The American Trial Lawyers Association

We'll kick things off today with some depressing news for those of you who are fans of justice. According to Rahm Emanuel, President Obama's chief of staff, has said unequivocally that there will be absolutely no prosecutions of former Bush Administration officials. This news comes on the heels of the release of the former administration's torture memos, which made most of us believe that prosecutions were just around the corner. But the statement from Obama released with those shocking memos included this sentence: "In releasing these memos, it is our intention to assure those who carried out their duties relying in good faith upon legal advice from the Department of Justice that they will not be subject to prosecution." Obama has made it clear since he took office that he had no intention of prosecuting the former administration, but some of us were still hopeful. Unfortunately, like Bill Clinton before him, Obama is ready to allow the crimes of the Republicans go unpunished, leaving America with a bruised reputation and no remedies.

And speaking of the leftover problems from the Bush Administration, the sour economy has actually had a positive effect on the military. For years the military has been forced to allow below-average recruits to join, thanks to declining numbers of worthy applicants. But due to the recent economic downturn, the Army is seeing an uptick in what it calls “quality” recruits and has halted the practice of giving recruitment waivers to convicted felons and recent drug offenders. Since the Army started handing out numerous waivers to felons and drug offenders, officials say there has been an increase in drug abuse among soldiers in Iraq and afghanistan. There have also been reports that members of US gangs are signing up for the Army and leaving identifying graffiti in the streets of Iraq. Afghanistan's abundent heroin crops are a particular spot of concern for the Army, as any soldier so inclined could easily procure doses of that and other substances. Hopefully, this surge in recruits is the beginning of a new trend. Studies have shown that when the military allows in people who required waivers, morale goes down, and incidents increase. With a new crop of able recruits, soldiers can once again be sure that the guys watching their backs are capable of keeping them safe, which will keep the rest of us safe as well.


And finally today, a new report shows that the government has consistently overlooked massive amounts of waterway contamination stemming from 271 million pounds of pharmaceuticals that were legally released into waterways. According to an AP investigation, government and industry officials don't know how many pharmaceutical ingredients – like lithium and nitroglycerin – are released into lakes and rivers that feed into drinking water, because they don't track those chemicals as drugs. But the AP found that 22 pharmaceutical compounds do show up in EPA and Food and Drug Administration records. Drugmakers and federal regulators both say that the manufacturing of these kinds of chemicals doesn't impact water quality. However, the investigation revealed that the release of these chemicals is similar to a “don't ask, don't tell” policy, where the government looks the other way, while the pharmaceutical industry dumps chemicals into our water. Studies have shown that exposure to lithium can cause fluid to build up in the lungs, and that the side effects of the drug become more severe when it is exposed to moisture. That sounds like just the thing we want in our water supply.

Labels: Barack Obama, Economy, Farron Cousins, George Bush, Memo, Military, Pharmaceutical, Poison, Prosecution, Rahm Emanuel, Recruit, Torture, Waiver, Water

Earlier this week, it was reported that the diaper-wearing, prostitute-loving GOP senator David Vitter had a bit of a temper tantrum at a DC airport. Vitter was late for a flight from Washington to New Orleans, and when he arrived at the gate, he was told that he wasn't allowed to go through the security door leading to the plane. After setting off the security alarm, the Louisiana senator proceeded to dress down an airline employee who told him entering the restricted area was forbidden. He invoked his standing as a senator, delivering a "do-you-know-who-I-am" tirade. After the airline worker announced that he was going to get security, Vitter said that they would probably be impressed by his senatorial pin. However, when the worker acted and actually went to security, Vitter quietly slipped away. The TSA has since announced that they will be investigating the matter, and Vitter could be facing fines or other punishments for his infantile tirade. Of course, given his perverted history, any punishment inflicted could actually make him do something like this again.


In other news, Fox News' Sean Hannity has some interesting things to say about torture. Hannity invited Meghan McCain on his show to talk about a court filing by 9/11 defendants detained at Guantanamo Bay. The group of detainees had admitted in the past that they were "terrorists to the bone." Hannity asked McCain why we would want to extend any rights to these people, and before she could even answer his question, he went into a soliloquy about his views on torture, which are apparently rooted in his Christianity. Hannity said of Osama bin Laden, quote, “I don't have any problem taking his head sticking it underwater and scaring the living daylights out of him and making him think we're drowning him… and I'm a Christian.” I'm not quite sure I follow Sean's logic on this one. If he's relying on his faith to justify torturing – which the Bible described torture in numerous different areas – but this argument doesn't hold any water today. In order to base his argument on this, he would have to assume that the world hasn't changed over the last two thousand years, and contrary to what Republicans actually think, it has.


And finally this week, the man who dubbed Vice President Joe Biden a socialist last September for arguing that paying taxes is "patriotic" appears to have some government redistribution ideas of his own. Newt Gingrich, often cited as a Republican prospect for president in 2012, says the state should consider paying teenager girls not to get pregnant. He also says that states should consider paying teenage girls who become pregnant to take prenatal vitamins to forestall paying additional health expenses for neonatal care down the road. Along with his remarks about pregnant teenagers, the former Speaker of the House of Representatives also said that state legislators should consider paying poor children to read and individuals not to smoke. His other ideas include giving tax breaks to grocery stores that open in the inner city; giving bonuses to food stamp recipients who buy fruits and vegetables; and making students walk to school if they live close enough. Admittedly, some of these ideas really aren't that bad, but paying teenagers not to get pregnant? Come on, Newt. How about we actually take that money and put it into sex ed classes, that teach the use of contraceptives. That way it doesn't look so much like we're bribing students to wear condoms.

Labels: Airport, Christianity, David Bitter, DC Madam, Farron Cousins, Fetish, Jesus, Newt Gingrich, Pervert, Pregnant, Prostitute, Sean Hannity, Sex, Smoking, Teenager, Teens, Tirade, Torture

John Yoo, author of the notorious torture memos that allowed the Bush Administration to torture detainees, has found a new ally with the current Obama administration. Obama's Justice Department defended Yoo in a San Francisco federal court last week, arguing that a prisoner formerly held as an enemy combatant had no right to sue Yoo for writing legal memos that allegedly led to his detention and torture. Attorney Mary Mason repeated a claim made last year by the Bush administration, saying that the courts should not have the authority to question a president's actions during time of war. In addition to authoring many of the torture memos, Yoo also advised the Bush administration that the Geneva Conventions on humane treatment of captives did not apply to terrorist suspects classified as enemy combatants. The specific case in question here is the one of Jose Padilla, who was arrested in 2002 and held as an unlawful enemy combatant for three and a half years. After his time served, he was charged with taking part in an unrelated conspiracy to provide money and supplies to Islamic extremist groups. He was convicted and sentenced to 17 years in federal prison.


In related news, the US Supreme Court has refused to hear a case about whether US presidents have the authority to indefinitely detain a terrorist suspect in the United States without charges. The case has now been sent back for a new hearing before the federal appeals court in Richmond, Virginia, which ruled last July that former president Bush did have the power and authority to indefinitely detain prisoners. The appeals court in Richmond scheduled a session April 27 to hear arguments in the case. By refusing to hear the case, the Court has effectively delayed resolution on an issue that could greatly effect the 245 alleged enemy combatants currently being held at Guantanamo Bay. The Supreme Court has taken up the question of "enemy combatants" three times, and three times delivered setbacks to the government. In 2004, it gave them the right to legal counsel; in 2006, it outlawed military commissions set up by the president to try them. which were re-established by Congress three months later, and in 2006, it gave them access to US civilian courts.


In other news today, economists are now predicting that our current recession will be the longest and deepest this country has seen since World War 2. The last 2 major recessions, which occurred from 1973 to 75, and from 1981 – 82, both only last 16 months, meaning that if this recession hasn't been fixed by April, it will take the record as the longest since the war. Unemployment hasn't reached 1982 levels and the gross domestic product hasn't fallen quite as far. But the hurt from this recession is spread more widely and uncertainty about the country's economic health is worse today than it was in 1982. However, economists say that the outlook for today's recession is much bleaker than back then, as more people believe that we could be heading towards another Great Depression. For even more comparison, a new set of statistics has been released showing that: In 207,000 manufacturing jobs vanished in January, making it the largest one-month drop since October 1982. Major automakers' sales extended their deep slump in February, putting the industry on track for its worst sales month in more than 27 years. Struggling homebuilders have just completed the worst year for new home sales since 1982. There are 12.5 million people out of work today, topping the number of jobless in 1982. In addition, personal wealth is dwindling in the U.S., and the effects of the financial meltdown have been felt around the world.

Labels: Barack Obama, Detention, Economy, Farron Cousins, George W Bush, John Yoo, Justice Department, Lawsuit, Memo, Recession, Rendition, Supreme Court, Torture

The battle for the soul of the GOP is heating up, and so far it looks like Rush Limbaugh is coming out ahead. Responding to criticism by recently-elected RNC chairman Michael Steele, Limbaugh tore into his party's leader, contending that Steele is actually "not the head of the Republican Party," cautioning that the chairman is off to a "shaky start." This came after Steele had responded to Limbaugh's speech at the CPAC convention this past weekend, where Steele said that Limbaugh is just an entertainer, and that, quote, “Yes, it is incendiary. Yes, it is ugly.” Well, Steele showed America how weak he really is by apologizing to Rush, and is now claiming that he has a tremendous amount of respect for the pill-popping radio host. The fact that Steele – the alleged leader of the Republican Party right now – had to apologize to a radio host, who has a lower approval rating than George W. Bush, shows us who is really in charge of the RNC, and it isn't Steele. Limbaugh has cast himself as the face, the voice, and the ruler of the Republican Party, and he should be treated as such. This means that everything he says and everything he does should be put under a spotlight and scrutinized for all its worth. Let's allow everyone in America to see how insane and inhuman their leader really is. After all, its only common sense that we would want Limbaugh to fail.


In other news, a memo from the Bush Administration has recently been uncovered, that sheds new light on how the administration tiptoed around laws and treaties to justify presidential power to transfer prisoners captured in the war on terror to countries where they would be tortured. The memo, written by Jay Bybee, then assistant attorney general in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, said the president has an unfettered right to transfer prisoners captured in the war on terror to governments around the world without regard for whether they would be tortured there. This is just one of nine legal memos made public this week that further detail the administration's expansive definition of presidential authority in a time of war. Most of the memos gave legal opinions to the White House, but the rendition memo was specifically written for the Pentagon. The memo went further, saying that prisoners held outside the United States were not protected by U.S. laws against torture nor against a separate international treaty banning torture. It also said that a 1998 law making it U.S. policy not to hand over prisoners to country where they may be tortured was invalid because it unconstitutionally interferes with presidential powers. Honestly, if this isn't enough evidence to start some prosecutions, then nothing will ever be enough.


And finally today, there's no longer any need to worry about the money that the bailed out Wall Street banks are blowing on parties and weekend retreats because, according to them, they aren't using bailout money for those things. Unfortunately, they still aren't able to account for what they did with all that money. According to banks like Wells Fargo and BB&T, they just lumped those bailout billions into their bank account, so both their profits and the bailout became one large cash pool. When news broke that Wells Fargo, recipient of $25 billion in bailout money, was planning a lavish Las Vegas retreat for its top employees, lawmakers grew understandably angry. The bank canceled the trip, but took out expensive full-page newspaper advertisements defending such trips. They're claiming that they had enough money to cover the retreat, and the bailout didn't effect their decision to have a nice quiet getaway. This begs the obvious question – If the company had enough money to pay for such lavish luxuries, why should the taxpayers bail them out? The answer, quite obviously, is that we shouldn't have.

Labels: Bailout, Bank, Bank of America, Farron Cousins, Fight, George W Bush, GOP, Jay Bybee, Leadership, Memo, Michael Steele, Party, rush limbaugh, The Daily Left, Torture, Wells Fargo

This certainly is a bad day to be a Republican. After Tuesday night's address by the president to Congress, and overwhelming number of Americans said they felt better about the economic situation, and the President's approval rating rose by 17%. However, chosen GOP spokesman and Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal didn't fare so well. Conservatives across the country are unhappy with Jindal's performance, saying that he was incredibly weak, amateurish, and that he didn't look like someone who could lead this country. Even the folks at Fox News, who are always friendly towards Republicans, had harsh words for his speech delivery, saying that Jindal never even stood a chance. Many believe that Jindal is currently being groomed to be the next GOP presidential candidate, but if Tuesday night was any indicator, this effort will be very short lived. However, and this is just a point of trivia for today, aside from being a governor, Jindal has also been an exorcist in his past. While in college, Jindal claims that he was able to exorcise a demon from his roommate who had been acting strange. He honestly believes that he expelled a demon and that he was able to cure his roommate's cancer as a result. Perhaps if this politics thing doesn't work out, he could get a job as a professional healer.


And more bad news for the Republicans today, the Senate is preparing plans to investigate allegations of torture under former President Bush, according to comments published Wednesday by Senate Judiciary Chairman Pat Leahy and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. Whitehouse, a Senator from Rhode Island, is “spearheading” the efforts, and as a member of both the Judiciary and Intelligence Committees, is privy to information about interrogations he can't yet share. Whitehouse noted that a torture commission might need the power to immunize witnesses on a case-by-case basis. The prospect of future prosecutions are beside the point, he said, and the most important thing was putting a spotlight on abuses committed by the Bush administration. Obama's CIA director, Leon Panetta, announced to a Senate hearing earlier this month that the Obama administration would not prosecute CIA officers who participated in harsh interrogations that critics say constituted torture. However, Whitehouse and Leahy are confident that Obama will allow a panel to hear about the abuses.


And finally today, if you're really upset about some of the budgets and spending packages in Congress, perhaps you should take that up with the GOP. In spite of the fact that they are now the minorities in both Houses, they've requested a 10% increase in the Congressional budget so that they can still retain the staff levels that they had when they were the majority. Congressional Republicans have been pouncing on any instance of wasteful spending they can find, but the congressional-operations line item will likely remain safe from their ire. The one-tenth hike brings the budget for Congress itself to $4.4 billion. A GOP leadership aide said it's unfair to blame Republicans for the increase, saying quote "I just don't know how they can get away with blaming us for that 10 percent figure. Republicans aren't getting a dime more in committee money for staff than we got last year.” Ok, so you aren't getting any MORE money, but you also aren't getting any LESS money. And keep in mind that the Republicans lost 20% of their seats in this last election. I'm no mathematician, but shouldn't that amount to a 20% decrease in funding for their party?

Labels: Bobby Jindal, Budget, Congress, Demon, Economy, Exorcism, Exorcist, Farron Cousins, GOP, Pat Leahy, Sheldon Whitehouse, Staff, The Daily Left, Torture