Reel Horrible

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/28/us/28judges.html?hp

This article in the NYT is a must read for anyone who has been following the story about the crooked judges in PA, who sent children to a juvenile facility for cash. Apparently, many people knew that they were fishy but felt they couldn't do anything or they feared retribution. One judge was so quick to send kiddies away, he barely listened to anyone, including the DA's on the cases and sent them away for minor offences. He discouraged getting a lawyer and failed to inform the children that they could request one, even after he was warned. How these people could live with themselves is beyond. These were children who lives were incalculably damaged by an excess of greed. In a particularly icky move, one of their cronies whose boat was moored at they luxe condo in FLA, named his boat Reel Justice, I kid you not. After a particularly vivid walk on the dock where large motor boats were docked, a friend of my daughter's uttered the fine phrase, "Oh yes, boat trash." We have spent many wasted hours composing our own boat trash names, which I won't share because they are so stupid and crude, but Reel Justice takes the cake. What would Bernie Madoff's boat trash name be? I am going to have to put some serious thought into this. Who is worse, Bernie who stole from the elderly, widows, non profits, and holocaust survivors, or these fine judges Ciavarella and Conahan who jailed children so they could live the high life? I can't wait for these two fine judges to make their new friends when they hit the big house.

Satan's handmaidens

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/crime/ny-liinsu196040953feb19,0,4638148.story

I know that Andrew Cuomo is a self aggrandizing, publicity seeking shark, but boy can he pick an issue. First predatory colleges when every parent of a college student feels nickle and dimed after paying huge tuition bills, and now his focus on health insurance companies, is something that many, many people have experienced. Unfortuneatly, my family has had way too much experience with the absurd reimbursement rates for out of network Doctors. The rates have never seemed based on any kind of financial reality, and now several insurance companies have admitted wrong doing. The health insurance industry is completely without scruples. As my husband, who could have devoted his entire life to dealing with getting fair treatment for our family's medical bills, has pointed out, any mistake made by our insurance company is always in their favor. The spectacle of these companies exploiting people at their most vulnerable, makes old Bernie Maddoff stealing from widows and orphans seem tame.