The Presumptuous Nominee

From King George to King John.

Is John McCain so ignorant of copyright laws that he doesn't realize you need an artist's permission to use his work in your own?

Jackson Browne doesn't want John McCain running on anything fueled by his lyrics.

The singer-songwriter sued McCain and the Ohio and national Republican committees in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on Thursday, accusing them of using his song "Running on Empty" without his permission.

[...]

The suit notes that other musicians, including ABBA and John Cougar Mellencamp, have asked McCain to stop using their work.

Browne's attorney, Lawrence Iser, called the ad's use of the song "reprehensible."

The 59-year-old singer claims his reputation has already been damaged and is seeking more than $75,000 in damages.

  Yahoo

ABBA, too?

US AG: Breaking the Law Is Not a Crime

But I wouldn't advise you put that to the test for yourself. In fact, you may not even have to break the law to commit a crime.

[ Attorney General Michael ] told delegates to the American Bar Association annual meeting, "Not every wrong, or even every violation of the law, is a crime. In this instance, the two joint reports found only violations of the civil service laws.

[...]

"No criminal prosecutions are planned for former Justice Department officials accused of allowing politics to influence the hiring of prosecutors, immigration judges and other career government lawyers, […] Mukasey said Tuesday.

  Yahoo

Oooh. Giant surprise there. But, really…breaking the law is not a crime? This from our country’s Attorney General.

I hope I wake up soon.

This Should Make You Feel More Confident in Our SCOTUS

Dwight Sullivan, a colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve, has some crowing rights this week. He found a serious factual error in the majority opinion barring the death penalty for child rape defendants — a flaw that was missed by both the majority and dissenting justices in Kennedy v. Louisiana as well as all of the attorneys in the case.

In deciding last week that the execution of child rapists offends the “evolving standards of decency” of the country, Justice Anthony Kennedy relied on the fact that one six jurisdictions allowed for such punishment — and not the other 30 states with the death penalty or the federal government. For a copy of the opinion, click here. It turns out that recently that changed with regard to the federal government. As Mr. Sullivan pointed out, Congress added the such punishment in National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2006. None of the attorneys for either side or any amicus caught the change. Nor did the dissenting justices.

[...]

This not the first time that facts relied upon by the Court have proven false. Indeed, a far more serious flaw was found in the Reynolds case where the Court established the military and state secrets privilege. At the time, many argued that the Air Force was lying about the classified information in the case and the risk to national security. The Supreme Court ignored these claims and rendered its decision creating the doctrine. Recently, material surfaced that showed that the Air Force had indeed misrepresented the facts to the Court, but when asked to reconsider the ruling, the Court refused.

  Jonathan Turley

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

Let the Trials Begin

Correction to this post here.

McClellan: […]I walked onto Air Force One, it was right after an event we had, it was down in the south, I believe it was North Carolina. And I walk onto Air Force One and a reporter had yelled a question to the President trying to ask him a question about this revelation that had come out during the legal proceedings. The revelation was that it was the President who had authorized, or, enable Scooter Libby to go out there and talk about this information [ed: Valerie Plame’s status with the CIA *Update: Correction link above.]. And I told the President that that's what the reporter was asking. He was saying that you, yourself, was the one that authorized the leaking of this information. And he said "yeah, I did." And I was kinda taken aback.

"Now, for the most part, this is not new," emptywheel writes. "We have known (since I first reported it here) that Scooter Libby testified that, after Libby told Dick Cheney he couldn't leak the information Cheney had ordered him to leak to Judy Miller because it was classified, Cheney told Libby he had gotten the President to authorize the declassification of that information."

She continues, "Thus far, though, we only had Dick Cheney's word that he had actually asked Bush to declassify this information. We didn't have Bush's confirmation that he had actually declassified the information. In fact, we've had Dick Cheney's claims that he--Dick--had insta-declassified via his super secret pixie dust declassification powers.

"But now we've got George Bush, confirming that he, the President of the United States, authorized the leaks of 'this information,'" Wheeler argues.

  Raw Story

As if we didn't know who authorized the leaking of Valerie Plame's name...but, if Scott McClellan had this information direct from the Criminal in Chief himself back when it happened and didn't report it then - which he didn't - then he and the CIC should both be arrested and be put on trial. Now.

We could have a three-ring circus...

If he refuses to testify about his role in the firing of nine U.S. attorneys in 2006, a member of the House Judiciary Committee said the panel would be willing to have former top Bush advisor Karl Rove arrested.

  Newsroom America

Well, I won't hold my breath.

Correction to this post here.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

Big Brother Sprouts Wings

Taking their lead from the U.S. military, which has used drones in Iraq and Afghanistan for years, law enforcement agencies across the country have voiced a growing interest in using drones for domestic crime-fighting missions.

Known in the aerospace industry as UAVs, for unmanned aerial vehicles, drones have been under development for decades in the United States.

The CIA acknowledges that it developed a dragonfly-sized UAV known as the "Insectohopter" for laser-guided spy operations as long ago as the 1970s.

And other advanced work on robotic flyers has clearly been under way for quite some time.

"The FBI is experimenting with a variety of unmanned aerial vehicles," said Marcus Thomas, an assistant director of the bureau's Operational Technology Division.

[...]

Citing numerous safety concerns, the FAA -- the government agency responsible for regulating civil aviation -- has been slow in developing procedures for the use of UAVs by police departments.

"You don't want one of these coming down on grandma's windshield when she's on her way to the grocery store," said Doug Davis, the FAA's program manager for unmanned aerial systems.

  Raw Story

If it will keep us safe from terrorists, grandma may just have to stay inside.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

Justice

”Longstanding principles of law hold that an American corporation is entitled to rely on assurances of legality from officials responsible for government activities. The public officials in question might be right or wrong about the advisability or legality of what they are doing, but it is their responsibility, not the company’s, to deal with the consequences if they are wrong.”

  NY Times

That’s from John Ashcroft. So, I am sure that when in the final course of determining that waterboarding is indeed torture by legal definition, Misters Ashcroft, Gonzales and Mukasey (et al.), being the responsible parties who told CIA agents and soldiers that waterboarding is legal, will be dealt with accordingly. Right?

Small problem: [Ashcroft is] wrong on the law. Companies that deal with the government in fact are not entitled to rely on promises made by government officials, and it is common for companies to lose major legal cases despite the fact that they relied on what they believed to be valid advice from government officials.

What Ashcroft wrote probably sounds like a reasonable rule to the average person: it’s not fair for a company to be penalized for doing something the government told it to do. The real rule, at least as reasonable as Ashcroft’s, is exactly the opposite.

[...]

A mistaken or corrupt government official does not have the power to make an illegal act legal.

[...]

[It] is very common for the citizen who relies on an erroneous representation by a government official to get to get the shaft, high and hard.

  Bad Attitudes

D’oh! Oh, yeah, John…I think it’s something like: “ignorance of the law is no defense.” And therefore, jail time all round – torturers and toture pushers alike.

[A]ctions aren’t made lawful by the president’s saying they are lawful; actions are lawful if they are within the law.

Somebody should tell George.

One corollary to this legal rule: anyone who is shafted by relying on the mistaken legal interpretation of a government official usually cannot sue the government for relief because the sovereign is immune from suit, but such an injured citizen may have a legal recourse: a suit against the personal assets of the government official who made the mistake.

And by the way, this not only applies to the waterboarding question, it applies as well to the telecom immunity B.S.

We need to change that sovereign immunity rule.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

What's All the Fuss?

The United Nations' torture investigator [Manfred Nowak] criticized the White House Wednesday for defending the use of waterboarding and urged the U.S. to give up its defense of "unjustifiable" interrogation methods.

  Houston Chronicle

You know, we permit the UN to operate on our land. They better just watch it. We don’t need no steenkeen UN.

[C]ourt documents made public on Wednesday […] in the case of Zacarias Moussaoui appear to contradict a statement last December by Gen. Michael V. Hayden, the C.I.A. director, that when [interrogation] tapes were destroyed in November 2005 they had no relevance to any court proceeding, including Mr. Moussaoui’s criminal trial.

It was already known that the judge in the case, Leonie M. Brinkema, had not been told about the existence or destruction of the videos. But the newly disclosed court documents, which had been classified as secret, showed the judge had still been actively seeking information about Mr. Zubaydah’s interrogation as late as Nov. 29, 2005.

[...]

General Hayden said he understood that the tapes were destroyed “only after it was determined they were no longer of intelligence value and not relevant to any internal, legislative or judicial inquiries — including the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui.”

  NYT

So what’s the problem? When a court orders me to produce evidence, am I not allowed to determine which are relevant to the case and destroy the rest?

Geez, people, 9/11 changed everything.

Upgrade Your Taser

No more risky close-up action.

Depose Dick?

It'll never happen. Attorney for Steven Howards wants to depose the Dick in a lawsuit his client has brought for false arrest.

Howards was in Beaver Creek [Colorado] with his family in June 2006 when he spotted Cheney on the street. The vice president, in town for a conference sponsored by former President Gerald Ford, was surrounded by people, shaking hands and posing for photographs.

Howards, an environmental consultant, approached the vice president.

According to a lawsuit Howards later filed in federal court, he was two to three feet away from Cheney when he addressed him.

“I think your policies in Iraq are reprehensible,” he said.

Howards told the Rocky that he may have lightly touched Cheney’s arm or shoulder, though the lawsuit makes no mention of any contact.

After the encounter, Howards continued walking down the street with his son. About 10 minutes later he was approached by Secret Service agents who accused him of assaulting Cheney.

Howards denied the claims, but was taken to the Eagle County Jail, where he was held for about three hours and issued a summons for misdemeanor harassment.

The Eagle County District Attorney’s office dismissed the charge in July 2006, after District Attorney Mark Hurlbert said it became clear Howards hadn’t pushed Cheney.

In October 2006, Howards filed a federal lawsuit, claiming he was arrested in retaliation for speaking his mind about the government’s policies in Iraq — a violation of his First Amendment right to free speech.

[...]

In court filings responding to Howards’ lawsuit, attorneys for Virgil “Gus” Reichle Jr., the agent who initiated the arrest, said that while Reichle didn’t see the encounter, he believed he had probable cause to arrest Howards because other agents told him there had been an assault.

The lawyers also say Howards became beligerent when Reichle questioned him about the incident.

In the months since, accounts of what occurred have gotten even muddier, and have included allegations of misconduct by the agents.

Reichle, who was based in Denver at the time, told Lane during a deposition that the other agents told him there was an assault, then later changed their story, presumably because Cheney didn’t want to be inconvenienced by a court case.

Another agent, meanwhile, said Reichle contacted him a few hours after the arrest and asked him to trump up the encounter to make the arrest appear legitimate, according to the deposition.

  Rocky Mountain News

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

Torture Suits in the News

With little attention in the media, the Justice Department has filed papers in federal court arguing that the CIA did not have an obligation to preserve the infamous torture tapes and therefore was lawfully entitled to destroy them. The filing patently demonstrates the conflict of interest in Attorney General Michael Mukasey insisting that the Justice Department investigate the possible criminal conduct in the matter. Now, the Justice Department is not only investigating itself, but it is investigating a crime that it has rejected as baseless in court filings.

  Jonathan Turley

Clever, eh? Those DoJ lawyers are on their toes.

The D.C. Circuit Court ruled yesterday in Rasul v. Myers […] that four former Guantanamo prisoners […] may not sue Rumsfeld and military officers for torturing them because, in ordering the torture, those officials were not “act[ing] as rogue officials or employees who implemented a policy of torture for reasons unrelated to the gathering of intelligence.”

[...]

Upholding the lower court, the D.C. Circuit [finds]: “it was foreseeable that conduct that would ordinarily be indisputably ‘seriously criminal’ would be implemented by military officials responsible for detaining and interrogating suspected enemy combatants.”

  W3IAI

The actual torture commanders cannot be held responsible, because it was “foreseeable” that they would implement torture in the course of their duties.

Boise Police Academy Graduation Slogan

"Don't suffer from PTSD, go out and cause it."

Welcome to Idaho, eh?

Opening the Gates

Arnold Schwarnegger is thinking about releasing 20,000 inmates from California prisons to save money, begging the question: Is there a problem with the justice system in California? Should those people have been put in jail in the first place? Were their sentences too harsh? Or are they getting off easy?

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

New Weapons

US cops are testing an Israeli gun that fires around corners.

Gitmo Detainee Reintegration Program

If you are a Saudi citizen detained in Gitmo, your fate may have just made a 180-degree turn. In accordance with a new "unpublicized" agreement between the Bush administration and its friends the Saudis, many of the Saudi detainees are being released to enter a program back home wherein they are given a hero's welcome and governmental support, including a monthly stipend, a job and help in finding a bride if they don't have one already, in order to help them "adjust to modern society and learn the meanings of Islam."

Sandra L. Hodgkinson, deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs, says, "We strongly appreciate them finding a way to mitigate the threats that these people pose. We believe this is a very, very good program."

It doesn't sound very Republican to me. Kind of socialist. You know, there are so many angles to attack this development, even if it were a very, very good program. Terrorists from other countries will just have to sit it out, I guess. And I wonder if some of our stateside inmates might like to see a very, very good program to reintegrate them into our society.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

Gitmo Manual Leaked

This could be the leakiest ship of state we've ever had.

A leaked copy of a March 2004 manual of Gitmo's "Standard Operating Procedures" for Camp Delta was published yesterday by the Web site Wikileaks.org. It deals with everything a guard at Guantanamo would need to know, from how to remove detainees' clothing when they first arrive (cut it off) to what guards should do if they find a detainee's plastic foam cup with writing on it (confiscate it). Rolls of toilet paper are considered "comfort items" that can be given to detainees as rewards.

[...]

The manual also confirms previous reports about dogs being used at the facility and detainees spending time in "segregation cells," either as punishment or for intelligence gathering.

[...]

If items are damaged […] guards are directed to punish the detainee.

[...]

While it is of some concern that the manual has been released, Haupt said, "it's not typically considered a threat to national security. This type of unclassified information could give the enemy an edge up on how we do business so they in turn can develop their own tactics, techniques and procedures to train against us."

  WaPo

The Supreme Court takes up the case of enemy combatants rights at Gitmo this week.

It Gets Worse

Continuing its recent spree of criminality in the alleged pursuit of law enforcement, the Bush Justice Department formally advised a British Court last week that it is fully entitled to kidnap foreigners (i.e., Britons) off the street around the world and carry them off to secret prisons. The claim was formerly thought to relate to terrorists. But no longer. Now the Bush Justice Department asserts the right to kidnap anyone it suspects of a crime.

  Harpers

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

Fire Bug

You already know all about the California fires. And, hooo-eee, that little boy that was playing with matches is gonna have a an unenviable reputation, but what I want to know is who's the fire bug in the Senate building?

And Speaking of Crime

A former top narcotics officer, credited with over 800 arrests in eight years, is now selling a DVD that shows marijuana users how to avoid arrest when traveling with a stash.

[...]

"I don't know how he justifies having played one side of the fence and putting people in jail, and now playing the other side and helping them avoid it," says Herschel Tebay, commander of the Tarrant County Organized Crime Narcotics Unit in Fort Worth. "I don't know how he lives with himself and looks in the mirror."

I imagine it’s looking at his bank account that makes looking in the mirror easier. The DVD is called Never Get Busted Again. From just a couple of tips revealed in the article, I don’t think you’d want to bet your life on following them all, but the background story for why he made this DVD is interesting in itself.

What Will It Take?

More of this:

The Northwest Regional Youth Center is where Missouri sends some of its most troubled — and troublesome — juvenile offenders. Street thugs from St. Louis mix with gang members from Kansas City and pint-sized, rural car thieves […]

[...]

"Our first and primary function is public safety. We have young people who've become a problem in our community and that needs to stop," [says Tim Decker who runs the Missouri Division of Youth Services.]

And believe, me, for many years there have been parts of St. Louis you don’t want to be in during the daylight, minding your own business, driving through. So you might guess that the Northwest Regional Youth Center is a locked-down kind of institution.

Prepare to be nicely surprised. Please read this.

That's Why I Love Texas

Former Texas Southern University president Priscilla Slade is on trial for misusing a half million dollars of college money to purchase things for herself and lavishly decorate her home. I heard on NPR this morning that the defense has rested, and if convicted, Slade could face up to life imprisonment. Life imprisonment?!?

This is especially astonishing in light of the fact that a few years ago Texas downgraded car burglary from a felony to a misdemeanor, and if you think theft increased after that, you are a reasonable person and also correct.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

P.S. I think this story is aptly accompanied by today's Daily Twain in the sidebar:

Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it. --Mark Twain