The US Supreme Court just narrowed the 4th Amendment’s protections against unreasonable searches and seizures in a case called Herring v. United States.
This is a case about the Exclusionary Rule. Writing for the 5-4 majority, Chief Justice Roberts argues that the mistakes of law enforcement are not serious enough in the case to justify excluding the evidence. This is not an outrageous argument, and it is not wildly out of line with the relevant cases.
I don’t think this is a wise decision. Why should law enforcement be rewarded for being careless?
French President Nicholas Sarkosy wants to do away with Investigating Magistrates. This would end a 200-year legal tradition in France. Although the move gives lip service to the presumption of innocence, the practical result will be more power to the government and less justice for the people.
My father and uncle were born in Bath, England and raised in Baghdad, Iraq. Both of them spoke Arabic fluently. My wife is a Rabbi. (I consider myself Quaker; my wife thinks I’m basically Catholic.)
The lesson I take from the Holocaust is that silence equals complicity. I add my voice to those who call for an end to the Israeli bombardment and siege of Gaza.
This is a good time to stand up and be counted. Gaza is the Warsaw Ghetto of our time. It’s wrong to be silent in the face of this crime against humanity, being committed with American weapons and official American support.
If there’s anything we hear less about in America than Dead Arab Children, it’s Israeli Peace Activists. There are a lot of courageous, dedicated Israelis and Arabs who are working tirelessly for peace and reconciliation. Although I oppose Israeli aggression and occupation, I think it’s equally important to recognize the importance of supporting the most idealistic of Israelis.
Today the President announced a $17.4 billion “loan” to the US automobile industry. Not only is this a cruelly cynical move, it’s both bad business and bad government.
Hundreds of thousands of workers are going to be put out of work. They deserve help from the government to move into more useful, viable industries. Read about this latest bailout here.
It’s amazing that we’re debating whether or not to bail out the US car companies. They’re insolvent! They’ve got to reorganize, pursuant to the bankruptcy laws. Any other approach rewards unsuccessful managers. Both the Democrats and Republicans were prepared to bail out management teams that have failed in the free market. The only difference is that the Republicans wanted the auto workers to accept a drastic cut in their standard of living as a precondition to a deal. Impoverishing workers is no way to reinvigorate a consumer-driven economy!
Meanwhile, Bloomberg reports that the Fed has issued Two Trillion Dollars of emergency loans, but the Fed won’t disclose the borrowers or the collateral. This cloak of secrecy wouldn’t be necessary if the transactions were honest.
Hope is one of the most powerful drugs, but it’s no substitute for progressive change. Our new President is dedicated to preserving a corrupt system. The US military is deploying in the USA. The government is going to bail out creditors instead of debtors. Get ready for a rough ride.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) wasn’t in the public eye until the banks started to fail. Sheila Bair is the Chair of the FDIC. She was appointed by President Bush, but don’t hold it against her. Ms Bair is a Republican who believes the FDIC should be a consumer protection agency. She has fought for borrowers instead of lenders, and she wants the big banks to lose the freedom to calculate their own capital requirements.
We’re printing an ungodly amount of borrowed money to bail out a bankrupt financial system, and so far that money is going to the people who caused the problems! It’s hard to see anything good coming of it.
I don’t see a significant difference between the two major candidates for President on economic issues. Both support endless wars, with military bases all over the world, financed with borrowed money. We are headed for big margin calls, both economically and environmentally.
