mirror of
https://github.com/opsxcq/mirror-textfiles.com.git
synced 2025-09-09 06:20:48 +02:00
112 lines
5.1 KiB
Plaintext
112 lines
5.1 KiB
Plaintext
|
|
Conspiracy Nation -- Vol. 9 Num. 49
|
|
======================================
|
|
("Quid coniuratio est?")
|
|
|
|
|
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
THE FALL OF JUDGE DUFF
|
|
======================
|
|
When the Gods Fall, the Earth Trembles
|
|
--------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Past commentaries by Sherman H. Skolnick of the Citizens'
|
|
Committee to Clean Up the Courts contain mention of a "Judge
|
|
Brian Barnett Duff." Recall, for example, this excerpt from CN
|
|
9.07:
|
|
|
|
Called BNL, it had records of Iraqi strongman Saddam
|
|
Hussein and his secret private joint business dealings with
|
|
his partner, an American. A close crony of the Federal
|
|
Reserve, Chicago Federal District Judge Brian Barnett Duff,
|
|
ordered the return of any records from the Banking
|
|
Committee, then headed by a Democrat, Rep. Henry Gonzalez
|
|
(D., Texas).
|
|
|
|
The House Banking Committee was an intervening
|
|
party-litigant in the controversy. Judge Duff so opposed
|
|
the House Banking Committee's efforts to get those records,
|
|
that the Judge would not listen to the Committee's
|
|
attorney; did not want the attorney in the Judge's
|
|
courtroom, the Judge calling him an 800 pound gorilla
|
|
showing no respect for the court.
|
|
|
|
As background to a detailed story by Mr. Skolnick, now in my
|
|
possession, I call attention to an article in the Chicago Tribune
|
|
of October 11, 1996 ("Beleagured judge steps down from U.S.
|
|
bench").
|
|
|
|
According to the Tribune article, "U.S. District Judge Brian Duff
|
|
resigned Thursday after more than a decade of erratic behavior on
|
|
the bench." Why did Duff resign? Mr. Skolnick describes Duff as
|
|
raving and ranting "like he had just escaped from a nut house" at
|
|
one hearing. Says U.S. District Judge Marvin Aspen, Duff "has a
|
|
legitimate physical disability." According to Mr. Skolnick, it
|
|
had become "widely known and understood that Judge Duff is
|
|
certifiably insane, and has a psychiatric disability."
|
|
|
|
It should be noted that mental illness is a complex disease and
|
|
that those who suffer from it ought not to be stigmatized. Many
|
|
of the so-called "mentally ill" are able to live normal lives,
|
|
and indeed, some experts in the field (such as R.D. Laing, for
|
|
example) characterize so-called "insanity" as in fact being
|
|
"hyper sanity" -- meaning that those so labeled are actually
|
|
*superior* in "sanity" to most.
|
|
|
|
However, that having been said, it is troubling that so many
|
|
cases involving the lives and well-being of many have apparently
|
|
been profoundly influenced, if not in fact decided, by a judge
|
|
apparently not in full possession of his faculties. The fall of
|
|
Judge Duff raises troubling questions as to past cases over which
|
|
he has presided.
|
|
|
|
Some interesting vignettes from the Tribune article:
|
|
|
|
** Duff reportedly demanded a meeting with Illinois
|
|
Governor Jim Edgar, and threatened the outcome of pending
|
|
cases unless Edgar complied.
|
|
|
|
** Duff issued a gag order on lawyers in one case, and
|
|
warned, "If I find someone talking to the press, I'm going
|
|
to bore them a new orifice."
|
|
|
|
** The judge arrested his court clerk and fined her $20
|
|
reportedly because the clerk had handed a file to Duff "in
|
|
the wrong way."
|
|
|
|
** During one particular sentencing, Judge Duff
|
|
pontificated on "temptation" and revealed to the court that
|
|
once, on an airplane, the flight attendant had "looked
|
|
mighty fine."
|
|
|
|
According to the Tribune article, "Sources said that the matter
|
|
[of Duff's resignation] was so sensitive that [U.S. Attorney
|
|
James] Burns warned his entire office that if word of the
|
|
complaint leaked out, violators would be fired."
|
|
|
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
Views expressed do not necessarily reflect those
|
|
of Conspiracy Nation, nor of its Editor in Chief.
|
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
I encourage distribution of "Conspiracy Nation."
|
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
If you would like "Conspiracy Nation" sent to your e-mail
|
|
address, send a message in the form "subscribe cn-l My Name" to
|
|
listproc@cornell.edu (Note: that is "CN-L" *not* "CN-1")
|
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
For information on how to receive the improved Conspiracy
|
|
Nation Newsletter, send an e-mail message to bigred@shout.net
|
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
Want to know more about Whitewater, Oklahoma City bombing, etc?
|
|
(1) telnet prairienet.org (2) logon as "visitor" (3) go citcom
|
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
See also: http://www.europa.com/~johnlf/cn.html
|
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
See also: ftp.shout.net pub/users/bigred
|
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
Aperi os tuum muto, et causis omnium filiorum qui pertranseunt.
|
|
Aperi os tuum, decerne quod justum est, et judica inopem et
|
|
pauperem. -- Liber Proverbiorum XXXI: 8-9
|
|
|