Is America's Legal Ethics a Lie?

March 1, 2010 at 9:23 A.M. As I was writing this essay, hackers altered the spacing between paragraphs and obstructed efforts to post the work. Interference with telephone calls, interruption of my t.v. signal, and much worse must be expected as part of the continuing cyberwar against me and my family members. The spacing between paragraphs in this text may be altered, once more, at any time.

"The Torture Lawyers," (Editorial) in The New York Times, February 25, 2010, at p. A32.
Eric Lichtblau, "More E-Mails on Torture Are Missing," in The New York Times, February 27, 2010, at p. A11.
Anahad O'Connor, "Rabbi Is Charged With Trying to Extort $4 MILLION From a Hedge Fund," in The New York Times, February 19, 2010, at p. A19. ("44 New Jersey Political and legal Officials Arrested" and "Another Corruption Sweep in New Jersey.")
"If the Lawyer Fails," (Editorial) in The New York Times, March 1, 2010, at p. A26. (Questionable legal judgment is grounds for sanctions for non-Republican insiders.)
Leonard S. Rubenstein & Stephen N. Xenakis, "Doctors Without Morals," in The New York Times, March 1, 2010, at p. A27. (Physicians, often without credentials like Terry Tuchin, allegedly, assist in torturing and maybe even murdering "detainees" and, no doubt, others in American custody, especially Muslims.)

"Is this really the state of ethics in the American legal profession? Government lawyers who abused their offices to give the president license to get away with torture did nothing that merits a review by the bar?"

These criminal and unethical actions by men who will forever be known as the "torture lawyers" have produced deaths, horrible and permanently disfiguring injuries to many victims, even family members have been affected. However, the lawyers responsible for such evils and the psychologists who have assisted in the rape and torture of men charged with no crimes are unconcerned about professional sanctions or criminal charges. ("Psychological Torture in the American Legal System.")

Professional "ethics" determinations or sanctions are reserved for minority attorneys who are outside the club or who refuse to do "favors" for the powerful. This decision to exonerate the "torture lawyers" is yet more evidence of the tumor of corruption and incompetence devouring a legal system in a society seemingly incapable of reversing its steep decline. Let us hope that Mr. Obama can improve things or that he has the will to resist the slide into mediocrity -- or worse.

New Jersey, for example, will protect alleged racist and viciously cruel so-called "therapists" and government functionaries at the beck and call of politicians, functionaries with their hands out for a "tip," usually. Ideally, these functionaries can be found among members of minority groups willing to serve as boot lickers for the powerful. ("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.")

"A five-year inquiry by the Justice Department's ethics watchdogs [irony?] recommended a disciplinary review for the two lawyers who produced the infamous torture memos for former President George W. Bush, but they were over-ruled by a more senior Justice Department official." [Mr. Margolis]

It is not clear whether New Jersey's Deborah T. Poritz was protected by Stuart Rabner or Anne Milgram from any inquiry into "gross incompetence" and "breaches of the canons of judicial ethics in New Jersey" resulting in the ordeal chronicled in these blog entries for many victims. It is also "unconfirmed" whether all three of these officials worship at the same Temple. Nothing surprises me. ("Deborah T. Poritz and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey.")

None of these persons have made public any "relationship" with Terry Tuchin, for example, or with "Mr. Margolis" at the U.S. Justice Department. I would not be shocked if such relationships exist. No doubt all of these officials are very cozy at the moment, feeling safe and untroubled about the effects of their actions on the lives of others. ("New Jersey's 'Ethical' Legal System" and "Law and Ethics in the Soprano State.")

Perhaps I will hear soon from Mr. Christie who described New Jersey's legal system and/or politics, accurately, as a "culture of corruption." Has Mr. Christie's reformer's zeal collided with his political ambitions? ("Chris Christie Leads a People's Revolution in Trenton, New Jersey.")

"The original investigation found that the lawyers, John Yoo and Jay Bybee, had committed 'professional misconduct' in a series of memos starting in August 2002. First, they defined torture so narrowly as to make it almost impossible to accuse a jailer of torturing a prisoner, and they finally concluded that President Bush was free to ignore any law on the conduct of war."

"The Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility" -- N.J.'s OAE is worse -- "said appropriate bar associations should be asked to look at the actions of Mr. Yoo, who teaches at the University of California, Berkeley, [legal ethics is Mr. Yoo's specialty!] and Mr. Bybee, who was rewarded for his political loyalty with a lifetime appointment to the federal bench. It was a credible accounting, especially since some former officials, like Attorney General John Ashcroft, refused to cooperate and e-mails from Mr. Yoo were mysteriously missing." (emphasis added)

The "refusal to cooperate" (according to the OAE) should result in disbarment. Mr. Ashcroft is not facing ethics charges of any kind for his refusal to cooperate -- a refusal which would be appropriate whenever he is asked by so-called "legal ethics" officials, anywhere, to assist in a criminal conspiracy to violate his own rights, or the rights of others, and/or to assist in the preparation of a case against himself. Besides, "cooperation" could make a "target" a co-conspirator exposed to criminal liability in the scams pulled by New Jersey's OAE, for example, scams which are usually followed by a cover-up. ("New Jersey's Office of Attorney Ethics" and "Legal Ethics in 2009.")

Missing e-mails could be legitimate, if they were unrelated to these matters, or illegitimate if they contain evidence of crimes that Mr. Yoo has sought to conceal. Given recent events, it seems clear that Mr. Yoo had no need to conceal anything because whatever he did would be protected by political forces unwilling to let the full scope of Bush/Cheney criminality be exposed to public scrutiny. Right, Senator Bob? ("Is Senator Menendez a Suspect in Mafia-Political Murder in New Jersey?" and "Does Senator Menendez Have Mafia Friends?")

Senator Menendez is a member of the bar in New Jersey who is not, to the best of my knowledge, facing an ethics inquiry. ("Senator Bob Struggles to Find His Conscience" and "Senator Bob, the Babe, and the Big Bucks.")

This level of hypocrisy and double standards makes New Jersey's legal ethics system a joke, or a political weapon used against radical attorneys and a means of suppressing dissident speech. Mr. Rabner, you are not fooling anyone with this so-called "concern for legal ethics." ("Stuart Rabner and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey.")

"But the more senior official, David Margolis, decided that Mr. Yoo and Mr. Bybee only had shown 'poor judgment' and should not be disciplined. [How's it going John?] Mr. Margolis did not dispute that Mr. Yoo and Mr. Bybee mangled legal reasoning and produced work that ultimately was repudiated by the Bush administration itself. He criticized the professional responsibility office's investigation on prodedural grounds and excused Mr. Yoo and Mr. Bybee by noting that everyone was frightened after Sept. 11, 2001, and that they were in a hurry."

"Americans were indeed frightened after Sept. 11, and the Bush administration was in a great rush to TORTURE prisoners. Responsible lawyers would have responded with extra vigiliance, especially if, like Mr. Yoo and Mr. Bybee, they worked in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel. When that office renders an opinion, it has the force of law within the executive branch. Poor judgment is an absurdly dismissive way to describe giving the green light to policies that have badly soiled America's reputation and made it less safe." ("New Jersey's Feces-Covered Supreme Court" and "New Jersey's Legal System is a Whore House.")

There are dozens of essays in which my opposition to antisemitism and struggles against bigots have been made plain. New Jersey officials are accustomed to distraction and name-calling as tactics of evasion and avoidance. Hence, I expect the "mud-flinging" against me. Many of my writings will be defaced over the next few days. I am not now nor have I ever been an antisemite. However, I am anti-torture and anti-cover-up. ("Terry Tuchin, Diana Lisa Riccioli, and New Jersey's Agency of Torture" and "New Jersey's 'Ethical' Legal System," then "Corrupt Law Firms, Senator Bob, and New Jersey Ethics.")

"As the dealings outlined in the original report underscore, the lawyers did not offer what most people think of as 'legal advice.' Mr. Yoo and Mr. Bybee were not acting as fair-minded analysts of the law but as facilitators of a scheme to evade it. [OAE?] The White House decision to brutalize detainees already had been made. Mr. Yoo and Mr. Bybee" -- Alberto Gonzales, Jim Haynes, many other "unindicted co-conspirators" like Richard M. Nixon (disbarred attorney) in the Watergate Scandal -- "provided legal cover."

" ... Representative John Conyers Jr. and Senator Patrick Leahy, committed to holding hearings after the release of the Justice Department documents."

The hearings are designed to allow politicians to get on c-span. Nothing will happen.

"The attorney general, Eric E. Holder Jr., should expand the investigation into 'rogue' interrogators to include officials responsible for facilitating torture. While he is at it, Mr. Holder should assign someone to look into the disappearance of Mr. Yoo's e-mails."

"The American Bar Association should decide whether its rules are adequate for deterring and punishing ethical failures by government lawyers."

"The quest for real accountability must continue. The alternative is to leave torture open as a policy option for future administrations."

This is to ensure that "torture" will also become a "policy option" for America's enemies. ("Tortured American on Video by Taliban" and "More Torture of American Soldier by Taliban.")

Facts continue to emerge suggesting a greater degree of complicity and deliberation than was previously expected or believed possible by these tainted lawyers:

"Large batches of e-mail records from the Justice Department lawyers who worked on the 2002 legal opinions justifying the Bush administration techniques are missing, and the Justice Department told law-makers Friday that it would try to trace the disappearance."

Obstruction of justice? Like unilaterally altering the transcript of a hearing or ex parte chats with an arbitrator or decision maker, both of which are unethical actions that were committed against me by OAE lawyers. These lawyers were not sanctioned for their despicable behavior. To my knowledge, no sanctions will be imposed against these crooked OAE officials, at any time, officials who are probably in the "service" of N.J. politicians and/or "influential outsiders." ("George E. Norcross, III is the Boss of New Jersey's Legal System" and "Mafia Influence in New Jersey Courts and Politics.")

The emergence of Republican "strategies" for soliciting donations reveal the utterly cynical attitudes of both parties to obtaining donations from the "fools" among the faithful. (You and me.) These strategies are often the work of Washington lawyers.

The Bush torture lawyers' unethical conduct has produced torture and murder of detainees as well as payback tortures of American service men and (soon) it is likely that civilians within America will be subjected to similar horrors without any penalties being imposed against these men drafting "torture memos." Mr. Yoo is publishing a book which has not been censored, suppressed, defaced or otherwise altered as my writings have been subjected to all of these illegal tactics by New Jersey ON A DAILY BASIS. ("How Censorship Works in America.") Mr. Bybee may be a candidate for the U.S. Supreme Court some day. ("Richard A. Posner on Voluntary Actions and Criminal Responsibility.")

" ... many e-mail messages to and from John C. Yoo, who wrote the bulk of the legal opinions for the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, were missing. [Perhaps they will be found at the Xanadu mall in New Jersey?] The office disclosed the missing messages in a footnote to its final report, which was released last week."

Any carrier pigeons used by these men to exchange messages may have been killed. Training in the use of hand signals is available from Mexican street gangs at a discounted rate for attorneys in Los Angeles and New York, also Washington, D.C. After all, hand signals cannot be "seized" by Senate investigators. ("Mafia and Street Gang Alliance Disrupted in New Jersey.")

"Also deleted were a month's worth of e-mail files from the summer of 2002 for Patrick Philbin, another Justice Department lawyer who worked on the interrogation opinions. Those missing e-mail messages came during a period when two of the critical interrogation memos were being prepared." (emphasis added)

Use of the word "deleted" suggests an intent to avoid disclosure that is most worrisome. These actions are just fine, of course, if you are a shyster connected to the Republican establishment, no matter how many people suffer and die from such a "lack of judgment." Distractions about concern with civil negligence produced by torture techniques intended to bring about much worse conduct will "distract and deceive" nobody, outside of Trenton's OAE or the office of Mr. Margolis. One does not allow Mengele-like persons to impose guilt for one's actions while escaping responsibility for their own monstrous evil.

If men whose legal incompetence or corruption produces suffering on a mass scale and the deaths of "little brown people" are not subject to ethics sanctions (while "non-team players" are penalized), then America's legal ethics is a lie. You decide. ("Maurice J. Gallipoli and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey.")

You will not succeed in making my advocacy of an end to America's legally rationalized torture as well as opposition to N.J.'s mafia-controlled legal system about me and whether I blew my nose with my left hand. This little situation in New Jersey is about state crimes against humanity and a massive cover-up. Each day that the cover-up continues is a renewal of the tortures, Mr. Rabner. ("Law and Ethics in the Soprano State" and "New Jersey's 'Ethical' Legal System.")

Spacing has been affected several times in this essay. We can expect more of the same during the next few days. A wave of defacements overnight on March 10, 2010 has resulted in the disfigurement of numerous essays. I will struggle over the next few days to make the necessary corrections. This level of public cybercrime and censorship is only possible with the cooperation of governmental authorities in New Jersey. Union City municipal computers may be involved in this operation.

I will say this again for the benefit of slow learners: Forced association with persons cooperating with my enemies by informing against me will be deeply harmful to those persons and will have no effect on my feelings. Time for more "error" insertions?

" ... [Senator] Leahy said the disappearance of the e-mail messages raises 'serious concerns about government transparency and whether the Office of Professional Responsibility had access to all the information relevant to the inquiries.' ... "

Distressing expressions of concern for America's visible moral decline continue to be heard in the corridors of power in Washington, D.C. and all over the world. What happened to America? What has this nation become? Is America's Constitution a lie?