Complete and Total Corruption

[RobG]

It's a very long read (I've been reading it off and on since around 9 AM this morning):



http://www.guerrillanews.com/cocakarma/



But if you have the time, read it. It begins with what appears to be a simple case of one man against a megacorporation, but it really illustrates how totally corrupt our judicial system is today.



It saddens and depresses me that this country has come to this, though it certainly doesn't surprise me. Hell, it infuriates me.



Rob

 

[merryman]

No, I did not read very much of it, but I have read dozens, it not hundreds of things over the 30+ years I spent as a trial judge, and the ONE thing you can allways count on is that if you see the other side of the story it will look a whole lot different. That is not to say which side will be correct, but forming an opinnion based on just one"Totally Outrageous " story is not realistic.

I have seen soooooo many examples, many of which you even have a lot of trouble getting the basic truth on;



Such as the major TV News Magazine story about the outrageous and hazardous meat handling practices of a large food chain.

It wasn't till the food chain sued and got the TV people into Fed. Court where the News Magazines records could be discovered that it turned out the food chain "employees" who were doing the terrible stuff were in reality employees of the news magazine, who were sent there to get jobs so they could do these things for the camera. Few people know about this simply because the media people don't tell on each other.

You want to talk about bad people, look at the media. They are allmost totally free to do what they wish because they control the news and they do not squeel on each other.

The Courts will, as will any group, have a few bad apples, but those apples are readily reversed by the higher courts, and on the whole the courts are the cleanest of virtually any group, organization or governmental branch. Don't forget, everything done in a law suit is done "on the record" yes a permanant record is made of everything!. And everything is done under the watchfull eyes of the other side. Every Lawyer knows how to appeal to the appropriate higher court. There have been some underhanded things done, but because of the record and the fact that the otherside has full access, it is very rare, and even more rare for it to be sucessfull in the long run.



When a lawyer claims something underhanded has occurred and gotten away with, it most likely means he/she screwed up badly and is finding a way to excape responsibility; or they are simply misreporting it or twisting the facts to make them look good or look like victims.



In over 30 years on the bench, I witnessed some incompetent, and some goofy judges get elected, or appointed, but they seldom managed to stay long. I never saw a single example that appeared to be dishonest or crooked conduct; but I saw many, many claims of it by someone who lost a case and wanted to claim anything except that they did not have a good case, or they or their lawyer messed up on something crucial.



My appologies for going on so long, guess it rang my bell.



Vaughn

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

Well Vaughn, it rang some of MY bells as well... I wonder what level of court you retired from? Not to in any way downplay another's lifework, but sitting in traffic court (NO, not saying that's what YOU did, just making a point!) is PROBABLY a bit different than Superior or Supreme court... Plus, it's NOT in the best interest as a jurist to "judge" a case at face value without hearing... OR reading it, regardless how MANY times you've been exposed to what you THINK is exactly the SAME activity...



So to immediately DISregard THIS pointed to incident without a fair exploration, and THEN render "judgement", doesn't make you look very good... Better to NOT comment at all, than "pass judgement" on it without a fair hearing...



AS to the story:



YUP - it pretty well validates ALL *I* have been saying about our society/government and where we stand in history. This country is like a gigantic tree - once full of power and strength - but now dead and full of termites. It only remains for a few more bites, and then it's all over... Our US society IS going down...



And it WON'T be pretty... It's already happened in Russia - and we see other European countries destroying themselves from WITHIN, as their societies collapse and their citizens are murdered - it CAN, and probably WILL happen HERE too - sooner than we think!



It's really to late to stop it - the absolute BEST you can do is prepare yourself for it as best you can.



Sorry if I offended you Vaughn, not my intention, but I really got the impression you judged too quickly, while admitting to NOT much time checking all the evidence...

 

[Max340]

While its clear that our society is not as perfect as many would like, and it may unfact be in a decline, I have to agree with Merryman.



I read the first segment of that story, and the one thing that sticks in my mind is: the "contour bottle" has ALWAYS been a Coca Cola trademark, and the use of it on their cans is hardly an infringement on anyones copyright.



Flip side is, if this guy is right and they stole his ideas, it would be worth mentioning that he LEFT the storyboards with the ad company. Obviously he wasn't real smart about where he left his materials, and he obviously did not copyright it PRIOR to showing it off.



Its one of those cases that is real grey, and it certainly is not worthy of constant news coverage. I'd bet more reading leads to more mistakes and perceived injustices on the plaintiffs part. As Merryman said, it is wise to consider both sides of an issue prior to making a judgement.

 

[merryman]

KJ6Q;

I am pretty thick skinned, so no harm done.

I spent 12 years in a misd. court which included criminal cases with a max. sentence of one year, and included traffic.

Ballance of 32 years in Circuit Court; Criminal cases with penalty of more than one year and civil jurisdiction of over $25k.



You are sure right about prejudging things, but there are patterns of things that show up so regularly and are so consistantly not what they are claimed, that after the first few hundred that you are required to wade through and deal with, it becomes hard to avoid jumping to the bottom line.



I guess more than anything that lit my fuse was the derogatory comment about the courts.

There is a lot rotten in government, and while the courts are not entirely free of it, they are really in good shape except for the very liberal -pro poor criminal defendant--bias that has crept in with the last generation of new commers. Have in mind that it is allmost the only agency, business or what ever, where everything that is done is permanently recorded, and done right in front of the opposition; and an opposition that has readily available the opportunity and means to yell foul to the next court up the ladder. There cam be darn few secret deals or events. When you are on the record all the time, you tend to stick close to the straight and narrow.



Vaughn