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October 10, 2007

Bush Administration Fights to Overturn Death Sentence of Gang Rapist/Murderer from Mexico

This shocking case needs more attention: The Supreme Court will hear a case this week about gang member and illegal alien Jose Medellin, who was convicted of the rape and murder of two girls, ages 14 and 16, 13 years ago and put onto death row. Heck, he even bragged about it and confessed when caught a few days after the fact.

What's the problem? Medellin and his five accomplices were not advised of their right to contact the Mexican consulate for assistance, and the Bush administration has joined forces with Medellin's law team to argue that the death penalty should be overturned.

Check out this video from the Glenn Beck Show last night for more details.

This is an attempt to put Mexican and international law in effect here in the United States, and it's preposterous. In the video, Jerome Corsi claims this is one more step toward the North American Union. Is he right? I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but nevertheless, this case has terrible implications for our national sovereignty.

Speaking of which, there's another critical national sovereignty issue that deserves more press: the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which is in committee and on the fast track to U.S. ratification. Cliff Kincaid of Accuracy in Media has been following the story. Click here, here and here for details, and then contact your senator to let him know what you think.

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Posted by Pam Meister at 11:45 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0) | Judges & Law

October 01, 2007

Must See: '60 Minutes' Interview with Justice Clarence Thomas

Fascinating. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who has been called a "traitor" to his race for his belief that the Constitution is colorblind, granted an interview with Steve Kroft of "60 Minutes." It's a glimpse into his past and what helped shape his morals and values. Thomas' memoir, "My Grandfather's Son," has recently been published, and after seeing this interview, I am thinking of reading it.

Understatement of the century by Kroft: "Justice Thomas doesn't think much of the press." I can't imagine why.

Check it out here.

h/t Aaron

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Posted by Pam Meister at 09:31 AM | Comments (8) | TrackBack (0) | Judges & Law

September 12, 2007

Imus "Nappy Headed Ho" Lawsuit Withdrawn

The Rutgers student who filed suit against Don Imus after Imus called the university's women's basketball team "nappy headed hos" has withdrawn that suit:

Kia Vaughn had contended in the lawsuit filed in August in New York state Supreme Court that the comments made by Imus had damaged her reputation. The lawsuit also named various media outlets that broadcast Imus' show.

Marti McKenzie, a spokeswoman for Vaughn's attorney, Richard Ancowitz, said in a statement that Vaughn had chosen to focus on her education at New Jersey's Rutgers University as a journalism major and as an athlete with the basketball team.

If I were to meet Ms. Vaughn on the street tomorrow, it's likely I wouldn't know who she is. Not only that, why would I judge her over a stupid comment made by Don Imus? Seems to me it's his reputation that got trashed as a result of this situation. Maybe he should sue someone?

For whatever reason, wisdom and cooler heads prevailed here. Ms. Vaughn would do well to get on with her life like the rest of us.

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Posted by Pam Meister at 10:00 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0) | Judges & Law

August 12, 2007

Virginia Is For Speeders

File this story in the "Idiot State Laws" file.

The labor pains were coming, so Jessica Hodges got going. The 26-year-old bank teller from Burke sped toward Inova Fairfax Hospital, but before she got there, the law got her -- 57 mph in a 35 zone. Reckless driving.

Hodges's labor pains subsided -- they turned out to be a false alarm -- but the agony from her ticket is mounting. She was found guilty of the July 3 offense and given a $1,050 civil fee on top of a judge-imposed $100 fine and court costs, making her one of the first to be hit with Virginia's new "abusive driver fees," which have been greeted by widespread public outrage.

"It's crazy," said an unregretful Hodges. "Having a baby's more important. Of course I'm going to speed."

At this point, someone should his Virginia with an Abusive State Fee. Morons.

Wyatt Earp

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Posted by Pam Meister at 05:15 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0) | Judges & Law

July 19, 2007

Valerie Plame's Lawsuit Dismissed

Expect outrage from the left on this one. Via Breitbart:

A federal judge on Thursday dismissed former CIA operative Valerie Plame's lawsuit against members of the Bush administration in the CIA leak scandal.

Plame, the wife of former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, had accused Vice President Dick Cheney and others of conspiring to leak her identity in Plame said that violated her privacy rights and was illegal retribution for her husband's criticism of the administration.

U.S. District Judge John D. Bates dismissed the case on jurisdictional grounds and said he would not express an opinion on the constitutional arguments. Bates dismissed the case against all defendants: Cheney, White House political adviser Karl Rove and former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

Plame's attorneys had said the lawsuit would be an uphill battle. Public officials are normally immune from such lawsuits filed in connection with their jobs.

PlameVF
Maybe Vanity Fair will run another "exclusive."

h/t: Cookiewrangler

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Posted by Pam Meister at 02:34 PM | Comments (386) | TrackBack (0) | Judges & Law

July 03, 2007

White House Won't Rule Out Full Libby Pardon

USA Today reports:

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House on Tuesday declined to rule out the possibility of an eventual pardon for former vice presidential aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. But spokesman Tony Snow said, for now, President Bush is satisfied with his decision to commute Libby's 2 1/2-year prison sentence.

"He thought any jail time was excessive. He did not see fit to have Scooter Libby taken to jail," Snow said.

As the left continues to howl about the unfairness of it all, they conveniently gloss over some of the pardons made by Bill Clinton (Marc Rich is a prime example), and the slap on the wrist received by Sandy Berger for stealing documents out of the National Archive. A little perspective can go a long way.

As it stands now, Libby's felony conviction remains on his record, and he still has to pay the quarter million dollar fine.

Question: with increased terrorist threats abroad and Iraq still a going concern, is this really what we need to spend the bulk of our energies on?

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Posted by Pam Meister at 11:49 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0) | Judges & Law

July 02, 2007

Bush Commutes Libby's Sentence

Breaking, from Newsday:

President Bush commuted the sentence of former aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby Monday, sparing him from a 2 1/2-year prison term in the CIA leak case.

Bush left intact a $250,000 fine and two years probation for Libby, according to a senior White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision had not been announced.

Commuted his sentence...not pardoned.

UPDATE:

Here's the official grant of executive clemency. And here is the official statement, with a portion excerpted below:

Mr. Libby was sentenced to thirty months of prison, two years of probation, and a $250,000 fine. In making the sentencing decision, the district court rejected the advice of the probation office, which recommended a lesser sentence and the consideration of factors that could have led to a sentence of home confinement or probation.

I respect the jury's verdict. But I have concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive. Therefore, I am commuting the portion of Mr. Libby's sentence that required him to spend thirty months in prison.

My decision to commute his prison sentence leaves in place a harsh punishment for Mr. Libby. The reputation he gained through his years of public service and professional work in the legal community is forever damaged. His wife and young children have also suffered immensely. He will remain on probation. The significant fines imposed by the judge will remain in effect. The consequences of his felony conviction on his former life as a lawyer, public servant, and private citizen will be long-lasting.

Has anyone asked Richard Armitage, the man who started all this hoopla, what he thinks of this?


HOOPLA!

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Posted by Pam Meister at 04:55 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0) | Judges & Law

May 02, 2007

Why Tort Reform Is Needed

Lawyers wonder why they have such lousy reputations. This is one of the reasons why: Judge Roy Pearson of Washington DC is suing a drycleaner for $67 million because they lost the pants to one of his favorite suits in 2005. He had wanted to wear that suit on his first day as judge.

Defending themselves against the suit -- for two years running -- are Korean immigrants Jin and Soo Chung and their son, who own Custom Cleaners and two other dry cleaning shops in the Fort Lincoln section of Washington, D.C.

The ABC News Law & Justice Unit has calculated that for $67 million Pearson could buy 84,115 new pairs of pants at the $800 value he placed on the missing trousers in court documents. If you stacked those pants up, they would be taller than eight Mount Everests. If you laid them side by side, they would stretch for 48 miles.

According to the Chungs, they found his pants less than a week after they initially went missing, but Pearson wouldn't take them. Now they have had to deal with the stress of the lawsuit, as well as having to pay exorbitant lawyers' fees to defend themselves. Soo Chung said she just wants to "go back to Korea." Who can blame her after this?

In my opinion, this is a nasty, vindictive person who has knowledge of the law and its loopholes, and is using that knowledge to intimidate and harass law-abiding small business owners who happened to tick him off on the wrong day. That the case hasn't been thrown out just goes to show how ridiculously low our court system has sunk.

I'm waiting for Pearson to start suing local restaurants and grocery stores for the fact that his favorite suits were "too tight," the reason he sent the pants in for alteration in the first place. I'm sure his weight gain can be blamed on someone other than himself!


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Posted by Pam Meister at 09:02 AM | Comments (19) | TrackBack (0) | Judges & Law

April 26, 2007

Lynne Stewart Disbarred

Lynne Stewart may have gotten a slap on the wrist for her acts that benefitted an Islamofascist terrorist sheik, but the New York Supreme Court has now disbarred her, after denying her request to "voluntarily resign" from practicing law because she made the request after her felony conviction. (I thought lawyers were supposed to be hip to all those pesky details in the lawbooks.)

Apparently the moment she was convicted of a felony, she was subject to the possibility of losing her license in New York.

Looks like the donation button at the top of her website will be coming in handy!

LynneStewart
Smile...you've just been disbarred!

h/t: V the K

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Posted by Pam Meister at 11:18 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0) | Judges & Law

April 11, 2007

Charges Against Duke Lacrosse Players To Be Dropped

UPDATE: FOX News has released the name and a photo of the accuser (h/t Larwyn). Apparently, her name has been said in public several times, including by lawyers during press conferences about the case.

UPDATE II: Hot Air has the video of the announcement. Check it out. "Failure to verify serious allegations." Right on.

I heard about this in the car this morning:

The office of North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper will announce that he is dismissing all charges against three Duke Lacrosse players, ABC News has learned from sources close to the case.

The three players, Reade Seligmann, David Evans and Collin Finnerty, were facing charges of first degree kidnapping and first degree forcible sexual offense. The charges stem from an off-campus party on the night of March 13, 2006.

...

The reasons that will be cited for the dismissal are not yet known, though the case has been riddled with criticism and colored by controversy since its early months. Defense attorneys released documents showing the accuser changed key details of her story in the weeks and months after the alleged assault.

According to Ron Kuby on WABC this morning, there is little legal recourse for the defendants as far as suing the prosecution, although they may be able to sue Duke University for the defamatory statements made by the school. However, Kuby suggested that perhaps the young men should continue to comport themselves in the courageous and dignified manner in which they've behaved within the past year. I agree. They've been through a lot, and their families have spent so much money on legal fees already...why would they want to go through a lawsuit which they may not win? It must be a huge relief to have this behind them. Still, in our litigous society, a lawsuit of some kind would not surprise me.

Meanwhile the accuser, whose name will likely not be released by major news associations, is still in the Durham area. Call me cynical, but I wouldn't be surprised if she gets some kind of book or television movie offer...

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Posted by Pam Meister at 07:37 AM | Comments (15) | TrackBack (0) | Judges & Law

March 23, 2007

Remaining Charges Against Duke Lacrosse Players Likely to be Dropped

From FOX News:

Inside Lacrosse Magazine writer Paul Caulfield told FOX News on Thursday that several sources have revealed to him that the assault and attempted kidnapping charges still pending against Collin Finnerty, 19, of Garden City, N.Y.; Dave Evans, 23, of Bethesda, Md.; and Reade Seligmann, 20, of Essex Falls, N.J., will soon be dropped.

Caulfield said his sources include more than just attorneys for the defense.

"There is no case here and they will be hearing a dismissal in the coming days," Caulfield told FOX News.

Meanwhile, Durham's DA Mike Nifong is dealing with his own problems: ethics charges from the state bar association stemming from the case, including the accusation that he held back exculpatory evidence that could have helped the defendants prove their innocence.

There have been rumors that the families of Finnerty, Seligmann and Evans may be considering civil lawsuits against Nifong, Duke or the state if it turns out the accuser's story doesn't pan out and Nifong is found to be guilty of mishandling the case.

Normally I don't go for "gotcha" litigation, but in this case, I believe such lawsuits would be justified. These young men were publically humiliated on a national scale, both by the press and the school they attended. "Concerned faculty" who care more about their ideas of social justice than real justice were quick to publish a public statement that essentially branded the students as guilty before the case even got to court. And Nifong, in a tight race for re-election, decided that courting the black vote at the expense of "privileged white guys" was an acceptable tradeoff. Not only do I hope he's sued, but I hope the North Carolina bar decides to strip him of his credentials. He's a disgrace to the legal profession.

The accuser was called in yesterday for one last discussion about the case with prosecutors. Ace says,

It's to give the "victim" a diginity and courtesy she doesn't deserve -- first notice of the case being dropped, and an overly kind explanation for the state's decision.

Because they just don't have the onions to say what we all have known for a half year: She's a half-crazy drugged-out hooker and a God-damned liar. (And I choose my words carefully. Mean every one of them.)

Harsh? Perhaps. But as her identity has been kept secret all this time while the Duke students have had their names dragged through the mud on trumped-up charges, a little harshness is in order.

Related:

Duke Invites Two Lacrosse Players Back

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Posted by Pam Meister at 08:48 AM | Comments (53) | TrackBack (0) | Judges & Law

March 09, 2007

Joe Wilson Admits He Leaked First

Last night, Mark Simone was filling in for the Great One, Mark Levin. Mark Levin is one of my absolute favorites, but when he's not there, Mark Simone (who has a regular show on WABC on the weekend) always does a great job. Simone replayed bits of an interview he did with Joe "No Yellowcake" Wilson, where Wilson admitted to several things:

*He was the first to leak the story
*He believed Saddam Hussein had WMDs
*He approved of George Bush gaining the go-ahead to use force
*His mission to Niger was not covert, although he wrote about it as a "leak"

Well, Dan Riehl was listening too, and went one step further: he has a link to the Mark Levin site, and has edited the audio so that you hear the relevant parts.

Kind of puts thing in a new perspective, doesn't it?

Thanks to Kitty for the tip about Riehl's post.

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Posted by Pam Meister at 08:33 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0) | Judges & Law

March 07, 2007

Libby: I'm Leaving It to the Experts

Since I'm not a law expert, and I have not followed the case closely, I really don't feel I should comment on the Scooter Libby case, except to say that from what I do know, I don't think the case should have even gone to trial.

More from better minds than mine:

Mark Levin
Clarice Feldman
John Hawkins
Jules Crittenden
Michelle Malkin

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Posted by Pam Meister at 10:14 AM | Comments (85) | TrackBack (0) | Judges & Law

February 26, 2007

Former ACLU Bigwig Arrested for Hardcore Kiddie Porn

Another story that should be front-page news, but isn't:

Federal agents arrested Charles Rust-Tierney, the former president of the Virginia chapter of the ACLU, Friday in Arlington for allegedly possessing child pornography.

According to a criminal complaint obtained by ABC News, Rust-Tierney allegedly used his e-mail address and credit card to subscribe to and access a child pornography website.

But wait, there's more!

The videos described in the complaint depict graphic forcible intercourse with prepubescent females. One if the girls is described in court documents as being "seen and heard crying", another is described as being "bound by rope."

As a mother and a decent person, that makes me sick to my stomach. And isn't it interesting that the ACLU supports legalizing child pornography?

No, the guy hasn't been convicted yet, so spare me the usual hyperbole. But the outrage stemming from former Rep. Mark Foley's overly-friendly e-mails with teenage interns seems a bit contrived when you read about real scum like this. Of course, the ACLU being a leftwing media darling, they just give it a quick "just the facts, ma'am" story and drop it. After all, the ACLU is fighting for your right to watch this kind of thing!

h/t: Larwyn and Moonbattery

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Posted by Pam Meister at 10:16 AM | Comments (11) | TrackBack (0) | Judges & Law

February 18, 2007

Why Just Libby?

Victoria Toensing, writing for the Washington Post, makes an excellent case as to why Scooter Libby shouldn't be the only one tried in the aftermath of an investigation that has become a travesty of justice.

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Posted by Pam Meister at 05:20 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) | Judges & Law

February 08, 2007

He Made "Bad Decisions"

A youth pastor in Texas was given the death sentence for killing a 17-year-old girl and her fetus (she was three months pregant and the child was his). A 2003 Texas law amended that "individual" be replaced with an unborn child at every stage of gestation from fertilization until birth." So under Texas law, Adrian Estrada killed not one, but two people.

Good. But get this:

Estrada's attorney, Suzanne Kramer, had argued that her client made bad decisions.

"It that enough to execute him? Is that enough to kill him?" she asked the jury.

I would say so. His "bad decisions" took the life of a girl whom he had also made the "bad decision" of having sex with. The girl also made a "bad decision" to have sex with him, but she didn't deserve to die for it, and neither did their unborn child.

Wonder what NOW will make of this?

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Posted by Pam Meister at 08:41 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0) | Judges & Law

January 17, 2007

The Duke Rape Case and Common Sense

John Podhoretz has written a great piece in the NY Post on the judicial folly that is now known as the Duke rape case. Here's the pivotal point:

The reason the so-called "Duke rape case" has attracted such intense attention over the past year is that at every turn, simple common sense was overcome and discarded due to an intoxicating cocktail of raw political calculation, shameful butt-covering and self-righteous political correctness that was ingested by nearly every authority figure and political actor in this homely city of 272,000.

Read it all.

Related:
Duke Invites Two Lacrosse Players Back

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Posted by Pam Meister at 10:25 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) | Judges & Law

January 04, 2007

Duke Invites Two Lacrosse Players Back

Excerpts from the AP (for what it's worth):

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- For Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann, being invited to return to Duke University represents vindication.

The university barred the two lacrosse players from class last semester while they faced charges of raping a stripper at a team party.

...

"As circumstances have evolved in this extraordinary case, we have attempted to balance recognition of the gravity of legal charges with the presumption of your innocence," Moneta said in a letter to Seligmann and Finnerty dated Tuesday.

"Now with the approach of a new term, we believe that circumstances warrant that we strike this balance differently. At this point, continued extension of the administrative leave would do unwarranted harm to your educational progress."

In other words, the university is admitting they were wrong for kicking the young men out without actually saying the words "we were wrong." In this country, you are supposed to be innocent until proven guilty. Due to the racial and economic nature of the case (white men attending a prestigious university vs. black woman attending a less prestigious state school), Duke University jumped on the race-baiting bandwagon driven by DA Mike Nifong and practically had a "guilty" verdict signed before a trial had even begun. Now that Nifong's case is falling apart (conveniently after his re-election), Duke officials must be realizing they too have egg on their faces.

Neither Finnerty nor Seligmann have decided if they'll return. Frankly, I hope they don't. One, there will always be those fellow students and professors who believe they are guilty, and they will be pariahs no matter what. Two, why should they go running back to the institution that didn't support them when they needed it most just to assuage feelings of guilt on the part of school administrators?

I'm not in favor of foolish litigation. However, considering how the reputations of these young men have suffered, I certainly hope they are considering some nice, juicy lawsuits.

For excellent insight on this case, read The Real Issue at Duke parts one and two by Thomas Sowell.

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Posted by Pam Meister at 08:42 AM | Comments (16) | TrackBack (0) | Judges & Law

January 02, 2007

Reporters to Testify in Libby Trial

Remember the "outing" of CIA agent Valerie Plame? The only person indicted in connection with it, Scooter Libby, is due to go on trial soon, with jury selection to begin in two weeks. Libby is not accused of revealing her identity, but of lying about conversations he had with reporters about Plame.

Journalists Judith Miller, Matthew Cooper and Tim Russert are expected to be called as witnesses for the prosecution, while the defense has a number of unnamed reporters it plans to call to rebut their testimony.

Jurors likely won't hear much about the leak itself because the original source, former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, has already confirmed his role and Libby is not charged with the leak. But the trial is certain to renew questions about whether the administration used reporters to drum up support for the war.

Is it true? Moreover, is it illegal? Interesting. When the media uses its power to sway opinion against the war, they feel justified in doing so. But when the administration tries to sway opinion toward their agenda, the media is suddenly outraged.

Lucy Dalgish of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press says the use of journalists as witnesses in the trial is "horrifying." To me, what's more horrifying is if Libby is railroaded in a political shell game. He is due a fair trial. If using reporters as witnesses ensures that fairness, then I am all for it.

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Posted by Pam Meister at 10:03 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) | Judges & Law

October 16, 2006

Lynne Stewart: 28 Months

Convicted in February of last year of smuggling messages to terrorists from her imprisoned mullah client, Lynne Stewart was sentenced to a measley 28 months in prison today.

She is free on bail pending her appeal.

Just reading the Reuters article is nauseating. It lovingly describes Stewart as "long a defender of the poor and unpopular" and alerts readers that "[s]ome observers said the case stemmed from Bush administration efforts to discourage the defense of accused terrorists."

Just so you know, the client she was convicted of smuggling messages for is Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman. Rahman not only was involved in terrorist acts in his homeland of Egypt, but was behind several unsuccessful bombing plots in New York, as well as the successful 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.

I can't imagine why he's unpopular.

Michelle Malking puts in her two cents.

LynneStewart.jpg
This sweet grandmother smuggled
messages to terrorists...

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Posted by Pam Meister at 07:45 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0) | Judges & Law

August 03, 2006

Somebody Call NAMBLA!

This is one of the most revolting stories I have heard recently:

A suburban Cleveland man accused of sexually assaulting nine disabled boys told a judge Wednesday that his apartment was a religious sanctuary where smoking marijuana and having sex with children are sacred rituals protected by civil rights laws.

The admitted pedophile offered a surprising defense Wednesday to 74 charges of rape, drugs and pandering obscenity to minors.

...

He told the judge, "I'm a pedophile. I've been a pedophile for 20 years. The only reason I'm charged with rape is that no one believes a child can consent to sex. The role of my ministry is to get these cases out of the courtrooms."

NAMBLA (North American Man Boy Love Association) had better snap this guy up quickly...he's definitely the poster boy for their cause.

Apparently he ran a school in his home for children with special needs, including autistic children.

People like this are a pox on society. I hope he goes down the river and never comes back.

Distasio.jpg
Thinks having sex with boys should be legal

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Posted by Pam Meister at 08:53 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0) | Judges & Law

June 06, 2006

When a Lawsuit is a Good Idea

Via Breitbart:

The father of a Marine whose funeral was picketed by anti-gay protesters from a fundamentalist Kansas church filed an invasion-of- privacy suit against the demonstrators Monday.

It is believed to be the first lawsuit brought by a soldier's family against Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., whose members routinely demonstrate at military funerals around the country.

Albert Snyder of York, Pa., the father of Lance Cpl. Matthew A. Snyder, is seeking unspecified damages. The younger Snyder, 20, died March 3 after an accident in the Al Anbar province of Iraq. He was buried in Westminster, Md.

"We think it's a case we can win because anyone's funeral is private," Snyder lawyer Sean Summers said. "You don't have a right to interrupt someone's private funeral."

Members of Westboro say the military deaths in Iraq are God's punishment for America's tolerance of gays. They typically carry signs with slogans such as "God Hates Fags" and "Thank God for IEDs," a reference to the roadside bombs used by insurgents.

The church has inspired dozens of state laws banning funeral protests, including a Maryland law that did not go into effect until after Snyder's memorial.

Shirley Phelps-Roper, a spokeswoman for the small congregation, said it is the first time Westboro has been sued by a soldier's family.

"We were exercising our First Amendment rights," she said.

You know, I'm tired of the First Amendement being invoked as an excuse for bad taste. These families lose their loved ones, only to have their funerals picketed by a bunch of loonies who believe their deaths are connected with homosexual tolerance.

A day of mourning and remembrance is turned into a circus. It isn't right.

You want to protest the war (for whatever reason)? Fine. Go right ahead and make an a** of yourself. But don't exercise your precious First Amendment rights at the expense of grieving families.

I hope Mr. Snyder wins his case.

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Posted by Pam Meister at 09:21 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0) | Judges & Law

January 09, 2006

During the Alito Hearings, Think Happy Thoughts!

Wyatt Earp over at Support Your Local Gunfighter reminds us about a few things when we're sick and tired of the rhetoric coming out of the Dems' pieholes. Click here.

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Posted by Pam Meister at 09:29 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) | Judges & Law

December 14, 2005

After Tookie

In the wake of Stanley "Tookie" Williams' execution, there is a lot of discussion about the death penalty. Some people, of course, think there should be no death penalty. But some states do have the death penalty--and prosecutors, therefore, are entitled to seek it when trying murder cases.

Williams co-founded the Crips, one of the most dangerous gangs in America. He was found guilty of murdering four people for paltry sums of money nearly 25 years ago. He never admitted guilt, although the justice system found him guilty. He was never able to find proof that someone else did the killings. His legal options ran out.

Why do some death row inmates inspire some to fight for their lives? Hollywood seems to glom on to prisoners like Tookie and Mumia Abu-Jabal, who is on death row for killing a police officer. The killers who inspire the "save so-and-so" movements usually do something while in jail that some think redeems them, such as finding religion, getting a college education or lecturing on the folly of crime. Does this erase their crimes and society's responsibility for punishing them to the full extent of the law?

What about clemency? What motivates a governor or president to grant clemency (it need not be for a murderer, either). Ben Shapiro has some thoughts about executive clemency:

Read More "After Tookie"

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Posted by Pam Meister at 09:46 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) | Judges & Law

December 12, 2005

Rosa DeLauro Against Alito

Color me surprised...or not. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) is against the nomination of Justice Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court.

DeLauro, who like her House colleagues will not have a vote on the nomination, called Alito "someone who has consistently ruled that Congress does not have the power to hold employers accountable for engaging in discrimination.

What I believe she refers to here is his opinion that the Family Leave and Medical act is unconstitutional, believing that it should be left to individual state jurisdiction. As I am not an expert on that, I prefer to leave it to experts like Alito.

"Nor does he believe the federal government has the responsibility to protect the health, safety of welfare of Americans," DeLauro said.

Technically, the federal government has no business in doing any of these things. The Constitution makes no provision for healthcare, personal safety (with the exception of protecting citizens from foreign attack) or welfare of American citizens--except for the part where it says we are all deserve "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." There are times when federal intervention is necessary. However, the framers did not intend for our federal government to hold our hands along every step of the way in the journey of life.

The U.S. was not founded on the nanny state philosophy. What about personal accountability?

And of course, the Roe v. Wade card gets played. Marcia Greenberger, president of the National Women's Law Center joined DeLauro in denouncing Alito.

Greenberger, like other Alito critics, noted that his confirmation would place a pro-life jurist in the seat currently held by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.

Is there nothing else going on that the court needs to worry about? Why is it that abortion seems to be the main point of contention as to whether or not a judge is qualified (or not) to sit on the Supreme Court.

Give it a rest already.

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Posted by Pam Meister at 05:06 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0) | Judges & Law

October 27, 2005

Miers is Out

They say if you can't take the heat, stay out of the kitchen. I guess Harriet Miers couldn't take the maelstrom of criticism, and she has pulled herself out of the confirmation process.

In her letter dated Thursday, Miers said she was concerned that the confirmation process "would create a burden for the White House and our staff that is not in the best interest of the country."

You know, all of those Republicans and conservatives who declare that a nominee should be afforded the dignity of a straight up-or-down Senate vote after a timely confirmation hearing really need to check their double standards list. I'm just disgusted with the whole affair.

Miers has class and dignity. I wish her well.

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Posted by Pam Meister at 09:28 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (1) | Judges & Law

March 17, 2005

Justice for Rilya

She didn't get the love and care she deserved in life...let's hope she gets justice for her death.

An arrest has finally been made in the disappearance of 4-year old Rilya Wilson from her foster home in Florida three years ago.

Based on a confession she made to an inmate while in jail on another unrelated charge, Geralyn Graham has been charged with Rilya's murder. Rilya's body has yet to be found.

I hope the prosecution doesn't bungle this...little Rilya deserves nothing less than success.

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Posted by Pam Meister at 09:16 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) | Judges & Law

March 16, 2005

Scott Peterson Stares Death in the Face

It's official, folks...a California judge will be upholding the death penalty recommended by a jury on November 13.

Even in whacked-out California, justice is capable of seeping through.

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Posted by Pam Meister at 01:10 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) | Judges & Law


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