In today's Daily News, I read an article which is right in tune with all the things I talk about from the onset of creating this blog. I've talked about, police corruption, wrongful convictions and a many other topics. I was a little disturbed to read about a bronx man A BRONX MAN who spent nearly 17 years behind bars for a murder he did not commit filed a lawsuit yesterday seeking $22 million in damages. Don Taylor was serving a life sentence when prosecutors admitted that the wrong man had been convicted. He walked away from prison last year after a Bronx judge vacated his conviction. On the word of a single eyewitness, Taylor was convicted of killing Terrence Joyner on Aug. 16, 1987. That witness, Omar Portee, later recanted. He told prosecutors under oath that he lied when he said he saw Taylor pull out a gun and kill Joyner after Joyner got into a beef with another man over drugs. Portee "stated that he had falsely implicated [Taylor] in order to secure a favorable disposition on his own pending cases," said Bronx prosecutor Jeremy Shockett. At the time, Portee had two robbery cases pending. In the 1990s, Portee founded an East Coast version of the Bloods street gang. He is now serving a 50-year sentence in a federal prison. Taylor alleged in his lawsuit that a retired detective, Morris Schwaber, and his partner encouraged Portee to lie on the stand. The lawsuit alleged that Bronx prosecutor James Palumbo knew that Portee was lying, and that he and Schwaber permitted Portee to have sex with his girlfriend in the prosecutor's office in exchange for his continued cooperation. "He never said he was lying," said Palumbo, who is now a defense lawyer. He said Portee's testimony was consistent with the forensic evidence, leading him to believe Portee had seen the murder. He denied letting Portee have sex in his office. Taylor seeks damages for violations of his civil rights. He is seeking $17 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages. rgearty@nydailynews.

HURRICANE SANDY DEVASTATION

Many of us are feeling the effects of Sandy's aftermath, which came two weeks ago and ripped through the tri-state, New Jersey, and Connecticut leaving nothing but devastation in its path. When I first heard of it, I thought it was going to come and go with minimal damage but that wasn't the case. Superstorm Sandy, as its being called now really destroyed people's lives. People are left without homes, some lost their cars due to being completely submerged in water. In areas like Coney Island, businesses are washed away. I saw an entire laundromat overflowed with sand and water, I'm pretty sure that business owner filling out insurance claims on their business. In Far Rockaway, where I worked as a construction laborer, that entire area is a disaster zone. People are still without power there and looters took to the streets creating mayhem during Sandy's arrival and departure. You would think that would propel people to band together for the common good but when everything is in a state of emergency, you have chaos! I have been displaced as a result of looters stealing our tools from the site. It's been two weeks now, but I know once the power is back hopefully all things will be back to normal. I have to give alot of credit to the people banding together trying to make sense of what just happened to them. Everyone is in disarray, from the state officials on down. Even gas has become a luxury, you cant even get gas for your car without waiting on a ridiculous line that stretches well beyond five or six blocks-sometimes even ten blocks. People have panicked because the officials have created this monster. They tried to take precaution by closing the ports for gas for preemptive measures, but that only spiraled into whats transpiring now. No gas at the pumps equates to people flooding the gas stations. No one wants to live without gas, so to prevent that they come out in droves trying to get what they need in order to drive to work. Starting yesterday, if your license plate ends in an odd number those are the only people allowed to come for gas unless your walking with a gallon. They've implemented this process to try to alleviate all the long lines at the pump but I don't think this practice going to last. What happens to the people who need gas to get to work for the day? It's all a quick fix to make up for the mayhem they've created. Now, these elected officials are trying to do damage control. It's not the public's fault, people will only react to whats taking place around them. Had the ports been open, none of this would be taking place. On another note, theres alot of underhand shadiness taking place. If you don't think these same officials are stealing gas, your only fooling yourself! Wherever there's gas, you see police and when you come they'll tell you there isn't any gas but yet they're still posted there. Not one to make accusations, but some things just can't be overlooked. New York City, New Jersey and surrounding areas is in a state of emergency. The Fema people have arrived, but there's still hordes of people who lost their entire homes. I got friends who lost all their clothes, cars, but what's important is the fact that they still have life. That in itself is priceless, God please protect our cities and families. I wish everyone a speedy recovery during this tumultous time...

ARE YOU GREEDY

It's been quite some time, but I just wanted to share some things with you. Today I wanted to speak on greed. Greed is something someone has when they've achieved something and don't want you to accomplish that same thing. Greed is described in the dictionary as excessive or rapacious desire, especially for wealth or possessions. This means no matter what they've achieved, they want more of it whether it's clothes, jewelry, cars, money, and everything else. There are people in this world who work hard for what they have and I applaud that so let's not confuse this. Then there are others who aint never had nothing and once they do, they feel the need to throw it in your face as if you weren't there when they had nothing. As far as I'm concerned, wordly possessions could never make me or break me. I came in this world with nothing and when I leave, I'm going with nothing. Shallow people go at nothing to make others feel less than them when in all reality, the person they're trying to grand stand usually has more going for themselves mentally and spiritually. Corporate Greed has caused Bernie Madoff a 150 year life term sentence in prison for his ponzi scheme which took millions of money from working class families. People work all their lives to secure life retirement policies and along comes a fast talking swindler to swindle them out of all their life earnings. Nothing good ever comes to those who are obsessed with greed. They like to live the luxurious life but don't like the consequences that come along with it. They get so wrapped up in their imaginary lifestyle that penalties for their crimes are the last thing they seem to be concerned with. It's sad when you have city workers who get charged for welfare fraud while collecting pay checks. In 1996, an article entitled "New York Arrests 46 City Workers in Welfare Fraud" by Adam Nossiter documents this in depth. Twenty city employees received subsidized housing and cash benefits for which they were ineligible. A total of one million in benefits were collected, although these people had no priors they did not face any jail time and agreed to pay back all the money taken. 50 resigned or were dismissed from their city jobs, 11 had some other disciplinary action taken against them and 12 cases were pending. This in itself displays how greed can make one irrational. Instead of doing the right thing, they seem to do all the wrong things until they get caught. I wouldn't be surprised if this wasn't still going on as we speak. Big corporations have gone bankrupt because of greed and it's not going to stop because the world is a big cesspool of greed. Everyone wants that pot of gold but aren't willing to put the hard work behind it. Instead they look for short cuts on how to get rich and if it means to cut someone's throat or cheating someone out of their life earnings, then so be it. Its a dog eat dog world out there so make sure you know who has your best interest at heart. Dont worry bout what the next person has cause you don't know what they did to get it. We all like nice things so make sure in the process of chasing your dreams, you don't lose your sense of self! There are no short cuts in life, remember that! Stay Blessed People!

THOUGHTS ON TRAYVON MARTIN

As you all know, the entire world is in uproar about an incident that left a seventeen year old kid, Trayvon Martin dead by the hands of 28-year-old George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch captain who was responsible for the shooting on Feb. 26 in the central Florida town of Sanford. I sat back and observed while everything was taking place but it's hard not to say anything with a case that's had so much publicvity over the past month and a half. We've seen this movie before, when you think about Amadou Diallo, Sean Bell, Timothy Stansbury, Trayvon Martin, and countless others whose been at the other end of that barrel and met with the same fate. Players from the NBA showed their outpour of support by wearing hoodies in pre-game warm ups for Trayvon Martin. The ramifications for what transpired has sparked legal experts to say that a Hate crime could be in effect for George Zimmerman once the Justice Department thoroughly conducts their investigation. A hate crime carries the maximum penalty of life imprisonment if found guilty. No one knows what took place, but Zimmerman is claiming he was attacked and used self defense. In Florida, there is this "Stand Your Ground" law which was implemented several years ago which allows people to use this when and if it applies to them. Prosecutors have to do thorough research in order to bring about a charge, so in the meantime Zimmerman is a free man and the world is in outrage including me. I don't buy into the fact that he was attacked or provoked. I think he had an opportunity to prey on someone who was weak and he did just that. People who have authority to carry guns are always itching to use their weapon on someone, especially if they believe they can get away with it. I think this is one of them cases, but I can be wrong. The Police Chief even stepped down from his position as Federal agents probe what transpired. For him to do that while all this is taking place shows a bit of suspicion and foul play could be involved once the smoke clears. No matter what we do, death is FINAL! We can march, protest, and even riot but none of that is going to bring Trayvon back to us. My heart goes out to the family during this trying time and I hope they get the justice they deserve. No crime should go unpunished, just because your a watchguard doesn't give you the authority to prey on innocent people. Zimmerman should be SUSPENDED IN TIME for the rest of his LIFE!