“Be good, but if you can t be good then don t get caught!”
“So there are laws that are defensible but unenforceable, and there are laws impossible to infringe. But in the New York of Mayor Bloomberg, there are laws that are not possible to obey, and that nobody can respect, and that are enforced by arbitrary power. The essence of tyranny is not iron law. It is capricious law. Tyranny can be petty. And “petty” is not just Bloomberg’s middle name. It is his name.”
“Law enforcement are the facilitators of corporate fraud.”
“Many and various are the New York tales that are told of professor Sidney Morgenbesser. During a conference of linguistic philosophers at Columbia University, he interrupted the pompous J. L. Austin, who was saying that while many double negatives express a positive—as in “not unattractive”—there is no example in English of a double positive expressing a negative. Morgenbesser’s interjection took the form of the two words “Yeah, yeah.” Or it could have been “Yeah, right.” On another occasion, he put his pipe in his mouth as he was ascending the subway steps. A policeman approached and told him that there was no smoking on the subway. Morgenbesser explained—pointed out might be a better term—that he was leaving the subway, not entering it, and had not yet lit up. The cop repeated his injunction. Morgenbesser reiterated his observation. After a few such exchanges, the cop saw he was beaten and fell back on the oldest standby of enfeebled authority: “If I let you do it, I’d have to let everyone do it.” To this the old philosopher replied, “Who do you think you are—Kant?” His last word was misconstrued, and the whole question of the categorical imperative had to be hashed out down at the precinct house. Morgenbesser walked. That, in my opinion, is the way that New York is supposed to be. Irony and a bit of sass, combined with a pugnacious independence, should always stand a chance against bovine officials who have barely learned to memorize such demanding mantras as “zero tolerance” and “no exceptions.” Today, the professor would be stopped, insulted, ticketed, and told that if he didn’t like it he could waste a day in court, or several days dealing with the bureaucracy, or both.”
“Цель права заключается не в достижении равноправия, а в предотвращении бесправия и произвола в отношении индивидуума.”
“I have often wondered why people never want to put a stone monument of the Eight Beatitudes on a courthouse lawn. Then I realize that the Eight Beatitudes of Jesus would probably not be very good for any war, any macho worldview, the wealthy, or our consumer economy.”
“Sometimes the law is about as useful as tits on a bull. Good people end up hurt.”
“Essentially all serial offenders experience trauma in childhood that leaves them unable to form normal emotional and psychological connections with other humans.”
“Once you have realized that law enforcement are not going to uphold your legal rights, you should recognize that making a emergency phone call is a hazardous activity to engage in.”
“Once you have realized that Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) are not going to uphold your legal rights, you should recognize that making a future whistle-blower report is a futile activity to engage in.”
“Police Internal Affairs departments are so corrupt that you cannot believe anything that they say.”
“Internal Affairs seems to be making complaints from the general public about law enforcement officers completely disappear from their records.”
“The most dishonest group of people that I have met in life are working in law enforcement.”
“Resist the corruption.”
“I research what law enforcement departments do not want researched.”
“Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) is largely an interrogation agency for whistle-blowers that extracts their full range of knowledge without upholding their legal rights.”
“Approaching a police car is a very dangerous activity to engage in.”