It's tax day. How'd you fare under President Bush? Journalist David Sirota says the middle class took a beating:
Most people got almost nothing from any of the Bush tax cuts, while their state/local taxes/fees went up, their services were slashed, and their wages stagnated. Translation: higher taxes, worse services, less money coming in, all while the White House says we need to cut overtime pay and outsource U.S. jobs. Translation: middle class gets screwed to pad the wallet of George Bush, Dick Cheney and their fat cat friends.
A major thanks is due to TChris, who kept TalkLeft current this week while we've been busy in court. We've tried to catch up at night, but even so, without his contributions, the site would not have been up to its usual standards--particularly with respect to output. TChris is off on a journey from now until next week, and although we're headed out of town Friday for an ABA meeting in Palm Springs, we'll keep blogging as much as we can.
We've added some new blogs to our blogroll, quite a few on politics and elections, so be sure to check them out.
by TChris
The latest accusation against Michael Jackson stems from a notoriously unreliable source: a "repressed" memory that the accuser "recovered" in therapy.
"In my opinion, one has to be incredibly suspect of recovered memory," Beverly Hills psychiatrist Dr. Howard Shapiro told Reuters. "The younger the subject was (when the incident occurred), the less they're able to make sense of the experience, and when they remember it later they may put an interpretation on it," he said.
Some "recovered" memories are imagined, some are induced or encouraged by the therapist. If that's all there is to the latest accusation against Jackson, it doesn't merit prosecution.
John Ashcroft
"
John Ashcroft took office as Attorney General claiming that he wanted to "depoliticize" the Department of Justice. His testimony before the 9/11 Commission this week is only the latest indication that he has, in fact, politicized it to an extent not seen since the days of Richard Nixon. Louis Freeh, Janet Reno, Thomas Pickard and Cofer Black all testified in a measured and serious fashion, identifying what they thought the problems were and talking about potential solutions. It was actually surprising how little cross-firing went on, particularly when one considers the history between, for example, Freeh and Reno.
Ashcroft's testimony was entirely different - completely partisan and combative. He was clearly not interested in truly identifying problems, but simply in attacking others (presumably in part to deflect attention from his own failings. Moreover, his testimony was misleading at best. While he conveniently declassified one memo so that he could use it to attack Commissioner Gorelick, he neglected to mention that his own Deputy Attorney General had expressly reaffirmed those same procedures after Ashcroft took office. The fact is that those procedures (a) were reasonably believed to be required by law and (b) actually required the FBI to provide information to criminal investigators whenever they was a reasonable indication of criminal activity.
This partisanship is part of a consistent pattern with Ashcroft. He has politicized hiring in the Department of Justice Honors program, repeatedly rejecting the recommendations of career lawyers to ensure that Federalist Society types are hired. He has made decisions on matters such as the Second Amendment without consulting the lawyers who have litigated these issues for years, and in a manner that is adverse to the interests of the Department. And his statement in October 2001 that those who opposed the Administration were giving aid and comfort to the enemy was truly scary coming from an Attorney General.
Let's hope that Ashcroft does not have the opportunity to serve beyond this fall; but let's also hope that if Bush is re-elected he has the good sense to bounce this dangerous zealot.
"
by TChris
Last month, TalkLeft pointed to editorials calling upon the military to apologize to Captain James Yee for its misguided effort to prove that he's a spy. After initially accusing Yee of espionage and then charging him with (among other things) mishandling classified material, the military eventually dropped all criminal charges while convicting Yee of administrative offenses for marital infidelity and storing pornography on a government computer. Yee was reprimanded for those alleged offenses.
Those convictions have been overturned.
The appellate decision by Army Gen. James Hill, the Southern Command chief who oversees U.S. military operations at Guantanamo, wipes the slate clean for Capt. James Yee, who had been assigned to minister to prisoners at the base in Cuba.
Yee's civilian lawyer, Eugene Fidell, called the proceedings "a hoax by any standard." He said he could not prepare a defense because the Army did not disclose the evidence against Yee until 11 minutes before Yee's hearing began.
The military still has not apologized to Yee, but the reprimand will be removed from his service record.
by TChris
Current Attorney General John Ashcroft and former AG Janet Reno have very different understandings of the law.
Former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno said Wednesday that nothing prevented the sharing of FBI intelligence with criminal investigators working on counterterrorism, contradicting statements made a day earlier by current Attorney General John Ashcroft.
That isn't Reno's only disagreement with Ashcroft.
She also addressed Ashcroft's statements blaming her for issuing "draconian" guidelines in 1995 that he said made sharing information even more difficult. "It was not really restrictions," Reno said. "It was exactly the opposite situation." She said her guidelines required the FBI to contact investigators and discuss cases.
The Arab tv network Al Jazeera broadcast a report Wednesday that it has a video showing the killing of one of four Italian hostages being held by militants in Iraq.
Al-Jazeera told The Associated Press that the footage shows the four sitting on the ground, holding up their passports and surrounded by armed men. The satellite station said the tape showed the death of one of the hostages, but did not broadcast it to "protect the audience's feelings." ...The tape was accompanied by a statement, from a previously unknown group called the Green Battalion, which threatened to "kill the three remaining Italian hostages one after the other, if their demands are not met."
Al Jazeera's report is here.
by TChris
William Bennette joined the Secret Service in 1999 after retiring from the New York Police Department. He received a commendation for rescue work on Sept. 11, 2001. But Bennette falsely claimed that five Secret Services vehicles were destroyed on 9/11, when he actually gave three of the cars to his wife and daughter after forging signatures of agency managers to transfer the titles. The other two cars were found at an auto repair shop in Queens.
Bennette entered not guilty pleas yesterday to charges of theft of government property. Bennette's lawyer, "rather than proclaiming his client's innocence, indicated that psychological effects from 9/11 might have caused his behavior."
by TChris
It is all too rare for an appellate court to overturn a conviction on the ground that the evidence was insufficient to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Appellate judges normally defer to a jury's assessment of the evidence, even when the evidence is so skinny that reasonable minds would doubt the defendant's guilt.
Nonetheless, the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit reversed the money laundering conviction of realtor Michael Carucci, who was accused of helping Stephen Flemmi hide profits from criminal enterprises by buying a condo and equipment for a laundromat. There wasn't much doubt that Carucci helped Flemmi buy the property (as a realtor, that was his job) but the court considered the evidence "too thin" to prove that the money used to purchase the property came from gambling, extortion, or drug trafficking.
"The court of appeals decided today that it wasn't enough for the government to prove that a businessman had the misfortune of having a criminal as his client," said Martin Weinberg, Carucci's lawyer.
Carucci had been convicted of four additional money laundry counts that the district judge overturned. He was acquitted of 94 other counts. The court of appeals' ruling gives Carucci a complete victory, so he will serve no part of the ten month sentence that had been imposed.
by TChris
A federal court stayed the execution of Michael Rosales in Texas just hours before he was scheduled to die. Lawyers for Rosales argue that he is mentally retarded and cannot be executed under a recent Supreme Court ruling holding unconstitutional the execution of severely retarded defendants. The Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit sent Rosales' case back to a district court where the issue of Rosales' retardation can be more fully explored.
Rosales would have been the ninth person executed in Texas this year.
by TChris
As TalkLeft reported in March, Scott Peterson's lawyer received a tip that a potential juror in Peterson's trial was pretending to be open-minded while telling others outside the courtroom that she thought Peterson was "guilty as hell" and that she would lie to get on the jury so that Peterson would "get what was due to him."
"She said that she was trying as hard as she could to pass the test and not appear biased," said the tipster, whose name was redacted from [a signed declaration in] the court file. "She also said she would try to become 'in charge,' which I interpreted as being the foreperson of the jury."
The tipster also said the woman had spoken of Peterson's attorney [Mark Geragos], who is also representing Michael Jackson in his child-molestation case, saying, "Anyone who defends a wife-killer and a child molester deserves to lose."
Ouch! Not only does she think Peterson is guilty despite hearing not a word of testimony, she thinks Peterson deserves to lose because her lawyer defends other presumptively innocent clients.
Although the woman denied making the statements, prosecutors conducted an investigation and ultimately agreed that she should not be allowed to serve as a juror. The judge dismissed the woman on Tuesday. Geragos has suggested that prosecutors should consider charging the woman with perjury, but "San Mateo District Attorney Jim Fox said Tuesday his office was not pursuing the case and noted that during his 21-year tenure, a juror had never faced perjury charges." So committing perjury for the purpose of assisting the state in securing convictions isn't a crime worth pursuing?
by TChris
Joseph Paulus, once known as an aggressive, "law and order" prosecutor in Winnebago County, Wisconsin, has been charged in federal court with taking almost two dozen bribes during his days as a district attorney. Paulus allegedly made a deal with a local defense attorney to split the attorney's fees in exchange for lenient treatment of the attorney's clients. The defense attorney worked for Paulus as an assistant DA before entering private practice.
Paulus is also charged with tax evasion. But his wrongdoing didn't end with accepting bribes and failing to report them on his 1040.
Paulus' successor, fellow Republican Bill Lennon, said he was "extremely disappointed" the federal case focused on bribery, which he said was the "tip of the iceberg" when it came to Paulus's 14 years as district attorney from 1988 to 2002.
Lennon wants the state to investigate reports that "Paulus lied to police, judges, victims and other attorneys in his zeal to win cases and generate headlines." Paulus aspired to an appointment as U.S. attorney in 2001, and apparently believed that winning the favorable headlines that come from winning convictions was more important than justice or the constitutional right to a fair trial.
| << Previous 12 | Next 12 >> |
