Legal Memo-random

2003-10-23T11:28:00.000-06:00

Final

I have decided at this point to switch to the new site. As of now, all posts can be seen at:

http://www.legalmemorandom.com aka legalspin.typepad.com.

Please update your bookmarks.

It will continue to be a "work in progress" (ie, toying with colors, eventually I'll have a mast picture of some sort, etc.). But I think overall, it will be better.

(btw: thank you still to Blogger/Blogspot for this product. It helped get me started. I hate to leave it, but there are just certain features (such as domain mapping, more flexibility with template items, integrated comments & counter, etc) and reliability that were lacking, in part because it is a free service).

Press here to go to new site, http://www.legalmemorandom.com.

2003-10-22T15:27:00.000-06:00

Caplan on the Rampage

Arthur Caplan, a contributor to MSNBC, rips into Jeb Bush and the Florida legislature for its actions regarding Schiavo. The first paragraph is a good cue as to where this is going:

There have been plenty of bone-headed decisions over the years by government officials and legislators playing doctor in controversial medical cases. But few lawmakers have acted as rashly, ineptly and dangerously with respect to the public as did the Florida state Legislature and Gov. Jeb Bush when they passed a last-minute law intended to stop the death of Terri Schiavo, a brain-damaged woman who’s been in a coma for more than 13 years.

See MSNBC article here.

Caplan is right - the case of Nancy Cruzan has already resolved the right to die in such cases. Unless they can somehow prove that Michael Schiavo is an unfit guardian (they have never been able to make this case, this will be overturned as unconstitutional.

2003-10-22T13:43:00.000-06:00

switch
No, this isn't a post about the Ellen Barken movie...

I am still finalizing some details (site colors, mast head, etc.), but I am now posting everything over at a new blogsite, testing out Typepad. So far, I like it, and I think the change is going to happen. I will post when the final switch takes place, but if you can't wait and want to see a work in progress evolve, check out:

http://www.legalmemorandom.com

I suspect that very soon, I will be completely switched over, just as soon as I can figure out how to transfer my archives properly.

2003-10-22T09:26:00.000-06:00

Partial Birth

Looks like Congress has passed a partial birth abortion ban, with a signature almost certain to come from President Bush.

The bill appears to have no exception for the health of the mother.

I think that this speaks for itself.

2003-10-22T09:05:00.000-06:00

Muhammad Reverts to Attorneys

Beltway sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad, on trial now for capital murder, has abandoned his pro se status and has reverted to having an attorney representing him. Its not clear why he made this decision, although it seems as though he made the decision on his own.

See CNN story here for more.

It is likely better that he is represented by an attorney, but making this switch mid trial is going to throw off the jury. Better, I suppose, to do it early and get it out of the way.

2003-10-21T17:20:00.000-06:00

How the Moussaoui Case Fell Apart

Via Talk Left, comes this fascinating Time Magazine article about how the Zacarias Moussaoui case crumbled from underneath them.

Look at this stinging indictment:

Nearly two years later, the government's case, which had been billed as a slam dunk, is a shambles. On Oct. 2, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema said prosecutors could not seek the death penalty for Moussaoui and could not even allege that he had a link to the 9/11 conspiracy. She put those shackles on the government's case because it had denied the defendant, on national-security grounds, access to witnesses who were in a position to say whether he was part of the 9/11 gangâ€”Ramzi Binalshibh, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other key al-Qaeda figures the U.S. has captured. Prosecutors are appealing the decision, with their first briefs due this week. But if they lose, they may be stuck with a precedent that would allow defendants access to avowed terrorists, perhaps inspiring the government in the future to try all such cases in military tribunals. Unless Moussaoui's prosecutors yank the case into a tribunal, it would mean that they would have to pursue much reduced charges. Instead of proving Moussaoui to be an actor in a plot that murdered thousands, they would have to accuse him of simply being a me-too schemer whose efforts went nowhere.

My opinion? You probably know it already, but I agree with Uncommon Thoughts (again, via Talk Left article above). The FBI (I'd say the federal government) knows he's not guilty of what he's been charged with. That is why there are all these inconsistencies, and that is why there are all these roadblocks.

2003-10-21T15:43:00.000-06:00

Jeb Bush plays God

CNN and MSNBC are reporting that Jeb Bush has ordered the reinserting of the feeding tube into Terry Schiavo.

See MSNBC story here for more.

Terry Schiavo, for those who don't know, has spent over a decade in a persistent vegetative state out of which there is no real hope that she will recover.

After years and years of hearings, motions, and failed appeals, a Florida Court ordered the feeding discontinued on the wishes of the husband. The parents of the woman continue the fight, although the US and Florida Supreme Courts declined to intervene.

Now, in the last couple of days, Florida's legislature passed a law allowing Governor Jeb Bush to intervene in cases exactly like this one, where the victim left no advanced directive.

The moral of this story - talk to your loved ones and leave an advanced directive describing what you want done if something like this arises.

I imagine the husband and the parents, while opposing one another, mean well. However, it is shameful that the legislature and governor are using this vegetative woman as a political football.

This will surely be appealed to block enforcement of the Governor's act.

2003-10-21T15:26:00.000-06:00

Perils of Downloading

Mithras has a good post on the dangers of using peer-to-peer (such as Kazaa) downloading, and points out that malicious code could be lurking in those nifty "free" Britney Speers tunes you're putting on your computer. Malicious code that could trash your computer for good.

At the risk of being a tool of the music industry (I'm really not a big fan of the big music companies), I am still baffled by the fact that people consider this stuff to be acceptable, even when they acknowledge that it is illegal. But I will not get into that again. The risk of losing your own computer to malicious code should be bad enough.

But there is a greater risk. What if you download music at work? I know it happens. I know that there are administrators out there who will not or do not block out peer to peer networks. What if you trash the network at your office? It seems possible to me that you are exposing yourself to a negligence lawsuit. And more and more offices are requiring you to sign an acknowledgment of liability if you damage the network. You can be at risk for thousands of dollars worth of equipment and who knows how much in intellectual property destroyed. There are good arguments to be raised in defense, but why take that chance?

My solution? Stick to bands like Fugazi and Citizen Fish who do not make it a habit of ripping off their fans.

2003-10-21T14:54:00.000-06:00

Confession

Thanks to their free 30 day trial, I have been playing around with TypePad to see if it is worth it to switch services. I like Blogger - I really do. I think it provides a valuable free service and voice for the taking. The features are really good - especially when you consider what you pay for it.

I will continue posting new posts here with the same regularity. If and when I make a switch, I will also post that here.

The template I am toying with is at http://legalspin.typepad.com.

2003-10-21T12:41:00.000-06:00

Implications for blogs

Ernie The Attorney with an excellent post on the dangers and pitfalls of posting your opinions on blogs.

Here is what I had to say in response on his comments field:

You use your name and stand behind your words, or you do it quasi-anonymously such as Atrios.

The fact of the matter is that even when the economy is running well and we are at good employment levels, bosses simply have a disproportionate amount of power over the employees. Of course, ultimately, it is their business and reputation that is on the line, so if someone makes a comment that can be perceived as being anti-semetic (such as the association of jews being greedy and wanting money), or racist (such as if the comment had instead been something about blacks and the only food satisfactory to them is chicken and watermelon), then its possible that the association with the person can travel all the way back to the employer.

I don't blame people for doing the anonymous thing. I fully realize that if someone connected my "handle" (Russ - I am very creative) with me, that my words could reflect upon me in a job interview. I understand that when I blast the insurance companies, that if I apply to an associate position at an insurance defense firm and they pick up on that, its not going to be very helpful (just like my affiliation with SOLAR - Students Of Law for Animal Rights - didn't help me in an interview with a firm that defended pharmaceuticals).

Its sad that exercise of speech results in this type of response, but the reality is, that an unfortunate association (even if wrongly) with anti-semetism on the part of the employee (a fairly public one at that) will reflect ultimately on the employer.

The reality is, because people can't tell the difference between employees and employers (and don't always realize that employees do not always speak for their employers), it amounts to forced speech on behalf of the employer.

And for those of us who are attorneys, we have to watch ourselves even more carefully. Not only can we be dogged by employers, and can this influence higher office (if you desire to seek it), but it can also conceivably impact us with the bar.

Just some thoughts.

2003-10-21T09:52:00.000-06:00

Florida legislature to intervene?

With the Florida House passing the measure, the Florida Senate is taking up a measure today that would:

give the state's governor 15 days to order a feeding tube to be reinserted in cases like Schiavo's. The governor's power would be limited to cases where a person has left no living will, is in a persistent vegetative state, has had nutrition and hydration tubes removed and where a family member has challenged the removal.

See FoxNews story here.

Gee, I wonder if that sounds like Terri Schiavo's case.

This is simply wrong, both ethically and probably constitutionally.

I have to imagine that this will result in an immediate battle in court to block enforcement of the law.

The sad thing is that I am sure that Mr. Schiavo wants the best thing for his wife (I have already gone over this - she has been in this state for over a decade - it does not surprise me that if he considers her to be dead, that he would have moved on in some regards), and I am sure that Terri Schiavo's parents want the best thing for their daughter. The true tragedy here is that Terri Schiavo has now become a political football for the legislature and governor to cut their teeth on. That is more than sad. That is embarrassing.

This will be overturned (assuming it passes), hopefully without Terri Schiavo having to endure too much more of this madness.

2003-10-21T09:40:00.000-06:00

New Ruffle

CNN story says that the kid who hid the box cutters, play doh and bleach on planes did it weeks ago.

See CNN story here for more.

Weeks? Is that some sort of joke? Ok, its bad enough that the TSA dropped the ball and allowed all of these items on to the plane. But somehow, they managed to sit on the planes, waiting to be used, for weeks?

This is what I'd call a major mission critical failure in our airline safety net, and even the missing link of security. Think about it. A terrorist gets a job working for the SkyChef or one of these airline food stocking companies. Yeah, they have to go through security, but its not hard to imagine where someone would be able to sneak things aboard the planes in the food trays or somewhere in the truck, if it were broken down into enough pieces. The plane is then later boarded by an unarmed terrorist because hey, nobody bothered to look the plane over for unauthorized materials in the past few weeks. All you need to do is make sure that the flight is one where the equipment used is fairly reliable (say, a plane on a small carrier (such as a Frontier, Jet Blue, etc.) where the same plane is constantly turned around for the same routes - NY to LA and back).

I don't believe that another 9/11 style attack would succeed, if only because passengers would simply have no choice but to fight back or the Air Force would shoot the plane down.

But even a simple bombing or a couple of simple bombings would be devastating to our airline industry and rattle our economy. I obviously do not want these things to happen, but we need to start doing actual airline security in this country, and not the window dressing harassment (that irritates everyone, but never gives anyone a sense that they are particularly safe) that currently passes for airline security.

2003-10-20T18:00:00.000-06:00

How to fund your case (a little humor)

OK, so you have been charged with a crime, and you want to hire a high priced attorney, but you can't afford one. This happens all the time, and while public defenders do an admirable job under the circumstances, the fact is people feel more comfortable with a Johnny Cochran than with a Johnny University at Buffalo representing them.

I have the solution.

Product endorsements. During the trial!

Picture this exchange:

Defense Attorney: Sir, now what did you do when you woke up in the morning in question?
Defendant:Well, first thing I did was apply some oil of ollay. It makes my skin feel silky smooth all the day through!

or, how about:

Defense Attorney:How do you know that the Plaintiff did not suffer the injuries claimed?
Defendant:Well, they were driving a Volvo XC70, which is regularly rated the safest car on the road!

And we can bring the Prosecution in on this!

Prosecutor:How do we know that the Defendant committed this murder?
Witness:The murder weapon used, a J Henckels knife, had the victims finger prints all over them. The J Henckels is one of the finest and strongest knives on the market, capable of cutting through virtually any solid item, including the bone one might find in a delicious piece of meat. If it can cut through animal bones, it can most certainly cut through human bones.

The possibilities are endless. Not as endless as the ethical complaints you might amass, but if you are going to get ethical complaints, you might as well have some fun.

(if you are somehow not sure, this is not a serious idea)

2003-10-20T17:51:00.000-06:00

Questionable Class Action

Well, yet another class action has spread across our desk, with someone filing a lawsuit against Smuckers for their claim of 100% pure fruit, when in reality the product is on the order of 30-40% fruit.

See CNN story here for all the lip-smacking details.

2003-10-20T16:47:00.000-06:00

Mother Theresa

Nobody takes on Mother Theresa quite like Christopher Hitchens. See his Slate article here, along with his latest dissection.

One of the curses of India, as of other poor countries, is the quack medicine man, who fleeces the sufferer by promises of miraculous healing. Sunday was a great day for these parasites, who saw their crummy methods endorsed by his holiness and given a more or less free ride in the international press. Forgotten were the elementary rules of logic, that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence and that what can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence. More than that, we witnessed the elevation and consecration of extreme dogmatism, blinkered faith, and the cult of a mediocre human personality. Many more people are poor and sick because of the life of MT: Even more will be poor and sick if her example is followed. She was a fanatic, a fundamentalist, and a fraud, and a church that officially protects those who violate the innocent has given us another clear sign of where it truly stands on moral and ethical questions.

No, Hitch, what do you REALLY think?

By the way, while I don't always agree with Hitchens, he is often a master of the positions he has taken (even when he is wrong). On this subject, I would recommend his book The Missionary Position.

2003-10-20T16:21:00.000-06:00

Still

No Kobe. Not here.

But there is some here at Talk Left.

2003-10-20T13:11:00.000-06:00

Straight From The Horse's Mouth

Lieberman, D-Connecticut, told ABC's "This Week." "It's a time for change from George Bush, but it's not a time for rookies."

No, Joe. Clearly, its a time for a guy who has already lost once to Bush.

Yawn, Joe. Talk about tired arguments. He harps on Clark as being a newcomer to the Democratic party. Clark and Dean should respond about how Lieberman is not such a newcomer to the Republican party.

See CNN story here.

2003-10-20T11:09:00.000-06:00

Not the way to begin your pro se defense...

The following is how NOT to introduce yourself to the jury at noontime: "Good evening."

From the Virginian Pilot blog on the trial, quoting alleged beltway sniper John Allen Muhammad.

2003-10-20T10:04:00.000-06:00

Man who snuck items on plane to test TSA to be Charged

A college kid who snuck some box cutters, play doh and bleach onto a couple of Southwest Airlines planes is likely to face federal charges.

See story here via Comcast.

The student allegedly left some notes in the bags full of the banned items stating that it was his intention to show that current security measures were inadequate to prevent contraband from coming aboard the planes.

This is the scary part:

A Bush administration official has said the suspected perpetrator last month sent the government an e-mail warning of his intention to conceal suspicious items on six planes and provided dates and locations for the plan.

See, the best thing that the government could do is NOT charge this kid, and in exchange for no charges, have the kid explain how he was able to circumvent our much vaunted security system at airports. They knew he was going to do it and he gave dates and locations and they still couldn't stop him???

I guess that this is so embarrassing that rather than figure out what the problem is and punish those responsible, we'll silence the person who made our system look silly. Sounds good to me! Maybe for the holidays we can return to posting national guard soldiers with unloaded M16s to prop up our window dressing.

2003-10-20T09:32:00.000-06:00

Muhammad to go it Pro Se

Beltway Sniper suspect John Allan Muhammad has been granted a motion to represent himself as opening statements in his trial are expected to begin today.

See MSNBC story here for more details.

The Court appointed attorneys who represented Muhammad will still be available to assist him with the trial.

Usually, I find that going pro se is a major mistake, unless there is something that we haven't heard regarding personality conflict between the defendant and the attorneys. When I hear "defendant has elected to go pro se" on the eve of trial or at the start of trial, the first thing that comes to my mind is "the defendant wants to push a novel theory that the attorneys will not touch (I am thinking convicted LIRR gunman Collin Furgeson's black rage theory - although I do not recall why he dropped his attorneys - for some reason I think Ron Kuby advised him in that case).

Either way, it makes this trial just a bit more interesting. Every time I've gone against a pro se party, it has gone disastrously for that pro se. As a pro se, the judges will bend over backwards for them, yet an attorney will know more about procedure and timing. Time will tell if this was a good idea (although since I expect a conviction in this case, I wouldn't necessarily call a guilty verdict a defeat for Muhammad as a pro se).

2003-10-17T16:20:00.000-06:00

A little fun

Boy, how our perceptions change. When I was a little kid (we're talking late 70's to mid-80's) the coolest games that came out were Missile Command, Gorf, Galaxians, Crazy Climber (am I really the only person on earth who liked that game???) and a handful of others. The biggest most profound revolution in gaming (as far as I can tell) was the introduction of Dragons Lair (featuring Dirk The Daring). That was the beginning of the end for sequenced games and what would turn out to be awful graphics. Now games are (A) advanced, and (B) point totals are phenomenal. Well, no wonder. I was playing pinball the other day, and I messed up and lost my first ball rather quickly, yet somehow managed to have several million points. Several million points? For sucking? Geez, I guess everybody is in fact a winner.

Anyway, this article from Electronic Gaming is highly enlightening on kids perceptions of video games from my generation. Via Feet First.

Re: Pong:

It takes this whole console just to do Pong?

Re: Donkey Kong:

Watch out, Tim, fire. It's smarter than you think.

Re: Handheld Football:

They could've just as easily called this game anything - Baseball, Bowling, Escape From the Monsters.

Re: Tetris:

Which button do I press to make the blocks explode?

Re: Super Mario Brothers:

This is Mario's world. It's supposed to look simple. You have mushrooms walking around. What do you expect?

Re: ET:

He's using his E.T. powers! What does this have to do with the movie? I don't remember the parts where E.T. falls into pits and makes his neck longer.

Finally: Space Invaders:

I'm sure everyone who made this game is dead by now.

2003-10-17T13:57:00.000-06:00

Jury finally seated in Muhammad case

A 12 member jury plus 3 alternates has finally been selected for the John Allen Muhammad (aka Beltway Sniper) case. It took almost 4 days to do it.

See FoxNews story here.

One of the jurors who was qualified (there were 27 qualified, but only 15 for the jury obviously - so its not clear if they are on the jury or not), sparked a controversy:

Defense lawyers unsuccessfully sought to strike a juror because he said he believes in the principle of "an eye for an eye." Defense attorney Peter Greenspun (search) said the man's philosophy is incompatible with a capital murder trial, in which jurors must consider the possibility of imposing life in prison or a death sentence if Muhammad is convicted of capital murder.

Circuit Judge LeRoy F. Millette Jr. (search) disagreed, saying "if we exclude everyone who had that as a reason for believing in the death penalty, we'd never seat a jury."

This is a valid argument to be made by the Defense, and one that should not be taken so lightly.

When juries are brought in for voir dire in a capital case, they generally (as far as I know) have to be death qualified - that is, they have to be willing to vote for the death penalty. It is my understanding that being unwilling to impose the death penalty is grounds for removal from the jury pool.

That's bad enough (as while weeding out one bias, you are ineluctably allowing other biases to stay (ie, someone pro-death penalty might tend to be inherently supportive of the state in such actions).

But saying "I believe in an eye for an eye" means that the juror will be unfairly biased and predisposed towards imposition of the death penalty (if found guilty) whereas it would have been that defendant's right to attempt to secure life in prison.

Considering that we weed out biases against the death penalty, wouldn't it only be fair to weed out biases in favor of it as well?

Judge Millette's cavalier dismissal of such biases not withstanding, assuming a guilty verdict and death sentence, I can smell an appeal to the Supreme Court already.

(note: text edited to fix typo and clarify that we are talking about capital case juries)

2003-10-17T12:28:00.000-06:00

Whats in YOUR Airplane?

So, someone sneaks a couple of bags through security, loaded with box cutters, bleach and clay and stows them in the bathroom of a couple of Southwest planes. Allegedly, the bags contained notes saying that this was to expose a flaw in the TSA's system.

See CNN story here for more.

Government sources told CNN that, in addition to box cutters -- devices used by the September 11, 2001, hijackers -- the bags contained a clay substance that resembled plastic explosive and what appeared to be bleach.

The liquid was contained in suntan lotion bottles; the clay was inside Play-Doh containers, sources said.

This is both good and bad. First, its good that the TSA is getting "friendly" tests (ie, the bag wasn't the real thing, and we didn't learn about it when the plane crashed into a building).

It is bad for one very important reason: While it exposes a hole in security, what it will do is get the TSA to focus on things like box cutters and clay in play-doh containers. This is a major mistake.

There are two sayings at work here. First, those who don't learn from their mistakes are doomed to repeat them, and second, when we fight a new war, we always fight using the last war's tactics and lessons.

That is, we are now obsessed with terrorists using planes to bring down buildings - an admittedly devastating attack - like on 9/11/01. It seems utterly unlikely that such a hijacking could succeed in this country again. The old logic was to appease the hijackers and eventually it would end peacefully. Now that we know the stakes have been upped, the minute someone stands up and says "this is a hijacking" there will be a violent struggle on the plane. The only way such a hijacking could succeed to that extent now is if the passengers were somehow neutralized (ie, gunned down, gassed, empty plane, etc - obviously I do not want this...just idle speculation as to how things might happen).

But the worst thing we could do, if we are truly serious about security, is become obsessed with box cutters once again.

The interesting thing is that this was found in two separate planes. Should be easy to narrow down who did it. But rather than focus on who did it, it would be useful to focus on fixing the problem. If they catch the person who did it, he or she should be allowed to explain how he got through, rather than used as an example for punishment.

2003-10-17T11:51:00.000-06:00

Sloppy journalism

Or, why you can't rely on the NY Post for anything.

The Smoking Gun sets us up with this editorial, bemoaning the stunning collapse of the NY Yankees and loss to the Boston Red Sox.

2003-10-17T10:21:00.000-06:00

Senate Converts Aid to Loans

The US Senate voted yesterday to convert a portion of the $87 billion destined to help rebuild Iraq into loans (as opposed to outright grants. 8 Republicans crossed over to support the measure.

See CNN story here for more.

I am not sure why this is such a big deal. Iraq is sitting on a sea of oil (I believe to paraphrase a Bush admin official). They are not some backwoods country that will struggle to make ends meet once things are working again. Granted, we are a while off from that, but by making the loans payable when Iraq is able to pay them (ie, we can guarantee that the payments will not exceed x% of their GDP), we are not going to put an onerous burden on them.

How about this solution: Iraq gets the money as grants contingent on their withdrawal from OPEC (and not submitting to a system of similar quotas/ceilings). As soon as they rejoin OPEC or a similar scheme, the grants convert to loans. That way, at worst, Iraq itself determines when it is self-sufficient enough to pay the money back, and in the interim, we reap the benefits of moving away from an anti-competitive cartel like OPEC.

2003-10-16T14:58:00.000-06:00

Sad but true

How ironic is this quote:

"Bush told his senior aides Tuesday that he "didn't want to see any stories" quoting unnamed administration officials in the media anymore, and that if he did, there would be consequences, said a senior administration official who asked that his name not be used."

Via Atrios.

2003-10-16T14:33:00.000-06:00

File under humor

A blog called Who Would Buy That? featuring online auction curiosities and oddities (primarily, it seems, from ebay - still looking for that ghost in a jar?)

Not really, humor...more like "too much free time"...but still entertaining none-the-less. Presidential Haikus blog.

2003-10-16T11:37:00.000-06:00

More on Terri Schiavo

Health Law Blog had an excellent piece here a couple of months ago that I suspect we all need to be reminded of regarding this case. It also links to this excellent American Academy of Neurology piece here regarding the assessment and management of people in such persistent vegetative states.

There should be no doubt in anyone's mind about the proper resolution to this matter.

2003-10-16T10:11:00.000-06:00

Public Defenders

Public Defender Dude goes on the rampage (you'll have to scroll down to "Worthless Public Defenders") about a story regarding Las Vegas Public Defenders. It is alleged that in the Vegas PD office, defendants who were perceived by the office (using such ever-reliable techniques as having an English speaking employee administer a lie detector to a native Spanish speaker) as being guilty were given new (that is, not practicing very long) attorneys, and the "good" more experienced attorneys were held back for those clients perceived as innocent. The result is that it was possible for (take a deep breath here) death penalty eligible defendants to get brand new attorneys handling their cases.

CNN has a story here on an exonerated former death row inmate who was assigned a brand new attorney on his capital case, who is now suing the PD's office for what he describes as basically throwing in the towel once they decided they felt he was guilty.

The importance of this story should not be underestimated. I am sure that most PDs do a diligent job under incredibly difficult circumstances. The criminal justice system requires that each defendant have the opportunity (including use of a court appointed attorney if they can't afford one) to put on a defense, and that the state always be required to meet their burden of proof. In theory, the defendant shouldn't even have to testify if the state hasn't met their burden (in practice, I realize that this can be quite a bit different). The Public Defenders' office is the instrument of assistance in making this happen for those who can't afford their own representation.

If these allegations are true, harm was done across the spectrum. The defendant was deprived of due process. A chip was made in the wall of due process by allowing prosecutors an easy one. The state incurred extra expenses in the appeals of a guy who was eventually exonerated. And an innocent man spent probably harrowing years on death row.

I hope that the allegations aren't true, but if they are, I hope that the man wrongly convicted recovers some serious bucks from the Las Vegas PD's office.

2003-10-15T13:46:00.000-06:00

Feeding Tube to be Disconnected Today...Unless Jeb has his Way

An appeals court cleared the way for a man to have the feeding tube removed from his severely brain-damaged wife. But Gov. Jeb Bush (search) said Wednesday he was still seeking a way to intervene in the case.

See FoxNews article here for more.

The story centers around a woman named Terri Schiavo who suffered severe brain damage after a sudden collapse from heart failure. Every analysis I have seen of this case from credible sources suggests that she is in a permanent vegetative state of unconsciousness (as opposed to comatose, in which there would be hope that she could awaken from such a state).

Governor Jeb Bush wants to intervene.

This is a tragic story all around. Aside from the tragic state of Terri Schiavo, it has pit the husband Michael Schiavo (who wishes to remove the feeding tubes per what he alleges were her wishes) against Terri Schiavo's parents. Both sides allege that money is at the root of this, since there was over $1 million in malpractice awards doled out.

One of the most difficult aspects of life is dealing with death and the end of the road, an issue that transcends simple analysis of the law. I can't imagine what the people involved in the Schiavo case are going through. Its not difficult to imagine, however, that people who are very emotionally involved in these cases (such as the parents of the woman) would look to find any sign of hope possible. It sustains families and is almost a defense mechanism to cope with tragedy and avoid acceptance of the loss.

Our family suffered similar decisions when my grandfather had his last stroke back in the early to mid 1990's. The stroke left him in a vegetative state. He would lay there with his eyes open, and he would sometimes react to things (sometimes we'd have no idea what they were). At the time, some of us assigned a meaning to those reactions and blips of hope. In retrospect, as time has elapsed since his death, it seems as though those twitches, noises and movements were either uncontrollable impulse or even primal instinct - but not the movements or actions of an even vaguely conscious or intelligent person.

The result of my grandfather's "actions" was that it made it virtually impossible for my mother and aunt to agree to a removal of the feeding tube, for the very reason that they were not sure if he was "aware" enough to feel suffering from lack of nourishment. In retrospect, this was a miserable decision.

My grandmother died about 5 years earlier rather suddenly - it was a pretty big shock to my family, and especially my grandfather. The loss of his wife was utterly devastating, and he made it completely clear that he wanted to be in the ground next to her. That didn't stop him from living his life and doing some of the things he enjoyed. My aunt and uncle generously took him in to their home to take care of him (it helps that it was something they could easily afford). He still enjoyed a good meal, and he enjoyed going to Belmont (horse racing track, for those not familiar) and OTB. But he made it clear that his desire was to be in the ground next to his wife. Morbidly romantic, when you think about it.

So at the time, many of us were not sure about inflicting possible suffering on him by disconnecting feeding tubes. Hindsight being 20/20, it seems cruel that we did not honor his wishes (which I doubt he could have made clearer following the death of my grandmother). He had a 0% chance of ever coming out of the persistent vegetative state. He eventually had a final stroke that took his life.

Without knowing all of the facts (and I've read many of the articles, including many of the web pages supporting continuing her feeding and restarting therapy), unless I am simply being misled by news stories, I seems likely to me that this is a matter of wishful thinking.

A persistent vegetative state, as I've seen it, is simply not living. It is the shell of a human being, and it is doubtful (from what I've seen) that there is any real self awareness or intelligent thought. The next response I typically get is "what about those with Downs Syndrome, would you kill them too?" I'm sorry. This is just not the same as garden variety mental illness.

When my grandfather died, at the funeral, there was a universal belief that he looked much better at the funeral than he did at any time since the strokes started. At that point, I realized that our family made the wrong decision.

For a different take from a conservative Doctor's blog, check out Kill as Few Patients as Possible (a well done blog, even when I disagree with him).

2003-10-15T10:20:00.000-06:00

No Kobe All Of The Time

You'll note that I slightly modified my subtitle above. The blogging world does not need another blog writing on end about the Kobe Bryant trial. (A) There are quite a few more important trials out there (DC Sniper, Zacarias Moussaoui, etc.), and (B) I doubt I would add anything new to this case (in fact, its just a rape trial, and I don't have very much interest in Kobe Bryant or this particular trial - which is not meant to suggest that somehow this is not a serious trial with very serious allegations).

Besides, if you must have coverage of Kobe (and I doubt you'd be here for that), you can go to CNN for news, or for serious analysis, check out a blog like Talk Left (I am sure that they will continue their excellent coverage and analysis of the issues at stake).

So, no Kobe Bryant news and analysis from here, unless something truly profound happens (such as a verdict, or Kobe Bryant snaps and goes on a rampage in the courtroom).

2003-10-15T09:26:00.000-06:00

Bizarre ruling

A judge in Nebraska (named Ronald Reagan, no less) has ordered that a father speak to his daughter primarily in English as a term of his visitation rights.

See Omaha World-Herald story here for more. Via Atrios, via To The Barricades!

Ultimately, the ruling allows for some instruction in Spanish, but requires that the father converse primary in English, so as to not confuse the girl's education.

See To The Barricades! article above for a take on this one. I think its a poor decision, or at least, not a very carefully thought out/worded decision (ie, I can see some concern here, but to intervene to this extent with what is essentially the right of the father to teach his child the child's culture should be disconcerting to most). What, will the father be banned from taking his child to a Cinco de Mayo celebration because there might be too much Spanish? How will the Court determine that there is 'too much Spanish being spoken'??? This smacks of one of those 'I can't define obscenity but I know when I see it' cases.

Sorry, but the resolution proposed by the Judge defies enforceability, and therefore, I do not think that this is a satisfactory resolution, nor is it particularly fair.

2003-10-14T15:06:00.000-06:00

Ernie The Attorney on Scalia

Ernie The Attorney has an interesting post on Justice Scalia and thoughts on a speech he gave just the other day.

2003-10-14T14:16:00.000-06:00

Blogging a Trial

This is totally cool. The Virginian Pilot is blogging the John Allen Muhammad trial giving up to the minute updates on the progress of said case. Via Talk Left.

See the Muhammad trial journal here.

Case is currently in the voir dire portion (meaning that they are selecting and weeding out jurors based on questioning).

2003-10-14T11:46:00.000-06:00

Excellent ruling on Medical Marijuana/Free Speech

Supreme Court justices on Tuesday rejected the Bush administration's request to consider whether the federal government can punish doctors for recommending or even discussing the use of marijuana for their patients.

The decision by the High Court cleared the way for state laws allowing ill patients to smoke marijuana if a doctor recommends it.

See CNN article here.

I'm not sure if I agree with the second paragraph above. The decision clears the way for doctors to recommend and discuss medical marijuana, but I am not sure how it otherwise overturns federal marijuana possession laws (they clear this up a bit later in the article).

The next fight will be to make possession under med marijuana laws legal and to get the federal government out of the picture in this arena.

2003-10-14T10:58:00.000-06:00

Supremes take Pledge case

The US Supreme Court announced that it will take the controversial 9th circuit decision regarding the Pledge of Allegiance, setting up a potentially contentious fight over the "under god" portion of the Pledge and its implication for the first amendment.

See CNN article here.

Interestingly:

The court also announced Justice Antonin Scalia took no part in consideration of the pledge case.

Newdow had asked Scalia to recuse himself from hearing the appeal. At a Religious Freedom Day rally in January, the conservative Scalia reportedly said any changes to the pledge should be done "democratically," through the legislatures, not the courts. He also reportedly said removing references to God from public forums would be "contrary to our whole tradition." Cameras were not allowed at the event.

The court offered no reason for Scalia's decision not to take part in the case. That leaves the potential for a contentious 4-4 split among the remaining justices when it comes time to issue a ruling. A tie vote would mean the pledge would be banned in schools in the 9th Circuit, and potentially could apply to all public schools in the United States.

Personally, I find the pledge of allegiance to be particularly meaningless. People pledge their allegiance through deeds and actions, not through mindless repetition and rote memorization of a speech.

Prior to the 1950's (I believe), we were one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. In the 1950's, it was modified so that we would be one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. There is no point in putting the "under God" reference into the pledge. If you believe in God, then you don't need to be reminded that we are "one nation under God." If you do not believe in God, then it does constitute a state adoption of a specific religion. Don't fall for the sucker argument that its just an expression and it doesn't refer to a specific God, or that its not a particularly meaningful phrase. If it weren't particularly meaningful, then there would be no need to fight to the death for it to be retained!

Much like the "historical documents" argument (used to support the 10 Commandments in public places), the fact of the matter is that people pushing these things have an overt agenda that they are trying to hide, and are not doing a very good job of doing so.

I can't see the Supreme Court upholding this decision, even with the 4-4 split. Who will stand up for the notion that we should not be forced to listen to government sanctioned sponsorship of religious support is spread far enough already. It pervades everything we do, whether everyone wants it or not (and frankly, there are numbers of people who don't want it!). I see it being 7-1 or 8-0 overturning the 9th circuit decision.

2003-10-14T10:00:00.000-06:00

Sniper Trial begins today

John Allen Muhammad not surprisingly pleads not guilty. See CNN story here for more.

The real question in this trial is whether or not Muhammad (and Malvo) can get an impartial jury. My trial has already been moved (if I recall properly) about 100 miles away from the original location, but the reality is that everyone in that area, whether they realize it or not, felt like they were victimized by the shooting. Everyone was a potential target. These shootings were not limited to one town or city. So it is my belief that they are still way too close to the shooting locales for an impartial jury to be drawn from the pool.

In addition, this case has received an insane amount of national publicity.

It will be critical to monitor this case to make sure that the trial is, in fact, carried out in an impartial manner.

2003-10-13T15:56:00.000-06:00

SunnComm drops suit

SunnComm, maker of the CD-protection-that-can-be-defeated-with-the-shift-key has decided to drop its lawsuit against the Princeton grad student that broke word. The explanation given is that they do not want to chill academic research.

See CNN story here.

I'm going to guess that the real reason is that they'd lose their lawsuit and they'd look really silly doing so.

2003-10-13T14:14:00.000-06:00

Frolic and detour

Looking at a list of top 100 novels, according to an article in The Guardian. See full list here.

I've only read 12 out of 100. Maybe its because I rarely read novels of late? Books I have recently finished include The Trial (Kafka) and Fast Food Nation (Schlosser) - both excellent books, I might add. Recent books I have started or am about to start are Amerika (Kafka, again) and Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them (Franken - which I was inspired to buy because of FoxNews lawsuit against Franken). Out of the list, I have read:

20. The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne
24. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland Lewis Carroll
31. Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain
48. The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald
49. The Trial Franz Kafka
53. Brave New World Aldous Huxley
59. Nineteen Eighty-Four George Orwell
61. Catcher in the Rye J.D. Salinger
63. Charlotte's Web E. B. White
64. The Lord Of The Rings J. R. R. Tolkien
73. To Kill A Mockingbird Harper Lee
74. Catch-22 Joseph Heller

Of course, the list seems skewed towards the British... But that's just me.

2003-10-13T13:42:00.000-06:00

Tobacco bans in prison

An interesting article on the impact of smoking bans in prisons, and how a new underground subculture has arisen from the ashes.

See Denver Post article here.

When we toured Erie County Correctional Facility (in western New York - Buffalo area), the warden brought up the interesting proposition that making cigarettes illegal almost completely eliminated illegal drug smuggling since tobacco became the top priority. The warden also mentioned many of the other problems associated with it, such as the integration of guards and prison employees into the smuggling ring (since cigarettes are presumably much easier and "safer" for the average citizen to get than smack). So none of this particularly surprises me.

2003-10-13T10:40:00.000-06:00

Classic legal humor

US District Court Judge Jerry Bruchmeyer has a blog of classic humor here. More geared towards those who like really bad legal humor.

2003-10-13T10:17:00.000-06:00

Lethal Injection Redux

Talk Left has an interesting article here on the controversy we wrote on last week, regarding the paralysis drug used in the lethal injection cocktail, and how it may be used to mask the incredible pain associated with the potassium chloride if the anesthetic does not work properly, giving the illusion of peaceful painless death.

Linkback to our original article here.

2003-10-13T10:08:00.000-06:00

George W. Bush Wants Neighbors to Reach Out & Touch Someone

"[W]hether they be Christian, Jew, or Muslim, or Hindu, people have heard the universal call to love a neighbor just like they'd like to be called themselves."

(via Slate)

2003-10-13T09:51:00.000-06:00

Prison Labor

Was watching the news show circuit this weekend and I caught (I believe) Edwin Meese on TV talking about a push to allow more privitization of prison jobs. That is, he wanted to make it easier for private companies to use prison labor.

My personal favorite part was this: A CNN anchor asked a painfully obvious question of - 'well, what about the 10 million citizens out there who are currently actively seeking jobs? Will this not take jobs away from them?'

Edwin Meese, expert deflector, responded that this was good, because this would actually prevent the jobs from going overseas. Duck. Deflect.

Prison labor poses a multitude of problems for private labor: Privitization of prison labor shifts private sector jobs to the prison workforce. This has several obvious effects: First, it drives wages down (increasing profit margins for corporations - plus, no need to pay prison labor health care benefits, sick leave, paid vacation, etc.). Second, it adds slack to our employment pool, which has the net effect of driving wages down across a broader spectrum (when those who lose their jobs to one sector begin funneling in to another, resulting in a surplus in other unrelated sectors).

In terms of prisoners, this also has some effects. Prisoners become the equivalent of indentured servants. One of the touted benefits is that prisoners will now be able to pay for their room and board (as if they were at a college dorm or some sort of swanky country club) - the suggestion is that prisoners will be required to work for whichever company has that prison's labor force. Along those lines, prisoners are also a captive labor force, forced to work for typically sub-minimum wages - an unusually cruel penalty for someone who might only be in prisoner for a minimal drug (or prescription drug - are you listening, Rush Limbaugh???) sentence.

Finally, it creates the incentive, especially in privatized prisons (and especially as we push harder to have more of them) to not grant parole or early release, no matter how deserving prisoners are. There is already that fear with private prisons there is little incentive for the private prison administrators to 'allow' for prisoners to have early release. Now, with their labor sorely needed to keep corporate profits in line, big business will work hand in hand with big prisons to insure that the maximum is squeezed out of the labor force.

Now lets consider for a moment. Prison labor in and of itself is not necessarily a bad thing. Idle prisoners are typically more dangerous than prisoners who are kept busy. But prisons do not exist to provide a cheap labor pool for corporations - they exist to serve the public interest in keeping dangerous people off the street, reforming those who can be reformed, and punishing those who need to be punished.

An alternative is for programs such as NY's CORCraft, where inmates made goods under state employment (when I toured Attica in the late 90's, I was told by the Warden that the goods produced were strictly for sale to state agencies and offices - I am not sure how true that is anymore). The result was that goods were produced cheaply and efficiently with the benefit going to the state and the people of that state. All of my dorm furniture was stamped as being made by CORCraft.

The mix of private sector profits and prison labor continues to be a little too distasteful to me.

2003-10-10T15:49:00.000-06:00

Rush Limbaugh quote of the week

And so if people are violating the law by doing drugs, they ought to be accused and they ought to be convicted and they ought to be sent up.

See Newsday article here. Via Daily Kos.
(supposedly said this back in the mid-90's)

2003-10-10T14:20:00.000-06:00

Rush's addiction

So Limbaugh admitted today that he was addicted to pain killers. See CNN story here.

There seems to be a divergence of opinion among left leaning folks. There is the "well, he is like everyone else...he needs help" line of thought, and there is the "f#!k him, let him wallow in the crap he's created" line of thought.

I fall somewhere in between. I don't care if Limbaugh is a drug addict. What I care about is the hatred and anger he has directed towards others who do drugs for whatever reason, and the inherent hypocrisy. So I hope he beats the addiction and the pain that allegedly caused it, and I hope he is defrocked from his moral seat.

Like Bennett, so goes Rush. Those who set themselves up as the beacon of morality and the authority on "The Way Things Ought To Be" will eventually fall.

2003-10-10T12:22:00.000-06:00

Hmmm

"Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue"

2003-10-10T11:28:00.000-06:00

Permalinks

Thanks to the folks at blogger, I now have actual bona fide permalinks to link directly to my articles. Entering the 21st century of blogging...

2003-10-10T10:55:00.000-06:00

Sully Cites Propoganda to Bolster Arguments
World Stands by - Not Surprised

Andrew Sullivan uncritically gives us an gushing review of what Paul Bremer had to say about Iraq. Here is some of the stuff that Sully was drooling over (see article here):

Six months ago there were no police on duty in Iraq.

Gee, Sully, you think? Now what do you think was going on Iraq 6 months ago that resulted in no police available? 6 months ago was mid-April, and they were in the middle of a war. Its ok, Sully. Rookie mistake.

Today there are over 40,000 police on duty, nearly 7,000 here in Baghdad alone.

No mention as to (A) how many were from the old regime, and (B) the fact that there aren't many other jobs in Iraq for people to have.

Last night Coalition Forces and Iraqi police conducted 1,731 joint patrols.

Assuming that (A) not every police officer works at the exact same time (meaning there were not 40,000 on duty), and (B) that multiple Iraqi police officers work together on each patrol, this is suggestive that a substantial number of Iraqi police (most, if not all) are doing joint patrols, suggesting that there is no real independent Iraqi police, but rather armed Iraqis in uniform who are an arm of the US military force in Iraq (although after the US gunned down a bunch of them last week, maybe they're afraid to go out without the US in tow).

Today nearly all of Iraq's 400 courts are functioning.

Must be the tort reform. Don't worry, once we get some more lawyers developed in Iraq, those courts will stop functioning ;-)

Today, for the first time in over a generation, the Iraqi judiciary is fully independent.

Except, of course, for that occupying army and civilian authority from another country. Fully independent. Just like Lebanon.

On Monday, October 6 power generation hit 4,518 megawatts—exceeding the pre-war average.

Umm, that is why it is called an average. I am sure that Iraq exceeded the pre-war average every so often before the war.

More Sullivan

And it goes on. Skipping ahead:

Six months ago teachers were paid as little as $5.33 per month.

I wonder if conservative Iraqis were complaining about overpaid teachers.

Today teachers earn from 12 to 25 times their former salaries.

$133.25 per month. What will they ever do with their riches? A bigger question would be: What is the cost of living now versus the cost of living before the war? That is the obvious problem with this sort of "oh, they only earn an average $3 a week" - well, gee, maybe in Chad or Iraq $3 goes a little further.
(skipping ahead...)

Today doctors’ salaries are at least eight times what they were under Saddam.

See analysis above regarding teachers.

Etc., etc. He goes on. Not a question in his mind.

Sullivan, this is the type of crap that journalists typically engage in. No critical analysis and no investigative reporting. Just regurgitating whatever they tell you. "Oh, yes sir, Mr. Bremer. Thanks for the scoop! Can I get you a cup of coffee, sir?"

(Note: Some typos corrected - this post was originally in one part, but I have split it to make it more readable)

2003-10-10T09:29:00.000-06:00

Australian PM censured!

Angered over allegedly misleading the Australian people into the war with Iraq, the Australian Senate has decided to censure their Prime Minister, John Howard.

Senator Brown said Mr Howard was involved in an unprecedented deceit of the nation and deserved censure.

He said Mr Howard had declared that Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and support of international terrorism threatened Australia and its people.

"It was under those circumstances of imminent, direct, undeniable and lethal threat to the Australian people that Prime Minister Howard asked our defence forces to take part in the invasion of Iraq," he said.

"It has become abundantly clear that the prime minister was not just a bit wrong. He was totally wrong."

See Australian News story here.

Regardless of what you think of the war, censure is a pretty strong action. Its one thing to mistakenly interpret the data and information. A censure is suggestive of a belief of intentional misleading.

Democrats Senator Lyn Allison said few Australians would dispute that they had been lied to over the pre-emptive attack on Iraq.

"It's quite possible our prime minister and our minister for foreign affairs were also lied to. I accept that this is a strong possibility," she said.

"So keen were they to join the US on the world stage and strut their stuff that I believe this government didn't care."

I wonder if there will be any fallout in the US and UK along these lines. I highly doubt it (in part because of uniformity of party control, but more so, because the media is completely and utterly incapable of reporting a story that requires investigative journalism - which makes Hitchens' forays into Iraq all the more admirable, since he took the risks on himself, rather than being an "embedded" journalist (I have maintained for a long time that Democrat or Republican in power, the government doesn't need a "state run media" because the media will almost always fall in line on their own).

2003-10-09T18:35:00.000-06:00

SunnComm threatens to sue student for defeating easily defeated anti-piracy software

Remember the other day we talked about a guy who figured out how to defeat music piracy protection software by holding down the shift key to disable Windows' autorun feature?

Well, SunnComm is now threatening to go after the student who figured it out and published the information with a $10 million lawsuit and referral to authorities for criminal investigation.

See UK Register story here.

Geez, if all it took was disabling the autorun feature on my computer, gosh it wasn't a very good protection in the first place. Even BMG in their original article said they knew it was not terribly effective and meant as a "speed bump.

SunnComm should be embarrassed that their software is so easily defeated, and any company (BMG!?) who bought it should feel ripped off right about now.

This reminds me of my mother-in-law's dog, Reggie. Reggie is a pudgy miniature dachshund. If you put him in the kitchen and put a 12 pack box and a rolled up newspaper on the floor, he will not leave the room - it matters not that there are huge holes in this "gate" that the dog could easily stroll through (and trust me - Reggie is not obedient - he is just lazy). This is how effective the SunnComm security protection is, from what I've read - it will only defeat the truly lazy. My thought is that they got what they deserved, and they should go back to the drawing board and find something that would actually work.

2003-10-09T14:04:00.000-06:00

Check out this blog

George W. Bush's blog does not allow for comments (gee, I wonder why), so someone put together a blog that posts the posts from W.'s blog and enables comments. Got it? Good. Via Mithras.

2003-10-09T13:28:00.000-06:00

Drug Czar wants to give school kids urine tests for drugs?!

From the Bennington Banner, click here for story. Via Talk Left.

From the story:

President Bush's drug czar told New England governors Wednesday that drug testing in schools would be an effective way to combat a growing problem of drug use among young people, but area school officials caution there are problems with it.

This is just an absurd idea, although I am sure that John Ashcroft is drooling at the thought of a no plea bargain approach to these evil children.

You do not check your civil rights at the school door. Repeat after me. You do not check your civil rights at the school door.

Quoting from Tinker v. Des Moines, in a case about free speech:

. . . .It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate. . . .

(Via landmarkcases.org)

As it is with speech, so it should be for such a search and seizure of bodily fluids & invasion of bodily privacy. There is no compelling argument to be made otherwise.

2003-10-09T12:31:00.000-06:00

Is Lethal Injection Cruel?

The Telegraph has an interesting article regarding implications for the 3 drug cocktail that currently constitutes our lethal injection regimen, and how one of the drugs that causes paralysis may result in a false sense of serene death. Click here for more.

The process is described as follows:

The standard US procedure is a staggered series of three injections. First a huge dose of a barbiturate, sodium thiopental or Penthothal, is injected, bringing loss of consciousness. Then there is the second injection of the muscle relaxant pancuronium bromide, which brings paralysis and stills the lungs. An injection of potassium chloride stops the heart.

Prof Deborah Denno of Fordham University, an expert in execution methods, said yesterday: "If you talk to anaesthesiologists, many say there's no purpose for pancuronium bromide in this context except to keep someone still, as the third drug used in this cocktail, the potassium chloride, is the drug that really kills you."

Witnesses at a hearing for Abdur'Rahman testified that an injection of potassium chloride would trigger excruciating pain, so that any failure with the initial anaesthetic would leave the condemned man conscious, paralysed and in agony.

Further quoting...

Witnesses at scores of executions have said death by lethal injection is a remarkably calm, almost peaceful affair. But death penalty opponents have launched a campaign to prove that the impression of calm may be false, caused by the use of a powerful muscle relaxant that paralyses those being executed.

The drug, pancuronium bromide, is banned in some states for use in putting down pets and strongly discouraged by the American Veterinary Medical Association with a warning that if used without perfect anaesthesia an animal "may perceive pain and distress after it is immobilised".

In a boost for the abolitionists, a judge in Tennessee, Ellen Hobbs-Lyle, has ruled that the drug's use "has no legitimate purpose".

I've made it no secret that the death penalty is barbaric. That the state would intentionally set out to end a person's life even after they are under control and no longer a threat to others flies in the face of our belief that we are somehow an advanced sophisticated society that values human life. It makes matters worse when we kill people and we try to write it off in a manner that makes it sound romanticized. 'Oh, we just put Sparky to sleep...he was a good dog, but was suffering oh so much...' becomes 'Oh, we just put Timothy McVeigh to sleep...he committed evil acts and he caused oh so much suffering, but he drifted off to sleep never to wake up.'

Its almost as if as a society, we want to have executions and we want clean hands when we do it. We want our cake and we want to eat it too (well, that makes little sense - why else would you want cake?). But the paradox is that you cannot have clean hands when you've killed someone.

Hopefully information about the drugs being used and how they work will open some minds about the value of capital punishment in our society.

Sorry, there is no clean way to kill people. Not by human beings, and not by our government.

2003-10-09T09:26:00.000-06:00

Cholesterol for the Courts

Talk Left has a piece here with some links on the new guidelines to go into effect on October 27, 2003 that will seriously limit the ability for downward departures from the sentencing guidelines and curb plea bargains. Among the provisions (quoting directly from the sentencing commission's letter, although its virtually the same as on Talk Left):

The Commission prohibited departures based solely on the existence of a plea agreement;

The Commission prohibited a number of existing grounds for downward departures: acceptance of responsibility, minor role in the offense, gambling addiction, and legally required restitution (e.g., repayment of victims of white collar offenses);

The Commission limited the availability of a departure based on family ties and responsibilities; aberrant behavior; and similar circumstances;

The Commission significantly limited both the availability and the extent of departures permissible for certain offenders with substantial criminal history;

The Commission implemented a directive authorizing limited departures pursuant to early disposition (fast track) programs authorized by the Attorney General and the U.S. Attorney;

The Commission also emphasized throughout the guideline amendment the requirement for courts to state with specificity their reasons for departures in order to comply with the PROTECT Act and to facilitate the Commission's ongoing monitoring of departure practice as well as appellate review.

I think Talk Left's analysis is spot on. This removes much of the incentive away from pleaing a case, meaning that our federal courts are about get real clogged real fast, and as Talk Left astutely points out, the effect on civil matters will be dramatic, since criminal takes precedent.

Combine this with John Ashcroft's dictate recently about always charging the max crimes and not pleaing down unless the accused can turn on someone much bigger...and thus it becomes cholesterol for the arteries of justice in our courts.

Put 2 and 2 together, and you quickly realize that there is no incentive to plead guilty when the offer is 25 to life down from 25 to life. Since the burden is on the state (supposedly), there is no reason to not play a little Russian roulette and force the system to meet their burden.

Sorry, but this is an idea that may sound good in principle, but in practice, it will prove to be a complete and utter mess.

2003-10-08T17:12:00.000-06:00

CNN says FBI bugged mayor's office

In Philadelphia, that is.

No actual story yet. Check out CNN.com.

Somebody better hope that there is a legit criminal investigation going on, because if there's not (and it turns out that this was politically motivated), some heads should be rolling.

2003-10-08T13:08:00.000-06:00

Blogs to look at

I took another look at Mousepads, Shoe Leather & Hope, and its actually a pretty decent pro-Dean blog, so I've added it to my blog list.

One thing I really like about the Dean campaign is it seems sincerely grass roots - almost in a Green Party sort of way (not that silly bogus populism you see from many candidates now...yeah..like W. Bush was grass roots - he was touted as the next Repub candidate for the White House even before Dole went down in defeat in '96).

I still haven't made up my mind as to who I want to win the nomination...each candidate (with the possible exception of Sharpton, who I still associate with such legendary frauds as Tawana Brawley) has something to offer in terms of ideas and positions.

But the Dean movement is definitely going to be difficult to beat. I am guessing that if Clark cannot recapture the grass roots element of his campaign, he will not win the nomination.

2003-10-08T11:08:00.000-06:00

Poor media coverage/gripe

Maybe its just me, but it was really bizarre, with 0% of the vote counted, for CNN to call the race for Arnold Schwarzenegger the second the voting finished.

My favorite part was that even though the first numbers showed different results, Wolf Blitzer smugly told us that they expected the polls to fall more in line with their own data.

There is something wrong with this attitude. That is, even if it did turn out that their data was correct.

Here is the problem with the media these days: The story all too often is more about them, rather than the story that they are covering. The first time I noticed this was when Christian Amanpour was on a roof in the middle of an attack (cannot recall if it was Iraq or Kosovo), and following a wave of American bombs, the CNN anchor asked if there were any injuries. Amanpour dutifully noted that she had not been able to mix with the people in the street to find out. The CNN anchor gave her a sharp correction and told Amanpour that he meant among the journalists on the roof. The big news wasn't that there was bombing, but rather, that all of the reporters covering the attacks were ok.

But more and more, we are seeing news specials and stories about how the news outlets are covering the news, and whether or not they are doing a good job (hint: if you have to do a news special on whether or not you are doing a good job, you are not doing a good job - the media is not supposed to be visible in that manner). In retrospect, the OJ Simpson case is probably an even more blatant, earlier example of where the media spent almost as much time covering themselves as they did the story.

And its just gotten worse and worse over the years. Now we are seeing it with their coverage of how they covered Iraq and Afghanistan. I expect that in the very near future we will see specials on their new post-2000 election exit polling. Then soon after we will see specials and stories on how the Kobe Bryant story was being covered. Its only a matter of time.

2003-10-08T10:27:00.000-06:00

Useless but relevant trivia

Why are legal pads yellow? See Yahoo story here for alleged answer. Via Fark.

Personally, I prefer white paper over yellow (despite the prolific amount of yellow post-it notes on my monitor - I can't find white post-its), and I prefer regular length pads to legal length pads (gee, none of my folders, notebooks, binders, etc. are legal pad length).

What do you know? Useless commentary to follow up useless trivia. Who would have predicted that???

2003-10-08T09:12:00.000-06:00

Its Governor Russ!
Woops...Its governor Gary Coleman!
Oh, Ahhhnold, not Arnold won

As virtually every living human being in the US with access to a radio, newspaper, television, internet or access to another human being with such access must know by now, the recall succeeded rather handily and Arnold Schwarzenegger is now governor, defeating Cruz Bustamante rather easily as well.

Some things to take out of this election:

Democrats outnumber Republicans by something on the order of 1 million in California. If you play your cards and record properly, any state can be in play during an election (not saying that Bush is going to win...).

The Republicans can take heart in the fact that they won in a fairly liberal Democrat state (albeit, with a fairly liberal Democrat Republican).

Republicans can also take heart that this was a fairly convincing trouncing.
The Democrats can take heart that people really do care about economic issues and that similar charges can be made about George W. Bush as were made against Gray Davis (inheriting a surplus and turning it into an gargantuan deficit).

The Democrats can also take heart in knowing that the insurgent won, beating the establishment. Right now, the Republicans are the establishment (as far as the federal government goes). This will not work for Gephardt, but it might work for a Dean or a Clark.

Cruz Bustamante is finished. He may complete his term as lieutenant Governor, but I can't imagine he will go anywhere after that after the way he tanked this race with his repeatedly subpar performance.

And Democrats - take heart. Schwarzenegger is allegedly fairly liberal with his social agenda (and probably strong enough to not be forced into adopting more conservative positions). There is no way McClintock would have won this race. Schwarzenegger's economic plan is unclear at this time, but I am pretty sure that the state legislature is a bit more Democratic.

2003-10-07T15:53:00.000-06:00

Copyright protection tool defeated...rather easily...

...Simply by holding down the shift key to prevent the encryption software from installing on your computer.

See Yahoo story here.

SunnComm, the company behind the software, had no comment. BMG treated us to this:

A spokesman for BMG, a unit of Bertelsmann AG (BERT.UL), said the company viewed the software as a "speed bump" to prevent mass piracy of the disc.

"We were fully aware that if someone held down the Shift key the first and every subsequent time (they played the disc) that the technology could be circumvented," BMG spokesman Nathaniel Brown told Reuters, adding the company "erred on the side of playability and flexibility."

Riiiiiiiiiight. Speed bump. That's what they're looking for. Speed bumps. Ones so easy to circumvent, that a 10 year old can defeat the protection.

Woops.

2003-10-07T15:28:00.000-06:00

No-Call list can be implemented pending appeals

The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals has issued an order stating that the National Do Not Call list can proceed with implementation while first amendment issues are being resolved.

See MSNBC story here.

Can this be a sign as to what the Court of Appeals thinks about the controversy?

2003-10-07T14:09:00.000-06:00

Prosecutors to appeal Moussaoui ruling

Following the (correct) decision by Judge Leonie Brinkema to bar certain evidence and the death penalty in the case of Zacarias Moussaoui (the alleged 20th hijacker), prosecutors announced that they will file an appeal to the 4th circuit court of appeals.

See FoxNews story here.

I still find the higher courts and Supreme Court to be not terribly trustworthy on the issue of handling cases such as this, however appealing this forces the government to make a most Kafka-esque argument that they should be able to prosecute Moussaoui, but Moussaoui should essentially be barred from access to exculpatory witnesses. Quoting from the article:

The government would be expected to renew arguments that the courts have no authority to interfere with decisions made by the executive branch about prisoners captured in a war. The government also has contended and will again that every word uttered by the prisoners could reveal classified information.

***

"There can be no doubt "said K., quite softly, for he was elated by the breathless attention of the meeting; in that stillness a subdued hum was audible which was more exciting than the wildest applause "there can be no doubt that behind all the actions of this court of justice, that is to say in my case, behind my arrest and today's interrogation, there is a great organization at work. An organization which not only employs corrupt warders, oafish Inspectors, and Examining Magistrates of whom the best that can be said is that they recognize their own limitations, but also has at its disposal a judicial hierarchy of high, indeed of the highest rank, with an indispensable and numerous retinue of servants, clerks, police, and other assistants, perhaps even hangmen, I do not shrink from that word. And the significance of this great organization, gentlemen? It consists in this, that innocent persons are accused of guilt, and senseless proceedings are put in motion against them..."

From The Trial - Franz Kafka

***

Now I don't know if Moussaoui is innocent or guilty. He has admitted to being an al Qaeda member and involved in other non-9/11 attacks, but that is not what he is charged with. I've made my point many times here, so I am not going to beat this dead horse again. But the reality is, as a person being tried under the auspices of the civilian courts, he should be afforded civilian court protections.

2003-10-07T09:38:00.000-06:00

Recall Day

Well, fortunately today is finally the election for the California recall. I was going to say that "well, today is the last day of the recall" but it seems possible that we'll end up in court, and I understand that there are something like 2 million absentee ballots that need to be counted.

Arnold Schwarzenegger will almost certainly lock up the replacement vote, so the bigger question in my mind is whether the recall succeeds or not. This will hinge strictly on what non-Schwarzenegger supporters do. It seems possible to me that there are supporters of candidates such as McClintock who will vote for McClintock, will know that McClintock will not win the replacement ballot, and then will be faced with the decision of whether or not they want a relatively liberal (for a Republican) and relatively wishy-washy in his ideas and platform (for a politician) to step into the governor's shoes. Schwazenegger's platform reminds me of Kang's platform from The Simpsons:

Kang: Abortions for all.
[crowd boos]
Very well, no abortions for anyone.
[crowd boos]
Hmm... Abortions for some, miniature American flags for others.
[crowd cheers and waves miniature flags]

(via The Simpsons Archive)

I can't make a prediction (I have already received an offer to bet a full burrito lunch from the Kaiser on this one that I had to turn down - in part because he owes me one already from the glorious defeat of the Denver Broncos this weekend). The vote to recall will be within 1 percentage point of 50 (ie, no more than 51-49 either way), and Schwarzenegger will comfortably take the replacement slate/

2003-10-06T16:38:00.000-06:00

Heatley charged with vehicular homicide

Following the death of Atlanta Thrasher Dan Snyder, NHL All Star forward Dany Heatley will be charged with vehicular homicide. As you may recall, Heatley was in an accident last week where he allegedly was driving at 80 miles per hour when his ferrari hit a brick support for a light post. Heatley suffered a broken jaw and two torn ligaments in his knee, meaning he likely will not play this year anyway.

See Sports Illustrated story here.

A tragic story all around. I didn't know very much about Snyder, but Heatley was a player who most NHL fans should be familiar with - a very young player whose star was very much on the rise.

Not much more to add to this story.

2003-10-06T13:19:00.000-06:00

Two new blawgs

Thanks to an email I received, I came across a couple of cool blawgs that I had not seen before (well, trust me - the list of blogs and blawgs that I haven't seen before is quite expansive - so feel free to email me more):

First, May It Please The Court is the blog of The Williams Law Firm.

The other is A Criminal Waste of Space which is a monthly column written by Justice William Bedsworth, an Associate Justice on the California Court of Appeals

I always wonder what you are going to find when you go to a law firm blog (as opposed to one like Ernie The Attorney, whose blog doesn't seem to be in anyway associated with his firm), and usually I am pretty surprised (pleasantly, I might add). One of the biggest fears I have is that I am going to just see a bunch of links to decisions and news articles. I want commentary, dammit! That is the amazing thing about a lot of law firm blogs - we are getting actual bona fide commentary and opinions. As it should be, and as this forum (blogging) is really designed for.

non-sequitur: by the way, I almost wrote "Court of Apples" instead of "Court of Appeals" - I worked with an attorney a few years ago who constantly referred to the Colorado Court of Appeals as the "Court of Apples" - I obviously try to keep this in check.

2003-10-06T12:38:00.000-06:00

Kobe Bryant's request denied

Kobe Bryant's defense team cannot have access to notes taken by a rape crisis counselor following the alleged sexual assault a few months ago.

See Denver Post story here.

2003-10-06T12:31:00.000-06:00

Madrid doctor ordered to pay child support
A doctor in Madrid (presumably Spain) has been ordered by a court to pay child support to a woman following sterilization surgery that left her able to conceive. The court ordered monthly payments of $281 (240 Euros) on the basis that the doctor did not adequately advise her that she could become pregnant following the surgery.

See Yahoo story here, via Fark.

2003-10-06T10:29:00.000-06:00

Supremes intervene in smokers judgment

The US Supreme Court granted an appeal today to set aside a judgment of a nearly $80 million judgment in the death of a 42 year smoker against cigarette maker Philip Morris.

See Findlaw article here.

Quoting from the article:

The justices sent the case back to the Oregon courts for additional consideration in view of their ruling in April that held that punitive damages must be reasonable and proportionate to the harm suffered.

The case stemmed from an Oregon Court of Appeals ruling last year that reinstated a jury's award of $79.5 million in punitive damages to the family of Jesse Williams, who died of lung cancer in 1997 after smoking Marlboro cigarettes for 42 years.

The jury in 1999 awarded his family $800,000 in compensatory damages and $79.5 million in punitive damages. The trial judge then cut the punitive damages award to $32 million, but the appeals court reinstated the jury's award.

Despite the best efforts of people to cap 'out of control' jury verdicts, the problem of adequate awards in these types of suits continue to vex our society. The problem is that it is extraordinarily difficult to place a value on something such as a life or a limb. Therefore, $79.5 million in punitives comes off as excessive. But the fact of the matter is, that the life can never be replaced. Same thing with a limb (if you think a prosthetic is "almost as good as the real thing" then you should find some people with prosthetics and ask them which they would rather have).

Some would argue that tort monetary judgments need to be capped because money is an unnatural remedy for loss of life or limb.

The reality is that for the most part, while money is an unnatural remedy, there is no other acceptable remedy.

Another argument people like to make is that punitives need to be in line with the actual damages. Therefore, if there are $800,000 in compensatory damages, the punitives should be no more than X (usually a few) times more than the compensatory damages.

I disagree. Punitives are not to granted to give a windfall to the plaintiff. The plaintiff may be the beneficiary, but punitives are punitive. They are designed to inflict painful monetary penalties against businesses that engage in egregious conduct. I admit that there is a flaw in the system that allows the plaintiff or the family of the victim to receive a windfall for their suffering (it seems rather callous to refer to it as such - which one of your close family members are you willing to sacrifice for a few million?).

Perhaps a resolution to the punitive windfall problem is as simple as following the doctrine of cy pres from trusts and estates. In trusts and estates, my understanding is that under cy pres when a gift to a charity fails because the charity no longer exists (or the recipient isn't clear) we follow the interpretation as closely as possible, which could conceivably mean giving it to another charity engaged in the same work (obviously I am not a trusts and estates lawyer).

Following that logic, if the family of a deceased smoker receives an $80,000,000 punitive award on top of an $800,000 damages award, then a resolution would go like this: $800,000 to the plaintiff. Some amount of the punitives, say 2 - 5 times the actual award, go to the plaintiff as well. A reasonable portion goes to the attorney (don't complain - attorneys often take these cases on contingency - a reasonable price to pay for having assumed the risk of no payment at all). Finally, the remainder would go, under our new quasi-cy pres, to a charity related to the cause of action - say, American Lung Association, or some other cure-cancer related group (all punitives could go into a fund, and groups would need to apply for dispersal).

The problem with the logic of $250,000 caps is that while it is a lot of money for you and I, it is not a lot of money for Philip Morris. Punitives are supposed to be punitive. That is, they are supposed to hurt.

2003-10-05T15:54:00.000-06:00

Oh, on the Palestinian-Israel conflict

I read in today's Denver Post that the woman believed responsible for the latest suicide bombing in Haifa, Israel was an "apprentice lawyer" - I am not sure what that means in Palestine, but I suppose I could guess. See Denver Post story here.

I find that interesting that the bomber in this case was a professional. Previously, many of the bombers seemed to be kids or teenagers, although I have no statistics to back that up.

Today, Israel responded by bombing an alleged terrorist training facility deep in Syria, its first attack inside Syria since the 1973 Yom Kippur War. See CNN story here for more.

I know that many people who I normally agree with on virtually every issue will take a pro-Palestinian view and jump all over Israel with criticism. However, it would be interesting to do a graph to track the timing of Israel's strikes and the timing of Palestinian strikes. I am pretty sure that with the exception of taking out a handful of ticking bombs and leaders who have publicly claimed responsibility, the Israeli strikes come after Palestinian strikes, and not vice versa. That is why a couple of months ago we had the absurd specter of Hamas bombing an Israeli bus, Israel retaliating against the bomber, and then Hamas saying 'that's it, the cease fire is over'.

I am not saying that there is not a legitimate gripe amongst the Palestinians. There is. Much as the Israelis before, many have been displaced from their lands, although I don't see many middle class activists in this country offering to give their land back to our aborigines (native Americans), there have been opportunities for an equitable sentiment.

I am not sure what the proper solution is, however, this is an issue that could use a bit more objectivity from all sides.

Of course, with objectivity on both sides, there wouldn't be too much to fight (or litigate) over in general.

2003-10-05T15:40:00.000-06:00

A nice day

I am more of a winter person...I prefer snow, clouds, etc. To me, late December/early January in western New York/Buffalo/Fredonia is the ideal weather, when the lake effect kicks in and while the snow bands may meander back and forth, you can go days with heavy snow falling.

We don't really get that here in Colorado. At least in the Denver metro area. Well, there's not much lake effect in Colorado because there isn't much water. Logical. But in general, there isn't that much snow here outside the mountains. Oh, we had the blizzard in March that dumped 40 to 50 inches in some suburbs, but the reality is, that one storm was probably about as much as I've seen in any other full winter since I've been here. In total (of course, our snow melts in a day, so it was shocking to see snow stick around for a week).

Anyway, this week (including today) we have a Chinook weather pattern (the new dog, a black lab, will appreciate it since he's not used to the cold), so it is in the 70's. Hopefully this week will be the calm before the storm.

In the meantime, lots to talk about it, but enjoy your weekend and there'll be more Monday.

2003-10-03T14:14:00.000-06:00

Lots of hay over answers in Lim-baugh

I've noticed a lot of blogs out there chastising Rush Limbaugh for his "I need to find out what is going on" response to allegations of illegal drug use. I have to admit, that if he is in fact involved in illegal drug use, there is a certain dark internal satisfaction of some hypocrisy being exposed (be it from the far right or the far left).

However, I am here to suggest a little common sense regarding his comments. Right now, as it stands, there is a potential that Rush Limbaugh might face serious felony charges that carry real time in prison. I don't see it as likely (or I imagine that if such charges came, he'd plead his way into rehab). But anything Rush Limbaugh says on the radio is broadcast to untold millions of people. Clearly, you must see where this is going.

If he admits that he is an abuser of illegal drugs, his on-air confessional could possibly be used against him in a criminal trial.

Even if he has never touched the drugs (or if significant amounts of time have elapsed since the last use), he still needs to be careful with the words he uses to convey that message, since he might be or might come under police investigation. People are wrongly convicted. It happens.

The reality is, assuming he is a illegal drug abuser (again, no proof yet that he is), taking responsibility for your actions does not necessarily mean you abrogate your rights to fair process in a criminal trial setting.

The fact of the matter is, his attorney Roy Black (a very well respected criminal attorney who is frequently consulted on television) probably told him to keep his mouth shut about whether he did it or not.

And, given the circumstances, that is the best advice I could imagine.

2003-10-03T13:33:00.000-06:00

DNA/blood database declared unconstitutional

The good news is that a 3 year old database created by the FBI to catalog DNA from federal prisoners and parolees has been declared unconstitutional.

The bad news is that it was done by a 3 judge panel in ... you guessed it ... the 9th circuit.

See CNN article here for more.

I agree in principle that this is the right decision. To bolster their ruling:

Among the cases, the Supreme Court said in 2001 that South Carolina could not test pregnant women in hospitals for illegal drugs without probable cause that the patients were using drugs. And the high court allowed roadside checkpoints for drunken drivers for safety reasons, but said the stops could not be used as a pretext for drug interdiction

Its possible that an argument will be made in favor of the databases that straddles the line here, although such a database would almost certainly (following the 9th circuit ruling) have to be kept separate from other law enforcement databases.

A decision like this impacts the federal system, as well as a substantial number of states who have similar systems, so there is a reasonable chance that the Supreme Court will agree to hear arguments, if only because I suspect that some of them really enjoy putting the smack down on the 9th circuit.

2003-10-03T10:42:00.000-06:00

Saudi Arabian official was at the same hotel as some of the hijackers the night of 9/10/01???

And then, despite FBI requests that he not be allowed to leave without questioning, was allowed to leave????

Instapundit has the story here.

The pieces that are falling into place aren't forming a distinct puzzle picture for us to see clearly, but too many of the pieces that are falling into place have Saudi Arabia written all over them.

I think a real (and public released!) investigation is required. If we never get to the bottom of this, people will forever assume Saudi Arabia played an active part, even if they didn't. If they did play an active part, they committed an act of war against us. Why do you suppose so many people think that we invaded the wrong country in March, 2003?

The part I find so troubling in all of this is the closeness of the Bush family to the Saudi royal family. One gets the sense that at the bare minimum, President Bush doesn't want to see these issues. All the more reason for outside independent investigation.

2003-10-03T09:37:00.000-06:00

Arnold & Hitler?

From ABCNews, via Atrios:

I Admired Hitler

Yet even as he tried to put out that fire, another broke out.

ABCNEWS obtained a copy of an unpublished book proposal with quotes from a verbatim transcript of an interview Schwarzenegger gave in 1975 while making the film Pumping Iron.

Asked who his heroes are, he answered, "I admired Hitler, for instance, because he came from being a little man with almost no formal education, up to power. I admire him for being such a good public speaker and for what he did with it."

He is quoted as saying he wished he could have an experience, "like Hitler in the Nuremberg stadium. And have all those people scream at you and just being total agreement whatever you say."

Click here for full article.

Now I wouldn't jump all over this as necessarily being anti-semitic, although I know some people will. It is entirelplausiblele for someone to admire certain qualities that Hitler possessed in terms of his ability to rally a nation behind it, but still loath much of the methodology employed and the end that was sought. It iplausiblele to say that Hitler was, for his own end, a good orator who knew what to say in front of various crowds.

But why would you answer this in response to a question about who your heroes are?

I've never seen anything from Arnold Schwarzenegger to suggest he was anti-semitic (although there are claims from people who have worked with him that he is racist, and there are plenty of allegations that he mistreats women, so why should this be different?).

But, between this and his love for Kurt Waldheim (former Nazi SS and Austrian (Prime?) Minister and head of the UN) plus the charges of racism and sexism, it definitely has to make you wonder what California is getting itself into.

Either way, I am pretty sure that California will get exactly what it deserves in this case.

2003-10-02T13:25:00.000-06:00

Judge Brinkema sanctions prosecutors in Moussaoui case

Federal Judge Leonie Brinkema has ruled that the prosecution in the Zacarias Moussaoui case may not present evidence that Moussaoui had advanced knowledge of the 9/11 attacks. The ruling follows continued government refusals to present witnesses such as Ramzi bin al Shibh and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (both considered masterminds and key planners in the 9/11 attacks) to be deposed and presented as possible witnesses.

See CNN story here.

The article says:

The prosecutors opposed letting Moussaoui depose detainees and defied Brinkema's order to make them available, saying such actions would disrupt their interrogations and subvert the president's constitutional powers as commander-in-chief to conduct the war on terrorism.

This sets this up for almost immediate appeal (the decision was stayed by Judge Brinkema pending appeal) and the possibility that this case will be removed from the civilian courts to a military tribunal if the decision is upheld.

Unfortunately, too many judges seem to be taking the "defer to the executive in a time of war" approach. Unfortunately "defer to the executive" is a nice way of saying "circumvent the US Constitution."

I am hopeful that the Court of Appeals and (eventually) the US Supreme Court will see this the right way and uphold Brinkema's sanctions, but somehow I remain doubtful. Either way, I will continue to monitor this case and post with new developments.

2003-10-02T11:11:00.000-06:00

Today's Lesson: Why we need SullyWatch

So class, today we are going to read a news story. It is allegedly from the Associated Press, and although the subject is of critical national and global importance, it is only being reported in the Hindustan Times. It sites unnamed sources about an undisclosed amount of 'chemical and biological weapons' being transported by unnamed sources in Iraq, being sold to unnamed sources in Kuwait (which is a curious place to conduct your chem weapon deal), to be transported to an unnamed country down the road. Even the person who wrote about the story a full day ago, InstaPundit, has now updated his initial post with critical comments suggesting that the story is bogus.

Young Andrew Sullivan, apparently just returning from a trip to the restroom without hearing of or thinking about any of these criticisms, raises his hand and says:

CLOSING IN I? Why is this not big news? It's an AP report, after all.

The teacher, Legal Memo-Random, slams his book on the table, and says: If you had been paying attention and critically reading the news story in the Hindustan Times, you will notice some good reasons as to why nobody is reporting the story - that is, because the story is probably bogus.

Does Sullivan think that with all the pressure over the Iraq situation, that if he had tangible WMDs, he wouldn't go public with it? That Bush is sitting around saying "we'd better hold off on reporting this stuff, because it might look too opportunistic of us"???? You also note, oh Mr. "It's an AP report, after all" that the story, if it is on the AP website, is virtually impossible to find. I highly doubt that the AP unearthed this story and felt it best to let the Hindustan Times get all of the credit.

Do some critical thinking, young man! This story is probably as true as a $250 Nieman Marcus cookie recipe. Oh wait...you didn't think....oh...never mind.

2003-10-02T10:30:00.000-06:00

Violence Silence

Slate has an excellent article that does a good job doing preliminary exploration of the issue of rape and violence in the American prison system. See story here.

It is depressing that in the 21st century, in what many Americans like to consider one of the most culturally and scientifically advanced societies ever, that not only do we have this problem, but the apprehension to discuss it or address it compounds the issue.

Unfortunately, many people take rationalizing attitudes about inmates in prison. For example, when a Jeffrey Dahmer or John Geoghan is murdered in prison, after the initial surprise of the story, many people write it off and disregard it as if it were a story of a mountain lion killing a deer in Rocky Mountain National Park. It happens. Its prison. They're savages. They deserved it. After all, Dahmer was a homosexual serial killer and Geoghan was a serial pedophile who abused his position to abuse boys left in his charge. When Geoghan was murdered last month, we all heard the comments that child molesters are the bottom rung on the prison hierarchy. People then shrugged their shoulders as if to say "its true..." (as if most people in society who have never set a foot in prison are qualified to talk of prison hierarchies).

I visited two prisons/jails while in law school as part of a class. The first was Attica, which has a reputation as one of the toughest prisons in the country. The second was Erie County Correctional Facility (a county jail). You cannot appreciate the despair and helplessness/hopelessness that permeates these types of institutions without going to one and seeing what they are all about. TV and the movies do not do it justice. You cannot smell the stench of urine. You cannot feel the momentary paranoia when they lock the gate behind you before they'll open the gate in front of you. You hear stories about not making eye contact with inmates, but on TV you can gawk. When you are escorted through Attica, everyone notices that you are there, and then you really have to avoid making eye contact. The cells are small - real small - much smaller than one would imagine from television. You don't see the yellow lines painted on the floor that tell prisoners where they must stand during certain routines and waits. In Attica they have a display case that shows some of the more creative shanks that have been confiscated. I didn't realize you could make a knife out of half the materials you see (or, at least, it never occurred to me that in a prison setting, you'd be able to do so). Having toured these two institutions, I still cannot say that I come close to understanding what goes on in a prison setting, except to say that whatever they show on TV does not convey a very accurate picture. The HBO show OZ does a more interesting complete job (although people are killed every day - I highly doubt that a prison could sustain a murder each day), despite its soap opera tendencies.

But as a society, we accept prison barbarism and brutality and write it off in a way that suggests that we think we know what its all about, or that these people somehow deserved it.

Here is one reality though that is undeniable though. When the state takes custody of an individual, the state should be responsible for that individual's well being. Prisons should not be thought of as some warehouse to store human beings - this is one of the coldest and inhumane things a society can do. Even if you believe that the first and foremost goal of prison is to punish/give retribution, there are some considerations: (A) the punishment should be meted out by the states, not other inmates and not guards; and (B) even with punishment the primary goal, there has to be consideration to what will happen to these people when they are released.

Presumably, unless you happen to be in the business of running private prisons (they exist), society as a whole should have at the bare minimum, the ultimate goal of people returning to society to lawfully function after their time is up. That is the whole idea behind education in prison, faith based programs, anything to reduce recidivism and get these people back into society so that they can function again. However, it would be naive to think that our current system, with its minimalist protections and minimalist efforts to rehabilitate, is geared towards that goal. It would be naive to think that a prisoner who is repeatedly subject to assault, abuse and rape, is going to somehow just return to society when his or her sentence is up. And it would be just as naive to think that someone who spent his or her entire time in prison acting like a criminal (committing assault, rape, etc.) is going to somehow return to society when the gig is up and function like a lawful adult.

Winston Churchill said it best when he said (paraphrasing) that a good measure of society is how they treat their prisoners. Well, you can whine about free cable TV, education and 3 meals a day until you realize that for many of these people, the price they pay is violence, rape, their dignity and sometimes their lives.

Doesn't seem like a bargain to me.

2003-10-02T09:57:00.000-06:00

Rush Limbaugh, a drug addict?

Fox News is reporting that Rush Limbaugh, who just resigned his ESPN gig due to controversial comments about the media hyping a black quarterback, is now under investigation for abuse of prescription drugs by the Palm Beach County (Florida) state Attorney General office. The drug is allegedly OxyContin.

See Fox News story here.

I have to imagine that all the mandatory minimums types and tough on crime types will be demanding that Rush Limbaugh face the maximum penalties for his behavior, if it turns out to be true.

2003-10-01T17:33:00.000-06:00

Interesting interview

Joshua Marshall at Talking Points Memo has an interesting interview he did with Democratic Presidential hopeful General Wesley Clark here.

I'll have more to say on the contenders at a later time.

2003-10-01T17:24:00.000-06:00

Where no smoke, we'll try to make some

Reaching all the way out to the Hindustan Times and digging up this AP story, Instapundit leaps and pounces onto a story about an attempt to smuggle some WMDs across the border from Iraq into Kuwait. Here is the archive link.

Here is how InstaPundit reports it:

SOUNDS LIKE THEY FOUND SOME WMDS:

He then follows it up with a quote from the article, with a 'lets see if it pans out.'

I would highly recommend reading the article. It is loaded with unnamed sources, weapons going to unnamed places, coming from unnamed people/sources, missing facts (such as, just how much chemical and bio weapons is $60 million worth - an envelope or two of weaponized anthrax?), etc.

In other words, its hardly what one would describe as "sounds like they found some WMDs" - hell, we found some WMDs in this country the hard way right after 9/11/01, and we still have no idea where it came from or who sent it (the government has even sort of apologized to Steven Hatfill for calling him a Person of Interest - whoops...sorry we screwed up your life).

In fact, until facts come to light, this seems similar to what President George W. Bush did/does when he sits there saying Iraq, 9/11 and terrorism in the same sentence - its making an unsubstantiated implication.

2003-10-01T13:28:00.000-06:00

Washington can still be the Redskins

A federal judge has ruled that the Washington Redskins may retain the rights to their name following his decision that there was insufficient evidence that Redskins was a disparaging term.

See Findlaw story here.

Not sure if its disparaging? Why not ask a Native American what they think? Its hard to imagine that we are actually in the 21st century.

2003-10-01T13:17:00.000-06:00

Above the law?

Jefferson County (Colorado) Treasurer Mark Paschall has been handing out pamphlets (is a 63 page booklet still a pamphlet?) at the Jefferson County Courts facility. The booklets urge jurors that they are in fact above the law, and that they should rely on jury nullification to reach a judgment that conforms with God's law, if not regular law.

See Denver Post story here.

What this has to do with a treasurer, I am not sure.

Several county employees complained when copies of the "Citizens Rule Book" appeared in a hallway display during last week's 10th anniversary of the county building.

Looks like JeffCo might be exposed to liability here due to the appearance of official sanction.

2003-10-01T12:50:00.000-06:00

Finally done

Some of you know that aside from my regular day job (no, I don't sing), I also teach classes (as an adjunct instructor) at night at a local private community college type school that offers certificates in, among other things, paralegal studies and criminal justice. Some of the classes I've taught in the last year include Torts, Legal Ethics & Social Responsibility, and now Legal Research & Writing II.

Yesterday marked my last class for this term teaching Legal Research & Writing II, and the start of at least a 1 term break from teaching a the school (I was asked to teach Property this term, but my work load and home life - trying to stop new 10 week old black lab puppy from peeing all over the carpet, holidays, etc. - is not conducive to teaching another new class from scratch).

Of course, I still have to grade finals, and I still have to grade final projects (I should make an effort to find out when all of that is due). But, all in all, its been a good class to teach with a good group of students, and now I am glad to have my Tuesday nights back. I am also glad that I do not have to eat Chipotle for dinner every Tuesday night (I like Chipotle, but I hated being forced to eat it every tues night - I chose Chipotle because I felt it was the only food I could bring that could survive 4 hours in my classroom, yet not taste any different.

I've been teaching at this school for a year now, and each class is different, but enjoyable in a unique way. I think most lawyers reach a point in their careers where they wonder if they really want to be an attorney. Afterall, the work isn't necessarily glamorous, the pay isn't necessarily high, and the hours tend to suck. I admit, I am no different, and many attorneys I know have admitted that personal struggle to me.

Some of my students have asked me over the course of their careers at the college what I thought about various career paths that they were interested in. I told them that they should make sure that they are doing what they want to do, and not what someone else thinks they should do.

More to come?

2003-10-01T10:31:00.000-06:00

Why people hate the airline industry

Posting has been slow today. I am frustratedly (is that a word?) trying to find tickets to New York for the thanksgiving holidays. Our "discount" airline Frontier is one of the absolute most expensive flights, and Spirit, Jet Blue, Air Tran and ATA aren't that far behind.

(and by expensive, I mean $700 round trip per person. Thanks, Frontier. Glad to know that you are here for us. I like to have skilled pilots and all, but it is a glorified taxi trip)

2003-09-30T15:05:00.000-06:00

Was it Rove?

Atrios is reporting, via the Guardian, that fingers are starting to point towards Karl Rove as the man responsible for outing Valerie Plame as a CIA operative.

Of course, this is from the Guardian, and the facts just aren't as straight forward as I like them to be (ie, still too many people speaking off the record, without revealing their names, etc.). Interestingly, Rove is the individual identified by Plame's husband Joseph Wilson. It is also believed that Rove was fired from George H. W. Bush's 1992 campaign for planting a story with Robert Novak (the very same journalist at the center of this story).

On the other hand, Kicking Ass (the DNC blog) has observed:

The [Justice] department notified the counsel's office about 8:30 p.m. Monday that it was launching an investigation but said the White House could wait until the next morning to notify staff and direct them to preserve relevant material, McClellan said.

A heads up? No need to notify staff on a hot story until the next day to preserve documents (yes, it was 8:30 pm, but somehow I have to imagine that our government never truly shuts down).

Something doesn't smell right here.

2003-09-30T11:21:00.000-06:00

The Plame Game

The Valerie Plame story (the outed CIA agent) continues to twist in the wind, with a Justice Department investigation underway. Lets not pretend this is a minor story. The worst case scenario is that a senior member of the Bush administration (her husband, Joseph Wilson, alleges that it was Karl Rove) told Robert Novak and possibly 6 journalists on a cold contact call that Valerie Plame was a CIA agent. In this worst case scenario, Plame was an undercover operative, meaning that everything she's worked on is now at risk, our national security could be compromised, her career as an undercover operative is ruined, Plame and Wilson's lives are at risk, and any person Plame worked with in her capacity is now at risk (including CIA operatives and natives in other countries that she worked with). Outing an undercover operative is a federal crime. This is serious business and demands a serious investigation. At the bare minimum, damage control needs to be done to insure that other agents in the field feel secure in their positions.

The story starts to really twist and turn and hedge on Robert Novak. It was his column that revealed the leak, and now he is changing his mind. Joshua Marshall at Talking Points Memo (a real journalist, not just a blogger) has been covering the budding scandal (?) at a furious pace.

Here is what Novak originally said in his July 15 column:

Wilson never worked for the CIA, but his wife, Valerie Plame, is an Agency operative on weapons of mass destruction. Two senior administration officials told me Wilson's wife suggested sending him to Niger to investigate the Italian report. The CIA says its counter-proliferation officials selected Wilson and asked his wife to contact him. "I will not answer any question about my wife," Wilson told me.

Via Talking Points Memo link here.

Lets read this carefully: Valerie Plame worked for the CIA. She was an agency operative on weapons of mass destruction. This seems to be confirmed by two senior administration (presumably G. W. Bush and his White House staff).

Novak changes his story now:

Nobody in the Bush administration called me to leak this. In July I was interviewing a senior administration official on Ambassador Wilson's report when he told me the trip was inspired by his wife, a CIA employee working on weapons of mass destruction.

Again from TPM here.

One gets the sense that either Novak is backtracking and covering his own tracks, or that he is in one place or another lying. Or both.

Again, I suggest going to TPM to follow up on Marshall's excellent coverage of this.

2003-09-30T10:56:00.000-06:00

Congratulations

...To the 2.4 million new members who have joined the ranks of the medically uninsured.

See MSNBC story here.

43.6 million without health insurance in the US (a national shame that with a country holding so much riches, that as much as 1/5 or 1/6 of the population can't afford to medically protect themselves).

This is becoming a much bigger political hot potato (and more hot potato than football) and will be something to watch for in the 2004 election.

I would say that right now, a substantial portion (probably a majority) of people do not want "national health insurance." However, with the corresponding steep increase in medical insurance and medical care costs, it makes you wonder. Its like how people sit on a major highway during rush hour that doesn't move day after day after day, and these people who are wasting their money on gas and engine wear, as well as their time, still don't want to support the kind of mass transit solutions that could alleviate these problems.

All it would take is a credible affordable solution (and we are the richest nation on earth, or so they tell us, so we should be able to afford anything we want if we put ourselves to it), and this becomes a big big issue in 2004. Of course, with the national deficit shooting to the stratosphere, there may not be much money left to spend, but the reality is, a single candidate with a solid overall vision and plan can make real hay.

2003-09-30T10:24:00.000-06:00

Judicial backlash

CNN posts an interesting article here about how some Federal Judges are opposed to Attorney General John Ashcroft's attempts to crack down on plea bargains and deviation from the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. Here is the gist of the article:

Last week, federal judges urged repeal of a law that was sought by Ashcroft earlier this year making it more difficult for them to impose lighter sentences than specified in guidelines approved by Congress more than 15 years ago.

The Judicial Conference of the United States, headed by conservative Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, voted unanimously to support overturning the law, which also requires reports to Congress on any judge who departs from the sentencing guidelines. Rehnquist had complained about the law when it was passed.

In another development last week, Ashcroft limited the freedom of prosecutors to strike plea bargains in criminal cases. He said that U.S. attorneys must seek the toughest punishment possible in nearly all cases, using plea bargains only in special situations.

Now, fewer than 5 percent of federal cases go to trial.

"If there were no guilty pleas, the courts could work 365 days a year, 24 hours a day and not try all the cases," said senior U.S. District Judge Neal Biggers Jr. of Oxford, Mississippi, named to the bench in 1984 by President Reagan.

Its interesting to note that many of the judges behind this are conservative judges (like Rehnquist) and other Conservative appointed judges. See the article for more.

2003-09-30T10:18:00.000-06:00

Infiltration?

A third individual connected to Guantanomo Bay has been arrested/detained on suspicions of espionage. Ahmed Melhalba was arrested at Boston's Logan Airport allegedly carrying CDs and paper documents related to detainees (al Qaeda and Taliban inmates are being held there) at the military base.

See CNN story here for more.

Melhalba is a civilian translator and was returning from Egypt. How a civilian translator was able to get their hands on any items of significance seems a little suspicious, and suggests that if he is not related to the other two being held, then there must still be people within the Guantanomo prison that are involved in espionage.

As far as I can tell, the military has two options: (A) dig out the infiltrators ASAP and rid themselves of the problem, or (B) do a wholesale change of those responsible for security and work at the prison area and this time, do a good job with security.

It also raises an intriguing, although unsubstantiated problem: It seems likely that either these people are either al Qaeda infiltrators, or they were somehow co-opted (something that is generally difficult to imagine in the military, but I suppose it is possible - Americans have been known to work as foreign spies).

The other option that comes to mind stems from an article that first appeared with the arrest of Army chaplain Yee (the first Muslim detained in connection with this), and that was a statement that it was not all that unusual to have sloppy security procedures with Guantanomo anyway. Was this a sting to target Muslims who were being just as sloppy as anyone else? Or is internal security just a mess?

It would seem that this is crying for a real investigation.

2003-09-29T13:01:00.000-06:00

Bizarre settlement

A group of people who had a class action against DeConna Ice Cream (maker of Big Daddy ice cream) agreed to a settlement worth approximately $1.2 million. The class had alleged that ice cream had been mislabeled, stating it had considerably less calories and fat than the ice cream actually had (100 cals, 2g fat versus 300 cals, 7g fat).

The bizarre part is this: People who bought the ice cream and fall into the class can either get a refund or - free ice cream!

Under the settlement, plaintiffs with receipts will receive either refunds or two free cups of Big Daddy ice cream for each cup they purchased. Without receipts, plaintiffs can only get ice cream, with a maximum of 12 cups.

About $25,000 of the $1.2 million settlement has been set aside for refunds.

All class members that submit claims will also receive four coupons for 25 cents off the purchase of single cups of Big Daddy.

See Kansas City Star story here.

Aside the obvious fact that ice cream is probably not the most compatible item for a diet (why else would one eat low fat ice cream - because they got sick of the good taste of regular ice cream?), why would these same people now accept payment..in ice cream?!?!?!? I wonder how the settlement order was worded. 'Each class member shall be entitled to 1 free cup of delicious, creamy, wonderful Big Daddy Ice Cream for each thoroughly enjoyed cup of Big Daddy Ice Cream previously purchased (offer does not apply to peanut butter & chocolate).'

I wonder if the lawyers will be paid in ice cream...

Where does Fark get this stuff from?

2003-09-29T12:50:00.000-06:00

Get Your Undercover CIA Agent On

Get Your War On has a good take on the Valerie Plame story here (see panel under 9/29/03 entry).

2003-09-29T12:48:00.000-06:00

Trying to leave the 21st Century

But, they're going backwards, not forward.

This story here has Indonesia, not one of our most forward looking allies, on a quest to bring their country into the 15th century by making oral sex, homosexual sex and extramarital/pre marital sex illegal.

See Yahoo story here. Via Fark.

No doubt, with their little step backwards, religious conservatives and social dinosaurs will cheer and the folks who run the White House will tell us that they are a valuable valuable ally in the war against terrorism.

2003-09-29T09:13:00.000-06:00

Why not a scandal?

Sometimes, in politics, things pop up and become a major scandal, and for the life of you, you can never figure out why. Certain scandals of President Clinton's, for example (although some of them were legitimate scandals), were never based on any substantive evidence, but the press and public (well, certain segments of the public) became obsessed with them.

Of course, on the other hand, various things become public that for some reason, never become a scandal. There can be a variety of reasons why. Sometimes the evidence is lacking (the whole Niger Yellow Cake thing, for one, became popular because it was suggestive that the Bush administration knew the whole (or part of the) Iraq-Weapons of Mass Destruction thing was bogus and lied anyway. It never really caught fire because ultimately, the evidence was lacking, it didn't point to the right people, and overall, it seemed rather tangential. Oh, and it didn't have anything to do with sex.

Then there is this, the Valerie Plame story. Some of you might remember that this story started with a column by Robert Novak, where he claimed that senior White House staff revealed the name of an undercover CIA operative to him. That operative, Valerie Plame, is the wife of a former US Ambassador who called the above referenced Niger yellow cake story into question.

Senior White House staff/personnel can only mean a handful or two of people. Therefore, this naturally rises to the top. Revealing the identity of an undercover CIA operative is a criminal act. Literally.

Atrios links to an ABCNews story here. The story states that the Justice department is now probing the allegations.

Needless to say, if this in fact happened, this is a criminal act of the highest order, and is almost (in my mind) treasonous, because it is political gain above the security of this country. Who knows what damage is done when an undercover agent is outed. It puts Plames life at risk (which I am sure is a risk she accepted, although it does so unnecessarily), and it puts any other contacts she had at risk.

Why hasn't this caught on? Its possible that people do not think that Novak is a reputable writer (although I highly doubt that). My belief is that this is just a little too complicated for the average news team - much more complicated than oral sex.

It is inappropriate for Justice, headed by one White House appointee, to investigate the White House. An independent investigator is called for in this case to restore integrity to our security apparatus.

2003-09-26T16:54:00.000-06:00

FTC to appeal Denver ruling

The FTC has said that they plan to appeal the ruling made yesterday by Judge Notthingham striking down the federal no call list on first amendment grounds.

See Findlaw article here.

2003-09-26T14:44:00.000-06:00

Ignorance from "Mallard Fillmore"

One of the things I've grown to appreciate over the years is solid political humor. I admit that while I don't agree with Rush Limbaugh on virtually anything, there were times where I found him to be a good entertainer (way back when Clinton was first elected president - note, I said entertainer, as in I found him entertaining - but not necessarily factual or accurate). I admit that since I tend to lean towards the left, my taste in humor tends to follow. That doesn't mean I can't appreciate a clever joke though (even if it is directed at me or my viewpoint). In fact, its one of the few things that helps me cope with being an attorney sometimes.

One thing I hate though is when the humor is based on a complete (and maybe intentional?) misrepresentation of facts to build its case (because obviously even humor has an agenda).

That brings us to today's Mallard Fillmore by Bruce Tinsley (at least, the one in today's Denver Post, as this cartoon is not yet on that website):

Panel One: Mallard Presents... A Tale of Two Cities...
Panel Two:(which features a representation of presumably a cuban woman): "I came here from Havana to escape oppression, imprisonment, torture and murder... They say I'm being sent back"
Panel Three:(which features a representation of a presumably mexican man): "I came here from Mexico City to get a job... They say I might also get a drivers license

(Tinsley writes in almost all caps, which I would rather not do, so the change is mine. Italics are as they appear in my newspaper)

Umm, maybe its just me, but when was the last time you can recall a Cuban refugee who on their own actually made it to this country, and was sent back? The United States has for a fair amount of time now maintained a "wet feet dry feet" policy with regards to Cubans, that basically allows them to apply for permanent residence (**Note, I accidentally originally said "citizenship" in this spot**) so long as the reach dry American soil. I am fairly sure that this policy is unique to Cubans. We sent Mexicans, Dominicans and lots of other people back from where they came when we capture them on US soil.

They came "here" - presumably this character is supposed to be on dry land in the US (also, there is a presumption that the man who came here from Mexico City must be an illegal immigrant, but I won't get into that implication now).

Maybe Tinsley should spend a little time learning US policy regarding Cuban refugees before making such a spurious cartoon.

(P.S. and don't even bother saying "Elian Gonzales")

(P.P.S. I will also note that the Cuban woman is very neat looking, whereas the Mexican is drawn to (A) look like (to me) a Mexican Alfred E. Newman and only has his top button on his shirt buttoned)

(P.P.S.S. I found a copy of the cartoon here in the Jewish World Review - you need to scroll down the page to find it, and I don't know how long it will be there)

2003-09-26T14:06:00.000-06:00

Talk Like George W. Bush Day?

I made an off hand suggestion in a previous post (I don't have a link. don't be lazy, scroll down 3 posts) that maybe the next thing would be a "Talk Like George W. Bush" day in light of the incredibly entertaining "Talk Like Bill O'Reilly" day (see Atrios for the best example of this. If you don't like it, shut up! I'm talking now!).

October 3rd (or 10th or whenever - I'm not picky) can be "Talk Like President George W. Bush" day. Come on...who is interested? Don't we want to put food on every family? Don't we want to make sure that our children is learning? Don't we want to speak in 3 word sentences? Don't we want to answer every question with a sentence that includes "Iraq," "terrorism," and "September 11th"???

Just remember: "There's an old saying in Tennessee I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee that says, fool me once, shame on shame on you. Fool me you can't get fooled again." (shamelessly stolen from Slate's Bushism collection).

2003-09-26T11:42:00.000-06:00

Total Recall

Oh, wait...sorry...Segway Recall. The transportation device known as the Segway has been recalled, according to an article here on CNN.

A power problem apparently causes them to topple.

Maybe George W. Bush wasn't a klutz afterall.

2003-09-26T11:32:00.000-06:00

Toles the genius

I know some bloggers (yeah, you, KaiserCrack) are not particularly big fans of Tom Toles, but he takes on the recent court decision re: no-call lists with mastery. See cartoon here.

2003-09-26T09:43:00.000-06:00

A little fun??? Talk like Bill O'Reilly day???

Via Counterspin Central.

SHUT UP!!!

Ok, that concludes my admittedly feeble and utterly unoriginal (yes, I got the idea to say "Shut Up" from Rick Klau's blog) attempt to talk like Bill O'Reilly. I'm sure others will do a better job.

What next? Talk like George W. Bush day? It would be tough to write posts using only 3 word sentences...