The Human Rights Watch has issued a damning report on the loss of freedoms and civil liberties under Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. HRW found a comprehensive rollback of core political and legal rights for journalists, dissidents, and the courts. As I have noted before, I am astonished how many in the liberal community in the United States have been muted in their opposition to Chávez who has modeled his government on that of Castro in Cuba while establishing alliances with some of the worst dictators in the world.
Continue reading “Human Rights Watch Issues Report On Loss Of Civil Liberties Under Chávez”
Category: Media
Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger
Elizabeth Warren, a lawyer who is an expert in bankruptcy law and the woman responsible for the creation for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, is the Democratic candidate for the US Senate in Massachusetts. She is running against incumbent Scott Brown, aka Senator McDreamy. Brown, a Republican, won Ted Kennedy’s senate seat in a special election in 2010. He was helped in his bid to win the election by the Tea Party, lots of campaign contributions from big banks, and Martha Coakley—his Democratic opponent who proved to be a truly inept political campaigner.
We have had a number of discussions on the Turley Blawg about Brown’s opponent Elizabeth Warren this year (here, here, here, and here). I thought it time to shed some light on Scott Brown who has focused much of his campaign talk calling into question Elizabeth Warren’s credibility because of her claim that she has Native American ancestry.
Brown has been criticized by Warren—as well as by other democrats, Massachusetts residents, and members of the news media—because he has spent so little time discussing substantive issues that are of true import to his constituents and to this country.
While declaring the demise of the West, Russian President Vladimir Putin is close to enacting sweeping new powers to regulate the Web and block sites of his government’s choosing. He has received support from Natalya Kaspersky, chief executive of InfoWatch, who said that the Web could use some government control and that civil libertarians are exaggerating concerns about Putin’s control of speech on the Internet. For those people signing up with InfoWatch, it may come as a bit of a surprise that the company is aligned with a man who is rolling back on basic civil liberties for millions and working to limit speech on the Internet — a threat to his authoritarian agenda. Kaspersky actually heralds the possible benefits of a Russian blacklist controlled by Putin.
Respectfully submitted by Lawrence Rafferty (rafflaw)-Guest Blogger
After writing an earlier article about the Pennsylvania Voter ID law, I saw another article about a Pennsylvania issue that seems a little hard to comprehend. Recently, the City of Scranton, PA decided that it could not afford to continue to honor its contractual obligations with its City Fire, Police and Public union workers. One problem with Scranton’s decision is that a Federal judge had ordered that the City must honor its obligations to the employees under the terms of a temporary injunction that he granted the employees. Continue reading “Scranton versus the Courts”
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
Tomas Lopez, a Hallandale Beach, north of Miami Florida, lifeguard was fired for helping to rescue a swimmer who was 1500 feet outside his company’s contracted zone of responsibility. Alerted to the distressed swimmer, Lopez did what comes naturally to lifeguards, he ran to help.
Continue reading “Lifeguard Fired For Saving Life Outside Contracted Area”
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
Respectfully submitted by Lawrence Rafferty (rafflaw)- Guest Blogger
I guess I should not be surprised when I read of certain states trying to “cleanse” the voting rolls under the guise of voter fraud. However, I was saddened to read that the State of Pennsylvania was joining the growing list of so-called Red and some not so Red states that are taking steps to disenfranchise voters prior to the November National elections. The State of Pennsylvania is poised to possibly disenfranchise almost 10 percent of its voting population. “Pennsylvania’s new voter ID law, which will take effect for the first time this November, may prevent 758,939 otherwise eligible voters, who do not currently have an acceptable ID, from voting.” Think Progress Continue reading “Et Tu Pennslyvania?”
Submitted by: Mike Spindell, guest blogger
I am a regular subscriber to the website WhoWhatWhy written by investigative journalist Russ Baker. Recently he ran a response by one of his readers, Dave Parker, to a video Russ posted of Nick Hanuer, a billionaire venture capitalist who gave a talk at TED, which is an acronym for the non-profit, Technology, Entertainment and Design, TED holds conferences around the world on business/societal issues that relate to its theme. In his talk Mr. Hanuer dispelled the idea that the Rich create wealth and instead said it was really the middle-classes that drove the economy. He disparaged the idea that it is the entrepreneurs who are the “job creators”. Although the talk was well received by the conference attendees, TED curiously chose not to publicize it as it usually does with other such talks. Perhaps their decision was because Mr. Hanuer’s thesis goes against the current widely accepted mythology regarding job creation and entrepreneurship. Here is a video of his talk:
In his comment on this video, Dave Parker used the writings of Joseph Campbell. Joseph Campbell was:
“an American mythologist, writer and lecturer, best known for his work in comparative mythology and comparative religion. His work is vast, covering many aspects of the human experience.”
My reading Dave’s article was the type of moment where you can imagine me slapping my head and exclaiming: “Damn, why didn’t I think of that”. Indeed, I’ve read all of Campbell’s books and seen all of his famed PBS series of interviews, done with Bill Moyers. What follows is my jumping off from Mr. Parker’s excellent comments and any credit for what I’m writing here goes to him for his perception. In applying Campbell to Mr. Hanuer’s comments, Dave solidified a concept for me that’s been playing in my head for years about the 1%’s need to increase the disparity between themselves and everyone else . The Rich are trying to create a new kind of feudalism where Lordships are won not on battlefields, but in corporate boardrooms. The rest of us need to be impoverished because without serfs to worship them, having everything ultimately becomes boring. Some of the 1% no doubt are less ego-driven and have empathy for those not on their level, but even they are beneficiaries of a mythology in creation. I believe that this mythology is the result of a campaign waged since the supporters of Barry Goldwater went down to an inglorious defeat. Continue reading “Mythology and the New Feudalism”
Bahawalpur Pakistan was the scene of a horrific crime after thousands of Muslims were told by religious leaders to raid a police station and punish a man accused of ripping pages out of a Koran. The mentally ill man was accused of blasphemy, but never saw a courtroom. The mob pulled him from the police station, beat him to death and then set his body on fire.
Despite our recent appearance as co-commentators last week, Chief Justice John Roberts has spoken against my proposal to expand the Supreme Court to 19 members. According to the Washington Post, Roberts said that he opposed the proposal and added “Well, I suppose it depends on who gets to pick them.” For prior columns on my proposal, click here, here and here and here. (See also Unpacking the Court: The Case for the Expansion of the United States Supreme Court in the Twenty-First Century.” 33 Perspectives on Political Science, no. 3, p. 155 (June 22, 2004)).
Continue reading “Chief Justice John Roberts Opposes Court Expansion Proposal: A Response”
Rupert Murdoch, News Corp. chief executive, has twitted on his views of evil. While various people of late have been citing Murdock with the same criticism after the eavesdropping scandal, Murdoch was moved to discuss evil with regard to recent complaints by Katie Holmes that she is being followed by what her friends call “Scientology goons” — reportedly raised fears that the Church might try to snatch the child of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. Murdoch responded with “Scientology back in news. Very weird cult, but big, big money involved with Tom Cruise either number two or three in [hierarchy].” That must make work a bit awkward since Greta Van Susteren, one of his leading hosts, has been a prominent member of Scientology for decades. Her show “On The Record” airs every weekday.
Continue reading “On The Record On Evil? Fox News Owner Calls Scientology a “Very Weird Cult””
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
Katherine Eban of Fortune has published the results of a six-month investigation into the Fast and Furious scandal that turns the previous narrative on its head. Eban notes a fundamental misconception at the heart of the scandal: while no one disputes that straw purchasers repeatedly bought guns that fell into the hands of criminals, “five law-enforcement agents directly involved in Fast and Furious tell Fortune that the ATF had no such tactic.”
Eban points out the irony of Republicans, who support the National Rifle Association’s attempts to weaken gun laws, chiding the ATF for not interdicting enough guns.
Police in Evansville, Indiana were alarmed to find threatening comments from someone on the Internet toward local police. They responded by sending a SWAT team to a home to capture the person who left the Topix postings. They invited a camera crew to watch them take down the villain — and it did not exactly turn into the camera-ready moment that they had hoped for.
In an important win for free speech, the Supreme Court affirmed the Ninth Circuit in striking down the Stolen Valor Act — legislation that I have previously criticized (here and here) as a threat to the first amendment. The nice thing is that it was not particularly close and Chief Justice Roberts again broke with his more conservative colleagues. In United States v. Alvarez, No. 11-210, the Court held 6-3 that it is unconstitutional to criminalize lies — in that case lying about receiving military decorations or medals. Ironically, Alvarez now has something to brag about but no one will believe him.
Continue reading “Supreme Court Strikes Down The Stolen Valor Act”
Continue reading “Supreme Court To Rule On Health Care And Free Speech”