CHOOSE YOUR POISON
♪♪♪ Old friends ♪♪♪ JAABLOG's new found obsession with all things Palm Beach has taken us down a familiar path. It turns out old friend Howard Finkelstein and 15th Circuit Chief Judge Peter Blanc, currently in consideration for a spot on the Fourth DCA, are one time running buddies from their days at UM Law School. Who knew?
Anyway, everyone knows Howard has always stood for truth, justice, and having a really good time, so it was only natural to ask him earlier today if Blanc also used to party like a rock star back in the day. In response Howard flashed his trademark TV smile, simply stating "I don't kiss and tell".
Not exactly a ringing endorsement for clean living, but it does reinvigorate an old JAABLOG debate. Should people who may have once used illegal drugs be allowed to sit in judgement or prosecute others for the same things they used to do?
It's a tricky issue. On one hand nobody likes a hypocrite, but on the other judges and prosecutors infused with real life experience (pun intended) and a working knowledge of reality might be better suited to understand and remedy drug offender cases. Of course, there's always the chance the former offender/authority figure may overcompensate to prove a point, but by and large aren't former users better at working out drug cases than the formerly sheltered or unpopular kids who just don't get it?
Post a comment if you have any insights or feelings on the topic. The easy answer is obviously to reform the selectively enforced and racist drug laws (think what would happen if police are let loose inside America's college dorms with the same ferocity they patrol the inner cities), but since that ain't happening anytime soon, it's a topic that sorely needs attention ...
It is time for sensible drug policy reform. The mere fact that someone uses illegal drugs does not mean that it will affect their parenting, quality of life, or work product. IN addition it does not make them a "bad person"/ It's time for reform and to dispel the myths associated with drug use. The minimum mandatories are inhumane and I am disgusted with the lack of activism on part of the lawyers in Broward. I applaud Howard for all of his hard work. I would also like send out a "fuck you" to all you dipshits who do nothing to better our society and refuse to push the legislature for change.
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I agree with the above-we must unite and demand change.What is the criminal defense bar doing about the disparity in drug cases and the fact the Broward's State Attorney has destroyed countless of young lives due to stupid mistakes related to drugs. Hey Satz how many 19 years olds were raped and beaten in jail for a handful of pills?
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All Judges should be drug tested.
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A Black face = probable cause in Amerika.
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Stupid idea-I am confident that some of the judges have prescriptions for valium and xanax. They drink booze and smoke cigs. As long as they do a good job the weekends belong to them.
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What about the ones that get pills from their spouses? That's a felony.
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experimenting w drugs as a kid is understandable but breaking the law after deciding to become a lawyer is all wrong.
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If there was ever a policy that excluded any individual from the bench who ever engaged in the use of narcotics, there would never be any viable candidates!! It literally absurd to even contemplate such a fascist principle....................of course, most of the degenerate, right wing, hypocrite lunatics who enjoy their daily scripts of xanax and vicoden.....their cool.....because that's "legal." Freakin absurd, the entire debate is!! They can drink themselves into oblivion every weekend but partake of an illegal classified narcotic, like weed, and your a freakin criminal........The abject failure of the criminal defense bar as a whole is disgraceful in terms of the treatment afforded a Drug Trafficking client whose only crime is that of addiction.....great job pleading them to the min mans.....very impressive!
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The War on drugs has been an abject failure. We have cops who steal drugs from defendants and then utilize confidential informants to lie and entrap poor saps. Is it making the world a safer place? No. Bill thanks for opening up the dialogue. I for one am fed up with my tax dollars being used for non violent drug crimes. I challenge BSO to help stop elder abuse, cyber crimes, violent crimes, and crimes where we have true victims.
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Imagine that. At least they r not all delusional. Approach the subject with some intelligence instead of locking everybody up. But how would the system support itself otherwise?
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If he was a doper he shouldn't be on an appeals court
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What is worse Bill. The cops lying and planting evidence or the State Attorney ignoring them and breaking the law? Let;s throw in this scenario-Judges that never grants motions to suppress when clearly the police violated con law?
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For those who hath not sinned be precluded from law, the judiciary, the clergy, politics or even academia...who I might ask would be left to run things?
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Real World is correct but misses the issue. Since nearly all have committed victimless crimes why should the lower classes have their lives and families destroyed while the rest pay no price?
Is a man who would accept a pay check or a pension to enforce double standards worthy of respect, or should he be taken to task for perpetuating misery and poverty instead of working to solve problems?
I think if we must enforce bad laws then all those that have sinned must be precluded from employment. Otherwise the system has no moral integrity. If there are not enough left to run things, then change would be forced and laws would finally change.
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y'all need to read michelle alexander on the new jim crow
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I believe if drugs were used at law school or as an attorney one is not to be a Judge.
If cannabis was used beforehand its ok.
If felony drugs were ever used one is not to be a Judge.
I would argue vigorous background checks and polys for all seeking the bench to verify.
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Sadly, there will always be those who are afraid somebody, somewhere, is having a good time. The victims of the drug war are the unlucky who get busted by the cops (what a waste of resources) ala Police Women of Broward ilk busting poor schmucks, whose lives are often ruined. Drug Court is the best thing that's happened to the system in my 30+ years, but that's still a silly game, even if a huge step in the right direction. There is a distinction between use + abuse, or ought to be, in a "free" society. But if in conversation the person you're talking to uses the term "narcotics", see the first sentence above.
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The president of the United States(potus)is a stoner.How did we let that happen?Should not potus come under the same scrutiny as judges?
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Maybe drugs make a judge a better judge? Like drugs made Hendrix a better guitar player?
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What about newly a appointed judge(that daddy got her) who was a prosecutor who got her ex-husband off(she set up) after a confession? How can this person sit in judgement?
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Freakin brilliant this particular post is.......whoever this a-hole is, is probably in the direct blood line of those who sanctioned the Salem witch trials, the Inquisition and are direct descendent's of Senator Joe McCarthy......Listen up, you ignoramus......By virtue of your brilliant and deeply philosophical insights, any law student who ever consumed a bud lite should be banned from the bar, the bench and the priesthood, boy scouts and PTA for that matter. If, on the other hand, one consumed little boys penis's in the freakin Archdiocese, one of the most corrupt organizations on the planet, they should be popes! News***** flash, genius...alcohol IS A DRUG, THE MOST DEADLY OF ALL COMBINED!! IF YOU EVER CONSUMED A GLASS OF WINE WITH YOUR WIFE AT A PASSOVER SEDER, YOU BOTH SHOULD BE Sodomized and banned from any semblence of "heaven' upon your death. Now lets further analyze your warped reasoning......weed is ok but not felony drugs? So, using your well-reasoned logic, if it's a felony amount of weed, they too should be banished from the earth. How bout if they ever jerk-off? qualified? Throughout history, many of the worlds deepest thinkers, philosophers, writers and prodigies, partook in heavy recreational drug use such as Freud's love for intravenous cocaine, Aldous Huxley's love for hallucinogens, Timothy Leary's long-term use of mega doses of LSD along with Dr. Richard Alpert (aka Baba Ram Dass) and much of histories most prolific songwriters and musicians produced their best works while under the influence! You just keep re-acting without thought and consciousness, like a majority of the "sheeple" who are way too caught up with the depth of reality tv to GIVE A RATS ASS ABOUT ANYTHING ELSE. Speaking of background checks, why don't YOU set the bar and if you show "no deception" when asked if you ever had a sexual fantasy involving a married woman.......we will elect you God...King of the Universe. Now go back to your studio apartment quickly before you miss reruns of MAURY or 'The biggest LOSER!!
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LMFAO!! This post is a candidate for the most sarcastic, condesending, holier than thou award!! I love it!!
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Florida is out of touch and should adopt the laws of Colorado, California, Nevada, New Jersey and 20 other states and legalize pot and collect tax $'s. While they are at it they should legalize online gambling and prostitution and again collect tax $'s
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Legalizing weed wouldn't impede Florida's black prisoner based economy either. It would still be illegal to drive while burning just like there are open container and dui laws. Police can still run dwb scams and claim odor of weed or glassy bloodshot eyes to search cars and keep the jail economy going.
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Keep passing laws to make everything legal and see how many lawyers have to close up shop.
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From your mouth to God's ear.
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Now there's one selfish, self-centered and
Extremely primitive lawyer whose priorities are his
ability to generate income over the welfare
Of the human race! Hey, let's pass legislation
making it a crime to inhale and imagine how
Much cash you can put in your grubby little
fingers? It's ASSHOles like this that are rep-re
resentative of our lack of humanity and
concern for the human race! This type of regressive thought
and greed is treated as just another
view point on the finer points of " business"
when it should induce unimaginable outrage!
Are we as a species so f***** blind to our
Indifference to the welfare of the planet and
the human race that it has become an accept
able cultural practice to sacrifice anything
and everything as long as it serves to Line our
pockets. What was once a proud and righteous
symbol of the goodness of man has morphed
Into an absolute f***** fiasco that has adopted
a twisted and perverse , systematic practice
of a hierarchy that places the almighty dol-
lar as a commodity more meaningful than
Life itself? Instead of outrage and radical
change, the entire race simply exists day to
day, having long ago lost sight of our truth,
While, with each passing day, the entire
Planet drifts further away from any semblance
of truth or spirituality. Civil and blind obedience
is what we have become and if there ever
was any integrity in politics or government,
It is no longer . If it were up to me, I would opt
for ANY change that, regardless of my own
selfishness and need, served to better what
remains of this fleeting earthly existence for all
Living things. Leg-alize it all and only when we as a race coll-
ectively surrender and free ourselves from
this self imposed delusion that sacrificing
Those with whom we share this earthly
Existence are no longer dispensible or
of any lesser value than anything material.Let them make the
Necessary changes for our survival and let
us leave our insecurities behind and end the
cycle of the methodical and senseless path
Of self- destruction.
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Its called RACISM
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Not sure about your reference to kids either used drugs, or were sheltered and unpopular. Your argument seems to make using drugs the path to popularity and street cred?
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9:29 is a perfect example of why drugs should not become legal. WHAT THE HELL AFTER ALL THAT RAMBLING DID YOU SAY?
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The proto-fascist brain can be cured by large doses of THC administered in the late teen years of development.
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We need competence on the 4th DCA; God knows that there is an absence of legal knowledge up there, nos. Howard is the only head of a law firm that would allow his subordinate to perjure her testimony against their own client in order to cover up utter ignorance of the law. This letter will give you to be apprised of the attorney about whom I am writing.
http://db.tt/SAVlTgq6
Here is Howard's complaint to the U.S. DOJ and the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights regarding Satz policy and practice of protecting and refusing to prosecute corrupt police officers in this jurisdiction: http://db.tt/svEHRZV
This is the case where Howard chose to hide the incompetence of his assistants:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADQgqWH87IE ,
And this is Howard acknowledging the utter incompetence of his assistants:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olpIffSYHE4
Mike Gates, a winner of the Silver Star, knew that counsel was incompetent and that the defendant in this case was being convicted upon false and altered evidence by the Walt Disney Cops at the Hollywood Police Department, but he didn't have the guts to go against the man who he believes to be his boss, i.e., Michael Satz.
I wouldn't give you a nickle for all the judicial knowhow from any judge or attorney in Broward County. Is this purely incompetence, or worse; corruption?
McNamara
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We need competence on the 4th DCA; God knows that there is an absence of legal knowledge up there, now. Howard is the only head of a law firm that would allow his subordinate to perjure her testimony against their own client in order to cover up utter ignorance of the law. This letter will give you to be apprised of the attorney about whom I am writing.
http://db.tt/SAVlTgq6
Here is Howard's complaint to the U.S. DOJ and the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights regarding Satz policy and practice of protecting and refusing to prosecute corrupt police officers in this jurisdiction: http://db.tt/svEHRZV
This is the case where Howard chose to hide the incompetence of his assistants:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADQgqWH87IE ,
And this is Howard acknowledging the utter incompetence of his assistants:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olpIffSYHE4
Mike Gates, a winner of the Silver Star, knew that counsel was incompetent and that the defendant in this case was being convicted upon false and altered evidence by the Walt Disney Cops at the Hollywood Police Department, but he didn't have the guts to go against the man who he believes to be his boss, i.e., Michael Satz.
I wouldn't give you a nickle for all the judicial knowhow from any judge or attorney in Broward County. Is this purely incompetence, or worse; corruption?
McNamara
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I don't trust anybody that hasn't been arrested at least once or has never been high. Not high like marijuana high, but lit the fuck up on coke type high.
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The masses are against the war on drugs, why cant that be 1 of the cut backs for the government!
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Johnny Mac, it is not the lack of knowledge of law in the 4th--it is the absolute arbitrary in-norance of the law as written and decided that is the problem and the lies of omission routinely used in rulings and bullshit pca's. they have the knowledge, but weigh the results of the fraud upon the court in the 17th and other LT's exposure if they followed the law and reversed or even worse--dismissed -- as a matter of law. You keep blabbering on and on and on like the judges actually are uninformed and acting from that PLACE IN SPACE WHEN THE REAL TRUTH IT--IT IS ALL KNOWINGLY AND INTENTIONALLY FALSELY CREATED. In fact, that it REALLY why they don't like guns in the hands of civilians
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