Grassroots Advocates Urge President-Elect Obama To Fight Root Causes Of Corruption
"Oddly enough, a Democrat will occupy the White House and Democrats will control Congress at a time in America's history when the financial difficulties of wealthy people arguably impact social policy more than the underlying need to protect human rights," says Andrew D. Jackson, a Juris Doctor with a Masters in History and Deputy Director of POPULAR, Inc. The nonprofit corporation is an acronym for "Power Over Poverty Under Laws of America Restored" and joined by various anti-corruption advocates, will debut with a press conference and live webcast at the National Press Club in Washington, D. C. on Thursday - November 20, 2008. According to Juris Doctor Christina Pak, vice-president of POPULAR's board of directors, "America certainly faces many complex, troublesome issues competing for solutions; but some are merely symptoms of more fundamental problems." Newspaper founder and medical whistleblower, Dr. Lokesh B. Vuyyuru, expounds, "if average Americans cannot help their country distinguish symptoms from root causes of systemic, systematic misconduct, it cannot be very serious about fighting corruption."
Washington, DC (PRWEB) November 18, 2008
"Oddly enough, a Democrat will occupy the White House and Democrats will control Congress at a time in America's history when the financial difficulties of wealthy people arguably impact social policy more than the underlying need to protect human rights," says Andrew D. Jackson, a Juris Doctor with a Masters in History and Deputy Director of POPULAR, Inc. The nonprofit corporation is an acronym for "Power Over Poverty Under Laws of America Restored". Its Executive Director, Zena Logal, reports that the group will debut with a press conference and live webcast at the National Press Club in Washington, D. C. on Thursday - November 20, 2008 from 1:30 p. m. to 3:00 p. m. The webcast is to air from 2:00 to 3:00 p. m. at http://www. visualwebcaster. com/POPULAR2008 (http://www. visualwebcaster. com/POPULAR2008).
Joining POPULAR will be representatives of the ACORN 8 seeking to reform the embattled "Association of Communities for Reform Now"; co-chair Dr. James Murtagh and other members of the International Association of Whistleblowers addressing POPULAR's referendum on the Health Care Quality Improvement Act as well as announcing their 2009 conference; attorney Tom Devine of the Government Accountability Project with a briefing on federal whistleblower rights; principals of the Dillard-Winecoff development project, derailed by what may be America's most egregious mortgage fraud; and Chief Deputy U. S. Marshal Matthew Fogg (INA) urging what will soon be an Obama Justice Department to fervently prosecute criminal violations of civil and constitutional rights.
"The assault on rights Dr. Andrew Jackson references unfolds in three distinct, but overlapping ways," explains POPULAR's president, attorney Dale Nathan. According to attorney Nathan, "There are the denials of rights or entitlements by various people with power." He continues, "There is ostracism of and retaliation against industry insiders seeking to expose that wrongdoing, often to no avail." Finally Nathan adds, "There are institutional break-downs, if not total collapses from such unchecked corruption, the burden of which all Americans bear in one way or another."
Mortgage fraud advocate, attorney Michael R. McCray, considered the three-fold assault on human rights that POPULAR's board president describes, in light of America's financial crisis. "I see it beginning with predatory lending, mortgage fraud, and fraudulent foreclosures; escalating to suppression of mortgage and securities industry as well as law enforcement whistleblowers; and culminating with our country's mortgage industry collapse, precipitating our financial crisis which reverberates internationally," says McCray.
Katherine Moore, a citizen advocate and president of POPULAR's Advisory Board, interjects that "the travesty attorney McCray recounts and other brewing catastrophes reflect a fundamental failure to protect Americans from systemic, systematic corruption."
Mrs. Zena Logal is an attorney before the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, as well as POPULAR's executive director. She submits that the "failed protection our advisory board president proposes is apparent when, as a rule, average Americans cannot effectively petition their government for relief."
"Certainly America faces many complex, troublesome issues competing for solutions; but some are merely symptoms of more fundamental problems," explains Juris Doctor Christina Pak, vice-president of POPULAR's board of directors.
"If average Americans cannot help their country distinguish symptoms from root causes of systemic, systematic misconduct, it cannot be very serious about fighting corruption," says newspaper founder and medical whistleblower, Dr. Lokesh B. Vuyyuru.
"After all," retorts attorney Tom Devine of the Government Accountability Project, "who knows corruption better than its victims and whistleblowers, the public's eyes and ears who see and hear about it from inside private industries and government agencies?"
"While encouraged by campaign promises of President-Elect Obama, we are sobered by projections that the 111th Congress will resist robust judicial oversight despite recent confirmation by Transparency International that judicial corruption unduly impacts poor and other disenfranchised people," says Juris Doctor Glenn Vickers Bey, a POPULAR founder.
"At stake are the fundamental rights of Americans to due process, equal protection, fair trials, quality health care, a solvent federal government, and the corresponding sanctity of life, liberty, and property," says Juris Doctor Mark Adams, POPULAR's board treasurer.
"And because whistleblowers have been largely stonewalled by American government when trying to protect human rights, POPULAR hopes to make their enforcement an international initiative," adds Dr. Adams.
Chief Deputy U. S. Marshal Matthew Fogg (INA) attributes America's real estate market collapse, corresponding financial crisis, government budgetary issues, failing medical system, and arguably capricious legal system to the country's inadequate protection of those who sought and seek to avert these malfunctions by exposing their root causes. "Generally no amount of credentials, evidence, or harmful effects get these whistleblowers taken seriously by our Justice Department which fought me for years, even after a jury confirmed my report of rampant discrimination at the U. S. Marshal's Service," says Fogg.
ACORN 8 president Marcel Reid, essentially echoed Fogg's sentiments in commending POPULAR for endeavoring to protect the poor and otherwise disadvantaged from judicial corruption. She remarks, "By far, wealthy individuals and companies can control the legal process while average Americans must mobilize and harness collective strength for leverage against corruption."
POPULAR is an association of public interest attorneys and law school graduates also known as Juris Doctors or Doctors of Jurisprudence. These good government advocates are committed to helping poor and other disadvantaged people access affordable and competent legal representation, appropriate judicial oversight, and important civil and criminal justice system reforms. Their flagship project is an electronic signature drive known as the "Tear Down the Wall of Poverty" campaign. For additional information, visit http://www. popular4people. org (http://www. popular4people. org).
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