by TChris

Jarred Gamwell is the kind of politician our country needs. He believes that being honest and open is the best way to run for office. He stands up for his principles. He thinks voters will respond to a self-deprecating sense of humor.

Too bad you can’t vote for Jarred. He’s running for student council president at James Hunt High in Wilson, N.C. And Jarred is getting an ugly lesson in politics from Principal Bill Williamson.

Williamson took down two posters containing slogans that helped define Jarred as a candidate: "Queer Eye for Hunt High" and "Gay Guys Know Everything!" Williamson deemed the messages "disruptive of the educational process" and irrelevant to the campaign for student president. But the slogans aren’t irrelevant to Jarred, who believes that political candidates are entitled to stamp their unique identities upon their campaigns.

Defending Williamson’s judgment that references to sexual orientation are inappropriate in student elections, the school district’s attorney said: "There are North Carolina Statutes that make certain acts in a homosexual relationship criminal in nature." The district’s lawyer hasn’t made it to the law library lately -- apparently hasn’t read a newspaper, and certainly hasn’t read TalkLeft -- or he would realize that he’s basing his argument on unconstitutional statutes.

Political speech lies at the core of the First Amendment. A school that does not respect the First Amendment cannot teach students to respect the Constitution. Student governments help students learn about democracy in a hands-on way, by participating in the democratic process. Ironic then, that a school would use that process to teach students that discrimination is better than diversity, that censorship is preferable to free speech.

Thanks to Zombyboy at Resurrection Song , the 7th edition of the Rocky Mountain Blogger Roundup is up. There is some fine writing and humor in this edition, so go check it out.

Don't forget the Rocky Mountain Blogger Bash is May 28 at the Denver Press Club. We hear liberal Colorado bloggers will be in short supply, so if you are one, or support one, please come on down.

by TChris

Read my lips: no new taxes. Okay, wrong president, but the current President wants the Republican controlled Senate to read his lips, just this once.

As the President promises two chickens in every pot and a high speed internet connection for all but the homeless, the Senate is debating "whether to renew a lapsed ban that would permanently prevent state and local governments from levying additional taxes on dial-up, DSL (digital subscriber line), cable modem, wireless or satellite access to the Internet." John McCain (R-AZ) is trying to sell a compromise that would extend the moritorium while allowing states to tax voice-over Internet Protocol (using the internet in lieu of long distance), but Lamar Alexander (R-TN) worries that "state and local governments could lose billions in tax revenue if prevented from taxing Internet access."

Will Bush persuade his party to stand behind him? Let's hope he doesn't propose a tax on liberal bloggers.

by TChris

Three members of a "top-secret unit detailed to search for weapons of mass destruction" in Bahgdad died in an explosion as they were raiding a house, apparently in search of chemical agents. Although our government will neither confirm nor deny the soldiers' mission, the UPI found "clear evidence" that they belonged to the Iraq Survey Group, "including credentials looted from the vehicles by local Iraqi youth." The military acknowledges that two of the dead are Americans; the third may be British, or his death (like the mission) may be classified information that the government won't confirm or deny.

Five other soldiers were wounded.

Their completely anonymous uniforms, lack of unit patches or rank indications, facial hair, personalized weaponry and radically modified military vehicles generally indicate membership in special operations units.

James Kilgore, the last fugitive member of the Symbionese Liberation Army, the group responsible for kidnapping and then converting Patty Hearst in the 19790's, has been sentenced to jail for his participation in some of the group's activities:

The last fugitive member of the Symbionese Liberation Army to be brought to justice was sentenced Monday to 4 1/2 years in prison for passport fraud and possession of a pipe bomb. James Kilgore, 56, belonged to the 1970s radical group that kidnapped newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst. He was on the lam for more than two decades before he was captured in 2002 in South Africa, where he was working as a professor under an assumed name.

Kilgore is expected to be sentenced next month to an additional six years in prison after pleading guilty last year to murder charges in the shotgun slaying of a bank customer during a 1975 SLA holdup. On Monday, U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel sent Kilgore to prison for possession of a bomb found in his apartment in 1975, and for using the birth certificate of a dead baby to obtain a passport.

Kilgore apologized for his acts and said the SLA's violent protests against the Vietnam War were "misguided and misdirected."

More background here and here.

by TChris

The government's terrorism prosecution of Saudi graduate student Sami Omar Al-Hussayen (TalkLeft background here and here) has run into a snag. The government accuses Hussayen of supporting terrorism by maintaining websites. Judge Edward Lodge ruled today, however, that the government can't show the web pages to the jury unless it first introduces evidence that Hussayen either created the pages or embraced their content -- something the government wasn't prepared to do at this stage of the trial.

Although the government promised to prove later in the trial that Hussayen created the pages and endorsed their content, the judge wisely ruled that it would be impossible to unring the bell after the jury saw the web pages. He gave the government until Tuesday to reshuffle its witnesses so that any proof of Hussayen's involvement in the content of the pages -- if any such proof exists -- can be presented before the jury sees the web pages.

The defense contends that Hussayen helped maintain the sites but wasn't responsible for their content. Not only does the government want to hold Hussayen responsible for providing "expert assistance" to terrorists, it contends that his alleged role as a moderator of an email discussion group should land him in prison.

by TChris

The Supreme Court has elected not to review a lower court decision holding unconstitutional the reading of a prayer before supper to cadets attending the Virginia Military Institute. The decision cements the lower court's ruling as the final disposition in the case.

While the chief counsel for The American Center for Law and Justice mischaracterizes the ruling as banning voluntary prayer before dinner, the First Amendment protects the right of cadets to pray or not to pray, as they choose, prior to eating. The ruling does not ban prayer. Rather, it prohibits the reading to cadets of a daily prayer written by the school's chaplain. When a government employee imposes his or her own version of religion upon students at a school (even a military school), the government endorses religion in general or particular religious beliefs, a practice that violates the establishment clause of the First Amendment.

The Washington Post reports that the Democrats are about to launch an attack on Vice President Dick Cheney. Eric Alterman, writing for the Nation, and Kevin Drum of Political Animal have already begun. (Kevin is the blogger formerly known as Calpundit who wrote this profile of Cheney last November.)

Life on the Outside
by Jennifer Gonnerman

Elaine Cassell reviews Life on the Outside, A Reporter's Account of an Ex-Con's Struggle to Reenter Society:

In 2004, an estimated 600,000 people will be released from state and federal prisons. And in the near future, this number will increase exponentially -- as persons who began serving long prison terms in the late 1980's (for mostly drug offenses) return to their communities. Criminologists are poised to study the challenges and problems facing those who attempt "reentry" into society outside prison. Meanwhile, Village Voice staff writer Jennifer Gonnerman has put a human face on the data with her compelling book, Life on the Outside: The Prison Odyssey of Elaine Bartlett.

Bartlett served a draconian prison sentence for a first-time offense -- and is now trying to put her life back together. She, and others like her, deserve our compassion and support -- and Gonnerman's book beautifully illustrates why.

TChris wrote about the book here.

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Actors Cybill Shepherd , left, Whoopi Goldberg , center, Ashley Judd , and Christine Lahti , back right, march in Washington, Sunday, April 25, 2004, during an abortion-rights rally. Shepherd and Goldberg wave coat hangers. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Looks like Caroline Kennedy next to Christine Lahti, no?

Estimates vary, but between 750,000 people and upwards of a million marched in the March for Women's Lives in Washington today.

Shades of 1969....

The biggest demonstration was an anti-Vietnam War rally in 1969, which drew 600,000.

What a great sight.

Here are quotes from the rally. Lots of pictures here.

Update: The numbers are now at 1,150,000.

Michael Jackson is changing lawyers. Mark Geragos and Ben Brafman say they are stepping down. Because of the gag order, and we're sure, attorney-client privileged matters, they can't say why.

Word is that Thomas Mesereau, Jr, also of LA, who previously represented Robert Blake until the two had a falling out, will be taking their place.