Posted on Tue Dec 17, 2002 at 11:38:20 PM EST
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An Arizona judge has put a temporary hold on a law that bans inmates from the web.
"A federal judge has ordered the Arizona Department of Corrections to stop enforcing a policy prohibiting inmates from corresponding with, or appearing on, Web sites. U.S. District Judge Earl Carroll granted an injunction request Monday by the American Civil Liberties Union to stop enforcement of the law, which is the subject of a pending lawsuit."
``Putting free speech behind bars simply because it concerns prisoners sets a dangerous precedent,'' said Arizona ACLU attorney David Fathi. ``The court's decision makes clear that Arizona may not jail the Internet.''
"The statute, passed by the Legislature in 2000, makes it a misdemeanor for an inmate to communicate with Internet service providers, send a letter to a Web site or to a third party who then forwards it to a Web site or publishes it for the inmate. Inmates can lose privileges, good-behavior credits or face other punishment for violations, corrections officials said."
The Judge ruled that protecting the First Amendment is a compelling public interest. We haven't read the full opinion yet, but we hope the Judge pointed out that inmates don't leave all of their constitutional rights behind upon entering the prison doors.
Trent Lott picked up some Senate endorsements Tuesday: Ted Stevens of Alaska and Ben Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado.
Republican Conference Chairman Rick Santorum (Pa.) remains in his corner.
Lott needs 26 votes if a leadership election is held. Arlen Specter thinks he'll have them. So does Larry Craig and Mike Crapo. Most senators are not revealing their positions. Bush would like to see Bill Frist of Tennessee or another Republican take over.
Lott might be offered a chairship of another committee. A new leadership position might be created for him. These are some of the options under discussion.
"In an interview with ABC News yesterday, Lott said he will fight hard to keep his leadership post. "I'm a son of shipyard worker from Pascagoula, Miss.," he said. "I have had to fight all my life, and I'm not stopping now. . . . I think I need to work through this with everybody that's involved, including my colleagues. They have a right to tell me how they feel and what they suggest."
You can read more about Bill Frist's chances here.
The agency now at the center of our domestic intelligence efforts is the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The FBI's mistakes before Sept. 11 are well-known. Yet only recently, the bureau's number two official said he was "amazed and astounded" by its continued sluggishness in fighting terror. The homeland security bill, which I supported, is a good step forward in many areas, but it leaves the FBI virtually untouched....We agree the FBI is not cut out to be an intelligence gathering agency. As to whether we need yet another agency with a "homeland" designation, we're not convinced.When asked about the terrorist threat, senior FBI officials won't tell you where the terrorists are and what they are planning. Instead, they'll tell you how many cases they have open and how many wiretaps they are running. The answer proves they don't get the intelligence question.
The central goal of a new homeland intelligence agency should be uncovering terrorist threats before they cause harm. That job will have three basic components: first, to gather information about terrorists, their activities and their plans; second, to analyze data, search for patterns and assess threats; and third, to get that information and analysis to the right people so we can stop terrorists cold.
Because the focus will be intelligence, the new agency's officers don't even need arrest powers. Those responsibilities should remain with law enforcement. Incompatible missions are the reason we have this problem in the first place....
I first proposed a new intelligence agency two months ago. Just last week, the joint congressional inquiry into the Sept. 11 attacks urged Congress to consider the idea promptly. The administration, after initially signaling support, has backed off, under bureaucratic pressure from the FBI. That's a huge mistake. At a time when even marginal agencies are shifting into a new department, we need the courage to reform where it's needed the most.
The F.B.I.'s Preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report, January - June 2002 has been released .
Quick reading indicates that murder, rape, and property crimes are up, other violent crimes are down. It is likely too early to tell if we are in a turnaround period in which the declines of the late 1990s are reversing.
Keep in mind that this study includes only crimes reported to authorities.
Who is the Eli Lilly Bandit that inserted a rider into the Homeland Security Bill that protects this giant drug manufacturer from lawsuits over a vaccine that may have resulted in autism in children? Lisa English of Ruminate This is outraged--as we all should be.
TomPaine.com is offering a $10,000. reward for the name of the person. Journalists so far have failed to identify the person.
If you've got a blog, please spread the word and link to the TomPaine resources. Thanks.
They gathered in Chicago Sunday. On Monday, "30 former death row prisoners took part in a 37-mile relay walk from a state correctional center near Joliet to downtown Chicago, the latest in two days of activities designed to call attention to flaws in the state's capital punishment system."
About 30 former inmates, each marching a separate leg of the trip with sympathizers, carried a letter that was later delivered to Gov. George Ryan, who is considering clemency petitions of more than 140 death row inmates. The letter urges Ryan to commute all death sentences to life in prison without."
"Seven former death row inmates from Illinois also marched, as well as ex-prisoners from other states including Florida, Louisiana, Texas and New Mexico."
Here is the transcript of Trent Lott's interview Monday on BET in which he expressed his across the board support for affirmative action.
Representative John Lewis (D-Ga) is ready to give Trent Lott another chance:
"Lott also said he had reached out to several lawmakers to push forward an agenda he said would help minorities, including talking with Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., about setting up a task force on reconciliation and with Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, about setting up an African-American summit."
"Lewis, a veteran civil rights leader, said Lott was ``sincere'' in their Monday conversation and he suggested that the Mississippi senator join him an annual civil rights tour in March through places like Selma, Ala., where police badly beaten him during the 1960s civil rights struggle."
``I'd like to come down on his side, giving him a chance,'' Lewis said. ``I'm not one of those calling for him to step down and give up his leadership post. We all make mistakes, we all make blunders. It's very much keeping with the philosophy and discipline of nonviolence to forgive and move on.''
The GOP will decide Lott's fate on January 6. The Bush Administration has said it won't resist a leadership change.
Link via Drudge to Newsday: Gary Condit has sued writer Dominick Dunne for $11 million -- for slander over comments Dunne made on tv and elsewhere during the Chandra Levy disappearance.
" Former Rep. Gary Condit sued Dominick Dunne for $11 million on Monday, claiming the author slandered him in interviews about the Chandra Levy case. Dunne "made false and defamatory statements accusing (Condit) of involvement in the crimes of kidnapping and murder," said the lawsuit filed in federal court in Manhattan."
"The suit cited radio, television and newspaper interviews in which Dunne linked Condit to the disappearance of Levy. Dunne "transformed an allegation of sexual misconduct into criminal accusations," said Condit's attorney, L. Lin Wood."
Lin Wood is the excellent Atlanta libel attorney who has been representing John and Patsy Ramsey in their civil suits--successfully, we might add.
Who will represent Dunne? Dan Petrocelli, who successfully sued OJ in the (civil) wrongful death case? Maybe, but then again, maybe not as he later represented ex-cop Steve Thomas who wrote a book accusing the Ramseys of killing their daughter and Lin Wood prevailed and got a settlement from Thomas (paid by his publisher) in that case. From the Denver Post on August 9, 2002:
"The libel suit brought by John and Patsy Ramsey against former Boulder police detective Steve Thomas is over. The case, which was settled in May, was formally dismissed on Wednesday, said Ramsey attorney Lin Wood. 'Obviously, the Ramseys are pleased with the settlement and are glad the case was successfully resolved in their favor,' Wood said."
"John and Patsy Ramsey sued Thomas for libel and defamation in March 2001 in U.S. District Court in Atlanta. The civil suit said Thomas made false claims about the couple in a book he co-wrote titled 'JonBenet: Inside the Ramsey Murder Investigation' and during interviews promoting the book. Publisher St. Martin's Press and co-author Don Davis were part of the settlement, Wood said."
"The lawsuit sought $ 80 million in damages, but Wood declined to disclose the amount paid. 'The terms of the settlement, including the amount, are confidential,' he said. The book theorized that Patsy Ramsey killed 6-year-old JonBenet during a fit of rage in their Boulder home on Dec. 26, 1996, and that John Ramsey helped his wife cover it up by making the death look like a botched kidnapping. Thomas, who left the Boulder Police Department in 1998 over frustrations with the unsolved case, could not be reached for comment."
"His attorney, Dan Petrocelli of Los Angeles, who won a $ 30 million civil verdict against O.J. Simpson after Simpson was acquitted in the slayings of his ex-wife, Nicole, and a friend, Ron Goldman, also could not be reached for comment Thursday."
We'll stay on top of this as more details come out. Findlaw will undoubtedly have the full text of the Condit/Dunne suit up shortly. Look for it here.
"Talk Left.While I'm jocking leftist bloggers, let me give some much-due praise to Talk Left, who will make the leap to "Blood on the Tracks" next time I update my blogroll.
Reasoned, unzealous, and always insightful. Unlike most leftist ranters, these guys almost always back up agument with evidence.
I of course don't agree with them on everything, but their civil liberties stuff is dead-on..... "
Thanks, Radley.
Jeanne D'Arc of Body and Soul has outdone herself today (no small feat) in her masterful post Lady Sings The Dixiecrat Double Entendre Blues --mixing Billie Holiday with Trent Lott (via a song named "Strange Fruit" that Ms. Holliday used to sing sometimes, and only sometimes because she tended to throw up afterwards, as it was about lynching,) racism, and the interpretation of words.
From Jeanne:
"Try to imagine Lady Day in an evening gown, a white gardenia tucked in her hair, on stage in a nightclub, singing a graphic song about lynching, while her audience sipped champagne. It's impossible, grotesque. And in fact, Billie was generally reluctant to sing the song, partly because, as you can imagine, it took a lot out of her. In her autobiography she says she threw up every time she had to sing it. But she also had mixed feelings about the song because her audiences so often missed the point. She'd sometimes get bizarre requests to sing the "sexy" song about "black bodies," which unnerved her to say the least. Proof, if you need any, that as often as not, even the most eloquent voice is not heard."
Somehow, and it makes total sense when you read it, Jeanne moves in one linear sequence from Lott to Reagan, to Ashcroft and Southern Partisan magazine. We are truly impressed--not to mention envious, of Jeanne's immense writing talent.
We picked this off the comments on Daily Kos, so we don't know if it's real or not, but we did see the news at the gym today which reported Trent Lott has come out for affirmative action. So maybe the following is for real:
"Asked for his views on affirmative action policies, Lott said, "I'm for that," even though he has voted against affirmative action legislation.
"Across the board?" Gordon asked.
"Absolutely," Lott said.
"Would you be willing to clean out Al Sharpton's toilet with your tongue?" Gordon also asked.
"Absolutely. When does he want me to start?" Lott replied."
If it's true, and Lott is trying to make amends to the African-American republican voters (and let's face it, how many are there besides J.C. Watts?), our assessment is "Too little, too late."
That being said, we stand by one of our earlier comments on the possibility of Lott's forced resignation
"We haven't taken a position of whether Trent Lott should stay or go, we kind of feel like what's the difference if he goes, another one will just take his place, and what if it's one who hides in sheep's clothing? The voters knew who Lott was when they elected him and they elected him anyway. We think Lott should be outed and ostracized, which he has been, but we'd rather see pundits and politicians move on after that and focus on opposing the Bush Administration's proposals, like war. Like on civil liberties."
Although, with each passing day, he seems to be digging himself into a deeper hole, we have to wonder: If he stays, will his profile be so high that he is forced to vote fairly, just to show he isn't the racist his remarks implied he was? Will the Democrats and minorities be better off if he stays now that he has been outed and has repented and promised to reform his neanderthal views?
We tend to believe, but we're not positive yet, so don't quote us later if we change our mind, that Lott might be better right now than Nickles or the other GOP drones--remember that saying, "The Devil you know is better than...."--and we think that this devil has been effectively neutered, for our purposes.
The Washington Post joins us in reporting that Don Nickle's voting record on civil liberties issues is almost identical to that of Trent Lott:
Our earlier post
Hey, it doesn't happen (and this may be the first time) we've scooped the mainstream media, we should be able to show our pride for at least five minutes!
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