Humanitarian Aid without Voodoo

Been out of town on a very frustrating excursion, but now I am back and mostly caught up on my work -- for now.

The big news item, of course, is the devastation from the earthquake in Haiti. Seems that Fat Al Sharpton is going to Haiti tomorrow (Martin Luther King Day) for a "Mercy Mission." If his past activities in America are any indication, one can presume that he will be organizing the rioting and looting down there.

This whole Haiti thing presents a dilemma. On one hand, I do wish to help those disaster victims who are in need. But Haiti is, and always has been, a corruptocracy run by one greedy despot or another. If I donate money to help the victims of the Haiti earthquake, it is unlikely that any more than a few cents out of each hundred dollars will actually go towards helping the victims. Virtually all of that money will likely go into the pockets of the Haitian corruptocrats, whether as embezzled funds or outright bribes. And, based upon prior performance during Hurricane Katrina, I do not trust the American Red DoubleCross.

The solution: ZAKA, the Israeli rescue organization, has sent a delegation to Haiti. Unfortunately, the ZAKAniks have had to deal with many victims of terrorism in Israel. The upside of this is that they have developed much expertise and know-how in aiding victims such as those left in the wake of the quake. And if I support ZAKA, I know that my donations really will be used to help victims. In fact, ZAKA has already pulled off some rescues.

Donation checks can be sent to:

American Friends of ZAKA
1303 53rd St. #170
Brooklyn, NY 11219

[Write "Zaka Haiti Fund" in the Memorandum line of the Check.].


ZAKA's website also has a special secure Haiti Emergency donation webpage for those who use credit cards.

Bad Deal for the Yeshiva

As mentioned in several prior postings, the Agudath Israel of America has allowed itself to become entangled in fiascos that deviate from, and are, in many respects, contrary to its noble mission to facilitate and bolster the quality of life for religious Jewish observance and education in America. The new Executive Vice President, Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel, apparently has been tasked to redirect the organization. Some of the toochases he will need to kick belong to some very prominent rabbis.

As synopsized in the posting of 15 July 2009, Agudath Israel had, over the years, fallen into the denial trap with respect to various types of abuses within the religious Jewish community. Prior to the modern information technologies, a newspaper editor really could control the flow of information (and, for that matter, a leader such as a rabbi wielded even greater control over information before newspapers became the norm in the community). Accordingly, it was in many respects appropriate policy to restrain word of an occasional from going out to "the street" while the rabbis and community leaders worked to help the victim.

Add to this the fact that the religious community prided itself that certain behaviors contrary to the Torah were in fact rare within the community. Under such circumstances, it was more convenient to deny that the misbehaviors occurred than to confront the misbehaviors and the misbehavers. In fact, it was -- and still is -- a community taboo to even mention such misbehaviors by name.

And so, the Agudath Israel now finds itself ensnared in its past policies of denying that certain occurrences within the insular religious community occurred.

Addressing the problems of sexual abuses by the clergy, New York State Assemblywoman Margaret Markey introduced Assembly Bill 2596, the Child Victims Act, which would extend the statute of limitations to bring civil suit against, inter alia, educational institutions, for sexual abuse of children.

The Markey Bill presented a double whammy for Agudath Israel. For one thing, it brought home the uncomfortable fact that sexual abuse of children by clergy in the religious schools is not the exclusive province of the Catholic Church. Of more practical concern, however, was the fear that some financially strapped yeshivas might now be subject to existence-ending litigation on account of past wrongs by long departed employees. And so, the Agudath Israel issued a policy statement against the Markey Bill. [Given the oft-expressed attitude that sexual abuse by the clergy is a Catholic problem and we, the Rabbis, are not as depraved as some of the Catholic clergy, it is more than a little bit ironic that Agudath Israel is now working with the Catholic Church in opposing the Markey Bill.].

In short, the combination of s-e-x-u-a-l i-m-p-r-o-p-r-i-e-t-y and m-o-n-e-y have tripped up the Agudath Israel.

With its opposition of the Markey Bill, the AI has now postured itself as a champion of financial stability for yeshivas and other religious Jewish institutions. Which is why AI and Rabbi Zwiebel have just been thrown a real screwball pitch.

The recent mass arrests in Newark, which ensnared several rabbis, are more than just an embarrassment to the Agudath Israel (and indeed, this Jew is quite disgusted and embarrassed by them). The Newark arrests all resulted from the various songs sung by one Solomon Dwek, the Rabbi's son who, being under investigation for some significant bank fraud, chose to deliver up some more fish to the FBI in order to posture himself for some merciful treatment. Solomon Drek is, quite appropriately, scorned and reviled in the Jewish community for squealing on his fellow Jews (and, I suspect, will find few if any admirers among the gentiles).

But Dwek's problems, which started from his construction business being whipsawed in a bad econonomy, have also landed him in Bankruptcy Court. And now, the Trustee of Dwek's bankruptcy estate is now suing Dwek's father's yeshiva, the Deal Yeshiva, claiming that about $13 million of Dwek's ill-gotten gains traversed through the Deal Yeshiva's bank accounts. The Yeshiva is reportedly behind in the payment of salaries to its rank-and-file employees.

Now, if Agudath Israel of America is so staunch an advocate of financial security for yeshivas, how is it going to handle this one? What say you, Rabbi Zwiebel?

More Miscellaneous Briefs

A. Ex-Judge David Gross Pleads Guilty


Well, another black-robed bench bum is headed to the Big House. The Dishonorable David Gross, formerly a judge in the Nassau County, New York, District Court, has pleaded guilty to a money laundering conspiracy charge. The US Attorney's office is gunning at a sentence in the 37 to 46 month range (though he theoretically faces up to 20 years).

Gross's behavior on and off the bench was questionable, ranging spraying with a water hose the police detective who came to investigate a complaint that Gross was showering nude in his back yard with his children present, to keeping the jury deliberating on September 11, 2001 after the Muslim terror attacks.

The Newsday story on him carried a quote from one of Gross's former colleagues:

"I wouldn't characterize him as the top legal mind, but he worked hard at what he did," said Michael DerGarabedian, a Rockville Centre attorney who worked closely with Gross for years. "I would characterize him as a person who talked too much, and probably talked himself into something that he shouldn't be involved in. That's just the way he was. ... He never shut up."


Okay, so Gross isn't the brightest bulb in the chandelier. Maybe this is just as well. Imagine how much damage he might have done if he were brilliant!




B. High School Terrorists:

The previous posting on the Second Circuit's affirmance of the Wisniewski decision came not a day too soon. Now, some arrests have been made in what is alleged to be a Columbine copycat conspiracy at Connetquot High School on Long Island. It is now a criminal matter, but even more importantly, the Connetquot school administrators now have rock-solid legal footing to keep the alleged terrorists away from the school.



C. R.I.P., Officer Timoshenko:

NYPD Officer Russel Timoshenko has succumbed to his wounds received when he was arresting some car thief thugs. The charges against the three suspects, now in custody after a wide manhunt, will certainly be upgraded to include murder.

The two fugitive suspects were apprehended in Pennsylvania, and brought back to New York. Dexter Bostic, the alleged triggerman on Officer Timoshenko, was restrained by Timoshenko's own handcuffs, and Robert Ellis, who allegedly shot Timoshenko's partner, Officer Herman Yan, was restrained by Yan's handcuffs. Officer Yan's bulletproof vest saved his life, and I am grateful to report that he is out of the hospital and recovering. The alleged driver, Lee Woods, was captured very shortly after the shooting. He would be the logical guy with whom to work for a plea bargain in exchange for testimony.

Predicting the future is a very tricky business, but you would do well to put your money down on the following:

1. Bostic and Ellis will spend the remainder of their lives behind bars.

2. Woods might or might not eventually taste freedom again, but he will be out of circulation for quite some time.

3. I will be following the developments in what promise to be very long and protracted legal proceedings against the suspects.

4. Officer Timoshenko's NYPD colleagues will be following those legal proceedings even more diligently and exactingly than I will.


Officer Timoshenko may be gone, but it seems that his handcuffs are still doing their duty. Rest in Peace!

Updates on IRS and Garson

Well, folks, the IRS has just tacked on a additional week's grace period to file the taxes if you are "affected by the major storm that hit the Northeastern United States April 16." The IRS's benevolence may or may not be appropriate, but my concerns expressed in the previous posting still stand and indeed, are amplified.

As Adam Smith observed:

"The tax which each individual is bound to pay ought to be certain and not arbitrary. The time of payment, the manner of payment, the quantity to be paid, ought to be clear and plain to the contributor, and to every other person. Where it is otherwise every person subject to the tax is put more or less in the power of the tax‑gatherer, who can either aggravate the tax upon any obnoxious contributor, or extort, by the terror of such aggravation, some present or perquisite to himself. The uncertainty of taxation encourages the insolence and favours the corruption of an order of men who are naturally unpopular, even where they are neither insolent nor corrupt. The certainty of what each individual ought to pay is, in taxation, a matter of so great importance, that a very considerable degree of inequality, it appears, I believe, from the experience of all nations, is not near so great an evil as a very small degree of uncertainty."


By granting an additional blanket extention, the IRS has further diminished the certainty.

The IRS's unusual act of grace may well have been the result of a calculated comparison between the evils of this additional uncertainty on one hand, and the prospect of being confronted with too many individual case-by-case decisions on the other. If so, then I respect and applaud the IRS's decision. But my premise still stands that there is a price to be paid for the IRS's calculated laxity.


In other IRS news, IRS Commissioner Mark Everson will soon step down to become CEO of the American Red DoubleCross. Commissioner Everson brought about some much-needed reforms to the IRS, and can be expected to do some much-deserved toochaskicking at the American Red Cross. I wish him the best of luck, because he will need it.


And ex-judge Gerald Garson, of whom I posted 2 weeks ago, has been convicted on 3 of 7 counts, including the most serious bribery charge. While the theoretical maximum time faced by Mr. Garson is 15 years (if the sentences are consecutive), the time for the most serious charge is 28 months to 7 years. The scheduled sentencing is 5 June 2007, but don't bet against postponements or other complications. Whatever sentence Judge Berry pronounces will tell us a lot about Judge Berry. I shall be quite surprised if Garson actually serves more than 4 years.

And maybe the IRS will review Garson's tax picture, if they haven't done so already. That will give him something to do while he is in prison.

Flushing out the crooked judges

The trial of Gerald P. Garson, former Brooklyn judge now accused of accepting bribes, is being watched by many in New York and elsewhere. The evidence against Garson is overwhelming, especially the secret audio-video recordings made in his chambers. The one weakness in the prosecution's case is that their star witness is Paul Siminovsky, the disbarred lawyer who, as part of his plea bargain, wore the wire and is now singing on the witness stand.

A brief blurb on the front page of the 3 April 2007 issue of the New York Law Journal:

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...

On the first day of cross-examination yesterday, Mr. Garson's attorney, Michael S. Washor, tried to fluster Mr. Siminovsky and damage his reputation, mostly by recounting Mr. Siminovsky's disbarment and his undercover work for prosecutors.

"You lied to this man, your mentor?" Mr. Washor asked.

At one point he earned a mild admonition from Justice Jeffrey G. Berry. Mr. Washor was questioning Mr. Siminovsky about his plea to a misdemeanor; when he asked Mr. Siminovsky what date he had pleaded guilty, Mr. Siminovsky asked, "In court?"
"No, in the toilet," Mr. Washor replied.

Mr. Washor also could be heard speaking softly to his co-counsel, "Let me handle it. This [expletive], I'm going to get him."

After dismissing the jury, Justice Berry called Mr. Washor a "talented attorney" but asked him to "tone it down."

Mr. Washor apologized to the jury, but proceeded to ask Mr. Siminovsky if he knew the difference between a court and a toilet.


...

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Many have expressed outrage and disgust at the corruption in the courts in Brooklyn.

My comment here is that, having litigated cases in the Brooklyn courts, I am unable to discern all that much difference between a Brooklyn court and a toilet.