Public Policy Argument

Who needs Freudian enthusiast film director Roman Polanski when there is Judge Roman Kozinski? Judge Kozinski is the chief federal judge on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals bench that went ahead and recused himself from a pornography case for posting human pornography and animal beastiality on his personal website that is no longer functional. Somehow, the difference between the two Romans, Polanski and Judge Kozinkski, lead to the differentiation between definitions of endorse and indorse many times used interchangeably as the word endorse. A person can endorse or approve of a candidate, but that definition is distinct from the action of indorsing, or inscribing your own name to become the payee of a check. Conflating the two endorsement meanings yet again, Ponzi schemes are named for the Italian born Charles Ponzi method of circumventing the law with shoddy high risk business practices by bringing in more investors to line his fleet of early investors' pockets. In particular, the International Reply Coupon gimmick allowed Charles Ponzi's Security Exchange Company investors and customers to cash in on international arbitrage by buying postage overseas and redeeming them for higher postal rates in the United States. In modern history, founder of EarthLink Reed Slatkin's scheme netted him millions dollars stored in a Zurich, Switzerland bank from over 800 investors. The fradulent investment scheme that raised money early on from celebrities and movie producers also netted the Scientologist minister fourteen years in federal prison. CNBC's American Greed series showcased a Ponzi scheme orchestrated by an art dealer that passed off obviously worthless paintings and sculptures as multimillion dollar works of art. Worse than a 3:30 appointment with Donald Rumsfeld, Ponzi schemes begin with a venture into the legal morass of the unknown to becomming patently offensive when the arrangement impedes on traditional law and our common sensibilities. Leading us back to Judge Roman Kozinkski's public endorsement for lewd art, when is enough, enough already?