by TChris

Prof. Carl Luna, noting the conspicuous silence of the "Republican Talk Radio Machine" immediately after Secretary Rumsfeld's petulant response to soldiers who asked him why he wasn't doing more to protect the troops from harm, calls attention to the subsequent right wing "talking points" about Rumsfeld's disastrous performance. The primary "talking point" is the assertion that Rumsfeld was set up by a liberal press that fed antagonistic questions to soldiers who evidently can't think for themselves.

Luna's response: "Horse feathers."

Such mindless chatter is simply another example of the bait and switch approach so often used by the nattering nabobs of talk radio to distract people from the real issue at hand. ... It doesn’t matter if the question concerning lack of adequate armor had been written on a hairball hocked up by a cat at Rumfeld’s feet. What matters is the validity of the claim that such armor protection is lacking and the quality of Rumsfeld’s response.

Luna also notes that 2500 soldiers yelled "Hurrah" in response to the tough questions.

Unless someone wants to claim the reporter “coached” the entire audience, that “Hurah” was the sound of soldiers genuinely affirming their feeling that their high command has left them to march naked into combat.

by TChris

In a battle between parental rights and civil rights, the Washington Supreme Court held that a mother violated state law by listening in on a telephone conversation between her daughter and her daughter's boyfriend. The court reversed a purse-snatching conviction that was based on the mother's testimony about admissions made by the boyfriend during the conversation.

Attorneys for the state argued that minors should have a reduced expectation of privacy because parents have an absolute right to monitor phone calls coming into the family home. ... "The Washington act, with its all-party consent requirement, contains no such parental exception and no Washington court has ever implied such an exception. We decline to do so now," wrote Justice Tom Chambers in the court's opinion.

by TChris

Complaining of the "extreme special-interest groups" that opposed his appointment to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, Charles Pickering announced his retirement from the court. President Bush used a recess appointment to send Pickering to the court after the Senate twice failed to overcome a filibuster of his nomination. TalkLeft's coverage of Pickering is collected here.

Pickering complained that his nomination was opposed because of "hostility to any nominee with strong religious convictions who personally disagrees with them on abortion, marriage and references to God at public ceremonies and institutions." More accurately, his nomination was opposed by those who feared that his personal opinions, rather than faithfulness to the Constitution and Supreme Court precedent, would guide his decision-making. As Ralph Neas, president of People for the American Way, commented, it was "a graceless goodbye."

Op-Ed News has the story of Tom Ridge's arrest of Santa Claus as an enemy combatant on his last day as HSA Chief.

In a daring midnight raid, FBI and local North Pole law enforcement officials stormed the previously unknown residence of the reclusive elf-master. A local officer was quoted as saying Mr. Clause was in the middle of wrapping boxes, with unknown contents, a sure sign of terrorism-related activities.

Mr. Ridge defended the collar today by saying, “what we do know is that Mr. Clause has multiple aliases, including Mr. Kringle and Saint Nick, which we believe to be an al Qaeda code name”. Ridge continued, “Look, this guy has had unfettered access to our borders for years untold. He never clears customs, never presents identification, and is always carrying multiple wrapped boxes which are never properly screened. In this post 9-11 world, those are risks we just cannot continue to take”.

December 10 is Human Rights Day, so named by the United Nations in recognition of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948. Some thoughts:

Don't forget Darfur. Or Tibet.

In Pakistan:

Chai Vang, charged with killing six hunters in Wisconsin, may raise a "cultural defense" to the charges against him. Vang, who lives in Minnesota is Hmong. Minnesota has one of the largest Hmong populations in the U.S.

A cultural defense -- or the assertion that a person's different cultural background influenced his or her actions -- can be used as a mitigating factor to help a defendant get a plea deal or a break on his sentence.

Vang says the hunters directed racial slurs at him before the shooting. He has been a spiritual leader to the Hmong community.

According to Alison Dundes Renteln, a political science professor from the University of Southern California who wrote the recently published book "The Cultural Defense," American courts historically have "been extremely reluctant to admit cultural evidence," adding "and that's because most people think 'When in Rome, do as the Romans do.'"

Among the factors that might come into play:

The jury has begun deliberating whether Scott Peterson will be sentenced to life in prison without parole or death. When a verdict has been reached, I'll be doing an on-line chat for the Wshington Post. Details to follow. Despite the fact that these jurors appear to hate Scott Peterson, I think there may be a life verdict. All it takes is one.

Mark Geragos gave the second of two defense closings after lunch, Here's the latest from the Court TV blog:

Right off the bat, Geragos makes a startling admission to jurors: "I did not prepare a penalty phase," he says. "I just did not expect your verdict." He tells them that was the reason for the two-week delay between guilt and penalty phases: He had to go interview witnesses. He acknowledges that admitting this makes for a good appellate argument for malpractice.—

Geragos tells the jury a life sentence would mean Scott Peterson spends all of his "natural days" in a cell the size of four of their chairs with another inmate. "Someday, some guard is going to knock on his cell," Geragos says, bringing his fist down three times on the rail of the jury box. "And say, 'Peterson, your mom's dead.' And someday, six months, a year after that, some guard is going to knock on the cell again and say, 'Peterson, your dad's dead.'" Peterson's half-sister, Susan Caudillo, cries in the first row of the courtroom. Peterson stares toward his lawyer impassively. Laci Petersons brother, Brent Rocha, watches him intently.

Innocence Project Co-founder and NACDL President Barry Scheck has an op-ed in the Washington Post opposing mandatory minimum sentences.

There is a developing consensus among judges, prosecutors and the defense bar that something must be done to restore sanity to federal sentencing. Let's hope it infiltrates the Capitol. Congress and the Sentencing Commission should create a blue-ribbon panel to study constitutional and human issues raised in the sentencing cases now before the Supreme Court. The panel should look at the good and the bad of what developed from the last effort at sentencing reform, 20 years ago. We can make the system better.

In my lifetime I have seen hundreds of wrongfully convicted persons freed from prisons and death rows. I hope to see the unjustly imprisoned allowed back into society. At a minimum, we can stop the madness of mandatory minimum sentencing.

Did Texas execute an innocent man in in 2004? An exhaustive investigation by award winning Chicago Tribune investigative reporters Steve Mills and Maurice Possley indicate the answer as to Cameron Todd Willingham may well be yes, based upon disputed forensics.

Texas continues to lead the nation in executions:

Texas has the dubious distinction in leading the nation in the number of people it has executed, the number of juvenile offenders on death row and the number of juvenile offenders it has executed. In addition, the state ranks second in the overall number of people on
death row and second in the number of women on death row.

The Texas Coalition Against the Death penalty aptly notes that Texas' death penalty is "an embarrassment beyond belief and repair."

Tomorrow is International Human Rights Day. Make your voice heard.

Four special ops soldiers have been disciplined for using taser stun guns on Iraqi Prisoners. This information is coming to light as a result of the ACLU's Freedom of Information Act requests. Background is here. The ACLU press release is here.

As we wrote here, this week's revision of New York's draconian Rockefeller drug laws is hardly something to cheer about. Today's New York Times provides some more damning criticism:

Indeed, to some advocates, the new bill is not even half a loaf, but more like a heel of bread, which will leave many prisoners and their families with dashed hopes.

"The important message to get out is that the laws are virtually as harsh as ever," said Robert Gangi, executive director of the Correctional Association of New York, a prison watchdog group. For example, he noted, judges must still sentence drug offenders to prison, rather than to alternatives like drug treatment.

Translated into real numbers, the changes in the law mean this: Approximately 446 offenders may get out early....of the more than 15,000 that were sentenced under the laws.

The United Church of Christ in Cleveland prepared some television ads welcoming members of the gay community as part of the Advent season. All three major networks refused to air them. NBC and CBS found them too controversial or amounted to advocacy.

For the season of Advent, the United Church of Christ had planned a nationwide television ad campaign extending an open welcome to all people, especially gays and lesbians. The message was simple: "Jesus didn't turn people away; neither do we, the United Church of Christ." The visuals dramatized people, including two men holding hands, being turned away by bouncers at the door of a church.

CBS said the ads promoted gay marriage. The ad made no mention of gay marriage. Does Christianity have to be evangelical and conservative to be aired mainstream?

Right-wing/fundamentalist Christianity has so dominated the media that many Americans don't believe liberal/progressive Christianity even exists. The fundamentalist message is the de facto Christian message because such groups have the money to not only buy airtime but to have their own shows. And every time Jerry Falwell blames gays or feminists for society's ills, he shows up on the news.

Think about this "no advocacy" policy. Where was it when the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy put anti-drug ads on the Superbowl? Military recruitment ads during wartime--is that not an endorsement of war? A federal court in Massachussets last week said the transit authority could not refuse to carry ads advocating reform of the drug laws.

Some independent stations are airing the ads anyway. Good for them.