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"I am the government."

Started by Trieste, June 03, 2009, 11:45:48 PM

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Trieste

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/06/03/judge.impeachment/index.html

The full article, with my favorite part in bold (meaning the emphasis is mine):

QuoteHe called himself the Lion King, the emperor of Galveston, and more simply, "the government."

At 6-foot-4 and more than 250 pounds, he was impossible to escape in the close quarters of an office. And his alcohol-laden lunches could foreshadow vulgar, racist language and sexual assault. That was the description of U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent at a hearing Wednesday before a House Judiciary Committee task force considering his possible impeachment. The stunned hearing room was silent as two victims of Kent's sexual misconduct detailed their personal ordeals that lasted years.

The Texas judge pleaded guilty in February to one count of obstruction of justice for lying to investigators about the sexual misconduct in his Galveston, Texas, courthouse. It was the first case of sexual abuse against a sitting federal judge. Though he acknowledged in his plea that the events had occurred, the charges covering the sexual misconduct itself were dropped as part of the plea agreement. He had previously insisted the sexual events were consensual.

Kent, who turns 60 this month, was sentenced in May to 33 months in prison and ordered to surrender on June 15. He also was ordered to undergo treatment for alcoholism while in prison. Both Kent and his lawyer, Dick DeGuerin, declined to appear at Wednesday's hearing. A statement from Kent accepted in the record said he was unable to travel to the hearing due to physical and mental problems. In the statement he admitted to nonconsensual sexual contact with the two woman, which he said may have resulted from difficulties in dealing with the death of his first wife and other issues.

"Judge Kent and I refuse to be part of the circus," DeGuerin said in the statement, sent by e-mail, calling the hearing an unnecessary spectacle. "All sexual misconduct allegations against Judge Kent were dismissed in court. The highly exaggerated, yet salacious and scandalous testimony of his former personal secretary and his former case manager is irrelevant to the grounds for impeachment and served no purpose other than to allow a few politicians to posture publicly." If impeached, Kent would lose his judicial salary and pension. His letter to the task force noted that would leave him "penniless" and without health insurance. Kent also submitted a letter Tuesday to President Obama in which he said he will resign as of June 1, 2010, effectively extending his salary for a year that he is scheduled to spend in prison.

Committee members expressed outrage over Kent's request.

"Judge Kent and his lawyer are banking on the fact that impeachments take time, literally," said Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas. "Judge Kent receives $465 of his taxpayer-funded salary every day he remains in office. We are here today to put an end to Judge Kent's abuse of authority and exploitation of American taxpayers." But it was the emotional and sometimes halting testimony of Cathy McBroom and Donna Wilkerson that provided the most powerful evidence. The two Texas women sat side-by-side at the witness table, never smiling, and recounted events that Kent's guilty plea acknowledged had occurred.

"I was a seven-year victim of Sam Kent's sexual and psychological abuse," said Wilkerson, 45, the judge's personal secretary. She said the first incident occurred on her fifth day on the job, when Kent pinned her against his office door and kissed her on the mouth. Similar incidents, many of them much worse, occurred "once or twice a month" over the ensuing five-plus years, Wilkerson said. It usually happened when Kent returned from long, drunken lunches, when his language would turn vulgar and racist, and included inappropriate touching and groping "outside and inside clothes" and putting her hand on his crotch, she said. Details of what she called "worse sexual assault" were included in her written statement to judicial investigators.

McBroom, a court employee who lodged the original complaint against Kent in 2007, described similar incidents. She said some occurred within obvious earshot of security guards, but she believed no one would help because of Kent's power in the courthouse. "I even said, 'Judge, the guards are right outside. I know they can hear us,'" she recalled about one incident. "He said, 'I don't care who hears us.' He wasn't afraid of that at all, and that made me more frightened. I guess he thought he was powerful enough that no one would come to help me, and he was right." Wilkerson told the committee that Kent often referred to himself as an all-powerful figure, calling himself the emperor of Galveston, the Lion King and the man wearing the horned hat. Both women quoted Kent as frequently saying: "I am the government."

In the most emotional moment, Wilkerson described trying to tell her teenage daughter to never endure any sexual misconduct, even if it meant harsh consequences such as losing her job. "How could I look her in the face and tell her these things when I couldn't do it myself," she said, her voice cracking. "So I had to come forward. I had to do the right thing." Rep. Adam Schiff, D-California, who chaired the hearing, thanked both women for testifying, saying Kent would still be on the bench if they had not come forward. He said the task force will meet soon to consider whether to recommend impeachment to the full committee.

What's even better is the letter that Judge Kent sent to this committee, here. In it, he blames his assaults on these women on previous trauma. Not childhood abuse; he's at least a little bit creative. He blames it on the trauma of watching his former wife die of brain cancer.

And he only gets 33 months in prison. Buh-rilliant. And people wonder why I don't trust this same corrupt, cold system to put people to death. God, think of who we've ended up killing? *kisses fingers, then flips the U.S. judiciary system the bird* Yeah, we're not as bad as some countries, but that doesn't mean we should stop striving for perfection. When it comes to meting out due rewards, there is no such thing as 'good enough'.

The Overlord


6-4 and 250# is big but not so big to not drop this douchebag with a good kick in the nuts, which he sorely needs. Pompous and boisterous ass...here's the opportunity for whatever decent elements of government remain to put this overblown benchwarmer in his place with the full weight of prosecution.

Lithos

Well, considering his job, he knows the system he is dealing with quite well, and its limitations. Many times, being guilty or not guilty does not depend on facts, but on how well the person knows and can exploit the system. It is not only problem in your part of the world, it happens everywhere, and sometimes it feels really really frustrating.
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The Overlord

Quote from: Lithos on June 04, 2009, 01:34:26 PM
Well, considering his job, he knows the system he is dealing with quite well, and its limitations. Many times, being guilty or not guilty does not depend on facts, but on how well the person knows and can exploit the system. It is not only problem in your part of the world, it happens everywhere, and sometimes it feels really really frustrating.


Of course the crucial difference now is he's going to be facing people that know it as well as he does..or better. If they can find enough rope to hang him with...

OldSchoolGamer

Another reason it's long past time the arrogant U.S. government took a fall.

The incipient oil shortage will accomplish that rather nicely, and take out the corporate power structure too.   ;D

The Overlord

Quote from: TyTheDnDGuy on June 06, 2009, 02:15:57 AM
Another reason it's long past time the arrogant U.S. government took a fall.

The incipient oil shortage will accomplish that rather nicely, and take out the corporate power structure too.   ;D

If it weren’t for the shitstorm that’s going to catch us all, they’d be able to hear me clear to Washington cracking open a cold lager when the corporate sector caves in.

When the powers-that-be are so arrogant they feel they have the right to rule, it’s time to clean house, by any means necessary.

Trieste

... I have a question...

Quote from: TyTheDnDGuy on June 06, 2009, 02:15:57 AM
The incipient oil shortage will accomplish that rather nicely, and take out the corporate power structure too.   ;D

Why is that grinworthy? The oncoming fall you've been predicting means the death and impoverishment of so many people that it's staggering. It means a huge crime wave. It means Bad Things for Many People... and if you plan on standing by and playing the fiddle, I find you no better than the people whose demise you are lauding.

Seriously, that's ... just ... I have no words for how terrible that is. Ugh.

Zakharra

Quote from: TyTheDnDGuy on June 06, 2009, 02:15:57 AM
Another reason it's long past time the arrogant U.S. government took a fall.

The incipient oil shortage will accomplish that rather nicely, and take out the corporate power structure too.   ;D

It won't happen and if it did, everything you take for granted would be in ruin. It is NOT a good thing if your desires come about. The corporate power structure makes this world. Without it we are back using flint and hand weapons.

The Overlord

#8
Quote from: Zakharra on June 06, 2009, 10:24:56 AM
It won't happen and if it did, everything you take for granted would be in ruin. It is NOT a good thing if your desires come about. The corporate power structure makes this world. Without it we are back using flint and hand weapons.


But with the power structure as it is, it can't stand forever. It's blindly arrogant, concerned only about its own greed and gain. It runs on an ethos that regards the global environment and all its resources as the opposite of the closed and balanced system it is, which is reaching the end point of sustainability. It is NOT a good thing for things to continue as they are.



And don't ever say it won't happen...a lot of people labeled the Titanic unsinkable as well. I'm sure there's plenty of elite corporate snobs that are cock sure about that too, and no one is going to have more to lose when it goes down.

The corporate power structure doesn't necessarily have to be sent crashing to the ground, but it does need its head slashed off and replaced. That's how lax and blasé we are, here in the US, we have actually convinced ourselves that things like this only happen in other countries and can't possibly happen here.

OldSchoolGamer

The corporations and the government have been nothing but thorns in my side for much of my life.

I shall not mourn their passing.  Maybe after these forces pass away, I can enjoy a higher purpose to life than racing against the clock and serving the wealthy elite in exchange for crumbs from the corporations' table.

Kurzyk

Quote from: TyTheDnDGuy on June 06, 2009, 07:29:49 PM
The corporations and the government have been nothing but thorns in my side for much of my life.

I shall not mourn their passing.  Maybe after these forces pass away, I can enjoy a higher purpose to life than racing against the clock and serving the wealthy elite in exchange for crumbs from the corporations' table.

Without corporations you wouldn't be able to write that post, or even have internet at all let alone, food and water.

Unless you currently are growing your own food and water, in which case more power to ya.

It's a bit more complicated than just raising a fist and cursing society. heh

OldSchoolGamer

Quote from: Kurzyk on June 06, 2009, 07:43:16 PM
Without corporations you wouldn't be able to write that post, or even have internet at all let alone, food and water.

Unless you currently are growing your own food and water, in which case more power to ya.

It's a bit more complicated than just raising a fist and cursing society. heh

People were able to obtain food and water before the rule of the multinational conglomerates, and we will develop alternatives when the need arises.

The system, by marginalizing and harassing so many people, has sown the seeds of its own destruction.  Every system that turns against the working class has, in the end, fallen. 

As things stand today, we are on our way back to slavery anyway.  The average American is little more than a serf anyway.  Many of us cannot even buy our own home.  I am blackballed from the real estate/mortgage market on account of credit.  So I have no economic "skin" in this game.  The system has done noothing to earn my loyalty.

So let it burn.

Kurzyk

#12
Yes along time ago people were able to meet the needs without conglomerates, but it was a much smaller scale. As the population grew, communities needed to work together to produce for a larger scale. With that systems fell into place to meet those needs on a larger scale. And those systems evolved into the companies we have today. These aren't dark cloaked villains twirling their mustaches and cackling at the world, it's just people living in the evolution of how trade and government has existed in the world. It's not perfect.

We live in the present though, and like it or not corporations and companies in general are in place to produce for masses larger than any one person can do.

My point is everything you have now that you love and enjoy be it TV, beer, food, games, whatever, comes from corporations. If you don't like it, give all your things to charity and go find an island. Start your own system of government and see if you can do better.

Keep in mind that the US was based on radicals that were sick of the existing governments and wanted to do things their own way. Taking ideas from the Roman Republic, they got together in Philadelphia and made their own system and said to hell with the world. They then fought to preserve that and make themselves an established country. I think that's pretty darn cool!

They found their own land and tried to do it better. Do you think you could do that? Or is it easier to just wish for destruction and death, which is what would come from a sudden collapse of the system. What side are you on?

Oniya

Back to the original topic, which I think was this asswipe not only trying to get out of being impeached, but trying to get paid for the year that he's in jail.

I think he should have to pay retroactive damages to the people that he abused, to such an extent that the money he earns during the impeachment proceedings gets taken up as well.
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Lithos

What I wonder is... how can you hold a job while in jail? x.x
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Kurzyk

Quote from: Oniya on June 06, 2009, 09:11:03 PM
Back to the original topic, which I think was this asswipe not only trying to get out of being impeached, but trying to get paid for the year that he's in jail.

Yea that's very disgusting. It shows he has no conscience.

Serephino

I have great respect for our founding fathers, but um... Rome fell.  They tried to dominate the world and it didn't work too well.  The current situation reminds me a lot of Ancient Rome just before it fell. 

As for the judge guy... just another corrupt greedy person who thinks he's special.  There are a lot of people like him in the world and it's depressing.

OldSchoolGamer

Quote from: Kurzyk on June 06, 2009, 08:21:31 PM
Yes along time ago people were able to meet the needs without conglomerates, but it was a much smaller scale. As the population grew, communities needed to work together to produce for a larger scale. With that systems fell into place to meet those needs on a larger scale. And those systems evolved into the companies we have today. These aren't dark cloaked villains twirling their mustaches and cackling at the world, it's just people living in the evolution of how trade and government has existed in the world. It's not perfect.

We live in the present though, and like it or not corporations and companies in general are in place to produce for masses larger than any one person can do.

My point is everything you have now that you love and enjoy be it TV, beer, food, games, whatever, comes from corporations. If you don't like it, give all your things to charity and go find an island. Start your own system of government and see if you can do better.

Keep in mind that the US was based on radicals that were sick of the existing governments and wanted to do things their own way. Taking ideas from the Roman Republic, they got together in Philadelphia and made their own system and said to hell with the world. They then fought to preserve that and make themselves an established country. I think that's pretty darn cool!

They found their own land and tried to do it better. Do you think you could do that? Or is it easier to just wish for destruction and death, which is what would come from a sudden collapse of the system. What side are you on?

The problem is that there is nowhere left in the world to migrate to and start society anew.  We've run out of space, at least on Earth.  And while colonies of dissidents on the Moon or Mars or out amongst the asteroids are great science fiction, for obvious reasons they are not viable options for modern revolutionaries.

So the only way a new system can be created is for the old, corrupt, system to collapse and make room for people to be free again.

The Overlord

Quote from: Chaotic Angel on June 06, 2009, 09:25:53 PM
I have great respect for our founding fathers, but um... Rome fell.  They tried to dominate the world and it didn't work too well.  The current situation reminds me a lot of Ancient Rome just before it fell. 


The founding fathers did not intend for this sort of shit. They wanted out from under the tyranny and hierarchy of old Europe, and they drafted separation of church of state into the law of the realm because they knew too well. They wanted to start anew and get out from all that.

Jefferson said the tree of liberty must be occasionally watered with the blood of patriots and tyrants.

It's going on a century and a half since our last major uprising. We're long overdue....we just need the masses to the boiling point. The pot is simmering right now in different areas, but it needs a boil. All in good time.

Chris Brady

Sadly, if the governments and corporations were ever to 'fall', then people like us would get crushed, starved and killed over things like land and food.

Why?  Because to the peopl who have the 'power' we're insignificant.  That beer you want to open when the U.S. Government falls?  No you're not.  You're not going to be able to get any.  Oh and that clean water?  Not for you!  Do you grow your own vegitables and raise animals?  Nope?  Well, damn, I guess you'd better start learning to do so.

Money talks, and as long as one side has more of it, the lest likely us little guys will get a break.

But hey!  Let's all Rage Against The Machine!  That'll learn 'em!

Yeah, right.  Look past your little window some time, it's a pretty nasty world out there, and right now, we got it made, whether or not we want to admit it.
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OldSchoolGamer

The collapse is coming--indeed, is already underway--whether we want it or not.  We seem to have this notion that somehow we are immune to the basic physical and economic laws by which the universe operates...that we are exceptional.  We are not.

For several decades, we have been operating in defiance of these laws.  We have consumed limited, nonrenewable resources as if there is no tomorrow.  We have operated under the assumption that we can drill more holes and magically more oil will appear.  But things don't work that way. 

At least in the United States, our standard of living actually peaked over three decades ago.  The decline was masked by an epic expansion of credit, which reached a frenzy in the wake of 9/11.  As the curve of the decline steepened, more paper money had to be shoveled into the system to prop it up (the reason the Fed stopped reporting M3 a couple years go). 
Now the game is up.  The rest of the world is becoming increasingly reluctant to underwrite America's orgy of debt.  Peak Oil is getting to be the world's worst-kept secret, and oil prices are already soaring despite demand being much lower than it was two years ago.  For decades, the corporatist power structure as well as our overall way of life has depended on east credit and cheap oil.  Those are now gone, and the American Way of Life is following it into the dustbin of history.

Zakharra

Quote from: TyTheDnDGuy on June 07, 2009, 06:02:00 PM
The collapse is coming--indeed, is already underway--whether we want it or not.  We seem to have this notion that somehow we are immune to the basic physical and economic laws by which the universe operates...that we are exceptional.  We are not.

For several decades, we have been operating in defiance of these laws.  We have consumed limited, nonrenewable resources as if there is no tomorrow.  We have operated under the assumption that we can drill more holes and magically more oil will appear.  But things don't work that way. 

At least in the United States, our standard of living actually peaked over three decades ago.  The decline was masked by an epic expansion of credit, which reached a frenzy in the wake of 9/11.  As the curve of the decline steepened, more paper money had to be shoveled into the system to prop it up (the reason the Fed stopped reporting M3 a couple years go). 
Now the game is up.  The rest of the world is becoming increasingly reluctant to underwrite America's orgy of debt.  Peak Oil is getting to be the world's worst-kept secret, and oil prices are already soaring despite demand being much lower than it was two years ago.  For decades, the corporatist power structure as well as our overall way of life has depended on east credit and cheap oil.  Those are now gone, and the American Way of Life is following it into the dustbin of history.

... You are the worst pessimist here. Goddess..  I swear you WANT this to happen. If so I hope you get -exactly- what you deserve. Not what you want, but what you deserve. Have some faith and optimism, sheesh.

OldSchoolGamer

Quote from: Zakharra on June 07, 2009, 08:36:46 PM
... You are the worst pessimist here. Goddess..  I swear you WANT this to happen. If so I hope you get -exactly- what you deserve. Not what you want, but what you deserve. Have some faith and optimism, sheesh.

Actually, I think I am an optimist, thinking that something may be coming down the pike which will free us from our current anal servitude to the corporate elite.  As I said before, I have no reason for any loyalty to the current regime, to Bill Gates or George Soros or Donald Trump or any of our other owners.

Human life will go on without the current system.  We will probably have less comfort, but we will have more freedom.  The fruits of our labors will be OURS, not the government's, nor the corporations'.  We will no longer live our lives racing the relentless ticking of the clock.

I view this as an optimistic, bright future.  FREEDOM.

Kurzyk

I still can't believe he's trying to get paid while being in jail.

Zakharra

#24
Quote from: TyTheDnDGuy on June 07, 2009, 10:18:40 PM
Actually, I think I am an optimist, thinking that something may be coming down the pike which will free us from our current anal servitude to the corporate elite.  As I said before, I have no reason for any loyalty to the current regime, to Bill Gates or George Soros or Donald Trump or any of our other owners.

Human life will go on without the current system.  We will probably have less comfort, but we will have more freedom.  The fruits of our labors will be OURS, not the government's, nor the corporations'.  We will no longer live our lives racing the relentless ticking of the clock.

I view this as an optimistic, bright future.  FREEDOM.

Hahahahahaha.. what world are you living in? It will not happen that way. It'll be the survival of the strongest and meanest ones. Any society is more than likely to be more repressive than what came before it. It would not be a society that anyone would really like to live in. It's highly likely, nothing of the high tech life we live would survive.  No TV, cable., phone, internet, gas, power, electronic devices, no medicines, surgeries.. We'd be cast back into the 1400-1800's.