Author: rafflaw

Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Justice, Society, Uncategorized

Probable Cause..Black, Latino and Young

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Respectfully submitted by Lawrence E. Rafferty (rafflaw)-Guest Blogger

Much has been written about New York City’s stop and frisk policies, but until now, the evidence of who the police were stopping and why was not a matter of public record.  A recent class action suit has opened the door to learning the true numbers involved as well as the accurate demographics of just who is getting stopped by the NYPD.  “New York police officers testifying before a federal court this week said that racist quotas imposed by ranking officers are behind the police department’s controversial stop-and-frisk program, confirming years of accusations made by civil rights and community advocates that the department’s tactics disproportionately target minorities.  Continue reading “Probable Cause..Black, Latino and Young” →

Academia, Congress, Justice, Politics, Science

Is Private Health Care Squeezing the Life Out of Us?

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Respectfully submitted by Lawrence E. Rafferty(rafflaw)-Guest Blogger

If you have had any medical procedures lately, you may already be aware of the enormous prices being charged by hospitals.  What you may not be aware of is just how expensive this medical treatment is and how relying on private health care may just be reducing our lifespans.  I apologize in advance on the length of the following examples, but they are necessary to understand the enormity of the issue.

“Brill’s article begins with the story of a 42-year-old Ohio man named Sean Recchi, who traveled to MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston for treatment of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He and his wife Stephanie had paid $469 a month, or about 20% of their income, for insurance that covered $2,000 per day of hospital costs. His financial troubles started when MD Anderson told him, “We don’t take that kind of discount insurance.”  But he had to go to the hospital. His wife recalled that he was “sweating and shaking with chills and pains. He had a large mass in his chest that was..growing. He was panicked.”

Stephanie asked her mother to write a check for $48,900.  Sean waited for 90 minutes while the hospital confirmed that the check had cleared. He was also required to advance MD Anderson $7,500 from his credit card. The total cost for the initial treatment and chemotherapy was $83,900, including a $15,000 charge for lab tests for which a Medicare patient would have paid a few hundred dollars, $283 for an x-ray that Medicare categorizes as a $20 charge, and $1.50 for a generic version of a Tylenol pill.”  CommonDreams  Continue reading “Is Private Health Care Squeezing the Life Out of Us?” →

Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Free Speech, Justice, Politics, Society, Uncategorized

The NATO 3 and Free Speech

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Respectfully submitted by Lawrence E. Rafferty (rafflaw)- Guest Blogger

You may recall the demonstrations against the NATO Summit that was taking place in Chicago in May of 2012.  On May 16th, 2012, the Chicago Police Department made a military style raid on an apartment where several demonstrators were staying during the Summit.

“On May 16, 2012, the Chicago Police Department (CPD) conducted a violent midnight preemptive raid of an apartment housing 11 activists. Two of them, it would later be exposed, were actually undercover informants working on behalf of the CPD.  Staying in an apartment in the Bridgeport neighborhood on the south side of Chicago, the activists were in town to protest the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Summit, held May 20-21.  The military-style raid led to the eventual charging of three of those activists in the Windy City to protest the NATO Summit with conspiracy to commit acts of domestic terrorism and other related charges – under Illinois’ terrorism statute – in the form of a legal bail proffer. It was the first time the law – passed in haste by the Illinois legislature after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks – had ever been used.”  Truthout   Continue reading “The NATO 3 and Free Speech” →

Congress, Justice, Media, Military, Politics, Society

Catfood Commission Part Two

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Respectfully submitted by Lawrence E. Rafferty (rafflaw)-Guest Blogger

Now that the infamous Sequestration cuts are likely to kick in next week, I find it both hilarious and scary, that Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, the co-chairmen of the deceased debt commission that failed to produce a plan that their own committee could accept, are back in the news calling for cuts to Medicare and Social Security and reduced taxes for the wealthy and corporations as our only way out of our so-called debt crisis!  Where have I heard that song and dance before?  The so-called Catfood Commission is now back at work trying to do a reverse Robin Hood on the poor and middle class.  The only difference this time is that they have a new name, The Fix The Debt Coalition and they are funded by Billionaire Pete Peterson. Continue reading “Catfood Commission Part Two” →

Bizarre, Congress, Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Justice, Politics, Society, Uncategorized

The Connecticut Effect

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Respectfully submitted by Lawrence E. Rafferty (rafflaw)-Guest Blogger

In the weeks since the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, the call for more action in controlling military style guns and large capacity magazines has increased, but as of yet, nothing concrete has been done on the national level.  In fact, the NRA was recently quoted as suggesting that nothing will be done, once the country gets over the “Connecticut Effect”!  “The National Rifle Association will wait until the “Connecticut effect” has subsided to resume its push to weaken the nation’s gun laws, according to a top NRA lobbyist speaking at the NRA’s Wisconsin State Convention this weekend.” Think Progress  Continue reading “The Connecticut Effect” →

Congress, Courts, Justice, Politics, Religion, Society, Uncategorized

The Anti-Women 22

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Respectfully submitted by Lawrence E. Rafferty(rafflaw)-Guest Blogger

This past week a vote was taken in the United States Senate and it was not a vote to end a filibuster!  The vote that I am referring to was a vote to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act.(VAWA)  It was noteworthy that the vote actually took place at all, but the results of the vote were especially interesting.  The vote to reauthorize VAWA, which was co-sponsored by Sen. Patrick Leahy,  passed by a 78 to 22 margin.  All 22 votes against the measure were by male Republican members of the Senate. Continue reading “The Anti-Women 22” →

Congress, Constitutional Law, Politics, Society

United States Postal Service..We Hardly Knew Ye!

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Respectfully submitted by Lawrence E. Rafferty (rafflaw)- Guest Blogger

It was big news this past week when the United States Postmaster General Patrick Donahue announced that the Post Office was planning to end Saturday mail delivery starting in August, 2013.  In light of the large deficits that the Post Office is experiencing, the news is not surprising.  What may surprise you is the real reason for the Post Office deficits. Continue reading “United States Postal Service..We Hardly Knew Ye!” →

Congress, Criminal law, Justice, Politics, Religion, Society, Uncategorized

The War on Women Continues in Ohio

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Respectfully submitted by Lawrence E. Rafferty (rafflaw)-Guest Blogger

Last week we read Prof. Turley’s article concerning a bill proposed in New Mexico that attempts to make it unlawful for a rape victim to have an abortion because it would be akin to destroying the “evidence” of the rape claim.  While that bill is an insult to women and right thinking men everywhere, I submit that it is further evidence that the longest “war” on record, is still going strong in this country.  One of the most controversial examples of how women in general and rape victims in particular,  can be turned into the criminals by the public and even the police and prosecution is the case of an alleged gang rape in August, 2012,  in Steubenville, Ohio.

The victim was a 16-year-old girl who after passing out at a party from drinking and/or date rape drugs was allegedly repeatedly raped and abused by members of the Steubenville Big Red football team. The details of what the victim endured are both heartbreaking and disgusting.  I apologize in advance for the lurid details, but they are necessary to fully understand how egregious the attacks were and how egregious the post crime attacks on the victim and her family were. Continue reading “The War on Women Continues in Ohio” →

Academia, Congress, Courts, Justice, Media, Politics, Society

Obama’s Race to the Bottom

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Respectfully submitted by Lawrence E. Rafferty(rafflaw)-Guest Blogger

On the eve of President Obama’s Inauguration for his second term, I thought it might be useful to look more closely at one of his policies that is not working for students or parents. I am referring to his educational policy, better know by its marketing name, Race to the Top.  This “quaint” title for his corporate backed privatizing plan hides the negative impact it has had in the schools themselves.  It is has led to school closings and teacher firings for the sole purpose of school districts being eligible for  the Race to the Top grants from the Federal government!  Continue reading “Obama’s Race to the Bottom” →

Congress, Courts, International, Justice, Lawyering, Military, Politics, Things That Tick Me Off

KBR, Iraq and the Cost to Vets and the US

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Respectfully submitted by Lawrence E. Rafferty (rafflaw)-Guest Blogger

I guess it should not come as a surprise to me anymore. However, it still upsets me to see a military defense contractor trying to deflect blame for the damages its negligence caused to members of our military while serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.  In a news item that I didn’t notice until a few days after it broke, Huffington Post reported that the defense contractor, KBR, was found negligent and responsible for the poisoning of a dozen soldiers in Iraq in 2003.  Over 800 members of both regular and reserve units were stationed at an Iraqi water treatment plant to secure it and they were exposed regularly to a dangerous carcinogen called Sodium Dichromate.  The impact on the soldiers and Guardsmen’s negligent exposure to that “extreme carcinogen” was both devastating and deadly.

“Sodium dichromate is an orange-yellowish substance containing hexavalent chromium, an anti-corrosion chemical. To Lt. Col. James Gentry of the Indiana National Guard, who was stationed at the Qarmat Ali water treatment center in Iraq just after the 2003 U.S. invasion, it was “just different-colored sand.” In their first few months at the base, soldiers were told by KBR contractors running the facility the substance was no worse than a mild irritant.  Gentry was one of approximately 830 service members, including active-duty soldiers and members of the National Guard and reserve units from Indiana, South Carolina, West Virginia and Oregon, assigned to secure the water treatment plant, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Sodium dichromate is not a mild irritant. It is an extreme carcinogen. In November 2009, at age 52, Gentry died of cancer. The VA affirmed two months later that his death was service-related.  In November, a jury found KBR, the military’s largest contractor, guilty of negligence in the poisoning of a dozen soldiers, and ordered the company to pay $85 million in damages. Jurors found KBR knew both of the presence and toxicity of the chemical. Other lawsuits against KBR are pending.” Huffington Post   Continue reading “KBR, Iraq and the Cost to Vets and the US” →

Congress, Constitutional Law, Courts, Free Speech, Justice, Media, Politics, Supreme Court

FISA Extension Gets a Bipartisan Pass

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Respectfully submitted by Lawrence E. Rafferty (rafflaw)-Guest Blogger

It is always rare in Washington these days when a bipartisan majority passes any bill in the House of Representatives or the Senate.  However, while most of the media interest last week was fixed on the so-called “fiscal cliff” negotiations and the subsequent legislation that was passed and signed into law, maybe the media missed the more important legislation.  That missed legislation was a 5 year extension of the FISA amendments that was granted by the Senate in a bipartisan 72-23 vote last week.  “The Senate voted 72-23 last week to extend the FISA Amendments Act another five years, which President Obama signed Sunday. Unfortunately, the public discussion of George W. Bush’s warrantless wiretapping program may soon fade back into the shadows.”  ACLU

This is a continuation of the same Bush-era FISA bill that was alleged to spy on almost anyone’s electronic communication, all without warrants.  So, instead of sunshine being used to bring some accountability and transparency to this secret spying, for Five more years, American’s phone calls and text messages can be monitored almost at will by the government with little or no judicial restraint.  What is Congress and the Intelligence community hiding from the American people? Continue reading “FISA Extension Gets a Bipartisan Pass” →

Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Free Speech, Justice, Media, Military, Politics, Society, Supreme Court

Who Occupied the Occupy Movement?

220px-Day_60_Occupy_Wall_Street_November_15_2011_Shankbone_43Respectfully submitted by Lawrence E. Rafferty (rafflaw)-Guest Blogger

If you are like me, you remember the violent response by the FBI, DHS and local police forces to the many “Occupy” movement protests last Fall.  In those protests, the police used incredible force and firepower to break up peaceful protests and make a mockery of the First Amendment.  The police responses always seemed to be coordinated from city to city and there were allegations that the FBI and other governmental agencies were aiding the local authorities in stamping down the First Amendment rights of the Occupy protestors.  Now, a treasure trove of documents was released pursuant to a Freedom of Information request by a group called The Partnership for Civil Justice Fund.  Those documents expose a level of governmental intrusion into the privacy of protestors and governmental and private bank partnerships designed to crack down on legal protestors. Continue reading “Who Occupied the Occupy Movement?” →

Congress, Constitutional Law, Free Speech, Justice, Politics, Religion, Society

The Latest Tea Party Darling

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Respectfully submitted by Lawrence E. Rafferty (rafflaw)- Guest Blogger

Lost in the headlines about the Fiscal Cliff and the tragedy at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, was the gubernatorial appointment to the United States Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Jim DeMint.  Sen. DeMint was arguably the Tea Party’s Senator and his impending departure from the Senate to accept the position to head up the Heritage Foundation would have left a gaping hole in the Tea Party’s influence in the Senate.  There is nothing to worry about because South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley named Tea Party Congressman Tim Scott to replace DeMint in the Senate.  Rep. Scott was just elected to the House of Representatives in 2010 and has already made a big name for himself in the Tea Party world by suggesting that President Obama should be impeached if Obama attempted to go around the House of Representatives during the last debt ceiling fiasco! Continue reading “The Latest Tea Party Darling” →

Congress, Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Free Speech, Justice, Media, Military, Politics, Supreme Court

NDAA Double Cross

Respectfully submitted by Lawrence E. Rafferty (rafflaw)- Guest Blogger

When United States District Judge Katherine Forrest blocked the implementation of Section 1021 of the infamous National Defense Authorization Act in May of this year, I thought that legal civilians of all stripes were saved from being at risk of imprisonment without trial or due process. However, an appeals court stayed Judge Forrest’s injunction and the appellate court has allowed the indefinite detention provision to be reinstated during the appeal time frame.  Business Insider

Naomi Wolf of the Guardian explains why a group of journalists sued to block the implementation of Section 1021 in the first place. “As I reported here, last spring a group of journalists and activists including Chris Hedges, Noam Chomsky and Tangerine Bolen, led by counsel Bruce Afran and others, sued President Obama to halt the implementation of Section 1021 in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which would have allowed for the indefinite detention of Americans without charge or trial. The vague definition of who could be detained included individuals who were seen to provide “substantial support” to al-Qaida’s “associated forces” – wording that provided no protection for journalists interviewing, for example, detainees in Guantánamo, or activists and advocates working with prisoners on their cases.”  Readersupportednews  Continue reading “NDAA Double Cross” →