Back to Martin Luther King. Here are quotes that still resonate today.
“Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; the oppressed must determine it.” Letter from Birmingham jail in 1963”
“Many white American’s of goodwill have never connected bigotry with economic exploitation. They have deplored prejudice but tolerated or ignored economic injustice”. Why cannot we wait, 1964
“A nation that spends more money on military defense than on social uplift is approaching spiritual doom”
Where do we go from here? Chaos or Community? 1967
“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity”. Love in action from strength to love.
“We may all have come from different ships, but we are all in the same boat now.” 1964
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter” 1963
“We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools”, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” Letter from Birmingham City Jail 1963
The quotes from Dr. King are still inspiring and relevant today. I am sure he would tell those incarcerated to fight the system and their cases and to not depend on politicians to help with sentencing reform without our help.
I met a man today and his name is Tom. Tom is a Real Estate appraiser, white about thirty-five years old, five foot nine, and one hundred and seventy pounds. He is noticeably quiet and seems to be a shy person. We have been playing cards together for a short time and tomorrow he is leaving the camp and going to the half-way house. Here is Tom’s story.
Tom's story is that he has a friend that wanted to have a new career. Tom was wanting to expand and open another office and thought that this would a good adventure for both. His friend Bill found a place about seventy-five miles away from Tom's office. They opened the office and Bill was to get his appraiser's license before he could do and sign off on appraisals. He could manage the office and have licensed appraisers work out of there. They set the office up and Bill got a couple of other appraisers to work from there. A licensed appraiser is the only one that views the property, takes the pictures, reviews the comps, and signs the appraisal. Bill's job is to run the office and solicit business for the appraisers.
This was good timing for Tom as his wife was almost due to have their second child. Tom wanted to take a couple of months off after the baby was born, Tom also had a secretary that he felt like that she was not doing her job as he liked and she was getting very hard to get along with. Tom was going over his books and found out that his secretary was stealing from him. He fired her and never turned her into the police. He was nice enough to not prosecute.
Tom's wife had a baby girl and Tom had an appraisal that had to be done and Bill said that he would do it. Bill viewed the home found the comps, took the pictures, and then sent it to Tom to sign. The secretary knew that Bill did the appraisal, which was the same day she was fired; being upset she called the Securities Board that handled appraisers and she told them what they did.
Tom had always run his business above board and was one of the top appraisers in the state and had received a lot of business awards. The Appraisal Board turned this over to the FBI and after a few months of investigating the FBI indicted him on one count of wire fraud. Why he does not know. The FBI threatened and scared him into a plea deal and they gave him five months in a Federal Prison Camp and five months home confinement. Just for helping someone out.
A costly mistake, and he does not know if he will get his license back or not.
My Thoughts: It looks like the Real Estate Board could have gone to Tom and tell him that he did wrong and that Bill also did wrong and he knew he was not licensed to view the home and do the appraisal. Understanding that his wife just had a baby and his secretary was stealing money from the company and he could prove it. So, a simple mistake could take his business and family income. He should have just received a strong warning and or a fine since this is the first time and had such a good record.
Again, if they investigate you, they will find something!
Chapter Three
The past is behind you, so this the chance for your future.
Thursday, January 18th, 2018 I just finished reading a book called “Three Felonies a Day” by Harry A Silvergate. This book states that the average businessman wakes up every morning, goes to work, comes home, eats dinner, has a few drinks, watches TV, and goes to bed unaware that he has committed at least three crimes that day.
The answer lies in the very nature of the modern Federal criminal laws, which not only exploded in number but alone with countless regulatory provisions, that have also become broad and vague. The Federal Criminal Justice System has become dangerously disconnected from common law traditions of due process and fair notice of laws expectations enabling prosecutors to pin arguable a Federal crime on any of us even the most minor mistake or behavior.
The prosecutor’s job is to at all cost to get to a plea deal and not go to trial. When they accomplish that and 95% of the time, they do and it is a win for them, another feather in their cap, or maybe another steak dinner. Winning is their goal no matter how they get it done. “Guilty or Not”
They will mysteriously find something if they cannot find something obvious.
If you are a business owner, a professional such as a doctor, accountant, politician, or even an attorney and even if you think you totally comply with everything and have broken no laws think again. If something or someone tips them off an upset customer, a disgruntled employee, a vendor, or just a jealous person who envies you because you are making a lot of money. If you make a lot of money, you must do something illegal. A “Whistle Blower” that wants in your checkbook. If the Justice goes after you then you are part of their game and they win 98% of the time.
Later I called Shelby my daughter, and they sold their home and made an offer on another one in Fishers, too bad I cannot be there to help with advice. Ryan my son-in-law was just released from his job and I hope that does not interfere with them getting a loan for the new home. His company said that they were cutting back.
Friday, January 19th, thank goodness it is (TGIF). Fridays and weekends are not much different from any other day for me, I still work at the Library at the same hours. We do have movies in the chapel on the gigantic screen and with surround sound. Sometimes I have someone work for me if I want to see the movie.
Saturday, January 20th, I got up at about 7 am and heard that there was a raid last night and several cell phones were found, and three men went to the hole. They also found a lot of contraband liquor, cigarettes, and some pot. One guy I thought would be caught would be a Jew that is what he is just called. Jew is a hustler and if you want something he will get for you. He is always selling candy and many other things. If you want a McDonalds Big Mac, beer vodka candy cigarettes just put your order in, and he will get it for you. You must put money on his account or pay with the commissary. I am glad he was not involved as I like him, and he leaves in two months. He is a true entrepreneur. Prison will make you a better criminal. I believe if they break the rules here, they will when they get on the