Friday, June 29, 2007
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Top High School students oppose torture
President Bush invited the 2007 Presidential scholars class to the White House on Monday to supposedly congratulate them, and to have them participate in a promotional event for reauthorizing his "No Child Left Behind" program.
First of all, this is just a funny situation. The Presidential Scholars are a group of the smartest high school students in the country. This is like Forrest Gump addressing a gathering of astrophysicists. One can't expect Bush to understand what a bad idea this was, but you would think his handlers would.
At the conclusion of the event, one of the students handed Bush a hand-written letter, signed by 50 of the participants, urging the President to "do all in your power to stop violations of the human rights of detainees, to cease illegal renditions, and to apply the Geneva Convention to all detainees, including those designated enemy combatants", and that "We have been told that we represent the best and brightest of our nation. Therefore, we believe we have a responsibility to voice our convictions. We do not want American to represent torture.” Bush, feigning surprise, said that the US has never been engaged in any of those practices. Why on Earth would they think such a thing... other than its common knowledge to everyone in the world, except, apparently, George Bush. This is increasingly pathetic. The letter sent Whitehouse staff into full damage-control mode, issuing absurd statements rebuking the assertions made in the students' letter. Truly heart-warming, indeed.
The event was particularly poignant in the context of the White house press conference, earlier that same day, with Dana Perino, wherein Ms. Perino flatly denied that the US was involved in torture in any way. This assertion was met with amazed indignation by the press corps. When confronted with the argument that US agents routinely engage in methodologies that have been defined as torture since 1901, Perino said that she would not comment on specific practices used by US agents "to obtain information from terrorists".
But what about those methods used on people who aren't terrorists and have never been accused of any crime, Ms. Perino?
Anyway, I thought this was a beautiful story, and it gives me a minuscule morsel of faith in the next generation of leaders.
here is a video of 3 of the students talking about the letter on CNN.
First of all, this is just a funny situation. The Presidential Scholars are a group of the smartest high school students in the country. This is like Forrest Gump addressing a gathering of astrophysicists. One can't expect Bush to understand what a bad idea this was, but you would think his handlers would.
At the conclusion of the event, one of the students handed Bush a hand-written letter, signed by 50 of the participants, urging the President to "do all in your power to stop violations of the human rights of detainees, to cease illegal renditions, and to apply the Geneva Convention to all detainees, including those designated enemy combatants", and that "We have been told that we represent the best and brightest of our nation. Therefore, we believe we have a responsibility to voice our convictions. We do not want American to represent torture.” Bush, feigning surprise, said that the US has never been engaged in any of those practices. Why on Earth would they think such a thing... other than its common knowledge to everyone in the world, except, apparently, George Bush. This is increasingly pathetic. The letter sent Whitehouse staff into full damage-control mode, issuing absurd statements rebuking the assertions made in the students' letter. Truly heart-warming, indeed.
The event was particularly poignant in the context of the White house press conference, earlier that same day, with Dana Perino, wherein Ms. Perino flatly denied that the US was involved in torture in any way. This assertion was met with amazed indignation by the press corps. When confronted with the argument that US agents routinely engage in methodologies that have been defined as torture since 1901, Perino said that she would not comment on specific practices used by US agents "to obtain information from terrorists".
But what about those methods used on people who aren't terrorists and have never been accused of any crime, Ms. Perino?
Anyway, I thought this was a beautiful story, and it gives me a minuscule morsel of faith in the next generation of leaders.
here is a video of 3 of the students talking about the letter on CNN.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Bong Hits for the First Ammendment
On June 24, 2002, Joseph Frederick was one among several students who unfurled a banner reading "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" across the street from Juneau-Douglas High School in Alaska. They were among a group of students gathered to watch the Olympic torch pass by that morning. The Principal of the High School, Deborah Morse, ran across the street (off school property), confiscated the sign, and suspended Frederick for 10 days. Frederick sued for violations of his First Amendment rights. The case wound its way through he system to the US Supreme court.
Yesterday, the Supreme Court ruled in Morse vs. Frederick in favor of Morse, the school principal, in a 5-4 decision along normal lines, reversing the lower court's decision.
Now, I feel a little strange calling attention to this case in light of everything else going on in the world, but we're talking about a Supreme Court decision concerning one of the most fundamental rights enshrined in the US Constitution. A right whose foundation is being dismantled before our eyes by the current executive branch and, it appears, the Supreme Court itself.
And it's not so much the decision, per se, that bothers me. It's the spectacular apathy among American citizens about a ruling that some legal scholars have called "the most important free-speech case in 20 years." Secondly, it's the fact that we now have a majority in the Supreme Court whose loyalty lies somewhere other than protecting the basic Constitutional rights of the fore mentioned apathetic populous. Third, it's a funny case. How often does that happen? Frederick is either a great champion of free-speech rights in America, or the most successful high-school prankster in the history of the world, or both.
Again, the details in this case are a bit fuzzy, so I don't have a very strong opinion about the ruling. The majority opinion hinges on the assumption that the gathering across from the school was a "school- sanctioned event". The validity of this assumption is disputed. It sounds to me like this was more of an informal gathering of school students. One piece of evidence supporting this is that Frederick was officially "Truant" at the time the event occurred. Frankly, I don't understand why this wasn't the central question: was it a school event or wasn't it? The majority opinion seems to ignore this question and is basically as follows: "Schools have a right to limit speech that seems, to a reasonable person, to encourage illegal drug use." Remarkably, the majority went on to say that if the banner contained serious political speech such as "Legalize Marijuana", it would have been protected.
The minority argued that "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" is not a serious endorsement of illegal drug use, but a joke, and that no student is more likely to use drugs as a result of seeing the banner.
I might argue that "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" just might constitute serious speech in a satirical sense. Satire is, after all, recognized to be a serious form of political speech in America today. Admittedly, were this serious commentary, it would be quite cryptic. But I think there is indeed a very thin line between serious political commentary and nonsense. Who decides?
Also, when I heard about the ruling, the thought occurred to me that the burden should fall on the Limiter of speech (in this case, the school) to prove that the speech is harmful. That is, they need to prove that this particular drug, marijuana, is harmful, and not just illegal drugs in general, in order to demonstrate a compelling need to limit speech.
I certainly didn't think that any of the Justices would bring that up, but I was wrong. Justice Stevens: "Reaching back still further, the current dominant opinion supporting the war on drugs in general, and our anti-marijuana laws in particular, is reminiscent of the opinion that supported the nationwide ban on alcohol consumption when I was a student. While alcoholic beverages are now regarded as ordinary articles of commerce, their use was then condemned with the same moral fervor that now supports the war on drugs. The ensuing change in public opinion occurred much more slowly than the relatively rapid shift in Americans' views on the Vietnam War, and progressed on a state-by-state basis over a period of many years. But just as prohibition in the 1920's and early 1930's was secretly questioned by thousands of otherwise law-abiding patrons of bootleggers and speakeasies, today the actions of literally millions of otherwise law-abiding users of marijuana,9 and of the majority of voters in each of the several States that tolerate medicinal uses of the product,10 lead me to wonder whether the fear of disapproval by those in the majority is silencing opponents of the war on drugs. Surely our national experience with alcohol should make us wary of dampening speech suggesting--however inarticulately--that it would be better to tax and regulate marijuana than to persevere in a futile effort to ban its use entirely."
Also, from the 9th circuit court's written opinion, "The issue of "illegal" drug use is a little complicated under Alaska law. Alaska has an express constitutional right to privacy that the federal constitution does not have. The Alaska Supreme Court has held unanimously that the state had the burden of justifying its statute prohibiting marijuana use, and "no adequate justification for the state's intrusion into the citizen's right to privacy by its prohibition of possession of marijuana by an adult for personal consumption in the home has been shown." ... Frederick was an adult citizen of Alaska, not a minor, at the time he displayed the sign."
Hopefully that means I wasn't too off-base.
But again, I think the main question in this case is whether or not this was a school event. The 9th Circuit court, which ruled in favor of Frederick, wrote "Frederick's banner... was displayed outside the classroom, across the street from the school, during a non-curricular activity that was only partially supervised by school officials. It most certainly did not interfere with the school's basic educational mission. "
The last thing I'd like to point out about this case is that it represented yet another opportunity for Justice Clarence "The Government derives its right to rule from God" Thomas to demonstrate his breath-taking idiocy and total hostility toward the First amendment. Basically, Thomas said that students don't have any free speech rights, ever, and that this ruling is good only to the extent that it takes another step toward further limiting free-speech rights for students. This is the same dude who Universally opposes racial quotas in Colleges and Affirmative Action, even though he has personally benefited from both. He certainly couldn't have made it to the Supreme Court on his own merits.
Yesterday, the Supreme Court ruled in Morse vs. Frederick in favor of Morse, the school principal, in a 5-4 decision along normal lines, reversing the lower court's decision.
Now, I feel a little strange calling attention to this case in light of everything else going on in the world, but we're talking about a Supreme Court decision concerning one of the most fundamental rights enshrined in the US Constitution. A right whose foundation is being dismantled before our eyes by the current executive branch and, it appears, the Supreme Court itself.
And it's not so much the decision, per se, that bothers me. It's the spectacular apathy among American citizens about a ruling that some legal scholars have called "the most important free-speech case in 20 years." Secondly, it's the fact that we now have a majority in the Supreme Court whose loyalty lies somewhere other than protecting the basic Constitutional rights of the fore mentioned apathetic populous. Third, it's a funny case. How often does that happen? Frederick is either a great champion of free-speech rights in America, or the most successful high-school prankster in the history of the world, or both.
Again, the details in this case are a bit fuzzy, so I don't have a very strong opinion about the ruling. The majority opinion hinges on the assumption that the gathering across from the school was a "school- sanctioned event". The validity of this assumption is disputed. It sounds to me like this was more of an informal gathering of school students. One piece of evidence supporting this is that Frederick was officially "Truant" at the time the event occurred. Frankly, I don't understand why this wasn't the central question: was it a school event or wasn't it? The majority opinion seems to ignore this question and is basically as follows: "Schools have a right to limit speech that seems, to a reasonable person, to encourage illegal drug use." Remarkably, the majority went on to say that if the banner contained serious political speech such as "Legalize Marijuana", it would have been protected.
The minority argued that "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" is not a serious endorsement of illegal drug use, but a joke, and that no student is more likely to use drugs as a result of seeing the banner.
I might argue that "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" just might constitute serious speech in a satirical sense. Satire is, after all, recognized to be a serious form of political speech in America today. Admittedly, were this serious commentary, it would be quite cryptic. But I think there is indeed a very thin line between serious political commentary and nonsense. Who decides?
Also, when I heard about the ruling, the thought occurred to me that the burden should fall on the Limiter of speech (in this case, the school) to prove that the speech is harmful. That is, they need to prove that this particular drug, marijuana, is harmful, and not just illegal drugs in general, in order to demonstrate a compelling need to limit speech.
I certainly didn't think that any of the Justices would bring that up, but I was wrong. Justice Stevens: "Reaching back still further, the current dominant opinion supporting the war on drugs in general, and our anti-marijuana laws in particular, is reminiscent of the opinion that supported the nationwide ban on alcohol consumption when I was a student. While alcoholic beverages are now regarded as ordinary articles of commerce, their use was then condemned with the same moral fervor that now supports the war on drugs. The ensuing change in public opinion occurred much more slowly than the relatively rapid shift in Americans' views on the Vietnam War, and progressed on a state-by-state basis over a period of many years. But just as prohibition in the 1920's and early 1930's was secretly questioned by thousands of otherwise law-abiding patrons of bootleggers and speakeasies, today the actions of literally millions of otherwise law-abiding users of marijuana,9 and of the majority of voters in each of the several States that tolerate medicinal uses of the product,10 lead me to wonder whether the fear of disapproval by those in the majority is silencing opponents of the war on drugs. Surely our national experience with alcohol should make us wary of dampening speech suggesting--however inarticulately--that it would be better to tax and regulate marijuana than to persevere in a futile effort to ban its use entirely."
Also, from the 9th circuit court's written opinion, "The issue of "illegal" drug use is a little complicated under Alaska law. Alaska has an express constitutional right to privacy that the federal constitution does not have. The Alaska Supreme Court has held unanimously that the state had the burden of justifying its statute prohibiting marijuana use, and "no adequate justification for the state's intrusion into the citizen's right to privacy by its prohibition of possession of marijuana by an adult for personal consumption in the home has been shown." ... Frederick was an adult citizen of Alaska, not a minor, at the time he displayed the sign."
Hopefully that means I wasn't too off-base.
But again, I think the main question in this case is whether or not this was a school event. The 9th Circuit court, which ruled in favor of Frederick, wrote "Frederick's banner... was displayed outside the classroom, across the street from the school, during a non-curricular activity that was only partially supervised by school officials. It most certainly did not interfere with the school's basic educational mission. "
The last thing I'd like to point out about this case is that it represented yet another opportunity for Justice Clarence "The Government derives its right to rule from God" Thomas to demonstrate his breath-taking idiocy and total hostility toward the First amendment. Basically, Thomas said that students don't have any free speech rights, ever, and that this ruling is good only to the extent that it takes another step toward further limiting free-speech rights for students. This is the same dude who Universally opposes racial quotas in Colleges and Affirmative Action, even though he has personally benefited from both. He certainly couldn't have made it to the Supreme Court on his own merits.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Another Bush appointee exhibits incredible incompetence Part XXII
Sure, there is probably a better title for this post, but I'm a lazy guy. That title would most likely work for most of the Newspaper headlines in America today, so hey, it works for me.
Bush just nominated James Holsinger to be the next Surgeon General of the United States. Now, if precedent serves a predictor of what kind of guy he is, one might suspect that he is inclined to ignore science and betray his responsibilities as America's primary health policy official, in favor of pursuing an ideological agenda, which might happen to closely mirror that of the President. Well, if one might suspect that, one would be correct.
Holsinger has a long history of bigotry against gay people, claiming that "gay activity is unnatural and unhealthy" and is a "lifestyle choice". The second assertion flies in the face of everything science now understands about homosexuality. He also founded a church whose mission included "curing" gay people of their "pathology".
As an individual who is alienated from modern medical and psychological science, Holsinger is not suitable to be the next Surgeon General. Please contact your senator and express your view that the Surgeon General of the United States must be someone who respects and recognizes medical science.
Bush just nominated James Holsinger to be the next Surgeon General of the United States. Now, if precedent serves a predictor of what kind of guy he is, one might suspect that he is inclined to ignore science and betray his responsibilities as America's primary health policy official, in favor of pursuing an ideological agenda, which might happen to closely mirror that of the President. Well, if one might suspect that, one would be correct.
Holsinger has a long history of bigotry against gay people, claiming that "gay activity is unnatural and unhealthy" and is a "lifestyle choice". The second assertion flies in the face of everything science now understands about homosexuality. He also founded a church whose mission included "curing" gay people of their "pathology".
As an individual who is alienated from modern medical and psychological science, Holsinger is not suitable to be the next Surgeon General. Please contact your senator and express your view that the Surgeon General of the United States must be someone who respects and recognizes medical science.
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