The Scary Military State of the United States

Posted on December 6, 2011 by

As a child of Romanian immigrants from the brutal era of communism, I heard quite a number of stories told about how people were routinely arrested and put into prison for the most unreasonable reasons — anything from protesting against the government to just not being in the right place at the right time. My parents were very happy that we live in a country where, as they said at the time, a person could march up and down the streets carrying signs denouncing President Clinton (I suppose this dates me pretty well) and they would never be arrested.

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Posted in Government | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Princeton or Prison?

Posted on November 29, 2011 by

It costs a lot of money to house prisoners in cells when the idea is no longer reformation, but rather separation and dissonant punishment:

One year at Princeton University: $37,000. One year at a New Jersey state prison: $44,000.

Prison and college “are the two most divergent paths one can take in life,” Joseph Staten, an info-graphic researcher with Public Administration, says. Whereas one is a positive experience that increases lifetime earning potential, the other is a near dead end, which is why Staten found it striking that the lion’s share of government funding goes toward incarceration.

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Posted in Incarceration | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

The Cruelty of a Foreclosure Law Firm

Posted on November 8, 2011 by

For the past couple of months, protesters in Lower Manhattan have taken part of a campaign called Occupy Wall Street, fighting against many things including the disparity of wealth between the top 1% of the nation’s wealthy and everyone else. They are fighting against a system where people can get their homes taken away from them after years of perfect mortgage payments when their required payments suddenly double or triple without warning. If evicting people from their homes wasn’t enough, one New York foreclosure law firm added insult when they had everyone dress up like the homeless and mock them in a Halloween party last year –


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Posted in Business | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

The World You Are Left with is Not the World I Wanted for You

Posted on November 1, 2011 by

One of the joys of my day is when I am able to speak to my friend and mentor, Howard Stein, who always has prescient and lively advice for me on a daily basis — even if we don’t speak every day!

In less than a year, Howard will turn 90 years old.  He just renewed his Stamford Library card until 2014 — making, as he joyously told me, a “bold statement about the fluidity of my future!”

During our latest conversation, as we reflected on our lives — as we are often wont to do — the tone turned serious and Howard said in a sad and somber voice, “David, the world you are left with is not the world I wanted for you.”

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Posted in International | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Fallacy of the Nazi Label

Posted on October 18, 2011 by

Quite frequently when people engage in political arguments, they get increasingly aggressive. At some point they almost always use an analogy that is so completely useless and yet overused that when it is used online it has been memeingfully associated with a name — Godwin’s Law — which states that the longer an argument goes on online, the more likely that someone will invoke a Nazi analogy.

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Posted in Politics | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

Beyonce’s Fake Baby Bump and Her Real Stealing

Posted on October 11, 2011 by

Beyonce is having a bad week.  She recently appeared on television and her “baby bump” appears to be just as fake as Sarah Palin’s before her.  I guess Beyonce wanted to pretend she is as pregnant with her own child as is her surrogate in her stead?

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Posted in Business | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Crime Spikes in New York City

Posted on September 27, 2011 by

We are in the crest of a crime spree in New York City and I’m wondering why this is happening now.  Is the economy finally so poor and far-reaching that the forgotten and misbegotten are now finally rising up from the streets to take back what was lost in this economic downturn?

A 400 percent increase in murders in tony Williamsburg; a 400 percent increase in rapes in Sheepshead Bay and a 250 percent increase in killings in Washington Heights are all troublesome statistics that have Mayor Michael Bloomberg and police officials concerned.

“We worry every day about trying to make this city safer,” Mayor Bloomberg said Monday.

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Posted in Incarceration | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments