Archive for the 'Law' Category

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At the Zenith, our Dead Dreams Awake

Saturday, February 13th, 2010

Good riddence to bad rubbish. A rotten end to a rotten year. The weather has been cold and rainy in Shanghai, rainy as it has been all year. And damn chilly.


Crates of secrets, pilling up by the day, trials and allegations notwithstanding. Cao. Leaders talking tough but reforming nothing. Torture on the menu across the board, more legitimized then ever.


Then again, torture has always been on the menu. Its just that we used to limit it to Latin and South America.


Funny how these things spread. One could write a book, so to speak.


That’s really about it. Hope 2010 will be better.


But Tyler Cowen says last year was a banner year for rule of law, so let’s analyze the next Tyler Cowen piece for additional clues to this trending issue. So that’s something.


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Losing Ground – No Words

Monday, January 4th, 2010

Well, I sort of missed out on the whole sum-up post to close out 09. It was an interesting year, that’s for sure.


What 2009 should be most remembered for, however, is quite simple: it was the year where the rule of law regressed and became more decadent and dishonest than ever before. And if you know anything about the history of for-profit incarceration (well, not to mention war) you may realize the serious fault-lines between public justice and private profit. At the most basic level, everyone knows there are people that can ‘lose your file’; the problem is how to build a system with lasting integrity.


2009 was a year where the crimes of the Bush Administration were swept under the rug, where Gonzo got screwed but torture-lover Yoo just went back to Berkeley to teach Admin law. Where we shouldn’t be ‘backward-looking’ much like the crooked cop doesn’t look back while his business partners are doing their work.


Millions of dollars got funneled around, millions in no bid contracts, millions lost and stolen and ‘mis-appropriated’. And somehow the ‘legal community’ is still back wrestling with the issue of criminal immunity for these contractors. Since when was the flexible, organic system I learned about in law school so incapable of calling a halt to honoring these mandatory arbitration clauses? Since when did a private contract trump criminal law?


We have to go back in the story, at least until Enron, to see how things have gone. There, massive fraud was carried out upon the government and individuals, and nothing was done about it. Couple people went to jail, and all those workers lost out on their pensions while shareholders got screwed, too.


Then of course we had our illegal president, whose people walked roughshod over legal principals and rule of law in favor of their plenary power concepts and fancy arguments. Unfortunately, they also had a good part of the judiciary as well, in the form of the Federalist Society, so there was little pushback…


Which concepts, of course, they abandoned the second they lost the executive branch, which is why usually we shouldn’t end up in this position unless we have a corroded system, because both parties are supposed to understand that they risk future abuse at the hands of the other party through the granting of such extraordinary power. Duh. Its not rocket science, some would even (irrationally, I might add) argue that such an outcome is impossible because it is too irrational, but anyway here we are.


The excessive abuses of the Bush Administration, while some may refrain from calling crimes, must be investigated fully, or Rule of Law will have been dealt a mortal blow by its most vocal supporter for decades.


How can US and international law be ignored, sneered at in fact, with no response?


Only a dead thing behaves this way…


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In Death You Sing

Sunday, January 3rd, 2010

The forces of tyranny simply do not understand. They will always overstep their bounds, again and again, until they destroy themselves. Such is the nature of their need for control, it must escalate until it consumes itself.


Ahmadinejad has lost his legitimacy, and the current leadership must bear the responsibility for these crimes as well, and so have effectively gutted their moral authority. These leaders will fall within a period of time, perhaps 18 months as a safe outer limit.


However the Iranian system of government need not, and may well not, be destroyed at the same time. The popular complaints that are leading people into the streets (and have been, now, for about half a year) do not seem to be religious in nature, and the tacit support of the mullahs will wane as the abuses of the power structure become myriad and well-known.


There are people, professional, serious people who are in the business of predicting the fall of foreign political systems, and they are wrong 99% of the time, and most of the stuff that comes out of their mouths is complete drivel. Even the popular protests we have seen in Iran do not mean the social structure will change enormously. Indeed, probably the normal way forward for a culture would be incremental change rather than upheaval, and that could still be possible.


The recent progress in Iran should be seen for what it is: a crumbling structure that has glommed onto the legitimate social system and is desperately trying to survive.


I actually conceived of this post and title when I read of one young man who was killed prior to the fighting in which 8 people were killed by security forces. The news report of this earlier incident mentioned that he was the son of a mullah of some seniority. And I thought that would be a good example of a margin analysis. Here, at least, is one family who can’t ignore the abuses of the government any longer.


You can see the character of an organization when they are under siege. What happened from the very beginning of the troubles? As soon as they started arresting people, there were reports of torture and brutality. The Basij seem to be almost uncontrolled in their abuses.


First Neda. Now this nameless boy is forgotten to time, subsumed within the better-connected young man killed a day or so later. How much farther can you soldier on, having committed so many crimes. When will the crimes rise to the level of past regimes?


Back then I wrote:


What I noticed as I dug into the Iranian situation was how many from within the power structure had already been arrested, even prior to the election. Every article mentioned a cleric or former high government official as being arrested or otherwise marginalized. Might I suggest this is not a pleasant environment?

Oh, did you think I was concerned about the lack of legal protections for the people in the streets? No, no, the real problem is that there are no legal restrictions preventing the government from arresting anyone they want, including former Prime Ministers and the like, their children, and pretty much anyone else they want. That is a real problem, and leads to a very unstable system.



No independent legal structure at all leads, inevitably, to the brutality we have at present. The pressure continues to mount. Can they just put everyone into jail and be done with it?


[Update] The Curv is on the case while The Man is slacking. Typical:


A US doctor and a development consultant visited Iran in May to study a primary healthcare system that has cut infant mortality by more than two-thirds since the Islamic revolution in 1979.


Then, in October, five top Iranian doctors, including a senior official at the health ministry in Tehran, were quietly brought to Mississippi to advise on how the system could be implemented there.



Its a system which is, in many ways, working. Even though a strong case could be made for total organizational failure within the mullahocracy, I doubt that Iranians feel that strongly.


The upheavals at present are going to make many predict massive change, and they will be wrong.


[Updated Update]


And the baritone Professorship comes in from the wings:


Nearly 90 professors at Tehran University have told Iran’s supreme leader that ongoing violence against protesters shows the weakness of the country’s leadership, a pro-reform Web site reported Monday, reflecting a growing willingness to risk careers and studies to challenge the ruling clerics.
…
The letter signed by the 88 instructors was issued as university students around Iran staged acts of defiance — including hunger strikes and exam boycotts — to protest reported arrests and intimidation by hard-line forces, according to witnesses and reformist Web sites.
…
The letter by the Tehran University professors — posted on the Greenroad Web site — called the attacks on opposition protesters a sign of weakness in the ruling system. It also urged Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to order arrests over the hard-line crackdown, which intensified after protesters began chanting slogans against the supreme leader.



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Posted in International Justice, Law | 2 Comments »

On Any Human Sanitation Day

Saturday, December 19th, 2009

Your Web Content


From:
“Chris Devonshire Ellis”
To:
“rhodozeb@yahoo.com”
Cc:
“Andy Scott” (andy.scott@china-briefing.com), “Richard Hoffmann” (richard.Hoffmann@dezshira.com)


Dear Mr. Zeb;

I have noticed your comment on your website here:

http://www.gongshangfa.com/2009/03/20/chris-devonshire-ellis-fake-lawyer-fake-quitter-just-fake/http://www.gongshangfa.com/2009/03/20/chris-devonshire-ellis-fake-lawyer-fake-quitter-just-fake/

I would like to point out to you that the story you have run is inaccurate, was not clarified concerning content by you with me, and is libelous. Accordingly, I request that you kindly remove the content in its entirety. I regret that failure to do so within the next seven days will result in me taking the matter further, including with the following organizations:

Legal Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce in China ;

Your pertinent bar association in the United States ;

Legal action for redress and financial compensation for damages as may be necessary, either in Shanghai or in the United States .

I have deployed a US based specialist internet abuse legal team in New York to track down the protagonists of the online campaign against me and to seek prosecution and closure of offending sites. This includes your commentary. I trust it will not be necessary for me to involve them in this matter and that we can put the issue behind us as a matter of enthusiastic, yet ill informed gossip. Your cooperation in removing your content would be appreciated.

Yours sincerely;

Chris Devonshire-Ellis

Founding Partner

Dezan Shira & Associates


I love it. “US based specialist internet abuse legal team”?? How many pints do you need to have in you before you write that? Let me see:


US-based, specialist, internet-abuse legal team? No.


US based specialist internet-abuse legal-team? No.


It just doesn’t scan. The gift that keeps on giving, this one. I bet he has put the New York Law Firm on retainer to handle this matter and close offending sites.


Anyway, this was sent five days ago. My posts on this fraud are staying up.


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Posted in Law, Self-correcting Systems | 5 Comments »

What was Handed Down to Me

Monday, November 23rd, 2009

Checks and Balances, the vaunted US system of distribution of power between the three branches of government, is fundamentally, at its heart, about oversight and about accountability.


The entire system is based on a simple theory: Men in position of power without effective oversight will abuse that power. That understanding may be couched in different terms or spun in different directions, but it comes down to two lines: Men with power sans accountability are likely to abuse their power, and accountability is the best remedy for such abuses, in order to limit the damage of the abuses, if not to prevent such abuses by the threat of effective oversight.


So we built a system with three branches, each with, you guessed it, oversight capabilities. And we built a Federal and State system with similar accountability and limitation on power features.


I wonder what those guys were trying to do? It all just seems so…haphazard, don’t you think?


Now we may say that human nature is good, or that it is bad, but this fundamental understanding of human nature is clear: Social environments have consequences, and environments filled with accountability are less oppressive and less unjust, because powerful figures are kept in check.


George W. Bush doesn’t believe in law, and he doesn’t believe in accountability for his friends. We all know about he and Cheney together, locked together by their common ideological flag, ushered in a period of utter lawlessness. This is why they will be punished, in the fullness of time, and it is why so many are viscerally angry about the crimes of that administration.


But, looking forward, what of the Obama Administration?


President Barrack Obama arrived in Shanghai just after an unusually-severe cold front descended upon the city. The entire week was bone-numbingly cold a good six weeks before anyone expected to see such temperatures.


The Administration fought for access to a group of people, and that’s good, I think, in that we are engaging at a high level directly with a wide audience, both at micro level within the echelons of government and the macro level through mass media.


But there is one thing that confuses me. You see, Obama apparently said this in Shanghai on a cold, rainy day in November:


I think that the more freely information flows, the stronger the society becomes, because then citizens of countries around the world can then hold their own governments accountable.



Because I thought the official policy of the Obama Administration was that the past is the past and accountability no longer matters.


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Burn The Slack Away

Wednesday, November 11th, 2009

Big news out of Washington, D.C.:


Washington Times to Assess Positioning in Response to Control by Psychotic Deistic Quasi-Religious Organization; New Management Team to Focus on Sustainability Planning


WASHINGTON, DC – The Washington Times LLC today announced that it is continuing on its path toward a sustainable multimedia news enterprise involving leadership expertise from within The Washington Times and directed by its Board of Directors and its parent company, News World Communications LLC, despite the insanity and inanity eminating from the Moonie Investors.


Today’s industry conditions and the general economic downturn necessitate this team-based assessment, planning, and subsequent implementation of a plan to enable The Times to become a sustainable (!) multimedia company in today’s challenging news industry environment, utilizing the concrete shoes provided by the Moonie Investors.


Jonathan Slevin has been named Acting President and Publisher of The Washington Times, having passed through the initiation of teabagging the Reverend Leader Himself, twice. Tatum executive services and other specialists are providing assistance to a new Washington Times leadership team of stooges and mercenaries. The process will clarify the steps needed to achieve the goal of a market-based, financially sustainable media enterprise, in theory.


Mr. Slevin previously served as a vice president of The Washington Times, was managing editor of the New York City Tribune, held executive business management positions in other industries, and is the author of several books. He comes from a journalism family that includes his late father, a reporter on the political economy and former president of The National Press Club, his cousin who was formerly editorial page editor of The Los Angeles Times, and his uncle, editor in chief of The Baltimore Sun and a Pulitzer-prize winning reporter in international affairs. Poor schmuck. Give him 28 months, max.


Thomas P. McDevitt has been relieved of his duties as president and publisher of The Washington Times, having finally lost 100% of his soul and thereby been rendered completely useless to the Organization. Keith Cooperrider, former chief financial officer of The Washington Times, has also been relieved of his duties, as well as Dong Moon Joo, who was serving in a titular role as chairman. That is not a typo.


“The Washington Times values the highest standards of journalism and a commitment to serving the citizens of our democratic form of government, which we hope to change to a theocracy with the Righteous Holy Rev. Moon or his direct descendents in a position of total power, with the news they need to make informed decisions that benefit our long-term goals on matters in our vital collective and personal interests,” said Slevin. “Our assessment team looks forward to emerging with a market-based plan that supports the sustainability of The Washington Times and advances the Times’ role as an important source of biased and slanted news and opinion for readers who value a diversity of information and analysis as long as the defense industry and dictatorial power is constantly supported.”



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Posted in Education, Law | 2 Comments »

Slowly build up; and break it down

Saturday, October 24th, 2009

I am glad the pirate issue has returned to the news, as I failed to get in a few points last time.


These ‘externalities’ as they were once called, i.e. pirates, are always less exogenous than they may appear. Crony corporatism, of course, provides the right conditions for this:


The UN special envoy for Somalia on Friday sounded the alarm about rampant illegal fishing and the dumping of toxic waste off the coast of the lawless African nation.

“Because there is no (effective) government, there is so much irregular fishing from European and Asian countries,” Ahmedou Ould Abdallah told reporters.

He said he had asked several international non-governmental organizations, including Global Witness, which works to break the links between natural resource exploitation, conflict, corruption, and human rights abuses worldwide, “to trace this illegal fishing, illegal dumping of waste.”

“It is a disaster off the Somali coast, a disaster (for) the Somali environment, the Somali population,” he added.

Ould Abdallah said the phenomenon helps fuel the endless civil war in Somalia as the illegal fishermen are paying corrupt Somali ministers or warlords for protection or to secure fake licenses.



When will we get off our soapboxes and regulate ourselves as well as we would regulate our competitors? Is all the human rights stuff really just trash talk? Where does it all end?


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