by TChris

Congress passed a resolution yesterday honoring the 50th anniversary of Rosa Parks' refusal to sit at the back of the bus.

This is the text of the resolution (H. Con. Res. 208):

If I lived in Massachussetts, I'd be very alarmed about this:

Governor Mitt Romney raised the prospect of wiretapping mosques and conducting surveillance of foreign students in Massachusetts, as he issued a broad call yesterday for the federal government to devote far more money and attention to domestic intelligence gathering.

In remarks that caused alarm among civil libertarians and advocates for immigrants rights, Romney said in a speech to the Heritage Foundation ... ''How many individuals are coming to our state and going to those institutions who have come from terrorist-sponsored states?" he said, referring to foreign students who attend universities in Massachusetts. ''Do we know where they are? Are we tracking them?"

How did this guy get elected? First he wants to reinstate the death penalty with a law he claims is fail-safe, when no such law is possible, and now this. A giant raspberry to Gov. Romney.

Here are some arguments against legislation to increase criminal penalties for hate crimes at the federal level--they come from an article I wrote in 2000, (from the last paragraph, I assume it was sometime after the murder of Matthew Shephard):

• The federal judiciary released a statement recently expressing constitutional and practical concerns about hate crime laws. The underlying criminal activity of a hate crime, such as robbery, assault, or murder, traditionally falls under state jurisdiction. The concern is that by passing federal hate crime laws, there will be a mass federalization of crime which should and could be adequately handled at the state level instead of overburdening our already overwhelmed federal courts.

• There is no evidence to suggest that hate crime laws will have a deterrent effect upon hate crimes.

• In many cases, it is very difficult to prove a hateful motivation for the criminal act. The decision to charge a hate crime as such should not be left to law enforcement. The F.B.I., for example, includes gestures and other body language in its hate crime statistics. Prosecutions to date in some cases have been based upon bigoted statements made several years before the act in question.

by TChris

The commander of the Army Corps of Engineers acknowledged today that the Corps followed its usual procedures when it prepositioned resources in the New Orleans area before Hurricane Katrina, knowing that those procedures would be inadequate to protect against a category 4 or 5 storm. Lt. Gen. Carl Strock admitted that the Corps should have prepositioned more helicopters and sandbags.

As his poll numbers continue to plummet, President Bush will acknowledge today that poverty and inequality are long-standing problems in the country he governs. Unfortunately, he isn't likely to admit that he exacerbated the problem by insisting on tax cuts that disproportionately benefit the wealthiest members of society.

I'll be offline most of the day, if you'd like to take over, be my guest.

A new CBS-New York Times poll finds that Americans prefer rebuilding New Orleans to social security changes or tax cuts.

Almost two-thirds, 63 percent, said rebuilding the city devastated by Hurricane Katrina is more important to them than changing Social Security, and almost three-fourths, 73 percent, said rebuilding the flooded city is more important to them than cutting taxes, according to a CBS-New York Times poll released Wednesday.

A large majority of Americans, 73 percent, said they think their taxes will increase as a result of Katrina. More than half of those polled said they were willing to pay more taxes to help with Katrina recovery, job training and housing for victims.

Bush's second term as President has focused on tax cuts and social security changes. This poll is a resounding defeat for his policies and, in my opinion, his presidency.

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by TChris

Mike Brown predictably blames Gov. Blanco and not President Bush for the way things went “to hell in a handbasket” in Louisiana. But Brownie revealed in an interview that he spent the week calling the president’s top aides to report that “local authorities were overwhelmed and that the overall response was going badly.” His account confirms an obvious conclusion: the president should have set aside his guitar and tackled the problem at its inception.

This isn’t a tune the White House wants to play.

A senior administration official said Wednesday night that White House officials recalled the conversations with Mr. Brown but did not believe they had the urgency or desperation he described in the interview.

Brownie’s attempt to play the blame game is contradicted by Louisiana officials:

Proving again that sex offenders, however minor, are the new pariahs in our society, the House of Representatives today passed a bill that would outlaw misdemeanor sex offenders of minors from possessing, buying or selling firearms.

What is the connection? Violent sex offenders don't get misdemeanor convictions. This is as bad as the law it was patterned after, the Violence Against Women act, which prohibits misdemeanor domestic violence offenders from possessing a weapon. Both laws are attempts by Congress to mass-federalize state and local crime, and another step towards rendering the Second Amendment a nullity.

Update: It gets worse:

by TChris

MediaMatters calls attention to an underreported story: CNN's lawsuit to vindicate its right to photograph (against the initial wishes of the Bush administration) victims of Hurricane Katrina.

In response to restrictions placed on the media covering the Hurricane Katrina disaster by New Orleans emergency operations chief Terry J. Ebbert and Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré, CNN successfully filed suit against the U.S. government to protect the right of the press to photograph the deceased victims of the hurricane. But aside from CNN, most major media outlets have given scant coverage to, or ignored entirely, CNN's legal victory or the subsequent reported violations of the federal court order by government personnel on the ground.

A new NBC- Wall Street Journal poll says Bush's approval ratings have sunk to their lowest level ever:

Bush's approval rating has declined to its lowest level in his presidency. So has his handling of the situation in Iraq. Moreover, fewer than half those surveyed approve of the way in which Bush has dealt with the hurricane, and a whopping three-fourths believe the United States is not prepared for a nuclear, biological or chemical attack.

by TChris

As predicted here, a proposed amendment to the Massachusetts Constitution banning gay marriage died after failing to gain a majority on its second trip through the Massachusetts legislature.

Wednesday's 157-to-39 vote by a joint session of the House and Senate partly reflected the fact that some legislators now consider same-sex marriage more politically acceptable, after a largely conflict-free year in which some 6,600 same-sex couples got married and lawmakers who supported it got re-elected. The vote also reflected some lawmakers' reluctance to pass a bill that could either withdraw rights from already married couples or create a class of married gay men and lesbians and a class of those unable to marry.

The lopsided vote attests to the wisdom of procedures that prevent constitutions from being amended in the heat of the moment.

If the steam has gone out of the "gay marriage will end civilization" train, the religious right will be forced to pounce on today's pledge decision to try to regain momentum. But that decision pertains to one case, in one court. The case isn't likely to reach the Supreme Court soon. Not much steam in that train either, as much as the right would like a distraction from the more pressing problems their favored president has caused or mismanaged.

Gov. Arnie spoke in California today and broadly hinted he will run for Governor again. He said to expect an official announcement Friday.

So far, two Democrats have announced their intention to run, state Treasurer Phil Angelides and Controller Steve Westly. I doubt either stand a chance. How about Robin Williams?

With Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's popularity plummeting, a growing number of Democrats are asking whether state Treasurer Phil Angelides and Controller Steve Westly should be the party's only choices for governor.

Prominent Democrats ranging from San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and former Rep. Leon Panetta to non-politicians such as businessman Steve Jobs and comedian Robin Williams are mentioned in the quiet conversations of Democratic activists, although no one is saying anything -- at least publicly -- about jumping into the race