to do so. I am currently using a guest number. If necessary, I will make use of guest numbers, every day, to write for 45 minutes per day. I have lost 25 minutes before being able to post these words. If this is not censorship, I cannot imagine what would constitute censorship.
The goal of psychological torture is to generate a nervous breakdown with a display of emotions, preferably publicly, that can be used against the victim. Happily, I am and will remain quite serene. I will try to deal with the heightened stress and frustrations as well as anxieties with extra exercise and more reading of quantum physics as well as philosophy. I read these seemingly arcane books about math and physics, philosophy, history, jurisprudence strictly for the sexy parts.
Mary Jo Layton, "Questions Arise at For Profit Hospital," in "The Record," August 1, 2012, at p. A-1. (Money disappearing, again.)
James Quirk, "Bergen Caps Merger Study Seen as Model Elsewhere," in "The Record," August 1, 2012, at p. A-1. (Has Union County Sheriff Ralph Froelich visited my sites and/or contributed in any way to the cybercrimes and censorship against me? Perhaps the Sheriff has acted on behalf of Anne Rodgers or Theodore Romankow?)
Zach Patberg, "County in a Bind Over Pay in a Pair's Rehiring," in "The Record," August 1, 2012, at p. L-1. (Former Paterson officials who nearly doubled their salaries with bogus overtime were rehired, involuntarily, but won't be paid by the county. Smart. This way the two scam artists will earn exactly what they're worth.)
James Aury, "Police in Bergen County Face Tampering Probe," in "The Record," August 2, 2012, at p. A-1. (Cops fabricating evidence and obstructing justice -- like the OAE -- to prevent their own apprehension and frame a "suspect.")
Two civil lawsuits have been filed against Bergen County, "one seeking $17 MILLION and the other $3 MILLION in damages."
"Investigators are probing the actions of two Bergen County Police Officers who pursued [robbery] suspects. And the criminal investigation of the officers has created strife between County Executive Kathleen Donovan and Prosecutor John Molinelli."
If I am able to continue writing, I will comment further on this matter and review "Total Recall."
As best I can make out, Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli is trying to determine whether the suspect officers removed evidence from a crime scene or otherwise tampered ("fabricated") evidence -- put something there -- in order to cover their asses, as it were, in any future investigation of a car chase and shooting of robbery suspects. It's the cover-up, stupid, that will get you in a jam.
The OAE engages in similar tactics when they screw up. However, the Attorney General James Chiesa is not interested in dealing with this little "bru-ha-ha" because he doesn't want an ethics problem for himself. ("New Jersey's 'Ethical' Legal System" and "New Jersey's Office of Attorney Ethics.")
Mr. Froelich in Union County is also alleged to engage in similarly "creative" police work aimed at hurting minority defendants. The accusations of racism in that county are well-established. Perhaps a federal or state takeover is called for to deal with the problem because Romankow and Froelich are pretty tight. ("Larry Peterson Cleared by DNA.")
"The allegations are that after the shooting, both Roberts [Chief Justice John Roberts is not involved in this matter, the Bergen cop's name is Roberts,] and Baksh allegedly took measures to hide that a shooting took place, and took actions to frustrate not only our office but their own office in investigating the shooting," Molinelli said, referring exclusively to the Bergen County cops and investigation.
This is what gives defense counsel headaches: You, as a police officer, are involved in a shooting of robbery suspects (no one heard anything or saw you at the scene?) after a high speed chase through several towns and may have a VALID reason for the shooting. However, by engaging in the cover-up, you have committed a crime (obstruction of justice) and cast doubt on the legitimacy of the original shooting. This is not smart.
Meanwhile back at the ranch: "A supervisor at a residential treatment facility for disabled and emotionally disturbed children has been arrested on charges of sexually abusing a teenage girl when she lived there."
Abbott-Koloff, "Sexual Abuse of a Girl Alleged," in "The Record," July 25, 2012, at p. L-1.
This sexual abuse matter is one of several instances in which it is alleged that officials -- like those nervous Bergen County cops -- may have attempted to cover-up or make this matter go away, despite the sexual abuse of a mentally impaired CHILD, in order "not to look bad" to state regulators. Now you "look bad." Not only that, but the cover-up may create a criminal problem for officials engaging in it who had nothing to do with the original incident. ("New Jersey's Office of Attorney Ethics.")
Abuse of a confined young woman in a mental health facility went unpunished for too long because of such concerns. Sexual assaults of young women have become routine in a number of penal and health care institutions. Is this an example of New Jersey government's institutional "ethics," Mr. Rabner? Mr. Chiesa?
Sources:
John Petrick, "Halledon Must Pay Chief's Legal Fees," in "The Record," August 1, 2012, at p. L-1. (Police Chief told the truth about drug use BY POLITICAL OFFICIALS and was subjected to a legal action because he would not engage in a cover-up. New Jersey's "cover-up" culture must be reformed. This includes the OAE's self-preservation tactics. Right, John McGill, Esq.? Ms. Rodgers?)
Marlene Noones, "Man Charged in Attempt to Lure Child," in "The Record," August 1, 2012, at p. L-2. (MATHEW ALFIANO, 35, sought a sexual encounter with a girl he believed to be 12 years-old. Is the investigation being derailed because of "connections." "Judges Protect Child Abuse in Bayonne, New Jersey.")
Lindy Washburn, "Chiropractor Faces 125 Fraud Counts: Allegedly Faked Insurance Claims for Victims in Car Accidents," in "The Record," August 1, 2012, at p. L-2. (LAWYERS and chiropractors scheming to defraud insurance companies. Edgar Navarete? Jose Ginarte? Any ethics troubles, boys? Is this New Jersey's legal ethics, Mr. Rabner?)
"Names of the Dead," in "The New York Times," August 4, 2012, at p. A5. (Since writing on August 1, 2012 the number of American causalties has grown to 2,053 and the number is still rising. Mr. Obama, please bring our troops home.)
Matt Friedman, "New Jersey's Voters May Get to Decide in Judges' Pay: It's Pension Reform for All, Lawmakers Say," in "The Star Ledger," July 22, 2012, at p. 1. (Voters may insist on a Constitutional Amendment to require fairness in judicial pension contributions. No one escapes -- or should escape -- the burden of hard times.)
My hand shakes as I type these words from anxiety and anger at these violations of my rights and yours. I will continue to write. ("How censorship works in America.")
I do not know whether I will be able to use my library card to sign-in to or reserve a NYPL computer again, after today. I will try to do so. I am currently using a guest number. If necessary, I will make use of guest numbers, every day, to write for 45 minutes per day. I have lost 25 minutes before being able to post these words. If this is not censorship, I cannot imagine what would constitute censorship.
The goal of psychological torture is to generate a nervous breakdown with a display of emotions, preferably publicly, that can be used against the victim. Happily, I am and will remain quite serene. I will try to deal with the heightened stress and frustrations as well as anxieties with extra exercise and more reading of quantum physics as well as philosophy. I read these seemingly arcane books about math and physics, philosophy, history, jurisprudence strictly for the sexy parts.
Mary Jo Layton, "Questions Arise at For Profit Hospital," in "The Record," August 1, 2012, at p. A-1. (Money disappearing, again.)
James Quirk, "Bergen Caps Merger Study Seen as Model Elsewhere," in "The Record," August 1, 2012, at p. A-1. (Has Union County Sheriff Ralph Froelich visited my sites and/or contributed in any way to the cybercrimes and censorship against me? Perhaps the Sheriff has acted on behalf of Anne Rodgers or Theodore Romankow?)
Zach Patberg, "County in a Bind Over Pay in a Pair's Rehiring," in "The Record," August 1, 2012, at p. L-1. (Former Paterson officials who nearly doubled their salaries with bogus overtime were rehired, involuntarily, but won't be paid by the county. Smart. This way the two scam artists will earn exactly what they're worth.)
James Aury, "Police in Bergen County Face Tampering Probe," in "The Record," August 2, 2012, at p. A-1. (Cops fabricating evidence and obstructing justice -- like the OAE -- to prevent their own apprehension and frame a "suspect.")
Two civil lawsuits have been filed against Bergen County, "one seeking $17 MILLION and the other $3 MILLION in damages."
"Investigators are probing the actions of two Bergen County Police Officers who pursued [robbery] suspects. And the criminal investigation of the officers has created strife between County Executive Kathleen Donovan and Prosecutor John Molinelli."
If I am able to continue writing, I will comment further on this matter and review "Total Recall."
As best I can make out, Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli is trying to determine whether the suspect officers removed evidence from a crime scene or otherwise tampered ("fabricated") evidence -- put something there -- in order to cover their asses, as it were, in any future investigation of a car chase and shooting of robbery suspects. It's the cover-up, stupid, that will get you in a jam.
The OAE engages in similar tactics when they screw up. However, the Attorney General James Chiesa is not interested in dealing with this little "bru-ha-ha" because he doesn't want an ethics problem for himself. ("New Jersey's 'Ethical' Legal System" and "New Jersey's Office of Attorney Ethics.")
Mr. Froelich in Union County is also alleged to engage in similarly "creative" police work aimed at hurting minority defendants. The accusations of racism in that county are well-established. Perhaps a federal or state takeover is called for to deal with the problem because Romankow and Froelich are pretty tight. ("Larry Peterson Cleared by DNA.")
"The allegations are that after the shooting, both Roberts [Chief Justice John Roberts is not involved in this matter, the Bergen cop's name is Roberts,] and Baksh allegedly took measures to hide that a shooting took place, and took actions to frustrate not only our office but their own office in investigating the shooting," Molinelli said, referring exclusively to the Bergen County cops and investigation.
This is what gives defense counsel headaches: You, as a police officer, are involved in a shooting of robbery suspects (no one heard anything or saw you at the scene?) after a high speed chase through several towns and may have a VALID reason for the shooting. However, by engaging in the cover-up, you have committed a crime (obstruction of justice) and cast doubt on the legitimacy of the original shooting. This is not smart.
Meanwhile back at the ranch: "A supervisor at a residential treatment facility for disabled and emotionally disturbed children has been arrested on charges of sexually abusing a teenage girl when she lived there."
Abbott-Koloff, "Sexual Abuse of a Girl Alleged," in "The Record," July 25, 2012, at p. L-1.
This sexual abuse matter is one of several instances in which it is alleged that officials -- like those nervous Bergen County cops -- may have attempted to cover-up or make this matter go away, despite the sexual abuse of a mentally impaired CHILD, in order "not to look bad" to state regulators. Now you "look bad." Not only that, but the cover-up may create a criminal problem for officials engaging in it who had nothing to do with the original incident. ("New Jersey's Office of Attorney Ethics.")
Abuse of a confined young woman in a mental health facility went unpunished for too long because of such concerns. Sexual assaults of young women have become routine in a number of penal and health care institutions. Is this an example of New Jersey government's institutional "ethics," Mr. Rabner? Mr. Chiesa?
Sources:
John Petrick, "Halledon Must Pay Chief's Legal Fees," in "The Record," August 1, 2012, at p. L-1. (Police Chief told the truth about drug use BY POLITICAL OFFICIALS and was subjected to a legal action because he would not engage in a cover-up. New Jersey's "cover-up" culture must be reformed. This includes the OAE's self-preservation tactics. Right, John McGill, Esq.? Ms. Rodgers?)
Marlene Noones, "Man Charged in Attempt to Lure Child," in "The Record," August 1, 2012, at p. L-2. (MATHEW ALFIANO, 35, sought a sexual encounter with a girl he believed to be 12 years-old. Is the investigation being derailed because of "connections." "Judges Protect Child Abuse in Bayonne, New Jersey.")
Lindy Washburn, "Chiropractor Faces 125 Fraud Counts: Allegedly Faked Insurance Claims for Victims in Car Accidents," in "The Record," August 1, 2012, at p. L-2. (LAWYERS and chiropractors scheming to defraud insurance companies. Edgar Navarete? Jose Ginarte? Any ethics troubles, boys? Is this New Jersey's legal ethics, Mr. Rabner?)
"Names of the Dead," in "The New York Times," August 4, 2012, at p. A5. (Since writing on August 1, 2012 the number of American causalties has grown to 2,053 and the number is still rising. Mr. Obama, please bring our troops home.)
Matt Friedman, "New Jersey's Voters May Get to Decide in Judges' Pay: It's Pension Reform for All, Lawmakers Say," in "The Star Ledger," July 22, 2012, at p. 1. (Voters may insist on a Constitutional Amendment to require fairness in judicial pension contributions. No one escapes -- or should escape -- the burden of hard times.)
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Dormi Bene, Gore Vidal.
Eliza Gray, "Ties That Bind," in "The New Republic," June 7, 2012, at p. 15. (Gore Vidal's fears for America realized: Vice President Marco Rubio?)
Charles McGrath, "Gore Vidal: 1925-2012 -- Prolific, Elegant, Acerbic Writer," in "The New York Times," August 1, 2012, at p. A1.
On Tuesday, July 31, 2012, at his home in the Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA -- the pen fell from the hand of Gore Vidal.
Mr. Vidal will be remembered as America's finest essayist in the twentieth century and one of our greatest novelists of all time. I have posted a long essay examining Vidal's work and life at Mind Games. I see no need to repeat myself here.
I write these words after being prevented from writing at all yesterday, at public computers, against harassments and computer crimes that even Mr. Vidal could not have envisioned during the worst days of McCarthy's terrors or the final days of his struggle against the totalitarianism that he saw engulf the nation he served in the military and adored -- a nation that I still love and worry about.
In what little time I have left today, I wish to recognize what I take to be Vidal's unique importance to American letters and recommend his writings to young people busy at this very moment "twittering" about Kristin Stewart's love-life. Whatever. ("Whatever!" and "Nihilists in Disneyworld.")
Summarizing 86 years in the life of a man of genius, perhaps the final contributor to the American tradition of the novel of manners and ideas, is impossible under these circumstances and limitations. It is possible, however, to point out that Vidal has added several works ("Washington, D.C." and "The Golden Age") to a top shelf that contains the best of Henry James, Edith Wharton, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Luis Auchincloss.
Aside from Edward St. Aubyn in England and Alan Hollinghurst in New York, I cannot imagine any other English-language novelist today creating comparable social tapestries or an equally beautiful "dance to the music of time." Vidal claimed to be saving Anthony Powell's masterpiece for his old age. Did he get around to those books? I don't know.
Vidal's historical novels -- notably "Lincoln" and "Julian" -- are the best by an American writer in my lifetime. Socially, Vidal's brave efforts to defend the rights of gays and lesbians to equal treatment under the law were way ahead of his time. Gore Vidal was also a quiet supporter of the civil rights struggle led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. -- including providing financial support for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
Vidal's amused contempt for subliterary ramblings by the politically correct thought police were expressed, appropriately, in several novels -- for example, "Duluth" and "The Smithsonian Institution."
Vidal opposed all forms of control over the minds of men and women, like Thomas Jefferson, whose administration was detested by Vidal's Arron Burr, but admired by the West Point-born and Fellini-dubbed "Gorino" as one of the best in our history. I concur.
Vidal's concern for justice for the powerless masses victimized in America's wars of "conquest and theft" in South Asia or in search of Middle East oil, were costly in terms of his career (especially when it came to reviews in the "Times"), but morally correct.
As I write these words, 2048 U.S. soldiers have died in Afghanistan, new bombings orchestrated by Al Qaeda with Pakistani intelligence and/or Haqqani clan "assistance" have taken place in Baghdad, Al Qaeda has spread to Bharain, Yemen and Saudi Arabia, as Iran develops nuclear weapons. Nearly 10,000 Americans have died in Iraq, over 100,000 wounded in all struggles -- so far.
Vidal's hatred of abuse of power and corruption were combined with genuine passion for America's enshrining of fundamental rights in the best Constitution the world has ever known, a document which he came to see as endangered and, perhaps, made meaningless by the "Bush/Cheney junta" (Vidal's term) towards the end of his long life.
I hope Vidal is mistaken about that loss of the Constitution, but all the evidence suggests that he may be correct in this judgment. Our freedoms of speech and assembly, thought and worship, or the right not to worship, may be gone.
Vidal's sword wielded against the "military industrial complex" -- a "fearsome dragon" was his description of the American tendency toward fascism -- struck some forceful blows. Sadly -- no, TRAGICALLY -- I am also confident that Vidal's dismay in his final years resulted from the suspicion that the "dragon of totalitarianism" had mostly won in America. I agree.
The damage to civil liberties will not be easily undone. I cannot imagine many people bother to deny this concern today. My life and literary experiences on-line attest to its accuracy. Our traditional freedoms -- setting all rhetoric aside -- are a quaint memory or archaic feature of old films starring Mickey Rooney or James Stewart. ("Manifesto For the Unfinished American Revolution.")
Literature as a vital force in the public square along with the inheritance of high civilization for the bulk of the population that was to be "well and truly educated" (Thomas Jefferson) has dissipated and preceded Vidal into the grave. Most Americans do not read serious fiction or books of any kind, do not enjoy the fine arts, nor do they have any interest in science or philosophy, history or political theory. Americans enjoy something called "The Simpsons" and "Dance Moms From Miami."
Does this decline in the quality of our culture or civilization foreshadow a decline in military power and wealth? I suspect so. Every empire or civilization which has declined in cultural importance has also fallen in military power. One has merely to witness the sad spectacle of Mr. Mitt Romney in Britain, shortly before the Olympics, to see this point illustrated: "I like the Olympics!" Mr. Romney said: "I like sports! Even if these games do not seem well-organized."
No one can recall Mr. Romney's discussion of a single work of literature or philosophy during the entire campaign. Gore Vidal would add: "Let us be grateful for small favors."
In concluding the masterpiece "Myra Breckingridge," Gore Vidal offered his readers a slim hope for happiness in a world that then contained horrors like Truman Capote and the Vietnam War:
"Incidentally, I noticed a question scribbled in one of the margins of the notebook. Something she (I hate to say 'I') copied from some book about Jean Jacques Rousseau. I don't suppose it's giving away any secrets to say that like so many would-be intellectuals back East [,] Myra never actually read books, only books about books. Anyway the quotation still sort of appeals to me. It is about how humanity would have been a lot happier if it had kept to the middle ground between the indolence of the primitive state and the questing activity to which we are prompted by our self-esteem! [Prometheus in Beverly Hills or Ravello?] I think that is a very fine statement and one which, all in all, I'm ready to buy, since it is a proven fact that happiness, like the proverbial bluebird, is to be found in your own backyard if you just know where to look."
Gore Vidal, "Myra Breckingridge" (New York: Ballantine, 1967), PP. 276-277.
Gore Vidal has now found that happiness in heaven, I am sure, with Jimmy Trimble and Howard Austen, close friends like Paul Newman, and his beloved William Shakespeare, and many more friends and admirers. If I get to heaven (which is doubtful), I hope that I will receive an invitation to one of Gore Vidal's dinner parties.
Truman Capote, eat your heart out.
Charles McGrath, "Gore Vidal: 1925-2012 -- Prolific, Elegant, Acerbic Writer," in "The New York Times," August 1, 2012, at p. A1.
On Tuesday, July 31, 2012, at his home in the Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA -- the pen fell from the hand of Gore Vidal.
Mr. Vidal will be remembered as America's finest essayist in the twentieth century and one of our greatest novelists of all time. I have posted a long essay examining Vidal's work and life at Mind Games. I see no need to repeat myself here.
I write these words after being prevented from writing at all yesterday, at public computers, against harassments and computer crimes that even Mr. Vidal could not have envisioned during the worst days of McCarthy's terrors or the final days of his struggle against the totalitarianism that he saw engulf the nation he served in the military and adored -- a nation that I still love and worry about.
In what little time I have left today, I wish to recognize what I take to be Vidal's unique importance to American letters and recommend his writings to young people busy at this very moment "twittering" about Kristin Stewart's love-life. Whatever. ("Whatever!" and "Nihilists in Disneyworld.")
Summarizing 86 years in the life of a man of genius, perhaps the final contributor to the American tradition of the novel of manners and ideas, is impossible under these circumstances and limitations. It is possible, however, to point out that Vidal has added several works ("Washington, D.C." and "The Golden Age") to a top shelf that contains the best of Henry James, Edith Wharton, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Luis Auchincloss.
Aside from Edward St. Aubyn in England and Alan Hollinghurst in New York, I cannot imagine any other English-language novelist today creating comparable social tapestries or an equally beautiful "dance to the music of time." Vidal claimed to be saving Anthony Powell's masterpiece for his old age. Did he get around to those books? I don't know.
Vidal's historical novels -- notably "Lincoln" and "Julian" -- are the best by an American writer in my lifetime. Socially, Vidal's brave efforts to defend the rights of gays and lesbians to equal treatment under the law were way ahead of his time. Gore Vidal was also a quiet supporter of the civil rights struggle led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. -- including providing financial support for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
Vidal's amused contempt for subliterary ramblings by the politically correct thought police were expressed, appropriately, in several novels -- for example, "Duluth" and "The Smithsonian Institution."
Vidal opposed all forms of control over the minds of men and women, like Thomas Jefferson, whose administration was detested by Vidal's Arron Burr, but admired by the West Point-born and Fellini-dubbed "Gorino" as one of the best in our history. I concur.
Vidal's concern for justice for the powerless masses victimized in America's wars of "conquest and theft" in South Asia or in search of Middle East oil, were costly in terms of his career (especially when it came to reviews in the "Times"), but morally correct.
As I write these words, 2048 U.S. soldiers have died in Afghanistan, new bombings orchestrated by Al Qaeda with Pakistani intelligence and/or Haqqani clan "assistance" have taken place in Baghdad, Al Qaeda has spread to Bharain, Yemen and Saudi Arabia, as Iran develops nuclear weapons. Nearly 10,000 Americans have died in Iraq, over 100,000 wounded in all struggles -- so far.
Vidal's hatred of abuse of power and corruption were combined with genuine passion for America's enshrining of fundamental rights in the best Constitution the world has ever known, a document which he came to see as endangered and, perhaps, made meaningless by the "Bush/Cheney junta" (Vidal's term) towards the end of his long life.
I hope Vidal is mistaken about that loss of the Constitution, but all the evidence suggests that he may be correct in this judgment. Our freedoms of speech and assembly, thought and worship, or the right not to worship, may be gone.
Vidal's sword wielded against the "military industrial complex" -- a "fearsome dragon" was his description of the American tendency toward fascism -- struck some forceful blows. Sadly -- no, TRAGICALLY -- I am also confident that Vidal's dismay in his final years resulted from the suspicion that the "dragon of totalitarianism" had mostly won in America. I agree.
The damage to civil liberties will not be easily undone. I cannot imagine many people bother to deny this concern today. My life and literary experiences on-line attest to its accuracy. Our traditional freedoms -- setting all rhetoric aside -- are a quaint memory or archaic feature of old films starring Mickey Rooney or James Stewart. ("Manifesto For the Unfinished American Revolution.")
Literature as a vital force in the public square along with the inheritance of high civilization for the bulk of the population that was to be "well and truly educated" (Thomas Jefferson) has dissipated and preceded Vidal into the grave. Most Americans do not read serious fiction or books of any kind, do not enjoy the fine arts, nor do they have any interest in science or philosophy, history or political theory. Americans enjoy something called "The Simpsons" and "Dance Moms From Miami."
Does this decline in the quality of our culture or civilization foreshadow a decline in military power and wealth? I suspect so. Every empire or civilization which has declined in cultural importance has also fallen in military power. One has merely to witness the sad spectacle of Mr. Mitt Romney in Britain, shortly before the Olympics, to see this point illustrated: "I like the Olympics!" Mr. Romney said: "I like sports! Even if these games do not seem well-organized."
No one can recall Mr. Romney's discussion of a single work of literature or philosophy during the entire campaign. Gore Vidal would add: "Let us be grateful for small favors."
In concluding the masterpiece "Myra Breckingridge," Gore Vidal offered his readers a slim hope for happiness in a world that then contained horrors like Truman Capote and the Vietnam War:
"Incidentally, I noticed a question scribbled in one of the margins of the notebook. Something she (I hate to say 'I') copied from some book about Jean Jacques Rousseau. I don't suppose it's giving away any secrets to say that like so many would-be intellectuals back East [,] Myra never actually read books, only books about books. Anyway the quotation still sort of appeals to me. It is about how humanity would have been a lot happier if it had kept to the middle ground between the indolence of the primitive state and the questing activity to which we are prompted by our self-esteem! [Prometheus in Beverly Hills or Ravello?] I think that is a very fine statement and one which, all in all, I'm ready to buy, since it is a proven fact that happiness, like the proverbial bluebird, is to be found in your own backyard if you just know where to look."
Gore Vidal, "Myra Breckingridge" (New York: Ballantine, 1967), PP. 276-277.
Gore Vidal has now found that happiness in heaven, I am sure, with Jimmy Trimble and Howard Austen, close friends like Paul Newman, and his beloved William Shakespeare, and many more friends and admirers. If I get to heaven (which is doubtful), I hope that I will receive an invitation to one of Gore Vidal's dinner parties.
Truman Capote, eat your heart out.
Friday, July 27, 2012
Albert Florence and New Jersey's Racism.
What follows is my comment on the Albert Florence decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. As I write these words, I cannot be certain of posting them on-line, even from a New York Public Library computer (after the destruction of the hard drive on my home computer, I believe, by hackers from New Jersey), but I will try to do so.
No bold or italic script is available at blogger -- at least not for me -- and I am not certain of whether I will be able to create space between my paragraphs. Again, I will do my best.
I am sure that the Albert Florence matter and the circumstances under which I am forced to post these comments on the Internet are revealing of the realities of life in America in 2012 and (probably) beyond this year.
Compare "Perception" on TNT with "Magician's Choice" and "666 Park Avenue" the t.v. series with "Drawing Room Comedy: A Philosophical Essay in the Form of a Film Script" and the new ABC series ("Final Witness") featuring murder victims investigating their murders with "Out of the Past." Finally, please compare "What is it like to be plagiarized?" with "'Brideshead Revisited': A Movie Review."
Are the similarities between my previously published and copyrighted texts and these commercial works coincidental? I doubt it.
More than anger or fear my primary feelings are curiosity and anxiety about how these horrors could have become real or routine for writers in my society. I hope that readers from many countries as well as Americans appreciate the implications of this struggle by one so-called "insignificant person" -- an "inferior" individual (I am told) of the self-proclaimed political "bosses" in New Jersey -- for everyone's civil liberties.
To limit my freedom of expression is also to limit your right of access to speech. All sources used in writing this essay will be listed at the conclusion of the work. It may take a few days after posting the essay to provide further sources.
I.
The Albert florence decision by the U.S. Supreme Court clarified a number of evils and hypocrisies afflicting our legal system surrounding the fault line of race -- although not in ways that the Court may have intended.
As I read the Court's decision I was struck by the inability of ANY of the justices to discuss the obviously dominant issue in the case. I refer to the race of Mr. Florence and the discriminatory use of strip searches in jails as a means of humiliation that often has nothing to do with security and everything to do not only with racism but with suppressing dissent and dissenters.
First Amendment issues were not argued by counsel for Mr. Florence, to my knowledge, although it is undisputed that Mr. Florence expressed his opinions concerning the arresting officer's actions and their motivations which, clearly, had something to do with what transpired on the day in question.
Mr. Florence is African-American as revealed by his photograph that appeared in the "Times," if not as a fact mentioned in the article describing the Court's opinions. Not only is racial identity a significant fact, I am sure that it is the crucial and most revealing detail in the story that gave rise to litigation reaching the United States Supreme Court, where (along with cautious journalists covering the story) all nine justices were, I suggest, "wary" of the racial undertones in the matter.
The majority of the justices acknowledged that Mr. Florence raised 14th Amendment (due process, EQUAL PROTECTION) as well as 4th Amendment (mostly privacy, also due process) arguments before the justices in addition to offering the same arguments before the lower courts. The decisions of the various justices focused almost exclusively on privacy concerns weighed against the requirements of security in American jails (13 million persons per year are in jails) and prisons (2 to 4 million people are incarcerated on a close to permanent basis in this country).
The United States is the world's leader when it comes to imprisonment of its people.
By framing the legal discussion in such neutral terms the outcome was predetermined. None of the justices even mentioned the basis for the equal protection arguments in the lower courts nor alluded to the race of Mr. Florence, as compared with or in relation to the police officer's race, in the context of a territory with a history of racial strife. ("The FBI Wants Assata Shakur" and "Mumia Abu-Jamal and the Unconstitutionality of the Death Penalty.")
Of course the Court will defer to our federal and state institutions concerning "intrusiveness" with some hope for a "reasonable basis" for such searches when the only competing consideration is inmates' privacy. Inmates' privacy rights are not something that keeps federal judges up at night.
Minimal scrutiny is afforded to carceral administrative regulations and practices when there is SOME reasonable basis for administrative searches -- "reasonable basis" is something which most officers can fabricate, whether they exist or not, and so-called "within house proceedings" for inmates' complaints are seen by defendants-inmates as a joke. I agree. Access to federal courts for most inmates has been severely curtailed by a spate of recent federal decisions seeking to "discourage" or forestal inmate litigation.
The crux of the matter before the justices was not privacy versus security in jails and prisons, whether for those arrested on minor or major charges. The real issue -- which clearly could not be faced squarely by a divided Supreme Court -- is race and the legacy of slavery as a determining factor in how persons are treated by the state in all institutions, especially prisons and jails. ("Freedom for Mumia Abu-Jamal" and "Foucault, Rose, Davis and the Meanings of Prison.")
Analogies between the mehods used to demonize and humiliate slaves in American history -- or new inmates at Auschwitz -- were too obvious to be missed by these nine jurists whose intellects, we are told and believe, are formidable and who have attended Yale, Harvard, and Stanford Universities. To state the matter in terms that Justice Thomas may appreciate: Mr. Florence was subjected to a "low-tech lynching."
Two other items not mentioned in the Court's recitation of the facts have to do with the geographical and socio-economic "location" of Mr. Florence by comparison with the trooper who arrested and the jail guards who tortured him. These issues are significant to what happened and to the failure by the Supreme Court to resolve (or even address) tensions that will recur in jurisprudence and, worse, that may well lead to vilolence not only in prisons and jails, but also in society -- espcially in the streets of our cities.
You can see why New Jersey has attempted to prevent me from posting this essay. ("How censorship works in America.")
I remember a law professor and friend who made the radical suggestion that, sometimes, cases are actually decided based on their facts. A decisive fact in this case is the cultural and racial divide between the falsely arrested citizen and the white police officer who detained him, probably knowing that he was arresting a man falsely. ("Psychological Torture in the American Legal System" and "America's Holocaust" then "So Black and So Blue in Prison.")
The significance of the procedural posture of the case has not been sufficiently appreciated by comentators on the opinion. The matter reached the Court as an appeal from a summary judgment determination in favor of Mr. Florence at the District Court level.
I begin by returning to the facts in a more detailed manner because, as some of the justices seem to have forgotten, there are no factual issues after a summary judgment determination. All facts are granted and judgment is given to a party on the pleadings pursuant to a motion. Hence, the facts were, basically, as asserted by Mr. Florence and ACCEPTED by the state of New Jersey.
Furthermore, there was no second guessing of the summary judgment determination at any level in the subsequent proceedings in this matter, including the arguments before the Supreme Court. Again: equal protection, due process, and free speech issues that I am sure were in the pleadings were ignored or not seen by the justices -- who expressly acknowledged briefing by counsel of "4th and 14th Amendment principles."
After revisiting the admitted facts I turn to the applicable law including the Constitutional principles at issue. I next analyze the facts in light of the law offering a suggested resolution by way of response and as a statement of my opinion.
Regrettably, harassment makes posting this essay difficult, but I will try to complete the work while I am still able to access blogger's dashboard. Writing under these conditions is designed not simply to alter or undermine my argument, but to injure me. I believe that this effort to injure me comes from New Jersey and is intended to prevent or obstruct future writings by me. Perhaps I am experiencing something very similar to what Mr. Florence experienced and for the same reasons. ("What is it like to be tortured?" and "New Jersey's 'Ethical' Legal System.")
II.
Albert Florence was a PASSENGER in a vehicle driven by his wife which was validly registered as well as insured in the state of New Jersey. The sticker for inspection was placed in the legally required position and was valid on the day when the stop took place. In all external appearances the vehicle was fully in compliance with the law.
None of the recitations of facts in this matter -- including the basis for its decision provided by the U.S. Supreme Court -- contains the rational foundation or any in-depth discussion of the alleged "probable cause" for the vehicular stop and questioning of all of the persons in the Florence family car or SUV.
No officer could merely by observing a vehicle decide that an occupant or passenger of the vehicle had an outstanding warrant for any cause. No summons for speeding was actually issued on the day in question nor is it alleged today that the Florence family was speeding. ("Racism and Brutality on New Jersey Highways" then "Driving While Black [DWB] in New Jersey" and "Give Us Free!")
Mr. and Mrs. Florence were accompanied by their child (or children, since accounts differ over the number of children). The child, or children, and all other motorists were witnesses to the treatment of Mr. Florence, as if he were a felon, and questioning of both parents at the side of the road.
I am sure that Mr. Florence, appropriately, expressed an understandable sense of outrage at such treatment, produced the necessary receipt which indicated ENTRY of payment for the disputed fine in the computer system, and (very likely) his perceived sense of being insulted or mistreated for his race.
The potential psychological harm to any child from witnessing this event, abuse of a parent by a legal official or cop, may be life-long and severe. ("An Unpleasant Encounter With New Jersey's State Police" then "America's Holocaust.")
"A records search revealed an outstanding warrant [allegedly, only against Mr. Florence, although the entire family was kept at the scene for hours,] based on an unpaid fine." ("The New York Times," p. A3.)
The fine was not only paid, but was (again) shown to have been paid at the scene by Mr. Florence -- who also indicated, unknowingly, that the fine's payment must have been entered in the system at the time of payment since it is the only way he would have been given the receipt in his possession and produced for the officer.
It may be that someone -- after receipt of payment and Mr. Florence's arrest -- deleted the entry of payment (who would do such a thing?), but there is little doubt that the payment was made and entered in the necessary computers at the time when the money was accepted by state officials.
Any representation to the contrary by counsel for New Jersey or the police officer and/or trooper involved in the incident is at best erroneous or (worse) lies. I believe that the officer at the scene was aware that Mr. Florence had paid the fine and that there was no open charge against this man on the date of the incident that provides the ostensible basis for this litigation. ("New Jersey's KKK Police Scandal" and "Organized Crime Group in New Jersey's State Police.")
I am also sure that state police or Office of Attorney Ethics (OAE) officials are behind the censorship, alterations of my writings, and current criminal denials against me of access to some of my writings and sites as well as the truth concerning the tortures to which I was subjected in New Jersey. ("What is it like to be tortured?" and "Terry Tuchin, Diana Lisa Riccioli, and New Jersey's Agency of Torture" then "Jennifer Velez is a Dyke Magnet!")
Perhaps this criminal censorship has been accomplished with the assistance of members of the Cuban-American community at the request of Senator Menendez and/or others. (Again: "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.")
Mr. Florence was subjected to two strip searches, held in jail for about one week, humiliated, insulted, offended, both in the presence of his family on the Turnpike and while in jail. He might easily have been beaten for "resisting" arrest or to teach him a "lesson about obedience to authority."
Mr. Florence was guilty of being better-educated and dressing well, being better-looking and more intelligent than the blue-collar trooper who detained him. Mr. Florence was guilty of being a proud, concerned African-American father, husband, and man. I am guilty of speaking the truth about this matter to New Jersey's legal establishment and the world. ("What is it like to be censored in America?" and "How censorship works in America.")
Significantly, Mr. Macri -- a N.J. lawyer and prosecutor involved in alleged money laundering and associated by the authorities with a $50,000 per year marijuana ring and despite allegations of organized crime involvement by Mr. Macri -- was not subjected to "delousing," or strip-searched, and was bailed-out within 24 hours of his arrest. There appears to be no rational basis for the difference in treatment as regards Mr. Macri by comparison with Mr. Florence, but for the fact that one of these persons is an African-American man. ("Justice for Mumia Abu-Jamal.")
Justice Clarence Thomas in his concurring opinion mentions an "allegation" that Mr. Florence at some point in his life "fled from the police." However, there was no such open charge that was part of the record, either on the date in question or thereafter. Justice Thomas' statement, if accurate, is irrelevant to the matter before the Court and is made meaningless by the summary judgment previously granted and unchallenged in the case.
Justice Thomas must have been aware of this irrelevance and may have sought to "darken" the reputation of Mr. Florence in order to legitimate a result that he knew many Americans would, otherwise, find offensive and unwarranted. Maybe if Mr. Florence was not such a nice person the violations of his rights would appear less heinous. Sadly, whether Mr. Florence is a "nice guy" is also irrelevant to the matter before the Court.
The Supreme Court of the United States of America does not, normally, and did not in this case engage in fact-finding. The justices should not assume facts that are not in the record when rendering a decision. ("What is Law?" and "Manifesto For the Unfinished American Revolution.")
Warrants are sometimes issued automatically in N.J. Municipal Courts when summonses are not heard on their first scheduled dates, even if dates are postponed, legally, as they usually are at least once. It is undisputed that all legal matters pertaining to Mr. Florence were resolved prior to and on the date at issue.
Warrants are automatically recalled when fines are paid and matters are concluded. This fact provides yet another reason to infer that the officer(s) and jail guards were aware that Mr. Florence had paid the fine in question. The arrest, strip searches, and incarceration for one week at two facilities were a deliberate humiliation of an "uppity" individual, a "man's man" (Mr. Florence's term), by an envious and (I believe) RACIST cop who can only be described as a sadist.
New Jersey's state police has been subjected to monitoring by federal authorities on several occasions because of racial profiling, cruelty, bigotry, and incompetence -- especially as regards minorities, notably all African-Americans. ("Driving While Black [DWB] in New Jersey.")
Mr. Florence's fate might have been the experience of Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, and their lovely daughters, Sasha and Malia, if they were travelling on the New Jersey Turnpike prior to Mr. Obama's entry into political life.
This is the same state police force and roads involved in the Assata Shakur incident and close to Mumia Abu-Jamal's Philadelphia. Many other similar incidents of harassment on state highways have been alleged against the N.J. state police.
III.
None of the justices, I am sure, have entered a Municipal or Superior Court in New Jersey, as litigants, nor are they familiar with the computer systems used by such courts and New Jersey's state troopers.
I have some familiarity with such matters. In my opinion, the attorneys for New Jersey, who must have known better, LIED to the Court -- or "mischaracterized" the facts -- as Senator Menendez would say. ("Senator Bob, the Babe, and the Big Bucks" and "Does Senator Menendez have mafia friends?")
The claim that the arrest of Mr. Florence was a "mistake," was false -- probably a deliberate falsehood -- but the detention of Mr. Florence for a week suggests a level of malice in these actions that is explicable only in terms of voluntariness and racism. Any error by the officer or in the system would have been detected much sooner by administrators at either of the facilities at which Mr. Florence was held.
Accordingly, the strip search and "delousing" of Mr. Florence can only be understood -- along with the arrest -- as the result of envy, racism, frustration and (probably) suppressed sexual desire on the part of the racist officer.
Have I mentioned racism a sufficient number of times? How many persons treated in such a way in New Jersey are or have been minority persons, especially African-Americans? A majority? How often are similar "mistakes" made when arrested persons are whites from the affluent suburbs? Is there a pattern of discrimination in the Garden State giving equal protection issues raised by Mr. Florence a particular urgency?
I suggest that racial discrimination is not an issue the Supreme Court could or should avoid in this case. ("Manifesto for the Unfinished American Revolution" and "Decline in Respect for the United States Supreme Court" at Google Groups.)
I suggest also that the GOAL of the process to which this man and his family were subjected was to make Mr. Florence what the trooper needed him to be in order to confirm some ugly prejudices and make his own situation and limitations in life acceptable: a slave.
Race-based mistreatement leading to equal protection issues were at the center of this litigation. The justices failed to discharge their responsibilities in not addressing or resolving those issues that simply will not go away in America without judicial attention.
Justice Kennedy's opinion for the Court concluded, relying on "Bell v. Wolfish" -- "undoubted security implications involved in jail supervision override the assertion that some detainees must be exempt from the more invasive search procedures at issue absent reasonable suspicion of a concealed weapon or other contraband." ("The Wanderer and His Shadow.")
The dissent's greater concern for privacy, which is a fundamental right, and sound reasoning that "there is little empirical support for the idea that strip-searches detect contraband" that would not have been found otherwise is, mostly, also irrelevant to the crux of the issue presented in the case.
Mere "reasonableness" under the 4th Amendment -- the standard applied by the Court -- required deference, perhaps, to administrators' showing of some "reasonable basis" for the searches and other invasive procedures which were thus, tacitly, deemed "racially neutral" procedures.
These are not racially neutral procedures as they are applied in New Jersey jails. Who is sent to jail and for how long persons stay in jail before receiving bail is more often correlated with race, I am sure, than with the offense charged. ("So Black and So Blue in Prison" then "America's Holocaust.")
NONE of the justices mentioned the race of Mr. Florence, again, since the parties were described as abstractions, "appellant and appellee," as though they stood on equal footing, or in voluntary ignorance of four hundred years of history that alone makes what happened on the Tunrpike on the day of Mr. Florence's arrest comprehensible. ("Roberto Under's Revolutionary Legal Theory" and "Duncan Kennedy, Peter Gable, and the Critical Legal Studies Movement" then "The FBI Wants Assata Shakur" and "Justice For Mumia Abu-Jamal.")
Under the equal protection standard "strip-searches" applied, disproportionately, to African-American inmates or detainees -- including those ADMITTED to be falsely arrested -- will be deemed unconstitutional because they are racially discriminatory unless the strip search is "essential" to a "fundamental or important government purpose." (Tribe, pp. 1502-1505.)
Dishonesty and hypocrisy throughout the legal system about the crucial importance of race in all deliberations and police actions involving citizens of different races is unacceptable and dangerous. ("Abuse and Exploitation of Women in New Jersey" and "Not One More Victim." Gender as analogous to race so as to become a "suspect category"?)
Perhaps in the rarefied atmosphere of the United States Supreme Court the justices do not see what so many of us who have not attended Harvard, Yale, or Stanford see all too clearly -- Mr. Florence was tortured, detained, humiliated (like so many others) BECAUSE of his race and his refusal to behave like what he is not under the Constitution, a slave.
The pretense of color-blindness in this case and in much of our legal system is simply a lie. It is especially sad that Justice Thomas did not see this issue in the case.
Only in America am I denied access to my blogs on the very day that Mr. Obama calls on the nations of the world to refrain from allowing their security agencies, police, or government entities from censoring or suppressing the speech of dissidents on-line. ("Psychological Torture in the American Legal System" and "How censorship works in America.")
Mr. Florence was enslaved by a police officer whose actions must be disallowed under the equal protection and due process principles of America's Constitution. Mr. Florence is entitled to apologies from New Jersey officials and compensation for his ordeal.
Sources:
In the event that I am prohibitted from returning to this blog after this essay is posted, I have created two other locations where I TRY to post texts on-line: http://www.Google.com/groups and http://www.Typepad/JuanGM
I have been prevented from accessing both of those alternative locations. Nevertheless, I will continue to struggle to reach one of these sites, every day, in order to continue writing. I cannot send or receive emails. I cannot use or post images online. I have no cell phone.
"Albert Florence v. Board of Chosen Freeholders of the County of Burlington, et als.," 2012 U.S. Lexis 2712, __ U.S. __ (2012) (slip opinion).
"Florence v. Bd. of Chosen Freeholders of Burlington," 621 F.2d 296, 2012 U.S. Lexis 19548 (3rd Cir. N.J. 2012).
Mumia Abu-Jamal, "Live From Death Row" (New York: Harper Collins, 1980).
Lizette Alvarez & Michael Cooper, "Prosecutors File Charges of 2nd Degree Murder in Shooting of Trayvon Martin," in "The New York Times," April 12, 2012, at p. 1.
Angela Davis, "Are Prisons Obsolete?" (New York: Seven Stories, 2003).
Michel Foucault, "Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews & Other Writings 1972-1977" (New York: Pantheon, 1980) (Colin Gardner, Ed.).
Primo Levi, "Survival in Auschwitz" (New York: Collier, 1959).
Adam Liptak, "Justices Approve Strip Search Use for Any Arrest: Court is Divided 5-4," in "The New York Times," April 3, 2012, at p. A1.
Colin Moynahan, "Rape Suspect is Freed Long After a Woman Recants," in "The New York Times," April 19, 2012, at p. A23. (Prosecutors deliberately suppressed evidence of innocence and exculpation that resulted in prolongation of an African-American man's incarceration. "Larry Peterson Cleared by DNA.")
Brent Staples, "Young, Black, Male, and Shattered by Bias," (Op-Ed) in "The New York Times," April 15, 2012, at p. 11.
Laurence Tribe, "American Constitutional Law" (New York: Foundation Press, 1988).
No bold or italic script is available at blogger -- at least not for me -- and I am not certain of whether I will be able to create space between my paragraphs. Again, I will do my best.
I am sure that the Albert Florence matter and the circumstances under which I am forced to post these comments on the Internet are revealing of the realities of life in America in 2012 and (probably) beyond this year.
Compare "Perception" on TNT with "Magician's Choice" and "666 Park Avenue" the t.v. series with "Drawing Room Comedy: A Philosophical Essay in the Form of a Film Script" and the new ABC series ("Final Witness") featuring murder victims investigating their murders with "Out of the Past." Finally, please compare "What is it like to be plagiarized?" with "'Brideshead Revisited': A Movie Review."
Are the similarities between my previously published and copyrighted texts and these commercial works coincidental? I doubt it.
More than anger or fear my primary feelings are curiosity and anxiety about how these horrors could have become real or routine for writers in my society. I hope that readers from many countries as well as Americans appreciate the implications of this struggle by one so-called "insignificant person" -- an "inferior" individual (I am told) of the self-proclaimed political "bosses" in New Jersey -- for everyone's civil liberties.
To limit my freedom of expression is also to limit your right of access to speech. All sources used in writing this essay will be listed at the conclusion of the work. It may take a few days after posting the essay to provide further sources.
I.
The Albert florence decision by the U.S. Supreme Court clarified a number of evils and hypocrisies afflicting our legal system surrounding the fault line of race -- although not in ways that the Court may have intended.
As I read the Court's decision I was struck by the inability of ANY of the justices to discuss the obviously dominant issue in the case. I refer to the race of Mr. Florence and the discriminatory use of strip searches in jails as a means of humiliation that often has nothing to do with security and everything to do not only with racism but with suppressing dissent and dissenters.
First Amendment issues were not argued by counsel for Mr. Florence, to my knowledge, although it is undisputed that Mr. Florence expressed his opinions concerning the arresting officer's actions and their motivations which, clearly, had something to do with what transpired on the day in question.
Mr. Florence is African-American as revealed by his photograph that appeared in the "Times," if not as a fact mentioned in the article describing the Court's opinions. Not only is racial identity a significant fact, I am sure that it is the crucial and most revealing detail in the story that gave rise to litigation reaching the United States Supreme Court, where (along with cautious journalists covering the story) all nine justices were, I suggest, "wary" of the racial undertones in the matter.
The majority of the justices acknowledged that Mr. Florence raised 14th Amendment (due process, EQUAL PROTECTION) as well as 4th Amendment (mostly privacy, also due process) arguments before the justices in addition to offering the same arguments before the lower courts. The decisions of the various justices focused almost exclusively on privacy concerns weighed against the requirements of security in American jails (13 million persons per year are in jails) and prisons (2 to 4 million people are incarcerated on a close to permanent basis in this country).
The United States is the world's leader when it comes to imprisonment of its people.
By framing the legal discussion in such neutral terms the outcome was predetermined. None of the justices even mentioned the basis for the equal protection arguments in the lower courts nor alluded to the race of Mr. Florence, as compared with or in relation to the police officer's race, in the context of a territory with a history of racial strife. ("The FBI Wants Assata Shakur" and "Mumia Abu-Jamal and the Unconstitutionality of the Death Penalty.")
Of course the Court will defer to our federal and state institutions concerning "intrusiveness" with some hope for a "reasonable basis" for such searches when the only competing consideration is inmates' privacy. Inmates' privacy rights are not something that keeps federal judges up at night.
Minimal scrutiny is afforded to carceral administrative regulations and practices when there is SOME reasonable basis for administrative searches -- "reasonable basis" is something which most officers can fabricate, whether they exist or not, and so-called "within house proceedings" for inmates' complaints are seen by defendants-inmates as a joke. I agree. Access to federal courts for most inmates has been severely curtailed by a spate of recent federal decisions seeking to "discourage" or forestal inmate litigation.
The crux of the matter before the justices was not privacy versus security in jails and prisons, whether for those arrested on minor or major charges. The real issue -- which clearly could not be faced squarely by a divided Supreme Court -- is race and the legacy of slavery as a determining factor in how persons are treated by the state in all institutions, especially prisons and jails. ("Freedom for Mumia Abu-Jamal" and "Foucault, Rose, Davis and the Meanings of Prison.")
Analogies between the mehods used to demonize and humiliate slaves in American history -- or new inmates at Auschwitz -- were too obvious to be missed by these nine jurists whose intellects, we are told and believe, are formidable and who have attended Yale, Harvard, and Stanford Universities. To state the matter in terms that Justice Thomas may appreciate: Mr. Florence was subjected to a "low-tech lynching."
Two other items not mentioned in the Court's recitation of the facts have to do with the geographical and socio-economic "location" of Mr. Florence by comparison with the trooper who arrested and the jail guards who tortured him. These issues are significant to what happened and to the failure by the Supreme Court to resolve (or even address) tensions that will recur in jurisprudence and, worse, that may well lead to vilolence not only in prisons and jails, but also in society -- espcially in the streets of our cities.
You can see why New Jersey has attempted to prevent me from posting this essay. ("How censorship works in America.")
I remember a law professor and friend who made the radical suggestion that, sometimes, cases are actually decided based on their facts. A decisive fact in this case is the cultural and racial divide between the falsely arrested citizen and the white police officer who detained him, probably knowing that he was arresting a man falsely. ("Psychological Torture in the American Legal System" and "America's Holocaust" then "So Black and So Blue in Prison.")
The significance of the procedural posture of the case has not been sufficiently appreciated by comentators on the opinion. The matter reached the Court as an appeal from a summary judgment determination in favor of Mr. Florence at the District Court level.
I begin by returning to the facts in a more detailed manner because, as some of the justices seem to have forgotten, there are no factual issues after a summary judgment determination. All facts are granted and judgment is given to a party on the pleadings pursuant to a motion. Hence, the facts were, basically, as asserted by Mr. Florence and ACCEPTED by the state of New Jersey.
Furthermore, there was no second guessing of the summary judgment determination at any level in the subsequent proceedings in this matter, including the arguments before the Supreme Court. Again: equal protection, due process, and free speech issues that I am sure were in the pleadings were ignored or not seen by the justices -- who expressly acknowledged briefing by counsel of "4th and 14th Amendment principles."
After revisiting the admitted facts I turn to the applicable law including the Constitutional principles at issue. I next analyze the facts in light of the law offering a suggested resolution by way of response and as a statement of my opinion.
Regrettably, harassment makes posting this essay difficult, but I will try to complete the work while I am still able to access blogger's dashboard. Writing under these conditions is designed not simply to alter or undermine my argument, but to injure me. I believe that this effort to injure me comes from New Jersey and is intended to prevent or obstruct future writings by me. Perhaps I am experiencing something very similar to what Mr. Florence experienced and for the same reasons. ("What is it like to be tortured?" and "New Jersey's 'Ethical' Legal System.")
II.
Albert Florence was a PASSENGER in a vehicle driven by his wife which was validly registered as well as insured in the state of New Jersey. The sticker for inspection was placed in the legally required position and was valid on the day when the stop took place. In all external appearances the vehicle was fully in compliance with the law.
None of the recitations of facts in this matter -- including the basis for its decision provided by the U.S. Supreme Court -- contains the rational foundation or any in-depth discussion of the alleged "probable cause" for the vehicular stop and questioning of all of the persons in the Florence family car or SUV.
No officer could merely by observing a vehicle decide that an occupant or passenger of the vehicle had an outstanding warrant for any cause. No summons for speeding was actually issued on the day in question nor is it alleged today that the Florence family was speeding. ("Racism and Brutality on New Jersey Highways" then "Driving While Black [DWB] in New Jersey" and "Give Us Free!")
Mr. and Mrs. Florence were accompanied by their child (or children, since accounts differ over the number of children). The child, or children, and all other motorists were witnesses to the treatment of Mr. Florence, as if he were a felon, and questioning of both parents at the side of the road.
I am sure that Mr. Florence, appropriately, expressed an understandable sense of outrage at such treatment, produced the necessary receipt which indicated ENTRY of payment for the disputed fine in the computer system, and (very likely) his perceived sense of being insulted or mistreated for his race.
The potential psychological harm to any child from witnessing this event, abuse of a parent by a legal official or cop, may be life-long and severe. ("An Unpleasant Encounter With New Jersey's State Police" then "America's Holocaust.")
"A records search revealed an outstanding warrant [allegedly, only against Mr. Florence, although the entire family was kept at the scene for hours,] based on an unpaid fine." ("The New York Times," p. A3.)
The fine was not only paid, but was (again) shown to have been paid at the scene by Mr. Florence -- who also indicated, unknowingly, that the fine's payment must have been entered in the system at the time of payment since it is the only way he would have been given the receipt in his possession and produced for the officer.
It may be that someone -- after receipt of payment and Mr. Florence's arrest -- deleted the entry of payment (who would do such a thing?), but there is little doubt that the payment was made and entered in the necessary computers at the time when the money was accepted by state officials.
Any representation to the contrary by counsel for New Jersey or the police officer and/or trooper involved in the incident is at best erroneous or (worse) lies. I believe that the officer at the scene was aware that Mr. Florence had paid the fine and that there was no open charge against this man on the date of the incident that provides the ostensible basis for this litigation. ("New Jersey's KKK Police Scandal" and "Organized Crime Group in New Jersey's State Police.")
I am also sure that state police or Office of Attorney Ethics (OAE) officials are behind the censorship, alterations of my writings, and current criminal denials against me of access to some of my writings and sites as well as the truth concerning the tortures to which I was subjected in New Jersey. ("What is it like to be tortured?" and "Terry Tuchin, Diana Lisa Riccioli, and New Jersey's Agency of Torture" then "Jennifer Velez is a Dyke Magnet!")
Perhaps this criminal censorship has been accomplished with the assistance of members of the Cuban-American community at the request of Senator Menendez and/or others. (Again: "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.")
Mr. Florence was subjected to two strip searches, held in jail for about one week, humiliated, insulted, offended, both in the presence of his family on the Turnpike and while in jail. He might easily have been beaten for "resisting" arrest or to teach him a "lesson about obedience to authority."
Mr. Florence was guilty of being better-educated and dressing well, being better-looking and more intelligent than the blue-collar trooper who detained him. Mr. Florence was guilty of being a proud, concerned African-American father, husband, and man. I am guilty of speaking the truth about this matter to New Jersey's legal establishment and the world. ("What is it like to be censored in America?" and "How censorship works in America.")
Significantly, Mr. Macri -- a N.J. lawyer and prosecutor involved in alleged money laundering and associated by the authorities with a $50,000 per year marijuana ring and despite allegations of organized crime involvement by Mr. Macri -- was not subjected to "delousing," or strip-searched, and was bailed-out within 24 hours of his arrest. There appears to be no rational basis for the difference in treatment as regards Mr. Macri by comparison with Mr. Florence, but for the fact that one of these persons is an African-American man. ("Justice for Mumia Abu-Jamal.")
Justice Clarence Thomas in his concurring opinion mentions an "allegation" that Mr. Florence at some point in his life "fled from the police." However, there was no such open charge that was part of the record, either on the date in question or thereafter. Justice Thomas' statement, if accurate, is irrelevant to the matter before the Court and is made meaningless by the summary judgment previously granted and unchallenged in the case.
Justice Thomas must have been aware of this irrelevance and may have sought to "darken" the reputation of Mr. Florence in order to legitimate a result that he knew many Americans would, otherwise, find offensive and unwarranted. Maybe if Mr. Florence was not such a nice person the violations of his rights would appear less heinous. Sadly, whether Mr. Florence is a "nice guy" is also irrelevant to the matter before the Court.
The Supreme Court of the United States of America does not, normally, and did not in this case engage in fact-finding. The justices should not assume facts that are not in the record when rendering a decision. ("What is Law?" and "Manifesto For the Unfinished American Revolution.")
Warrants are sometimes issued automatically in N.J. Municipal Courts when summonses are not heard on their first scheduled dates, even if dates are postponed, legally, as they usually are at least once. It is undisputed that all legal matters pertaining to Mr. Florence were resolved prior to and on the date at issue.
Warrants are automatically recalled when fines are paid and matters are concluded. This fact provides yet another reason to infer that the officer(s) and jail guards were aware that Mr. Florence had paid the fine in question. The arrest, strip searches, and incarceration for one week at two facilities were a deliberate humiliation of an "uppity" individual, a "man's man" (Mr. Florence's term), by an envious and (I believe) RACIST cop who can only be described as a sadist.
New Jersey's state police has been subjected to monitoring by federal authorities on several occasions because of racial profiling, cruelty, bigotry, and incompetence -- especially as regards minorities, notably all African-Americans. ("Driving While Black [DWB] in New Jersey.")
Mr. Florence's fate might have been the experience of Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, and their lovely daughters, Sasha and Malia, if they were travelling on the New Jersey Turnpike prior to Mr. Obama's entry into political life.
This is the same state police force and roads involved in the Assata Shakur incident and close to Mumia Abu-Jamal's Philadelphia. Many other similar incidents of harassment on state highways have been alleged against the N.J. state police.
III.
None of the justices, I am sure, have entered a Municipal or Superior Court in New Jersey, as litigants, nor are they familiar with the computer systems used by such courts and New Jersey's state troopers.
I have some familiarity with such matters. In my opinion, the attorneys for New Jersey, who must have known better, LIED to the Court -- or "mischaracterized" the facts -- as Senator Menendez would say. ("Senator Bob, the Babe, and the Big Bucks" and "Does Senator Menendez have mafia friends?")
The claim that the arrest of Mr. Florence was a "mistake," was false -- probably a deliberate falsehood -- but the detention of Mr. Florence for a week suggests a level of malice in these actions that is explicable only in terms of voluntariness and racism. Any error by the officer or in the system would have been detected much sooner by administrators at either of the facilities at which Mr. Florence was held.
Accordingly, the strip search and "delousing" of Mr. Florence can only be understood -- along with the arrest -- as the result of envy, racism, frustration and (probably) suppressed sexual desire on the part of the racist officer.
Have I mentioned racism a sufficient number of times? How many persons treated in such a way in New Jersey are or have been minority persons, especially African-Americans? A majority? How often are similar "mistakes" made when arrested persons are whites from the affluent suburbs? Is there a pattern of discrimination in the Garden State giving equal protection issues raised by Mr. Florence a particular urgency?
I suggest that racial discrimination is not an issue the Supreme Court could or should avoid in this case. ("Manifesto for the Unfinished American Revolution" and "Decline in Respect for the United States Supreme Court" at Google Groups.)
I suggest also that the GOAL of the process to which this man and his family were subjected was to make Mr. Florence what the trooper needed him to be in order to confirm some ugly prejudices and make his own situation and limitations in life acceptable: a slave.
Race-based mistreatement leading to equal protection issues were at the center of this litigation. The justices failed to discharge their responsibilities in not addressing or resolving those issues that simply will not go away in America without judicial attention.
Justice Kennedy's opinion for the Court concluded, relying on "Bell v. Wolfish" -- "undoubted security implications involved in jail supervision override the assertion that some detainees must be exempt from the more invasive search procedures at issue absent reasonable suspicion of a concealed weapon or other contraband." ("The Wanderer and His Shadow.")
The dissent's greater concern for privacy, which is a fundamental right, and sound reasoning that "there is little empirical support for the idea that strip-searches detect contraband" that would not have been found otherwise is, mostly, also irrelevant to the crux of the issue presented in the case.
Mere "reasonableness" under the 4th Amendment -- the standard applied by the Court -- required deference, perhaps, to administrators' showing of some "reasonable basis" for the searches and other invasive procedures which were thus, tacitly, deemed "racially neutral" procedures.
These are not racially neutral procedures as they are applied in New Jersey jails. Who is sent to jail and for how long persons stay in jail before receiving bail is more often correlated with race, I am sure, than with the offense charged. ("So Black and So Blue in Prison" then "America's Holocaust.")
NONE of the justices mentioned the race of Mr. Florence, again, since the parties were described as abstractions, "appellant and appellee," as though they stood on equal footing, or in voluntary ignorance of four hundred years of history that alone makes what happened on the Tunrpike on the day of Mr. Florence's arrest comprehensible. ("Roberto Under's Revolutionary Legal Theory" and "Duncan Kennedy, Peter Gable, and the Critical Legal Studies Movement" then "The FBI Wants Assata Shakur" and "Justice For Mumia Abu-Jamal.")
Under the equal protection standard "strip-searches" applied, disproportionately, to African-American inmates or detainees -- including those ADMITTED to be falsely arrested -- will be deemed unconstitutional because they are racially discriminatory unless the strip search is "essential" to a "fundamental or important government purpose." (Tribe, pp. 1502-1505.)
Dishonesty and hypocrisy throughout the legal system about the crucial importance of race in all deliberations and police actions involving citizens of different races is unacceptable and dangerous. ("Abuse and Exploitation of Women in New Jersey" and "Not One More Victim." Gender as analogous to race so as to become a "suspect category"?)
Perhaps in the rarefied atmosphere of the United States Supreme Court the justices do not see what so many of us who have not attended Harvard, Yale, or Stanford see all too clearly -- Mr. Florence was tortured, detained, humiliated (like so many others) BECAUSE of his race and his refusal to behave like what he is not under the Constitution, a slave.
The pretense of color-blindness in this case and in much of our legal system is simply a lie. It is especially sad that Justice Thomas did not see this issue in the case.
Only in America am I denied access to my blogs on the very day that Mr. Obama calls on the nations of the world to refrain from allowing their security agencies, police, or government entities from censoring or suppressing the speech of dissidents on-line. ("Psychological Torture in the American Legal System" and "How censorship works in America.")
Mr. Florence was enslaved by a police officer whose actions must be disallowed under the equal protection and due process principles of America's Constitution. Mr. Florence is entitled to apologies from New Jersey officials and compensation for his ordeal.
Sources:
In the event that I am prohibitted from returning to this blog after this essay is posted, I have created two other locations where I TRY to post texts on-line: http://www.Google.com/groups and http://www.Typepad/JuanGM
I have been prevented from accessing both of those alternative locations. Nevertheless, I will continue to struggle to reach one of these sites, every day, in order to continue writing. I cannot send or receive emails. I cannot use or post images online. I have no cell phone.
"Albert Florence v. Board of Chosen Freeholders of the County of Burlington, et als.," 2012 U.S. Lexis 2712, __ U.S. __ (2012) (slip opinion).
"Florence v. Bd. of Chosen Freeholders of Burlington," 621 F.2d 296, 2012 U.S. Lexis 19548 (3rd Cir. N.J. 2012).
Mumia Abu-Jamal, "Live From Death Row" (New York: Harper Collins, 1980).
Lizette Alvarez & Michael Cooper, "Prosecutors File Charges of 2nd Degree Murder in Shooting of Trayvon Martin," in "The New York Times," April 12, 2012, at p. 1.
Angela Davis, "Are Prisons Obsolete?" (New York: Seven Stories, 2003).
Michel Foucault, "Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews & Other Writings 1972-1977" (New York: Pantheon, 1980) (Colin Gardner, Ed.).
Primo Levi, "Survival in Auschwitz" (New York: Collier, 1959).
Adam Liptak, "Justices Approve Strip Search Use for Any Arrest: Court is Divided 5-4," in "The New York Times," April 3, 2012, at p. A1.
Colin Moynahan, "Rape Suspect is Freed Long After a Woman Recants," in "The New York Times," April 19, 2012, at p. A23. (Prosecutors deliberately suppressed evidence of innocence and exculpation that resulted in prolongation of an African-American man's incarceration. "Larry Peterson Cleared by DNA.")
Brent Staples, "Young, Black, Male, and Shattered by Bias," (Op-Ed) in "The New York Times," April 15, 2012, at p. 11.
Laurence Tribe, "American Constitutional Law" (New York: Foundation Press, 1988).
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