The Washington Post has an excellent editorial today opposing the Anti-Gang bill that has passed the House. A much different and less punitive version is pending in the Senate. The editorial notes that while the Administration is pushing for the House bill, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales doesn't like it:

While Mr. Gonzales's day job requires him to concentrate on clamping down on gangs through law enforcement, he acknowledges that investigations and prosecutions are only a partial answer. A comprehensive strategy, he believes, must include education, prevention and rehabilitation. "I don't want Hispanic kids to not go to school and not get an education," he said. "Sure, we may be able to prosecute them and put them in jail, but that represents a lost future as employees, as future leaders in our community. We can't afford it."

In a nutshell, here's what's wrong with the House bill:

In response to the Supreme Court's decision last term in Kelo approving state seizure of property for economic development, the Texas legislature passed a law restricting such seizures. Texas Governor Rick Perry signed the bill into law Wednesday.

Under the Constitution, governments cannot take private property for public use without ''just compensation.'' Local governments have traditionally used their eminent domain authority to build roads, reservoirs and other public projects. But over decades, the high court has expanded the definition of public use, allowing cities to employ eminent domain to eliminate blight.

In June, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that New London, Conn., could take homes for a private development project. But the ruling also allowed states to ban the practice.

My thoughts (personal, not legal) on the Kelo decision are here. Last Night in Little Rock's are here.

Tag: Kelo

The Administration announced insignificant changes Wednesday to the rules for military tribunals at Guantanamo. The two changes being touted:

...the presiding officer, a military lawyer, will now decide questions of law. The other members, who will no longer play a role in most such decisions, will decide questions of fact including guilt or innocence; the presiding officer will no longer have a vote in these matters.

Among other changes is one altering the wording of a rule that during the proceedings, defendants "may be present to the extent consistent with the need to protect classified information." The new wording says defendants "shall be present to the extent consistent ... ."

The changes that were needed but not made include:

It's not just the left criticizing President Bush over his belated response to the Katrina catastrophe, it's also those that used to praise him:

AS THE EXTENT of Hurricane Katrinas devastation became clearer on Tuesday millions without power, tens of thousands homeless, a death toll unknowable because rescue crews cant reach some regions President Bush carried on with his plans to speak in San Diego, as if nothing important had happened the day before. Katrina already is measured as one of the worst storms in American history. And yet, President Bush decided that his plans to commemorate the 60th anniversary of VJ Day with a speech were more pressing than responding to the carnage.

A better leader would have flown straight to the disaster zone and announced the immediate mobilization of every available resource to rescue the stranded, find and bury the dead, and keep the survivors fed, clothed, sheltered and free of disease.

by TChris

The New York Civil Liberties Union takes issue with NYPD’s assertion that it behaved with utmost professionalism during last year’s Republican National Convention.

The NYCLU report 'Rights and Wrongs at the RNC: A Special Report About Police and Protest at the Republican National Convention' recommends the establishment of an independent City agency to oversee the planning and management of large demonstrations. The report says the most troubling aspect of the NYPD's actions during the Convention was its resort to mass arrest tactics that resulted in large numbers of innocent people being swept into police custody.

More than 90 percent of the arrests ended with dismissals or acquittals -- hardly stellar police work. The report (pdf) also condemns “the pervasive surveillance of lawful demonstrators, and the illegal fingerprinting and prolonged detention of nearly 1,500 people charged with mostly minor offenses.”

by TChris

Asking mental health professionals whether a delusional woman who drowned her children knew the difference between right and wrong invites speculation.

My own belief is that no forensic psychiatrist can objectively answer the law's narrow question yes or no. There is no "truth" of the matter. Our science cannot yet map the psychotic experience of reality or measure its correspondence to the reality of the law's simplifying assumptions. The narrow right-from-wrong question may seem clear and obvious, but it is premised on assumptions that neither science nor philosophy can verify.

In a commentary published in the Psychiatric Times, Dr. Alan Stone argues that this common touchstone of the “insanity defense” asks the wrong question -- and suggests that no “right question” can easily be formulated.

Eric Boehlert at Huffpo sums it up:

Why did funds stop flowing to the Big Easy? Simple, Bush's war in Iraq was costing too much money.

Editor and Publisher has more on the failure of the Bush Administration to fund preventive measures:

The Governor of Lousiana has ordered a mandatory evacuation of the city in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. 475 buses are en route to transport up to 25, 000 people from the Superdome to the Astrodome.

Blanco said she wanted the Superdome - which had become a shelter of last resort for about 20,000 people - evacuated within two days, along with other gathering points for storm refugees. The situation inside the dank and sweltering Superdome was becoming desperate: The water was rising, the air conditioning was out, toilets were broken, and tempers were rising.

A little bit of history:

The Big Easy

In the land of spicy music and melodic foods - better known as New Orleans - the pursuit of good times is not merely a diversion, but a way of life. From its beginning in 1718 as a French real estate scam, and centuries of settlement by other ethnic cultures, the unlikely city built in the midst of a swamp has remained tenaciously French in style and outlook. In spite of an early history filled with hurricanes, floods and fires, political upheavals and plagues of yellow fever, the French joie de vivre and love of celebrating endured and is still part of the lifestyle.

Via Crooks and Liars and George .

While millions of Americans have lost their homes or lives in the devastation wrought by hurricane Katrina, Bush not only goes about business as usual, he plays the guitar.

He couldn't even do a ballad? Not even, While My Guitar Gently Weeps? Jeez...

posted by Last Night in Little Rock

I heard this on Air America an hour ago, and I had to find it myself, and here it is: While we were pouring money into the War in Iraq, we were funding it in part by taking money from disaster preparedness. Since 2003, FEMA gave no money to Orleans and Jefferson Parishes in Louisiana, even though it recognized the flooding risks from a hurricane or levee breach as reported here about four hours ago.

Maestri [the local EM director] is still awaiting word from FEMA officials as to why Louisiana, despite being called the "floodplain of the nation" in a 2002 FEMA report, received no disaster mitigation grant money from FEMA in 2003 ("Homeland Insecurity," Sept. 28). Maestri says the rejection left emergency officials around the state "flabbergasted."

Indeed, the June 6th edition of New Orleans CityBusiness reported that the 2006 federal budget would cut another $71M from the Corps of Engineers budget used to protect New Orleans from flooding.

And that is on top of the previous failures to appropriate during Bush's oil war. I guess that cut isn't going to happen now.

This is incredible:

40,000-50,000 people in the superdome, including seriously injured people, and evacuees from the Hospitals. There are no running water or sewage facilities -- and no power. Temperatures are in the 90's within the building

One man just committed suicide by jumping. 'Unrest' is growing within the superdome - and their are there are now military as well civilian police on the scene. There are now several; major fires in view of city. There is evidently a fair amount of oil and gas floating on the flood waters.

Water is still rising and the Mayor is just now being evacuated by helicopter as City hall is now surrounded by water that can only be reached by small boat, water is about 3 feet deep at the steps of City Hall. 80% of New Orleans is totally submerged now, and will likely become 100% submerged tonight.