Monthly archives: July, 2008

Two in Chicago won’t see July 4

July 4, 2008
ChicagoChicagolandCivil LibertiesLegalPhilosophicalRant
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I guess I don’t understand the charm of handguns.

From the Chicago Tribune:

Two people were shot, one in the head in the Loop late Thursday as thousands of people streamed out of downtown after the city’s Fourth of July fireworks display and the Taste of the Chicago.

Both shootings occurred about 10:40 p.m. roughly a block apart, Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford said.

This is as good as time as any to reflect once again on the proliferation of guns in our society.  The clock has only recently passed the midnight hour here in Chicagoland, and already two are dead.

I spoke with a local member of our police force yesterday evening.  I asked him, informally, what he thought of last week’s Supreme Court decision striking down the ban on handguns in Washington, D.C.  Did he think there should be more gun control?

He said, as I might have expected, that the current laws should be enforced.

And I agree.

The problem in our society is not that we have too many guns.  It’s that we use them too many damn times.  We need to control ourselves.  We need to find more effective ways of handling conflict.  We need to learn how to channel the rage we feel sometimes.

Yes, the answers lie in the schools, in the media, in the churches, in the family, in the neighborhoods, in congress, in state legislatures…, and many other places as well.

But the answer to gun violence begins the next time any one of us feels angry, and every time after that as well.

Government Snoops on Celeb. Passports: Happy Independence Day!

July 3, 2008
AmericaCivil LibertiesElectionsGeneralLegalRantRepublicansWhite House
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This story from The Washington Post (in block text) is presented with appropriate passages from The Declaration of Independence (italics).  Enjoy.

Government workers repeatedly snooped without authorization inside the electronic passport records of entertainers, athletes and other high-profile Americans, a State Department audit has found. One celebrity’s records were breached 356 times by more than six dozen people.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

The audit, by State’s inspector general, was prompted by the discovery in March that three of the department’s contract workers had peeked at the private passport files of Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain and that a State Department trainee had examined the file of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

The report documented a widespread lack of controls on the personal data of the 127 million Americans who hold passports, finding numerous “weaknesses, including a general lack of policies, procedures, guidance and training.” The State Department had maintained that its system worked when the candidates’ passport breaches were discovered.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

The audit also suggests that some workers were motivated by fascination with the private lives of celebrities, none of whom were identified. One employee told investigators he simply liked looking up the records of professional basketball players.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

Investigators found that 20,500 government workers and contractors had access to the electronic system that maintained the records. Most of them worked for the State Department or the Department of Homeland Security.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

Privacy Act violations could result in misdemeanor penalties or fines if workers disclosed personal information to a third party not authorized to receive it.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

Another law, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, could result in criminal penalties for unauthorized access to government computer systems.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

You get the idea.

Happy Independence Day!  Do yourself a favor and read the Declaration of Independence sometime today.

And look forward to a great Indepencence Day on January 20, 2009.

One of the Good Guys was Shot Today

July 2, 2008
ChicagoChicagoland
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Officer Richard FrancisOfficer Richard Francis left us today. A 60-year-old Vietnam War combat veteran, the first Chicago police officer shot to death in the line of duty since 2002, Francis died today as he struggled with a mentally ill woman who grabbed his gun and shot him in the head.

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

Francis, a 27-year police veteran, was alone on patrol in a squad car when a CTA bus driver flagged him down.

The CTA driver was worried about a woman at a bus stop who became verbally abusive when the eastbound bus stopped on Belmont to let passengers out.

The driver did not open the doors and honked the horn to flag down Francis, who stopped to help, Belmont District Cmdr. John Kenny said.

The woman struggled with Francis and grabbed his revolver, shooting him once. She was shot after threatening the officers who responded to Francis’ call for backup, police said.

“Police said.” The journalist’s disclaimer that everything is alleged at this point.

And it is.

The only thing that is not alleged today is that Officer Richard Francis, 60, is dead.

Mayor Daley said Francis’ death is a “sad reminder of how much gratitude we owe to the men and women of the Chicago Police Department.”

Amen, Mayor. Amen.

“It’s a tragic loss for his family. It’s a terrible loss for the Chicago Police Department,” police Supt. Jody Weis said outside the hospital. “It’s a stark reminder of what the dangers that the officers of this department face every day.”

And “Amen” again.

Again from the Sun-Times:

“I don’t think he would ever quit,” said a lifelong friend, Tom Casey. “They’d have to force him off.”

[…]

“Before he was married, he would volunteer to take holidays so the cops with families could take time off,” Casey said. “That’s the type of guy he was.”

And again from friend, Tom Casey:

Francis preferred to work at night, when there was more action, Casey said. He started in the East Chicago District where Cabrini-Green is located.

“It was a rough neighborhood, but he liked it,” Casey said.

Francis married his wife, Deborah, about 10 years ago, Casey said.

“The children weren’t biologically his, but he raised them,” said Barbara Rehn, who lives across the street. “He called them his ‘kids’ and they called him ‘dad.’ ”

From Susan Fracek:

“I have two siblings who are Chicago Police officers,” said Susan Fracek, who lives near Francis’ home. “It’s incredibly hard.”

“He was a wonderful guy,” she said.

“It was hard to believe he was a cop,” added Casey. “His demeanor was so calm and polite and funny. Knowing this guy, he was probably trying to help this woman.”

They seem so cold sometimes, the police. We slow down when we see them driving near us, watch carefully in the rear view mirror if they’re following us.

But they’re human. All of them.

Today, one of them breathed his last.

And he’s gone forever.

One of the good guys was shot today.

He died.

And we are less for it.

ACTION ALERT: Correspondent Mohammed Omer Hospitalized

July 2, 2008
GeneralInternationalIraq
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The following is an action alert from Dahr Jamail’s MidEast Dispatches.  eNews Park Forest carries Jamail’s articles regularly:

Washington Report Correspondent Mohammed Omer Hospitalized Following Detention by Israeli Soldiers at Allenby Bridge Crossing

Mohammed Omer

Palestinian journalist Mohammed Omer, Gaza correspondent for the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs and co-recipient of the 2008 Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism, was
hospitalized with cracked ribs and other injuries inflicted by Israeli soldiers at the Allenby Bridge crossing from Jordan into the occupied West Bank.

Omer was returning home to Gaza after a European speaking tour and the June 16 London ceremony at which he accepted the prestigious Gellhorn Prize.

Dutch MP Hans Van Baalen, head of the parliament’s foreign relations committee, and award-winning journalist John Pilger spent weeks lobbying Israel to issue an exit permit for the 24-year-old journalist. As has been the case before, diplomatic intervention was necessary to
secure permission for his return as well. Nevertheless, Israeli authorities initially refused to allow Omer to return to his home in Rafah from Amman. Finally—after missing his brother’s wedding—he was told that arrangements had been made for him to cross the border on
Thursday, June 26. Dutch diplomats awaited him on the other side to escort him to the Gaza Strip.
Dahr Jamail and Mohammed Omer

Instead of being granted free passage, however, Omer was detained, questioned by a Shin Bet agent, strip searched at gunpoint, assaulted and dragged by the heels to an ambulance after he began vomiting and going in and out of consciousness. When he finally came to, he was in a Palestinian hospital in Jericho, where he was treated and allowed to return home in the custody of the Dutch diplomats. See the following article by John Pilger in the July 2 Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jul/02/israelandthepalestinians.civilliberties
The following afternoon, speaking from home, a recovering but still traumatized Omer told theWashington Report that he was having difficulty breathing and swallowing. The next day, suffering from cracked ribs and other injuries, he was admitted to a hospital in Gaza, where he remains as of this writing.

In his article in the August 2008 Washington Report, “A Voice for the Voiceless,” Omer defines his life’s mission as “to get the truth out,” and describes himself as “not pro-Palestinian or anti-Israeli, but simply…an eyewitness on the ground, reporting what happens and why.”

One of the Shin Bet agents who interrogated him at the Allenby crossing advised Omer not to return to Gaza, where—thanks to the Israeli siege—there is no electricity, potable water, medical supplies, gasoline or other necessities of life. Clearly Israel wants to silence Mohammed Omer’s voice, as it has silenced the voices of other journalists—most recently Omer’s colleague Fadel Shana, the 24-year-old Reuters cameraman killed by an Israeli tank shell on April 16.

Palestinian journalists risk their lives on a daily basis to tell the world what is happening in their homeland. Their words and pictures remind us that we have yet to realize the vow, “Never again!”

Petition ButtonPlease click on the button at right or visit the Washington Report website, www.wrmea.com, to sign a petition condemning Israel’s attacks on journalists, both Palestinian and international. Add your voice to Mohammed Omer’s on behalf of voiceless Gazans and all Palestinians living under Israeli military occupation—an occupation made possible by American tax dollars.

I’m happy to point you to this petition.  Dahr Jamail is doing incredible work reporting as an unembedded journalist in Iraq.

John McCain, Tax Dodger

July 1, 2008
AmericaElectionsJohn McCain
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It’s only Newsweek, so it must be another liberal smear.

Except this time it’s true.

John McCain is a tax dodger:

When you’re poor, it can be hard to pay the bills. When you’re rich, it’s hard to keep track of all the bills that need paying. It’s a lesson Cindy McCain learned the hard way when NEWSWEEK raised questions about an overdue property-tax bill on a La Jolla, Calif., property owned by a trust that she oversees. Mrs. McCain is a beer heiress with an estimated $100 million fortune and, along with her husband, she owns at least seven properties, including condos in California and Arizona.

San Diego County officials, it turns out, have been sending out tax notices on the La Jolla property, an oceanfront condo, for four years without receiving a response.

Four years of tax notices without a response?  What would happen to your average senior citizens who did not pay their taxes?

Ask them.  They’re out on the streets.  They’re everywhere.

This demonstrates a certain arrogance, a hubris with a particularly bad stench.  Ignore the tax bills.  Tax bills are for those with less than $100 million.

I want to know what penalties were assessed.  Were the taxes bought by tax scavengers?  Have the McCains lost property because of their negligence?

Or are there other rules for the fabulously well-to-do?