Velvel on National Affairs

SIPC's Objections To The Posting Called "Irving Picard's Three Percent Commission In The Madoff Case"

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 22:42:00 GMT

On Thursday, June 11th this author posted an article canvassing and presenting many of the criticisms that are raised. I don't want to bore you by repeating the canvas, but nonetheless shall recapitulate some of the criticisms in summary fashion because this is important to a full understanding regarding a demand SIPC made to me that the entire article of June 11th be taken down -- or at least an asserted mistake in it be corrected.

Irving Picard's Three Percent Commission In The Madoff Case

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 23:12:00 GMT

Time Magazine posted an online article saying that SIPC "Trustees are paid well, receiving personally 3% of anything over $1 million they recover for victims. For example, if $2 billion is ultimately recovered in the Madoff case, Picard stands to make personally $60 million in fees, provided the New York federal judge overseeing the case, the Hon. Louis agrees to it."

The Infestation of Government Values In Industry

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 22:33:00 GMT

Now that the government is in effect taking over major industries -- is "freely interposing itself in the management culture of industry after industry," said Brooks-- "CEO's are forced to adopt the traits of politicians"

The Four Torture Memos, Eichmann, And The Obama Administration. Part III

Sun, 31 May 2009 15:39:00 GMT

It seems to me clear beyond peradventure, as they say, that what Obama is doing with regard to torture, the pictures and Afghanistan is that he is temporizing, is playing both ends against the middle, is trying to ward off opposition from the conservative to right wing side of the political spectrum as much as possible.

The Concept of Net Equity Being Used By the Trustee and SIPC

Wed, 27 May 2009 19:30:00 GMT

It seems obvious that it is illegitimate in the extreme for Picard and Harbeck to use a rigged definition of net equity in order to lessen the amount people receive from SIPC and to create clawbacks where they otherwise would not exist.

The Four Torture Memos, Eichmann, And The Obama Administration. Part II

Sat, 16 May 2009 21:39:00 GMT

I recently read the 2009 book by Neal Bascomb called Hunting Eichmann. I learned a lot I had not previously known.

Justice Jackson's (pre-justiceship) Speech of December 1936

Sat, 16 May 2009 18:07:00 GMT

Law Professor John Q. Barrett of St. John's (barrett@stohns.edu) is writing a biography of Justice Robert Jackson, perhaps the greatest writer ever to sit on the Supreme Court and the first American Chief Prosecutor at Nuremberg.

The Four Torture Memos, Eichmann, And The Obama Administration

Tue, 5 May 2009 01:13:00 GMT

I have read the four memoranda that were recently released by the DOJ and authorized torture. Permit me to invent a similar but short memo that will allow the reader to grasp their style, their character, their techniques, their aims, and inherently and avoidably, the nature of the people who wrote or signed off on them.

Feeder Funds And The SIPC

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 04:48:00 GMT

In this connection, though I personally am a direct investor, I am one of those who have never understood the morality or the decency of denying SIPC recovery to those who invested through feeder funds.

Was The IRS As Culpable As The SEC In The Madoff Scam?

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 02:06:00 GMT

If the possibility raised here turns out to be true, as I suspect will be the case, this would be a disaster for the country. For it would mean that what is perhaps the one agency which above all others must be kept competent and clean as a whistle, was instead a witting or unwitting facilitator of the worst kind of fraud.

Madoff And The Mafia: A Mere Speculation Or Almost A Sure Thing?

Wed, 8 Apr 2009 00:31:00 GMT

Unless and until the government uncovers and discloses that there was a tie to organized crime, the idea that the Italian, Jewish, Irish, or more lately, Russian Mafia were involved must remain mere speculation, speculation that might be right or wrong. But here are some facts and ideas fueling the speculation.

Letter To Judge Chin Regarding Madoff's Guilty Plea, And A Response To A Madoff Victim Regarding The Curative Bond Proposal

Sun, 5 Apr 2009 00:56:00 GMT

Appended below are two documents that were not initially posted on my site (Velvelonnationalaffairs.com) or on OpEd News.

Madoff: The Simple, Clean, Curative Bond Proposal That Has Been Completely Forgotten.

Fri, 3 Apr 2009 01:17:00 GMT

Forget about tax refunds. Forget about tax deductions. Forget about SIPC. Waive them all. Instead, the government should give all victims government bonds whose principal is payable at the end of ten years, and whose interest rate, payable annually, is either approximately seven percent tax free or approximately ten percent taxable.

Is This Country Robert Welch Or Joe McCarthy?

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 23:51:00 GMT

This country may now have arrived at a Robert Welch moment, a moment when it must show it has a sense of decency and must declare itself to be on the side of decent men like Robert Welch or it must show it has no decency and is on the side of bums like Joe McCarthy.

The Tax Views Of Deadeye, The SEC's Customary Action, And Losses Of Non Madoff Investors.

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 22:35:00 GMT

Last Friday I received a phone call from a friend of 45 years standing. I'll call him Deadeye. Deadeye is a brilliant fellow. He finished first in his class in a significant eastern law school, and has spent 47 years as a tax lawyer. Deadeye wanted to talk. Deadeye's point was tax-profound, albeit simple.

The Serious Shortcomings Of The Guidance Issued On Tuesday By The IRS

Sat, 21 Mar 2009 23:25:00 GMT

The 16th Amendment to the Constitution gives Congress power to levy an income tax on all "incomes, from whatever source derived." It turns out that, to the extent that people did not physically withdraw appreciation in their accounts from Madoff, they never had any income from him.

No Siree Nocera[h]. You Are Dead Wrong

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 00:37:00 GMT

Let me describe some of Joe Nocera's tricks in last Saturday's article before getting to the meat of his argument. Read the piece yourself and you will see these tricks in full flower.

Madoff Did Not Exactly Take It On The Chin Last Thursday

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 01:38:00 GMT

Reading the transcript with a lawyer's eye, it seems evident that Judge Chin had made up his mind as to what he was going to do before he walked into the courtroom.

Aspects Of The General Economic Disaster; More On The SEC's Culpability In Madoff.

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 23:18:00 GMT

Just as an orthodox blogger might, I am writing this post on an airplane. Several points will be made, each with relative brevity - at least for me.

Of Markopolos And Madoff, New Times And Conventional Wisdom, SIPC And Clawbacks, Equitable Estoppel And Declaratory Judgments

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 23:29:00 GMT

The hearings before Congress on the Madoff scandal on February 4th put one in mind of some pertinent, hopefully salient, ideas.

More On The Madoff Mess: A Post In Three Installments. Part III

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 22:41:00 GMT

I wish to conclude by discussing possible legislative action in congress.

More On The Madoff Mess: A Post In Three Installments. Part II

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 21:41:00 GMT

Two things should be said with regard to potential suits against the SEC.

More On The Madoff Mess: A Post In Three Installments. Part I

Fri, 6 Feb 2009 23:04:00 GMT

They are victims of Madoff. They are not the billionaires, huge international funds, or gigantic banks that the media focuses on. They are plain Americans who worked like dogs all their lives. They are selling their houses to raise money to live, they are trying to unretire and get back into the workforce at a time of depression and high unemployment caused by the barons of Wall Street. They are desperate and in agony.

Investing With Bernie Madoff: How It Happened, What Happened, And What Might Be Done. Part VI

Thu, 5 Feb 2009 23:24:00 GMT

The courses of action discussed here previously all have major shortcomings: they leave people very short of money to live on, they harm the innocent, they take way too long, they are uncertain. There is a different course of action, however, which would avoid most of these pitfalls.

Investing With Bernie Madoff: How It Happened, What Happened, And What Might Be Done. Part V

Wed, 4 Feb 2009 21:06:00 GMT

I turn now from preliminary comments to specific courses of action. As you will see, each course of action being generally discussed in the media today will be insufficient, will be too little, too late, especially because the law is not designed to handle a disaster of this magnitude.

Investing With Bernie Madoff: How It Happened, What Happened, And What Might Be Done. Part IV

Tue, 3 Feb 2009 22:43:00 GMT

In the final three installments of the posts on the Madoff mess, I will discuss how much was stolen, where did it go, and what can be done for victims.

Investing With Bernie Madoff: How It Happened, What Happened, And What Might Be Done. Part IV

Tue, 3 Feb 2009 22:43:00 GMT

In the final three installments of the posts on the Madoff mess, I will discuss how much was stolen, where did it go, and what can be done for victims.

Investing With Bernie Madoff: How It Happened, What Happened, And What Might Be Done. Part III

Fri, 30 Jan 2009 00:36:00 GMT

The SEC's failure to investigate and put an end to Madoff's crime, its announcing in 1992 that there was no problem with Madoff and its failure ever to correct that statement, its consequent sabotaging of thousands of investors with the literal impoverishing of countless numbers and the crippling of many charities, medical research organizations and injury to pension funds, must be one of the greatest regulatory failures in American history, if not the single greatest failure.

Investing With Bernie Madoff: How It Happened, What Happened, And What Might Be Done. Part II

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 22:50:00 GMT

A foremost red flag was that Madoff apparently was not even making the trades of securities shown on the monthly statements. The trades shown on the monthly statements were fictitious, a fact which still seems unbelievable a month after the scandal broke. Experts who checked this got out of Madoff. The expert SEC apparently checked out none of this however, so the average investor was again left completely in the dark.

Investing With Bernie Madoff: How It Happened, What Happened, And What Might Be Done. Part I

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 00:02:00 GMT

I first heard of Bernie Madoff at some point in approximately the early 1990s. I think it must have been sometime around 1992 or 1993 because one of the points that made a big impression when I heard of him was that the SEC had investigated and had publicly said it found nothing wrong with what Madoff was doing.

Preliminary Memorandum Of The Justice Robert H. Jackson Conference On Federal Prosecutions Of War Criminals

Sat, 10 Jan 2009 21:15:00 GMT

An extensive complaint seeking federal prosecution of American officials who ordered, authorized, approved or committed war crimes is currently being prepared. While the complaint is in preparation, the Steering Committee of the Justice Robert H. Jackson Conference is issuing this preliminary memorandum setting forth several of the points to be presented more extensively in the complaint itself.

Goodbye And Good Riddance To 2008

Wed, 24 Dec 2008 15:13:00 GMT

The year started bad, it stayed bad, it had a temporary uptick because of Obama's victory, but it ended bad. Bad, bad, good, bad. On balance that's bad.

Fitzgerald and Blogojevich

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:47:00 GMT

Given that the crookedness Blagojevich is accused of has been an everyday matter in American politics for scores upon scores of years, why did Fitzgerald bring a case?

A Practical, Defensible One-Off Solution To The Problem Of True Terrorists At Gitmo

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 20:49:00 GMT

Under this one-off exception, (1) evidence obtained against the prior terrorists by illegal torture or abuse would be admitted if it appears reliable, while (2) further illegal obtaining of evidence via torture and abuse is deterred by bringing prosecutions against, and in the case of prisoners who were innocent, allowing civil suits against the persons responsible for the torture.

Obama And Afghanistan; Obama And The Second Coming Of Clintonia

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 00:35:00 GMT

If Obama were to fight a war in Afghanistan, his presidency would be as good as over.

Bring Back Bump Elliott

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 03:29:00 GMT

The Remark is directed at the fact that Michigan may have made the mistake of a lifetime, so to speak, when it hired Rich Rodriguez as coach to replace the underachieving Lloyd Carr.

If You Want Economic Recovery, Eliminate The Capital Gains Tax On Profits From Monies Used To Purchase New Plant And Equipment

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 23:57:00 GMT

The first requisite of economic recovery is to give money to those who will spend it because they are in need. they will spend the money not hoard it, and their expenditures will help revival.

Creating And Sustaining The Unsustainable

Sat, 8 Nov 2008 22:36:00 GMT

Today we are paying the price for a Wall Street system, a market system, a credit system, a housing system, that was (were?) on a shooting star trajectory -- which has now collapsed in what is likely a regression to the mean.

A New Modest Proposal: The Questions At The So-Called Debates Should Reflect The Answers, Since The Answers Will Not Reflect Th

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 00:16:00 GMT

Moderators should not ask questions which candidates (dishonestly) will not answer and will instead use merely as springboards to their talking points. Instead, moderators should simply say such things as, "Senator, tell us for two mnutes whatever you wish about the war in Iraq"

Alan Dershowitz On Whether To Prosecute Executive Branch Criminals

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 00:50:00 GMT

Does Alan Dershowitz arrive at positions and then find or invent alleged reasons in support later?

Alan Dershowitz On Whether To Prosecute Executive Branch Criminals

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 00:50:00 GMT

Does Alan Dershowitz arrive at positions and then find or invent alleged reasons in support later?

Alan Dershowitz On Whether To Prosecute Executive Branch Criminals

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 00:50:00 GMT

Does Alan Dershowitz arrive at positions and then find or invent alleged reasons in support later?

The Bigger The Company, The More Disastrous The Mistake

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 18:08:00 GMT

Today there is a crisis on Wall Street. It involves enormous losses. It threatens the economy. One reason it is of such magnitude is that the institutions of Wall Street were allowed to become so huge. They are so big that their mistakes and their failures threaten all of us.

Attempted Statutory Immunity For The Executive's War Crimes

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 21:48:00 GMT

Based on fairly extensive readings from about 2002-2003 until today, it seems pretty clear that people who were responsible for or committed torture were well aware from the get - go that what they were doing constituted crimes. That realization is why CIA officials, from 2002 to 2006 or 2007 demanded memoranda, from the Office of Legal Counsel of the Department of Justice, falsely claiming that the abuse and torture were not criminal acts. The officials wanted these OLC memos so that they could later avoid or defeat prosecutions by claiming that the decision making office of the DOJ had approved the legality of what they were doing. The officials wanted a âgolden shield,â a âget out of jail free card.â

The Momentary And The More Permanent

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 20:33:00 GMT

If you had to choose, for an important position requiring brains, between a person who was among the best in his class at the Harvard Law School and a person who was near the bottom of his class at the Naval Academy, you would obviously choose, since the position does require brains, the person who was among the best at Harvard Law, right? Well, maybe wrong, if the position is President of the U.S. (an office held since 2001 by a brainless one) and if the chooser is, as in 2000 and 2004, the American electorate.

Mukasey - The Orthodox Jew Who Is A Disgrace To Our Religion- Again Protects Evil.

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 18:13:00 GMT

.... my deep concern for Israel and for Jews as a people lead me to revile those bastards because not only have they been a disaster for the United States itself, but they also seem to have gone far toward achieving the very opposite of what they wanted to achieve in behalf of Israel. By leading the U.S. down a terribly wrong path, they have caused many Americans -- with whom I agree about most other things -- to revile Israel, they have caused Arabs to hate Israel even more, and they have lessened, not increased, Israelâs security. Nice work, guys...

More Main Stream Media Malfeasance-The Conyers Hearing And Tom Brokaw's So-Called "Interview" Of Obama

Sun, 3 Aug 2008 15:52:00 GMT

... Never have I seen (Tom Brokaw) so obviously angry, so obviously antagonistic, as when interviewing Obama...

Forgetting The Fundamentals In Regard To Oil And Afghanistan

Fri, 1 Aug 2008 16:50:00 GMT

What do we need to do to ensure that the price the price of oil is not at some artificially high level set by a speculative futures market on which some financiers make killings while hundreds of millions of ordinary people get screwed at the gas pump?

Zbigniew Brzezinski, Lawrence Wilkerson, And Barack Obama On Afghanistan

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 01:53:00 GMT

Obama .. seems to be drinking the same Kool Aid that was drunk by, and destroyed the presidencies of, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon and George W. Bush. He is spouting apocalyptic visions combined with a possible need for unilateral warmaking....If Obama, as President, were to really follow the prescriptions he gave CBS News, it would destroy his Presidency almost as surely as Nam and Iraq destroyed Johnsonâs, Nixonâs and Bush IIâs. Britain and Russia, both at the height of empire, met disaster in Afghanistan, and so would Obama in all probability...

Evil Judges And Dumb Politicians

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 19:37:00 GMT

Surrounded by friends, allies and well wishers who, being politicians, are inevitably likely to press one bad idea after another on him, Obamaâs ability to think, to resist the bad, will be tested. It probably would serve him well... to find... a corps of people to turn to for advice who...are capable of high level thinking instead of merely the thoughtless, unperceptive reactions which...are the hallmark of most politicians and which many of his allies will press upon him.

Prosecuting Bush, Cheney et al For War Crimes

Thu, 3 Jul 2008 17:37:00 GMT

... today we not only have a years-long unwinnable war, but also torture, kidnappings and renderings to foreign countries for torture, many years of detention without trial of people who are innocent, the use of massive private armies to help carry out Executive policies, electronic spying on anyone and everyone the Executive wishes, suppression of the media far beyond anything experienced during Viet Nam, reducing Congress to an impotency exceeding that of Viet Nam, the use of Executive Branch lawyers to write professionally incompetent, secret memoranda giving clearance to awful policies, and the use of retired generals who are making a fortune from the Pentagon to spread its gospel on the mainstream media...
..what assurance is there that five or ten or twenty or thirty years down the road, when some militarists or reactionaries might again come to power, we will not get Iraq redux, just as Iraq was Viet Nam redux?...
Because domestic politics are obviously useless for holding the guilty accountable, we must try to do what was done in the 1940s to the leaders of nations who committed evil; we must try to do what was done to the German and Japanese leaders from top Nazis and Tojo right down to lawyers and judges. We must try to have them held accountable in courts of law. And we must insist on appropriate punishments, including, if guilt is found, the hangings visited upon top Germans and Japanese....

It is for all these reasons that I have called a conference to be held in Andover, MA on September 13 and 14, 2008. The conference is entitled Planning For The Prosecution Of High Level American War Criminals. The Conference is not intended to be only a discussion of violations of law that have occurred. Although discussions of ideas and facts showing violations of law will take place, library stacks and the internet are, as said, already bulging with materials showing violations (although in the last analysis decisions on violations will be made by judges if leaders are brought to justice). The Conference, rather, is intended to also be a planning conference, one at which plans will be laid, and necessary organizational structures will be set up, to pursue the guilty as long as necessary and to the ends of the earth in order to bring them before the bar of justice. The underlying law and facts will be discussed in the context of laying plans to pursue the guilty in courtrooms so that in future there may be no more Viet Nams, no more Iraqs...Both experts and the public are invited to the Conference.nyone who wants to attend the conference should contact my special assistant, Jeff Demers, at demers@mslaw.edu or at (978) 681-0800...

Alexander Pekelis And Drug Company Cases In Which Consumers Have Been Killed Or Injured.

Wed, 2 Jul 2008 19:33:00 GMT

...We know that thousands of people have been killed or injured because of defective and dangerous drugs and devices or inadequate warnings on labels. Unless everything the Times has written is a lie, we know that this disaster is in part due to the F.D.A.âs incompetence and its insufficient staff and money. We know that drug companies take advantage of the F.D.A.âs inadequacies to put defective products on the market, or products with insufficient warnings on their labels, and thereby also cause the deaths and injuries...

Eric Lichtblaus Unpersuasive Defense Of The New York Times

Mon, 2 Jun 2008 17:07:00 GMT

Eric Lichtblauâs Unpersuasive Defense Of The New York Timesâ Failure To Print His Story On The NSAâs Illegal Electronic Spying In October 2004

...The Times plainly failed the duty of the free press...to prevent the people from being sent to die from foreign shot and shell because of governmental misconduct...one is not happy to think that the newspaper that the country depends upon not only bears responsibility for facilitating the launching of the war, but also for facilitating the reelection of the disastrous people who launched and continued that disastrous policy and many others besides...

The Other Lesson Of Munich

Mon, 26 May 2008 16:02:00 GMT

...Most of the press was nothing but the tool of Chamberlain: it printed what he wanted it to say, did not print what the Government told it not to print, would not print articles or editorials that allegedly might inflame Hitler, in an English reprint of Mein Kampf, left out much -- apparently most -- of the most inflammatory things said by Hitler in that book, refused to say what Hitler was doing to the Jews, and, in general, acted as Chamberlainâs lapdog... Those of us who are Americans old enough to have lived through Viet Nam as adults, and now Iraq, have seen many of the same phenomena at work in the United States...

Dear Professor Goldman

Sun, 25 May 2008 19:47:00 GMT

...one would hope that the continuous scandals over executive misdeeds might cause even right wingers like Roberts, Thomas and Scalia to see the light. One could hope, but one doesnât expect. ...

Courts Should Insist That The Political Branches Do Their Jobs

Thu, 22 May 2008 15:04:00 GMT

...Congress enacts laws that most or even all legislators have not read, that Congresspeople and their staffs did not write (the laws were written by the executive or by private lobbyists), that have sometimes been procedurally manipulated in Congress so that legislators will not even have a chance to read them, let alone absorb and consider what they say. The Patriot Act exemplified this..

Prosecuting Guilty American Leaders For Torture

Wed, 21 May 2008 21:31:00 GMT

....The real truth is that torture was ordered from the top and the torture memos were meant to give legal cover to -- were meant to preclude criminal actions against -- the Bushes, Cheneys, Rices, Tenets, Rumsfelds, Ashcrofts, Addingtons, Haynes and Feiths who were committing serious crimes that could be punished by execution.... American officials have committed moral treason, if not legal treason. Legally, they are certainly guilty of crimes so serious that execution is a possible penalty...

There Is Little Charity In Wealthy Charitable Hospitals.

Mon, 19 May 2008 20:18:00 GMT

... One of the reasons supposedly charitable, supposedly nonprofit hospitals are amassing huge sums and paying CEOs amounts of compensation like three, four or five million per year or even more, is that the hospitals receive tax exemptions because they are providing charitable care -- free care or deeply discounted care -- for those who canât pay. The problem, though, is that thereâre not providing very much charitable care...But the percentage of charitable care Northwestern provides -- are you ready for this -- is âless than 2% of its revenues".,,

Of Mamet And Chicago. Of Obamas And Elections

Tue, 13 May 2008 19:08:00 GMT

But when Michelle Obama -- who, as an African American, has even more to be angry about than even the Jews of my generation -- uttered this truth by saying that her husbandâs candidacy and its reception were the first time she had ever been proud of America, she caught hell in the media and elsewhere.... Michelle Obamaâs problem is that she told it straight, told it as she feels about it, as she feels about it with much justification. Americaâs problem is that it does not want to discuss whether there is truth in what someone says, but instead wants to hear only bullshit that makes people thoughtlessly think well of what we do. Well, I say good for Michelle Obama.

Hypocrisy Holds High Carnival, Ferraro, Spitzer And Other Recent Travesties Of The Political/Media Complex

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 23:34:00 GMT

...This is a country which perpetrates, condones, and/or ignores the most awful conduct. We are fighting wars and killing people by the gross, but nobody with power gives enough of a damn to put an end to it... it is sometimes claimed the public cares less and less, and even left wingers profess that we cannot leave Iraq lest matters get worse ... The Republican candidate, McCain, would continue fighting for a hundred years -- of him it was recently said he never saw a country he did not want to bomb or invade, and that (being third generation Navy) he thinks war the natural state of affairs -- as, evilly, do so many of my generation. Nor do many stop to realize that war, about which people care so little because it is not them that go to it, contributes mightily to the horrendous economic situation that it is said they do care about...

Alexander Pekelis, Arthur S. Miller, And Todayâs Supreme Court

Sat, 22 Mar 2008 17:23:00 GMT

...what we have here is a Supreme Court decision that once again screws over the small man; does so without any basis in Congressional history or purpose, but, rather, contrary to that history and purpose; and screws him over on the basis of unsupported assumptions of what juries might do and with no regard for the recognized fact that the federal agency that is supposed to protect the small guy is incompetent and, apparently, is in the hip pocket of the big drug and device makers...

The Needed Mental Attributes Of A President

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 19:29:00 GMT

...this is the story of Bush. His amiable, good old boy persona reflects a certain kind of interpersonal intelligence, sometimes in high degree. But he is totally lacking in the kind of analytical, logical, thoughtful intelligence needed by a leader, much less a President. Americans, often being fools who vote for the more personally attractive guy, elected Bush twice. They have learned to rue the day they did so...

The Names Of The Washington Professional Sports Teams

Tue, 4 Mar 2008 18:05:00 GMT

Calling all the Washington sports teams âThe Moronsâ? would be superbly representative of the major âindustriesâ? of the city. Itâs just so perfect, isnât it...

The New York Times, Cable TV, And McCain

Sat, 1 Mar 2008 16:38:00 GMT

as for the McCain campaignâs high-flown-language response about serving the country, never violating the public trust and never doing favors for special interests or lobbyists ..this response is just more ... of the political style obnoxiousness of using fancy talk to evade, secrete, hide or lie.

Clarence Thomas, His Autobiography, And Related Matters Pertaining To America And The Supreme Court.

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 22:32:00 GMT

...This is the angriest book -- by far the angriest book -- that one has ever read. If Thomas were not a Justice, his book would be called a polemic, or a screed. To have written such a book sixteen years into the continuing honor of being a Justice of the Supreme Court is more than the word âamazingâ? can signify. There are, roughly speaking, about one million lawyers in this country. Nine of them, or one in about every 111,000 are on the Supreme Court. Thatâs less than one one-thousandth of one percent of them, if my arithmetic is right. There are 300 million people in this country, and only the same nine of them are Supreme Court Justices. Thatâs less than one three hundred thousandths of one percent, if my arithmetic is right. With an accomplishment like this, Thomas is angry? One thinks there must be something fundamentally wrong with this guy....

The Great Louis Terkel. You know him as Studs.

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 22:06:00 GMT

...We live in a time when millions upon millions of us think we donât count. Only the big money on Wall Street and in big business counts: Only the people who lie, cheat and steal unbelievable sums from scores of millions of small fry count. They, and only they, get what they want....

Two Matters: The Environmental Crisis As An Economic Opportunity, And John Edwards As An Angry Populist

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 16:59:00 GMT

Programs to clean up the environment are often resisted because they would be an expense, a very large one. But wouldnât they simultaneously be a fantastic investment opportunity that would work wonders for employment, incomes, return on capital, the economy in general?

Richard Levin: President of Yale And King Of Comedy

Sun, 27 Jan 2008 01:15:00 GMT

...Now, with an endowment of 22.5 billion dollars, Yale can spend 80 million dollars per year on student aid though it couldnât afford this with a puny endowment of 10, or 12 or 14 or 17 billion. Now that is funny.

Horse Race Rot, Cosmetic Crapola, And The Possible Need For Bloomberg

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 17:15:00 GMT

Our entire method of campaigning is insane, and has zero to do with showing the ability or wisdom to govern wisely...we are in need of a third party devoted to doing the right thing in the right way. It seems at least possible that Michael Bloomberg might be the person to lead that charge...

Halberstam and History: Part 2

Sat, 12 Jan 2008 20:09:00 GMT

...The constant, sometimes even continuous, failure of moral courage ...is a hallmark of American life.... There was a continuous failure of moral courage regarding civil rights during the 1940s, 1950s and up until the mid 1960s. A failure of moral courage caused us to get deeper and deeper into the disaster of Viet Nam, as the Democrats refused to act against âtheirâ? President, Lyndon Johnson, even though so many of them knew that we were in fact neck deep in disaster... A failure of moral courage has rendered the Democratic Party a nullity from the beginning in regard to Gulf II. It causes legislators, executive officials and judges to let big business get away with... the destruction of democracy as we once thought we knew it...

Halberstam and History: Part 1

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 23:22:00 GMT

...The ignoring of intelligence, the doctoring of truth, the lies, were one of those things weâve seen repeatedly from 1950 onwards: the Gulf of Tonkin in Viet Nam, body counts there, denials of escalation there, hiding of secret wars in Southeast Asia, WMDs in Iraq, denials of torture - - you name it, weâve had it. (General) MacArthur set the stage, if not the pattern....

This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.mslaw.edu
And to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.mslaw.edu
And to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

Robert Novaks Prince of Darkness

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 22:44:00 GMT

...A few nights ago, I heard Lou Dobbs say on TV... that Americans do not want to vote for any of the people who currently are running for president. One thinks Dobbs right, and when you read Novakâs book you might also think that, in a system which is comprised so extensively, even almost exclusively, of the kinds of despicables whom Novak finds everywhere in Washington and the state capitols, such a horrible choice as we now have is only to be expected...

Arthur Sulzberger And Bill Keller On Bended Knee, Serf-Like

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 21:48:00 GMT

...The Times contributed greatly to getting us into the Iraq disaster in the first place by its credulous reporting on WMDs...and it then helped keep us in that disaster via contributing to Bushâs 2004 victory by kowtowing to Administration claims and withholding the story of the NSA spying...

Read 'Em And Weep For Harvard

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 21:38:00 GMT

Weep for Harvard. Weep for the academic world. Weep for an America where immoral fraudulence is so de rigueur that reports of it donât even raise an eyebrow among the powerful, but are instead regarded by them as simply the way everyday business is done.

Jacob Hale Russell's article A Million Little Authors, written for the November/December 2007 issue of Harvard's alumni magazine, 02138, is appended.

Gee, Gordon, That's Great

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 17:00:00 GMT

The Chronicle of Higher Education's annual Executive Compensation issue is out and boy do those president's make a lot of jack...though not compared to those invaluable football coaches don't you know...

The Longitudinal Lesson Of Paul Krugmanâs The Conscience Of A Liberal

Wed, 7 Nov 2007 22:35:00 GMT

...one has seen the transition from a society whose culture favored equality to a society whose culture favors truly vast inequality -- a country where it is regarded as appropriate for CEOs to make 300 and 400 times what the average workers in their companies make and for hedge fund managers to make 1.7 billion dollars a year and pay tax at only a 15 percent rate, a country where the salary of the average guy hasnât improved much, if at all, in constant dollars for 30 years, a country where all our politicians are owned by the rich as in the first Gilded Age and where the mass media is in thrall to the rich and powerful...

Jack Goldsmith Stands Convicted, part 3

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 20:58:00 GMT

There are.. some problems with Goldsmithâs little mea non culpa. What the CIA had been doing is torture pure and simple, and nothing that Levin said, or George Bush says, can change that fact. You can call the sky a floor if you want, but that wonât make it one, and you can call waterboarding a friendly gesture if you want, but that wonât make it something other than torture.

Jack Goldsmith Stands Convicted, part 2

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 15:53:00 GMT

... to not know that prisoners were being transferred for torture, Goldsmith would have had to be living under a rock during his time at DOD and must have completely failed to read pertinent OLC torture memos ...None of this seemed plausible and now, thanks to Goldsmithâs own book, we know he read and was horrified by torture memos after he was put in charge of OLC and long before he wrote the transfer memo.

Jack Goldsmith Stands Convicted, part 1

Tue, 23 Oct 2007 15:02:00 GMT

any lawyer in private practice who tortured law or ignored fact to give support and cover to a clientâs gravely illegal conduct would be subject to disbarment, subject to criminal prosecution, and disqualified from being on any respectable law school faculty. How or why it should be different for lawyers who did such things to facilitate the gravest governmental misconduct, conduct which involved torture and sometimes murder, is something that escapes me.

More Garbage About Iraq From The Pols And The Media, Plus Stupid Is As Stupid Does

Mon, 8 Oct 2007 22:53:00 GMT

It is also obvious that Bush is going to leave to his successor the awful question of what to do with terrorists whom weâve tortured, held incommunicado, detained indefinitely. These people canât be convicted in civilian courts...Then too it is again obvious that the Democrats arenât going to force Bush to bring home the troops by cutting off funds for the war. They have neither the brains nor the guts to cut our losses (the way a smart business cuts its losses).

With Its Defeat By Appalachian State, Michigan Finally Realizes Its Many, Many Decades Old Desire To Be The Harvard Of The West

Fri, 5 Oct 2007 21:05:00 GMT

Michigan has joined Harvard as the victims of what likely are the two greatest upsets in college football history. And now Michigan, as a fellow victim, has finally achieved its many, many decadesâ old desire to be the Harvard of the West.

Tell Me About Michael Bloomberg

Fri, 5 Oct 2007 00:47:00 GMT

Yesterday a posting here said we need a new kind of candidate instead of the typical amicable mediocrities who go from door to door or state to state for months or years on end in order to be elected...Today, by freak fortuity, I turned on CSpan II for a few minutes, and saw Bloomberg making a speech at Brookings on efforts to reduce poverty. To my personal amazement, he seemed to be the kind of person who met the vision offered in yesterdayâs posting.

We Desperately Need A New Electoral System, New Methods Of Campaigning, And New Types Of People Running For Office

Wed, 3 Oct 2007 20:24:00 GMT

It does not seem likely to me that one can comfortably rely on either of the current two major parties to overthrow the ultimately-disaster-producing national security state. ...Only a new party dedicated to fundamentally different ideas about America and the world will, in reality, be able to end the national security state. (Or do you really expect the Democrats to do it, if elected?)

The Federal Courts Bow Down, Abjectly, To The Secrecy Demands Of The National Security State

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 02:41:00 GMT

...secrecy, and the dishonesty it spawns, do little but create disaster...virtually every societal and economic disaster has gestated in secrecy. The Bay of Pigs, Viet Nam, the bombing of Cambodia, and Laos, the savings and loan debacle, the Enron debacle and the associated economic disaster -- all of these were hatched in secrecy and associated lies. For practical purposes, so was the current war in Iraq.

The Federal Judiciary, Aping The German Judges, Allows The Government To Force You To Die When You Are Sick.

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 19:11:00 GMT

Can the government stop someone who has no other options from trying to save his or her own life? According to a recent ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, the answer is no.

The Speech and Debate Clause and Honesty

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 15:53:00 GMT

...our entire government runs on bribery and dishonesty (and everyone in politics and the media knows it). This bribery and dishonesty are called campaign contributions....

The Access To Experimental Drugs Case.

Sun, 26 Aug 2007 15:28:00 GMT

Abigail Burroughs was only nineteen years old when she learned that she had head and neck cancer. Eighteen months of painful chemotherapy and radiation did nothing to stop its growth. Though there were drugs that could save her life, the Food and Drug Administration told Abigail she couldnât have them.

Jean Edward Smith And Joe Biden

Sun, 26 Aug 2007 00:07:00 GMT

Maybe electing Joe Biden would be a very good thing.... A third party could support Biden as its candidate too if he were to win the Democratic nomination.

and... a follow up observation about Jean Edward Smith and stacking the court...

Increasing The Size Of The Supreme Court

Mon, 6 Aug 2007 22:18:00 GMT

Should there not have been an increase in the size of the Court if absence of an increase would have resulted in pro slavery or anti union decisions in the midst of the Civil War? Should there not have been an increase if a lack of increase would have resulted in the continued vitality of a then recent decision outlawing paper money -- the kind of money we use today? Should Roosevelt not have attempted his court packing plan if the price of lack of attempt would have been, as so many think, continued evisceration of the New Deal by the Supreme Court?

Are We Rome? We Are Rome.

Sat, 4 Aug 2007 21:15:00 GMT

The Romans were arrogant. They considered themselves the center of the universe. They considered others to be inferior, didnât have good information on what others thought -- sometimes had exactly wrong information -- and seemed to believe the world existed for the benefit of Rome and that all should do as Rome did....
Velvel discourses on Cullen Murphy's new book Are We Rome? The Fall of Rome And The Fate Of America...

The High Price of Gasoline

Sat, 7 Jul 2007 16:38:00 GMT

..some think the futures markets have added 20 to 25 dollars to the price of a barrel of oil... this estimated additional amount would account for roughly 30 to 40 percent of the price per barrel...

New Installment of My Radio Show "What the Media Doesn't Tell You"

Thu, 5 Jul 2007 14:49:00 GMT

Salon blogger and author of "A Tragic Legacy", Glenn Greenwald,on the disaster of George Bushss presidency and on how George Bush became the Republican candidate in 2000. This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
Velvel's radio show can be heard at www.velvelonmedia.com For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.mslaw.edu
And to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

The Times' News Judgement in its Obits of June 7th

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 14:23:00 GMT

Jim Clark beat the living shit out of civil rights demonstrators. He viciously abused them physically in other ways. His actions were so terrible that they were instrumental in securing enactment of the Voting Rights Act....This is the fine individual who, the Times believed, deserved an obit twice the size of the highly accomplished Martin Meyersonâs and placement at the top of the page.

Central Points And The Frivolous News Judgments Of The News Media

Mon, 25 Jun 2007 14:06:00 GMT

...what is the effect on the rule of law, and on the entire question of honesty, if a member of the elite like Libby can deliberately lie to a grand jury and then, via pardon, get off scot free. The question is only the more acute because of the other criminals from elite walks of life who have been pardoned by Presidents....

The Current Intersection

Tue, 12 Jun 2007 00:02:00 GMT

If the right-wing wins permanent dominance, the country is for practical purposes finished....

The New Big Lie

Tue, 5 Jun 2007 18:23:00 GMT

...And as our men continue to die in Iraq A war by which Bush has managed our sworn enemiesâ number to vastly inflate, The lying, cowardly members of Congress we can be sure Will continue to do nothing effective, but will continue only to verbally masturbate...

Dr. Demento in the Oval Office

Fri, 25 May 2007 23:33:00 GMT

...more people get killed in Iraq every day, while the top cowardly lion who fled from service in Viet Nam pretends he is a brave Lincoln faced with the destruction of this country and refuses therefore to disengage from disaster while denying that disaster is occurring...

This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu
And to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

Article by Ray McGovern Regarding George Tenent

Tue, 22 May 2007 14:04:00 GMT

"Tenet should not be behind a microphone; he should be behind bars."
Velvel appends a "fantastically good article about George Tenet by Ray McGovern, a 27 year veteran of the CIA who for a period wrote the Presidentâs daily brief."
This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu
And to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

Let's Hear It For Hillary

Sun, 20 May 2007 15:19:00 GMT

...But seeking cover Hillary does pretend
That we should support a phony bill to end
The war. It enables her to circumvent the important question,
One the media collusively will not mention
Of a bill immediately cutting off all funds for the war
Except money needed to protect troops withdrawing from the blood effusing sore...
- a poem by Lawrence R. Velvel

This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu
And to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

Rupert Murdochâs Purchase Of The Wall Street Journal Would Be Another Large Wall Street Nail In The Coffin Of Competent America

Wed, 16 May 2007 14:38:00 GMT

...the sale of the Journal to Murdoch would be another, and very large, nail in the ever expanding Wall Streetization, and the consequently increasing incompetence, of American journalism. The concern, more specifically, is that the high quality straight journalism that often appears in the Journal will disappear as the paper becomes Murdochized -- as a desire for a high quality journalism gives way to the Wall Streetish desire for ever greater profits...

This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu
And to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

More Moral Meltdown In America.

Sat, 12 May 2007 18:26:00 GMT

The mania in this country for elite credentials makes a joke of the claim of social mobility that has always been so much a part of purported America. It is itself a form of moral meltdown.
On MIT, Wolfowitz, Iraq, the candidates...

This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu
And to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

On Being "Off The Air" Of The Internet For A Period, On Imus, On Blacksburg, And On Bill Moyer's Show About Mass Media

Wed, 9 May 2007 17:25:00 GMT

With regard to Imus, one does not bleed for him....Blacksburg? -- what can one say? People who have said some of what there is to say have been crucified... For they pointed out the societally inadmissible relationship between what happened at Blacksburg...on the one hand, and the violence which is approved by and endemic to American society and the American government on the other hand. ...

This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu
And to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

We Fight And Lose Wars In Which We Cannot, Dare Not, Use Our Major Advantages.

Tue, 1 May 2007 14:26:00 GMT

...In Korea the Chinese came in by the hundreds of thousands and,
though most Americans donât know it, Russian pilots were piloting the Mig.
There was no telling just how big
The war could have become
Had we insisted on putting in more men until we won,
If we indeed did win. There was a fear that we might easily
Have triggered World War III.
And in Viet Nam had we put in a million or a million and a half men,
We would have risked World War III again...

This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu
And to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

Remarks On Torture And Secrecy By The Redoubtable Scott Horton

Fri, 27 Apr 2007 19:06:00 GMT

"The practice of secret courts. The use of torture to secure confessions. The receipt of secret evidence. The exclusion of the public from proceedings. The offering of evidence in the form of summaries delivered to the judges, without the defendant being able to confront the evidence or conduct a cross-examination. These practices were the definition of tyrannical injustice to the Puritan fathers and the Founding Fathers. We thought them long banished, indeed, a hundred years and more before our own revolution. And now suddenly here they are again."
-from remarks' made by Scott Horton at the NYU Law School.

Reactionary Federal Appellate Judges, And What Can Be Done About Them.

Tue, 24 Apr 2007 15:16:00 GMT

...From the media one may receive this explanation
For why names of judges it does not mention:
A court of appeals is a unitary body,
So it matters not who speaks, or whether her logic is brilliant or shoddy,
Her words are not hers but of the court anent
(Unless, I guess, spoken in concurrence or dissent).
And this though the judges usually are but three
Of a court of seven or twelve or even twenty.
Need one say the idea is preposterous
And serves only to insure ignorance among us
Of who is liberal and who reactionary,
Of who uses life tenure to push views of the nineteenth century?...
a poem by Lawrence R Velvel

The Presidency Has Become A Great Business Opportunity

Thu, 12 Apr 2007 19:03:00 GMT

Itâs no longer just the desire to be first,
Or to live forever in a great sunburst
Of historical fame.
No. Now its for gain,
For riches, for wealth, for dollars by the million
That the greedy dance at the presidential cotillion,
Since it has now become clear for all to see
That to be President is a business opportunity
Of terrific dimension....
- a poem

This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu
And to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

Birmingham And Baghdad; The South In 1963 And The United States in 2007

Wed, 4 Apr 2007 16:45:00 GMT

In 1963, Gene Patterson wrote a now famous column in The Atlanta Constitution in response to the Birmingham Church bombing.
...If you substitute the words"United States" for the word "South", the word "American" for the word "Southerner", the name "Iraq" for the name "Birmingham", and make some other necessary verbal substitutions...then what Patterson wrote is in many unfortunate respects as applicable to the entire United States today as it was to the South in 1963.

Comment on "If You Want To Know Why We Keep Fighting Wars, Look No Further Than The South"

Sun, 1 Apr 2007 18:51:00 GMT

For all its professed Christianity, the South today still has not adopted the philosophy of the Sermon on The Mount in its world outlook.... Sherwood Ross responds to Velvel's previous post...

If You Want To Know Why We Keep Fighting Wars, Look No Further Than The South.

Fri, 30 Mar 2007 18:35:00 GMT

The most famous Southern writer, Faulkner, said the past is not dead, it is not even past. This would seem true of the Southern attitude towards war. War has regularly been a Southern policy of choice...The South wanted the War of 1812, it wanted war with Mexico, it wanted the Civil War, it wanted to invade and take over Cuba and parts of Central America. Woodrow Wilson, a Southerner, got us into World War I after saying he kept us out of war. Even Harry Truman, who took us into Korea without Congressional authorization and thereby set the stage for a militarized nation and Viet Nam, was in effect a southerner -- Missouri was a rebel leaning border state with lots of Southern feeling (and guerrillas) where Truman grew up not long after the Civil War... Lyndon Johnson was a Southerner, and so was Dean Rusk. So is the current George Bush.

Why There Was No Indictment On The Underlying Crime Of Outing Valerie Plame

Thu, 29 Mar 2007 18:26:00 GMT

...The press prates of freedom and liberty
But doesnât grasp that to continue free
It cannot allow the President to be
A king...
Why There Was No Indictment On The Underlying Crime Of Outing Valerie Plame- a poem by Lawrence R. Velvel

This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu
And to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

Article by A Lieutenant Colonel who served time in Iraq

Thu, 15 Mar 2007 23:46:00 GMT

It is not the insurgency, with its roadside bombs, or criminals engaging in mass kidnappings that are defeating the U.S. mission. It is the fact that our civilian leadership has cast victory in Iraq as a stable, democratic government. Building the parameters for mission success upon values and goals that the Iraqis themselves do not care for is potentially leading us toward a political defeat, despite our strength of arms...writes the Lieutenant Colonel...

This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu
And to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

The Long Line- a poem

Tue, 13 Mar 2007 22:25:00 GMT

Is a huge misdeed,
Yet not momentous
Nor portentous.
For itÃïïs only the latest in the line
Of serial crime
That has victimized men
When theyÃïïre home again
From the wars....

Let Us Now Praise Honest Men- a poem

Mon, 12 Mar 2007 21:57:00 GMT

It is often said that truth is dead
When the guns begin to shoot....

...Who must shoot and wound and maybe kill
Arabs -- who pay the butchers bill;
Or bomb a village --
Which we would never, never pillage;
And may lose an arm, a leg, or more,
Or leave bits of brain on an Iraqi floor. ...

The Couch: Bush is on it and Congress Should be

Tue, 27 Feb 2007 03:31:00 GMT

That Bush is utterly devoid of empathy seems plainly true to me. Unlike Lincoln or even Lying Lyndon Johnson, who sent people to their deaths but agonized over it, Bush is thought by the shrinks, and appears to the lay eye, to give not one damn about how many Americans he kills, let along Iraqis...It seems to me that people in todayâs America who seek and reach office are different from you and me and other decent people in this society. They are willing to say and do things that would make a lot of the decent people gag...Psychiatry should investigate, should analyze, what kind of people these are who will say and do these things, and why they are like they are. Why investigate and analyze this? For the obvious reasons. So that we can know what we are faced with, and can start looking for and electing a better kind of person.
This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu
And to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

The Preternaturally Prolific Posner on Plagiarism- Part 1

Wed, 21 Feb 2007 18:58:00 GMT

... should it be expected that there would not be outrage if it were to become public property that kids write opinions that judges then try to fool us into thinking are their own? - - opinions which send people to jail or for lethal injection, which take their property, which take their kids, and so forth. - Lawrence R. Velvel on Richard Posner's new book "The Little Book of Plagiarism"
This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu
And to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

The Preternaturally Prolific Posner on Plagiarism- Part 2

Wed, 21 Feb 2007 18:54:00 GMT

The last six minutes of Velvel's post...
This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu
And to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

Lessons From The Philippines Insurrection And Our Overthrow Of Mossadegh, Part II.

Thu, 1 Feb 2007 17:11:00 GMT

In Iran, in 1953, we manufactured the overthrow of an Iranian patriot and nationalist manned Mohammed Mossadegh. We had him replaced by a cruel tyrant, the Shah, Mohammed Reza Palevi -- who, among other repressive actions, created the notorious and ultra cruel secret police force called Savak. The Iranians, who generally liked America before we orchestrated the overthrow of Mossadegh, have largely hated us ever since. Our 1953 action paved the way for the rise to power of the mullahs, led to the Shahâs overthrow and the one year seizure of our embassy personnel in 1979, and, as said, led to enduring hatred of the United States.
This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu
And to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

Lessons From The Philippines Insurrection And Our Overthrow Of Mossadegh, Part I.

Wed, 31 Jan 2007 16:57:00 GMT

In overthrowing governments from 1898 ...until today, using overt military force where necessary or secretly sponsored.. coups where desirable, our leaders have always given false reasons for, told lies about, our motivations. We were going to bring freedom and civilization to our "little brown brothers" or to the "gooks" or to others we referred to by racist appellations, or we were going to bring them the benefits of a market economy, or we were shouldering "the white mans burden" of improving the world... But at bottom, the most important reasons for doing what we did were selfish economic ones.
This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu
And to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

The Urgent Need For Information On The Results Of Medical Care

Mon, 22 Jan 2007 02:30:00 GMT

The most crucial necessity in medical care is to begin making the needed information available to patients, referring doctors, medical advisers, the general public... Just as in every other walk of life -- let me repeat that -- just as in every other walk of life, a lack of publicly available information, sometimes because of deliberate secrecy, leads to bad results.
This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu
And to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes
List Of Institutions That, According To Redefining Health Care, Create Analyses Of Medical Results (Outcomes) To One Degree Or Another
Consumers Medical Resource Toll-Free: 1-888-426-7435 Best Time to Reach between hours 8:30 a.m. â 5 p.m. EST, M-F
Best Doctors, Inc. One Boston Place, 32nd Floor Boston, MA 02108 617-426-3666 Toll-Free: 1-800-223-5003 Email: info@bestdoctors.com
Preferred Global Health 133 Federal Street Boston, MA 02110 617-369-7900
National Quality Forum 601 13th Street, NW, Suite 500 North Washington, DC 20005 202-783-1300 Email: info@nqfexecutiveinstitute.org
Pinnacle Care International 250 West Pratt Street, Suite 1100 Baltimore, MD 21201 1-866-752-1712
The Leapfrog Group c/o Academy Health 1801 K Street, NW, Suite 701-L Washington, DC 20006 202-292-6713 Email: info@leapfroggroup.org
Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality P.O. Box 258100 Madison, WI 53725-8100 608-250-1223 Email: info@wchq.org
The National Committee For Quality Assurance 2000 L Street, Suite 500 Washington, DC 20036 202-955-3500
Institute For Healthcare Improvement 20 University Road, 7th Floor Cambridge, MA 02138 617-301-4800 Toll-Free: 1-866-787-0831
Pacific Business Group On Health 221 Main Street, Suite 1500 San Francisco, CA 94105 415-281-8660 Email: info@pbgh.org
United Resource Networks MN010-E169 6300 Olson Memorial Highway Golden Valley, MN 55427 Toll-Free: 1-800-847-2050
Alpha-1 Foundation 2937 SW 27th Avenue, Suite 302 Miami, FL 33133 305-567-9888 Toll-Free: 1-877-2-CURE-A1

We May Need A Huge March On Washington To Force Democrats To Put An End To The War ...

Wed, 17 Jan 2007 16:00:00 GMT

..Nothing could be further from the truth than the claim that, because he is Commander-in-Chief, Bush has the legal right to ignore a bill cutting off funds. In fact, the claim is viciously ironic. Ever since the earliest days of Viet Nam, we have been hearing that the way Congress can control Presidential warmaking, if it does not like what the President is doing, is to cut off funds. But now we hear, completely to the contrary, that such a cut off is of no legal consequence? And we hear it, yet, from legislators who claim they want to put an end to the war? Oh, boy.... This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu
And to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

Comment on Blog

Wed, 10 Jan 2007 20:54:00 GMT

Robert S. Dotson, M.D. writes to Velvel to say that his writings have "a tendency to belittle the intellectual capacities of those who live South of the Mason-Dixon line and to paint the entire region with a broad brush which clearly displays a lack of first-hand knowledge of the region and a good bit of historical inaccuracy"...and Velvel responds!
This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu
And to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

What The Media Have Not Said Upon Ford's Passing.

Fri, 5 Jan 2007 17:18:00 GMT

Fordâs precedent setting pardon of Nixon showed that if you hold a high enough office, and if what youâve done is bad enough, you can expect to get off scot free in this country.
That the truly big time miscreants inevitably get off scot free here is one of the reasons many Americans have little or no faith in our government. It is also one of the main reasons our leaders all-too-blithely take us into wars, uselessly bomb large sections of other countries to smithereens, order up torture, mess over and suppress civil rights, and so forth. There is nothing holding them back, you see. There will be no trial, no punishment, and, for that matter, not even an impeachment.
This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu
And to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

The DeFacto Closing Of The Flagships And Possible Replacements For Them

Tue, 2 Jan 2007 19:01:00 GMT

Desiring to join the "educational eliteâ?, state universities are raising tuition and lessening the amount of aid available to those who canât afford their new and higher prices- an ever growing percentage of our population which now includes not only minorities and the poor, but often the lower middle class and middle class as well.
This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu
And to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, please visit Against the Tide on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

1898 Redux

Sun, 31 Dec 2006 01:56:00 GMT

"There is no terrorist group or groups and no nation or nations that can overcome us if we do not destroy ourselves by endless adventuring around the globe sponsored by Bush and his successors. If we engage in those adventures our people will be ever more split."
On William Jennings Bryan and the dispute over American imperialism that began with the Spanish American War...
This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu
And to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

Sanity, Competence, And The Latest Washington Crock About Iraq.

Tue, 19 Dec 2006 16:44:00 GMT

More on Bush's Sanity and the crock we refer to as The Iraq Study Group Report.......
This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu
And to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, please visit Against the Tide on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

Comments Regarding Mary Sullivan, Brandeis, etc.

Wed, 13 Dec 2006 02:39:00 GMT

"...larger even than the age discrimination issue --is the question of whether institutional loyalty counts for anything in universities as they try to make themselves more âbusinesslike.â? Two readers respond to the post, "Social Justice at Brandeis' This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com.
To learn more about The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu.
And to hear (and see) the history of MSL, please visit "Against The Tide" on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes.

Pretending That November 7th Never Happened. Also, It Is Now Time to Quite Seriously Ask The Question Of Whether George Bush Is

Fri, 8 Dec 2006 18:11:00 GMT

The sensible thing to do in Iraq is to divide the country into three areas corresponding to religious preponderance, give people a few months to move if they want... and then get the hell out of the country. But only a few of the Washingtonites and pundits are for this course of action. For it too would enable a rapid departure from Iraq... a rapid change in accordance with the electoral dictate of November 7th. And change in accordance with November 7th... is not what is desired by the people who run this country and want to pretend that November 7th never happened. This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com.
For more information of The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu.
and to hear (and see!) the amazing history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" at www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes.

Social Justice At Brandeis

Mon, 4 Dec 2006 01:49:00 GMT

Why was Mary Sullivan, the woman's softball coach for 32 years, fired a year before she could begin receiving retirement benefits, and with no medical insurance? Wasn't Brandeis s founded by a people who have long claimed social justice to be their special provenance, and partly because these people were themselves being denied social justice at other universities?
This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu
And to hear (and see) the history of MSL, visit "Against The Tide" on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

What Schembechler Accomplished

Fri, 1 Dec 2006 21:23:00 GMT

When Schembechler became Michiganâs coach in 1969, its glory years under Fielding Yost and Fritz Crisler were long gone. The 107,501-seat Michigan Stadium had seldom been filled in recent seasons, and the Michigan band was finding fewer occasions to hail the maize and blue with the marching song âThe Victors.â? ... But on November 22, 1969, Schembechler put his stamp on a new day for Michigan with a 24-12 victory against top-ranked and undefeated Ohio State and Coach Woody Hayes, his former mentor. This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu
and to hear (and see) the history of MSL, visit "Against The Tide" at www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

Conventional Wisdom And Bad People In Washington

Wed, 29 Nov 2006 18:49:00 GMT

Without the threat of exposure and punishment, potential evildoers have no reason not to commit evil. This is how conservatives feel about street thugs and Mafiosi; why is it any less true of thugs in suits who control armies? ... If we want a decent country we must, after trial, put the criminals in irons or even against the wall, depending on the nature of their crimes and regardless of whether itÃïïs some street criminal or one of our many tycoon type criminals or some of our murderers in government. This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information about The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu
and to hear (and see) the history of MSL, visit "Against the Tide" at www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of itunes

Let Us Now Throw Rumsfeld Under The Bus

Mon, 20 Nov 2006 23:40:00 GMT

"The Democrats should never forget the kind of person Bush really is... an ignorant bully, not a gentle fellow of sweet reason. If he gets a chance, he will once again stomp on the DemocratsÃïï heads, and call them (and lots of the rest of us) traitors, and will try to pin all blame for everything wrong on them (and lots of the rest of us), just as he previously did and just as he now has done with Rumsfeld, whom he dishonorably has thrown under the bus for a policy that Bush approved, that Bush vigorously defended up until the election, and for which Bush bears responsibility. "
This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R Velvel's blog www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com.
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu
and to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, visit "Against The Tide" at www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes.

Honesty, History, And A College Of History And Law

Mon, 13 Nov 2006 23:09:00 GMT

"The worst form of cheating in American democracy today is intellectual dishonesty. The conversation in our democracy is dominated by disingenuousness. Candidates and partisan commentators strike poses of outrage that they donât really feel, take positions that they would not take if the shoe was on the other foot (e.g., criticizing Bush when you gave Clinton a pass, or vice versa), feel no obligation toward logical consistency."
This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com.
For more information about The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu,
and to hear (and see) the history of MSL visit Against The Tide on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

Mock Letters To Bush, Pretend Speeches For Bush, And Reactionary Judges

Thu, 9 Nov 2006 16:53:00 GMT

Does Ben Stein not understand that Bush is an obstinate (unintelligent) man whose views and feet are set in concrete, a man who is not going to back off his obdurate views even when confronted with powerful facts and ideas.... and on another note... is judicial independence at risk?
This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu
and to hear (and see!) the history of MSL visit Against The Tide on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

Of The Conference On Presidential Powers, And Stealth Immunity For Bushman

Wed, 8 Nov 2006 22:03:00 GMT

The framers intended Congress, not the President, to be the powerful political branch. They greatly feared a powerful Executive. But the foundersâ intent is at the opposite pole from what now exists. This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com
For more information of The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu
and to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, please visit Against the Tide on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

Reposting A Blog On An American Third Party Part 1

Fri, 27 Oct 2006 17:11:00 GMT

It is now necessary to create a new political party, for the prevailing two parties suffer from a disease that could be called corrupt sclerosis of the intellectual and financial arteries.
For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, please visit www.msl.edu

Reposting A Blog On An American Third Party Part 2

Fri, 27 Oct 2006 17:02:00 GMT

This is Part 2 of the blog "Reposting a Blog on an American Third Party"...
It is now necessary to create a new political party, for the prevailing two parties suffer from a disease that could be called corrupt sclerosis of the intellectual and financial arteries. For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, please visit www.msl.edu

Poem- "The Decider"

Mon, 23 Oct 2006 19:35:00 GMT

A Dr. Seuss style ode to Mr. Bush.... the great "Decider". This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com For more information of The Massachusetts School of Law, please log on to www.msl.edu and to hear and see the history of MSL, look for "Against the Tide" at www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

A Conference "On Presidential Power In America"

Wed, 4 Oct 2006 02:47:00 GMT

Abetted by a sniveling Congress and a fearful, incompetent mass media, the Presidency has gotten dangerously close to all powerful, precisely what the founders feared in an Executive. This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com for more information on The Massachusetts School of Law please log on to www.msl.edu to hear (and see) the history of MSL please visit Against The Tide in www.podiobooks.com or in itunes. And for additional information on the Conference on Presidential Powers, including a full description of each speaker and panelist, and the specific expertise of each, please visit www.mslawevents.com, or contact Jeff Demers at (978)681-0800, demers@mslaw.edu.

Bob Herbert's Recent Truths And Their Consequences

Thu, 28 Sep 2006 15:12:00 GMT

The real reason that Bush, Cheney and the other pretexters want there to be retroactive immunity for the federal crime of torture is that the higher-ups are guilty of this felony, are guilty of a crime punishable by up to life imprisonment or execution. This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com To let history know that you do not agree with the current administration's actions, sign out at www.lethistoryknow.com. For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, please log on to www.msl.edu and to hear (and see!) the history of MSL visit Against the Tide on www.podiobooks.com or in the podcast section of iTunes

The Pretexter Stain- Let History Know You Want To Be Included Out

Tue, 26 Sep 2006 19:48:00 GMT

When is an honestly held belief so stupid, so preposterous,that it is the defacto equivalent of a pretext? The word "liar" and the word "president" have become practically equivalent. Let your children and history know that you do not support this administration's lies that have lead to an historical stain on this country at www.lethistoryknow.com. This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence Velvel's blog www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com. For more information of The Massachusetts School of Law, please log on to www.msl.edu and to hear (and see) the history of MSL please visit "Against the Tide" at www.podiobooks.com or under education in the podcast section of iTunes

Eric Lomaxâs âThe Railway Manâ? And Todayâs America

Sat, 9 Sep 2006 17:18:00 GMT

The real traitors are Bush and his allies, who have abandoned American ideals and are turning this country into one that imitates the barbarism of our enemies of WW II, Germany and Japan. This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com To learn more about The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu and to hear (and see!) the history of MSL please visit, Against the Tide in the Podcast section of iTunes

Professor X And The Conservative Judges Of Reagan And The Two Bushes

Thu, 31 Aug 2006 04:51:00 GMT

Why did the New York Times publish an op ed piece that was not only a vicious attack on Judge Anna Diggs Taylor, it was also deeply wrong? Of the courts, bias, and a system that is rife with hypocrisy... This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com For more information of The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu and to hear (and see!) the amazing history of MSL please visit Against The Tide in iTunes podcasts

Updates On The IBM Pension Case, Military Cooperation Between The U.S. And Israel, And Bush's Possible Plans Regarding Iran

Wed, 23 Aug 2006 21:22:00 GMT

The pensions desperately needed and relied on by average workers have been cut dramatically so that highly paid executives can make millions more. Has the US and Israel succeeded in making Hezbollah stronger than ever? And could the destruction in Lebanon ultimately have done us some good, at least where Iran is concerned? This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu and to hear (and see!) the history of MSL please visit "Against the Tide" in the podcast section of iTunes or visit www.againstthetide.libsyn.com

Appended Speech From a Visitor To Israel

Fri, 18 Aug 2006 16:22:00 GMT

Readers of this blog who think Israel âdone badâ? in the war or is the Nazified juggernaut of the Middle East or who for other reasons favor Lebanon, Hezbollah, Hamas things you will not wish to hear, will not want to know, and will automatically refuse to believe. This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, please log on to www.msl.edu and to hear (and see) the history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" in the podcast section of iTunes, or www.againstthetide.libsyn.com

The Seventh Circuit's Abominable Decision In The IBM Pension Plan Case

Thu, 17 Aug 2006 16:03:00 GMT

The Senate has shown itself incapable of stopping the right wing takover of the judiciary. This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com For more information of The Massachusetts School of Law, please log on to www.msl.edu and to hear (and see) the history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" in the podcast section of iTunes, or www.againstthetide.libsyn.com

Iran. Joe I (It's All About Me) Lieberman

Wed, 16 Aug 2006 19:57:00 GMT

More on Iran and nukes... and...Lieberman obviously thinks it crucial that the Senate have a leading Democrat, like him, who will help Bush and Cheney continue to fight their misbegotten war in Iraq... This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com for more information on The Massachusetts School of Law log on to www.msl.edu and to hear (and see!) this history of MSL please visit "Against the Tide" in iTunes or www.againstthetide.libsyn.com

Ramifications Of The "Debate" Between Alan Dershowtiz And James Zogby

Tue, 15 Aug 2006 14:17:00 GMT

What do you do when an enemy uses the population as human shields? And... is the Lebanese government any different from The Taliban? This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com for more information on The Massachusetts School of law, log on to www.msl.edu and to hear (and see) the history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" in iTunes, or go to www.againstthetide.libsyn.com

Overthrowing Mossadegh; Iranian Hatred For The U.S.; And The Crisis In Lebanon

Mon, 14 Aug 2006 13:26:00 GMT

Shouldn't we deal with Iran now- before it is nuclear armed? This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com To learn more about The Massachusetts School of Law please log on to www.msl.edu and to hear (and see!) the history of MSL please visit "Against the Tide" in the podcast section of iTunes or www.againstthetide.libsyn.com

The Airheads and Blockheads

Wed, 9 Aug 2006 02:34:00 GMT

We now know for certain that Hezbollah is intentionally locating itself near UN positions. Why than hasn't Kofi Annan taken any action? This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com for more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, please log on to www.msl.edu and to hear (and see!) the history of MSL please log visit "Against the Tide" in iTunes, or www.againstthetide.libsyn.com

Correspondence from Aaron Sharif and Joe McCain(?)

Wed, 2 Aug 2006 14:09:00 GMT

As I write this I hear guns - Aaron Sharif, The Jews will not go quietly again- Joe McCain...two searing letters, one from an Israeli citizen, one purported to be written by Senator John McCains' brother, Joe. This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R Velvel's blog www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com for more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, log on to www.msl.edu and to hear (and see!) the history of MSL please visit Against the Tide in iTunes or www.againstthetide.libsyn.com

The UN Observers

Mon, 31 Jul 2006 16:20:00 GMT

Why haven't the most quintessentially simple, even obvious questions been asked regarding the death of the UN observers in Lebanon? This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, please log on to www.msl.edu and to hear (and see!) the history of MSL please visit "Against the Tide" in the podcast section of iTunes, or www.againstthetide.libsyn.com

The United States, Israel and Lebanon

Fri, 28 Jul 2006 14:49:00 GMT

Is it possible that Bush wants the fighting in Lebanon to continue? One should not underestimate Bush's militarism.... and stupidity. This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's Blog www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com for more information on The Massachusetts School of Law please visit www.msl.edu and to hear (and see!) the history of MSL log on to "Against the Tide" in the podcast section of iTunes, or visit www.againstthetide.libsyn.com

The One Percent Doctrine

Sat, 22 Jul 2006 15:21:00 GMT

Does the Bush Administration's "one percent doctrine" give them carte blanche to act purely out of suspicion and emotion? Does it eschew those traditional forms of diplomacy - gathering and analyzing evidence? This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's Blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com for more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, please visit www.msl.edu and to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, log on to "Against the Tide" at www.againstthetide.libsyn.com or look for "AGAINST THE TIDE" in the podcast section of ITUNES.

Women And The American Dream

Thu, 20 Jul 2006 23:19:00 GMT

Is "the American Dream' a fraud? This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R Velvel's Blog www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com. To learn more about the Massachusetts School of Law, please visit www.msl.edu and to hear (and see!) the history of MSL please visit "Against the Tide" at www.againstthetide.libsyn.com

Stephen Kinzer, The Philippines Insurrection, And America Today

Tue, 18 Jul 2006 16:04:00 GMT

Is history nothing but "agreed upon lies"? Every American who is concerned about the current war and our place in the world should read Stephen Kinzer's "Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change From Hawaii To Iraq" - more than once. This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, please visit www.msl.edu and to hear (and see) the history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" at www.againstthetide.libsyn.com. (this is the corrected mp3 version of the podcast)

George Bushâs Attempt To Silence The New York Times

Mon, 10 Jul 2006 18:04:00 GMT

Imagine the clandestine activities we would know nothing about if the Government had gotten its wish to keep its actions secret. This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's Blog www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com for more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, please visit www.msl.edu and to hear (and see!) the history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" in the podcast section of iTunes

Book Review By Joanna Daneman

Mon, 10 Jul 2006 14:54:00 GMT

"...brilliant analysis", "...makes me think", "...always interesting", just a few of the comments from prolific Amazon reviewer Joanna Daneman in her review of Dean Velvel's book, "Blogs from the Liberal Standpoint" This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com Velvel's book, "Blogs from the Liberal Standpoint" can be found at www.amazon.com For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, please visit www.msl.edu and to hear (and see!) the history of MSL please visit "Against the Tide" in the podcast section of iTunes.

The Real Reason We Invaded Iraq, June 20, 2006

Wed, 28 Jun 2006 16:30:00 GMT

If Bush's said mission in history is to protect America from terrorists, how does he explain his lack of commitment in Afghanistan? This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R Velvel's blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com for more information on The Massachusetts School of Law please visit www.msl.edu and to hear (and see) the history of MSL, visit "Against the Tide" in the podcast section of iTunes

E-Mail Correspondence With Captain Byron King Of The United States Navy Reserve June 19, 2006

Wed, 21 Jun 2006 03:08:00 GMT

A Captain in the US Navy Reserves has a powerful response to Dean Velvel's post entitled "Killing Zarqawi's Daughter" This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com entitled "E-Mail Correspondence With Captain Byron King Of The United States Navy Reserve June 19, 2006" for more information on The Massachusetts School of Law, please visit www.msl.edu To hear (and see) the history of The Massachusetts School of Law, please visit Against the Tide in the podcast section of iTunes.

For Purely Political Reasons There Almost Surely Will Be No Major Release Of Prisoners Held At Gitmo And Other Prisons

Wed, 21 Jun 2006 02:29:00 GMT

A major release of prisoners from Gitmo would be an electoral disaster for the Republicans and this Administration, for whom politics trumps all. This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's Blog, www.velvelonnationalaffairs.com entitled For Purely Political Reasons There Almost Surely Will Be No Major Release Of Prisoners Held At Gitmo And Other Prisons For more information on The Massachusetts School of Law please visit www.msl.edu and to hear (and see) the history of MSL, please visit "Against the Tide" in the podcast section of iTunes Against the Tide

The Worldâs Schoolyard Bully

Tue, 20 Jun 2006 02:48:00 GMT

On average the US has fought a major war every 15 years since 1945. Imagine how many wars we would fight if we were a war-loving people instead of a peace-loving one. This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R Velvel's blog, Velvel on National Affairs. Dean Velvel's blog can be viewed at www.velvelonnationaffairs.com For more information on the Massachusetts School of Law, please visit www.msl.edu and to hear ( and see) the history of MSL, visit "Against the Tide" in the podcast section of iTunes.

Killing Zarqawiâs Daughter

Fri, 16 Jun 2006 16:34:00 GMT

The absence of any comment about the small child killed with Zarqawi speaks volumes about what the country has become. This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog Velvel on National Affairs entitled Killing Zarqawiâs Daughter For more infomation on The Massachusetts School of Law, please visit The Massachusetts School of Law and to hear (and see) the history of the Massachusetts School of Law, please visit "Against the Tide" in iTunes Against the Tide

Harvard and Its Presidents

Thu, 15 Jun 2006 18:55:00 GMT

Of Plagiarism, Harvard and honesty at "America's greatest academic institution" This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog http://velvelonnationalaffairs.com entitled "Harvard And Its Presidents" For more information on the Massachusetts School of Law please go to http://www.msl.edu To hear (and see) the history of The Massachusetts School of Law please go to http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=158097651

A Third Party And The Internet"Pipes" Providers' Planned Strike Against Political Freedom. June 2nd 2006

kjonesjones@earthlink.net — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 14:49:00 GMT

Peggy Noonan and a third Party? And what about internet neutrality? This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, velvelonnationalaffairs.com, entitled "A Third Party And The Internet"Pipes" Providers' Planned Strike Against Political Freedom", originally posted on June 2nd 2006 The Massachusetts School of Law can be reached on the web at www.msl.edu

Whores for President "A Modest Proposal" To Cure This

kjonesjones@earthlink.net — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 15:19:00 GMT

This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, "Velvel on National Affairs", entitled "Whores for President 'A Modest Proposal' To Cure This- May 31, 2006"

Of Oscar and LeBron

kjonesjones@earthlink.net — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 14:32:00 GMT

This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, "Velvel on National Affairs" entitled "of Oscar and LeBron"

Regarding Joseph Ellisâ Column On The "Place [of] 9/11 In American History".

kjonesjones@earthlink.net — Fri, 9 Jun 2006 19:55:00 GMT

This is the audio version of Dean Lawrence R. Velvel's blog, Velvelonnationalaffairs.com from January 31st, 2006, entitled Re: Joseph Ellisâ Column On The "Place [of] 9/11 In American History.

January 31st, 2006, "Joseph Ellisâ Column On The "Place [of] 9/11 In American History."

kjonesjones@earthlink.net — Fri, 9 Jun 2006 17:01:00 GMT

This is the audio blog of Dean Lawrence R Velvel's blog, Velvelonnationalaffairs.com from January 31st, 2006, entitled "Re: Joseph EllisÃïï Column On The "Place [of] 9/11 In American History."

February 14, 2006

daniel.j.graham@comcast.net — Tue, 6 Jun 2006 12:28:00 GMT

The February 14, 2006 blog of Lawrence R. Velvel, Dean of the Massachusetts School of Law.

February 15, 2006 blog

daniel.j.graham@comcast.net — Fri, 2 Jun 2006 16:08:00 GMT

The February 15, 2006 blog of Lawrence R. Velvel, Dean of the Massachusetts School of Law.

February 17, 2006

daniel.j.graham@comcast.net — Tue, 30 May 2006 13:19:00 GMT

The audio blog of Lawrence R. Velvel, dean of the Massachusetts School of Law

April 10, 2006

daniel.j.graham@comcast.net — Fri, 26 May 2006 20:07:00 GMT

The blog of Lawrence R. Velvel, dean of the Massachusetts School of Law

April 24, 2006 blog

daniel.j.graham@comcast.net — Tue, 23 May 2006 18:26:00 GMT

The April 24, 2006 blog entry of Lawrence R. Velvel, dean of the Massachusetts School of Law