Sunday, December 22, 2019

What is the TRUE Cost?

I've watched (sporadically) the political inter- and intra-party fighting for several years now with increasing levels of disgust.

This issue isn't just isolated to a single political party - all of the parties and their individual members indulge their over-inflated egos with this chicanery (Conservative, Democrat, Green, Independent, Liberal, Republican, Working Family, etc).

The sociological and psychological harm has been well-documented in the media (accompanied by an elementary school level finger pointing from all stakeholders involved who justify their behavior with a "He/she started it!" allegation).

Meanwhile, there is a marked lack of civility growing nationwide and the sense by many individuals that their personal wishes, whims, and dreams are far more important than the rights of others or any sort of moral imperative.

But what has not been addressed at any point is the actual monetary cost of this nonsense.

I am calling out for a full accounting of the comprehensive dollar amount spent over the past ten years on investigations, hearings, trials, arrests, incarcerations, and any other related actions initiated by any one political party or its members against any other political party or its members.

To be more specific, that accounting should include (but not be limited to) the following:

  • The governmental salary of any individual involved (including but not limited to elected officials and their support staff) based on the percentage of time spent on these activities;
  • The cost of facilities and maintenance (including but not limited to utility bills, custodial fees, and other maintenance) based on the percentage of time utilized for these activities;
  • The cost of materials (including but not limited to office supplies, equipment, etc) utilized for these activities;
  • The cost of media (including but not limited to television commercials, interviews, videos, audio recordings, etc) utilized for these activities; and
  • A full accounting of the total number of hours expended on these activities.
The public should be privy to a complete, open, and honest reporting on how our government is actually spending our time and money, since they are elected officials that should be serving PUBLIC not personal interest.

Friday, May 3, 2019

Why did the chicken cross the road?

To become a judge.

Who wouldn't? 

Once you get in, you're basically there for life, able to indulge yourself with all of your pet peeves and biases. 

Guaranteed pay - no worries about having to secure clients or rely on assigned counsel. 

Healthcare. Pension. Easy hours. (Less than a 40 hour work week most of the time.) Guaranteed vacations. All state and federal holidays off. 

And you don't even have to work much while "at work" - a staff of clerks and court personnel to manage all the paperwork and even write your decisions for you. (About the only thing you might have to do yourself is wipe your butt.)

It used to be said of teachers - "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach."

I assert that this more accurately describes judges. If a practitioner of the law were truly successful, they would be practicing. 

But that takes initiative, perseverance, confidence, charisma, and intelligence. 

These are qualities sorely lacking in many judges. Yet the mediocrity characteristic in the judiciary gets rewarded. 

If you play the game, you get "promoted" - being moved to progressively higher levels of court.

It would be great if all of us could score this type of employment - who wouldn't want to "work" without doing anything?

But this is one of the reasons that there are so many complaints about the justice system and the judiciary - after all, at this point most decisions handed down are subject to the whims and foibles of these mediocre malcontents.

Do the research for yourself, don't take my word for it!








Six Degrees (or less) of Separation

Since the chatterverse (FB, Twitter, etc) has been in full gear about Jefferson County, NY lately, maybe a history lesson is in order.

Arthur Shawcross is the focal point, at least as far as I know.

Back in 1972, Jack Blake was one of my 5th grade classmates at Wiley School in Watertown, NY. He was the first verifiable victim of Arthur Shawcross. Jack had a magnetic personality - mischievious with strong leadership qualities. We (his classmates) only knew that he went missing from school soon after our class picnic at Thompson Park. And then the following fall, our teacher explained that he had been murdered and gave us a redacted version of what had happened.

But Arthur Shawcross was never convicted of Jack's murder. He was only charged with the death of his second victim, Karen Ann Hill from Rochester. The district attorney at the time was Hugh Gilbert, the Assistant District Attorney was Bill McCluskey. (If that last name sounds familiar, keep reading.) According to some reports, Bill McCluskey was the one who struck a deal that allowed this miscarriage of justice.

Flash forward to 9th grade - our classmates due to graduate together included Leo McCluskey (yes, same name as the ADA for Jack Blake's murder because he is Bill McCluskey's son). Leo broke into the home of Dr. David (Sandy) Gregor and stole a handgun, but somehow forgot the ammo or didn't know how to use it properly. Leo then went down the street to the home of now Judge Hugh Gilbert, and strangled Holly Gilbert, Hugh Gilbert's wife, with a pair of her pantyhose.

Arthur Shawcross was released from prison in 1987 - the same year I started my first professional careeer. During that career, I had multiple encounters with and interactions with multiple members of the Shawcross family.

Bill McCluskey had other children besides Leo, he had twin sons, one of whom is now a judge in Jefferson County, NY.

Isn't life odd the way things circle around?

Wednesday, February 6, 2019

Castle Doctrine and GoDaddy.com

Picture this:

You and a close friend have a turbulent parting of the ways, and during the divide, one of their monogrammed items is left inside your house.

Rather than contacting you and making arrangements for the return of the item, they break into your home, change all the locks, and implement a code based security system for entry.

Once they have taken over your home, they decide that anything in your house is theirs.

You contact the appropriate authorities, and after investigating, they inform you that your friend was well within their rights, since it is their monogrammed item.

However, the monogram is merely initials, and doesn’t even specify your former friend’s name.

A similar episode just happened to me recently.

My GoDaddy account was hacked by a former business/relationship, simply because he didn’t want to request a transfer of a domain which theoretically names his business.

However the name is not unique or uncommon, and even his IT professional who runs the network and VoIP phones for his company has said that the domain is NOT the one used by the company in print, social media, printed company materials,and advertising.

Once inside my account, he has claimed that he has full rights to the other domains within the account, as well as all the account records dating back years before we developed any type of relationship.

GoDaddy’s response has been equally culpable, to say the least. They not only allowed him access to my account, they have failed to reinstate my ownership.

Additionally, they have failed to turn over any of the other domains that I held in the account.

Apparently they don’t care about legalities, non-tangible possessions, or failure to obey telecommunications law.

All GoDaddy is focused on is soaking up as much money as they can from their users. And they saw an easy mark in this guy.

He actually bragged about “spending a few hundred dollars” after one phone conversation with GoDaddy customer service.

No wonder they are aiding and abetting a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1030(a)(2) and 18 U.S.C. § 1030(a)(4), after all, more money for them.

He is gullible to say the least, and believes anything even a barely adequate salesman tells him, so he is an easy mark for the seasoned professionals at GoDaddy.

My thoughts? A person’s home is their castle and they have the right to defend it - so I am enlisting the assistance of law enforcement at all levels possible.

What’s mine is mine, and not his to illegally seize, especially when he never made the appropriate request for transfer of the domain in question.

Normally, extreme measures are left for when you have exhausted all remedies on an increasing basis with no results. Apparently the policies in place at GoDaddy are mere “window dressing” and aren’t even taken seriously by their own employees.

That’s okay, break USC and it can be referred to Federal agencies such as DOJ and FBI. And since I actually did follow all the protocols requested by GoDaddy, with no results, escalation is a natural consequence.

Let the chips fall where they may.