Behind Every Great Fortune, There Lies A Great Crime

One of my college professors passed that line along to us. If I were unemployed, in Greenland, I'd do a post (or series) on the crimes behind the fortunes (trust me, there is no shortage of examples). Via Balloon Juice, here is yet another example. Sure sure, innocent until proven guilty. But I find it extremely unlikely that charges would have been filed if there wasn't solid evidence. This kind of case is not like the cops arresting the nearest black guy that someone ID'd from 100 yards away in low light.There is almost certainly a very solid paper trail, if not witnesses willing to testify in excruciating detail about the fraud.

Case Study In Judicial Bias [Fixed]

Glenn Greenwald discusses Dennis G. Jacobs, the Chief Judge of the Second Circuit. As Greenwald notes, you will search long and hard before you find an opinion written in such nakedly activist, partisan terms. Jacobs, a George Bush Sr. appointee, embodies the very worst in judicial temperament, a man who is so consumed by his own ideological view of the world that he actually resorted to personally attacking the motives of the lawyers who took the case for the plaintiff.

Judges cannot, as human beings, put aside their views of the world and be the kind of judge now Chief Justice John Roberts laughably claimed he would be, that is, one who "calls balls and strikes." But to abandon any trappings of fairness in so naked a way as Jacobs does in the linked post is really astonishing, and something that should cause anyone who believes in equality in under the law deep concern.

Link below the fold.

Galtian Supermen, Job Ceators...

or, shameless, wanton criminals. I re-post, you decide. I had a discussion with someone last week regarding the prevalence of immoral, unethical behavior among the "successful" in our society. The Koch brothers (and thier band of merry thieves) are Exhibit "A," and I think I can rest my case. These folks commit crimes on a vast scale, undermining the rule of law, and making a fortune at it. Meanwhile, a young, unemployed man is doing time along with murderers because that young man sold cannabis.

Libertarianism

While this post by PZ Myers is itself worth reading, the comments section has an excellent discussion of Libertarianism, which, for those of you who don't know, is what well-off white people want, that is, Republicans who want to smoke pot and buy hookers. I really, really, dislike Libertarianism. Not everything it leads to or stands for, but its essence. It is just so inhuman, and amazingly unrealistic. The comments in the linked post do a good job of exposing the buffoonery, but also showing some of the redeeming features of Libertarianism.

Seriously, His Name Is Weiner

My two cents on the Weiner thing.

Chris Dodd: Liar (Part One Of WINAD)

[via Balloon Juice]

Dodd promised that he wouldn't become a lobbyist after he left the Senate. Did he keep his word? Not so much. 

Senators might just be the biggest bunch of scumbags in America.

By the way, "WINAD" is short for "Why I'm Not A Democrat."

Judicial Integrity

I find this unacceptable. As a lawyer, I am militant about judicial ethics. I believe that a judge or justice is entitled to hold whatever personal political convictions they want. I also believe that when the wife of a Supreme Court justice has a financial interest in certain outcomes, this creates, at a minimum, the appearance of a conflict of interest. And the law agrees with me.

Appearances matter. Especially after the partisan tragedy of Bush v. Gore*, I think it is essential that our judges do everything they can to minimize the appearance of political favoritism. Thomas' actions (or in this case, omissions) are not only questionable, but his excuse strains credulity. When the wife of a Supreme Court Justice has deep financial ties to right-wing advocacy organizations, I think we have a problem.

* - Lawyers, Guns & Money has several excellent posts, including this one, about how this was an abomination.