Color Me Blind. I Believe In Blind Justice For All

Justice is not always blind and seldom is it colorblind. But, can a blind judge bring us closer to that ideal? A Michigan attorney from a family of professional lawyers wants us to think so. The well known Bernstein law firm is run by daddy Sam and his siblings. So, the name Bernstein was worth a million dollars in campaign advertisements to Attorney Richard Bernstein in his contest for a seat on the Michigan Supreme Court. He began with name recognition that was off the charts.
“I want to bring blind justice to the Michigan Supreme Court,” said Detroit-area attorney Richard Bernstein as a Michigan Supreme Court candidate. Highlighting his struggles in education and his work as a legal advocate for the disabled.
"I have come to believe that life is not always fair, but judges should always be," Bernstein said. "I'm here because I believe in the idea of blind justice. I'm here because I believe in the idea of fairness for all people."


 (Attorney, Richard Bernstein, AP photo)
Legally blind since birth, Mr. Bernstein will get the chance on New Year’s Day 2015 when he’s sworn into office and makes history as the first blind person to serve on the state’s highest court.
 "It would be much easier if I could read and write like everyone else, but that's not how I was created," Bernstein said. "No question, it requires a lot more work, but the flip side is it requires you to operate at the highest level of preparedness. ... This is what I've done my entire life. This goes all the way back to grade school for me." This is his second bid for statewide office - he ran for attorney general four years ago but lost the Democratic nomination.
According to an Associated Press profile:

Bernstein is widely known in southeastern Michigan because his family’s personal-injury law firm regularly advertises on TV. He spent more than $1.8 million of his own money to campaign for the state Supreme Court. His slogan? “Blind Justice.”
As one of only two Democrats on the seven-member court, Bernstein is unlikely to crack the court’s conservative sway. But he’s still expected to make a difference.
“His own experience and background is different than anyone else’s at the conference table,” said Justice Bridget McCormack, who was a law professor before she was elected in 2012. “Richard knows a whole lot about disability law the rest of us don’t. We don’t get a lot of those cases. Who knows how it will be useful?”

 Hearing arguments and writing opinions is only part of a Supreme Court justice's job. They meet weekly to decide whether to accept or reject appeals in more than 2,000 cases a year. Because he's blind, Bernstein will be having many conversations with his law clerks instead of communicating through email or long memos.
"My chambers will be unique," he said. "Not many clerks will have as much interaction with a justice as mine will." In November, he was elected to an eight-year term. He’s not the first blind judge to sit on the highest court of a state.
Missouri Supreme Court Justice Richard B. Teitelman, who is legally blind, was appointed to the court in 2002. On the federal level, there’s David Tatel, a blind judge serving on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
To help prepare Mr. Bernstein for his first set of oral arguments on Jan. 13, an assistant has been reading him briefs.
“We do use technology but technology can only take you so far,” Mr. Bernstein said. “I internalize the cases word for word, pretty much commit them primarily by memory. I’m asking the reader to pinpoint certain things, read footnotes, look at the legislative record.”
(Gershman, Jacob, WSJ,  Dec. 29, 2014)

Binder & Binder Goes Bankrupt

Social Security Disability Firm Binder & Binder Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

The Law Firm, Binder & Binder, a Long Island-based national Social Security Disability law firm had to reduce institutional debt after payments from the federal government slowed. The firm is dependent upon government-paid fees earned from shepherding Social Security Disability claimants through the system.The firm is now facing a shrinking number of people seeking benefits and tougher scrutiny from the Social Security Administration (SSA) Administrative Law Judges (ALJ) who decide cases.
Binder& Binder has about 58,000 active cases or its 966 employees, many of whom aren’t lawyers. (In 2004, Congress made it easier for non-lawyers para-legals to represent applicants for Social Security disability benefits.)
In projections filed in court papers, Binder estimates its employee head count will drop to less than 400 over the next two years.

Charles Binder began representing applicants for Social Security Disability Benefits with his brother, Larry, in the 1970s.  In 2010, Binder & Binder scooped up $88 million in fees representing applicants for Social Security Disability Benefits (SSI/SSDI). It was the largest firm of its kind, thriving amid an aging workforce, high unemployment and less oversight than in the current environment.
On Thursday night, the firm filed for bankruptcy protection.
The Wall Street Journal reports:

The firm listed assets and liabilities each between $10 million and $50 million in a bankruptcy petition filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in White Plains, N.Y.
Those debts include $23 million in secured debt to lenders U.S. Bank and Capital One Bank and $16.7 million in unsecured debt to Stellus Capital Management, a spinoff of investment firm D.E. Shaw & Co., court filings show.
U.S. Bank and Capital One Bank are prepared to lend up to $26 million in bankruptcy financing, filings show, subject to court approval.

 The firm is dependent upon government-paid fees earned from shepherding Social Security disability claimants through the system.
The firm is now facing a shrinking number of people seeking benefits and tougher scrutiny from the Social Security Administration (SSA) Administrative Law Judges (ALJ) who decide cases.
Binder& Binder has about 58,000 active cases or its 966 employees, many of whom aren’t lawyers. (In 2004, Congress made it easier for non-lawyers para-legals to represent applicants for Social Security disability benefits.)
In projections filed in court papers, Binder estimates its employee head count will drop to less than 400 over the next two years.
U.S. Bank National Association and Capital One have agreed to provide debtor-in-possession financing of up to $26 million, the filings showed.
The case is in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court Southern District of New York, Case No: 14-23728.
The move will allow the firm to reduce institutional debt after payments from the federal government slowed, hurting cash flow, said Kenneth Rosen, an attorney with Lowenstein Sandler representing Binder & Binder. The company listed both assets and liabilities of between $10 million and $50 million, according to court papers filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York.
"We have filed papers to pay our employees in the ordinary course. We don't want the employees to feel anything; they will not. We don't want the clients to feel anything; they will not," Mr. Rosen said. "The last thing we would want is there to be any interruption. It's business as usual."
U.S. Bank and Capital One made a $23 million secured loan to the company. The financing will allow for operations to continue without interruption, Mr. Rosen said.
The law firm, with about 57,000 clients, has approximately 900 employees in 13 states, including New York, where it has offices in Manhattan, the Bronx, Long Island City and Hauppauge, L.I.
The company's largest unsecured creditor was Houston-based Stellus Capital Management, which had loaned the company $16.7 million. Google and Manhattan-based Integrated Media Solutions were also among the firm's largest creditors, with $800,000 and $2.7 million owed for services, respectively.
Manhattan management consultant Development Specialists will provide a chief restructuring officer to manage the bankruptcy and improve operating performance, according to the filing.
Binder & Binder was founded in 1975 by brothers Harry and Charles Binder. Charles would appear in TV commercials, saying in the ads "You have enough to worry about."

(By Jonathan LaMantia ,December 19, 2014) 

When reached for comment, while vacationing in Hungary Judge London Steverson, USALJ (Retired)

formerly of the Downey, California, Social Security Office Of Hearing And Appeals had this to say: "Wow! What a surprise.
I really like Manny Serpa, Esq. He usually represented Binder&Binder in cases that came before me. His cases were usually well prepared and he did a good job of presenting the merits of the claimant's case. And he won most of his cases. In 1990 the attorney would get an average fee of about $750 for winning a case, but they had to chase the client to get paid, because SSA did not withhold money and pay the attorney directly. Well, in 2009 when I retired the minimum fee was $2 thousand to $3 thousand per case, and the Government would hold back the money and pay the attorneys. Of course, some law firms would collect up to $28 thousand dollars in attorneys fees for a case with large amounts of past due benefits. It was a high volume business with rapid turnover. Even a para-legal could make $1 million dollars a year if he got enough referrals. I never did agree with the idea that para-legals should get paid at the same rate as lawyers, since para-legals do not have a law school education and are not members of the Bar. But, no one listened to me.
  http://www.amazon.com/socialNsecurity-Confessions-Social-Security-Judge/dp/1449569757
I just can't believe that a law firm specializing in Social Security benefits would ever go bankrupt. It's the easiest legal job in the world. The cases are all tried before a judge sitting alone without a jury and the other side is not represented.  The lawyers are nothing more than baby-sitters for the claimants, and the judges ask all the questions at the Hearing. It is like losing an uncontested divorce; it never happens. That is why it is so astounding to hear that Binder&Binder is going bankrupt. There must be some other reason; possibly some kind of gross mismanagement, or some one might have been siphoning funds under the table. I'm not saying that that is a possibility, but this whole thing does not sound quite right to me. As we used to say in the Coast Guard "it will all come out in the wash". I wish old Manny Serpa well."

What Binder & Binder’s Bankruptcy Means for Your Disability Law Practice

(Nathan Chapman, President of The Marketing Center, sees opportunity for your practice in 2015 from Binder & Binder's bankruptcy)

If you’re a Social Security Disability attorney, you don’t need anyone to tell you 2014 has been challenging.
On the other hand, if you think you had a bad year, at least you don’t owe $40 million.
According to news reports at the end of last week, national disability advocacy firm Binder and Binder “is preparing for a possible Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing… as it faces roughly $40 million of debt and shrinking demand for its services amid tightening government scrutiny of claims.”
Gee, it wasn’t so long ago The Wall Street Journal reported, “The $88 million the Binder firm collected in 2010 was more than triple the $26 million it got in 2006, according to data obtained under a Freedom of Information Act request.”
We can trust that H.I.G. Private Equity, which bought a stake in Binder & Binder in 2010, knows some good lawyers and accountants. So, I don’t want to write today about the Goliaths. What’s it all mean for the Davids of the Social Security Disability profession?

What We Heard in 2014…

I like to joke that at our specialized marketing agency for disability attorneys, we talk to more disability lawyers than anyone in America other than Barbara Silverstone. So what did we hear in 2014? Well, a lot of pain and concern – starting with repercussions from the October 2013 federal government shutdown. That resulted in claimant files that didn’t get processed, hearings that didn’t get scheduled, benefits that didn’t get awarded and, yes, legal fees that didn’t get paid.
And then there were the horror stories of ALJs being coached and even punished when they awarded benefits too often. We all cried, “Where is the similar coaching for the judges who deny too many?”
I know of some Social Security attorneys who went into early retirement in 2014. Others laid off staff. The Davids were getting hit by some pretty large slingshot rocks.
Yet, not every conversation with a disability attorney in 2014 was one of pain. While some attorneys may have gotten out, others called us to get in: Yes, there are still attorneys wanting to enter the disability arena, or if already there, to ramp up their practices.
Most significantly, I remember one particular conversation with a disability attorney that was a message of hope. I repeated it often to others. While commiserating about the problems of this era, this attorney said to me: “The attorneys who are having the hardest times are the ones who have been doing the same thing the same way for so long, they are unable or unwilling to change. Those are the ones most in trouble.”

Resolve to Evolve in 2015…

“…Unable or unwilling to change.” Those words linger in the air as we cross over into a new year.
At the Las Vegas NOSSCR Conference this year, we presented a clients-only Internet-themed presentation entitled, “Evolve or Die.” (Watch for it as a webinar early next year.)
Here are some ways that your disability law firm can consider changing:

• Diversification. We think you should consider diversifying your client base. In 2014, we created new television and/or Internet marketing campaigns for LTD cases, Veterans Disability, Workers’ Compensation, Bankruptcy, Special Education, Employment Law and even Personal Injury for attorneys who also represent Social Security claimants.
• Improve your Website Conversion. Much is written how SEO can help a Social Security Disability lawyer rank higher in search engine results for increased traffic. We recommend equal study, testing and improvements to help your law firm’s website convert a greater percentage of the traffic into actual leads.
• Paid Search. When handled by pros and reinforced with branding efforts, a Paid Search campaign be more cost efficient via better conversion than buying leads that have no branding element to them.
• Better Branding. If you agree that not all attorneys are alike, shouldn’t they not look alike? In 2014, The Marketing Center handled more logo and brand refreshes than any other year in our history.
• Initial Applications. It’s more important than ever that your marketing messages urge claimants to call when they need to apply, not just after being denied. Then, resolve to get efficient in handling those applications.
• Believe in yourself. American history shows that in periods of economic panic and market contractions, there are always some who use the retreat by others as an opportunity to grow their brand while competition, in this case Binder & Binder, is less active. Fortunately, at The Marketing Center, we’ve had those conversations in 2014 as well.

For 2015, The Marketing Center’s clients have booked a greater amount of marketing exposure than the year we leave behind. We see that as a positive sign for all - one of hope, optimism and confidence.
Here’s hoping YOU have a prosperous new year. Of course, let us know if you’d like some help with that.

Marion Barry Was The First Elected Official In America To Be Wounded Fighting Muslim Extremists

"Mayor For Life", Marion Barry was a freedom fighter. He is the first elected official in America to get shot fighting Muslim Extremists. In 1977 when Hanafi Muslims took over the District Building , Barry was shot during the incident. His survival seemed to boost his "unstoppable" image. A sometimes controversial but always tireless advocate for Washington, D.C., Marion Barry created jobs for generations of Black families, became the ultimate District of Columbia politician. Barry first made a name for himself in the Deep racially segregated South as a leader in the Civil Rights Movement; then he brought that fierce advocacy to D.C. to support the fight for "Home Rule" where local residents would be freed from the rule of Congress to manage their own city affairs, something referred to today as "taxation without representation". He has left a strong legacy for so many young people to build upon.
 Marion Barry was the first American to take a bullet in the War on Terror against Muslim Extremists. He was first and foremost a lover of America and the American Dream. This is his true legacy; this is the real story of the Life of Marion Barry. The Media focuses on a few incidents of misuse of controlled substances, but they choose to ignore the greater story. That is the rise from the dirt poor humble beginnings of a sharecropper's family on a cotton plantation in Mississippi to become the Mayor for Life of the Nation's Capitol, Washington, D.C.. That is a modern day Horatio Alger Story. That is the essence of the American Dream. Marion Barry signifies the best in the American Dream. His story is what Dr Martin Luther King was talking about in his I Have A Dream Speech.

'Some Things You Never Forget'

Hostages who were held by gunmen at the B'nai B'rith International Center board a bus after their release. The March 1977 siege by a group of Hanafi Muslims lasted 39 hours and ended with one person dead and dozens hurt. (1977 Associated Press Photo)

The small scar above Marion Barry's heart has had three decades to fade, but it's still noticeable -- evidence that some things don't disappear with time.

For 39 hours in March 1977 -- before the word "terrorism" entered our daily vocabulary -- 12 gunmen paralyzed the District in a three-point siege. The group of Hanafi Muslims held about 150 people hostage in three buildings, and before they surrendered, a young reporter was killed and dozens were injured, including D.C. Council member Barry. A shotgun pellet pierced his chest, right above his heart, nearly killing him.
"It's been a long time, but some things you never forget. And that's one of them," Barry said in an interview.
This morning, many who remember those three days and others who simply recognize their significance will gather in the Wilson Building's fifth-floor press room. They will unveil two plaques and dedicate the room to Maurice Williams, the WHUR-FM radio reporter who was shot as he stepped off an elevator in the District Building, the name of the city government's headquarters at the time.
The building was one of the three places targeted in the siege, along with the B'nai B'rith International Center, at the time on Rhode Island Avenue NW, and the Islamic Center, on Massachusetts Avenue NW.
"I believe this incident was one of the more traumatic incidents in the history of this city, and the fact that he was the only African American journalist ever killed in the line of duty . . . makes it a very special occasion," Paul Brock, who was WHUR's news director when Williams was a student intern, said yesterday.

Brock will be among those gathered. "It's an incident that everyone should know about," he said. "It was a hint of things to come."
The siege started March 9, 1977, at a time when security was still relaxed in government buildings and hostage videos weren't a few clicks away on the Internet. It was before people searched mail for white powder or suicide bombings claimed regular headlines. It was a time when Judge London Steverson did not even have to show his identification card to gain entrance to his office in the International Division of Coast Guard Headquarters across town in the John Volpe Transportation Building at 7th and D Street, SW.
"This was an early wake-up call about violence and terrorism and the extent to which groups will go to engage in violence either for the sake of violence or to make a point," Daniel S. Mariaschin, executive vice president of B'nai B'rith International, said yesterday. "Little did we know 30 years ago that this kind of issue would be a daily concern for all of us, not only here in Washington but abroad as well." He will speak at today's event.
The 12 gunmen had several demands. They wanted the government to hand over a group of men who had been convicted of killing seven relatives -- mostly children -- of takeover leader Hamaas Abdul Khaalis. They also demanded that the movie "Mohammad, Messenger of God" be destroyed because they considered it sacrilegious.
Most of the hostages, more than 100, were captured at the B'nai B'rith headquarters.
Rae Ehrlich, a secretary on the fourth floor of the Jewish organization's building at the time, was among those held captive.

"A girl came in screaming, 'There are men with guns!' " Ehrlich, 83, recalled. She and others locked themselves in her boss's office, she said. "The next thing we heard were men coming in and saying, 'Unlock the door or we're going to kill you all.' "

They shattered a glass panel in the door and then took everyone downstairs, she said. "When I entered the second floor, there were bodies on top of bodies. I thought everyone was dead," she said.
In the room where she was held, men were placed on one side, their hands tied behind them, and women on the other. She remembered wearing a dress that day and slowly unhemming the bottom, hoping the length would help her avoid attention. The men had it worse, she said. Some were not allowed to use the bathroom and had to relieve themselves where they stood.
One of the captors told them that "if anyone does anything wrong, he'll cut their head and throw it out of the window," she recalled.
Ambassadors from Iran, Pakistan and Egypt worked with police to persuade the men to give up. When they were finally released, Ehrlich and others went to a hotel, where counselors were waiting. "They said, 'You cry it out, you write it out. Whatever you need to get it out of your system,' " Ehrlich said. She cried only once, when she saw the headlines the next day. "Then I cried," she said. "I got it out of my system."
Mayor For Life, Marion Barry said one lesson from that day has remained with him. "That God's in charge," he said. "Life is not promised. You could be gone in a flash."
He walked into the hallway of the District Building after hearing a commotion and was hit by a ricocheted shotgun pellet. He recalled stumbling back into the council chambers, dazed and "scared to death."

Down the hall, a security guard lay wounded and would die a few days later from a heart attack. Williams, also nearby, was dead. Barry, who was elected mayor the following year, said he knew Williams as a "young, aggressive, budding reporter who took his job seriously."
Williams was 24. Two years ago, the National Association of Black Journalists voted to create a scholarship in his honor, something Brock had pushed for. Williams's mother, Bertha, who lives in Maryland, will attend today's ceremony.
"He was very serious journalist. He wanted to tell stories that needed to be told," Brock said. "I believe if his life had not been cut short . . . that he would have evolved into a renowned national journalist."

(By Theresa Vargas,3/ 12/ 2007, Washington Post Staff Writer) 

John W. King wrote about the Hanafi siege in his book, The Breeding of Contempt. The book chronicles the siege and his family's becoming the first African American family in the Federal Witness Protection Program after the massacre of the Khaalis family.
The siege is mentioned in Joni Mitchell's song "Otis And Marlena" from her 1977 album Don Juan's Reckless Daughter. In the song, the title characters travel "for sun and fun / While Muslims stick up Washington".
The Jonathan Leaf play The Caterers, which was produced Off Broadway in 2005, portrayed a modern-day version of the siege.

Acting SSA Commissioner Fails To Get Senate Confirmation

On February 14, 2013, Carolyn W. Colvin became the Acting Commissioner of the  Social Security Administration (SSA).  Prior to this designation, she served as a Deputy Commissioner at SSA.  Several high-level members of her inner circle of advisers are at the center of an  investigation concerning  a dysfunctional, $300 million computer system. An Inspector General's (IG) Report has raised the possibility of a criminal investigation.
The Senate canceled vote on President Obama's pick for Social Security Commissioner. Obama pick to head Social Security runs into more trouble; Senate cancels confirmation vote.

(AP)(14 Dec. 2014) -- President Barack Obama's pick to head the Social Security Administration has run into more trouble after Senate Democrats canceled a procedural vote on her nomination.

All 11 Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee signed a letter to Colvin on Wednesday, December 10th, noting that new information had come to light about a dysfunctional, $300 million computer system intended to speed the processing of disability claims. An interim inspector general (IG) report has raised questions about whether agency employees misled Congress about the extent of the problem, the lawmakers said.
"We cannot in good faith allow a nomination for any position that requires the advice and consent of the Senate to proceed to a vote as long as the specter of a potential criminal investigation surrounds the nominee and/or those in their inner circle," read the letter from Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, the top Republican on the committee, and its other GOP members.

A spokeswoman for the Social Security Administration (SSA) said the agency had received the letter and would respond as soon as possible.

"Agency representatives previously briefed members of the Senate and House regarding the issues raised in the Senate Republican Finance members' letter," the spokeswoman, LaVenia LaVelle, said in the statement. "The acting commissioner will respond timely and fully to the members requests, and continue to cooperate with Congress and any related investigation."

(Acting SSA Commissioner Colvin, above, blames Mike Astrue, her predecessor)

Aides have long noted that the troubled computer system, which was intended to speed the processing of disability claims, was implemented under Colvin's predecessor, Michael J. Astrue. And they have said that Colvin began a thorough investigation of the matter when she took over the agency last year.
Still, the opposition from Republicans in the waning days of the lame-duck session of Congress threw Colvin's confirmation into question. The current Congress is set to adjourn as soon as next week — and the Senate calendar will become increasingly full between now and then.
While senators have sped through several confirmations since the midterm elections, they have dealt mainly with non-controversial appointments. Colvin's term, if she is confirmed, would last for six years, well into the next presidential administration.

And when the new Congress gavels in next month, the Senate will be controlled by Republicans, giving concerns raised by Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee added weight.
Neither of Maryland's Democratic senators, Barbara A. Mikulski and Ben Cardin, have responded to request for comment. Cardin is a member of the Finance Committee, which oversees Social Security.
The agency came under scrutiny this year amid revelations that it spent nearly $300 million and six years developing the computer system for disability claims, and it still does not work. The problems were known during Colvin's confirmation hearing, and while Hatch mentioned them at the time he did not ask Colvin about them.
In their letter, the senators pointed to a news release from a House subcommittee last month regarding an interim IG Report that raised the possibility of a criminal investigation. The letter said the senators have sought to better understand the nature of that investigation but have been unable to do so because the probe is continuing.
"We have received information from whistleblowers that the ongoing investigation has centered around the activities of certain members of your immediate office, including several high-level agency officials," the senators wrote. "Therefore, it is essential to address your role with respect to this inquiry before each of us can make an informed decision on how to vote for your nomination once it reaches the full Senate for consideration."
Obama nominated Carolyn W. Colvin to a six-year term as commissioner in June, and Colvin's nomination cleared one procedural hurdle in the Senate Saturday, Dec. 13. However, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., canceled an upcoming vote, making it likely Colvin won't get a vote until next year, when Republicans take control of the Senate.
Colvin's nomination would have taken up valuable floor time as the Senate rushes to finish its year-end business. Senators could speed the process but that would require a bipartisan agreement.
Colvin's nomination first ran into trouble when a group of Republican senators said they would try to block it while investigators look into a $300 million computer project at the agency.
The project, which doesn't work, predates Colvin's tenure — she has been acting commissioner since Feb. 2013. But an inspector general's investigation is ongoing.
"I don't know how the Senate can, with good conscience, vote to confirm anyone with this type of ongoing investigation going on around their immediate office," Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said in a floor speech. "It may very well turn out that Ms. Colvin did nothing wrong, but we need to know for sure."
Colvin defended her integrity and her long career in government in a recent interview with The Associated Press.
"I've worked in government my entire life. There's never been a suggestion, personal or professional, of any wrongdoing," Colvin said in the interview, which had been scheduled before the controversy erupted.
"I'm certainly not ending my career with that," Colvin continued. "I came out of retirement to help this organization, not hurt it."

Six years ago, Social Security embarked on an aggressive plan to replace outdated computer systems overwhelmed by a flood of disability claims. But the project has been racked by delays and mismanagement, according to an assessment commissioned by the agency over the summer.

The new computer system is supposed to help workers process and manage disability claims. But the project is still in the testing phase and the agency can't say if it will ever be operational or how much it will cost.

Colvin, 72, first worked as a deputy commissioner at Social Security in the 1990s. She left the agency in 2001 to become director of human services for the District of Columbia. She later had a similar job in Montgomery County, Maryland.

Colvin returned to Social Security in 2010 as deputy commissioner.

(By Stephen Ohlemacher, AP)

Throughout her career, Ms. Colvin has managed programs that help people with their healthcare and financial needs.  She previously held key executive positions at Social Security Headquarters: Deputy Commissioner for Policy and External Affairs (1994–1996), Deputy Commissioner for Programs and Policy (1996–1998), and Deputy Commissioner for Operations (1998–2001).

Prior to returning to SSA, Ms. Colvin was the Director of Human Services for the District of Columbia (2001-2003); the Director of the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services (2003-2007); the Chief Executive Officer of AMERIGROUP Community Care of the District of Columbia (2007–2008); and, the Special Assistant to the Secretary of Maryland’s Department of Transportation (2009-2011).  In addition, Ms. Colvin served as the Secretary of Maryland’s Department of Human Resources (1989-1994).

Ms. Colvin has received numerous awards and recognition for her managerial expertise and creativity, including Maryland’s Top 100 Women Award from the Daily Record (2005) and the Women of Achievement Award from Suburban Maryland Business and Professional Women (2005).  She has served on a variety of boards and commissions, including the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare.

Ms. Colvin earned her graduate and undergraduate degrees in business administration from Morgan State University.  Additionally, she completed the Senior Executives in State and Local Government Program at Harvard University, the Maryland Leadership Program, and the Greater Baltimore Leadership Program. Ms. Colvin is from Maryland and currently resides in Anne Arundel County.  She has one son and six grandchildren.

 “And Then There Were None” 

And Then There Were None

by Agatha Christie

The Queen of Mystery, Agatha Christie, the acknowledged mistress of suspense is the creator of indomitable sleuth Miss Marple, meticulous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, and so many other unforgettable characters.

www.goodreads.com

This lovely mystery book is first and foremost about the administration of the long-overdue justice, right? At least that's what the mastermind behind it all believes.

But the question is - who has the right to decide what justice is? And who is to decide what punishment serves the crime? And is perceived justice at all costs the ultimate goal, or is it the frequently pointless work of a maniac? As a matter of fact, what is justice after all?

 “Ten little Indian boys went out to dine; One choked his little self and then there were nine.
Nine little Indian boys sat up very late; One overslept himself and then there were eight.
Eight little Indian boys travelling in Devon; One said he'd stay there and then there were seven.
Seven little Indian boys chopping up sticks; One chopped himself in halves and then there were six.
Six little Indian boys playing with a hive; A bumblebee stung one and then there were five.
Five little Indian boys going in for law; One got in Chancery and then there were four.
Four little Indian boys going out to sea; A red herring swallowed one and then there were three.
Three little Indian boys walking in the Zoo; A big bear hugged one and then there were two.
Two little Indian boys sitting in the sun; One got frizzled up and then there was one.
One little Indian boy left all alone; He went and hanged himself and then there were none.”

“Ten little soldier boys went out to dine; One choked his little self and then there where Nine.

Nine little soldier boys sat up very late; One overslept himself and then there were Eight.

Eight little soldier boys travelling in Devon; One said he'd stay there and then there where Seven.

Seven little soldier boys chopping up sticks; One chopped himself in halves and then there were Six.

Six little soldier boys playing with a hive; A bumble bee stung one and then there were Five.

Five little soldier boys going in for law; One got into Chancery and then there were Four.

Four little soldier boys going out to sea; A red herring swallowed one and then there were Three.

Three little soldier boys walking in the Zoo; A big bear hugged one and then there were Two.

Two little soldier boys sitting in the sun; One got frizzled up and then there was One.


One little soldier boy left all alone; He went and hanged himself and then there were None.”  

  (see review)

Sep 18, 2012 Kinga rated it 4 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition

Before I begin I would like to apologize for my use of the N word in this review.
It is necessary, I promise.

This book was originally published in UK under a charming title of "Ten Little Niggers". When it came to the US version in the 40's someone decided that 'Ten Little Niggers' is not the most marketable title for a book so they changed it to 'Ten Little Indians' (as it was still ok to call Native Americans Indians then).

Only years after someone decided that neither 'Niggers', nor 'Indians' is a fortunate choice of words for the title so it was changed to 'And Then There Were None' - the last line of the nursery rhyme which in this new version was called 'Ten Boy Soldiers'.

This is the version that I read and I must say I am glad. I think I would be rather uncomfortable reading something called 'The Little Niggers', which takes place on 'Nigger Island' (how did Christie want to pull this off? 'Nigger Island' off the Devon coast? Really? How?).

The premise, I am sure you know, is this: ten people end up cut off from the world on a tiny island. One of them is a murderer and people keep dying as in the nursery rhyme. Every person on the island has a secret and is guilty of a murder. It's the kind of murder where law is helpless. Nothing can be proven. This is why they found themselves on that island, at the mercy of a prototype 'Jigsaw' madman who decided justice must be done.

The premise requires the structure of the novel to be very organised and clean cut. I felt that it was only right for me to approach the reading of it in an equally disciplined way. I took five sheets of papers and divide each in half, thus ending up with ten cards, one for each character.

And I continued to dilligently fill them out with all the details I learnt about the characters until about halfway through the book when I became too engrossed, frightened and nervous. I already had an inkling as to who the murderer was and was petrified I would be murdered in my sleep as well. The situation was very serious and I had to invite all my teddy bears back to my bed, so they could protect me.

I grew to like two of the characters - the sentiment, I think, I shared with Christie as she liked them so, she killed them last.

This was my second Christie, and the first proper one. The first one I read was a bit of a mishap spy novel, so Christie's brilliance wasn't as apparent as it was in 'And Then There Were None'. 

BIO

Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller was born in Torquay, Devon, England, U.K., as the youngest of three. The Millers had two other children: Margaret Frary Miller (1879–1950), called Madge, who was eleven years Agatha's senior, and Louis Montant Miller (1880–1929), called Monty, ten years older than Agatha.

During the First World War, she worked at a hospital as a nurse; later working at a hospital pharmacy, a job that influenced her work, as many of the murders in her books are carried out with poison.

On Christmas Eve 1914 Agatha married Archibald Christie, an aviator in the Royal Flying Corps. The couple had one daughter, Rosalind Hicks. They divorced in 1928, two years after Christie discovered her husband was having an affair.

Her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, came out in 1920. During this marriage, Agatha published six novels, a collection of short stories, and a number of short stories in magazines.

In late 1926, Agatha's husband, Archie, revealed that he was in love with another woman, Nancy Neele, and wanted a divorce. On 8 December 1926 the couple quarreled, and Archie Christie left their house Styles in Sunningdale, Berkshire, to spend the weekend with his mistress at Godalming, Surrey. That same evening Agatha disappeared from her home, leaving behind a letter for her secretary saying that she was going to Yorkshire. Her disappearance caused an outcry from the public, many of whom were admirers of her novels. Despite a massive manhunt, she was not found for eleven days.

In 1930, Christie married archaeologist Max Mallowan (Sir Max from 1968) after joining him in an archaeological dig. Their marriage was especially happy in the early years and remained so until Christie's death in 1976. In 1977, Mallowan married his longtime associate, Barbara Parker.

Christie frequently used familiar settings for her stories. Christie's travels with Mallowan contributed background to several of her novels set in the Middle East. Other novels (such as And Then There Were None) were set in and around Torquay, where she was born. Christie's 1934 novel Murder on the Orient Express was written in the Hotel Pera Palace in Istanbul, Turkey, the southern terminus of the railway. The hotel maintains Christie's room as a memorial to the author. The Greenway Estate in Devon, acquired by the couple as a summer residence in 1938, is now in the care of the National Trust.

Christie often stayed at Abney Hall in Cheshire, which was owned by her brother-in-law, James Watts. She based at least two of her stories on the hall: the short story The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding, which is in the story collection of the same name, and the novel After the Funeral. "Abney became Agatha's greatest inspiration for country-house life, with all the servants and grandeur which have been woven into her plots.

During the Second World War, Christie worked in the pharmacy at University College Hospital of University College, London, where she acquired a knowledge of poisons that she put to good use in her post-war crime novels.

To honour her many literary works, she was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1956 New Year Honours. The next year, she became the President of the Detection Club. In the 1971 New Year Honours she was promoted Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, three years after her husband had been knighted for his archeological work in 1968.

Mayor For Life, Marion Barry, Says Good-bye

Marion Barry, the politician known as "Mayor for Life" has died at the age of 78. He served four terms as Mayor of Washington D. C. and was the most beloved local leader in four decades of District of Columbia self-rule.
 Mourners gathered inside a cavernous hall at the Washington Convention Center to pay their final respects to former Washington D. C. Mayor Marion Barry.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson delivered the eulogy, which was a roll call of Civil Rights Heroes, at the December 6 funeral. In his eulogy, the Rev. Jesse Jackson called Barry, who came to Washington as the first chairman of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), a "freedom fighter" who joins the pantheon of civil rights leaders who died before him. "Marion was one of the architects of the new South and the new America," Jackson said. "Marion Barry emancipated Washington."
 http://www.wusa9.com/story/news/2014/12/04/traffic-advisory-for-marion-barry-mayor-for-life-funeral-celebration-dc/19844631/
Other speakers included the Rev. Louis Farrakhan and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who appeared on video. Barry's widow and son also spoke.
http://www.wusa9.com/story/news/2014/12/04/traffic-advisory-for-marion-barry-mayor-for-life-funeral-celebration-dc/19844631/
Washington, D.C., on Thursday, December 4,  began a three-day final farewell to former Mayor Marion Barry.
Barry, known as the District of Columbia's "Mayor for Life" after four terms in office, died on Nov. 23 at 78 due to heart problems. He was a city councilman when he died, representing impoverished Ward 8.


Barry's coffin, draped in West African kente cloth and piled high with red roses, lay in repose at city hall after police pallbearers carried it past mourners, media and political leaders.
Civil rights leader the Rev. Jesse Jackson Jr. accompanied Barry's family into the black-draped building.
Many of the mourners said Barry, the son of a Mississippi sharecropper, had transformed the U.S. capital by giving jobs and hope to black residents.

Mayor Vincent Gray, (2nd from the left in above photo)a longtime friend and political ally of Barry, said Barry stood up for people with intellectual disabilities long before it was politically popular to do so. Gray, who directed an organization for the intellectually disabled, recalled how Barry dealt with a wealthy resident who didn't want a group home in his neighborhood. "Mayor Barry said, and I quote, 'You really don't want any answers, do you? If you want to talk about how we will make this work, I will stay with you all night. Otherwise, I have nothing else to say to you.' That was vintage Barry," Gray said. "The home opened and was a huge success."

The Rev. Louis Farrakhan, the head of the Nation of Islam who was in Washington to support Barry,  said he was asked by a reporter at the time what he thought of a man who broke his marital vows and used drugs. "I said, 'Who are you talking about, John Fitzgerald Kennedy?' That ended the press conference," Farrakhan said to a raucous ovation. "I only raised that for those who like to talk about our deficiencies while they hide the wickedness of their own leaders."
Farrakhan also credited Barry with the success of the Million Man March on the National Mall, which he organized and led in 1995. "The Million Man March could never have happened in any other city at any other time than in Washington, D.C. at the time of Marion Barry," Farrakhan said.

Barry's only son, Christopher Barry, thanked his father for teaching him both academic and life lessons, including a formative trip to Barry's native Mississippi when he was 13. He said Barry wasn't a conventional father, but he always felt the love Barry had for his constituents. "I didn't always feel like he had the time to spend with me as a father," Christopher Barry said. "It was other people that embraced me. I never felt his absence because I always felt his love through others."

Charles Wilson, 54, was one of many mourners who wore a T-shirt printed with photos of Barry. A native Washingtonian and a social worker in the city, Wilson said he got his first job at age 13, working for the city's parks and recreation department, through Barry's summer youth program. "He was our father. He gave us jobs. He's done a lot for the city. Whatever I have belongs to him - my house, my car, my job with D.C. government," Wilson said.
"He's like a messiah for the district. He paved the way for many, many, many of us, African Americans as well as people in general," said Diane Lyons, 54, a healthcare worker.
Bernard Barker, 53, a laborer who had arrived at 6:30 a.m. to be first in line, prayed at Barry's coffin.
"I just said, 'God bless you, Mr. Marion Barry, God bless your family.' I know he's going to heaven because he did a lot of good for the city," Barker said.
Washington planned three days of commemoration, with a motorcade carrying Barry's coffin on Friday, December 5, to the Temple of Praise church, where he had worshipped.
A memorial service at Washington's Convention Center drew thousands. The Reverend Jesse Jackson delivered the eulogy.
Barry became mayor in 1979 and focused resources on poor neighborhoods, government contracts for Black businesses and jobs on the city payroll.

Brief Bio

Marion Barry Jr. was born on March 6, 1936 in Itta Bena, Mississippi. His father worked as a sharecropper and passed away when he was only four. His mom moved the family to Memphis, TN. remarried and raised nine children. As a young boy, Barry took on multiple jobs to assist his family, including picking cotton.

Civil Rights Activist

This young man applied his work ethic to his education too. He earned a bachelor’s degree in 1958 from Le Moyne College and in 1960 received his master’s degree in chemistry from Fisk University. His passion for the Civil Rights Movement kept him from completing his doctorate. Instead, Barry’s efforts went into the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC); he served as its first national chairman. In 1965, he moved to Washington, D.C. to launch a local chapter.

Undergraduate studies at LeMoyne College

Barry attended LeMoyne College (now LeMoyne–Owen College), graduating in 1958. In his junior year of college, all of the racial injustices he had seen started to come together. There was a fair ground in Memphis that he and his friends decided to go to; it was a segregated fair. They went to the fair at the time that the white people were supposed to go, because they wanted to see the science exhibit. When they were close to the exhibit, a policeman stopped them and asked them to leave. Barry and his friends left without protesting the policeman. At that time, Barry did not know much about his race, or why they were treated poorly, but it did not sit well with him. After this experience, Barry became a more active member of the NAACP chapter at LeMoyne; he became the president. While at LeMoyne, his ardent support of the civil rights movement earned him the nickname "Shep", in reference to Soviet politician Dmitri Shepilov. Barry began using Shepilov as his middle name. In 1958 at LeMoyne, he criticized a college trustee for remarks he felt were demeaning to African Americans, which nearly caused his expulsion. While he was a senior and the president of the NAACP, Barry heard of Walter Chandler—the only white member on LaMoyne’s board of trustees—making comments that black people should be treated as a “younger brother not as an adult.” Barry did not appreciate the comments made by Chandler, and wrote a letter to LeMoyne’s president asking if Walter Chandler could be removed from the board A friend of Barry’s was the editor of the school newspaper, The Magician, and told Barry to run the letter in the paper. From there, the letter made it to the front page of Memphis’ conservative morning paper.

Political Ambitions

In 1967, Barry co-founded Pride, Inc., a jobs program for unemployed black men. Next, Barry began his foray into politics by winning a seat on the D.C. School Board in 1972; two years later, he was elected to city council. But his success put Barry in the line of fire, literally. Hanafi Muslims took over the District Building in 1977 and Barry was shot during the incident. His survival seemed to boost his "unstoppable" image.

Mayor Barry

 

After just three years on the city council, the democrat ran for mayor and won in 1978. He was reelected two more times.
Despite being the political comeback kid, Barry continued to have brushes with the law involving such accusations as drugs, tax evasion, probation violation, traffic offenses and stalking. In 2010, he was censured and stripped of his committee chairmanship because of corruption allegations. Still, in 2012, he was elected for a third straight city council term. His story may become an HBO biopic with Eddie Murphy playing Barry and Spike Lee as the director.

Death

 In June 2014, Barry had published his autobiography, Mayor for Life: The Incredible Story of Marion Barry Jr. In a New York Times interview after its release, he said, “I serve as an inspiration for those who are going through all kinds of things.”
Marion S. Barry Jr. died on November 23, 2014 at the age of 78 in Washington D.C. According to a statement, the former mayor had numerous health issues over the years including high blood pressure, diabetes, prostate cancer and kidney ailments.

Murder In New York

Murder Most Foul. What does lynching look like in 21st Century America?

This is one version. Another season, another reason to kill an unarmed Black man in America.

"It's a very painful day for so many New Yorkers," said New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Citing "centuries of racism that have brought us to this day," Mayor Bill de Blasio says that the fact that protesters have rallied around the statement "Black lives matter" reflects a sad situation, that such an idea needs to be both stated and repeated.
"It's a phrase that should never have to be said," the mayor said. "It should be self-evident."
De Blasio also said that after the grand jury's decision, other inquiries continue, including one by the New York Police Department. Saying that he had just spoken with Attorney General Eric Holder, de Blasio said that the federal government is "clearly engaged and poised to act."

The U S Justice Department will launch a federal civil rights investigation after the Staten Island grand jury declined to bring charges in the case of Eric Garner, an African American who died this summer after a white New York City police officer placed him in an apparent chokehold during an arrest.

Garner, 43, died July 17 after Officer Daniel Pantaleo placed him in what appeared to be a chokehold during an arrest that was recorded on videos, which have contributed to public anger over the treatment of African American men by police.
Garner’s mother, Gwen Carr, expressed outrage at the decision. “I don’t know what video they were looking at, not the same one as the rest of the world,” Carr said at a press conference. “How could we put our trust in the justice system when they fail us like this?”  

Eric Garner’s widow, Esaw, said  that “it was like a modern-day lynching. They had it out for him.”

 "It's a very emotional day for our city. It's a very painful day for so many New Yorkers," Mayor Bill de Blasio said. "We're grieving — again — over the loss of Eric Garner, who was a father, a husband, a son, a good man — a man who should be with us, and isn't."
There were five Staten island police officers involved in the chocking death of Garner. Other officers present on July 17 were not facing indictment as they were offered immunity in exchange for testimony.
The police officer who applied the choke hold to Garder was Officer Daniel Pantaleo. He is the plains clothed officer in the above photo wearing number 99. He issued a statement which he said was in the nature of an apology.  When asked  whether she accepted Police Officer Pantaleo’s apology, Esaw Garner flatly declared: “Hell no.”
“The time for remorse would have been when my husband was yelling to breathe. That would have been the time for him to show some type of remorse or some type of care for another human being’s life—when he was screaming 11 times that he can’t breathe,” Esaw Garner said.  “There’s nothing that him or his prayers or anything else will make me feel any different. No, I don’t accept his apology. No, I can care less about his condolences. He’s still working, still getting a paycheck, still feeding is kids when my husband is six feet under and I’m looking for a way to feed my kids now.”

 The NYPD bans the use of the chokehold; Pantaleo’s attorney, Stuart London, argued that the officer used an approved take-down move, which he learned in police academy, because Garner was resisting arrest.  “There was no pressure ever applied to his throat or neck area,” London said.

 The New York City medical examiner’s office classified Garner’s death as homicide due to “compression of chest and prone positioning during physical restraint by police.” The office also mentioned Garner’s asthma and hypertensive cardiovascular disease as contributing factors.
London said Pantaleo remains on modified assignment on Staten Island.

 The NYPD will conduct an internal investigation, Mayor Bill de Blasio said. New York’s two U.S. senators, Charles Schumer (D) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D), had said they would urge the Justice Department to investigate.
 New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) said, “While there will be people who disagree with today’s grand jury decision, it is important that we respect the legal process and rule of law.”
Richmond County District Attorney Daniel M. Donovan Jr. is seeking a court order that would allow him to release “specific information in connection with this grand jury investigation". Donovan has not commented on which charges the grand jury considered. Legal experts agree that the grand jury could have considered lesser homicide charges, including second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.
Since the New York City medical examiner’s office classified Garner’s death as homicide, it was reasonable to assume that some one was responsible for Garner's death, since he did not die of natural causes. As such, a reasonable Grand Jury member would have been constrained to return an indictment for negligent homicide, at the very least. Not to do that flies in the face of all logic, and renders the Grand Jury process devoid of all credibility.

Peaceful protests began immediately in New York City. Above is a "Die-In' at New York's Grand Central Train Station.

Largely peaceful demonstrations gathered strength and snarled traffic in locations throughout the city, including Grand Central Terminal, Times Square and near Rockefeller Center, after it was announced that no criminal charges would be brought against officer Daniel Pantaleo in the death of Eric Garner.