How in HELL does this constitute exculpatory material? Apparently, in the view of Mississippi, being someone who reads gay porn may mean that someone is justified in killing you. It's better than the plain old gay panic defense -- "Oh, he made a pass at me, so he had to die" -- this is the gay porn panic defense -- "Oh, he wanted me to pose for naughty pictures, and showed me some of what he wanted, so for that he had to die."
I'd hope a jury would give that defense all it was due, but then, given that Mississippi's state supreme court said that it constituted a valid defense in the first place, I don't have much hope about that.
@ 10:54 PM CST [Link]
On Left and Right, Concern Over Anti-Terrorism Moves: Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) said he intends to hold hearings on the military tribunals directive and other recent steps that have been taken without consulting Congress.
It'll be interesting to see if such hearings go anywhere, or if they're even held. Somehow, I can't see this congress as having the courage to overrule an executive order at this time. (And who would you call to testify on the Administration's side? They've made their reasons for doing these things plain enough, however insufficient they may be.) Mind, it's unusual that the Shrub and his Minister of Injustice could have managed to pull together the far left and the far right -- on mostly the same grounds, even -- in denouncing the military tribunals and the attorney-client communications violation. Normally, I'd say that if you managed to piss off both sides that much, you'd probably managed to find the compromise path, since nobody was satisfied; in this case, I think the Administration managed to locate the worst possible methods to achieve their goals.
"Terrorism isn't the only threat to our way of life," [Ralph Neas, president of the People for the American Way Foundation] said yesterday. "We need an attorney general who will stand up to terrorists, but we also need an attorney general who will stand up for the Constitution and the Bill of Rights."
Yes, well ... the problem there is that Ashcroft doesn't believe in the Bill of Rights. Not as such, in any event. Nobody who took their protections seriously would have even thought of doing the things he's done, even at a time like this. (And a stealth attempt to suspend the right of habeas corpus, too. My, my, what busy little beavers our leaders have been.)
The Philadelphia Daily News also points out some unintended inferences in what the Administration has been saying lately:
"Foreign terrorists who commit war crimes in the United States are not entitled to, DO NOT DESERVE, the protection of the American Constitution," Ashcroft said Wednesday. Cheney, when located, said, "They DO NOT DESERVE the same guarantees and safeguards that would be used for an American citizen going through the normal judicial process."
However, as the Daily News points out, this is the same military justice system used for armed forces men and women who are accused of committing crimes or breaches of regulations. Apparently, our own soldiers aren't good enough for our own courts. And I don't believe that's quite the way the Administration meant this to be interpreted.
Any way you look at it, this is simply an appallingly bad set of ideas. I hope that the Administration backs down -- although I don't expect it -- or that Congress decides that, yes, they are in Washington to fulfill a function, dammit! and reverses the orders by legislation. Don't expect that, either.
@ 04:00 PM CST [Link]
In a landmark ruling for gay, lesbian and bisexual parents, the Colorado Court of Appeals said parenting time in custody cases may not be restricted because of sexual orientation.
My my my.
To be sure, I don't see how the decision could stand when it was based on perfectly legal activity, and no similar restrictions were placed on the mother. It's quite clear that the decision rested on nothing more than the judge's bias.
And despite the ACLU's desires, there's no earthly reason why a state court would have reached federal constitutional issues if there was no need.
I expect the case will be appealed to the Colorado Supreme Court. All things considered, I'd expect them to refuse to hear the case, but you never know.
@ 09:49 PM CST [Link]
Twenty-three Egyptians sent to prison for gay gatherings on Nile. Amazing, isn't it? One to five years in prison for something that isn't even illegal in Egypt.
Of course, we don't have any leg to stand on with regard to that these days. After all, we've got over 1,000 people in prison -- without charges or sentences -- for not much more than being Arab; even the Department of Injustice admits that most of the people being held have committed no crime. Those people don't know when they'll get out of jail, either. Moreover, over 5,000 other young men will soon be questioned purely because they entered the US on a visa in the past few years. In other words, because they DID, in fact, obey the law, they've been subject to questioning about events in which they took no part.
Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations, a Washington-based advocacy group, acknowledged that the federal government has the right to investigate and interview anyone when it comes to guarding national security. "But we need to balance that with the importance of not sending a message that every Muslim or Arab student is a suspect," Awad said.
Um ... where have you been, guy? Every Muslim or Arab student IS a suspect until further notice. That's what Ashcroft's instructions mean.
@ 11:59 AM CST [Link]
Foreign aid workers go free. And an incredible amount of luck that was, too; I expect almost everyone besides their own families had given them up for dead. By all rights, they really should have been dead; if not killed by the Taliban themselves -- their worth as bargaining chips was clearly nil -- then accidentally by the bombing as they were taken south. But somehow, it all worked out.
@ 11:06 AM CST [Link]
You know, one wonders if it occurred to the Vatican that most refugees aren't Catholic. And the primary concern in refugee camps isn't promoting heterosexual Catholic marriage; it's usually dealing with people who have been raped, or who get raped inside the camps. I mean, I realize that the Vatican does have its particular religious ax to grind, but you'd think they'd use their brains before doing so.
@ 08:10 PM CST [Link]
Survey: Gays feel more accepted.
We do? Good heavens, why doesn't anyone tell me these things before I read them in the newspaper? I'm a union member in good standing! Haven't been on probation in months, even!
The findings by the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation were based on phone interviews with 405 randomly selected self-identified lesbians, gays and bisexuals in 15 U.S. cities last November.
Um ... don't need to go on about the problems in reporting data with self selected samples, do I? And, after all, the people who don't self-report are the ones most likely to have the sort of information a survey like this would need. After all, why aren't they jumping up and saying, "I'm here! I'm queer! Survey me, babycakes!"? Could it be that they feel that they would experience discrimination or a signal lack of acceptance? Hmmm....
@ 07:33 AM CST [Link]
Northern rebels take over Kabul.
Well ... it was never terribly realistic for the US to say to the Northern Alliance, "Excuse me, but we'd really prefer that you not take your capital, for our own political reasons." Granted, in the long run it may prove to have been a political mistake ... but in terms of a military campaign, not taking the city when it was open would be amazingly silly. It may stretch Alliance resources a bit thin to actually hold it at the moment, but we'll see.
The Taliban are likely to have serious motivational problems if they've actually abandoned Kandahar, as reported. After all, they consider that their spiritual seat, as it were. Once you've abandoned both the capital and your spiritual center, what on earth do you have left to fight for? (You do wonder why they've taken the aid workers with them to Kandahar, especially if they're planning to abandon it as well. Although I get the impression that the people fleeing to Kandahar don't know about the people fleeing from it and may be in for a nasty surprise. Surely they can't think that the aid workers would be at all effective as some sort of hostages or shields? For one thing, it's not likely that we'll even know where they are.)
And now the UN and US are scrambling to figure out what on earth to do now, what with the acute lack of government. (Just a hint: although I do expect that they'll try to quickly come up with some sort of Muslim multinational force to occupy Kabul, I somehow doubt that Indonesia will be invited to participate, if it's at all avoidable. Given their public anti-US stance on the issues, it would seem to be somewhat unwise.)
@ 06:57 AM CST [Link]
I have tried to feel grateful, thankful, appreciative. I have tried to make more of my time on earth. I have tried to draw my friends close around me. I have tried to tell myself that in every tragedy dwells a larger purpose. Now it's Your turn. Help me out here. What do You want? What's the grand design? Where's it all heading? Because if it's not heading anywhere in particular, you need to KNOCK IT OFF.
You know, I'll bet Sarah gets some relentlessly interesting email after this one.
@ 10:43 PM CST [Link]
Taking advantage of the commonly used Nielsen rule, which allows stations to eliminate ratings for locally produced programming on holidays, the NBC outlets threw out ratings for their late newscasts last Tuesday, Election Day. The stations included WNBC-TV in New York, WMAQ in Chicago and WCAU-TV in Philadelphia.
You want to know the fun part about this? We didn't have elections in Chicago. Next year? Mondo elections. This year? Nothing, nada, zip, zilch, zero. Nothing local, nothing state, nothing national, NOTHING. (Well, except for redistricting fun, but that's going on everywhere, and is going to wind up in 50 state supreme courts, so what's newsworthy about that?)
@ 10:36 PM CST [Link]
Hollywood Seeks New Directions. I dare say.
However ... a drama about an NTSB officer who investigates car accidents? Really? A remake of "Family Affair", of all things?
More "7th Heaven" type shows? Eww. EWWW.
So basically, television programming next season will be trending back to the 50s and 60s. Wonder if that means we'll see a remake of "My mother the car"...
@ 10:29 PM CST [Link]
You know, I may have had The Killer Cold from Hell the past few days (that's why posting has been a bit irregular) but I wasn't quite THIS desperate. (I dare say that you would have a bit of irritation after a few days of this, yes. Take one body part never designed for exposure to water. Irrigate for several days with saline solution. Irritation WILL result. [Screaming due to salt water on sensitive membranes entirely optional.])
via Scenic Route
@ 09:52 PM CST [Link]
My goodness. What unkind things to say about Brigham Young U. Mind, they're all true, but still ...
Of course, they may be true, but they're also incomplete. For example, Reilly talks about BYU winning 19 of 28 conference championships, but one might add that they've had a sparkling record of futility in that realm the past few years. (Although ... they have done rather well this academic year in all other sports, haven't they?) And they haven't done much in men's basketball over the past 20 years at all, and the same advantages really ought to apply. It may well be that there's something specific about football that confers an advantage in having a more mature body and mind at work.
Of course, the end line of the article is somewhat misplaced in this argument. That stuff just isn't Christian. To which BYU would reasonably respond, "Yeah? So? Neither are we. What's yer point, here?"
@ 09:31 PM CST [Link]
@ 12:49 AM CST [Link]
Copyright © 2001, Iain Jackson, after-words.org
[Archives: 2001 and after]
Archives before February 5, 2001
Search entries:
12/19/2001: vive la france
12/19/2001: princess, redux
12/19/2001: yemen and rumsfeld
12/18/2001: you're NOT in the army now
12/18/2001: interesting donation
12/18/2001: shame on winn dixie, indeed
12/18/2001: saudi princess
12/17/2001: new resolve
12/17/2001: a victim of the attack ... yeah, right
12/17/2001: polluters ho!