user GARY has entered room
GARY>
analyst Maria 26095 has entered room
Maria 26095>
Hello GARY_, Thank you for contacting Comcast Live Chat Support. My name is Maria 26095. Please give me one moment to review your information.
Maria 26095>
Thank you for contacting Comcast, where every customer is truly valued. You have reached DTA order entry department. How are you doing today, Gary?
GARY_>
I would like to have a digital adapter installed by a professional.
Maria 26095>
You are our valued customer so we need to take care of your service as well as you as our customer. I understand how important it is for you to have a digital equipment and I would be more than glad to process your order now.
Maria 26095>
I would be happy to begin processing your order. For me to better assist you, may I please have the name and phone number listed on the account?
GARY_>
Gary Freedman 202 362 7064
Maria 26095>
Thank you for providing me your account information.
Maria 26095>
For the integrity and security of the account, can you please verify to me at least two of the following: full account number, complete service address with zip code and/ last date and amount of payment made on the account.
GARY_>
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
GARY_>
3801 Connecticut Avenue, NW #136 Washington DC 20008
Maria 26095>
Thank you.
Maria 26095>
May I place you on a brief hold while I check your account, Mr. Freedman?
GARY_>
OK
Maria 26095>
Thank you.
Maria 26095>
I will get back to you as soon as I can.
GARY_>
fine
Maria 26095>
Thank you.
Maria 26095>
Thank you for waiting.
Maria 26095>
Mr. Freedman, I see here that there is no email address indicated on the account. May I please have a valid email address so that we can communicate with you about your order, and our products and services?
GARY_>
garfreed@netscape.net
Maria 26095>
Thank you for providing me your email address.
Maria 26095>
I would be more than happy to update your account with your email address.
Maria 26095>
We will be sending communications to your email address regarding your Comcast services.
Maria 26095>
Mr. Freedman, just to check. Are you still receiving all the channels for limited basic package?
GARY_>
No. Just network channels and a few other channels.
Maria 26095>
Thank you for the information.
Maria 26095>
Mr. Freedman, what are the channels that you are not receiving?
GARY_>
I am not receiving a lot of channels. I don't know precisely which ones. Like A&E etc. My service was cut about a year ago when comcast started to require a digital adapter.
Maria 26095>
Alright.
Maria 26095>
Thank you for the information, Mr. Freedman.
Maria 26095>
Mr. Freedman, please bear with me as I need to check if the digital for limited basic market has already been launched in your area.
Maria 26095>
Would that be alright with you, Mr. Freedman?
GARY_>
Fine!
Maria 26095>
Thank you.
Maria 26095>
I will get back to you as soon as I can.
GARY_>
OK.
Maria 26095>
Mr. Freedman, have you already received a notice regarding the digital migration?
GARY_>
Yes I have
Maria 26095>
Thank you for confirming.
Maria 26095>
Please bear with me, Mr. Freedman.
GARY_>
ok
Maria 26095>
I will get back to you shortly.
Maria 26095>
Mr. Freedman, could you please try to check this link to check your channel line up.
Maria 26095>
https://www.comcast.com/Customers/Clu/ChannelLineup.ashx?print=1&CGID=1377
Maria 26095>
Please check if you are receiving all those channels.
Maria 26095>
Please check if you are receiving all those channels.
Maria 26095>
Please check if you are receiving all those channels.
GARY_>
No. I receive very few of those channels.
Maria 26095>
Mr. Freedman, I have checked your account and it shows here that the limited basic has not yet been migrated. You should be receiving those channels. However, since you are not receiving those channels, I would need to transfer you to our cable technical team to perform some trouble shooting steps on your cable service.
Maria 26095>
Would that be alright with you?
GARY_>
Fine
Maria 26095>
Thank you.
Maria 26095>
Please wait a moment while I transfer you to our cable service technical team.
Maria 26095>
Thank you for choosing Comcast.
Maria 26095>
We value your business.
Maria 26095>
Have a great day.
GARY_>
Thank you
Maria 26095>
Please wait, while the problem is escalated to another analyst
analyst Ryan has entered room
analyst Maria 26095 has left room
Ryan>
I will be glad to assist you today.
GARY_>
OK
Ryan>
I watch TV everyday. I know how it feels when you are not getting some of your channels.
Ryan>
Let me see what is going on.
GARY_>
I receive only the following channels: 4, 5, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 20, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 33, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99
Ryan>
Let me check on this now.
Ryan>
May I put you on hold for a minute or two, while I pull up your account.
GARY_>
that's ok
Ryan>
Thank you.
Ryan>
May I ask when you have lost some of your channels.
GARY_>
about a year or so ago --when comcast started requiring a digital converter.
Ryan>
Thank you for waiting.
GARY_>
ok
Ryan>
Gary, I am showing here that those are the channels part of Basic cable package which you are currently subscribed.
Ryan>
Let me check further on this.
GARY_>
ok
Ryan>
Thank you for waiting.
Ryan>
Thank you for your patience. Would you mind waiting for another 1 to 2 minutes?
GARY_>
that's ok
Ryan>
Gary, I am showing here that the channels you have mentioned above is the channels for Basic cable, and that channel like A&E is now part of your Expanded Basic which you will need to upgrade.
GARY_>
Well, the reason for my contact today is just to get a digital set up installed. I understand that comcast will require that beginning in mid-October. That's all i'm interested in at this time. --Installation of a digital set up.
Ryan>
Yes, we can set up an appointment for installation.
GARY_>
Good.
GARY_>
Any day except Monday is fine. Any time is fine.
Ryan>
I am checking on that now.
Ryan>
I am also checking on the installation fee.
GARY_>
The installation fee will be added to my Comcast bill, right?
Ryan>
Yes, Sir.
Ryan>
Gary, may I ask if you have HDTV.
GARY_>
No.
Ryan>
May I ask how many cable box do you have.
GARY_>
one
Ryan>
I apologize, this is taking more time than usual. Would you mind waiting for a minute or two while I am still working on this? I would deeply appreciate it.
GARY_>
That's ok
Ryan>
Thank you.
Ryan>
Thank you for waiting.
Ryan>
Gary, I am still working on this for there is no Digital Adapter code that can be added on your account yet.
GARY_>
ok
Ryan>
Thank you for waiting.
Ryan>
Gary, the first appointment date available is September 16 that is Friday between 2PM-5PM.
GARY_>
That's a good time for me.
Ryan>
And the Install charge will be $16.00, this will be charge on your bill.
Ryan>
Great.
GARY_>
That's great.
Ryan>
Let me set this up now.
Ryan>
May I ask for a reliable contact number for our Tech to reach you before proceeding to your place.
GARY_>
202 362 7064
Ryan>
Thank you.
Ryan>
Completing the set up now. Please give me another minute.
GARY_>
ok
Ryan>
While I am still working on this, let me share to you a feature of Comcast which is for FREE as part of your subscription.
Ryan>
Comcast has the best free online streaming and extensive video collection of TV shows, movies, trailers and clips. Experience this great entertainment by visiting http://www.xfinitytv.com
Ryan>
Thank you for waiting.
Ryan>
I have completed the process. All is set.
Ryan>
By the way, may I request for you to take the 1 minute survey. This is after we end our chat. Just click on the "END SESSION". It will be great to know how I addressed and resolved your chat concern today.
GARY_>
That's great, buddy. Thanks for your help!
Ryan>
You are welcome.
Ryan>
Please note that on the day of the appointment, Comcast dispatch may call you during your scheduled time frame to re-confirm that you are still pushing through with the appointment. Also an adult over the age of 18 and can speak English must be present during the Visit.
Ryan>
And as a Comast Guarantee, we will always be here for you. You can chat with us 24/7 for any questions or concerns.
Ryan>
To recap, I have resolved your concern on this chat by setting up installation appointment for Digital Adapter as requested.
Ryan>
I am glad we were able to resolve your concern today. It was truly a pleasure assisting you, Gary. Is there anything I can help you with today? I'll be happy to assist you further.
GARY_>
No. I'm good. Thank you!
Ryan>
You are welcome.
Ryan>
I'm glad I had the opportunity to resolve your issue. It is my goal to exceed your expectations, and I hope that you will take a moment to complete the short survey I mentioned earlier; your feedback will help us to continue improving how we serve you.
Thank you for contacting Comcast and have a great day.
Ryan>
Analyst has closed chat and left the room
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Monday, September 12, 2011
GW Psychiatric Treatment: Letter to Dr. Georgopoulos
The following letter is useful in demonstrating how I deal with interpersonal disagreements and anger. I do not become violent; I analyze.
March 9, 1995
3801 Connecticut Ave., NW
#136
Washington, DC 20008
D. Georgopoulos, M.D.
Dept. Psychiatry
GW Univ. Med. Ctr.
Washington, DC 20037
Dear Dr. Georgopoulos:
A seemingly insignificant exchange that took place at our session on Monday March 6, 1995 merits re-examination and analysis.
I stated that I had formed the conclusion that my friend Craig had an ego-dystonic homosexual attraction to me, and that Craig's conduct in relation to me could be interpreted in light of that attraction.
In response you stated that "we cannot get inside Craig's head"; "we cannot change Craig" (implying that whether or not my interpretation is correct is, for me, psychotherapeutically irrelevant); and that the only value that may be usefully ascribed to my interpretation is a projective value, namely, it is I who am attracted to Craig.
I take strong exception to the rigid and simplistic rule of construction that you applied in this circumstance. I will attempt to show that, while your own interpretation may not be incorrect, it is not the only interpretation. First, we can get inside Craig's head by means of empathy. Second, whether my statement about Craig is correct carries a great deal of information about me, and that information is not limited to the facile interpretation of a projection.
The following outline compares two internally consistent sets of personality characteristics that emerge if one assumes, on the one hand, that my statement about Craig is projective, and, on the other, if one assumes that my statement about Craig is empathic.
Projective Construction of the statement “I believe Craig has an ego-dystonic homosexual attraction to me”
1a. The statement is a projection of my own ego-dystonic attraction for Craig
In the case of projection, the individual is impelled to displace ego-dystonic thoughts and feelings onto an external object
2a. My act of attributing a characteristic to Craig that properly applies to me indicates a lack of insight
3a. The truth value of my statement is immaterial in the psychotherapeutic milieu since Craig is not present and we can’t change Craig
4a. Content/process symmetry: If we interpret my statement “Craig has an ego-dystonic homosexual attraction to me” as a projection of my homosexuality, the symmetry of content and process centers on the issues of homosexuality and paranoia, since the content of my statement relates to the issue of homosexuality and the process of the statement (which is projective) relates to the issue of homosexuality in that projection is an essential element of paranoia, a form of psychopathology that, according to Freud, has a strong homoerotic element.
5a. Treatment-resistance issue: poor insight
__________________________________
Empathic Construction of the statement “I believe Craig as an ego-dystonic homosexual attraction to me”
1b. The statement is based on my empathic understanding of Craig: empathy is defined as “[p]utting oneself into the psychological frame of reference of another, so that the other person’s thinking, feeling, and acting are understood and, to some extent, predictable. Carl Rogers defines empathy as the ability to accompany another to wherever the other person’s feelings lead him, no matter how strong, deep, destructive, or abnormal they may seem. Although communication and empathy are related, empathy is not primarily aimed at exchanging information or altering another’s belief or action systems. On the contrary, empathy is concerned rather with aligning one’s state of mind with another’s in order to commune rather than communicate, and in order to expand the interactive repertoire between the participants rather than to transmit the knowledge of one to another.” Campbell, R. J. Psychiatric Dictionary, at 247. 6th ed. (New York: Oxford University Press: 1989).
Brenman-Gibson alludes to the creative transformation of identity diffusion and loss of sense of self as two factors underlying the capacity to empathize: “The gift of empathizing, central to such diverse arts as psychotherapy and playwriting, is little understood. The special kind of imagination that permits one person to put himself ‘in the place of the other’ involves at the very least some experience of incompletion on the part of the ‘I,’ with the hope of closure by way of identification with the ‘thou,’ thus often thought of in Western culture as a feminine quality. But there is more than this. There is a diffusion of identity to accommodate-- . . . An inner ‘gallery of characters,’ and there is a detached ‘witnessing’ of the entire process.” Brenman-Gibson, M. Clifford Odets, 630 (New York: Atheneum, 1982).
The identity diffusion that my lie at the base of empathy may itself have its source in traumatic object loss, resulting in fixation at a level of ambivalent identification with the lost mother. “Since identification as a consequence of loss [compare discussion of superego resistance, below, at paragraph 5b] is ambivalent and at [a particular] stage involves representations of part-objects, [the patient] may find it difficult to fuse the separate good and bad imagoes of the lost mother whom he has both loved and hated and thus to integrate his own split psyche [citations omitted]. If he remains a fragmented assemblage of incompatible desires, affective experiences, and identifications, he will be predisposed to splitting of his psyche and dissociation in later life.” Ducey, C. “The Life History and Creative Psychopathology of the Shaman,” at 191. The Psychoanalytic Study of Society, at 191. Volume 7. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1976).
Differential diagnosis issues: sense of self-fragmentation, loss of sense of self and conflict of the self with objects, identity diffusion, and instability of cohesive self are all considered to be among the “typical” features of the borderline personality. Campbell, at 101.
2b. The capacity to empathize would appear to be consistent with a high capacity for insight which may be complemented by a highly-developed synthetic function.
An individual’s observations about and analyses of external objects may be impelled by and facilitated by the individual’s need and ability to synthesize external and internal elements, i.e., the “synthetic function.” “In psychoanalytic psychology, synthesis is considered to be a complex ego function, probably a derivative of libido, which impels the person to harmonious unification and creativity in the broadest sense of the term. Synthesis includes a tendency to simplify, to generalize, and ultimately to understand by assimilating external and internal elements [compare the ego defense of projection], by reconciling conflicting ideas, by uniting contrasts, and by seeking for causality.” Campbell, at 734.
Note that the synthetic function may be greatly enhanced as a result of traumatic object loss: “When the ego’s stability is most gravely threatened [with the loss of object libido] but yet it retains a certain measure of constructive energy, its synthetic functions are immeasurably extended.” Nunberg, H. “The Synthetic Function.” Practice and Theory of Psychoanalysis, 127 (New York: International Universities Press, 1948).
Thus, both empathy and the development of a hypernormal synthetic function may have their source in traumatic object loss; in the case of empathy, traumatic object los may lead to identity diffusion, which, in turn, may be creatively transformed into a heightened capacity to empathize. It would appear, therefore, that empathy and the synthetic function may be complementary creative ego functions (with their ultimate source attributable in certain cases to traumatic object loss).
Differential Diagnosis issue: lack of synthetic capacity is an important feature of the borderline personality. Campbell, at 101.
3b. The truth value of my statement is material in the psychotherapeutic milieu despite the fact that Craig is not present and we can’t change Craig. Whether my statement is true relates to my own reality-testing, synthetic functioning, capacity to empathize; and, by implication, to the issues of object loss, identity diffusion, sense of guilt and resistance to therapy (see below).
4b. Content/process symmetry: If we interpret my statement “Craig has an ego-dystonic homosexual attraction to me” as reflecting my empathic understanding of Craig, the symmetry of content and process may me interpreted as centering on the issue of traumatic object loss and my consequent need for a selfobject to cure a defect in the self. The content of my statement may relate to Craig’s empathic selfobject relation to me (and the satisfaction of my own narcissistic needs), which parallels my own empathic process of understanding Craig at a cognitive level. See Greenberg, J.R. and Mitchell, S.A. Object Relations in Psychoanalytic Theory, at 353-355 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1983).
5b. Treatment resistance issue: super-ego resistance (with its source being an unconscious sense of guilt resulting from object loss). Freud identifies superego resistance resulting from an unconscious sense of guilt as the most intractable of resistances. “The battle with the obstacle of an unconscious sense of guilt is not made easy for the analyst. Nothing can be done against it directly, and nothing indirectly but the slow procedure of unmasking its unconscious repressed roots, and of thus gradually changing it into a conscious sense of guilt. One has a special opportunity for influencing it when the Ucs. sense of guilt is a ‘borrowed’ one--when it is the product of an identification with some other person who was once the object of an erotic cathexis [compare “identification as a consequence of loss” in connection with discussion of the identity diffusion/empathy issues, above, at paragraph 1b]. A sense of guilt that has been adopted in this way is often the sole remaining trace of the abandoned love-relation and not at all easy to recognize as such. (The likeness between this process and what happens in melancholia is unmistakable.) If one can unmask this former object-cathexes behind the Ucs. sense of guilt, the therapeutic success is often brilliant., but otherwise the outcome of one’s efforts is by no means certain. It depends principally on the intensity of the sense of guilt; there is often no counteracting force of a similar order of strength which the treatment can oppose to it. Perhaps it may depend, too, on whether the personality of the analyst allows of the patient’s putting him in the place of his ego ideal, and this involves a temptation for the analyst to play the part of prophet, savior and redeemer to the patient [which is forbidden to the analyst].” Freud, S. The Ego and the Id. (Compare my attributing the role of “prophet, savior and redeemer”--in Kohutian terms, a “selfobject”--to Craig).
Differential diagnosis issues: (1) narcissistic inaccessibility; (2) borderline personality in which the patient is unable to maintain a therapeutic alliance, which is disrupted by overwhelming feelings.
Sincerely,
Gary Freedman
March 9, 1995
3801 Connecticut Ave., NW
#136
Washington, DC 20008
D. Georgopoulos, M.D.
Dept. Psychiatry
GW Univ. Med. Ctr.
Washington, DC 20037
Dear Dr. Georgopoulos:
A seemingly insignificant exchange that took place at our session on Monday March 6, 1995 merits re-examination and analysis.
I stated that I had formed the conclusion that my friend Craig had an ego-dystonic homosexual attraction to me, and that Craig's conduct in relation to me could be interpreted in light of that attraction.
In response you stated that "we cannot get inside Craig's head"; "we cannot change Craig" (implying that whether or not my interpretation is correct is, for me, psychotherapeutically irrelevant); and that the only value that may be usefully ascribed to my interpretation is a projective value, namely, it is I who am attracted to Craig.
I take strong exception to the rigid and simplistic rule of construction that you applied in this circumstance. I will attempt to show that, while your own interpretation may not be incorrect, it is not the only interpretation. First, we can get inside Craig's head by means of empathy. Second, whether my statement about Craig is correct carries a great deal of information about me, and that information is not limited to the facile interpretation of a projection.
The following outline compares two internally consistent sets of personality characteristics that emerge if one assumes, on the one hand, that my statement about Craig is projective, and, on the other, if one assumes that my statement about Craig is empathic.
Projective Construction of the statement “I believe Craig has an ego-dystonic homosexual attraction to me”
1a. The statement is a projection of my own ego-dystonic attraction for Craig
In the case of projection, the individual is impelled to displace ego-dystonic thoughts and feelings onto an external object
2a. My act of attributing a characteristic to Craig that properly applies to me indicates a lack of insight
3a. The truth value of my statement is immaterial in the psychotherapeutic milieu since Craig is not present and we can’t change Craig
4a. Content/process symmetry: If we interpret my statement “Craig has an ego-dystonic homosexual attraction to me” as a projection of my homosexuality, the symmetry of content and process centers on the issues of homosexuality and paranoia, since the content of my statement relates to the issue of homosexuality and the process of the statement (which is projective) relates to the issue of homosexuality in that projection is an essential element of paranoia, a form of psychopathology that, according to Freud, has a strong homoerotic element.
5a. Treatment-resistance issue: poor insight
__________________________________
Empathic Construction of the statement “I believe Craig as an ego-dystonic homosexual attraction to me”
1b. The statement is based on my empathic understanding of Craig: empathy is defined as “[p]utting oneself into the psychological frame of reference of another, so that the other person’s thinking, feeling, and acting are understood and, to some extent, predictable. Carl Rogers defines empathy as the ability to accompany another to wherever the other person’s feelings lead him, no matter how strong, deep, destructive, or abnormal they may seem. Although communication and empathy are related, empathy is not primarily aimed at exchanging information or altering another’s belief or action systems. On the contrary, empathy is concerned rather with aligning one’s state of mind with another’s in order to commune rather than communicate, and in order to expand the interactive repertoire between the participants rather than to transmit the knowledge of one to another.” Campbell, R. J. Psychiatric Dictionary, at 247. 6th ed. (New York: Oxford University Press: 1989).
Brenman-Gibson alludes to the creative transformation of identity diffusion and loss of sense of self as two factors underlying the capacity to empathize: “The gift of empathizing, central to such diverse arts as psychotherapy and playwriting, is little understood. The special kind of imagination that permits one person to put himself ‘in the place of the other’ involves at the very least some experience of incompletion on the part of the ‘I,’ with the hope of closure by way of identification with the ‘thou,’ thus often thought of in Western culture as a feminine quality. But there is more than this. There is a diffusion of identity to accommodate-- . . . An inner ‘gallery of characters,’ and there is a detached ‘witnessing’ of the entire process.” Brenman-Gibson, M. Clifford Odets, 630 (New York: Atheneum, 1982).
The identity diffusion that my lie at the base of empathy may itself have its source in traumatic object loss, resulting in fixation at a level of ambivalent identification with the lost mother. “Since identification as a consequence of loss [compare discussion of superego resistance, below, at paragraph 5b] is ambivalent and at [a particular] stage involves representations of part-objects, [the patient] may find it difficult to fuse the separate good and bad imagoes of the lost mother whom he has both loved and hated and thus to integrate his own split psyche [citations omitted]. If he remains a fragmented assemblage of incompatible desires, affective experiences, and identifications, he will be predisposed to splitting of his psyche and dissociation in later life.” Ducey, C. “The Life History and Creative Psychopathology of the Shaman,” at 191. The Psychoanalytic Study of Society, at 191. Volume 7. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1976).
Differential diagnosis issues: sense of self-fragmentation, loss of sense of self and conflict of the self with objects, identity diffusion, and instability of cohesive self are all considered to be among the “typical” features of the borderline personality. Campbell, at 101.
2b. The capacity to empathize would appear to be consistent with a high capacity for insight which may be complemented by a highly-developed synthetic function.
An individual’s observations about and analyses of external objects may be impelled by and facilitated by the individual’s need and ability to synthesize external and internal elements, i.e., the “synthetic function.” “In psychoanalytic psychology, synthesis is considered to be a complex ego function, probably a derivative of libido, which impels the person to harmonious unification and creativity in the broadest sense of the term. Synthesis includes a tendency to simplify, to generalize, and ultimately to understand by assimilating external and internal elements [compare the ego defense of projection], by reconciling conflicting ideas, by uniting contrasts, and by seeking for causality.” Campbell, at 734.
Note that the synthetic function may be greatly enhanced as a result of traumatic object loss: “When the ego’s stability is most gravely threatened [with the loss of object libido] but yet it retains a certain measure of constructive energy, its synthetic functions are immeasurably extended.” Nunberg, H. “The Synthetic Function.” Practice and Theory of Psychoanalysis, 127 (New York: International Universities Press, 1948).
Thus, both empathy and the development of a hypernormal synthetic function may have their source in traumatic object loss; in the case of empathy, traumatic object los may lead to identity diffusion, which, in turn, may be creatively transformed into a heightened capacity to empathize. It would appear, therefore, that empathy and the synthetic function may be complementary creative ego functions (with their ultimate source attributable in certain cases to traumatic object loss).
Differential Diagnosis issue: lack of synthetic capacity is an important feature of the borderline personality. Campbell, at 101.
3b. The truth value of my statement is material in the psychotherapeutic milieu despite the fact that Craig is not present and we can’t change Craig. Whether my statement is true relates to my own reality-testing, synthetic functioning, capacity to empathize; and, by implication, to the issues of object loss, identity diffusion, sense of guilt and resistance to therapy (see below).
4b. Content/process symmetry: If we interpret my statement “Craig has an ego-dystonic homosexual attraction to me” as reflecting my empathic understanding of Craig, the symmetry of content and process may me interpreted as centering on the issue of traumatic object loss and my consequent need for a selfobject to cure a defect in the self. The content of my statement may relate to Craig’s empathic selfobject relation to me (and the satisfaction of my own narcissistic needs), which parallels my own empathic process of understanding Craig at a cognitive level. See Greenberg, J.R. and Mitchell, S.A. Object Relations in Psychoanalytic Theory, at 353-355 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1983).
5b. Treatment resistance issue: super-ego resistance (with its source being an unconscious sense of guilt resulting from object loss). Freud identifies superego resistance resulting from an unconscious sense of guilt as the most intractable of resistances. “The battle with the obstacle of an unconscious sense of guilt is not made easy for the analyst. Nothing can be done against it directly, and nothing indirectly but the slow procedure of unmasking its unconscious repressed roots, and of thus gradually changing it into a conscious sense of guilt. One has a special opportunity for influencing it when the Ucs. sense of guilt is a ‘borrowed’ one--when it is the product of an identification with some other person who was once the object of an erotic cathexis [compare “identification as a consequence of loss” in connection with discussion of the identity diffusion/empathy issues, above, at paragraph 1b]. A sense of guilt that has been adopted in this way is often the sole remaining trace of the abandoned love-relation and not at all easy to recognize as such. (The likeness between this process and what happens in melancholia is unmistakable.) If one can unmask this former object-cathexes behind the Ucs. sense of guilt, the therapeutic success is often brilliant., but otherwise the outcome of one’s efforts is by no means certain. It depends principally on the intensity of the sense of guilt; there is often no counteracting force of a similar order of strength which the treatment can oppose to it. Perhaps it may depend, too, on whether the personality of the analyst allows of the patient’s putting him in the place of his ego ideal, and this involves a temptation for the analyst to play the part of prophet, savior and redeemer to the patient [which is forbidden to the analyst].” Freud, S. The Ego and the Id. (Compare my attributing the role of “prophet, savior and redeemer”--in Kohutian terms, a “selfobject”--to Craig).
Differential diagnosis issues: (1) narcissistic inaccessibility; (2) borderline personality in which the patient is unable to maintain a therapeutic alliance, which is disrupted by overwhelming feelings.
Sincerely,
Gary Freedman
Sunday, September 11, 2011
September 11, 2001
My memories of September 11, 2001, how I experienced the unfolding events of that day, differ, I suppose, from other people's experiences.
I don't usually watch television in the morning. So I didn't learn of the terrorist attacks when they occurred, in real time.
As usual that morning, I went to the fitness room to work out. It was after 9:30 am. I was working out on the stair climber. Those were the days when the fitness room had a stair climber. The door to the fitness room -- and I'm talking about the old fitness room, the one that preceded the ultra-modern fitness room installed in 2003 -- was made of glass. One of the tenants walked by and glared at me. It was a look that I registered as odd. I thought, "Why is he looking at me like that? What did I do." I suppose, in retrospect, he was wondering why I wasn't following events on TV. That was Michael Epstein, by the way. He used to live in apartment 108.
I finished my workout, came back to my apartment and took a shower. I turned on the radio. NPR was reporting on a fire at the Pentagon. I thought: "A fire at the Pentagon! Who the hell cares about a fire at the Pentagon?" And so I turned the radio off.
I left my building to spend the afternoon at the Cleveland Park Neighborhood Library. People were walking up Connecticut Avenue in droves as I walked south to the library. I assumed there was a problem with the Metro.
Yanni's Deli on Connecticut Avenue was closed. I didn't think anything of that.
When I got to the library there was a sign on the door: "Library closed due to emergency conditions."
I walked back up Connecticut Avenue to the Giant Supermarket. I gathered up a few items and took my place in the check-out line. Adam Skillings was the checkout clerk. He was talking to a customer, saying: "I'm surprised it hasn't happened before now." The customer asked if the store would be open till its normal closing hour of 9:00 PM. Adam Skillings said he didn't know; that he hadn't heard anything yet.
So there were all these clues in the environment that something had happened, but I failed to put things together. It was sort of like the opposite of paranoia. In paranoia, the individual takes chance trivial events and creates a paranoid narrative that ties all the facts together. In this instance, I was failing to put facts together into a coherent narrative or even suspicion.
When I got home at about 12:30 I turned on the television. I remember the late David Bloom on NBC was reporting, recounting all the events of the morning. I couldn't believe what I was seeing! I still remember David Bloom using the word "disgusting" to describe the attacks. The word stuck out in my mind. You rarely hear reporters use a word like that in reporting events.
I don't usually watch television in the morning. So I didn't learn of the terrorist attacks when they occurred, in real time.
As usual that morning, I went to the fitness room to work out. It was after 9:30 am. I was working out on the stair climber. Those were the days when the fitness room had a stair climber. The door to the fitness room -- and I'm talking about the old fitness room, the one that preceded the ultra-modern fitness room installed in 2003 -- was made of glass. One of the tenants walked by and glared at me. It was a look that I registered as odd. I thought, "Why is he looking at me like that? What did I do." I suppose, in retrospect, he was wondering why I wasn't following events on TV. That was Michael Epstein, by the way. He used to live in apartment 108.
I finished my workout, came back to my apartment and took a shower. I turned on the radio. NPR was reporting on a fire at the Pentagon. I thought: "A fire at the Pentagon! Who the hell cares about a fire at the Pentagon?" And so I turned the radio off.
I left my building to spend the afternoon at the Cleveland Park Neighborhood Library. People were walking up Connecticut Avenue in droves as I walked south to the library. I assumed there was a problem with the Metro.
Yanni's Deli on Connecticut Avenue was closed. I didn't think anything of that.
When I got to the library there was a sign on the door: "Library closed due to emergency conditions."
I walked back up Connecticut Avenue to the Giant Supermarket. I gathered up a few items and took my place in the check-out line. Adam Skillings was the checkout clerk. He was talking to a customer, saying: "I'm surprised it hasn't happened before now." The customer asked if the store would be open till its normal closing hour of 9:00 PM. Adam Skillings said he didn't know; that he hadn't heard anything yet.
So there were all these clues in the environment that something had happened, but I failed to put things together. It was sort of like the opposite of paranoia. In paranoia, the individual takes chance trivial events and creates a paranoid narrative that ties all the facts together. In this instance, I was failing to put facts together into a coherent narrative or even suspicion.
When I got home at about 12:30 I turned on the television. I remember the late David Bloom on NBC was reporting, recounting all the events of the morning. I couldn't believe what I was seeing! I still remember David Bloom using the word "disgusting" to describe the attacks. The word stuck out in my mind. You rarely hear reporters use a word like that in reporting events.
Friday, September 09, 2011
Letter to FBI and U.S. Secret Service -- 1995 -- Psychiatric Treatment at GW
March 14, 1995
3801 Connecticut Ave., NW
#136
Washington, DC 20008-4530
David M. Bowie
Supervisory Special Agent
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Washington Field Office
Washington, DC 20324
Dear Mr. Bowie:
Enclosed for your general information is a letter plus attachments dated March 13, 1995 that I forwarded to the U.S. Secret Service.
You need not return this documentation.
Sincerely,
Gary Freedman
[S.S.A. Bowie returned this letter. Apparently, the FBI determined that I was a harmless crank.]
____________________
March 13, 1995
3801 Connecticut Ave., NW
#136
Washington, DC 20008-4530
\
Philip C. Leadroot
Special Agent
U.S. Secret Service
Washington, DC 20036
Dear Mr. Leadroot:
The enclosed documentation is forwarded for your general information.
1. Letter to my current treating psychiatrist, Dr. Georgopoulos, dated March 9, 1995, re: my sexual orientation and personality functioning. The letter serves as a general personality profile, which may be of interest to you.
2. Biographical material re: Bernard M. Malloy, M.D. It was Dr. Malloy who headed a team of psychiatrists that did a personality profile of Dr. Daniel Ellsberg for the CIA. The CIA's personality profile of Daniel Ellsberg is included in my autobiographical study that I forwarded to you. Dr. Malloy is a Washington psychiatrist in private practice who may be reached at (202) 333-6483.
3. Document detailing my fantasies regarding the building of a bomb. I forwarded a copy of the document to the Social Security Administration via Dr. Paul Yessler under cover letter dated June 14, 1993, a copy of which letter I have already submitted to you.
I remain, according to the Government of the District of Columbia and my former employer (the law firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld), severely disturbed, potentially violent, and possibly armed and homicidal. I continue to deny that I pose such a threat, however, medical records on file at the George Washington University Medical Center indicate that I may be a pathological liar. Additionally, confidential mental health records on file at Sheppard Pratt Preferred Resources state that I am delusional and that I harbor feelings of rage.
Sincerely,
Gary Freedman
[S.A. Leadroot started his investigation of me in about mid-December 1994 and concluded that investigation in early February 1995.]
3801 Connecticut Ave., NW
#136
Washington, DC 20008-4530
David M. Bowie
Supervisory Special Agent
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Washington Field Office
Washington, DC 20324
Dear Mr. Bowie:
Enclosed for your general information is a letter plus attachments dated March 13, 1995 that I forwarded to the U.S. Secret Service.
You need not return this documentation.
Sincerely,
Gary Freedman
[S.S.A. Bowie returned this letter. Apparently, the FBI determined that I was a harmless crank.]
____________________
March 13, 1995
3801 Connecticut Ave., NW
#136
Washington, DC 20008-4530
\
Philip C. Leadroot
Special Agent
U.S. Secret Service
Washington, DC 20036
Dear Mr. Leadroot:
The enclosed documentation is forwarded for your general information.
1. Letter to my current treating psychiatrist, Dr. Georgopoulos, dated March 9, 1995, re: my sexual orientation and personality functioning. The letter serves as a general personality profile, which may be of interest to you.
2. Biographical material re: Bernard M. Malloy, M.D. It was Dr. Malloy who headed a team of psychiatrists that did a personality profile of Dr. Daniel Ellsberg for the CIA. The CIA's personality profile of Daniel Ellsberg is included in my autobiographical study that I forwarded to you. Dr. Malloy is a Washington psychiatrist in private practice who may be reached at (202) 333-6483.
3. Document detailing my fantasies regarding the building of a bomb. I forwarded a copy of the document to the Social Security Administration via Dr. Paul Yessler under cover letter dated June 14, 1993, a copy of which letter I have already submitted to you.
I remain, according to the Government of the District of Columbia and my former employer (the law firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld), severely disturbed, potentially violent, and possibly armed and homicidal. I continue to deny that I pose such a threat, however, medical records on file at the George Washington University Medical Center indicate that I may be a pathological liar. Additionally, confidential mental health records on file at Sheppard Pratt Preferred Resources state that I am delusional and that I harbor feelings of rage.
Sincerely,
Gary Freedman
[S.A. Leadroot started his investigation of me in about mid-December 1994 and concluded that investigation in early February 1995.]
Letter to FBI and U.S. Secret Service -- 1995 -- Psychiatric Treatment at GW
March 23, 1995
3801 Connecticut Avenue., NW
#136
Washington, DC 20008-4530
David M. Bowie
Supervisory Special Agent
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Washington Field Office
Washington, DC 20034
Dear Mr. Bowie:
Enclosed for your general information is a copy of documentation that I forwarded to Mr. Philip C. Leadroot, Special Agent, U.S. Secret Service under cover letter dated March 23, 1995.
You need not return this documentation.
Sincerely,
Gary Freedman
[Includes envelope addressed to S.S.A. Bowie; apparently, he returned the letter to me.]
____________________
March 23, 1995
3801 Connecticut Ave., NW
#136
Washington, DC 20008
Philip C. Leadroot
Special Agent
U.S. Secret Service
Washington Field Office
Washington, DC 20036
Dear Mr. Leadroot:
Enclosed for your information is a computer disc that contains all letters that I have delivered to my current treating psychiatrist at the George Washington University Medical Center, Dr. Georgopoulos.
I draw your immediate attention to the letter dated December 19, 1994, which mentions the assassination of President Kennedy.
Sincerely,
Gary Freedman
[I had begun therapy with Dr. Georgopoulos in mid-July 1994. S.A. Leadroot started his investigation in about mid-December 1994 and concluded that investigation in early February 1995.]
3801 Connecticut Avenue., NW
#136
Washington, DC 20008-4530
David M. Bowie
Supervisory Special Agent
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Washington Field Office
Washington, DC 20034
Dear Mr. Bowie:
Enclosed for your general information is a copy of documentation that I forwarded to Mr. Philip C. Leadroot, Special Agent, U.S. Secret Service under cover letter dated March 23, 1995.
You need not return this documentation.
Sincerely,
Gary Freedman
[Includes envelope addressed to S.S.A. Bowie; apparently, he returned the letter to me.]
____________________
March 23, 1995
3801 Connecticut Ave., NW
#136
Washington, DC 20008
Philip C. Leadroot
Special Agent
U.S. Secret Service
Washington Field Office
Washington, DC 20036
Dear Mr. Leadroot:
Enclosed for your information is a computer disc that contains all letters that I have delivered to my current treating psychiatrist at the George Washington University Medical Center, Dr. Georgopoulos.
I draw your immediate attention to the letter dated December 19, 1994, which mentions the assassination of President Kennedy.
Sincerely,
Gary Freedman
[I had begun therapy with Dr. Georgopoulos in mid-July 1994. S.A. Leadroot started his investigation in about mid-December 1994 and concluded that investigation in early February 1995.]
Thursday, September 08, 2011
Letter to Dr. Pitts -- January 8, 1993 -- Notice of Violence Risk
In the following letter to Suzanne M. Pitts, M.D., my then treating psychiatrist at the George Washington University Medical Center, I try to make sense of my environment and my relationship with my therapist. The article assumes that Dr. Pitts has been transmitting confidential mental health information to my former employer, the law firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld. The letter also places a psychoanalytical interpretation on evidence produced by my former employer relating to my job termination. Of interest is the fact that although I had been diagnosed with psychotic mental illness, and, according to GW, saw persons in my environment as persecutors, the letter is devoid of any anger. The exposition is purely analytical and intellectualized. Apparently, my affect is invested totally in trying to understand my world. To the best of my knowledge there is no evidence that my paranoid thinking has ever been associated with feelings of anger and a propensity to violent acting out or revenge.
Uncannily, Gertrude R. Ticho, M.D. served as consulting editor on the technical article I reference in the following letter. As of January 1993 I was unaware that Akin Gump had consulted Dr. Ticho in late October 1991, who advised the firm that I seemed to be paranoid and potentially violent.
From a legal standpoint the following letter places GW on notice that my former employer considered me to be mentally ill and potentially violent. Did GW have a legal duty to contact Dennis Race? Did GW in fact contact Dennis Race?
Dr. Pitts first discussed prescribing Lithium for bipolar disorder in early February 1993.
January 8, 1993
3801 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Apartment 136
Washington, DC 20008
Dr. Suzanne M. Pitts
Department of Psychiatry
George Washington University
Medical Center
2150 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20036
Dear Dr. Pitts:
Enclosed is an article titled “Magic and Healing: An Ethnopsychoanalytic Examination” by Richard Day and Ronald. Davidson published in The Psychoanalytic Study of Society 7: 231-291 (Yale University Pres: 1976).
The article points to a number of unique psychological qualities, not frequently encountered in patients, that may be of significance in my case. I have highlighted a number of key sentences that may be of importance in my case. The issues discussed in the article relate to the uniquely “environmental” quality of my psychological difficulties that are not comprehended by standard DSM-III categories or diagnostic criteria. Whether the psychological type discussed in the article represents a distinct pathology omitted from the DSM-III categories or whether the type transcends specific diagnostic categories (that is, not limited to any specific category) is beyond my ability to say.
Of special significance with respect to the transference is the material at page 257: “Magic and Healing.” The material suggests a fundamental distinction between the nature of the transference in my case and the transference as typically encountered.
In most cases the transference is a stable dyad, with the patient always “acting” as patient and the therapist always “acting” as healer.
My case may be more complex, and may in fact be a labile triad encompassing patient, therapist, and audience. The calculus is made all the more complex by the fact that the roles of patient, therapist, and audience are not stable but labile and relative.
The labile healing triad would be schematized as follows:
LABILE HEALING TRIAD
therapist (healer)
1. Dr. Pitts
2. Freedman
patient . . . . . . . . . . audience
1. Freedman 1. persons in the environment
2. persons in 2. Dr. Pitts
the environment
The triad arising in the therapeutic session comprises me as patient, you as therapist, and persons in the environment. But what I seek to discuss in the therapeutic sessions are the problems arising from others in my environment playing the role of patient and placing me in the role of healer. One might offer the tentative hypothesis that in the psychotherapy of the “creative” patient, the transference itself will always be to some degree Janusian, with the patient being simultaneously patient/healer and the therapist being simultaneously healer/audience.
As evidence of this proposition, I would cite the attached memo dated October 29, 1991 from Dennis Race to File. The memo on its face purports to place me in the role of patient and others in my environment as audience. But based on everything we now know about my relations with my co-workers (and Dennis Race himself)--facts extrinsic to the memo--we are justified in saying that to a certain degree it is others in my environment who are the patients and I who am the healer (scapegoat, or “lightening rod of common anxiety”).
I hope we can make use of this schema in understanding our relationship.
Sincerely,
Gary Freedman
TO: File
FROM: Dennis M. Race [initialed DMR]
DATE: October 29, 1991 CONFIDENTIAL
RE: Gary Freedman
__________________________________________
In the course of investigating Gary's complaints about working conditions (none of which, by his own admission, involved activity or conduct which had a direct impact on him), I concluded that Gary's inability to work or interrelate with others is a substantial problem for the firm. There is only so much work that can be done without any interaction among our staff (which is what he requests) and his continued presence in the firm has been extremely disruptive. Reported outbursts and arguably bizarre behavior have made it uncomfortable and sometimes disruptive for many of his co-workers -- some of whom have voiced fear in working with or nearby him. In addition he is very difficult to supervise.
Malcolm Lassman and I have also discussed this matter, including Gary's work habits (as well as his habit of putting negative meanings to even trivial events i.e., "ideas of reference") with two outside consultants and both concurred that termination was the sound approach to take. One outside consultant also cautioned about the possibility of violence.
Accordingly, on the basis of disruptive work habits, unusual behavior and discussions with outside consultants, I believe that termination is warranted. Indeed, to do otherwise may prove to be negligent. I have discussed this with representatives of the Management Committee and our Administrative Staff and everyone concurs.
Gary will be given an additional two weeks severance (a total of four weeks) not only to cover extra time to look for alternative work but also to help cover insurance costs which will be borne directly by him upon leaving the firm.
Uncannily, Gertrude R. Ticho, M.D. served as consulting editor on the technical article I reference in the following letter. As of January 1993 I was unaware that Akin Gump had consulted Dr. Ticho in late October 1991, who advised the firm that I seemed to be paranoid and potentially violent.
From a legal standpoint the following letter places GW on notice that my former employer considered me to be mentally ill and potentially violent. Did GW have a legal duty to contact Dennis Race? Did GW in fact contact Dennis Race?
Dr. Pitts first discussed prescribing Lithium for bipolar disorder in early February 1993.
January 8, 1993
3801 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Apartment 136
Washington, DC 20008
Dr. Suzanne M. Pitts
Department of Psychiatry
George Washington University
Medical Center
2150 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20036
Dear Dr. Pitts:
Enclosed is an article titled “Magic and Healing: An Ethnopsychoanalytic Examination” by Richard Day and Ronald. Davidson published in The Psychoanalytic Study of Society 7: 231-291 (Yale University Pres: 1976).
The article points to a number of unique psychological qualities, not frequently encountered in patients, that may be of significance in my case. I have highlighted a number of key sentences that may be of importance in my case. The issues discussed in the article relate to the uniquely “environmental” quality of my psychological difficulties that are not comprehended by standard DSM-III categories or diagnostic criteria. Whether the psychological type discussed in the article represents a distinct pathology omitted from the DSM-III categories or whether the type transcends specific diagnostic categories (that is, not limited to any specific category) is beyond my ability to say.
Of special significance with respect to the transference is the material at page 257: “Magic and Healing.” The material suggests a fundamental distinction between the nature of the transference in my case and the transference as typically encountered.
In most cases the transference is a stable dyad, with the patient always “acting” as patient and the therapist always “acting” as healer.
TYPICAL STABLE THERAPEUTIC DYAD
patient . . . . . therapist
My case may be more complex, and may in fact be a labile triad encompassing patient, therapist, and audience. The calculus is made all the more complex by the fact that the roles of patient, therapist, and audience are not stable but labile and relative.
The labile healing triad would be schematized as follows:
LABILE HEALING TRIAD
therapist (healer)
1. Dr. Pitts
2. Freedman
patient . . . . . . . . . . audience
1. Freedman 1. persons in the environment
2. persons in 2. Dr. Pitts
the environment
The triad arising in the therapeutic session comprises me as patient, you as therapist, and persons in the environment. But what I seek to discuss in the therapeutic sessions are the problems arising from others in my environment playing the role of patient and placing me in the role of healer. One might offer the tentative hypothesis that in the psychotherapy of the “creative” patient, the transference itself will always be to some degree Janusian, with the patient being simultaneously patient/healer and the therapist being simultaneously healer/audience.
As evidence of this proposition, I would cite the attached memo dated October 29, 1991 from Dennis Race to File. The memo on its face purports to place me in the role of patient and others in my environment as audience. But based on everything we now know about my relations with my co-workers (and Dennis Race himself)--facts extrinsic to the memo--we are justified in saying that to a certain degree it is others in my environment who are the patients and I who am the healer (scapegoat, or “lightening rod of common anxiety”).
I hope we can make use of this schema in understanding our relationship.
Sincerely,
Gary Freedman
MEMORANDUM
TO: File
FROM: Dennis M. Race [initialed DMR]
DATE: October 29, 1991 CONFIDENTIAL
RE: Gary Freedman
__________________________________________
In the course of investigating Gary's complaints about working conditions (none of which, by his own admission, involved activity or conduct which had a direct impact on him), I concluded that Gary's inability to work or interrelate with others is a substantial problem for the firm. There is only so much work that can be done without any interaction among our staff (which is what he requests) and his continued presence in the firm has been extremely disruptive. Reported outbursts and arguably bizarre behavior have made it uncomfortable and sometimes disruptive for many of his co-workers -- some of whom have voiced fear in working with or nearby him. In addition he is very difficult to supervise.
Malcolm Lassman and I have also discussed this matter, including Gary's work habits (as well as his habit of putting negative meanings to even trivial events i.e., "ideas of reference") with two outside consultants and both concurred that termination was the sound approach to take. One outside consultant also cautioned about the possibility of violence.
Accordingly, on the basis of disruptive work habits, unusual behavior and discussions with outside consultants, I believe that termination is warranted. Indeed, to do otherwise may prove to be negligent. I have discussed this with representatives of the Management Committee and our Administrative Staff and everyone concurs.
Gary will be given an additional two weeks severance (a total of four weeks) not only to cover extra time to look for alternative work but also to help cover insurance costs which will be borne directly by him upon leaving the firm.
Wednesday, September 07, 2011
Condolance Message -- Alec Peters -- Franklin Institute
Prior to my entering law school in late August 1979 I was employed at The Franklin Institute Research Laboratories, Science Information Services Organization, headed by Alec Peters, Vice-President of the Franklin Institute. Mr. Peters sent me the following Mailgram upon the death of my mother in January 1980. The Science Information Services Organization employed hundreds of people; obviously, Alec Peters knew who I was, though I was a low-level employee. Because of my past experience it never seemed odd to me that Robert S. Strauss, founder of the law firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, where I worked as a paralegal until late October 1991, might know who I was (though I had no hard evidence that he did).
Western Union Mailgram 1/14/80
Franklin Research Center
20 and Benjamin Franklin Pkwy
Philadelphia PA 19103
Gary Freedman
1611 Barringer St
Philadelphia PA 19150
On behalf of SISO staff and myself please accept our deepest sympathy in the loss of your mother.
Alec Peters Franklin Research Center
09:35 EST
Western Union Mailgram 1/14/80
Franklin Research Center
20 and Benjamin Franklin Pkwy
Philadelphia PA 19103
Gary Freedman
1611 Barringer St
Philadelphia PA 19150
On behalf of SISO staff and myself please accept our deepest sympathy in the loss of your mother.
Alec Peters Franklin Research Center
09:35 EST
George Washington University Medical Center -- Letter of Complaint to D.C. Medical Board -- Trustee
The following cover letter transmitted to GW University trustee Sheldon S. Cohen, Esq. a copy of a complaint I filed against my then treating psychiatrist, Suzanne M. Pitts, M.D. Coincidentally, Randy Levine, Esq., senior counsel, Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, New York Office, is a GW University trustee. Also, Heather Foley, husband of former Speaker of the House, Tom Foley, himself a retired Akin Gump partner, serves as a GW University trustee.
August 20, 1993
3801 Connecticut Avenue, NW
#136
Washington, DC 20008
Sheldon S. Cohen, Esq.
Trustee
George Washington University
c/o Morgan, Lewis, & Bockius
1800 M. Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036
Dear Mr. Cohen:
I am transmitting a copy of the enclosed letter to you for your information in your capacity as a trustee of the George Washington University.
A copy of the enclosed letter is also being forwarded to another university trustee, Mr. Harold F. Baker, Esq. [deceased].
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Gary Freedman
Copy of Letter of Complaint
Akin Gump's Ties to GW University
Medical Board Exoneration of Suzanne M. Pitts, MD
August 20, 1993
3801 Connecticut Avenue, NW
#136
Washington, DC 20008
Sheldon S. Cohen, Esq.
Trustee
George Washington University
c/o Morgan, Lewis, & Bockius
1800 M. Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036
Dear Mr. Cohen:
I am transmitting a copy of the enclosed letter to you for your information in your capacity as a trustee of the George Washington University.
A copy of the enclosed letter is also being forwarded to another university trustee, Mr. Harold F. Baker, Esq. [deceased].
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Gary Freedman
Copy of Letter of Complaint
Akin Gump's Ties to GW University
Medical Board Exoneration of Suzanne M. Pitts, MD
Tuesday, September 06, 2011
Akin Gump Surveillance: Message for Elaine Wranik
During the period 1988-1991 I was employed as a paralegal at the law firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld. I believed that I was under surveillance by the firm. The surveillance included the manager of my apartment building entering my apartment surreptitiously every morning, inspecting my apartment, and reporting back to the firm's managers what she saw. I used to leave messages for the manager (Elaine Wranik). The following is a message I left on a table in my apartment during the summer of 1991. The message attempts to show parallels in the material I quote or reference in my autobiographical study, The Caliban Complex: An Attempt at Self-Analysis. It is handwritten on a sheet of white tablet paper and, as usual, contains some witticisms:
Common Structural Thread:
--Shakespeare*
--Goethe
--Nietzsche
--Wagner**
--Hesse***
--Hugo
In addition to their other literary activities, each of the above were poets.
* One commentator (NOT Alan Simpson, by the way) has, somewhat dubiously, claimed that The Tempest is an allegory with Ariel symbolizing the spirit of poetry and Caliban symbolizing the spirit of prose (Introduction, Folger Shakespeare Library Edition)
** A central theme of Die Meistersinger is the poetry/song contest. Act III, Scene 2 is devoted exclusively to the writing of a poem.
*** Included a collection of poems in the novel Magister Ludi. (Like Pasternak in Dr. Zhivago)
Another Structural Issue:
Dr. Zhivago has been called a "poet's novel" because it lacks the cohesive narrative that characterizes most novels. The structure is more like a series of vignettes that have been string together.
All White, South African Rock Group:
Dr. Christian Barnard and the Arrhythmics
________________________
Old quote with a new meaning:
Quoth the Raben nevermore.
________________________
Advisors urging Garfield to appoint James Blaine Secretary of State:
"Mr. President, with the thoughts you'd be thinkin' you could be another Lincoln if you only had a Blaine."
Common Structural Thread:
--Shakespeare*
--Goethe
--Nietzsche
--Wagner**
--Hesse***
--Hugo
In addition to their other literary activities, each of the above were poets.
* One commentator (NOT Alan Simpson, by the way) has, somewhat dubiously, claimed that The Tempest is an allegory with Ariel symbolizing the spirit of poetry and Caliban symbolizing the spirit of prose (Introduction, Folger Shakespeare Library Edition)
** A central theme of Die Meistersinger is the poetry/song contest. Act III, Scene 2 is devoted exclusively to the writing of a poem.
*** Included a collection of poems in the novel Magister Ludi. (Like Pasternak in Dr. Zhivago)
Another Structural Issue:
Dr. Zhivago has been called a "poet's novel" because it lacks the cohesive narrative that characterizes most novels. The structure is more like a series of vignettes that have been string together.
All White, South African Rock Group:
Dr. Christian Barnard and the Arrhythmics
________________________
Old quote with a new meaning:
Quoth the Raben nevermore.
________________________
Advisors urging Garfield to appoint James Blaine Secretary of State:
"Mr. President, with the thoughts you'd be thinkin' you could be another Lincoln if you only had a Blaine."
Sunday, September 04, 2011
Happy Fourth!!
The Schumann fourth symphony, Leonard Bernstein conducting the Vienna Philharmonic. The Schumann fourth is my favorite of his symphonies.
The ninteteenth-century German composer Robert Schumann died in a mental asylum. An anecdote I read in a biography of Robert Schumann's intrigued me. In the final weeks of his illness, Schumann was permitted access to a piano. He improvised something for the asylum director, who recorded in Schumann's clinical chart that the music Schumann created was incomprehensible noise. The biographer notes, with some irony, that that response was precisely what contemporary music critics had always said about Schumann's piano compositions.
So there is no real way of knowing whether Schumann's final improvisations in the asylum (which were not written down for modern-day critique) were the bizarre creations of a severely disturbed individual or whether those improvisations, in fact, displayed the compositional virtuosity of Schumann's genius. All we have at this point in time is the dated report of a psychiatric consultant from the University of Vienna, who, in fact, had no expertise in the area he was assessing. Sound familiar?
The ninteteenth-century German composer Robert Schumann died in a mental asylum. An anecdote I read in a biography of Robert Schumann's intrigued me. In the final weeks of his illness, Schumann was permitted access to a piano. He improvised something for the asylum director, who recorded in Schumann's clinical chart that the music Schumann created was incomprehensible noise. The biographer notes, with some irony, that that response was precisely what contemporary music critics had always said about Schumann's piano compositions.
So there is no real way of knowing whether Schumann's final improvisations in the asylum (which were not written down for modern-day critique) were the bizarre creations of a severely disturbed individual or whether those improvisations, in fact, displayed the compositional virtuosity of Schumann's genius. All we have at this point in time is the dated report of a psychiatric consultant from the University of Vienna, who, in fact, had no expertise in the area he was assessing. Sound familiar?
Akin Gump: Anti-Semitic Stereotyping?
Some time in late September or early October 1991 Katherine Harkness, a coworker at the law firm of Akin Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, where I used to work as a paralegal, stated to me in her office that I was free to take work home and work all the overtime I wanted at home.
At the time I had a persecutory suspicion about Katherine Harkness's seemingly benign statement. My long-term assignment at Hogan & Hartson, where I had worked as an agency-supplied temporary from 1985-1988, was abruptly terminated in late February 1988, a brief time after I made statement to coworker Daniel Cutler about "generating overtime." My supervisor at Hogan, Miriam Chilton, did not tell me that she believed I was engaged in a scam to "generate overtime," but I believed that was a factor in her decision to terminate my assignment with Hogan. It was my paranoid suspicion that this reason for the termination of the Hogan assignment was communicated to the legal assistant administrative staff at Akin Gump, and that Katherine Harkness's offer of unlimited overtime at home was a ploy intended to create facts that would lead to a rationale to terminate my employment at Akin Gump on the grounds that I was "generating overtime. During my employment at Akin Gump I formed the paranoid suspicion that the legal assistant administrative staff rationalized my problems at the firm with the statement: "He had the same problems at Hogan that he has here," thereby implying that my employment problems were rooted in my personality and not the result of a hostile environment. A frequent accusation hurled at Jews by anti-Semites is -- "They have the same problems everywhere they go. Every country (or community) they live in, they have problems."
Katherine Harkness's offer of unlimited overtime might have been an instance of projective identification in which Harkness was trying to create circumstances in which the accusation "He has the same problems here that he had at Hogan (with respect to generating overtime)" was made real and seemingly objective.
A mainstay of anti-Semitic stereotyping is that Jews throughout the centuries have had the same problems with the people among whom they lived, in every country they inhabited. Nazi propaganda played upon this theme, as in the following motion picture, The Eternal Jew:
I was terminated from my job at Akin Gump in late October 1991. The firm offered to a state human rights agency the following rationale for the termination. The firm alleged that it had spoken to two mental health professionals, including a psychiatrist, who advised that I appeared to have mental problems. The psychiatrist allegedly advised the firm that I might become violent, in effect, that I posed a hazard to other employees.
A mainstay of anti-Semitism since the nineteenth-century (since the origin of the germ theory) is that Jews are parasites who transmit disease. According to this line of thought Jews pose a health hazard to those among whom they live.
At the time I had a persecutory suspicion about Katherine Harkness's seemingly benign statement. My long-term assignment at Hogan & Hartson, where I had worked as an agency-supplied temporary from 1985-1988, was abruptly terminated in late February 1988, a brief time after I made statement to coworker Daniel Cutler about "generating overtime." My supervisor at Hogan, Miriam Chilton, did not tell me that she believed I was engaged in a scam to "generate overtime," but I believed that was a factor in her decision to terminate my assignment with Hogan. It was my paranoid suspicion that this reason for the termination of the Hogan assignment was communicated to the legal assistant administrative staff at Akin Gump, and that Katherine Harkness's offer of unlimited overtime at home was a ploy intended to create facts that would lead to a rationale to terminate my employment at Akin Gump on the grounds that I was "generating overtime. During my employment at Akin Gump I formed the paranoid suspicion that the legal assistant administrative staff rationalized my problems at the firm with the statement: "He had the same problems at Hogan that he has here," thereby implying that my employment problems were rooted in my personality and not the result of a hostile environment. A frequent accusation hurled at Jews by anti-Semites is -- "They have the same problems everywhere they go. Every country (or community) they live in, they have problems."
Katherine Harkness's offer of unlimited overtime might have been an instance of projective identification in which Harkness was trying to create circumstances in which the accusation "He has the same problems here that he had at Hogan (with respect to generating overtime)" was made real and seemingly objective.
A mainstay of anti-Semitic stereotyping is that Jews throughout the centuries have had the same problems with the people among whom they lived, in every country they inhabited. Nazi propaganda played upon this theme, as in the following motion picture, The Eternal Jew:
I was terminated from my job at Akin Gump in late October 1991. The firm offered to a state human rights agency the following rationale for the termination. The firm alleged that it had spoken to two mental health professionals, including a psychiatrist, who advised that I appeared to have mental problems. The psychiatrist allegedly advised the firm that I might become violent, in effect, that I posed a hazard to other employees.
A mainstay of anti-Semitism since the nineteenth-century (since the origin of the germ theory) is that Jews are parasites who transmit disease. According to this line of thought Jews pose a health hazard to those among whom they live.
Saturday, September 03, 2011
Significant Moments: "First, I would like to thank the members of the Management Committee . . . "
The end of man is knowledge, but there is one thing he can't know. He can't know whether knowledge will save him or kill him. He will be killed all right, but he can't know whether he is killed because of the knowledge which he has got or the knowledge which he hasn't got and which if he had it, would save him. There's the cold in your stomach, but you open the envelope, you have to open the envelope for the end of man is to know.
Robert Penn Warren, All The King's Men.
But there is more than this.
Margaret Brenman-Gibson, Clifford Odets: American Playwright.
There was . . .
David Evanier, The Man Who Refused to Watch the Academy Awards.
. . . I now began to see . . .
J. Moussaieff Masson, Final Analysis.
. . . the chance to be an actor in a drama of historical importance.
K.R. Eissler, Crusaders.
I found myself, after years of comparatively unproductive labor, on the threshold of what might prove to be a magnificent discovery.
Howard Carter and A.C. Mace, The Tomb of Tut-Ankh-Amen.
It is hard for me to convey the excitement . . .
J. Moussaieff Masson, Final Analysis.
. . . the fever of suspense, the almost overmastering impulse, born of curiosity, to break down seals and lift the lids of boxes, the thought—pure joy to the investigator—that you are about to add a page to history, the strained expectancy—why not confess it?—of the treasure-seeker.
Howard Carter and A.C. Mace, The Tomb of Tut-Ankh-Amen.
______________________________
In 1966 Helen Tartakoff introduced a nosological entity, the “Nobel Prize complex,” to apply to people who have in common many of the following characteristics: They are preoccupied with the achievement of diverse ambitious goals, which may include, for example, the wish to become President, to attain great wealth, to be a social leader, or to win an Oscar. Many are intellectually or artistically gifted and possess charismatic qualities that others admire. They are often firstborn and frequently only children. They adopt an all-or-nothing attitude toward their aspirations. They are hypersensitive to disappointments in life, particularly to lack of recognition, and may become depressed and develop psychosomatic symptoms at the time of real or fantasized disappointment. They unconsciously look upon psycho-therapeutic treatment as a magical cure and expect to be rewarded during their treatment with the same applause they received from their mothers.
http://www.healthgrades.com/physician/dr-michael-sperber-xkbjf/
Robert Penn Warren, All The King's Men.
But there is more than this.
Margaret Brenman-Gibson, Clifford Odets: American Playwright.
There was . . .
David Evanier, The Man Who Refused to Watch the Academy Awards.
. . . I now began to see . . .
J. Moussaieff Masson, Final Analysis.
. . . the chance to be an actor in a drama of historical importance.
K.R. Eissler, Crusaders.
I found myself, after years of comparatively unproductive labor, on the threshold of what might prove to be a magnificent discovery.
Howard Carter and A.C. Mace, The Tomb of Tut-Ankh-Amen.
It is hard for me to convey the excitement . . .
J. Moussaieff Masson, Final Analysis.
. . . the fever of suspense, the almost overmastering impulse, born of curiosity, to break down seals and lift the lids of boxes, the thought—pure joy to the investigator—that you are about to add a page to history, the strained expectancy—why not confess it?—of the treasure-seeker.
Howard Carter and A.C. Mace, The Tomb of Tut-Ankh-Amen.
______________________________
In 1966 Helen Tartakoff introduced a nosological entity, the “Nobel Prize complex,” to apply to people who have in common many of the following characteristics: They are preoccupied with the achievement of diverse ambitious goals, which may include, for example, the wish to become President, to attain great wealth, to be a social leader, or to win an Oscar. Many are intellectually or artistically gifted and possess charismatic qualities that others admire. They are often firstborn and frequently only children. They adopt an all-or-nothing attitude toward their aspirations. They are hypersensitive to disappointments in life, particularly to lack of recognition, and may become depressed and develop psychosomatic symptoms at the time of real or fantasized disappointment. They unconsciously look upon psycho-therapeutic treatment as a magical cure and expect to be rewarded during their treatment with the same applause they received from their mothers.
http://www.healthgrades.com/physician/dr-michael-sperber-xkbjf/
Senate Homeland Security Committee -- email message to Chairman Joseph Lieberman
Senator Joseph Lieberman
Chairman, Homeland Security Committee
Dear Senator Lieberman:
There is circumstantial evidence that I am engaged in committing a felony against the Government of the United States. There is circumstantial evidence that I am in the process of defrauding the federal government of up to a half million dollars. On November 18, 2010, I was interviewed at my residence by U.S. Secret Service Special Agent xxxxx xxxxxxx (Washington Field Office). I told S.A. xxxxxxx, "I like to commit felonies." He chuckled. He took it as a joke. He refused to refer the matter to the FBI. I do not believe that the Secret Service should be in the business of exonerating felonies or impairing possible future felony prosecutions.
The following is an email message that I sent to the U.S. Department of Justice on September 2, 2011.
http://dailstrug.blogspot.com/2011/09/criminal-fraud-certification-per-18-usc.html
Chairman, Homeland Security Committee
Dear Senator Lieberman:
There is circumstantial evidence that I am engaged in committing a felony against the Government of the United States. There is circumstantial evidence that I am in the process of defrauding the federal government of up to a half million dollars. On November 18, 2010, I was interviewed at my residence by U.S. Secret Service Special Agent xxxxx xxxxxxx (Washington Field Office). I told S.A. xxxxxxx, "I like to commit felonies." He chuckled. He took it as a joke. He refused to refer the matter to the FBI. I do not believe that the Secret Service should be in the business of exonerating felonies or impairing possible future felony prosecutions.
The following is an email message that I sent to the U.S. Department of Justice on September 2, 2011.
http://dailstrug.blogspot.com/2011/09/criminal-fraud-certification-per-18-usc.html
Annointing of The High Priest
How was the Kohen Gadol - Jewish High Priest - inaugurated in biblical times?
Dear Rabbi Enkin,
My name is Daniel and I have a question about the office of High Priest of the Jewish temple of biblical days. I recently heard that there was a special ceremony involving baptism and recitation when the office of High Priest was passed on. Can you tell me anything about this ceremony and describe how successors to the office were chosen? Thank you for your time.
Daniel
Answer: Dear Daniel,
The inauguration/anointing of the new Kohen Gadol (High Priest) was originally performed by him being anointed with a special oil for this purpose.
From the period of King Josiah and onwards - the oil was no longer used, and the High Priest was confirmed by him merely donning the clothes of his office.
For more on this, be sure to look up the Torah portion Acharei Mot with commentaries. (Leviticus 16-20)
The method of selecting the Kohen Gadol varied throughout history, ranging from legitimate succession to buying and bribing one's way to the job.
Rabbi Ari Enkin
Ramat Beit Shemesh, Israel
The ritual of anointing is a prominent feature in Christian legend as it applies to their Messiah. Wagner borrowed this idea in his opera Parsifal, where the penitent Kundry anoints Parsial's feet in the third act of the opera.
The anointing ceremony is at 9:01 on the video.
Dear Rabbi Enkin,
My name is Daniel and I have a question about the office of High Priest of the Jewish temple of biblical days. I recently heard that there was a special ceremony involving baptism and recitation when the office of High Priest was passed on. Can you tell me anything about this ceremony and describe how successors to the office were chosen? Thank you for your time.
Daniel
Answer: Dear Daniel,
The inauguration/anointing of the new Kohen Gadol (High Priest) was originally performed by him being anointed with a special oil for this purpose.
From the period of King Josiah and onwards - the oil was no longer used, and the High Priest was confirmed by him merely donning the clothes of his office.
For more on this, be sure to look up the Torah portion Acharei Mot with commentaries. (Leviticus 16-20)
The method of selecting the Kohen Gadol varied throughout history, ranging from legitimate succession to buying and bribing one's way to the job.
Rabbi Ari Enkin
Ramat Beit Shemesh, Israel
The ritual of anointing is a prominent feature in Christian legend as it applies to their Messiah. Wagner borrowed this idea in his opera Parsifal, where the penitent Kundry anoints Parsial's feet in the third act of the opera.
The anointing ceremony is at 9:01 on the video.
Atlantic City Afternoon
My sister's condo in Atlantic City has a rule: beach-going residents must wash their feet before they enter the building through the back-door beach entrance.
Friday, September 02, 2011
Significant Moments: Wagner's Parsifal, Seduction-By-Proxy, and Job Harassment
In the second act of Wagner's opera Parsifal the sorcerer Klingsor attempts to use the seductress Kundry to seduce the naive character Parsifal. In psychosexual terms, perhaps, the attempted seduction might be termed a "seduction-by-proxy" in which Klingsor discharges via Kundry his own unconscious homosexual feelings for Parsifal.
_____________________
The second act shows . . .
John Tasker Howard, The World's Great Operas.
. . . the cloud-piercing towers of . . .
Kurt Loder, At Ground Zero: My Neighborhood Vanished (Rolling Stone 9.11.01).
Klingsor’s magic castle.—
Richard Wagner, Parsifal.
The hour’s now come; the very minute bids . . .
William Shakespeare, The Tempest.
. . . Klingsor . . .
Hermann Hesse, Klingsor’s Last Summer.
. . . work . . .
William Shakespeare, The Tempest.. . . his magic arts to rouse Kundry from her deep sleep . . .
John Tasker Howard, The World's Great Operas.
. . . and then order her . . .
Gareth Patterson, “The Killing Fields.”
. . . to seduce Parsifal. Kundry protests, but Klingsor mocks her for her remorse and insists that she overcome the power of this youth whom he recognizes as the "Guileless Fool" who may break his power. The castle sinks in the darkness and . . .
John Tasker Howard, The World's Great Operas.
. . . lo and behold, . . .
Andrew Levin, Mysteries of the Cligeva: And Other Stunners From The Upstart Science of Female Desire.
. . . the scene changes to a luxuriant garden.
John Tasker Howard, The World's Great Operas.
Here, vivid blooms give way to muted greens and grays and beiges, in spiky, droopy and phantasmagoric shapes. Towering needle-leafed tree ferns shade the curving gravel walks with greenish gloom.
Edwin Kiester, Jr., 'Not your average backyard gardener'.
Perhaps the mysteries of evolution and the riddles of life that so puzzle us are contained in the green of the earth, among the trees and the flowers . . .
Boris Pasternak, Dr. Zhivago.
Parsifal enters and is surrounded by enticing flower girls . . .
John Tasker Howard, The World's Great Operas.
. . . just like the Arabian Nights, . . .
Peter Hellman, Coming Up Harlem: A Revival of the Fabled New York Community Inspires Pride and Controversy quoting Duke Ellington.
. . . all running to and fro for flowers, and laughingly flinging them . . .
H.G. Wells, The Time Machine.
. . . upon him until he is . . .
Shaykh Abu ‘Ali Nabeel al-Awadhi, A Party in Paradise and a Party in Hell.
. . . almost smothered with blossom.
H.G. Wells, The Time Machine.
Their existence is as limited as that of women in a harem and they look like rare hothouse plants.
Julius Meier-Graefe, Auguste Renoir in Renoir: A Retrospective (Nicholas Wadley, ed.).
Kundry appears as a woman of bewitching beauty.
John Tasker Howard, The World's Great Operas.
Never forthcoming about her personal life, she was "both flamboyant and mysterious . . ."
Edwin Kiester, Jr., 'Not your average backyard gardener'.
At the time, she seemed . . .
Robert Coles, Anna Freud: The Dream of Psychoanalysis.
. . . to live in two different worlds, one in which sexuality hardly existed and one in which it was all too frighteningly present.
Joseph Fernando, The Exceptions: Structural and Dynamic Aspects.
She puts her arms around Parsifal and kisses his lips. For the first time Parsifal knows passion, but he also feels what seems to be the pain of Amfortas' wound. He realizes how Amfortas was tempted to sin in these same gardens. Pushing Kundry aside he denounces her.
John Tasker Howard, The World's Great Operas.
I saw her look at me with a mixture of admiration and distaste. She was not accustomed to being spoken to in this manner. I knew that. She was looking at me and possibly wondering who I was, what I really wanted, what I intended to do . . .
J. Moussaieff Masson, Final Analysis.
The withholding of any explanation as to his background, his motivations, or his intentions, coupled with the lucidity and immediacy of . . .
Alwyn Berland, Light in August: A Study in Black and White.
. . . his denunciation . . .
Mark Twain, The Mysterious Stranger.
. . . is powerful, . . .
Alwyn Berland, Light in August: A Study in Black and White.
. . . explosive . . .
Joseph Conrad, The Secret Agent.
. . . even terrifying.
Alwyn Berland, Light in August: A Study in Black and White.
I realized that if I followed my desires, I would be eternally damned.
David E. Lipman, Me’Am Loez on VaYashev: Joseph and His Brothers.
Like some of her plants, Madame—she never answered to any other name—could be quite prickly.
Edwin Kiester, Jr., ‘Not your average backyard gardener.’
Kundry calls to Klingsor. The magician hurls the Sacred Spear at Parsifal. Instead of hitting Parsifal, the Sacred Spear hangs in mid-air over his head. Parsifal grasps it and makes the sign of the cross. Kundry falls unconscious and the castle sinks in ruins.
John Tasker Howard, The World's Great Operas.
Without doubt, what is musically the most precious and artful moment comes with . . .
Thomas Mann, Doctor Faustus.
. . . the whole tower . . .
Richard Wagner, Parsifal.
. . . the castle and the garden. . .
Nipponia, Okayama Castle.
. . . vanishing suddenly . . .
Tim Friend, Maya Lived as Urban Farmers.
. . . astonishingly, impossibly—gone.
Kurt Loder, At Ground Zero: My Neighborhood Vanished (Rolling Stone 9.11.01).
___________________________
The following incident occurred at my last place of employment, the law firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld. Perhaps the actions of legal assistant coordinator J.D. Neary might be viewed as a symbolic attempted seduction-by-proxy. The following text is from the record on appeal in Freedman v. D.C. Dept. Human Rights, D.C.C.A. no. 96-CV-961 (Sept. 1, 1998).
_____________________
The second act shows . . .
John Tasker Howard, The World's Great Operas.
. . . the cloud-piercing towers of . . .
Kurt Loder, At Ground Zero: My Neighborhood Vanished (Rolling Stone 9.11.01).
Klingsor’s magic castle.—
Richard Wagner, Parsifal.
The hour’s now come; the very minute bids . . .
William Shakespeare, The Tempest.
. . . Klingsor . . .
Hermann Hesse, Klingsor’s Last Summer.
. . . work . . .
William Shakespeare, The Tempest.. . . his magic arts to rouse Kundry from her deep sleep . . .
John Tasker Howard, The World's Great Operas.
. . . and then order her . . .
Gareth Patterson, “The Killing Fields.”
. . . to seduce Parsifal. Kundry protests, but Klingsor mocks her for her remorse and insists that she overcome the power of this youth whom he recognizes as the "Guileless Fool" who may break his power. The castle sinks in the darkness and . . .
John Tasker Howard, The World's Great Operas.
. . . lo and behold, . . .
Andrew Levin, Mysteries of the Cligeva: And Other Stunners From The Upstart Science of Female Desire.
. . . the scene changes to a luxuriant garden.
John Tasker Howard, The World's Great Operas.
Here, vivid blooms give way to muted greens and grays and beiges, in spiky, droopy and phantasmagoric shapes. Towering needle-leafed tree ferns shade the curving gravel walks with greenish gloom.
Edwin Kiester, Jr., 'Not your average backyard gardener'.
Perhaps the mysteries of evolution and the riddles of life that so puzzle us are contained in the green of the earth, among the trees and the flowers . . .
Boris Pasternak, Dr. Zhivago.
Parsifal enters and is surrounded by enticing flower girls . . .
John Tasker Howard, The World's Great Operas.
. . . just like the Arabian Nights, . . .
Peter Hellman, Coming Up Harlem: A Revival of the Fabled New York Community Inspires Pride and Controversy quoting Duke Ellington.
. . . all running to and fro for flowers, and laughingly flinging them . . .
H.G. Wells, The Time Machine.
. . . upon him until he is . . .
Shaykh Abu ‘Ali Nabeel al-Awadhi, A Party in Paradise and a Party in Hell.
. . . almost smothered with blossom.
H.G. Wells, The Time Machine.
Their existence is as limited as that of women in a harem and they look like rare hothouse plants.
Julius Meier-Graefe, Auguste Renoir in Renoir: A Retrospective (Nicholas Wadley, ed.).
Kundry appears as a woman of bewitching beauty.
John Tasker Howard, The World's Great Operas.
Never forthcoming about her personal life, she was "both flamboyant and mysterious . . ."
Edwin Kiester, Jr., 'Not your average backyard gardener'.
At the time, she seemed . . .
Robert Coles, Anna Freud: The Dream of Psychoanalysis.
. . . to live in two different worlds, one in which sexuality hardly existed and one in which it was all too frighteningly present.
Joseph Fernando, The Exceptions: Structural and Dynamic Aspects.
She puts her arms around Parsifal and kisses his lips. For the first time Parsifal knows passion, but he also feels what seems to be the pain of Amfortas' wound. He realizes how Amfortas was tempted to sin in these same gardens. Pushing Kundry aside he denounces her.
John Tasker Howard, The World's Great Operas.
I saw her look at me with a mixture of admiration and distaste. She was not accustomed to being spoken to in this manner. I knew that. She was looking at me and possibly wondering who I was, what I really wanted, what I intended to do . . .
J. Moussaieff Masson, Final Analysis.
The withholding of any explanation as to his background, his motivations, or his intentions, coupled with the lucidity and immediacy of . . .
Alwyn Berland, Light in August: A Study in Black and White.
. . . his denunciation . . .
Mark Twain, The Mysterious Stranger.
. . . is powerful, . . .
Alwyn Berland, Light in August: A Study in Black and White.
. . . explosive . . .
Joseph Conrad, The Secret Agent.
. . . even terrifying.
Alwyn Berland, Light in August: A Study in Black and White.
I realized that if I followed my desires, I would be eternally damned.
David E. Lipman, Me’Am Loez on VaYashev: Joseph and His Brothers.
Like some of her plants, Madame—she never answered to any other name—could be quite prickly.
Edwin Kiester, Jr., ‘Not your average backyard gardener.’
Kundry calls to Klingsor. The magician hurls the Sacred Spear at Parsifal. Instead of hitting Parsifal, the Sacred Spear hangs in mid-air over his head. Parsifal grasps it and makes the sign of the cross. Kundry falls unconscious and the castle sinks in ruins.
John Tasker Howard, The World's Great Operas.
Without doubt, what is musically the most precious and artful moment comes with . . .
Thomas Mann, Doctor Faustus.
. . . the whole tower . . .
Richard Wagner, Parsifal.
. . . the castle and the garden. . .
Nipponia, Okayama Castle.
. . . vanishing suddenly . . .
Tim Friend, Maya Lived as Urban Farmers.
. . . astonishingly, impossibly—gone.
Kurt Loder, At Ground Zero: My Neighborhood Vanished (Rolling Stone 9.11.01).
___________________________
The following incident occurred at my last place of employment, the law firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld. Perhaps the actions of legal assistant coordinator J.D. Neary might be viewed as a symbolic attempted seduction-by-proxy. The following text is from the record on appeal in Freedman v. D.C. Dept. Human Rights, D.C.C.A. no. 96-CV-961 (Sept. 1, 1998).
13. During the summer of 1988 I used to perform a certain task on Eastern for legal assistant Phil Feigen, who shared office space with legal assistant Jesse Raben. One day Phil telephoned, requesting that I stop down to his office to pick up some work. When I arrived, Jesse Raben was very friendly. It was, in fact, the first time that Jesse was friendly with me since he had started working at the firm on June 13, 1988. As Jesse and I engaged in some banter, J.D. Neary stopped at the doorway of the office. Not saying a word, J.D. simply nodded at Jesse, as though cuing Jesse to a prearranged plan. I took a stack of documents to a nearby Xerox room to make copies for the task I was doing for Phil. Moments later, Jesse stopped by the Xerox room, and continued his banter in a lively manner.
The next day, I stopped at Phil’s and Jesse’s office to perform more of the same task I had been doing the previous day. But this day, Jesse seemed more his normal self.
[This incident may be evidence of legal assistant coordinator J.D. Neary "staging" the behavior of paralegals in the manner of a "puppet master."]
Criminal Fraud Certification per 18 U.S.C. § 4
TO THE CLERK OF THE COURT
U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
There is circumstantial evidence that I am engaged in the commission of a felony against the Government of the United States and that an act in furtherance of that felony occurred on September 2, 2011. There is circumstantial evidence that I am in the process of defrauding the U.S. Government of up to a half million dollars. I believe the following email message I sent to the U.S. Department of Justice on September 2, 2011 discharges my duty under 18 U.S.C. § 4 to report the commission of a felony. I request that this message be forwarded to Chief Judge Royce Lamberth per the provisions of 18 U.S.C. § 4.
Gary Freedman
__________________________
Criminal Division
U.S. Department of Justice
Dear Sir:
The following is my monthly criminal fraud certification per 18 U.S.C. § 4. I am concerned that the Department of Justice will not investigate this matter because a full investigation might embarrass the law partners of Vernon R. Jordan, Jr., who happens to be a close personal friend of Attorney General Holder. Further, both the head of the criminal division, Lanny Breuer, and the Attorney General, Eric Holder, are both former law partners of xxxxxxx x xxxxxxx, Esq. at the law firm of Covington and Burling. Mr. xxxxxxx is married to U.S. District Court Judge xxxxx xxxxx xxxxxxx. Also, Mr. Holder was a colleague of Judge xxxxxxx's when both served as judges on the D.C. Superior Court. I believe that both Eric Holder and Judge xxxxxxx are proteges of Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District of Columbia's representative in Congress. As a concerned citizen I am specifically concerned about the possibility of an obstruction of justice at the
highest levels of the U.S. Department of Justice.
I believe the following statement discharges my duty per 18 U.S.C. § 4 (misprision of felony) to report the commission of a felony perpetrated against the Government of the United States.
I certify under penalty of criminal prosecution for making false statements that the following declaration is true and correct to the best of my knowledge:
1. The U.S. Department of the Treasury made a wire transfer of $1288 to my bank account on September 2, 2011 per my claim of disability granted by the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA): disability claim no.
xxx xx xxxx.
2. The SSA determined that I became disabled and not suitable for employment by reason of severe mental illness that may be associated with a risk of violent behavior, effective October 29, 1991. As part of my initial claim for benefits in 1993 I provided to SSA evidence that my direct supervisor (Christine Robertson), who reported directly to a senior management attorney (R. Bruce McLean, Esq.) at the law firm where I was employed, advised her employees after my termination that she feared I might return to the firm to kill her and arranged to have the firm take protective measures to guard against a possible homicidal assault (agency record at 41).
http://dailstrug.blogspot.com/2010/06/social-security-notice-of-award-1993.html
3. The SSA determined that I became disabled effective October 29, 1991 based on the sworn declaration of Laurence J. Hoffman, Esq. and Dennis M. Race, Esq. of the law firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld,
where I was employed until I was diagnosed with mental illness that might be associated with a risk of violence. Akin Gump's mental status determination, according to the sworn declaration, was made in
consultation with a practicing psychiatrist (Gertrude R. Ticho, M.D.). Dr. Ticho (deceased) denied in a letter written on her letterhead in July 1993 and in a taped telephone conversation I had with her in October 1993 that she ever had any communications of the kind alleged by Akin Gump.
http://dailstrug.blogspot.com/2009/12/social-security-administration-initial.html
4. Comprehensive psychological testing performed by The George Washington University Medical Center Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (Washington, DC) in May 1994 and in March 1996
failed to disclose that I suffer from any mental illness of any kind and, further, failed to disclose the presence of any psychotic thought processes. In fact, I achieved a perfect score on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test in March 1996 -- a test of psychotic thinking -- which is unusual even in normal test subjects. I was not on any medication at the time of testing in 1994 or 1996.
http://dailstrug.blogspot.com/2011/08/gw-psych-testing-concern-about-fraud.html
5. The District of Columbia Court of Appeals affirmed (1998) a prior agency determination (1993) that found that Akin Gump's sworn declaration was factual and that the employer's mental status determination was genuine and credible, see Freedman v. D.C. Department of Human Rights, D.C.C.A. no. 96-CV-961 (Sept. 1, 1998), relying in part on the Brief on Appeal filed with the Court on July 25, 1997 by the D.C. Corporation Counsel.
http://dailstrug.blogspot.com/2011/03/dc-reply-brief-freedman-v-dc-dept-human.html
6. On January 15, 2010 I was interviewed by Deputy Marshal xxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx of the U.S. Marshals Service (Washington, DC) who had concerns, based on my prior statements and conduct, that I might pose a
continuing and indefinite risk of harm to U.S. District Court Judge xxxxx xxxxx xxxxxxx and the judge's immediate family. It was Judge xxxxxxx who in 1996 affirmed a prior agency determination that failed
to find that Akin Gump's published statements that I might have been homicidal and extremely dangerous, see paragraph 2 above (agency record at 41), as of late October 1991 constituted acts of defamation
motivated by a discriminatory animus. Judge xxxxxxx relied in part on inapposite case law to exonerate the apparent unlawful conduct of the law partners of Vernon Jordan.
http://dailstrug.blogspot.com/2011/04/superior-court-decision-freedman-v-dc.html
The USMS imposed continuing and indefinite protective measures limiting my access to a public facility and to a house of worship. The protective measures imposed by the USMS are inconsistent with my employability under the Americans With Disabilities Act, which permits an employer to refuse to employ a disabled person who poses a risk of harm at a place of employment.
http://dailstrug.blogspot.com/2010/12/fourth-amendment-touch-my-junk-please.html
7. I believe that to the extent that SSA claim no. xxx xx xxxx is based on the sworn declaration of Laurence J. Hoffman, Esq. and Dennis M. Race, Esq. that I became unemployable effective October 29, 1991, that I suffered from severe mental illness and posed a risk of violence as of said date, the claim is based on criminal fraud, a felony under federal law.
http://dailstrug.blogspot.com/2011/06/akin-gump-what-was-dc-corporation.html
8. I believe that to the extent that SSA claim no. xxx xx xxxx is based on the aforementioned Brief on Appeal filed by the D.C. Corporation Counsel with the D.C. Court of Appeals, the claim is based on criminal
fraud, a felony under federal law. I believe that the Brief on Appeal contains several material omissions of fact and law calculated to mislead the Court, misrepresents the agency record and findings, and constitutes a willful fraud by the D.C. Corporation Counsel on the D.C. Court of Appeals.
9. To the extent that Judge xxxxxxx exonerated the unethical conduct of a psychiatrist in providing an ex parte professional opinion about my mental health and stability to my former employer in violation of the American Psychiatric Association's Goldwater Rule, which prohibits such communications, Judge xxxxxxx exceeded her judicial power. A professional opinion offered by a psychiatrist about the mental health and stability of an individual whom she has not seen in private consultation does not meet the criteria established to ensure the
reliability of an expert psychiatric opinion and has no more clinical value than a lay opinion and is therefore defamatory. Further, Judge xxxxxxx's action in exonerating the unethical conduct of a licensed
professional -- conduct that was, in fact, illegal per D.C. Code §2-3305.14(26) as of the filing of the complaint in Freedman v. D.C. Dept. Human Rights -- at the behest of her husband's law partner
(attorney for the defendant, Akin Gump), carries the appearance of impropriety.
10. I believe that to the extent that SSA claim no. xxx xx xxxx is supported by the action of the USMS in concluding that I pose a continuing and indefinite risk of harm to a federal judge (and that judge's immediate family), and in imposing continuing and indefinite restrictions on my access to a public facility and to a house of
worship, the claim is based on criminal fraud, a felony under federal law. I believe that the USMS did not form a good faith belief that I pose a risk of harm nor was the interview that Deputy Marshal xxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx conducted at my residence on January 15, 2010, or my prior conduct or statements that occasioned the interview, a sufficient basis to conclude that I pose a risk of harm. Further, I believe that the
USMS interview was the product of a criminal conspiracy between the USMS and other(s) to intimidate me in the free exercise of my constitutionally-protected right to publish facts concerning the likely fraudulent nature of my SSA disability claim and the likely criminal conduct of attorney managers of the law firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld. 18 U.S.C. Section 241 (Conspiracy against Rights).
11. USMS Associate General Counsel xxx xxxxx (202-xxx xxxx) advised me by email on June 7, 2011 that a letter I sent to Judge xxxxxxx dated August 14, 2000 -- 10 years ago -- triggered the USMS concerns that I
might pose a security risk to Judge xxxxxxx and prompted the USMS interview on January 15, 2010. That proposition is so ludicrous that it raises a substantial question about whether the stated reason for the
USMS interview was simply pretext for an attempt by the USMS to try to intimidate me: a possible felony per 18 U.S.C. Section 241 (Conspiracy against Rights.)
http://dailstrug.blogspot.com/2010/05/psychologist-nancy-shaffer-phd-dc-dept_5489.html
Gary Freedman
3801 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Apartment 136
Washington, DC 20008
U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
There is circumstantial evidence that I am engaged in the commission of a felony against the Government of the United States and that an act in furtherance of that felony occurred on September 2, 2011. There is circumstantial evidence that I am in the process of defrauding the U.S. Government of up to a half million dollars. I believe the following email message I sent to the U.S. Department of Justice on September 2, 2011 discharges my duty under 18 U.S.C. § 4 to report the commission of a felony. I request that this message be forwarded to Chief Judge Royce Lamberth per the provisions of 18 U.S.C. § 4.
Gary Freedman
__________________________
Criminal Division
U.S. Department of Justice
Dear Sir:
The following is my monthly criminal fraud certification per 18 U.S.C. § 4. I am concerned that the Department of Justice will not investigate this matter because a full investigation might embarrass the law partners of Vernon R. Jordan, Jr., who happens to be a close personal friend of Attorney General Holder. Further, both the head of the criminal division, Lanny Breuer, and the Attorney General, Eric Holder, are both former law partners of xxxxxxx x xxxxxxx, Esq. at the law firm of Covington and Burling. Mr. xxxxxxx is married to U.S. District Court Judge xxxxx xxxxx xxxxxxx. Also, Mr. Holder was a colleague of Judge xxxxxxx's when both served as judges on the D.C. Superior Court. I believe that both Eric Holder and Judge xxxxxxx are proteges of Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District of Columbia's representative in Congress. As a concerned citizen I am specifically concerned about the possibility of an obstruction of justice at the
highest levels of the U.S. Department of Justice.
I believe the following statement discharges my duty per 18 U.S.C. § 4 (misprision of felony) to report the commission of a felony perpetrated against the Government of the United States.
I certify under penalty of criminal prosecution for making false statements that the following declaration is true and correct to the best of my knowledge:
1. The U.S. Department of the Treasury made a wire transfer of $1288 to my bank account on September 2, 2011 per my claim of disability granted by the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA): disability claim no.
xxx xx xxxx.
2. The SSA determined that I became disabled and not suitable for employment by reason of severe mental illness that may be associated with a risk of violent behavior, effective October 29, 1991. As part of my initial claim for benefits in 1993 I provided to SSA evidence that my direct supervisor (Christine Robertson), who reported directly to a senior management attorney (R. Bruce McLean, Esq.) at the law firm where I was employed, advised her employees after my termination that she feared I might return to the firm to kill her and arranged to have the firm take protective measures to guard against a possible homicidal assault (agency record at 41).
http://dailstrug.blogspot.com/2010/06/social-security-notice-of-award-1993.html
3. The SSA determined that I became disabled effective October 29, 1991 based on the sworn declaration of Laurence J. Hoffman, Esq. and Dennis M. Race, Esq. of the law firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld,
where I was employed until I was diagnosed with mental illness that might be associated with a risk of violence. Akin Gump's mental status determination, according to the sworn declaration, was made in
consultation with a practicing psychiatrist (Gertrude R. Ticho, M.D.). Dr. Ticho (deceased) denied in a letter written on her letterhead in July 1993 and in a taped telephone conversation I had with her in October 1993 that she ever had any communications of the kind alleged by Akin Gump.
http://dailstrug.blogspot.com/2009/12/social-security-administration-initial.html
4. Comprehensive psychological testing performed by The George Washington University Medical Center Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (Washington, DC) in May 1994 and in March 1996
failed to disclose that I suffer from any mental illness of any kind and, further, failed to disclose the presence of any psychotic thought processes. In fact, I achieved a perfect score on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test in March 1996 -- a test of psychotic thinking -- which is unusual even in normal test subjects. I was not on any medication at the time of testing in 1994 or 1996.
http://dailstrug.blogspot.com/2011/08/gw-psych-testing-concern-about-fraud.html
5. The District of Columbia Court of Appeals affirmed (1998) a prior agency determination (1993) that found that Akin Gump's sworn declaration was factual and that the employer's mental status determination was genuine and credible, see Freedman v. D.C. Department of Human Rights, D.C.C.A. no. 96-CV-961 (Sept. 1, 1998), relying in part on the Brief on Appeal filed with the Court on July 25, 1997 by the D.C. Corporation Counsel.
http://dailstrug.blogspot.com/2011/03/dc-reply-brief-freedman-v-dc-dept-human.html
6. On January 15, 2010 I was interviewed by Deputy Marshal xxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx of the U.S. Marshals Service (Washington, DC) who had concerns, based on my prior statements and conduct, that I might pose a
continuing and indefinite risk of harm to U.S. District Court Judge xxxxx xxxxx xxxxxxx and the judge's immediate family. It was Judge xxxxxxx who in 1996 affirmed a prior agency determination that failed
to find that Akin Gump's published statements that I might have been homicidal and extremely dangerous, see paragraph 2 above (agency record at 41), as of late October 1991 constituted acts of defamation
motivated by a discriminatory animus. Judge xxxxxxx relied in part on inapposite case law to exonerate the apparent unlawful conduct of the law partners of Vernon Jordan.
http://dailstrug.blogspot.com/2011/04/superior-court-decision-freedman-v-dc.html
The USMS imposed continuing and indefinite protective measures limiting my access to a public facility and to a house of worship. The protective measures imposed by the USMS are inconsistent with my employability under the Americans With Disabilities Act, which permits an employer to refuse to employ a disabled person who poses a risk of harm at a place of employment.
http://dailstrug.blogspot.com/2010/12/fourth-amendment-touch-my-junk-please.html
7. I believe that to the extent that SSA claim no. xxx xx xxxx is based on the sworn declaration of Laurence J. Hoffman, Esq. and Dennis M. Race, Esq. that I became unemployable effective October 29, 1991, that I suffered from severe mental illness and posed a risk of violence as of said date, the claim is based on criminal fraud, a felony under federal law.
http://dailstrug.blogspot.com/2011/06/akin-gump-what-was-dc-corporation.html
8. I believe that to the extent that SSA claim no. xxx xx xxxx is based on the aforementioned Brief on Appeal filed by the D.C. Corporation Counsel with the D.C. Court of Appeals, the claim is based on criminal
fraud, a felony under federal law. I believe that the Brief on Appeal contains several material omissions of fact and law calculated to mislead the Court, misrepresents the agency record and findings, and constitutes a willful fraud by the D.C. Corporation Counsel on the D.C. Court of Appeals.
9. To the extent that Judge xxxxxxx exonerated the unethical conduct of a psychiatrist in providing an ex parte professional opinion about my mental health and stability to my former employer in violation of the American Psychiatric Association's Goldwater Rule, which prohibits such communications, Judge xxxxxxx exceeded her judicial power. A professional opinion offered by a psychiatrist about the mental health and stability of an individual whom she has not seen in private consultation does not meet the criteria established to ensure the
reliability of an expert psychiatric opinion and has no more clinical value than a lay opinion and is therefore defamatory. Further, Judge xxxxxxx's action in exonerating the unethical conduct of a licensed
professional -- conduct that was, in fact, illegal per D.C. Code §2-3305.14(26) as of the filing of the complaint in Freedman v. D.C. Dept. Human Rights -- at the behest of her husband's law partner
(attorney for the defendant, Akin Gump), carries the appearance of impropriety.
10. I believe that to the extent that SSA claim no. xxx xx xxxx is supported by the action of the USMS in concluding that I pose a continuing and indefinite risk of harm to a federal judge (and that judge's immediate family), and in imposing continuing and indefinite restrictions on my access to a public facility and to a house of
worship, the claim is based on criminal fraud, a felony under federal law. I believe that the USMS did not form a good faith belief that I pose a risk of harm nor was the interview that Deputy Marshal xxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx conducted at my residence on January 15, 2010, or my prior conduct or statements that occasioned the interview, a sufficient basis to conclude that I pose a risk of harm. Further, I believe that the
USMS interview was the product of a criminal conspiracy between the USMS and other(s) to intimidate me in the free exercise of my constitutionally-protected right to publish facts concerning the likely fraudulent nature of my SSA disability claim and the likely criminal conduct of attorney managers of the law firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld. 18 U.S.C. Section 241 (Conspiracy against Rights).
11. USMS Associate General Counsel xxx xxxxx (202-xxx xxxx) advised me by email on June 7, 2011 that a letter I sent to Judge xxxxxxx dated August 14, 2000 -- 10 years ago -- triggered the USMS concerns that I
might pose a security risk to Judge xxxxxxx and prompted the USMS interview on January 15, 2010. That proposition is so ludicrous that it raises a substantial question about whether the stated reason for the
USMS interview was simply pretext for an attempt by the USMS to try to intimidate me: a possible felony per 18 U.S.C. Section 241 (Conspiracy against Rights.)
http://dailstrug.blogspot.com/2010/05/psychologist-nancy-shaffer-phd-dc-dept_5489.html
Gary Freedman
3801 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Apartment 136
Washington, DC 20008
Thursday, September 01, 2011
What do Students Think of Bruce Lapenson?
Bruce Lapenson teaches at Temple University in Philadelphia. He is my cousin. You can read what some students think of Bruce Lapenson at Rate My Professor.
On Ellen Furman
I wrote the following about Ellen Furman, who teaches at Penn State Abington, on Rate My Professor.
I had her at the beginning of her career in spring 1972. She seemed intelligent & knowledgeable. One thing I remember: I thought I did well on the final, but she gave me a C. Not expecting that. She introduced me to some really great literature, and for that I am truly grateful -- like Faulkner, Fitzgerald, etc.
I had her at the beginning of her career in spring 1972. She seemed intelligent & knowledgeable. One thing I remember: I thought I did well on the final, but she gave me a C. Not expecting that. She introduced me to some really great literature, and for that I am truly grateful -- like Faulkner, Fitzgerald, etc.
On Going Viral
DENNIS RACE: Don't send him any letters, don't send him any emails. With him, everything goes viral. He turns everything to his advantage! He can figure you out faster than you can figure him out!
Creative Pleading
The D.C. Court of Appeals denied the following motion I filed in Freedman v. D.C. Department of Human Rights:
____________________
____________________
IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
COURT OF APPEALS
GARY FREEDMAN,
Appellant,
v.
D.C. DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN
RIGHTS,
Appellee.
No. 96-CV-961
APPELLANT'S RESPONSE TO APPELLEE'S
MOTION FOR AN EXTENSION OF TIME IN WHICH TO FILE BRIEF
Whereas Appellee's brief was required to be filed on or before June 11, 1997 (see D.C. App. R. 31(a)(2)), and was not filed, and whereas said filing date neither was extended by order of this Court per Appellee's uncontested motion for an extension of time in which to file brief, dated June 5, 1997, nor stayed by the filing of said motion of Appellee, Appellant respectfully requests that Appellee's outstanding motion for extension be denied and, further, that Appellee be precluded from filing a brief and being heard at oral argument (see D.C. App. R. 31(c)). See D.C. App. R. 27(a).
Respectfully submitted,
GARY FREEDMAN
Appellant pro se
3801 Connecticut Avenue, NW
#136
Washington, DC 20008-4530
Tel.: 362-7064 or 363-3800
Akin Gump: Ideas of Reference -- August 31, 1991
The following are handwritten notes that I prepared on Saturday, August 31, 1991 memorializing key parts of comments made by my supervisor, Chris Robertson, during a telephone conversation on the afternoon of Friday, August 30, 1991. I had left the notes on the bed in my apartment on Saturday, August 31, 1991. My supervisor had advised me that she was planning to create a computer program for use on the project to which I was assigned for the client Hoechst-Celanese (under billing partner David P. Callet, Esq.), and that she had chosen me as the “guinea pig” to test the new program.
I assumed that the phrase guinea pig related to Dr. Palombo who is, presumably, of Italian heritage.
It’s interesting that Akin Gump claimed it feared that my ideas of reference might be associated with a propensity for violence. Here we see that my ideas of reference were associated with humor.
My employment was terminated two months later, effective October 29, 1991. Akin Gump later claimed that I had been hired in 1988 to perform a document production task for the major client Eastern Airlines, and that after the firm lost Eastern as a client, my services were not needed. Yet, this document shows that even two months before I was fired I was considered a pivotal employee by my direct supervisor, Chris Robertson.
_______________________________
[first page]
Guinea pig - Italians - Dr. Palombo
Computer bugs - vermin - Jews (psychoanalytically - younger siblings) (Bugs Bunny?)
Data conversion - religious conversion
Scroll down and scan - organ ogling [But we had reason to believe he’s a homo - “I know what I saw]
“It will be better for you” - same words stated to Miriam Chilton on Fri. Feb. 26, 1988 on leaving Hogan
“fine tuning” - phrase used by Dr. Palombo
Affected tone of voice - professional and mature - accused of being unprofessional
Apparently communication with Dr. Palombo on 8/30.
Something about his saying my personality needing fine tuning.
--accusation of anti-Semitism
Bugs imagery suggests self image as sibling NOT parent/supervisor, however. Peculiar
Something about difficulties with supervisory personnel -- countered with my relationship with Miriam.
Racism - expression of extreme self-loathing - Say what you will about the Jews - but don’t dare insult the Italians!
[second page]
Question for Dr. Sack: Why is it that its always the good looking one who have all the integrity??
Craig
Malcolm Lassman
JR
Red Meat
Earl Segal
Laurence Sack
Doc Palombo
Overcompensating litigators “We TRY harder”
There used to be a thriving Yiddish theater -- Why did it die out? -- Jews don’t know how to act -- not a clue
Bob, dear, how many Communists did you catch today? -- Never mind, Helen, put some more knishes on the grill!
______________________
See the following blog post:
http://dailstrug.blogspot.com/2011/05/letter-to-dr-pitts-april-12-1993.html
"7F. On Friday afternoon August 30, 1991, while working in a private area on the 4th floor on the Hoechst-Celanese project, David Berkowitz stopped by. We chatted briefly. Our exchange was unusual. While I was working at Akin Gump, it was exceptionally rare for a legal assistant to stop by just to chat. The interaction with David Berkowitz that afternoon was welcome, but it struck me as peculiar. (David Berkowitz is Jewish cf. paragraph 2F). A brief time later I received a telephone call from my supervisor, Chris Robertson. She advised me that she was in the process of designing a computer program that would enable me to enter data directly onto the computer system. She stated that she had decided that I would be the “guinea pig” to test out the new program. She used other words and phrases such as “scroll down and scan,” fine tuning,” and “bugs,” etc."
See the following blog post:
http://dailstrug.blogspot.com/2010/03/social-security-document-submission_03.html
"During the weekend [following Friday August 30, 1991], I made some notes about the call, recording some of the highlights. The notes also included some half-witted witticisms. I accidentally left the notes on my bed during the weekend. I had the vague suspicion that Mal Eno (not Elaine Wranik) may have seen the notes in my apartment and reported their existence back to the firm. I believe that was on Monday September 2, 1991, at about lunch time, that I saw Dennis Race standing near Malcolm Lassman’s office where I had been working [temporarily on the fourth floor]. Despite the distance between us, Dennis Race smiled at me. I had the self-referential feeling that he was reacting to my notes about Chris Robertson’s call. I had the thought, 'He must know the score. He knows what’s going on.'"
I assumed that the phrase guinea pig related to Dr. Palombo who is, presumably, of Italian heritage.
It’s interesting that Akin Gump claimed it feared that my ideas of reference might be associated with a propensity for violence. Here we see that my ideas of reference were associated with humor.
My employment was terminated two months later, effective October 29, 1991. Akin Gump later claimed that I had been hired in 1988 to perform a document production task for the major client Eastern Airlines, and that after the firm lost Eastern as a client, my services were not needed. Yet, this document shows that even two months before I was fired I was considered a pivotal employee by my direct supervisor, Chris Robertson.
_______________________________
[first page]
Guinea pig - Italians - Dr. Palombo
Computer bugs - vermin - Jews (psychoanalytically - younger siblings) (Bugs Bunny?)
Data conversion - religious conversion
Scroll down and scan - organ ogling [But we had reason to believe he’s a homo - “I know what I saw]
“It will be better for you” - same words stated to Miriam Chilton on Fri. Feb. 26, 1988 on leaving Hogan
“fine tuning” - phrase used by Dr. Palombo
Affected tone of voice - professional and mature - accused of being unprofessional
Apparently communication with Dr. Palombo on 8/30.
Something about his saying my personality needing fine tuning.
--accusation of anti-Semitism
Bugs imagery suggests self image as sibling NOT parent/supervisor, however. Peculiar
Something about difficulties with supervisory personnel -- countered with my relationship with Miriam.
Racism - expression of extreme self-loathing - Say what you will about the Jews - but don’t dare insult the Italians!
[second page]
Question for Dr. Sack: Why is it that its always the good looking one who have all the integrity??
Craig
Malcolm Lassman
JR
Red Meat
Earl Segal
Laurence Sack
Doc Palombo
Overcompensating litigators “We TRY harder”
There used to be a thriving Yiddish theater -- Why did it die out? -- Jews don’t know how to act -- not a clue
Bob, dear, how many Communists did you catch today? -- Never mind, Helen, put some more knishes on the grill!
______________________
See the following blog post:
http://dailstrug.blogspot.com/2011/05/letter-to-dr-pitts-april-12-1993.html
"7F. On Friday afternoon August 30, 1991, while working in a private area on the 4th floor on the Hoechst-Celanese project, David Berkowitz stopped by. We chatted briefly. Our exchange was unusual. While I was working at Akin Gump, it was exceptionally rare for a legal assistant to stop by just to chat. The interaction with David Berkowitz that afternoon was welcome, but it struck me as peculiar. (David Berkowitz is Jewish cf. paragraph 2F). A brief time later I received a telephone call from my supervisor, Chris Robertson. She advised me that she was in the process of designing a computer program that would enable me to enter data directly onto the computer system. She stated that she had decided that I would be the “guinea pig” to test out the new program. She used other words and phrases such as “scroll down and scan,” fine tuning,” and “bugs,” etc."
See the following blog post:
http://dailstrug.blogspot.com/2010/03/social-security-document-submission_03.html
"During the weekend [following Friday August 30, 1991], I made some notes about the call, recording some of the highlights. The notes also included some half-witted witticisms. I accidentally left the notes on my bed during the weekend. I had the vague suspicion that Mal Eno (not Elaine Wranik) may have seen the notes in my apartment and reported their existence back to the firm. I believe that was on Monday September 2, 1991, at about lunch time, that I saw Dennis Race standing near Malcolm Lassman’s office where I had been working [temporarily on the fourth floor]. Despite the distance between us, Dennis Race smiled at me. I had the self-referential feeling that he was reacting to my notes about Chris Robertson’s call. I had the thought, 'He must know the score. He knows what’s going on.'"
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Public Corruption -- New York Nexus
To the Office of U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York:
The following is the text of an email message I sent to the New York Field Office of the FBI yesterday, August 30, 2011. Incidentally, the law firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld has an office in Manhattan. Akin Gump senior counsel (NY office) Randy Levine, Esq. is also a trustee of The George Washington University (Washington, DC). Assistant U.S. Attorney Darrell Valdez in the Washington, DC
Office of U.S. Attorney is familiar with this matter.
Gary Freedman
3801 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Apartment 136
Washington, DC 20008
202 362 7064
______________________
To the New York Field Office of the FBI:
I am writing to the NY Field Office of the FBI as a concerned citizen. I understand that the matter I am bringing to your attention falls outside the NY Field Office's jurisdiction. There is circumstantial evidence that I am committing a felony against the government of the United States. I have repeatedly brought this matter to the attention of the criminal division of the Justice Department and the Washington Field Office of the FBI. Both the DOJ and the FBI have brushed me off by saying this is a matter for the Social Security Administration.
http://dailstrug.blogspot.com/2011/08/criminal-division.html
I am concerned about public corruption at the highest levels of the Justice Department. Specifically, I am concerned that the Holder Justice Department will not investigate this matter because a full investigation might embarrass Attorney General Holder's close personal friend, Vernon Jordan. Further, both the head of the criminal division, Lanny Breuer, and the Attorney General, Eric Holder, are both former law partners of xxxxxxx x xxxxxxx, Esq. at the law firm of Covington and Burling. Mr. xxxxxxx is married to federal judge xxxxx xxxxx xxxxxxx. Also, Mr. Holder was a colleague of Judge xxxxxxx's when both served as judges on the D.C. Superior Court. I believe that both Eric Holder and Judge xxxxxxx are proteges of Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District of Columbia's representative in Congress. As a concerned citizen I am specifically concerned about the possibility of an obstruction of justice at the highest levels of the U.S. Department of Justice.
http://dailstrug.blogspot.com/2011/08/draft-criminal-fraud-certification-per_29.html
Gary Freedman
3801 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Apartment 136
Washington, DC 20008
202 362 7064
The following is the text of an email message I sent to the New York Field Office of the FBI yesterday, August 30, 2011. Incidentally, the law firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld has an office in Manhattan. Akin Gump senior counsel (NY office) Randy Levine, Esq. is also a trustee of The George Washington University (Washington, DC). Assistant U.S. Attorney Darrell Valdez in the Washington, DC
Office of U.S. Attorney is familiar with this matter.
Gary Freedman
3801 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Apartment 136
Washington, DC 20008
202 362 7064
______________________
To the New York Field Office of the FBI:
I am writing to the NY Field Office of the FBI as a concerned citizen. I understand that the matter I am bringing to your attention falls outside the NY Field Office's jurisdiction. There is circumstantial evidence that I am committing a felony against the government of the United States. I have repeatedly brought this matter to the attention of the criminal division of the Justice Department and the Washington Field Office of the FBI. Both the DOJ and the FBI have brushed me off by saying this is a matter for the Social Security Administration.
http://dailstrug.blogspot.com/2011/08/criminal-division.html
I am concerned about public corruption at the highest levels of the Justice Department. Specifically, I am concerned that the Holder Justice Department will not investigate this matter because a full investigation might embarrass Attorney General Holder's close personal friend, Vernon Jordan. Further, both the head of the criminal division, Lanny Breuer, and the Attorney General, Eric Holder, are both former law partners of xxxxxxx x xxxxxxx, Esq. at the law firm of Covington and Burling. Mr. xxxxxxx is married to federal judge xxxxx xxxxx xxxxxxx. Also, Mr. Holder was a colleague of Judge xxxxxxx's when both served as judges on the D.C. Superior Court. I believe that both Eric Holder and Judge xxxxxxx are proteges of Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District of Columbia's representative in Congress. As a concerned citizen I am specifically concerned about the possibility of an obstruction of justice at the highest levels of the U.S. Department of Justice.
http://dailstrug.blogspot.com/2011/08/draft-criminal-fraud-certification-per_29.html
Gary Freedman
3801 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Apartment 136
Washington, DC 20008
202 362 7064
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