Tag: justice

Feb 03 2009

Saving 49 Lives (Part 3)

cross-posted from The Dream Antilles

There are 49 people presently facing the federal death penalty.  If we want to, we might be able to spare them.  We might be able to get the new Attorney General, Eric Holder, to review the decisions by the three Bush Administration Attorney Generals to pursue the death penalty in these cases, and if the new Attorney General thought, if there were convictions, that the defendants shouldn’t be killed, he could require prosecutors not to seek the death penalty, to be satisfied with a maximum sentence of life without parole.  This would be a remarkable development.  It would save lives.  The United States would join the civilized world that has stopped state killing.  The essential hypocrisy of an eye for an eye would be abandoned.  It would be a new era.  We would not have these people’s blood on our hands.

Jan 27 2009

Trials for Torturers

Re-banning torture is fine – but it’s hardly enough.

The-Whole-World-is-Watching

Torture is one of those words that is just too easy to say.  The facility with which it slides off the tongue belies its terrible gravity.  

The act of torture is cruelty personified.  It is easily among the most horrific deeds of which we are capable.  What could be worse?  Murder and genocide I suppose…but little else.

Jan 07 2009

Failure in Government

I have supported Barack Obama, but every time he appoints a rightwinger or a centrist (who are nothing more than rightwingers with apologies IMO) I lose a little hope.

I quote my friend TocqueDeville in DrSteveB’s earlier diary, Sanjay Gupta for Surgeon General – worse than I thought:

I see it as a continuation of the same battle (20+ / 0-)

I’ve been having for the last 20 plus years.

If this pans out then it will be just another failed Obama appointment, along with a couple of good ones – maybe.

All of his appointments combined demonstrate what the late professor Carroll Quigley, of Harvard Princeton and Georgetown described about how the American political system is rigged so that we can have a great big election and real power never really changes hands. [emphasis my own ~ OPOL]

by TocqueDeville

The real power never really changes hands.

Jan 06 2009

Blue Green Alliance: Growing the Future Through a Green Economic Recovery

The Blue Green Alliance was formed by the Steelworkers Union and the Sierra Club in 2006. Recently, the Communication Workers of America (CWA), the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) announced that they were joining the Blue Green Alliance. By joining forces, the Alliance now unites more than 6 million people working to create a Green Economy based on justice and fairness.

The Alliance is a strong advocate of a Green Economic Recovery:

“If we invest $100 billion into six green strategies, we project it will create 2 million jobs“

This is a real movement growing to make change, to make a new future.  This is the path to economic recovery, sustainable growth and economic fairness. More, after the fold.

(a version of this diary is also on Daily Kos at http://www.dailykos.com/story/… )

Dec 28 2008

Why Bush and Cheney Should Get a Fair Trial

If you wish to repost this essay you can download a .txt file of the html here (right click and save). Permission granted.

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Why should they get a fair trial?  Why should there be a special prosecutor who investigates thoroughly the torture of human beings that has been going on in our name?

One reason is because so many have not gotten a fair trial, both here in the USA and abroad.

Dec 26 2008

So…Do We Need a Javert?

This commentary is original to All Over the Board:

Dec 20 2008

It Has to Stop!

I think some the angst I’m feeling comes from my fear that, even with our historic victory, that too little will change in time to make a difference.  Generals always want to fight the last war, while politicians want to wage the last campaign.  It’s easy to look backward and hard to look forward, and far too few seem to realize the extent to which the stakes have been raised.  Our circumstances have really become quite dire.  That doesn’t sink in easily for the many who want to pretend that the world is always going to be the way it’s always been.

The politics of yesterday are not going to serve us any longer.  We need more than change.  We need more than a mid-course correction.  We need the crazy to stop.

And I don’t mean just slow down a little, or be a little less crazy.  I mean it has to stop.  We have to reverse course in this damned country, not just modify it somewhat.  

the-end-of-humanity

Dec 20 2008

Bush’s OSHA Sells Out Workers: A “Despicable Pardon” to Cintas in Worker Death and Injuries

You may remember that I wrote a few times over the last two years about Eleazar Torres Gomez and Cintas.  Here’s one diary that gives you some background: Did Eleazar Torres-Gomez Lose his Life for Company Profits?

Eleazar Torres-Gomez was pronounced dead on the scene after apparently being dragged by a conveyor into an industrial dryer. Torres-Gomez was trapped in the dryer-which can reportedly reach temperatures of 300 degrees-for at least 20 minutes.

Burned to death in March 2007, and it was preventable.  Now with Bush riding off into the sunset, he couldn’t resist harming working people for Christmas.  The Bush OSHA has entered into a sellout settlement with Cintas over six OSHA cases regarding safety hazards at its facilities, including hazards that led to the March 2007 death of Eleazar Torres Gomez.  

Congressman Phil Hare called this settlement a “a despicable pardon” for a “serial offender,” and asked:

How many lives will be lost before this company is required to gets its act together?  

How many more?

Dec 20 2008

Doing Time

cross posted from The Dream Antilles

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As the holidays approach, I turn as I do every year to focus on those who are incarcerated. This isn’t the result of the religious injunction in Matthew 25:44 about visiting those in prison.  It’s because my business is to defend people charged with serious crimes, and I’m painfully aware that when the defense doesn’t work, and it often doesn’t, the client pays with what the Thirteenth Amendment blandly calls “involuntary servitude.”  That means being a slave of the state.  For a long time.  A time measured in years.  And it’s as bad as it sounds.

Dec 08 2008

Don Siegelman Needs Our Help

Don Siegelman’s fight for justice against the false charges made against him by elements in the Bush Administration reaches a critical point tomorrow.  His appeal goes before the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals Tuesday, 12/9/08.  We hope the 11th Circuit will throw out the false charges against Siegelman and clear this good man.

But Don needs our help.  He needs to raise another $30,000 toward his legal fees.  Not only for Don, but the magnitude of this case and it’s relation to the firings of attorneys across the country could blow the lid off the case for numerous Justice Department crimes of this past and passing administration.

Don Siegelman isn’t just fighting for his freedom — he’s fighting for the integrity of our democracy. I hope you’ll join me in supporting his legal defense fund today, before his appeal hearing tomorrow.

Al Gore has sent a letter on this.  Find:

                    “A Message from Al Gore regarding Don Siegelman”

                                         …below the fold–

Dec 06 2008

Union Workers Occupy Chicago Factory! Updated with How to Help.

It’s the 1930s, folks.  In Chicago, workers have been driven to the wall and are taking action:

Idled workers occupy factory in Chicago

By RUPA SHENOY, Associated Press Writer Rupa Shenoy, Associated Press Writer – 43 mins ago

CHICAGO – Workers laid off from their jobs at a factory have occupied the building and are demanding assurances they’ll get severance and vacation pay that they say they are owed.

About 200 employees of Republic Windows and Doors began their sit-in Friday, the last scheduled day of the plant’s operation.

“We’re going to stay here until we win justice,” said Blanca Funes, 55, of Chicago, after occupying the building for several hours. Speaking in Spanish, Funes said she fears losing her home without the wages she feels she’s owed. A 13-year employee of Republic, she estimated her family can make do for three months without her paycheck. Most of the factory’s workers are Hispanic.

snip

“We’re doing something we haven’t since the 1930s, so we’re trying to make it work,” Fried said.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/…

Here’s a great first hand report from Fred Kronsky, a blogger and head of a Chicago teachers union:

We were not exactly sure what we were going to do when we got there.

Republic Windows and Doors had suddenly announced it was shuttering its plant. The law requires 60 days notice or 60 days pay. The workers had received neither.

So, instead of leaving, they decided to stay.

It just seemed like we needed to let the folks who were sitting-in at Republic Windows and Doors know that they had support.

snip

Armando Robles came up to our car.

“I’m Fred Klonsky. I’m president of a teachers’ union local and we wanted to come by and show our support.

Senor Robles stuck out his hand. We shook. “I’m the local president here.”

“What do you need?”

“Coffee,” Robles said. “We’ve been inside since this morning and the people had some lunch, but nothing since then.”

“How many people?” I asked.

“About 150.”

Hmmm. 150 coffees.

http://preaprez.wordpress.com/…

More, after the fold.

Nov 30 2008

Truth and Reconciliation My Ass! America’s Accountability Moment

I believe in compassion, mercy and forgiveness…but when great and grievous wrong has been done, you don’t skip straight to forgiveness.  No, the first stop on the path to redemption is called justice.

When former governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and secretary of state of Alabama, Don Siegleman gets thrown in federal prison for 9 months for being a progressive democrat and has to go around the country begging for justice once they finally let him out on appeal bond (fruitlessly I might add – they never did vote contempt for Karl Rove) then something is desperately wrong in this country.

siegelman-in-prison

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