Lynne Stewart's 10-Year Sentence: The NYU & Columbia Law School Connection

Federal District Court judge John Koeltl recently re-sentenced Civil Rights Attorney Lynne Stewart to 10 years imprisonment--for the act of photocopying and mailing a press release for one of her clients. Coincidentally, Judge Koeltl was also paid $20,000 by NYU Law School in 2008 for apparently also working as an NYU Law School adjunct professor, according to Judge Koeltl’s financial filing. The same 2008 financial filing also indicates that Judge Koeltl owned stock in corporations such as Royal Dutch Shell, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson.

Judge Koeltl was ordered to revisit his original 28-month sentence of Lynne Stewart “when it was overturned by a two-judge majority of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit” and “Judges Robert D. Sack and Guido Calabresi ruled that Koeltl’s” original “sentence was flawed,” according to a recent statement by Jeff Mackler, the West Coast Director of the Lynne Stewart Defense Committee. Coincidentally, the November 2009 legal decision that ordered Judge Koeltl to revisit his original 28-month sentence of Lynne Stewart was written by a Columbia University Law School faculty member named Robert D. Sack.

Judge Sack, the son of Park Slope rabbi Eugene Sack, was the Columbia University Law School Commencement speaker in 2007. In his May 17, 2007 Columbia University Law School commencement speech, Sack confessed the following:

"My father was a reform rabbi with a pulpit in Park Slope Brooklyn...

"...It would be foolish to think that which judge happens to sit on your panel never matters. Sometimes it does...

"I took a job with Patterson, Belknap & Webb here in New York. A partner of the firm, later my mentor, Bob Potter, greeted me at the door. He said, `The most fun around her is representing The Wall Street Journal.' And I said--`Yes. I'll do that.' That's how I got into media law."

Besides sitting on the U.S. federal judiciary bench (having, like Judge Koeltl, been appointed by Secretary of State Clinton’s husband in the 1990s), Columbia Law School Professor Sack has also sat next to two top Dow Jones Company executives--Stuart Karle and James Ottaway Jr.--while serving as a board member of the William F. Kerby and Robert S. Potter Fund.

Coincidentally, Lynne Stewart was the lawyer for the still-imprisoned 1968 Columbia Strike Leader David Gilbert during the 1980s; and the Obama Administration Justice Department which decided to push for Stewart's imprisonment in the Columbia Law School faculty member's federal courtroom is headed by a former Columbia University Trustee named Eric Holder. In addition, at least two current U.S. Supreme Court justices are also former members of the Columbia Law School faculty.

The judicial branch of the U.S. federal government is supposed to be independent of both the U.S. Senate and Columbia University Law School. Yet after Columbia Law Professor Sack wrote the unjust November 2009 legal decision that ordered Judge Koeltl to revisit his original 28-month sentencing of Lynne Stewart, the former Chief Counsel to U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York--a 1993 Columbia University Law School graduate named Preet Bharara--wrote a motion--on behalf of a U.S. Justice Department that is headed by former Columbia University Trustee Eric Holder--requesting that the bail of the 70-year-old woman human rights lawyer be revoked. And that Stewart be imprisoned immediately.

But in the introduction to its 2005 pamphlet, titled The Case of Lynne Stewart: A Justice Department Attack on the Bill of Rights, the National Lawyers Guild noted:

"When Lynne released for public dissemination to the media a statement from her client--an act that the Justice Department was fully aware of about which it took no action for years--it was assumed her actions fell within current norms of protected legal advocacy. Following a change in administrations as well as the stigma of 9/11, Attorney General John Ashcroft convened an unseemly press conference and appeared later that day on the David Letterman Show to announce the bootstrapping of that minor violation of regulations into a full blown `terrorism' charge against her.

"Lynne Stewart, known in New York for defending poor and politically controversial clients for decades, was made part of a seven-count indictment, accusing her of `conspiracy' with two others, her translator and a legal assistant. The evidence presented at trial included the secret recordings of her meetings with her client...The evidence showed, at most, that in her effort to counterbalance the devastating effects of her client's lengthy isolation, she had released the press statement years earlier as part of the defense campaign to keep him in the public eye...

"Her trial and conviction were a travesty...

"This case brings us all to a cross-roads. Either we protest her conviction and demand respect for the Sixth Amendment and the rights of clients and attorneys to execute defense strategy without governmental interference and the constant threat of prosecution, or we consent to a radical rewriting of the right to counsel, thereby endorsing the administration's view of a new America ruled by administrative fiat, unhindered by Constitutional restraint..."

If you check out the May 1, 2009 financial disclosure form that Columbia Law School faculty member Robert D. Sack filed for 2008, you’ll notice that Sack was paid $7,500 by Columbia Law School in 2008. In addition, Judge Sack apparently also received $72,000 in 2008 from the Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP Retirement Plan—at the same time he was employed as both a federal court judge and a lecturer at Columbia Law School.

Coincidentally, the lawyer who served as the principal legal advisor to the National Security Council in the Bush White House, Michael Edney, now works in the Washington, D.C. office of the Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP firm whose “retirement plan” apparently paid Judge Sack $72,000 in 2008. As a press release, titled “Former White House Legal Advisor Returns to Gibson Dunn in D.C.,” that was posted on the Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP website on May 13, 2009 revealed:

“Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP welcomes back Michael J. Edney to its Washington, D.C. office after four years of high-level Executive Branch experience in the White House… Edney rejoins the approximately 125-lawyer litigation practice group in the Washington, D.C. office, including more than a dozen former Department of Justice attorneys….From 2007 to 2009, Edney served as a principal legal advisor to the National Security Council in the White House. In that position, he participated in crafting and implementing the Administration’s response to national security legal matters in the courts...

“Edney resumes his litigation practice at Gibson Dunn after a four-year absence…In 2007, he joined the National Security Council staff in the White House…His responsibilities included advising senior White House policymakers…”

A former Assistant United States Attorney named Alexander Southwell also began working in 2007 at the New York office of the Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP firm whose “retirement plan” apparently paid Judge Sack $72,000 in 2008. As a July 24, 2007 press release on the Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP website noted:

“…Mr. Southwell joins a number of former Assistant U.S. Attorneys at Gibson Dunn…Mr. Southwell served from 2001 through 2007 as an Assistant U.S. Attorney with the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York.”

Who Profited From The New York Yankees Under Steinbrenner Dynasty In 1990s?

(Before the Steinbrenner Dynasty apparently formed its Yes Network in partnership with Goldman Sachs in 1997 to restructure the New York Yankees' ownership arrangement, the following column item appeared in the now-defunct Lower East Side alternative newsweekly, Downtown, on 6/29/94)

As Baseball and Billions: A Probing Look Inside The Big Business Of Our National Pasttime noted in 1992, "anyone who has tried to inquire into the business of baseball knows that the industry is run like covert operations at the CIA, or perhaps as the CIA would like them to be run" and "almost all the franchises are privately held and do not publicly issue income statements or other financial reports..." The same book also estimated that in the early 1990s the Yankees were worth over $250 million and earned over $50 million a year in local media rights. In reference to [the now-deceased] New York Yankees Owner George Steinbrenner, Baseball and Billions revealed the following:

"According to one account related to the author, Steinbrenner actually invested up front less than $100,000 of his money. More recently, it has been claimed that Steinbrenner and his minority partners pocketed $100 million (presumably coming as a signing bonus) of the roughly $500 million provided in the 12-year cable contract between the team and MSG network, rather than reinvesting it in baseball operation...Another story reaffirms that Steinbrenner and his partners walked off with a $100 million of the cable contract and claims that Steinbrenner was motivated to do this in order to bail out his troubled American Ship Building company."

(Downtown 6/29/94)

Gulf + Chevron + Texaco + Unocal = Chevron

In 1990, Everybody's Business: An Almanac recalled:

"Gulf used to lift anywhere from 1 million to 3 1/2 million barrels a day from Kuwait. So their daily profit was more than $1 million--from Kuwait alone...Gulf loaded its Kuwaiti oil on their tankers and sold it around the world. They became Japan's number 1 oil supplier."

And, according to the 2008 book by Antonia Juhasz, The Tyranny of Oil:

"...The largest merger [of the 1980s]...was...when Chevron purchased Gulf Oil for a record-breaking $13.3 billion in 1985...

"...It was the first merger between members of the exclusive Seven Sisters. It was also the largest merger in corporate history at the time, whereby the fourth-largest oil company in the nation was purchased by the fifth-largest company...Overnight the merger nearly doubled Chevron's worldwide crude reserves to about 4 billion barrels and increased its natural gas reserves by three-quarters. The merger also made Chevron the number one refiner and gasoline retailer in the United States, giving it thirty-four refineries and close to 30,000 service stations worldwide.

"Chevron added exploration and production projects where it was already operating, such as in the Gulf of Mexico, Canada, and the North Sea, as well as in West Africa, where Gulf's reserves suddenly advanced the company to a leading position. Chevron also acquired Gulf's other assets, including the Pittsburg & Midway Coal Mining Company and Warren Petroleum, a manufacturer and a seller of natural gas liquids, respectively. The FTC [Federal Trade Commission responsible for preventing monopolization of U.S. oil industry by a few giant transnational corporations] hardly blinked..."

In its 1989 Annual Report, Chevron reported:

"Chevron International Oil Company purchases most of the 750,000 barrels of oil that Chevron imports daily. As part of its strategy to diversify Chevron's sources of crude oil, the company now buys large volumes from Mexico and Iraq in addition to its long-established sources in Saudi Arabia..."

But, not surprisingly,as The Tyranny of Oil observed:

"...After more than one hundred years of `independence,' Texaco became part of the Standard Oil fold when its 2001 merger with Chevron was given the green light...

"...In the case of Chevron and Texaco, the two wanted to move more aggressively into `lucrative but highly risky deepwater offshore projects in West Africa, Brazil and the Caspian Sea.'..

"The merged company briefly went by the name ChevronTexaco, but reverted back to Chevron in 2005, the same year it purchased the Union Oil Company of California (Unocal) for $18.2 billion. The Unocal purchase brought ChevronTexaco 1.7 billion new barrels of crude, increasing its total reserves by about 15 percnt. Unocal had significant holdings in the U.S. Gulf Coast, in the Caspian Sea, and in Asia-Pacific.

"The mergers propelled Chevron to the powerful position of second-largest oil company in the United States, third-largest U.S. corporation, and seventh-largest company in the world..."

Black Male Worker Jobless Rate: 17.4 Percent Under Obama

Between May and June 2010, the official “seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for Black male workers over 20 years-of-age in the United States under the Democratic Obama Administration increased from 17.1 to 17.4 percent; while the unemployment rate for white male workers over 20 years-of-age increased from 8.8 to 8.9 percent, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data. The number of Black male workers over 20 years-of-age having jobs decreased by 126,000; while the number of white male workers over 20 years-of-age with jobs decreased by 78,000.

The “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for Hispanic or Latino male workers over 20 years-of-age also increased from 11 to 11.3 percent between May and June 2010.

The “seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for Black youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age increased from 38 to 39.9 percent between May and June 2010; while the unemployment rate for white youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age was still 23.2 percent in June 2010.. Between May and June 2010, the “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for Hispanic or Latino youth between 16 and 19 years-of-age jumped from 28.6 to 35.7 percent.

The official “seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for Black female workers over 20 years-of-age in the United States was still 11.8 percent in June 2010; while the unemployment rate for all U.S. female workers over 20 years-of-age was still 7.8 percent. Between May and June 2010, the “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for Hispanic or Latina women over 20 years-of-age increased from 10.3 to 11 percent.

The official “seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for all Hispanic or Latino workers was still 12.4 percent in June 2010.

The official “seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for all male workers over 20 years-of-age in the United States increased from 9.8 to 9.9 percent between May and June 2010; while the “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for all Asian-American workers increased from 7.5 to 7.7 percent.

The size of the U.S. labor force decreased by another 652,000 between May and June 2010, while the number of employed U.S. workers decreased by another 301,000; and the official national unemployment rate in June 2010 for all male workers in the U.S. over 16 years-of age remained at 10.5 percent, while the national jobless rate for all female workers over 16 years-of-age was still 8.3 percent. According to the “seasonally adjusted” data, over 14.6 million U.S. workers were still unemployed in June 2010 under the Democratic Obama Administration.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ July 2, 2010 press release:

“Total nonfarm payroll employment declined by 125,000 in June…

“In June, the number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over) was unchanged at 6.8 million. These individuals made up 45.5 percent of unemployed persons…

“The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers), at 8.6 million, was little changed over the month…These individuals were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job.

“In June, about 2.6 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force, an increase of 415,000 from a year earlier…These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey.

“Among the marginally attached, there were 1.2 million discouraged workers in June, up by 414,000 from a year earlier…Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them…

“Construction employment decreased by 22,000 in June…

“Government employment fell by 208,000 in June, driven by the loss of 225,000 temporary workers hired for Census 2010…”

Will Big Oil Offshore Drilling Produce More Big Oil Spills Offshore?

In her 2008 book,The Tyranny of Oil: The World's Most Powerful Industry--And What We Most Do To Stop It, Antonia Juhasz explained why offshore oil drilling by Big Oil was likely to produce offshore accidents, spills and explosions in places like the Gulf of Mexico:

"Offshore drilling is a Herculean technological and financial feat. All too often, however, technology proves inadequate, appropriate financial investments are not made, and accidents happen. Given the size and scale of these facilities, even a minor incident can have catastrophic impacts. Accidents, spills, leaks, fires, explosions, and blowouts are far too frequent occurences that have led to the deaths of hundreds of workers.

"Many of the platforms operating off the United States and in international waters were built in the 1960s. Many are twenty, thirty, or even forty years old. Even with new facilities, however, deadly and dangerous accidents are frequent. According to the most recent statistics available, compiled by the Department of the Interior, more than 70 incidents on the U.S. outer Continental Shelf resulted in oil spills between 1980 and 1999. In California alone, at least 5 major spills occurred on offshore platforms belonging to Exxon and Chevron, among others, from 1991 to 1997. Oil is extremely toxic, and current cleanup methods are incapable of removing more than a small fraction of the oil spilled in marine waters.

"The causes of such incidents worldwide include human error, poor equipment, mechanical defects, structural failure, and earthquakes. An increasing problem is extreme weather, particularly hurricanes. As a result of these storms, offshore oil rigs and platforms are tipping, collapsing, exploding, and floating out to sea with increasing frequency. As global warming intensifies, weather conditions will become more extreme and such events will occur with greater frequency--further harming our oceans and threatening the safety of workers...

"Every major oil company has experienced serious accidents on rigs across the United States and around the world. It is estimated that nearly 600 people have died in them worldwide since 1965...

"...Today our nation is once again ruled by a handful of corporate oil interests...Any formula designed to lessen the control of Big Oil over our government and the world's most vital natural resources must therefore consider the breakup of the nation's largest oil corporations, the spawn of Standard Oil: Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Conoco/Phillips, Marathon, Valero, Shell-US, and BP America..."

Irwin Silber's `About The GI Movement" Article Revisited: Part 2

In the booklet that's included with Paredon Records' 1970 vinyl album, FTA!: Songs of the GI Resistance Sung by Barbara Dane with active-duty GIs, former Sing Out! magazine and U.S. Guardian radical newsweekly editor Irwin Silber wrote--in his "About The GI Movement" article--the following:

"...Almost three years ago, as anti-war GIs began to realize that almost no one except lifers and the brass were in favor of the war, the dissent began to take on an organized form. GIs at various bases began publishing their own underground newspapers. Salty, outspoken, increasingly political, there are more than 50 such papers regularly published today. Some of them have a circulation as high as 15,000 copies per issue. The papers appear everywhere--including some which are epublished in Vietnam, Germany and Japan. Stockade rebellions, protesting the Army's racist system and the inhuman treatment accorded military prisoners, broke out in dozens of camps--including posts in Vietnam, German and Japan.

"Desertions from the U.S. Army reached an all-time high, while AWOLs sky-rocketed to the point where the military conceded there were more than 150,000 such cases in 1969 alone. GIs began organized letter campaigns and petition movements in opposition to the war, in support of the struggles of blacks, Mexican-Americans, students, working people and others in the civilian populatlion, and in protest at the brutalizing conditions within the armed forces. Mess hall boycotts, sick-clal strikes, and various other `on the job' actions spread throughout the ranks--particularly in conjunction with coordinated mass civilian anti-war actions.

"The movement is more than one of spontaneous dissent, however. The basis for a widespread movement exists in the reality of the opprression of the ordinary GI, and particularly his victimization as the one who is asked to give up the most--his life--for the least. But it also took the conscious and concerted efforts of politically motivated activists to help this movement find its voice and its organizational forms."

Asian-American Worker Jobless Rate Jumps To 7.5 Percent Under Obama

Between April and May 2010, the U.S. government hired 411,000 temporary employees to work on Census 2010, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data. But the official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for Asian-American workers still jumped from 6.8 to 7.5 percent between April and May 2010 under the Democratic Obama Administration.

The official “seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for Black male workers over 20 years-of-age was still 17.1 percent in May 2010; while the unemployment rate for white male workers over 20 years-of-age was still 8.8 percent.

The official “seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for Black female workers over 20-years-of-age in the United States was still 12.4 percent in May 2010; while the unemployment rate for all U.S. female workers over 20-years-of-age was still 8.1 percent, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

The official “seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for all Hispanic or Latino workers was still 12.4 percent in May 2010.

The “seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for Black youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age increased from 37.3 to 38 percent between April and May 2010; while the unemployment rate for white youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age increased from 23.5 to 24.4 percent between April and May 2010. The “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for Hispanic or Latino youth between 16 and 19 years-of-age was still 28.6 percent in May 2010.

The official “seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for all male workers over 16 years of age in the United States was still 10.5 percent in May 2010; while the jobless rate for all female workers over 16 years of age remained at 8.8 percent.

The size of the U.S. labor force decreased by 322,000 between April and May 2010, while the number of employed U.S. workers decreased by 35,000, according to the “seasonally adjusted” data; and the official national unemployment rate in the United States for all workers was still 9.7 percent in May 2010.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ June 4, 2010 press release:

“…Construction employment declined…

“The number of unemployed persons was 15.0 million in May…

“In May, the number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over) was about unchanged at 6.8 million. These individuals made up 46.0 percent of unemployed persons…

“In May, the civilian labor force participation rate edged down by 0.2 percentage points to 65.0 percent…

“About 2.2 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force in May…These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey.

“Among the marginally attached, there were 1.1 million discouraged workers in May…Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them…

“…Total private employment showed little change over the month…Employment in construction declined…

“In May, employment in construction declined by 35,000…

“Employment in other private-sector industries, including wholesale trade, retail trade, transportation and warehousing, information, financial activities, and leisure and hospitality showed little or no change in May…

“…Employment in state government excluding education decreased by 13,000…”