Wednesday, December 12, 2012

12-12-12 Judicial Corruption in Israel – scholarly studies

In preparation for writing a manuscript, I googled "judicial corruption, United States" and "judicial corruption, Israel" and then focused on the section that is "scholarly" by Google's definition.  The main reason for doing so was that I was not familiar at all with the history of judicial corruption in Israel, cases of convicted of judges, etc.

The most intriguing result of this simple search was the disproportionately high number of scholarly publications, originating in Israel, regarding judicial corruption in Israel, compared to the United States.  In at least three major law schools there are professors who research and publish reports on the subject.  One of them (Prof Daniel Friedman, Tel Aviv University) even served for a short time as justice minister, and tried to launch a judicial reform initiative (he failed and had to resign). With it, government position in general is that judicial corruption does not exist.  So far I have failed to find a single case of a judge convicted on corruption, or similar charges in Israel's history.  

The polls are difficult to compare, but it also seems that the Israeli public has much worse opinion of its judiciary than the US public.

All of this is surprising, since my perception is that judicial corruption in the United States is a much bigger problem than in Israel.

Of interest, one of the comparative studies points out the jury system as a key to reducing court corruption.  Obviously, the state and US judiciary have been busily stripping the right for jury trial of its content.  However, in Israel, there has never been any jury system!

Otherwise, some of the studies support my conclusion, that there was a dramatic increase in government (and judiciary) corruption in Israel following the 1967 war.
I have tied it in the past to the switch from French patronage to US patronage of Israel after 1967.  Others tie the change to the occupation of Palestinian territories, which breeds corruption, as is the general security situation.  

One of the funniest discoveries was that in the 1960s there was a movement in the US academia, which developed a theory that corruption is not evil, only a necessary part of political development.  It appears that such strange notion was nurtured in order to justify corrupt practices by the US government and US corporations in dealing with developing nations.  According to this theory, corruption is integral to the process of development.  Following development in such nations, political structures would arise, which would lead to self-termination of corruption...  This convenient theory leads to the opposite conclusions compared to Le Carre' theory of "Nations", "Failed-nations", and "Un-nations", which addressed the same issue.  

LINKS:
[1] 12-12-12 Judicial Corruption in Israel – scholarly studies 

12-12-12 The Unsilenced Voice of a "Long-Distance Revolutionary"


The Unsilenced Voice of a "Long-Distance Revolutionary"

Mumia Abu-Jamal, America's most famous political prisoner, continues his fight for social justice after three decades in prison. The United States has the highest documented incarceration rate in the world -- 742 adults per 100,000. There are some 2.2 million adults incarcerated in federal and state prisons and local jails. About 5 million are on probation or parole. Seventy percent of the inmates are nonwhite.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Unsilenced-Voice-of-a-by-Chris-Hedges-121210-865.html

12-12-09 Russia Today - Rebel Yell: 700,000 Americans sign secession petitions to White House


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PJYsxODqLk&feature=g-high-u

Rebel Yell: 700,000 Americans sign secession petitions to White House
Published on Dec 9, 2012
Hundreds of thousands of Americans say they want to break away from Washington.

Residents across the land, have signed internet petitions, saying they don't want to be part of the United States anymore. Marina Portnaya has the story. 

12-12-12 Russia Today: Big Brother Buses: Eavesdropping devices put on US public transport

Who would have thunk that this could ever happen in the US?
I guess government expects terrorists to provide detailed plans of their latest terror enterprises on the buses. jz

_______
RussiaToday uploaded a video 33 minutes ago
1:02

Big Brother Buses: Eavesdropping devices put on US public transport
161 views

US public transport systems are being equipped with audio recording devices, to boost the security of passengers. The multi-million dollar upgrade ...

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brUpjPdNRhE&feature=g-high-u
Read More: http://on.rt.com/oisttw

12-12-12 Hello World!


Recent:
Tuesday, December 11 @ 20:53 : Montgomery, Alabama, US
Tuesday, December 11 @ 20:47 : Dallas, Texas, US
Tuesday, December 11 @ 20:35 : Jerusalem, IL
Tuesday, December 11 @ 20:25 : Izmir, TR
Tuesday, December 11 @ 19:35 : Las Vegas, Nevada, US
Tuesday, December 11 @ 18:54 : Galivants Ferry, South Carolina, US
Tuesday, December 11 @ 18:28 : New York, New York, US
Tuesday, December 11 @ 18:07 : Moscow, RU
Tuesday, December 11 @ 16:38 : Auburn Hills, Michigan, US
Tuesday, December 11 @ 16:24 : Somersham, GB