Category: Legal

Mancow Expected Fight from Olbermann, Found Respect

Posted on by TL

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I admit I don’t know much about Mancow.

Although I live in the Chicagoland area, I’m not much into talk radio outside WCPT.  Having learned more about Mancow in recent days, I understand that some consider him very conservative.  He says he’s Libertarian.

I can tell you now that I have a ton of respect for him now.

Matthew Erich “Mancow” Muller agreed to be waterboarded, for real.  As we all know now, Mancow lasted less than six seconds.  In his appearance on tonight’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann, Mancow said the word “drowning” is not a strong enough description of what we call waterboarding.  Mancow, who did drown when he was young, said waterboarding is worse.

Amazing.

It seemed to me — and I could be wrong — that Mancow was expecting Olbermann to say something outrageous.  Indeed, if they had met on any other day, under any other circumstance, Mancow and Olbermann would both be in rare form, very animated, and, no doubt, entertaining.  But tonight, while they met as peers, Olbermann seemed genuinely awestruck with Muller.

Muller said he had chest pains for two days after this episode.  He said no one should have to go through this.

Watch the video above and make up your own mind.

Let’s grow away from waterboarding and torture as a nation and talk about real policy issues.

Mr. Erich “Mancow” Muller, sir, I take my hat off to you.  You did this nation a service. You did us all a service.

Obama Taps Sotomayor for Supreme Court

Posted on by TL

sonia-sotomayor-supreme-courtNumerous news sources are reporting that President Barack Obama has chosen federal appeals judge Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court. She will become the first Hispanic in history to wear the robes of a Supreme Court justice.

From the Sun-Times:

If confirmed by the Senate, Sotomayor, 54, would succeed retiring Justice David Souter. Two officials described Obama’s decision on condition of anonymity because no formal announcement had been made.

Administration officials say Sotomayor would bring more judicial experience to the Supreme Court than any justice confirmed in the past 70 years. A formal announcement was expected at midmorning. Obama had said publicly he wanted a justice who combined intellect and empathy — the ability to understand the troubles of everyday Americans.

Turning Left will carry the president’s full statement when he announces Sotomayor’s appointment.

Newt Gingrich Hates the Constitution and America

Posted on by TL

Newt Gingrich was never a successful politician.  As a talking head, he gets by.  After his failed Contract with America, Gingrich continued to point fingers, cough up empty theoretical neo-con rhetoric, and a bizarre plan to save America called American Solutions for Winning the Future (ASWF, or ass whiff, for short).

This morning, I watched Gingrich attempt to debate Sen. Dick Durbin on NBC’s Meet the Press.  David Gregory left every false claim by Gingrich go unchallenged.  We’ll leave that to our friends at Media Matters.

Here’s what I notice about Gingrich: the man hates the United States Constitution.

This week I started singing the Preamble to the Constitution, a la School House Rock.  Remember this?

Here it is:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Justice: the first value established.  Justice.

Gingrich wants to toss out justice, keep Gitmo, hold Prisoners of War forever, without trial, without charges. Gingrich wants the United States to continue to run gulags. The United States Constitution is too much for Gingrich, too fair.

Make no mistake, Newt Gingrich hates the United States Constition and the United States of America.  Newt Gingrich wants to continue the Bush-Cheney doctring of shredding the Constitution.

The Founding Fathers were not fools.  Gingrich is.

Gov. Quinn Honors Fallen Soldiers Throughout the Year

Posted on by TL

I have to say, I’m impressed with Governor Quinn.  Not sure how successful he’ll be convincing the Illinois Legislature to pass his budget.  Frankly, bumping up the income tax is long overdue.  If there is any fairness in taxes, the income tax comes closest.

But that’s an argument for another time.

Today, I was  impressed to learn that Governor Quinn has attended funerals for all 30 Illinois soldiers killed in Afghanistan and Iraq over the past year.

Remember when we were criticizing President George Bush because he had not attended a single funeral for a fallen soldier?  His record remains unblemished.  Bush never attended any funerals.

I suppose there was stress enough sending young men and women to their deaths.  Now, the former president is relaxing, says it’s liberating to be out of office.

Liberating for us as well.

Another digression.  Back to Governor Quinn.

From the Sun-Times:

As the Memorial Day parade was set to kick off, Quinn stood with Mayor Daley in Daley Plaza handing out Gold Star banners to families of the 30 Illinois soldiers killed in Afghanistan and Iraq over the past year. Quinn has attended every funeral.

“I know all of them,” Quinn said. “Those funerals are heartbreaking days. We have one coming up Tuesday. We had one last Monday.”

But the state needs to also be concerned about the veterans returning from service. To best help them lawmakers need to fix the state’s broken funding systems, he said.

“Some . . . men and women coming back form Iraq need post-traumatic stress disorder help and counseling,” Quinn said. “We have a wonderful program, a national model. We can’t kick that program off to the side of the road because we don’t have money for it.”

I give the guy credit for showing up, standing in to honor the fallen, again and again and again.  Quinn puts his money where his mouth is.  That counts for something.

Sunday’s Chicago Tribune asks if Quinn can close the deal.  Can he pass his budget?

Two months after Gov. Pat Quinn proposed a $26 billion public works plan, he called top lawmakers into his office and asked them to give him a few projects in the massive bill that he could call his own.

The legislature’s top four leaders, including the fellow Democrats who control the House and Senate, turned down most of his suggestions.

The quiet scene in the governor’s office last Tuesday demonstrates perhaps the most important political dynamic in state government these days: Quinn’s struggle to harness the power of his new position and the willingness of wily legislative bosses to take the lead.

Lawmakers and others with a stake in Statehouse politics cheered Quinn’s call for a new level of cooperation when he replaced the divisive Rod Blagojevich in January. But now they are questioning the untested governor’s ability to engage in the nitty-gritty of legislative dealmaking — in short, to be a closer.

So far, it looks like legislators aren’t giving an inch.  The governor needs learn to play the Springfield game.

With a week left before the General Assembly adjourns for the summer, friend and foe alike say the governor has not taken charge on his signature issues — a dramatic call to close a $12 billion budget gap with a 50 percent increase in the income tax and a blue-ribbon plan to reform state government after the Blagojevich scandal.

They question why he hasn’t lobbied harder in the Capitol for his tax plan and say that members of his special reform panel often have had to fend for themselves on ethics recommendations.

“I would like to see a lot more vigor. I think [ethics reform] should be his issue. This should be the issue he owns,” Cynthia Canary, the director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, said, noting Quinn’s long activist history as a self-styled reformer.

“A lot more vigor?” So the governor needs to dance for the legislature?

No, I don’t get it either.  Springfield must be a political minefield, that place where dreams go to die.

How many funerals of fallen soldiers have legislators attended over the past year?  Perhaps that’s not a fair quesiton, but Quinn showing up at funerals shows me that he’s grounded.  A brush with reality might be good for some legislators.

OUTRAGE Targets Closeted Pols Who Campaign, Vote Against Gay Community

Posted on by TL

From Academy Award-nominated documentary filmmaker Kirby Dick (This Film Is Not Yet Rated) comes OUTRAGE, a searing indictment of the hypocrisy of closeted politicians with appalling gay rights voting records who actively campaign against the LGBT community they covertly belong to. Boldly revealing the hidden lives of some of the United States’ most powerful policymakers, OUTRAGE takes a comprehensive look at the harm they’ve inflicted on millions of Americans, and examines the media’s complicity in keeping their secrets.

With analysis from prominent members of the gay community such as Congressman Barney Frank, former NJ Governor Jim McGreevey, activist Larry Kramer, radio personality Michelangelo Signorile, and openly gay congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (Representative, Wisconsin 2nd district), OUTRAGE probes deeply into the psychology of this double lifestyle, the ethics of outing closeted politicians, the double standards that the media upholds in its coverage of the sex lives of gay public figures, and much more.

Source: http://www.outragethemovie.com/

Learn more about OUTRAGE on Facebook.

Texas Mayor Resigns for Gay Illegal Immigrant Lover

Posted on by TL

Some day, things like this will not be news.

But it’s news today.

From The Houston Chronicle:

It was, simply put, the most stunning abdication since King Edward VIII in 1936 gave up the British throne for Wallis Simpson, the twice-divorced American socialite.

Only two weeks after being elected to serve his fourth term, Mayor J.W. Lown of San Angelo submitted his resignation letter Tuesday from an undisclosed location in Mexico.

No, being mayor of San Angelo is not exactly the same as being the King of the United Kingdom and Emperor of India, but the reason for Lown’s abdication is the same as Edward’s.

Love.

What made it stunning wasn’t the status of Lown’s office, which pays $600 a year, but the status of his lover.

Lown fell for an illegal Mexican immigrant.

A man.

Lown told the San Angelo Standard-Times he had fallen for the man in March, after he had already filed for re-election. The man came to the U.S. five years ago to study at Angelo State University.

It was unclear whether he had a student visa, but if he did it apparently had expired.

No word on the man’s party affiliation.  According to the Chronicle, it wouldn’t matter if Lown went to Iowa and married his partner by proxy. The federal government doesn’t recognize same-sex marriages for immigration purposes.

So it goes.

Mancow Gets Waterboarded, Admits It’s Torture

Posted on by TL

Friday morning, WLS radio show host Erich “Mancow” Muller agreed to be waterboarded on his show.  He wanted to find out for himself if it was torture.  He didn’t think it was.

He lasted all of six or seven seconds before finally “throwing in the cow” and giving up.

From NBC 5 Chicago:

“I want to find out if it’s torture,” Mancow told his listeners Friday morning, adding that he hoped his on-air test would help prove that waterboarding did not, in fact, constitute torture.

The debate over whether waterboarding constitutes torture reached a fever pitch this week as re-ignited claims that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) knew as early as 2002 about waterboarding techniques being used, and former Vice President Dick Cheney and President Barack Obama gave “dueling speeches” Thursday.

Listeners had the chance to decide whether Mancow himself or his co-host, Chicago radio personality Pat Cassidy, would undergo the interrogation method during the broadcast.  The voters ultimately decided Mancow would be the one donning the soaked towel and shackles, and at about 8:40 a.m., he entered a small storage room next to his studio that was compared to a “dungeon” by Cassidy.  “The average person can take this for 14 seconds,” Marine Sergeant Clay South answered, adding, “He’s going to wiggle, he’s going to scream, he’s going to wish he never did this.”

With a Chicago Fire Department paramedic on hand,  Mancow was placed on a 7-foot long table, his legs were elevated, and his feet were tied up.

Turns out the stunt wasn’t so funny. Witnesses said Muller thrashed on the table, and even instantly threw the toy cow he was holding as his emergency tool to signify when he wanted the experiment to stop.  He only lasted 6 or 7 seconds.

“It is way worse than I thought it would be, and that’s no joke, “Mancow said, likening it to a time when he nearly drowned as a child.  “It is such an odd feeling to have water poured down your nose with your head back… It was instantaneous…and I don’t want to say this: absolutely torture.”

Next up: George W. Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, and Sean Hannity.  Hannity still has to make good on his promise to be waterboarded.  Keith Olbermann has offered to do the honors — for charity.

What’s the problem, Hannity?  Gonna let Mancow show you up?

CA Supreme Court to Issue Prop 8 Decision Tuesday

Posted on by TL

The Human Rights Campaign issued a press release today indicating that a decision on California’s Proposition 8 is imminent:

Just moments ago, we learned that the California Supreme Court will issue its decision in the challenge to Proposition 8 on Tuesday at 10 a.m. Pacific. We’ve been awaiting this critical decision for California families for months and will have all the latest information and analysis for you then – tune in to www.hrc.org.

So the deciders have decided: will the rule of law move in the direction separate and not equal, restricting human freedom?  Or will they move toward fairness.

The DA is Right: Robertino DeAngelis Should Be Tried as a Juvenile

Posted on by TL

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

In yet another twist on an already strange case, the family of a Mt. Lebanon girl injured in a 2007 hammer attack yesterday launched a public campaign to force the district attorney to press to have her alleged attacker tried as an adult.

Calling it “Adult Time for Adult Crime,” the family of Sarah DeIuliis has retained a South Hills public relations firm, and opened a Web site as well as a page on Facebook to demand that Robertino DeAngelis, 17, be tried as an adult for the attack. The Web site provides an e-mail address and telephone number for the DA’s office for visitors to use in pressing the case.

“It is our contention that the district attorney’s office presented an ineffective case against DeAngelis,” said Grace DeIuliis, Sarah’s mother, in a release issued by Forge Communications. “Trying this defendant as an adult should have been a no-brainer.”

The family hired a PR firm to force the case to adult court.  Without knowing all the details — and we do not — the case is tragic on many levels:

The hiring of a PR firm for a public campaign to force the case back into criminal court marked the latest turn in a public spectacle growing out of the Oct. 31, 2007, attack. Police charged Mr. DeAngelis with attempted homicide, saying he beat Ms. DeIuliis with a hammer when the pair met to exchange property after they broke up. Police said the attack was halted by an off-duty county detective who was nearby, and Mr. DeAngelis then attempted to kill himself by jumping in front of a light rail transit train.

He survived, but his lawyer, Patrick Thomassey, says he has undergone multiple surgeries.

The criminal justice system must seek justice at all times, not vengance.

The DA is right in this case, and the victim’s family can do irreperable harm to the case by these continued attempts to try the Mr. DeAngelis in the media.

Domestic Partnerships to Become Law in State of Washington

Posted on by TL

From KXLY in the state of Washington:

Gov. Chris Gregoire is scheduled today to sign Washington’s new “everything but marriage” bill — giving gay and lesbian couples all the state-provided benefits that married heterosexual couples have.

It’s the latest step in a three-year effort to expand rights for same-sex couples.

However, state Sen. Ed Murray of Seattle, who has spearheaded the effort, cautions that the debate for actual same-sex marriage may still be a few years off.

Besides the fact that this is the right thing to do — legally, ethically and morally — this is a good move.

The tide has turned.