Friday, May 25, 2007

I do not recall

Everybody is up in arms about poor Alberto Gonzalez. It's partly about how he let politics subvert the Justice Department, partly about how he seems to have lied about what he did, and partly about how he can't seem to remember what happened. Reports note that Alberto testified he could not recall 45 times at one recent congressional session.

In this total recall failure, Alberto has nothing on former Mayor Giuliani and NYC TLC Chairman Matthew Daus. When I deposed Giuliani in Padberg et al v. McGrath-McKechnie et al, Giuliani said testified he could not recall 99 times-- in a three-hour deposition. Click here for a transcript of the deposition.

In a three-hour deposition in Nnebe et al v. Daus et al, Matthew Daus testified he could not recall 85 times, including many times as to events in the last year. Aberto is a piker by comparison.

More on the Padberg case

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Chase on Terror

This season's Sopranos contains an element that has been little discussed but is just terrific: a satire on the war on terror. Every so often, FBI Agent Harris and his partner come around to ask Tony is he has any information about possible terrorists at the ports. Tony, though it's technically ratting, is eager to bank goodwill, so he complies, giving the agents the names of the only two Arabs he knows. At first, he doesn't even know their names-- all he knows is they used to hang around at the Bada Bing--but he gets them from Christopher, now dead.

The agents are all too happy to pursue this non-lead. They later show Tony pictures of the pair and say they are possible suspects for "financing." This could mean anything, of course. Even Tony knows it, repeating "possible" back to the agents. And as the tired agents slink away, they remark that they don't even know if the possible suspects are in the country. So it goes in the war on terror.

Meanwhile, Tony has committed murder, aggravated assault, environmental crimes, conspiracy to hijack. His wife has conspired to bribe a building inspector and his son has committed aggravated assault and a hate crime. Stll these agents, who never managed to arrest Tony, are looking the other way at possible "finance" violations.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

AJ again

My theory that Tony's son AJ will cause his final downfall is gaining traction. Tim Noah writes in Slate:


We've discussed in the past how A.J., one of the few characters on The Sopranos who is not a murderer, is nonetheless the least sympathetic character in the series. He's spoiled, he's stupid, he's narcissistic, he's a whiner, and he's mean. But maybe not as mean as we thought. He seems genuinely horrified when Jason Gervase and his thug pals beat up a black bicyclist who crashes into Jason's car door. (Needless to say, the Italians call the bicyclist something a good deal less civil than black.) The violence and hatred that A.J. is witnessing with this new crowd is escalating, and he can't take it. "Why can't we all just get along?" A.J. tells his shrink, echoing Rodney King. Is series creator David Chase rendering A.J. more sympathetic so that we'll miss him when he gets killed, the outcome you suggest? Perhaps. But I prefer your alternative notion that, instead of dying, A.J. may kill someone. Or, being A.J., that he will witness a murder.

Here's how I see it going. The cops nab A.J., and he immediately confesses to being an accessory. The district attorney prepares to lock the kid up for years. But there is one way A.J. could get his sentence shortened. Tony could confess to two or three of the many murders the cops suspect him of ordering or committing. "Look, Tony, we know your kid isn't a criminal. He isn't the one who should do hard time. You are." Carmela and Tony fight bitterly over this proposed deal. Tony says A.J. can beat this rap. Carmela is horrified that Tony is willing to sacrifice his son to save his own skin. "You are a murderer, Tony, and if you won't tell them, I will!" The words are too much for Tony to bear. He pummels Carmela with his fists, really beats her up, for the first time in his life. (Unlike a certain recently departed HBO chief I could name, Tony has never assaulted a female.) Bruised and bleeding, Carmela calls the cops. They arrive, and Tony realizes he has no home left to defend. He confesses to three murders to save A.J. to whatever extent he can. The price turns out to be not only Tony's confession, but also Tony ratting out the whole gang—Silvio, Paulie, Bobby, Hesh, Janice, maybe even Uncle Junior. The only Soprano left unscathed is Meadow, who heads off to medical school in a daze, leaving Carmela, black and blue, alone in the house. Carmela's cherished delusion of sustainable mob-funded affluence is dashed. She will lose her house, she has already lost her husband and son, and Meadow may never again want to admit she even has a family. Goodbye, Bloomies; hello, Filene's Basement. Fade to black.


I agree, but as far as the cops or the feds will be concerned AJ is no inncocent. He has committed three serious felonies-- the acid-on-foot incident, the attempt on Junior, and, most recently, the hate crime against the Somali cyclist. No accessory, AJ struck at least one blow in each case. He could be liable on some 3 strikes theory.

And I think Tony won't fight it. He'll agree to go away to save AJ. It may even be his idea. Tony has always justified every sin by saying he is providing for or prtecting his family. In this he is the typical suburbanite whoe buys a Hummer or a McMansion on the grounds that "it's good for the kids" when, in fact, it's what the parents want. But Tony's redeeming feature, I think, is he really believe it. Thus Toby will be be the hero AND get away from the life that has long tormented him.

I also don't think he'll take the gang down with him. Snitches rat out higher-ups, not subordinate. He may rat out Phil.

I also don' think AJ is unsympathetic. Just pathetic.

Friday, May 11, 2007

Itty bitty conflicts of interest

The Times just ran a big story about potential conflicts of interest among psychiatrists who prescribe psycho-pharameceuticals, mainly to children. Psychiatrists, Children and Drug Industry’s Role (5/10/07)

The drug companies make payments to doctors who give lectures or do studies, and then precsribe the drugs.

While some of the payments in the article are substantial, most are quite small, the average being about $2000. The scale raises the questions, can docs be swayed for a few grand. The answer is yes-- even if the docs don't know it.

The Times quotes Dr. Steven E. Hyman, the provost of Harvard University and former director of the National Institute of Mental Health, who says: "There’s an irony that psychiatrists ask patients to have insights into themselves, but we don’t connect the wires in our own lives about how money is affecting our profession and putting our patients at risk.”

I have some experienec in this question in the administrative law area. In the Padberg case, I retained Prof. George Loewenstein of Carnegie Mellon University, perhaps the world's leading expert in conflicts of interest. In a report filed in in the case, he wrote:
When decision makers receive benefits or even small gifts from interested parties, their judgments are subject to an unconscious and unintentional self-serving bias, even when they try to remain objective. When individuals have a stake in reaching a particular conclusion, they weigh arguments in a biased fashion that favors a particular conclusion. As much as they may try, individuals have proven unable to achieve neutrality or objectivity when they have a personal interest in arriving at a specific conclusion. Because bias induced by monetary interests is unconscious and unintentional, there is little hope in controlling it when monetary interests exist.


This case involved the bias not of doctors, but of administrataive law judges. But the principle is the same.

For more on Padberg, see Background Brief, Case File, and my Brief on the Corruption of the Judges.

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Is this the end of Tony?

My prediction for the Sopranos denouement—that A.J.’s crisis will spell Tony’s demise (see 4/23/07 entry) is looking better. In this week’s episode, A.J. becomes involved with some college bookies. On a lark (their’s, not his) they kidnap one of their bettors, beat him and pour acid on his foot. A.J. isn’t just along for the ride; he’s driving the car. The victim has been introduced the “Anthony Soprano Jr.” as if he is a member of the gang. Thus, the feds can nail A.J. on serious federal crimes, including perhaps a RICO count. The sand and beautiful part is that Tony put A.J. up to it, insisting he go to a stripper party—and thinking even after the fact that A.J. doing so was a good idea. After all, it got the depressed and newly medicated scion of the family out of the house. Now when the feds grab A.J. the pressure will be on for him to give up Tony, and Tony can only tell him to do just that. Thus Tony will fall by his own hand. A perfect demise: surprising and inevitable at once.