Thank you, dear reader, for coming here to this Blog in order to keep up with the ongoing VRS Fraud updates. This is a note from the author for your reading pleasure.
What is VRSJustice?
What is VRSJustice? To answer that question, I would need to answer the why I’m doing this blog. It is to be a central and factual source with updates about the VRS Fraud cases. This blog will report nothing but the truth and facts about the ongoing VRS Fraud cases. What I will be doing here with this blog is to uphold the principles proposed (and ultimately accepted) by a committee for the Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ) back in 1997. [By the way, this is an excellent page on Principles by Journalism.org — http://www.journalism.org/resources/principles].
The first principle on that page is what my first obligation is and always will be to truth, nothing but the truth. You will not see me editorialize, embellish and exaggerate facts. Any information sent to me at vrsjustice@gmail.com will be first and foremost be confidential. The information will go through a thorough vetting process in order to verify facts to be the truth before being considered for publication in this blog. Credit will be given unless anonymity is requested. Doing it any other way would defeat the primary purpose of which VRSJustice.com was conceived — that is to report truth and facts of the ongoing VRS Fraud cases and of any future new cases that may come. Any mistakes and inaccuracies will be corrected as soon as they are discovered.
Again, nothing but the truth and facts only as I do not want to be sued by lawyers left and right for defamation of character and/or libel. Each post that have been and will be published will be backed up by verifiable facts found elsewhere — either on the Internet or elsewhere. To this end, each post will have links or footnotes citing where the information came from, whether it came from PACER, from an attorney, anonymously, or elsewhere.
ClercJr and Daniel Foster’s Legacy
The reader may be familiar with a blog maintained by Daniel Foster at http://clercjr.wordpress.com. I will confess to being very familiar with his excellent blog. It was on account of his untimely departure from the earthly plane, and the subsequent lack of a centralized source of VRS Fraud case updates that I started this blog. Here in this space, I wanted to give Daniel Foster a big shout out for covering the VRS Fraud case updates in his blog. I would like to also add that nobody from Daniel Foster’s circle of family and close friends asked me to do this, nor did I ask them for permission. As Daniel said often in his blog posts — this is public information (PACER) and that anybody can get to these information. UPDATE (2012-09-07): I contacted Robert Hansen, who maintains clercjr.wordpress.com, to request that I take over maintenance of the VRS Case Documents since it was not being actively updated over there. I will give credit to ClercJr for all the documents that he provided on his blog, and those documents will be brought over here for continuity’s sake.
Blog or Vlog, that is the question
Why a blog if the major stakeholder in this VRS Fraud is the Deaf Community whose primary language is a visual one — American Sign Language? A blog is a vehicle in and of which the author can convey once again solid and clear facts and truths of any VRS Fraud updates, with links and cited sources, to all audiences — ASL users and non-ASL users — in English. A vlog limits information dissemination to just one audience — those who understand ASL. This is an injustice to readers who do not have fluency of ASL under their belts. Inclusion is important in advancing society as a whole. As stated earlier, the goal of this is to be a central source of factual information and updates about the VRS Fraud cases.
Editorial Philosophy
This blog stands for readers who wish to keep up with the truth and facts about the unfortunate blemish on the Deaf Community that is the VRS Fraud Cases. This blog’s intended audience will be the Deaf Community, Hard-of-Hearing Community, Professionals that serve the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Interested readers not affiliated with any of the cultural and professional groups, and finally with people involved with VRS.
This blog also hopes to be useful as a source of information on courts and how cases weave their way through the courts. To beat a dead horse even deader, truth and facts will reign paramount here.
Sources
My primary source of information will be the PACER Federal court document clearinghouse system. In fact, any blog posts cited with information and has downloadable documents obtained from PACER and elsewhere will be redacted (information blacked out) of the following, if any exist:
- Social Security and taxpayer-identification (TIN) Numbers
- Dates of Birth
- Names of Minor Children, if any
- All financial account numbers (banks, credit cards, etc.)
- As these VRS Fraud Cases are of criminal nature, home addresses.
This compliance is mandated by the Federal Government Civil and Criminal Rules at Fed. R. Civ. P. 5.2 or Fed. R. Crim. P. 49.1. If you want to see complete information in the redacted documents available on this blog, you can go ahead and get the documents yourself, after all, it is public record.
Legal Advice
I am not an attorney, and because of that fact alone, I will not be dispensing any legal advice. Any questions that concern the VRS Fraud cases, I will try my best to provide a layman’s interpretation of legal terms and happenings. These will come from research.
Financial Support
Donations will not be accepted as they will tarnish my journalistic objectivity by the seeming appearance of sponsorship.
Who am I?
Finally, the biggest question that may be discussed and asked here and elsewhere — Who is the author of this blog? After that question, a flood of questions may be unleashed:
- Is the author objective? (This is the goal for this blog — to be objective)
- Is the author currently a part of the VRS industry? (Yes — as a consumer; No as an employee and contractor)
- Is the author out on a vendetta against one or several defendants? (No)
- Does the author know at least one defendant implicated with VRS Fraud? (Yes)
- Is the author in contact with any of the defendants since the beginning of these VRS Fraud cases? (No)
Again, just exactly who is the author?
A very, very general background information on the author. The author was born and raised deaf to a family that also has other deaf family members and relatives. The author went to schools with other kids as did everybody else reading this. The author was and still is involved in the Deaf Community, both participating and participated in a variety of organizations and clubs, and so on.
So why stay anonymous? One would argue that staying anonymous is the coward’s cop-out. I disagree, as I can. Staying anonymous depends on the circumstances and/or situation. Generally, anonymous is defined by many dictionaries to be a person not identified by name. There are several reasons to remain anonymous — and you can google that for your reading pleasure. By remaining anonymous, I am free to objectively and happily provide this blog as a public service towards making the Deaf Community a more empowered and informed community. I have no desire to have any recognition, should my identity be known, for maintaining this blog.
One could again argue that it is hard to trust someone who is hiding behind a blog or a pseudonym. I have nothing but this in response: I will uphold the principles of journalism and report nothing but facts and the truth. What more do you want? I am no Sam Donaldson, Walter Cronkite, and Barbara Walters. I am just a deaf author who wishes to continue keeping the Deaf Community informed about the VRS Fraud without any recognition and to make the Deaf Community a better community. This is what ClercJr would have done as well – empower and keep informed the Deaf Community through timely updates.
One for all, all for one, I remain,
VRS Justice
VRS Justice 