Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Search and Seizure law

The US Supreme Court has ruled that police may search a vehicle without a warrant only "when the suspect could reach for a weapon or try to destroy evidence or when it is 'reasonable to believe' there is evidence in the car supporting the crime at hand". This changes the older rule allowing the police to search "a vehicle as part of a lawful arrest of a suspect". The previous ruling was New York v. Belton in 1981. This 5 to 4 decision came about by the agreement of the "most liberal" judges and the "most conservative" along with judge John Paul Stevens. In this case, the person arrested and searched had already left his car and was walking away from it. He was handcuffed a distance for the vehicle when the police conducted their search. The case is Arizona v. Gant.
(Source: "High court limits when vehicles may be searched" by Robert Barnes of the Washington Post. In the Virginian Pilot on 4/22/09)

Student Rights

For those of us interested in the rights of students in public schools the case before the Supreme Court is important. Savanna Redding was a Arizona middle school student some 6 years ago when she was strip-searched in the school's nurse's office. The 13 year old was believed to be in possession of drugs, based on a friend telling the officials she saw them. She was found to have "perscription-strength ibuprofen" on her (to my knowledge this is not an illegal drug). She was forced to remove her clothing down to her underwear and to move the underwear so the nurse could check beheath. No illegal drugs were found. She took her case to court and last year the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled her search was unreasonable and unconstitutional. Now it appears the US Supreme Court is about to overturn that decision. A lawyer for the school board said that even a body cavity search would be legal, thou he thought no school official would have gone that far. The case is Safford School District v. Redding. More on this later.
(Source: CNN news item on 4/21/09)

Sunday, April 19, 2009

CIA Torture Memos

A Nation magazine article recently dealt with the CIA torture issue and stated the following. The Constitution was in danger under Bush II. It was in danger under Reagan in the 1980's. The Iran/Contra affair damaged the Constitution but Reagan, Bush I, Weinberger, Abrams, and North were never made to answer for it. Now Bush II, Cheney, John Yoo, Robert Delahanty and others are also being let off the hook.
The Office of Legal Counsel of the Justice Department now says the "military (was) used to seize alleged terrorists in their homes" and the military was used to "carry out law enforcement operations at home" in violation of Posse Comitutus Act. Now we learn that CIA's directorate of operations head Jose Rodriquez Jr "ordered destruction of 92 interrogation video tapes" under orders from former chief Michael Hayden. Worse than this is that these abuses went unreported by the main stream media. Patrick Leahy and John Conyers Jr are pushing for investigations and only a "full accountability...is the only reliable prophylactic against future abuses".
The problem now is that the MSM can't push for an investigation w/o admitting they failed in their role as "democracy's watchdog": they were either "sleeping or cowering" when we needed them the most.
(Source: "It Can Happen Here" by Eric Alterman in The Nation on 3/30/09)

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Iraq War

The Iraq Body Count-a London based group-notes that the war deaths in Iraq are more often the result of "execution style-killings, not...bombings". The killings are being committed by Shiite militia death squads in revenge for bombings by al-Qaida "and other Sunni religious extremists". Many of the executions indict the use of torture as a means of getting others to leave the area. The IBC study included the period between 3/20/03 and 3/19/08 which resulted in 91,358 violent deaths. Execution killings caused 33 % of the deaths while bombings caused 27 % of the deaths. "The drop in violence is also due in part to the fact that many formerly mixed neighborhoods in Baghdad have been effectively segregated after the minority sect was purged by the death squads". Another group-Human Rights Watch-claims the reason for these deaths is the "poor postwar planning" by the US after Saddam Hussein was overthrown. This group further notes that only 4 % of Iraqi deaths-in this study period-resulted from US airstrikes. However, of this small number 46 % were female and 39 % were children.
(Source: "Source of Iraqi war deaths studied" by Kim Gamel of the AP. The Virginian Pilot on 4/18/09)

The Great Depression

Paul Krugman writes today in his column that we should be careful not to place too much importance in the recent economic up-swing. He says that FDR "responded to signs of recovery by cutting the Works Progress Administration in half and raising taxes; the Depression promptly returned in full force" (not sure of the date this occurred).
(Source: "Green shoots and glimmers" by Paul Krugman in the Virginian Pilot on 4/18/09)

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Holocaust Art

Two oil paintings from the 16th century were returned to the heirs of a Jewish couple from Berlin who were forced to sell their art gallery in 1935 by the Nazis. The man died in exile while the woman died at Auschwitz. The paintings were bought by the Hearst Castle museum in 1935 from the I.S. Goldschmidt Gallery in Berlin. (It is the assumption of this writer that the Hearst Castle was owned by William Randolph Hearst of newspaper fame). The article says "Hearst was likely unaware of their origin" (like a person of Heast's connections and awareness of events in Germany would not think to ask of the origin?). The US has arranged 25 settlements of repatriated art from German Jews by the Nazis.
(Source: "Two Oil Paintings are returned to Holocaust heirs" by Smantha Young of the AP. The Virginian Pilot of 4/11/09)

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Augusta National and Racism?

In the days prior to our entry into WWII the members of the Augusta National Golf Club amused themselves by watching a "battle royal". This was a fist fight by 6 blind-folded black men with the last man (I am sure "boy" to them) was awarded by the spectators throwing coins at him. One fight was arranged in the dining room of the Bon-Air Hotel. This article was written, I am sure, to tell the story of "Beau Jack", a black shoeshine "boy" at the club, who was supported by $ 2500 from members to compete for the boxing world's lightweight championship. After a record of 25 to 2 he won the title of lightweight champion of the world in 1942. In entered the army in 1944 and fought a match that raised $ 35 million in war bonds, which is "still the richest gate in boxing history". Both fighters donated what they might have made to the war effort. He ended his days at a hotel in Miami shining shoes. There is no evidence at Augusta National that Beau Jack got his start at the club. (I would think that members of the club would be embarassed by this story).
(Source: "The Shining Star" by Kevin Cook. Golf Magazine April 2009)

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Jack Johnson

Jack Johnson was the first African American to win the heavy weight boxing champion of the world title in 1908. He held that title till defeated by Jess Willard in Havana in 1915. Johnson was convicted in 1913 under the Mann Act "for having a consensual relationship with a white woman across state lines". He died in a car crash in 1946 in North Carolina. Now two republican congressmen-John McCain and Peter King-are urging President Obama to issue a pardon for Johnson. There is also a PBS documentary by Ken Burns entitled "Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson". (I do not know the date of the TV program).
(Source: "Lawmakers push for pardon of boxing great Jack Johnson" by William Douglas of the McClatchy newspapers. The Record on April 2, 2009)

Gun Control

This is an up-date on a post from 2/8/09 about the US Supreme Court case of D.C. v. Heller. This was 5 to 4 decision stating that the "Constitution protects an individual, non-militia based right to bear arms for personal purposes". All the judges added that "reasonable restrictions are still legal"; like carrying concealed weapons and guns in schools. There are two other like items to note here. First, the Gun Industry Legal Protection Law that was passed by Congress in 2004 is an attempt to shield the gun industry from lawsuits for the violence and crime the weapons they sell cause. This law is presently being challenged. Second, the Assault Weapons Ban was allowed to "lapse" at the time the GILPL was passed. This info comes from the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence and they do represent only one side of this issue. However, I believe this information presented here would not be in dispute.
(Source: Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence Newsletter. Paul Helmke-President of the Brady Center wrote the un-dated newsletter).