by TChris

In the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, incompetence is not viewed as justification for significant disclipline of employees -- even when the incompetence leads to dead inmates in the jail.

Los Angeles County sheriff's employees whose actions contributed to the deaths of five county jail inmates have received punishment ranging from a written reprimand to a 15-day suspension, according to a report released Monday.

The Office of Independent Review says the deputies were merely negligent, not malicious. Small comfort to the dead inmates.

The Sheriff says he's opposed to "symbolic harshness." If only the same philosophy applied at sentencing hearings in the criminal justice system.

The OIR also reports that deputies are being arrested for drunk driving more frequently than last year, and that they're involved in more shootings.

by TChris

After failing to appear in response to traffic citations issued in 1995 and 1996, Debra Fuentes was taken into custody and posted bail. She presented Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Kevin Ross with a "Wrong Defendant Declaration" indicating that at least one of the citations was issued to someone else. The description on one citation matched Fuentes, but the other citation described "someone who was older, taller, and skinnier."

Nonetheless, Judge Ross concluded that the declaration was false, and ordered that Fuentes be charged under a statute that makes it a crime to provide false evidence of insurance -- a statute that plainly didn't apply to Fuentes. Fuentes sat in jail for two days until she could post bail on that charge. All charges against her have since been dismissed.

Now the judge is in hot water with the Commission on Judicial Performance. Apart from ordering Fuentes to be charged with a crime she clearly didn't commit, the judge took on the dual role of law enforcement officer and prosecutor by deciding that Fuentes should be taken into custody and charged with a crime.

To his credit, Judge Ross admits he erred. But he's also facing discipline for ordering a defense lawyer out of the courtroom while he sentenced her client and for having improper contact with another defendant outside the presence of the lawyers in the case.

by TChris

Margaret Hassan, a director for Care International who was kidnapped in Iraq, has apparently been executed. A video tape showing a hooded gunman shooting her in the head was delivered to Al Jazeera.

What's on your mind? Here's a space to let you vent while we're busy with work.

[11/18: Comments now closed, we'll start another open thread.]

The ACLU joined with groups across the political divide today to take out a full page ad in the Washington Times asking the Senate Conferees on the Intelligence Reform Bill to kill the provision for a National ID Card .

The ad urges the committee to remove provisions from the final intelligence reform package that would create a national ID card. A national ID card, the open letter says, would create an unprecedented invasion of the privacy rights guaranteed by the Constitution and would allow the government to constantly monitor everyone with a driver’s license or identification card.

A national ID card would do little to stop terrorist attacks and would cost billions of dollars to develop and implement. Similar attempts to create a national ID were rejected by every Congress and Administration that has considered it since President Ronald Reagan.

In addition, the creation of a national ID card system would not prevent the use of faulty documents, such as birth certificates, to obtain government ID. Such a system would not have thwarted the September 11 hijackers, many of whom reportedly had identification documents on them, and were in the country legally.

The letter was signed by the American Civil Liberties Union, American Conservative Union, American Library Association, Gun Owners of America, Republican Liberty Caucus, American Immigration Lawyers Association, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, Free Congress Foundation, and approximately 40 other organizations.

The man who set himself on fire at the White House Monday was an FBI terrorism informant--he had been interviewed by the Washington Post and sent letters to both the Post and the FBI outlining his plans. The Post has copies of both letters online.

There are 2,000 former soldiers fighting callbacks to the army. Another 110,000 are watching how it plays out.

The Army has encountered resistance from more than 2,000 former soldiers it has ordered back to military work, complicating its efforts to fill gaps in the regular troops.

Many of these former soldiers - some of whom say they have not trained, held a gun, worn a uniform or even gone for a jog in years - object to being sent to Iraq and Afghanistan now, after they thought they were through with life on active duty.

They are seeking exemptions, filing court cases or simply failing to report for duty, moves that will be watched closely by approximately 110,000 other members of the Individual Ready Reserve, a corps of soldiers who are no longer on active duty but still are eligible for call-up.

More than 4,000 former soldiers have been called back to active duty in the past few months alone. 2,500 were directed to attend a training course. More than 700 just didn't show. Almost 2,000 have asked for exemptions or deferments.

The resistance puts further strain on a military that has summoned reserve troops in numbers not seen since World War II and forced thousands of soldiers in Iraq to postpone their departures when their enlistment obligations ended.

Do you really think there won't be draft? The Army is down to calling members of the Individual Reserves, which is different than the National Guard reserves.

A U.S. marine is under investigation for shooting a wounded Iraqi in the head. Crooks and Liars has the video. The incident happened in Fallujah and NBC's Kevin Sites who is embedded with the troops, witnessed the incident. You can listen to his report here.

The incident occurred as a Marine battalion was taking part in a U.S.-led counteroffensive intended to secure Fallujah so national elections can go ahead in January as scheduled....The Marine battalion stormed an unidentified mosque Saturday in southern Fallujah after taking casualties from heavy sniper fire and attacks with rocket-propelled grenades. Ten insurgents were killed and five others were wounded in the mosque and an adjacent building.

The marines left the five wounded Iraqis inside the mosque. Two more groups of marines came later. One group went inside and apparently shot four of the five wounded again. They came out of the mosque and the second group went in. Here's what Sites saw:

by TChris

The Pentagon has agreed to instruct military bases to stop sponsoring Boy Scout troops. The action comes as partial settlement of a lawsuit filed by the ACLU of Illinois.

In its suit, filed in April 1999, the ACLU of Illinois contended that because the Scouts excluded people who did not profess a belief in God, government funding of the organization violated the constitutional requirement for separation of church and state. "If our Constitution's promise of religious liberty is to be a reality, the government should not be administering religious oaths or discriminating based on religious beliefs," ACLU attorney Adam Schwartz said.

Still at issue are military expenditures to prepare property for the Boy Scout Jamboree, expenditures to support Boy Scout units on military bases overseas, and expenditures to improve Boy Scout properties, including summer camps. The suit also challenges the Department of Housing and Urban Development's allocation of bloc grants to state and local governments for the benefit of the Boy Scouts.

White House officials are telling Fox News that Bush has decided on Condi Rice to replace Colin Powell as Secretary of State.

Update: The Washington Post says the appointment of Rice as Secretary of State is a cementing of the hawkish approach to foreign policy endorsed by Cheney and Rumsfeld.

Our question: If Cheney resigns for health reasons, will Bush appoint Rice as VP?

Two more top level CIA resignations today--in the clandestine unit. Rebellion over Porter Goss taking the reins?

Stephen Kappes, deputy director for operations, and his deputy Michael Sulick submitted their resignations after confrontations with Goss's chief of staff, intelligence sources said. Critics say while Goss as the new spy chief has every right to make changes, he is not communicating his intentions clearly and directly. Instead, he has delegated too much power to his senior advisers who came with him from Capitol Hill.

One of them, Patrick Murray, who is chief of staff to Goss, has faced criticism in the agency for what is seen as an abrasive style and lack of respect for senior officers.

A feud between the Director of Operations and the Director of Intelligence within the agency does not bode well. Why is Bush not able to control this? John McCain, by the way, is backing Goss.

by TChris

Members of the extreme right are fond of labeling judges as "activists" -- at least if the judge refuses to favor the government in criminal cases, the interests of big business in civil cases, or the narrow-minded agenda of the right in civil rights cases. But judges who interpret state and federal constitutions aren't "activists" for doing so -- they're just doing their jobs.

Last year's decision of the Massachusetts Supreme Court to protect gay marriage as a matter of state constitutional law has been so upsetting to the right (none of whom are actually being forced to enter into a gay marriage) that other state judges may fear to exercise the independent judgment that their jobs require.

Some legal observers say the backlash over the Massachusetts court's decision on gay marriage could have a chilling effect on other state courts.

Still, Chief Justice Margaret Marshall makes no apologies -- nor should she.

"I think judges play an important constitutional role, and the label that somebody puts onto that is one that varies from time to time. ... I -- like, I think, 350 other judges -- do the best they can to uphold the constitution, and the statutes and the common law in this commonwealth," she said, "and then we move on to the next case."