Wednesday, March 17, 2010

The Deepest Link




More often than not, a psychiatric diagnosis is made after a brief interview where the "physician" observes an apparent set of symptoms that fall into some category of dysfunction and abnormality. So after about fifteen minutes in a sterile, foreign environment, the observed symptoms are almost immediately categorized by level of severity and the diagnosis is magically transformed into one of several very expensive, very new, and very over prescribed medications that are often used off-label by psychiatric practitioners.

Did we not learn anything from the Hawthorne studies where we learned that the very act of observation in and of itself changes not only behavior, but also performance of subjects in any given setting?

There simply is no such thing as "natural" observation. The act of observing changes behavior, and I can tell you for certain that the act of being observed sure changes mine!


Largely driven by pharmaceutical conglomerates, a psychiatric diagnosis can be every bit a trendy as a pair of designer jeans back in middle school. It seems that lately, that diagnoses are driven more and more by Big Pharma and the latest and greatest pharmaceutical discovery.

It started in the 70's when Valium first became known as "Mommy’s Little Helpers."

The 80's brought with it the discovery of Prozac, the wonder drug. And before we knew it, everyone from the Island to the Upper East Side was popping the capsules on a daily basis. Seeing a shrink was the norm, not the exception. It was almost trendy to be depressed. So long as it stopped there.

But next? Next came the smart pills. The Adderall, Provigil, the nap in a bottle. Stimulants were to late 90's what cocaine was in the 70’s. Only this time they were prescribed, and they were socially acceptable, and they were given to children. Parents from Westchester and Scarsdale rushed to the nearest doctor in town to get their children on the fast track to the Ivy League. I would not be surprised if Shire-Richwood (the company that developed the pharmaceutical gem) bought add space in pre-schools. ADD. It’s almost cool to be diagnosed with it. shit—look at Ty Pennington. He’s a man’s man. When I grow up, I wanna be hyperactive too! And bam—there is was in the next edition of the DSM-IV: ADD with Adult onset. You don’t even need to be hyperactive anymore, just N.O.S. (not otherwise specified).

Now we have Depakote & Seroquel and everyone from Britney Spears to the kid next door is suddenly bipolar. And apparently, now I am too! Could it be that I’m just moody or having a bad day? Could it be that your annoying personality and is getting under my skin? Or that maybe, just, maybe I have good reason to be angry or upset? It couldn't possibly be that years of chronic stress have finally just pushed me over the edge?
Or could it?
So after years of being medicated with every pharmaceutical from Ativan to Zoloft, I finally got that golden diagnosis that makes me almost as cool as Britney or Paris, and so, yes-- I have been diagnosed bipolar too. I’ve also been diagnosed with just about everything else that appears within the spectrum of anxiety disorders, so is it any wonder that I find it a little bit unnerving to place myself in the oh, so capable hands of a shrink who seems to have gotten his degree out of some cracker jack box-- because surely no competent medical professional would dare to place me on just about every sedative and anti-psychotic medication or threaten to have me institutionalized simply because I suggested he may actually want to treat me rather than medicate me... but that would be too labor intensive for a shrink who divides his time between the local community mental health agency and the county jail.


FUN! I'm certifiable now!!!

So rather than take the time to listen to a word I have to say, or try something archaic like actually evaluating my symptoms and reviewing my medical history before treating me with the latest and greatest R&D breakthrough to hit the Pharmaceutical Industry since Penicillin.

I have and taken pretty much every pill.

If I’m happy I’m grandiose. If I’m sad, I’m chronically depressed. If I’m angry I’m paranoid. When I’m confident I’m narcissistic, and when I’m excited I must be manic. Couldn't’t it just be that you’re constant bullshit is really just pissing me the fuck off?

I have finally become every bit as crazy as I could have possibly imagined one being. Wouldn't it be nice to know that maybe, just maybe, there was some hope before my entire body and mind were tweaked with every artificial emotion --

Unfortunately, the one thing I am not is psychotic, though I often wish I were!

The idea of living in an alternative reality is most appealing! A place where this hell-hole I call home might is sprinkled with glitter and daffodils.

Dust? Not here. Couldn't be. I just vacuumed three years ago and I saw Tinkerbell flying overhead spreading fairy dust while she thought I was sleeping!

No. Unfortunately, I am not psychotic, but I might let you think that I am! It’s a little more fun that way… for both of us!

Until, of course, until it gets real. Until I am so far beyond exhausted that I can hardly get my ass out of bed or sleep through my alarm because I pushed myself way too hard for way too long.... I have fallen asleep during my lunch hour, found myself dozing off during a conference call-- or worse--- a webinar!

It is hard enough to navigate a big boxy 5-speed SUV wide awake. Try doing it when your eyes start to feel blurry. Just add a huge ass deer bumper to that contraption, and I'm definitely a danger to others!

I have hit way too many non-moving objects while awake and focused-- not to mention the times I am tired and distracted!


Asleep at the wheel again!

Them I get home... eventually... and it happens again! Asleep at the wheel of the very worst kind: My mouse wheel!

The Logitech mouse optical bar that controls my entire world! How many times have I accidentally lost or sent files simply from "bumping" the wheel?

I lost a whole hard drive once-- back when they were really, really expensive! At least no one got hurt. Well, not that time!

There was actually one time I fell asleep sitting up with a cigarette burning over somewhere too close to my keyboard. My new laptop that I bought with my very last disbursement of my student loans. It was an all-in-one deal. I must have had a cigarette in my hand, my mouth-- don't even remember... but after a few minutes went by, probably a few hours, maybe even a few days, and I woke up to find my favorite letter melted into the motherboard just beneath the flimsy little keys.

That was no fun, since I had to change all my passwords using a pen jabbing at the empty space on my keyboard where my F-key used to be.

I recently had to put another poor keyboard to rest along with its antiquated predecessors of roller balls, and peripherals that I bought long before the USB port was ever an option! So there lays my keyboard, along with a few outdated mice, printer cables, cable splitters, and a a whole lot of cords that surge protectors.

I can't say why exactly, but for some (pathological) reason, I still have mice that I used to run with DOS before I upgraded to Windows 3.1. Yes-- I have quite an extensive cord collection! Zip drives, Floppy disks, thermal paper that has turned yellow since they I don't think you can even find a fax machine that still uses those 6 foot rolls I used to buy in the early '90's.

They are in there somewhere, tucked away in boxes filled with telephone cords, old school printer cables and hardly modern gender switchers! Buried along with an external zip drive and my first hot swappable floppy disk drive and CD . Because sadly, I do not think I could function in this world if I were attached to a keyboard that was missing the letter “F”.

But don’t worry—I got a new one. I could not live or die without using my favorite word in the English language. No—that one needed to be replaced. Next generation: Wireless! Woo-hoo! Now we’re talking. Falling asleep at the wheel can be a problem—especially for a cat. Poor little thing. She is so used to watching me move it around furiously – just enough to catch the signal at just the right angle, my poor cat thinks it’s a toy. The only mouse that is more fun to chase than that bird she once caught when she jumped off the porch. Poor little spotty, she curls up next to the PC tower because it is warmer than my bed. My mouse gets more attention than my poor little kitty cat. Holy shit! My priorities are fucked up!

But still… here I am, huddled over the keyboard while the world waits for me outside. I could be sitting in a bar. I could be mailing a letter. I could be taking a walk—but no. Here I am. Stuck like a zombie in front of the keyboard.

“COMPUTER OFF: MAKE IT STOP!”

I burned of staring at that the computer screen begins to morph into strange little dots in my peripheral vision. I’m so stressed out that I shake when I write, and I’m so stressed out that my adrenaline and cortisol levels are literally damaging my brain. If I’m not crazy yet, trust me I’m well on my way!

There is no diagnosis for being lonely. But if there were how would it best be described? Being in a room full of people. Being in crisis and no one to call-- or worse calling someone when in crisis and no one shows up? Which is worse? I think I'd rather not make that call. Why, you may ask? Because we can convince ourselves that is simply because others are busy-- certainly not because they don't care when deep inside we know the truth.

Do I really want to be reminded that I have spent just under 36 years on this planet and that I cannot think of one person I could rely upon in an emergency. Not a single person to call. No emergency contact number, no permanent home address. And even if I could come up with a name or number, who among them could I possibly trust to take care of Spotty? Shit-- I can't think if anyone who would might even notice that my car hadn't moved -- or that I might have.

This concerns me more than I could possibly let on... who will know t check on Spotty? Who would notice? It is not her fault that I don't play well with others. No one would notice at all-- at least until they actually needed something from me.

Everybody calls me in crisis. And time and time again I come running. But sometimes I would just rather be alone. In silence. In White Noise. Where I am safe. Where I am free. Where I am trapped and where I am completely and utterly alone.

Other times, I just want to run. I don’t know where; don't why, just run. So I can be alone in a strange city where it is actually okay for me to be alone. It is easier to remove myself from the social circles of days gone by, high school reunions, Family or College re-unions....

And though I have read quite a bit about the physiology associated with the "fight or flight" instinct-- I still don't know if I am running towards something or away from another.

I am, and always have been, "a man without a country." I am a woman without a home. I always have been, and even as an adult I still felt Homeless at Home. (Durant, 2002)

So I moved as far as I could from the obvious places one might expect me to find me. I am definitely a "New Yorker," but only in spirit and in attitude. So I really can't go home again. That simply is not an option. And even if I were invited to go to one of four possible high school reunions, what would be the point? What for?

To be reminded yet again how much potential I used to have?

Why bother going back to the "glory days" of football uniforms and cheerleader skirts? Is our desire to participate in the juvenile, yet ritualistic tradition of seeing how well we measured up against our peers? Is the competition over yet, or are we still waiting to see who has the most toys, the biggest diamond, or the prettiest trophy wife after all is said and done? Are those events driven by our desire to see how far come or how far others have fallen? To see that the girl who fucked my boyfriend in the tenth grade is now wearing his ring? To listen to my sorority sisters who still gossip about eating disorders and drug problems?

Life is sometimes like a car wreck, you don't want to look, but you can’t turn seem to turn away. And yes, secretly, deep down inside, we are a bit relieved if not happy that it happened to someone else instead of ourselves. Yep, no question: better him then me!

So for everyone out there who recently promised to help before , during, and after my surgery-- you can all breathe a sigh of relief... You need not worry that I might actually take you up on that promise.

If you don't know me well enough to know how difficult it is for me to ask for anything, then clearly you would be the last person I want to see when I wake up the hospital.

I don't care if it is breast cancer or a broken toe-- you are not welcome here. I don't call during a crisis. Not because I'm strong, not because I'm brave, and not because I'm weak. Simply because I'm not that person. I'm not stoic, I'm not brave, I'm just not that person!

If or when I'm in trouble, disappointment and broken promises are the very last thing I need or want. Even if it out of some misplaced sense of pity or superficial concern. I have been in trouble before. I know what to expect. I am certainly old enough, and apparently smart enough to have learned the rules of the game by now.

So if you catch me feeling sad, lonely, or just plain sorry for myself, take comfort in knowing that I expect you to walk away-- much like you have in the past. And don't worry, it's okay to think to yourself, better me than you.


REALITY BYTES

So instead, I find it is far better to drown myself in White Noise then baby bullshit and pure stupidity.

To distract myself with fancy websites, useless information, self-reflection, loud music... Fancy gadgets, the newest widgets, and everything else that completely distracts us from the reality of our existence.

To keep us from realizing that we may actually be completely alone in this world and maybe even in the next one too...

It is easier to fake a smile and go about my merry way than to be confronted with the fact that nobody gives a shit about how I feel or what I've been doing, unless, of course, I have something they need.

Something of value, something material. Something concrete. Something that can be sold, or something that can be used. Something, of course, other than me.

Because sadly, what gets lost in translation, is the very fact that I am something of value. Something to love. Something to hold on to. Someone who will stay by your side even if it hurts me to do so.

The one thing you will never know, is just how much it hurts to watch you walk out the door. Especially when I knew it was coming, or perhaps maybe the only way it could ever have been.

I think I'm done.

You can come, you can go-- whenever you like. Eventually I do smarten up-- and the one time you come knocking, I may just not bother to let you in.

Yes-- White Noise.

White Noise, Dark Nights. Sanity and Superheroes.

So please don't call me and ask, "how are you?"

Unless you really want to know, don’t bother asking. Because one of these days, when you least expect it, I might be ready to tell you. I might be ready to tell the world. I might just tell you to sit your ass down and tell you exactly how I am. And let me warn you: it's not good.

Dark empty nights are only special if you can endure the silence. Not just the midnight hours, but the long stretches of silence and solitude that can only be cherished by those who not only appreciate it, but by those who are capable of creating their own White Noise.

I am lucky that I actually enjoy the dark in the dead of night. Because only then am I am completely free to enjoy the complex whisper of the midnight hour. And finally, just as before the sun comes up, and a quiet calm comes over my body and mind. A single moment where I gain complete control over my racing thoughts and busy mind. It only then when I can actually moment write, post, and submit.


Elyssa Durant, Ed.M.
Nashville, Tennessee


"You may not care how much I know, but you don't know how much I care."



________________________________________________________________



Reference: The Politics of the DSM
LIVE: What's In A Name?
Friday, June 13, 2008 7:13 PM
From: "Elyssa Durant"
To: "Elyssa Danielle Durant" Message contains attachmentsWhat.docx (27KB)



Posted by Elyssa Durant at Friday, June 13, 2008
Labels: Drafts Dark Night, Diagnosis, DSM-IV, Psychiatry, Smart Pills, Sorry Works, White Noise

Reality Bytes: Tumbling Along...

Reality Bytes: Tumbling Along...

how strange to be inserting the dots after all these years.... but when live with chaos you collect dots just... like hansel and gretel or cody's leaveless plant, all i have is dots where link, roots and a foundation might otherwise be found.

http://darknightdurant.blogspot.com/2010/02/tumblr-experiment-ifail.html

Reality Bytes: Fw: BlackBerry Forums - Search Forums

Reality Bytes: Fw: BlackBerry Forums - Search Forums

#fml

in my own words...

The first course I took as a grad student in New York City was a fabulous seminar in public journalism. on the 4th floor at the infamous J- School at Columbia University.

Located inside the cool steel gates separating us from the reality the of poverty that surrounded the Uniersity just outside the campus gates on the Upper West Side of Manahattan. Alumni calle it "Morningside Heights" but in reality it is just a few blocks from Harlem.

As they were trying to tweak our skills turning us into experts in public journalism or public relations.

16th street from the homeless and the winos’ asking everyone all the passer by's for money just before we walked through the iron gates leading to the Ivory Tower.

We would pass the men living on the streets each day, enter through the solid stone doors that were 12 ft tall, and write about them. With such eloquence you would hardly know they were homeless at all. We exploited them. The blocks surrounding 116th-120th where only the young and the talented get ready to take their place in society.

Just like Tuskegee exploited the Blacks, and the Army exploits the young, we exploited the sick irony of paying more per credit than they earned in one year on Veterans benefits or disability. We disgust me.

Karma is a bitch, because less than two years later there I was, sleeping in the law school stacks; showering in the indoor pool... gym because I “looked good enough to pass through the gates.” I had that Ivy League pedigree. The would-have-been Harvard Law student—maybe even have had it paid in full had I been a boy or born to a different mother.

What the fuck did they know? That cute little Jewish Girl from Long Island, the one from a "good" family... the Harvard Legacy with the beautiful mother always dripping in jewels and fur from her latest boyfriend or husband—that little girl was me.

I should have been the perfect example of how a power player in the making the benefits from good breeding. No one ever needed to know that beneath it all I worked my ass off to get into College and ultimately get a scholarship into the top ranked program in Sociology and Social Policy to effect change. The fact that I dropped out of high school at 16 could remain my dirty little secret.

And to this day, no one has ever come forward to expose that little truth. Probably because so few people know—Maybe three or four So would I reveal such an embarrassing little detail of my life and risk my reputation on something I should have left behind me over twenty years ago?

Because it matters.

No one needed to know. I can get by well enough on my looks. I speak quite eloquently, and usually appear normal "n.o.s." to most, but it is an important little factoid because people constantly judge ME based upon who they think I am – either the girl with the wealthy parents; too lazy too stupid to get off welfare.

It matters because what appears to be and what is are often two very different things. I am in fact, an Ivy League Alumnus. I did in fact get a full scholarship into the PhD program in Public Policy at a leading University.

I am in fact unable to find employment.

my sole source of live of income is SSI Supplemental Security Income) the lowest of the low.

I am so far beneath the poverty level (already ridiculous) that I often wonder how I manage to live at all.

what happened to that "legacy," the access I once had to the Ivory tower on the 4th floor we wrote is now gone. Not because they didn't like my work-- they loved it! Solid A in Public Journalism.

Well if I were in New York today, I would most likely be one of the people o the streets. Actually, I would probably be sitting across the street at the Bookstore just so I could stay close to the vast amounts of wisdom and philosophy within the hollowed halls as classes break for the summer. I would be watching people go in and out and be envious that they had the one thing that I don't: access.

So I made it through the very Same J-School where Pat Buchanan refused to speak to his Alma-mater because he once punched someone in the face on the 5th floor. I made it through despite the fact that I often times slept in my car in the middle of winter because I could not afford gas for the commute and eventually lost my apartment. I made it through having no electricity and frozen water pipes.

The question is: can I make it through this? I paid my dues. I deserve a chance. Dammit, I deserve a do-over. I deserve a job. I deserve a little credit.
We used to joke about all the sell-out Journalist who give up on reporting the news to become speech writers for politicians. How people like Pat Buchanan (a J-School alum) became so skilled at using their words to sell ideas in such a way that people actually believed the propaganda they were spinning.

I have given much thought to this... the only people who are more arrogant and self serving than politicians and academics are reporters!

I think they become addicted to the their own power to manipulate people and they are willing to trade a little tarnished idealism for power and inflated self-esteem.  I fear we will our policy decision be based upon our need effective a test of emergency broadast system... the ultimate War of the Worlds with Spy-bots, robots, droids,  all sorts of cool SpaceMonkeys and shit! 

 Is this reform or ability to manipulate and control information to initiate a performance sequence through ability to monitor and predict human behavior has been reduced to sheer electrons neurologial actvity and perform on command? i wish! i wanna be a robot.

I am not one of those people. I care enough about the issues to take the time to examine them from all angles and I fell that the massive amount of money being spent by agencies that I hold in deep respect launching a counter-attack on the insurance companies and their ad execs will have serve to damage their reputation.

I chose to volunteer with these agencies because I believe they are well informed and do a great job to involve the everyday average Americans like myself in the political process.

By spending $750,000 on advertising, these groups now seem to be on the same level as the Insurance Industry and others who exploit the poor and infirm at the mercy of the healthcare marketplace.

So I take issue with this campaign. Let Rick Scott be heard. Using such tactics will make the good guys no better than the Insurance Companies that exploit us all. i take issue with all the FaceBook invitations and emails from candidates requesting a $10 donation I won't even miss-- really. hmmm... how you lived on $600 / month? everybody does NOT have $10 too text to Haiti. some of do not have cable, television, or a even a telephone because can't have an "extra ten dollars"

so how did i get here? well, i would tell you, but at this toint it is completely irrelevant. what i do need is people. a community, a network... to stop decade. maybe to feel as if the pain i feel each and every i open my eyes, I am here only out of obligation.
is that horrible to say? maybe? am i closer today than I ws one year ago? who I have new ideas for tomorrow? no. i don't give a shit.

i simply do not care.

there is no amount of joy or hope go a better tomorrow that would make today feel like any less of a chore... and I will be tomorrow knowing what do and how it ends.

do you do you hear me now? has anyone heard anything I have said? ever? 

do year me now? do you hehar what i am saying? did I stutter?

good.  to be continued....   
i hear birds chirping. wow. i actually mafe it through deep hours of night when i had nothing to say write or communicate.

but i hear the birds and some things I would like to read edit 'publish' i don't know... i don't to "blog" about my post adolescent misery... it disgusts me. so i'm going take a few minutes for cuddles. with Spotty and to try to takek a few deep breaths.

my right hand cold, so I can't say much more anymore for right now... so another... and night... another diversion... reality bytes.

i am grieving. i am grieving for the loss of a future that will never be. i am not okay. i will never be "okay" and no matter times you shove that down my throat, the bottom line is that my life is so empty that even if i knew it would be tomorrow, the past was so b that from it would keep from ever knowing inner peace and hapiness. it is not in me. totally gone. forever. whooooosh..... 3/17/2010

so back these ads showing us from big meia: how to reform or how to perform?

The large amount of funds being thrown (public or private) being spent on media fluff, and emotional being spent on media propaganda and 'skittles' on both sides of the healthcare debate.

I am offended by the huge amounts of money being spent on propaganda and skittles by both sides of the healthcare debate. Excessive, exorbitant monies being spent to manipulate the public through misleading ads, expert analyses, media alerts~ this is insulting at best.

Real dollars being used to manipulate the public about real issues: the sick; the poor; the ignorant...we are selling bad data and information to those who need it the most. Making promises we can't keep and giving false hope to desperate for change they can believe in... do you?   I don't.

Talk about adding insult to injury? I do hope HCAN, HealthJustice and others will reconsider this campaign. I am one foot soldier who is unwilling to participate in this one.

Bottom line is this: we need to stop manipulating images and perceptions about the reality of healthcare, education, and social welfare in the United States. All is not well in America. Not well at all. And I am here to prove it!

Elyssa Durant, Ed.M.
United States of America

The Digital Divide Hinders Democracy

Reality Bytes: The Digital Divide Hinders Democracy I'm clearly on the wrong side.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

EQUITABLE TOLLING

“Equitable tolling may be appropriate where the defendant has actively misled the plaintiff regarding her cause of action, where the plaintiff has in some extraordinary way been prevented from asserting her rights or where she has mistakenly asserted her rights in the wrong forum.” Buckalew v. Ebi Companies, 2002 WL 1335110, at *4 (E.D. Pa, June 5 Plaintiff’s arrest occurred in March 1977. The documented activities of the 5 Squad occurred three years later, during the period 1980 through 1984. See Sentencing Memorandum.


Philadelphia police engaged a long-standing pattern of appalling public corruption. The fact of this harm is readily ascertainable.


5 Squad: Philadelphia police engaged a long-standing pattern of appalling public corruption. The fact of this harm is readily ascertainable.

1 In deciding a motion for judgment on the pleadings under Rule 12(c), a court must “‘view the facts presented in the pleadings and the inferences to be drawn wherefrom in the light most favorable to the . . . non-moving party’” Green v. Fund Asset


Management, L.P., 245 F.3d 214, 220 (3d Cir. 2001), quoting Institute for Scientific Info, Inc. v. Gordon &; Breach, Science Publishers, Inc., 931 F.2d 1002, 1004 (3d Cir.1991).



Judgment is appropriate “only if the plaintiffs would not be entitled to relief under any set of facts that could be proved.” Id., citing Consolidated Rail Corp. v. Protlight, Inc., 188 F.3d 93, 95-96 (3d Cir. 1999).



BLANE NEELY a/k/a WALTER MITCHELL : CIVIL ACTION v SIX CONTINENT’S HOTELS, et. al. : No. 02-3890

ORDER-MEMORANDUM

AND NOW, this 15th day of October, 2003, the “Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings of Defendants, Six Continents Hotels, Inc., Holiday Inns, Inc. and John Sweetwood” is granted, Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(c).1

This civil rights action arises from the March 1977 arrest and subsequent conviction and incarceration of plaintiff Blane Neely a/k/a Walter Mitchell. On March 17, 1977, plaintiff was a guest at the Holiday Inn in Philadelphia, where defendant Elliott Jurist was the night manager. Second Amended Complaint,

10, 11. At approximately 11 p.m., Jurist is alleged to have given defendant David Grove, a Philadelphia police officer, access to plaintiff’s telephone records and to have permitted him to listen in on plaintiff’s telephone conversations. Second Amended Complaint,

12. It is further alleged that later that night, Jurist and Grove entered plaintiff’s room and assaulted and robbed plaintiff. Second Amended Complaint,

13, 14. As a cover-up, plaintiff was then arrested, and subsequently convicted and incarcerated based on the testimony of Jurist and Grove.

2 Plaintiff pro se filed the original complaint and, on July 15, 2002, an amended complaint. On January 13, 2003, Cozen & O’Connor was appointed as counsel for plaintiff and immediately moved to amend the complaint. The motion was granted and on February 10, 2003, a Second Amended Complaint was filed.

3 “A claim may be dismissed as time-barred where it is clear from the complaint that the applicable statute of limitations has lapsed.” Buckalew v. Ebi Companies, 2002

WL 1335110, *1 (E.D. Pa., June 5, 2002) (citations omitted).

4 Molina v. City of Lancaster, 159 F. Supp.2d 813 (E.D. Pa. 2001). See also Bailey v. Tucker, 533 Pa. 237, 261, 621 A.2d 109, (1993)

(“it would seem that being subjected to a term of imprisonment is a harm or injury to the person. Nor can there be any doubt the fact of this harm is readily ascertainable upon its occurrence.”)

2

On June 25, 2002, plaintiff filed this civil rights action.2 On February 18, 2003, movants filed an answer to the second amended complaint, asserting a statute of limitations defense, and now move for judgment on the pleadings.

3

The parties agree that Pennsylvania’s two-year statute of limitations applies to federal claims arising under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981, 1985(3) and 1986. In general, civil rights claims for false arrest and false imprisonment accrue at the time of the arrest and are timebarred if not commenced within two years of the arrest.4 Plaintiff was arrested in March 1977, and any civil rights claim based on the arrest was time-barred two years later. This case was not filed until 2002, 25 years after the arrest and well past the expiration of the applicable statute of limitations. Plaintiff contends, however, that the statute of limitations this case is tolled by the federal equitable tolling doctrine.

“Equitable tolling may be appropriate where the defendant has actively misled the plaintiff regarding her cause of action, where the plaintiff has in some extraordinary way been prevented from asserting her rights or where she has mistakenly asserted her rights in the wrong forum.” Buckalew v. Ebi Companies, 2002 WL 1335110, at *4 (E.D. Pa, June 5 Plaintiff’s arrest occurred in March 1977. The documented activities of the 5 Squad occurred three years later, during the period 1980 through 1984. See Sentencing Memorandum.

3

5, 2002), citing Lake v. Arnold, 232 F.3d 360, 370 n.9 (3d Cir. 2000); Oshiver v. Levin, Fishbein, Sedran & Berman, 38 F.3d 1380, 1387 (3d Cir. 1994). It is plaintiff’s burden to demonstrate the applicability of equitable tolling, and part of the burden is proving the exercise of reasonable diligence in pursuing the claim. Buckalew, supra, at *4 (citations omitted).

“Here, a period of 25 years elapsed between plaintiff’s arrest and his assertion of a federal civil rights violation. Plaintiff argues that he was prevented from asserting his rights “in an extraordinary way” because defendant Grove was a member of the 5 Squad, a group of Philadelphia police officers engaged in “a long-standing pattern of the most appalling public corruption.” United States v. Wilson, No. 88-282, Government Sentencing”

Memorandum, at p.2. However, plaintiff does not make out how the 5 Squad prevented him from proceeding with his claim. Also, there is no allegation that the 5 Squad was involved in plaintiff’s arrest.5 In addition to the 25-year delay between arrest and the filing of this claim, there was a 12-year delay after the sentencing of the 5 Squad in 1990.

Whatever influence or effect the 5 Squad may have had was dissipated upon the conviction and sentencing of its members.

“To invoke equitable tolling, [plaintiff] must show that [he] exercised reasonable diligence in investigating and bringing [his] claims.”
New Castle County v. Hallibur NUS Corp., 111 F.3d 1116, 1126 (3d Cir. 1997) (18-month delay in bringing CERCLA claim not excused by equitable tolling; complicated clean-up implementation procedures did not constitute extraordinary circumstances).

"One who fails to act diligently cannot invoke equitable principles to excuse that lack of diligence." Baldwin County Welcome Center v. Brown, 104 S. Ct. 1723, 1726 (1984)

(equitable tolling not invoked where pro se plaintiff ignored specific instructions regarding filing deadlines and filed employment discrimination action after 90-day period permitted by law).

Plaintiff does not attempt to explain the extraordinary delay in filing his claim. In that he has not satisfied his burden of proving diligence in the pursuit of his claim, equitable tolling cannot be sustained.

Plaintiff’s claims are time-barred.

BY THE COURT:

_______________________

Edmund V. Ludwig, J.



Labels: 5 Squad, hi daddy, Kryptonite, Political Corruption, TwitterVerses
















IN THE UNITED STATES

DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT

OF PENNSYLVANIA



















1 In deciding a motion for judgment on the pleadings under Rule 12(c), a court must “‘view the facts presented in the pleadings and the inferences to be drawn wherefrom in the light most favorable to the . . . non-moving party’” Green v. Fund Asset


Management, L.P., 245 F.3d 214, 220 (3d Cir. 2001), quoting Institute for Scientific Info, Inc. v. Gordon &; Breach, Science Publishers, Inc., 931 F.2d 1002, 1004 (3d Cir.1991).

Judgment is appropriate “only if the plaintiffs would not be entitled to relief under any set of facts that could be proved.” Id., citing Consolidated Rail Corp. v. Protlight, Inc., 188 F.3d 93, 95-96 (3d Cir. 1999).

BLANE NEELY a/k/a WALTER MITCHELL : CIVIL ACTION v SIX CONTINENT’S HOTELS, et. al. : No. 02-3890

ORDER-MEMORANDUM

AND NOW, this 15th day of October, 2003, the “Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings of Defendants, Six Continents Hotels, Inc., Holiday Inns, Inc. and John Sweetwood” is granted, Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(c).1

This civil rights action arises from the March 1977 arrest and subsequent conviction and incarceration of plaintiff Blane Neely a/k/a Walter Mitchell. On March 17, 1977, plaintiff was a guest at the Holiday Inn in Philadelphia, where defendant Elliott Jurist was the night manager. Second Amended Complaint,

10, 11. At approximately 11 p.m., Jurist is alleged to have given defendant David Grove, a Philadelphia police officer, access to plaintiff’s telephone records and to have permitted him to listen in on plaintiff’s telephone conversations. Second Amended Complaint,

12. It is further alleged that later that night, Jurist and Grove entered plaintiff’s room and assaulted and robbed plaintiff. Second Amended Complaint,

13, 14. As a cover-up, plaintiff was then arrested, and subsequently convicted and incarcerated based on the testimony of Jurist and Grove.

2 Plaintiff pro se filed the original complaint and, on July 15, 2002, an amended complaint. On January 13, 2003, Cozen & O’Connor was appointed as counsel for plaintiff and immediately moved to amend the complaint. The motion was granted and on February 10, 2003, a Second Amended Complaint was filed.

3 “A claim may be dismissed as time-barred where it is clear from the complaint that the applicable statute of limitations has lapsed.” Buckalew v. Ebi Companies, 2002

WL 1335110, *1 (E.D. Pa., June 5, 2002) (citations omitted).

4 Molina v. City of Lancaster, 159 F. Supp.2d 813 (E.D. Pa. 2001). See also Bailey v. Tucker, 533 Pa. 237, 261, 621 A.2d 109, (1993)

(“it would seem that being subjected to a term of imprisonment is a harm or injury to the person. Nor can there be any doubt the fact of this harm is readily ascertainable upon its occurrence.”)

2

On June 25, 2002, plaintiff filed this civil rights action.2 On February 18, 2003, movants filed an answer to the second amended complaint, asserting a statute of limitations defense, and now move for judgment on the pleadings.



3



The parties agree that Pennsylvania’s two-year statute of limitations applies to federal claims arising under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981, 1985(3) and 1986. In general, civil rights claims for false arrest and false imprisonment accrue at the time of the arrest and are timebarred if not commenced within two years of the arrest.4 Plaintiff was arrested in March 1977, and any civil rights claim based on the arrest was time-barred two years later. This case was not filed until 2002, 25 years after the arrest and well past the expiration of the applicable statute of limitations. Plaintiff contends, however, that the statute of limitations this case is tolled by the federal equitable tolling doctrine.



“Equitable tolling may be appropriate where the defendant has actively misled the plaintiff regarding her cause of action, where the plaintiff has in some extraordinary way been prevented from asserting her rights or where she has mistakenly asserted her rights in the wrong forum.” Buckalew v. Ebi Companies, 2002 WL 1335110, at *4 (E.D. Pa, June 5 Plaintiff’s arrest occurred in March 1977. The documented activities of the 5 Squad occurred three years later, during the period 1980 through 1984. See Sentencing Memorandum.



3



5, 2002), citing Lake v. Arnold, 232 F.3d 360, 370 n.9 (3d Cir. 2000); Oshiver v. Levin, Fishbein, Sedran & Berman, 38 F.3d 1380, 1387 (3d Cir. 1994). It is plaintiff’s burden to demonstrate the applicability of equitable tolling, and part of the burden is proving the exercise of reasonable diligence in pursuing the claim. Buckalew, supra, at *4 (citations omitted).



Here, a period of 25 years elapsed between plaintiff’s arrest and his assertion of a federal civil rights violation. Plaintiff argues that he was prevented from asserting his rights “in an extraordinary way” because defendant Grove was a member of the 5 Squad, a group of Philadelphia police officers engaged in “a long-standing pattern of the most appalling public corruption.” United States v. Wilson, No. 88-282, Government Sentencing



Memorandum, at p.2. However, plaintiff does not make out how the 5 Squad prevented him from proceeding with his claim. Also, there is no allegation that the 5 Squad was involved in plaintiff’s arrest.5 In addition to the 25-year delay between arrest and the filing of this claim, there was a 12-year delay after the sentencing of the 5 Squad in 1990.



Whatever influence or effect the 5 Squad may have had was dissipated upon the conviction and sentencing of its members.



“To invoke equitable tolling, [plaintiff] must show that [he] exercised reasonable diligence in investigating and bringing [his] claims.”

New Castle County v. Hallibur NUS Corp., 111 F.3d 1116, 1126 (3d Cir. 1997) (18-month delay in bringing CERCLA claim not excused by equitable tolling; complicated clean-up implementation procedures did not constitute extraordinary circumstances).

"One who fails to act diligently cannot invoke equitable principles to excuse that lack of diligence." Baldwin County Welcome Center v. Brown, 104 S. Ct. 1723, 1726 (1984)



(equitable tolling not invoked where pro se plaintiff ignored specific instructions regarding filing deadlines and filed employment discrimination action after 90-day period permitted by law).



Plaintiff does not attempt to explain the extraordinary delay in filing his claim. In that he has not satisfied his burden of proving diligence in the pursuit of his claim, equitable tolling cannot be sustained.



Plaintiff’s claims are time-barred.



BY THE COURT:



_______________________



Edmund V. Ludwig, J.







Labels: 5 Squad, hi daddy, Kryptonite, Political Corruption, TwitterVerses



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Posted by Elyssa D'Educrat

Labels: #Armstrong, #CFTC, #Drexel, #Madoff, #Mumia #fuckyourightback, #SEC, fraud, political corruption, whitecollar at Sunday, March 07, 2010

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ELYSSA DURANT



Elyssa Durant

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Mayor's Office of the Ten-Year Plan to End Chronic...

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Sunday, March 14, 2010

my cell phone is spying on me!

hell the fuck no... i'm not that stupid but most people are so save yourselves...


most people look better with their clothes on!




and don't click on shit like this!

Photobucket.com image hosting and photo sharing

day late, $179,900 short...

Vanderbilt University slashes student loans
Updated: Nov 1, 2008 04:49 PM CDT




how quickly they forget!






In what Universe does this make sense...????




If this policy is intended to open the door to all students, then why does the University require students to disclose their parent’s income? The last time I checked, the application to the graduate school required a financial statement of disclosure-- not just from students, there parents too. This always seemed odd, especially for graduate students over the age of 18.

If financial need is no longer a factor, then presumably the University has waived all fees associated with the application process, right? Perhaps this statement was issued in anticipation of the HUGE, HUGE, loss of the endowment fund???

I guess that makes some people believe the University is more focused on learning than with earnings, well, then...I hope you have a more convincing argument than this! Who knows, maybe they might even cut you a little slack in light of the disastrous financial disclosures. I truly hope you do call me when you launch your next “giving campaign. “ I would personally rather donate to sharks.

To say that “hard working, great kids ...who want to be at Vanderbilt," will be able to attend for free, makes you sound like an idiot. It also sounds like a public relations disaster just waiting to happen.

Now c'mon, Zeppos-- I thought you were one of the good guys? Don't be saying stupid things like that!


No wonder you guys are going broke!
Originally published 2/9/09... I was making $10.46/hr at Jere Baxter.  Vanderbilt sued me for $3000.  I can't even afford the application fee....
Elyssa Durant, Ed.M.
Unemployed, in debt & angry as hell
Nashville, Tennsessee  USA

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

A Letter to Mumia: Together we are three.

http://www.phillyimc.org/files/imagecache/story/files/jlbook_0.jpg 
By Linn Washington (about the author)     Page 1 of 3 page(s)
For OpEdNews: Linn Washington - Writer
Two inmates on Pennsylvania's death row raise the same issue on appeal blatant misconduct by prosecutors and police yet Pa's Supreme Court issues different rulings in these respective cases.

The Pa Supreme Court released Jay C. Smith directly from his death row cell, ruling the misconduct by prosecutors and police so "egregious" that retrying Smith for murdering a school teacher and her two children would violate fair trial protections in Pa's state Constitution.

However, in appeals from convicted Philadelphia cop killer Mumia Abu-Jamal, Pa's highest court repeatedly rejects solid evidence of wrongdoing by prosecutors and police despite that misconduct being more extensive than misconduct in Smith'scase.

Why, people wonder worldwide, does Mumia Abu-Jamal remain imprisoned when mounds of evidence unearthed since his 1982 trial undermine all aspects of the controversial conviction that sent this acclaimed journalist to death row?

The answer to this justice denying/logic defying question is simple: "The Mumia Exception."

This "Mumia Exception" is the phrase devised to describe the practice repeatedly employed by state and federal courts to strip Abu-Jamal of the same legal relief those courts extend to other inmates raising the same legal issue when challenging violations of their legal rights.
Jurists bending and/or breaking the bedrock American legal principal of equal justice under the law is the driving dynamic of "The Mumia Exception."

This "Exception" explains how Pa's Supreme Court in the Smith case castigated authorities for illegally withholding evidence crucial to the high school principal's defense while that court constantly refuses to criticize any of the misconduct that crippled Abu-Jamal's defense.

The fact that courts including the U.S. Supreme Court have consistently upheld the conviction of the world's most recognized death row denizen is a key argument advanced by persons backing Abu-Jamal's execution when countering claims of his innocence.

Execution advocates reject "The Mumia Exception" as the reason why courts uphold Abu-Jamal's conviction despite the fact that dismissing the role of the "Exception" requires embracing scenarios that defy statistics and common sense.

For example, Philadelphia and Pennsylvania appellate courts overturned 86 Philadelphia death penalty convictions between Abu-Jamal's December 1981 arrest and October 2009 after finding various errors by prosecutors, police, defense attorneys and even judges including the judge at Abu-Jamal's trial.

Yet, those same courts declare that not a single error evidentiary or procedural exists anywhere in the contentious Abu-Jamal case a statistically improbable circumstance.

Pa and federal courts have even brushed aside credible evidence that on the eve of Abu-Jamal's 1982 trial the presiding judge, Albert Sabo, declared he would help prosecutors "fry the Nigger" an odious admission oozing racial bigotry and lack of impartiality clearly violating Abu-Jamal's constitutionally guaranteed fair trial rights.

The twin pillars of this "Mumia Exception" are: courts refusing to apply their established legal rulings (precedent) to Abu-Jamal's appeals; and/or courts creating new legal standards to sabotage Abu-Jamal's appeals.
Next Page
 1  |  2  |  3

Linn Washington Jr. is a veteran investigative journalist who writes regularly on issues involving the criminal justice system, the news media, race & racism, constitutional rights and the Mumia Abu-Jamal case. He is passionate about examining (more...)
 

THE ROOF IS ON FIRE!

March 7. And now more than ever I am homeless at home.


A Letter to Mumia Regarding Exceptional Injustice.
There is no explanation. We are three.

What kind of a world allows children to go hungry and forces people out on the street because they owe $4.50 in late fees?

Well there are no more late fees or gas prices to bitch about. There are just memories of my father's last words as I walked into the courthouse alone.



And the knowledge that he didn't lift a finger to stop the two men from removing my clothes as they put all their weight into to middle of my back, forcing my head into a plastic matress that lay on the floor.



They left bruises, abrasions and scars in places no one ever bothers to look... deep inside my heart that still aches for the injustice I have witnessed. Not only on March 7 2002, March 7, 2009, but right now as I lie hear with nothing left but broken appliances, water stained journals I kept over the years.

My body will never heal, that I can live with. But watching my neighbors, friends, collegaues, and community look the other way is much more difficult. Doctors that left the wounds untreated, records missing several pages of listing the first 72 hours before I was seen by a medical professional.



While I was kept in a room with no vathroom, food, speakers, or emergency call button to cry for help. Injected with drugs and that were mysteriously absent from any medical chart.

I spent the next 5 and a half months documenting my experience. I took 1,890 photos. I sent out 32,000 tweets.



No one called. No one came. No one cared.



My spirit is every bit as broken as my already fragile bones have been since I was twenty two.



There were my colleagues who lost the medical record that I so carefully preserved on the blank pages of a telephone book.

There was Christina who brought me clothing and the Pastor who promised to visit. I never saw either of them again. There was chamber meeting I so carefully composed myself to give my regrets to the Mayor. The same fucking Mayor who names me on his committee of educators. I haven't forgotten, and trust me, neither will you.



My name is Elyssa. Elyssa Durant

Yes, I am the daughter of the man who did this to you. Marc. "L." Marc Durant from the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. There was  Abscam, COINTELPRO, John and Ramona, you and I.

The thee was Five Squad, and now there is Madoff and lots and lots of money.



But he is my fatherm and I can't say it was all a complete loss.  After all, I learned that I am every bit as strong as the gang of dirty cops who beat down the voice of resitance in so ny ways.  I too am beaten.  I am tired, I am sick, and I am lonely.

en down. I am ready to give up. I don't have much to live for. Very few people would miss me or notice I ws gone. I am well aware that I take more from more from society, financially and fom the limited pool of social services and welfare benefits that our sick materialistic society uses to keeo us enslaved fo eterrnity.

But I do have one thing. I have a voice, and I have passsion, And i have love. Lots and lots of love give, though you willnever know see me giving it to those who need t most.

Maybe I can find a way out this miserable country except to give back to those who have been marginalized like you and I.

I too was beaten, silenced, and forced to retreat into a rison that is really just a social construct of the post modern world. 

There are invisible jailers made of "respectable members of society."

Sure, I loook the pat, but I won't play it for very long.  I simply can't stomach the intoleance and hypocricy.  Not quite the same as the way you wee beaten and jailed  in West Philadelphia, but I did feel a certain connection to your experience wheen I read your first book in Union Square. 

God, I woild give anything to be in that bookstoe right now. To lose myself in the wonders of the unknown and fill my mind with thoughts and ideas other than the ones running through my head.  Yes, I do relate to your experience,and I am sorry for my father and his colleagues have done. 



To you, Mumia, and the 13 innocents that died in that fiery inferno that can bes be described as hell on earth.  The Philadelphia Fire of May 13, 1985.

Sometimes I think they were the lucky ones.

I am now thirty seven years old but not a day goes by that I feel I am any more in control of my life than I was when I first learned who "you people" were. 

I was just a child, 7 or 8, but I knew the target, and I was told, you "Shoot to Kill." 

Sometimes I wish I had.  Maybe Myself.  I even know the exact place my father planned to bury me should I speak the very words I have spoken these last 72 hours... not on suicide watch, but definitely on guard. 

I didn't because he was so focused on bringing down John Africayou down at any cost... wwell, eally see him much, nor did I know what he was capable of until these last months when I realize that the fear and pain I knew as a child evolved into a self-sustaining emotional and physical state of uncertainty and futility. Learned helplessness. Real helplessness.

I live in a state of uncertainty futility and regret.  We are not a free people. I do not claim to be a victim, however if I tell were to believe that repeaing the same actions that I have for the last 15 and a half years and expect some positive outcome, than I truly would be insane. 

So to have hope or act with deterrmination and purpose than I would be be sadly mistaken.  Actually if  were to believe that my actions ha some consequence than I could feel something... anything other than completely vulnerable the predators that have made my father the success that he is. 

So, I have nothing.  And I don't want anything I haven't earned.  I learned ealy in life that anything that is given to you can be take away. Including love. 

I don't want it. But as I feel the tears swell in my eyes, I so desperately want to believe I am worthy of being loved. An I wish someone had told me that as a child, a teen, an a younf adult or even right now.  Because I am locked into the prison where the things I love most are always the first thing to be compromised when ... if.. yes... iI did! I told the truth, and I pay for it everyfucking day of my life, becase no one want to know such evil exits.

I don't want be the one to tell them, but they are at risk. Anything I cae about is at risk.  But it ddoesn't matter.   People don't like me much anyway. So fuck you all, maybe some day I will leave my house and come to one those shallow FaceBook invites and see how you would react. 

Yeah, maybe I will.  And stay as long as I like without a single apology.

You know who you are. The people who showered me with paise and promises until you realized how bad off I really was.  And promises were never honored, and yes... I do rememberm and there times like right now  when I want tell the world how shallow and incensere eah and every one of you are. 

Everyone leaves. I would too if I could. Without apology. Probably not tommrow either, because There Are No Children Here. There never were.



"The Crazy One"

Post Script: March 10, 2010

Metro Nashville Council looks to silence Twitter at meetings

By Michael Cass,The Tennessean

Jon Cooper said council members should refrain from using Twitter during meetings to discuss bills under debate or other members' comments. Doing so could violate the state Open Meetings Act, which prohibits deliberations by public officials out of public view and often is interpreted broadly by courts, Cooper said.

"If you tweet during a council meeting about what's going on, that could be problematic," he said, using the newly created verb for posting a comment or information on the service, which limits each post to 140 characters.

Cooper said he sees no problem, however, with council members giving "play-by-play" of votes after they're over.

Only a few council members use Twitter during meetings, but two of them said the decision was misguided. After Erik Cole mentioned the issue on his "district7" Twitter feed Tuesday and announced, "no more tues night tweets," fellow councilman Jamie Hollin replied, "Don't quit now @district7. I think that's a bit overbroad."

Cole later wrote back, "Agreed. Overbroad ... or overboard?"

Decision draws criticism

In a telephone interview, Hollin said he disagreed with the decision and had told Cooper so.

"Using Twitter as a tool to communicate principally with your constituents, I don't think that's a violation of the Open Meetings Act," said Hollin, an attorney. "I don't think you can blame a member, with the tools at their disposal, for getting all the information out there that they can."

Freddie O'Connell, an Internet entrepreneur and Metro Transit Authority member who often uses Twitter to keep tabs on council meetings, said the decision seemed odd. He noted that council members routinely talk privately to each other and even to citizens during the course of meetings. "It's curious that something that distributes information about what's happening could be construed as a violation of openness," he said. "What's the difference between that and somebody coming off the floor and talking to a citizen?"

Guidance for state legislators has been less direct. Connie Ridley, director of the Office of Legislative Administration, said lawmakers are aware of the Open Meetings Act, and "we assume they are acting accordingly."

The state attorney general's office hasn't issued any opinions on Twitter use by elected officials, spokeswoman Sharon Curtis-Flair said.

Florida's attorney general, Bill McCollum, wrote an opinion last year that said members of city boards and commissions shouldn't discuss issues that could come before them for action on city Facebook pages. McCollum's office told the Naples Daily News that the same tests for determining what is a public record would apply to Twitter or any other medium.

so much for the open meeting rule... i can''t watch metro council meeting because public access television requires a cable subscription.

i used to watch metro channel 3, but i can no longer aford cable or interrnet so the only form of communications I have is cell phone that i connects me to the world.

The TwiterVerse.

but the one thing i can do without tv, transportation or internet is get a live feed and send out an an sos if need be on the twitter.

so much for open government. i object.

Posted via web from ElyssaD's Posterous

Charges dismissed against reformed-mob-boss-turned-minister

A self-proclaimed reformed mob boss--later arrested on bad check accusations in East Tennessee on his way to a ministry event--has had the charges against him dropped, after he paid court costs.

Michael Franzese was arrested back in January by the Airport Authority at McGhee Tyson Airport. Franzese's ministry focuses on leaving the Colombo crime family after becoming a born-again Christian.

At the time of his arrest, he was on his way be the keynote speaker at a Sevier Heights Baptist Church men's conference, called "The Good, The Bad, and The Forgiven." That shares the name of his book.

But an outstanding warrant from Williamson County--accusing him of passing worthless checks--resulted in his arrest.

Now, that matter has been resolved.

In a release from Franzese's publicist, the episode is characterized as a dispute between Franzese and a former manager over a small amount of money. In that release, Franzese says he did nothing wrong, he did not pass bad checks, and he didn't take any merchandise.

The two charges against Franzese were dismissed after he paid court costs.

In a statement, Franzese said he bore no ill will toward his former manager and said, "God's purpose is never served when disagreements among his people are brought to the courts for resolution."

Posted via web from ElyssaD's Posterous

Judge Holds Merck Liable - Wall Street Journal

BY BILL LINDSAY

SYDNEY—An Australian court Friday held Merck & Co. liable in the heart attack of a patient using the painkiller Vioxx, but it rejected allegations that the U.S. drug maker was negligent in keeping on the market a drug it later withdrew.

In Melbourne's Federal Court, Justice Christopher Jessup said Graeme Peterson is entitled to compensation after Merck's local distribution arm failed to adequately warn his doctor of potential cardiovascular risks from the drug's use, despite knowing of them as early as March 2000.

The court found that the drug was "not reasonably fit" for relieving arthritis pain and "not of ...

Posted via web from ElyssaD's Posterous

Who needs political consultants when journalists can do the dirty work for free?

Who needs political consultants when journalists can do the dirty work for free?

Jay Voorhees parries columnist Gail Kerr's recent swipe at Metro's services to the poor as well as her play of the race card when class was the suit laid:

It’s the last sentence that really bothered me, the one about the hospital being “money losing” and implying that the only support for the institution in by the Black Caucus. Yes, the hospital is running at a deficit this year, but it is a deficit that Rich Riebeling approved. The hospital has worked hard during the past four years to become as efficient as possible. When they mayor demanded a 10% cut in the hospital subsidy last year, the hospital informed the mayor’s office that they could not meet that target without cutting services, such as the outpatient cancer chemo clinic, which is the last line of treatment for the poor who have cancer. The mayor’s office did not want to be accused of harming poor people, so the hospital was told to leave the $1.5 million dollar deficit in the budget, and that they would deal with the shortfall later in the year through other means. This year, the hospital is in better financial shape than it’s been in for many years, however their budgeting was on the money and they are still projected to have a $1.5 million deficit, mainly because we as a city would not adequately fund the health care needs of the poor. The big problem facing the hospital, a problem that you have never addressed, is the $10 million dollars in TennCare cuts facing Metro General and the $25 million in TennCare reserves due to the hospital that are not being shared by the governor. Yeah, Metro General has huge problems ahead, but they aren’t of their own making.

As for the support for Metro General, I think the 70 plus pastors, imams, and rabbis from throughout Nashville who signed a letter of support for the hospital would be surprised to learn that the black caucus was the only supporting agency. I think the 200 folks who gathered on the steps of the Metro Courthouse would likewise be surprised, as would the members of SEIU who have a personal interest in the well being of the hospital.

Gail, Gail, Gail… it’s hard to understand why you seem to want to come after the hospital. Could it be that poor folks don’t buy your paper? Or maybe there are folks in the administration that have an ax to grind with certain community leaders who have pushed hard against the administrations ambivalence toward the need for a city supported (not run) safety net hospital, and have sold you a bill of goods.

The timing of Ms. Kerr's comment relative to upcoming budget discussions is suspicious given that a couple of months ago she bayed about former Parks Director Roy Wilson while the Mayor's Office started turning the screws leading to Mr. Wilson's December 31 exit. One wonders what Rich Riebeling has in store for this North Nashville Metro health service.

posted by S-townMike @ 6:37 AM   0 comments links to this post

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A west Tennessee journalist disgusted by bizpig journalism calls out the Tennessean

A west Tennessee journalist disgusted by bizpig journalism calls out the Tennessean

Newscoma considers journalism's gilded age of greed, comparing Memphis and Nashville:

Here is what eats at my soul this week about the [Memphis] Commercial Appeal. The [Memphis] Flyer believes they aren’t losing as much money as you might think:

Apparently not everybody at The Commercial Appeal has been forced to cinch up their belts. Last March, after the newspaper’s largest round of layoffs, CA publisher Joe Pepe purchased a second home on Excitement Drive in Celebration, Florida. Documents (available here) show that Pepe made a down payment of $100,000, and took out a $279,500 mortgage through Countrywide Bank. The three bedroom, 2.5 bath home was built in 2005 and originally listed for $424,900. It’s Pepe’s second Florida property. He purchased an undeveloped parcel of land in Osceola County in 2005 for $305,000.

And this is where we are going in this post. Bruce Vanwyngarden is showing you about how news has become entertainment. News isn’t supposed to be bright and shiny all the time. Sometimes it just plum sucks, but if you have anchors that have moved into celebrity categories taking on the roll of messenger, then we are getting into some tricky ground ....

And as for the Tennessean, what can one say about this story [involving $15,000 in political donations to lobbyists] ....

What would Edward R. Murrow say? I think he’d be pretty damned ticked off right now that the news he loved, and fought for,which has been compromised by greed, corporate indulgence and the pursuit of the all-mighty dollar over substance. And good for the Flyer and other media outlets for calling BS.

Newspapers, and news as a whole, are supposed to stand up for the average citizen, not be part of the problem. They at least used to supply some solutions.

posted by S-townMike @ 1:03 PM   1 comments links to this post

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