Jurisprudence: The law, lawyers, and the court.

Operation Refusal
Giuliani's sorry crackdown on New York City's taxi drivers.

By Dan Ackman
Posted Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2007, at 12:15 PM ET

Rudy Giuliani
When he is not billing himself as the 9/11 candidate, Rudolph Giuliani bills himself as a law and order candidate. But when he was mayor of New York, Giuliani often acted as if law was for other people. Before he's handed the reins to the war on terror, the mayor's willingness to impose harsh and even illegal rules should be well understood. Giuliani's crackdown on taxi drivers—nearly all immigrants without a political stronghold—is a case in point.

The mayor's hostility to New York's cabbies started after his re-election. Beginning in 1998, the city enacted new rules that increased penalties on taxi drivers for reckless driving. Some cabbies threatened a work action (cab drivers have no union, so they cannot technically strike). Giuliani and the NYPD "crushed" it, as the tabloids put it, and the mayor bragged that he had "destroyed" the strike. With Giuliani nodding at his side, NYPD Commissioner Howard Safir compared the cabbies to a "terrorist threat."

The new rules were popular—most New Yorkers felt that taxi drivers did drive too fast. They were upheld by the courts, too, though the city was later found liable for violating the cabbies' right to freely assemble when it blocked their planned protest. With one crackdown under his belt, Giuliani was emboldened.

Credit to:

http://www.slate.com/id/2180316/

if you have to ask, you don't get it.

perhaps,as the great bard put it " the fault is not in our stars, but in ourselves."

Deteriorata

Go placidly amid the noise and waste,
And remember what comfort there may be in owning a piece thereof.
Avoid quiet and passive persons unless you are in need of sleep.
Rotate your tires.
Speak glowingly of those greater than yourself,
And heed well their advice, even though they be turkeys.
Know what to kiss and when.
Consider that two wrongs never make a right,
But that three lefts do.
Wherever possible put people on "HOLD".
Be comforted that in the face of all aridity and disillusionment,
And despite the changing fortunes of time,
There is always a big future in computer maintenance.
Remember the Pueblo.
Strive at all times to bend, fold, spindle and mutilate.
Know yourself. If you need help, call the FBI.
Exercise caution in your daily affairs,
Especially with those persons closest to you;
That lemon on your left for instance.
Be assured that a walk through the ocean of most souls,
Would scarcely get your feet wet.
Fall not in love therefore; it will stick to your face.
Carefully surrender the things of youth: birds, clean air, tuna, Taiwan,
And let not the sands of time get in your lunch.
For a good time, call 606-4311.
Take heart amid the deepening gloom that your dog
Is finally getting enough cheese;
And reflect that whatever fortunes may be your lot,
It could only be worse in Sioux City.
You are a fluke of the Universe.
You have no right to be here, and whether you can hear it or not,
The Universe is laughing behind your back.
Therefore make peace with your God whatever you conceive him to be,
Hairy Thunderer or Cosmic Muffin.
With all its hopes, dreams, promises, and urban renewal,
The world continues to deteriorate.
Give up.
--From the National Lampoon

These are things you must find within yourself, my son.

You've already wasted half you life seeking the wrong things.