JUDGES NOT WELCOME*
your humble (and hungry) author ...
The Broward Bar Association (BBA) hosted Raag Singhal's Robing Ceremony last Friday, in the Jury Room of the central courthouse. It was a well-attended affair, with loads of old friends turning out to support good guy Singhal. The Sun Sentinel's Paula McMahon has the story here, without highlighting the politically poisonous appointment process which requires a truly qualified candidate like Singhal to have to apply eighteen times before coming out a winner. Florida Bar President Eugene Pettis and Steve Hammer introduced Broward's newest Circuit judge, who gave a touching acceptance speech in front of his loving family.
Unfortunately, the BBA insisted on closing the courthouse cafeteria for a judges only chow down at 11:30 AM, as they usually do before a Robing. The only courthouse restaurant doesn't reopen after ceremonies start at 1:30 PM, and the Broward Bar (and the judges) failed once again to arrange for food alternatives for courthouse staff, litigants, and the general public. BSO personnel, court clerks and others were spotted feeding dollar bills and coins into the vending machines outside the locked doors, while judges gobbled up gourmet catered fare from Hugh's Catering's lazy susans. Of course there was no advance notice that the cafeteria would be closed Friday, compounding the bewilderment of some observers who believed the 17th Circuit Judiciary had learned a thing or two from mandated sensitivity training in recent years. Let them eat cake, indeed.
In any event, it got us thinking. Since it doesn't take an act of the County Commission to shut down the cafeteria for a private party, why not turn the tables on the judges? As the BBA's Art Goldberg pointed out (pictured above), Hugh's can be rented on a Friday by anyone who ponies up the cash, even if the funds aren't derived from your hard earned membership fees. It doesn't have to be fancy feast either, like the $16.50 a plate soiree thrown for last week's eighty-five jurists and honorees. A menu of hot dogs, hamburgers, french fries, sodas and desert should certainly accommodate many more happy faces anyway. We've already secured the funds (courtesy of "Anonymous"), and Hugh's is currently working up a pricing schedule which will determine just how many folks will get a free lunch on a Friday in February or March.
There is a hitch, however. While the offer is open to any human being desiring a simple bite to eat and a little good cheer, absolutely no judges or BBA President Jordana L. Goldstein will be permitted entry. Security will be in place, just as it was on Friday, with strict instructions to keep undesirables away. If additional funding is raised, the event will also be advertised in community newspapers and shelters throughout the County.
Check back for details over the next few days, and remember: JUDGES NOT WELCOME.
(*Jordana L. Goldstein not welcome either)
Quote of the day - "The Broward Bar Association has always been part of the problem. They have no moral or ethical compass that is important. All they want to do is stand next to anyone in power like a bunch of middle-school cheer leaders."
-Howard Finkelstein
Hey Eugene! - thanks for taking the time to talk with us at the Robing. As previously mentioned, the first African-American President of the Florida Bar, and a Broward resident to boot, is perfectly suited to address the issues of rampant racism in Satzland. We look forward to you calling soon to set up a meeting, as promised ...
SS Editorial - "Racial profiling is understandably a controversial police tactic. Unfortunately, that's what appears to have occurred in Fort Lauderdale's predominantly black, low-income neighborhoods, where young black men were detained and searched after being stopped for walking in streets lacking sidewalks."
SS: Bicycling and walking are not against the law - "The right to walk in one's neighborhood is the most basic freedom we have as Americans ... this case causes the court grave concerns as the most reasonable assumption for the stop is contrary to our concepts of fairness within the law," (Judge John) Fry wrote ... "
SFLT Says "Save Our People" - "The supposed warriors in this one-sided (Drug) war, who, as Professor Michelle Alexander notes, wear armor and carry heavy weapons, do not crash through the doors of 70-year-old white men while ostensibly searching for drugs. They do not lay seige to white neighborhoods. They do not shoot young white suspects on sight. They do not shadow white school children as potential drug-dealers. Governmental policy has virtually imprisoned black people within their neighborhoods, consigning them to preying on one another when they are not in the official prisons as convicted felons."
Coming Soon - Are you a racist for aiding and abetting racist police work?
Gary Zeidwig, The "Public Defender of the Year" ...
Psychedelic mushroom trips point to new depression drugs

ARE YOU A RACIST?
(or just a hypocrite?)


http://www.browardsoe.org/CFElectionFilings.aspx?elect_id=119&office_id=684&cand_id=1128
I want to be a Judge some more.
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Their not the only bunch of self important cheese hoarders in Broward ! Just the worst of them! Who else is going to honor a bunch of losers living off the public dole but themselves? And before you say they were gobbling gourmet food, you better remember that these same fast food stalkers would gobble up anything that wasn't nailed down whether they had to pay sixteen dollars for it or not. Just check them out as they fight their way to the front of a line for anything that's free. It's a real eye opener!
Their sense of entitlement is really gross as so many people fight to keep their homes out of foreclosure and put food on tables to feed our children.
You won't find any of them expressing too much concern as they stuff their faces and try to look exclusive.
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The deal with Levy, anyone who drops that kind of coin now is afraid to run. Someone should just burst the bubble and do it. What would give the little princess a sourpuss than to have to go out amongst the commoners for 6 months. We all know there are no repurcussions any more. Even better the candidate knows the worst, she has big bucks, so make her spend daddys money. Remember its going to be a republican summer with the big race in Aug being the US Senate primary, buying the condos isnt all one needs anymore.
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Why don't they use a conference room somewhere else in the building when they want to suck each other's pussies? I agree closing the cafe is in very bad taste.
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Were the satelitte Judges allowed to participate in the robing? Are the parking ticket brigade real Judges anyway?
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Bunch of dickheads on autostroke.
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This article is flawed because unless there is free food and plaques for them Judges won't be in the Courthouse on a Friday anyway.
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Great. Now there's going to be 600 big black guys in the cafe instead of in the jail where the state wants them.
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Great idea
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Is Maguire's Pub planning lawsuit against the judges for the loss of business by not coming in and throwing back a few for lunch. Sounds like a plan. that's why one can never trust a judge--they'll turn on you faster than a cop.
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PIGS AT THE PUBLIC TROUGH
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Goldberg has the biggest snout of them all. Shoving it where the sun don't shine is his specialty in hopes of getting a handout one day. Same as A-Turd. Little snouters looking for anything they can get.
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Did Howard really refer to someones moral compass?. Maybe Patrick Frasier helped him get his record expunged.
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Leave the Judges alone. They have a job that needs doing and lawyers with real talent would never take a job for 140 a year or have their financials exposed to the world. They deserve our thanks and an occasional free lunch.
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Question: what's the difference between Howard Finkelstein and most of the lawyers of his generation (including prosecutors and those that became Judges).
Answer: Finkelstein got caught.
At least he didn't become a Judge and lock people up for drugs like so many other former dope heads around here did.
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Pork was not on the menu that day. Not for religious reasons. Because it cut too close to home for some of them.
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Now it makes sense why the cafeteria smelled so rank Monday morning.
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Look at the loser list of 2010 and you will see lawyers with little to no income. I guess 140 a year looks better to them than the nothing they are making as a bottom feeder lawyer. My guess is you will see several of them jump in the race again this time around.
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"Howards compass wrote: Did Howard really refer to someones moral compass?. Maybe Patrick Frasier helped him get his record expunged."
LMFAO!!!! Howard is such a little worm. AND...you would think a past drug arrest MIGHT keep him from his current indulgences considering his PUBLIC PRETENDER status. What a hypocrite. Does Channel 7 do randoms? The taxpayers of Broward should. Just so you know Howard, YES, that stupid ass ponytail does scream "I'm a pothead!!!"
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I thought most of you lawyers didn't want people arrested for pot and its not that big of a deal? If your talking about a moral compass most all of you would fall on your face. Long hair means you are a pot head or are you just jealous that your hair is falling out?
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I didn't apply for help me Howard until hearing that channel 7 kept Rick Sanchez on after his arrest, I knew it was a safe place to work.
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The article on Zeidwig is the biggest bunch of nonsense I've heard in a long time. The punk never did anything but take SPD cases until that dried up and daddy couldn't support him anymore. So much FRAP ! DOn't see the little punk around anymore.
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Nobody wanted to eat that slop anyway. I say let them eat it.
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Gary makes claims in there that seem to push the bounds of lawyer ads
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Goldberg probably thinks this was the most important thing he's ever accomplished in his life. He might be right. What a DB...
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How much does Goldberg make?
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Who is Jordana Goldstein?
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The salad was superb.
The chicken was marinated in Marsela with a reduction sauce. I noticed a hint of rosemary.
The Chateau Bregeon was exquisitely prepared in a brown sauce with consuming flavors of a northern Italian Pinot Noir. The Teran mushrooms in the sauce revealed hints of roasted garlic and fanciful herbs.
The asparagus was served with a warm hollandaise which was calm, creamy and resembled a Parisian freate'.
Dessert was an egg custard flambe' that had to have been stolen from the Four Seasons Manhattan.
Thanks you for your interesting and insightful article about our fabulous lunch.
We hope to see all of you through the glass again next year.
p.s. I still can't get that Port stain from my lapel.
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They're all brown nosers, all judge wannabees, and willing to do or say anything that will advance their cause. Goldberg is just another one of the same. Kind of sad really.
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Only Judges in Broward County could feel so exclusive eating junk out of the courthouse cafeteria.
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http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/26/10243856-letters-from-solitary-confinement-reveal-dwi-mans-despair
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Never heard so much pious baloney. Only Broward Judges think they are somehow more important than the communities they are supposed to be serving. It's this attitude that is becoming a real thorn in their collective eye. They should have grabbed lunch somewhere else without inconveniencing other court personnel and the public by closing the cafeteria for their exclusive use.
Broward judges can't seem to help themselves by continuing to make poorly thought out decisions squarely aimed at honoring themselves to the detriment of the public at large.
It makes you wonder if any of them are really capable of making proper decisions from the bench when they can't figure out something as easy as this.
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