Stealing From the Poor to Give to the Rich in New Jersey.

"I have reason to believe" (my favorite phrase) that the number of readers of my book and this blog are not reported accurately. What happened to Lourdes the Lawyer? The real numbers may be about three times more than what is being shown. This has been true for some time. Whatever the real number may be, I am grateful for anyone's time and attention. I urge you to struggle against the forces identified in these posts and to share your opinions with readers searching for like-minded friends. You are not alone. Do not be discouraged by attempts to deny you a forum or an audience for what you feel compelled to say. Such censorship efforts are the best proof that you are having an effect on the powers that be. Speak out.

I regret to inform one and all that I do not have a criminal record. The people who accuse me of being "unethical" are more unethical than I am, which is very disappointing. I will try harder in the future. "Restoring me" to active membership in the bar (horrors!) or offering me money will not alter what or how I express my opinions on any subject whatsoever. Got it?


Jeanette Rundquist, "Teacher Contracts Feel the Recession: Talks Stall as Pay, Benefits Squeezed," in The Star Ledger, September 8, 2009, at p. 13.
David Kocieniewski, "Trenton: Audit Says School Overbilled," in The New York Times, July 25, 2006, at p. B6.

"The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey overbilled state and federal charity care programs, according to a federal audit released yesterday. The audit, issued by the federal Department of Health and Human Services, found that the school received $171 million in excess reimbursements from a joint federal [and] state program that helps hospitals serving a disproportionate number of low income patients. The audit recommends that New Jersey repay $85.6 million."

Where did the money go? Does this situation have anything to do with new pools and kitchens, or fancy cars, acquired by so many distinguished state public servants? The whereabouts of this loot is what is known in "X-Files" episodes as a "mystery." Maybe aliens got the money.

New Jersey will have to "cough up," as it were, $85.6 million guacamoles that it does not have, even as it engages in an expensive investigation of the worrisome incident concerning Attorney General Zulima Farber's decision to appear at a friend's side when he was stopped by traffic cops. I wonder how much the torture sessions from 1988 to 2008 and daily cybercrimes against me have cost New Jersey? 2009 is more of the same.

The A.G.'s friend was not issued tickets by any police department on that occasion. Neither was Ms. Farber, who wore her seatbelt, so we can all breathe a sigh of relief. It appears that she has not been intimidated by calls for her resignation. Instead, Ms. Farber has engaged in a statewide roundup of gang leaders and made other high profile arrests. She needed several buses to haul in the hoodlum "catch of the day." Amazing that these crooks were never captured in previous (or subsequent) administrations. I wonder why? Maybe that's why Ms. Farber will be made to resign eventually.

Jersey politicians putting in a new pool in their backyards -- possibly with your tax dollars -- are deeply worried about Farber's ethics or other people's moral lapses, never their own ethical flaws. Reimbursal by New Jersey will also be made with your tax dollars, if you are unfortunate enough to reside in "cancer alley." This amounts to a double theft of public funds. Overbilling took place, now reimbursal of that overbilled amount is a second "dip" into the public treasury.

"Stating bluntly that 'if we were a business, we'd be bankrupt,' Governor Jon S. Corzine on Friday offered New Jersey legislators a blueprint of changes intended to improve the state's fiscal habits, and challenged them to come up with a permanent solution to reduce property taxes." David W. Chen, "Corzine Offers His Ideas About Fixing New Jersey," in The New York Times, July 29, 2006, at p. B5. (Lots of luck!)

It appears that Corzine is concerned to eliminate as many opportunities for graft as possible in future budgets by selling state assets. One measure of how much politicians despise each other, is how nice they are to one another in their public comments. By this standard, it appears that Corzine and Assembly Speaker Roberts -- together with any backstage "Svengali" associated with Roberts -- detest each other.

New Jersey has the highest property taxes in the nation, nearly twice the national average. The state "tax burden ... now averages about $5,826.00 a year for each property." Richard G. Jones, "New Jersey Law Makers Tackle Rising Property Taxes," in The New York Times, July 28, 2006, at p. B1.

Despite these revenues, theft and corruption has brought the state to the edge of bankruptcy. Shifting the tax burden from property taxes to sales and other "revenue enhacement" measures is not going to fool anybody. I think theft and waste of public funds by politicians and judges in New Jersey is "unethical." Don't you?

The people being hurt most by this stealing or waste of public funds are the poor and sick, whose desperate need for services is sacrificed to an insatiable greed of crooks in public office and their friends, sometimes wearing judicial robes. Your best hope -- if you are litigating a case in New Jersey -- is that you'll get a judge who, even if he or she is not too bright, will at least be relatively honest. You better hope that your adversary is not a local political leech, so that you will have some chance to have your case examined on the merits.

Perhaps a fact-finding mission to Las Vegas by Garden State politicians and judges, requiring numerous consultations with "Showgirls" -- both blondes and brunettes, so as to benefit from "all points of view" -- will lead to greater awareness by New Jersey's politicians of the "issues" in this sensitive area of public policy. Debbie is up for that trip to Vegas. I now move to have the following comments entered into the official record:

New Jersey continues to be the most inept and fraudulent jurisdiction in the United States. A politics of secrecy and corruption characterizes many of the operations of government, especially in state courts. Appointments to important positions and judgeships are often rewards for services rendered to political clubhouses by loyal soldiers. "Business as usual" in New Jersey is a disgrace to the United States Constitution. (See "Is New Jersey Chief Justice Deborah T. Poritz unethical or only incompetent?")

Despite laws that punish pollution severely, the state is a cesspool of pollution as well as moral corruption, where cancer is exploding in a population unaware of the real causes of their sufferings. Two of the power plants ranked highest in the nation in venomous emissions are found in the vicinity of the Garden State Parkway. Anthony DePalma, "Power Plants Ranked High on Pollution List," in The New York Times, July 28, 2006, at p. B6.

"... the Valero refinery [in New Jersey] was fined $35,200.00 for an odor discharge on June 16 and a discharge of clarified slurry oil on June 17. The fine was issued last week. Officials at Gloucester County refinery said the odor discharge did not affect residents, but the 170 gallons of unrefined oil left residue on cars, fences and houses. A Valero spokeswoman [a New Jersey Lawyer?] told the Currier-Post, of Cherry Hill, that Valero had already spent $2.5 million on cleanup."

"Paulsboro: State Fines Oil Refinery," The New York Times, August 14, 2006, at p. B7.

It must remain a mystery how Garden State politicians and the state's tainted Supreme Court justices -- who recently had no problems in upholding a death penalty conviction -- find the nerve to face a skeptical citizenry. No wonder that they usually don't, opting instead to provide people with their official portraits and photos, not to mention their lovely smiles. It is not difficult to guess why they are smiling or chuckling at photographers. It is only the people of that unfortunate state who are not smiling.