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...and if anyone will seriously be moved by my actual begging, I assure you that something can be arranged.
The urge to save humanity is almost always a false face for the urge to rule it. ~ H.L. Mencken
by Jay Elias on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 12:35:39 AM PDT
I've been donating to the Center for Constitutional Rights, lately. That's because I think the injustice of President Bush's violations of international law is a big deal. But this is a big deal too.
Our current healthcare system is simple. Don't get sick.
by tiggers thotful spot on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 12:40:52 AM PDT
[ Parent ]
...there are enough worthy causes that even if Bill Gates emptied his bank account, many would leave needy.
But money is hardly the only way we can help fight this. Find out who your D.A. is. Let them know that you want them to cooperate with the Innocence Project and other such groups. Let them know you are watching.
by Jay Elias on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 12:44:02 AM PDT
we should have learned that
a) There should BE no Bill Gates, and b) Society should and can solve the problems we historically and evidently now depend on our Gates' to address for us.
We are called to speak for the weak, for the voiceless, for victims of our nation and for those it calls enemy.... --ML King "Beyond Vietnam"
by Gooserock on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 12:49:30 AM PDT
...which doesn't have anything to do with the topic at hand, I'll point out that point b is the case here. The Innocence Project is funded by ordinary Americans like myself. It is staffed by volunteer attorneys and law school students using their meager spare time.
We need to do far far more. But we are not holding out for Bill Gates, Soros, or anyone else to buy our justice for us.
by Jay Elias on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 12:53:17 AM PDT
there would be no Mr Paper Clip Helper Guy and where would I be then?
</snark>
by tiggers thotful spot on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 12:57:52 AM PDT
by Jay Elias on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 12:58:50 AM PDT
Mr Paper Clip Helper Guy part of the reason there is an Open Office?
We must be the change we wish to see. -- Gandhi
by i know on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 01:38:31 AM PDT
to see if they could make a user interface as bad as that in MS Office.
by wondering if on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 02:21:40 AM PDT
Including de facto standards like the MS Office user interface.
But in order to play in the market, you have to embrace the standard.
User training and barriers to adoption are a very big deal if you want companies to transition to Open Office.
We're pro-choice on everything! - Libertarian slogan
by CA Libertarian on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 08:36:31 AM PDT
stop hijacking
by debedb on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 02:12:08 PM PDT
Before he caused me to implode from utter and complete irritation.
You can tell you have created God in your own image when it turns out that he or she hates all the same people you do. - Anne Lamott
by javelina on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 06:44:16 AM PDT
It was a bright day when I figured out how to kill Mr. Happy Dancing Paperclip. A bright day indeed.
Say buh-bye to Jim Inhofe...Andrew Rice for U.S. Senate
by deha on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 07:59:39 AM PDT
into Mr. Paper Cat. Or is it Ms.?
And then I turned it off.
-8.00, -7.08
It isn't easy being green.
by emeraldmaiden on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 08:34:35 AM PDT
by javelina on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 04:39:59 PM PDT
Want any help? Mind if I go ahead and put the date over on the right hand side of the page? I'm going to go ahead and single-space your lines and double-space your paragraphs. Hope that's cool with you. By the way, don't forget to end with a closing salutations! Mind if I humbly suggest "Respectfully Yours,"? I think that sets the right tone. You know what, how about I just write the whole fucking thing for you? Would that work? I'm going to bend myself into the shape of a star, because you're a motherfucking star. Best buddies forever, right? Right?
You can have your "Under God" back when I get my "Liberty and Justice For All" back.
by karateexplosions on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 09:36:07 AM PDT
9/11 changed everything. And we're gonna change it back.
by perro amarillo on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 12:29:49 PM PDT
I am absolutely screaming with laughter.
Thank you!
by javelina on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 04:40:48 PM PDT
but not a crime...
So many impeachable offenses, so little time... -6.0 -5.33
by Cali Techie on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 10:07:50 AM PDT
he's creepy. it always looks like he's leering at me...and i don't need to take that from a software program
"I don't have a problem with change, I just don't want to be there when it happens." - Adrian Monk
by betsyross on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 07:54:54 AM PDT
Bill and Melinda as well as William Sr all donate to the UW Law school and several related programs. I can only assume they support the ipnw. http://www.law.washington.edu/...
It is located in William H. Gates Hall, Suite 265
I can ask the step daughter who did research for ipnw all three years of law school.
The biggest threat to America is not communism, it's moving America toward a fascist theocracy... -- Frank Zappa
by NCrefugee on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 10:00:43 AM PDT
I'm defending Bill Gates, but point A, to me, is a bit extreme. There is nothing at all wrong with people amassing fortunes legally and honestly. (I know, I know - a lot of people think Gates has done neither, but that's another discussion for another time.)
We can have a society where society works together for the common good, AND individuals are free to profit HONESTLY from talent, energy and innovation. (I know, I know...) When it's done honestly, and with the acknowledgment that none of us succeeds in a vacuum and that we all have responsibilities to society, personal success is a good thing. It's the Enrons and Halliburtons of the world, those who profit from illegal and unethical behavior and from the abuse of others, who should be scorned.
Hey, I'm a Mac guy, I'm no fan of Gates. But he is making the effort to give back. And his father campaigned publicly to preserve the estate tax, which should be worth a kudo or two.
-8.25, -6.26 "I'm not superstitious. But, I AM a little stitious." - Michael Scott
by snookybeh on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 04:03:34 AM PDT
the disparity could not possibly become so huge.
And you're right, Bill Gates did not do either. I applaud his philanthropy, but it's like closing the barn door after the stampede. I'm sure the people he's 'helping' might have rather helped themselves, had they been given a chance.
by xysea on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 05:13:13 AM PDT
When wealthy people make their money by walking over the bodies of others I have absolutely no respect for their philanthropy. They give their money to strut their stuff not because they care about others. After all, if they cared about others, they would have been honest in their dealings in the first place.
Bill Gates and Microsoft has no problem making sure that the majority of people who work at Microsoft are not Microsoft employees. That includes the janitors, receptionists, mail and travel people just to name a few. I worked there for awhile for a contract company that makes deliveries from one building to another. I was really shocked to learn that none of the people I usually had contact with were actually Microsoft employees.
Bill Gates sure wouldn't want all those people working on his acres and acres of Company property to have decent benefits. Benefits would cut into his billions in bank.
by twinpeaks on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 09:59:21 AM PDT
But his philanthropy started free public libraries in communities across America -- libraries that opened windows to knowledge, and doors to a better future, for all succeeding generations of lower-income Americans.
People aren't binary. Nobody's all good or all bad. (Dick Cheney doesn't disprove this rule; the undead are allowed to be wholly evil.) It's perfectly possible to applaud a philanthropy, while condemning methods used to amass the fortune that made it possible.
Folly is fractal: the closer you look at it, the more of it there is.
by Canadian Reader on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 12:12:44 PM PDT
Although technically legal (I suppose, since he's not in prison . . . ), the early machinations behind the rise of Microsoft were hardly honest or ethical . . .
by Roadbed Guy on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 08:13:15 AM PDT
Microsoft wouldn't hire so many people for one-year contracts, then make them sit out of work for 100 days before rehire, to avoid paying them full salary and benefits.
Bill Gates does a lot of good with his money around the world. Would that he could look across the water from his fancy house on the east side and see the people in downtown Seattle without jobs, housing, and food.
Give me a job, Bill. Me and lots of others. Take care of the people at home too.
by Brooke In Seattle on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 08:15:42 AM PDT
Microsoft tries like hell to monopolize the software industry. There is no reason why IE should be a mandatory part of the OS. And IE does not follow W3C standards - purposely - so that MS can advance their proprietary monopoly.
look at the lawsuits in Europe. MS paid $$$$ big time for illegal monopolistic practices.
by MJ via Chicago on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 09:05:42 AM PDT
...after the Netscape antitrust charges were filed. Don't you remember the timing of this?
And then his foundation focused on giving away computers and software to schools and libraries - who would of course need Microsoft software upgrades.
As Melinda Gates says in the most recent issue of Fortune, the only reason he shifted gears to more human issues like health care is because of her prodding.
Gates is a monopolist and a weasel.
All those dollars he's giving away were never his in the first place.
by CA Libertarian on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 05:12:01 PM PDT
is a dick and struggling for his political life.
[-6.25, -5.59] "The love you take is equal to the love you make." - J. Lennon, P. McCartney
by Phil N DeBlanc on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 10:04:34 AM PDT
around here is to add pootie pix or work it into yet another candidate diary.
I have blogged about the Love Canal our courts have become -- and have had two of those diaries rescued -- but the masses don't seem to care, and even fewer 'get it.'
Bush's violations of international law pale in comparison to what is going on in our nation's courtrooms on a daily basis.
Under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, government is obliged to fairly compensate the victims of its malfeasance, but then again, our government has never met a treaty it wouldn't break.
There is a lawsuit going in the courts of the Tenth Circuit that seeks to declare our country to be in material breach of this treaty. I may blog on it or I may not, but I've gotten so discouraged by the flood of vapid front-page candidate diaries that I have been reluctant to do so.
by Bouldergeist on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 03:56:23 AM PDT
I promise you I'll read it, rec it (as long as I get to it before the time-out for recommending a diary) and post a link to it on my blog.
-- Laughing as I go... <- My blog...
by kraant on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 04:00:33 AM PDT
it's sad that Kossacks are so focused on their candidate of choice, like an addiction (drug of choice?), that the really good diaries about very important issues are getting buried.
When I came here not long ago, I was impressed with the range of progressive issues diaried by experts and laymen alike. I was intimidated enough to not make comments more than "I agree" or "me too" :)
This past holiday season my family members did not get anything materialistic from me. They didn't get anything from me, but I am working up post-Christmas Merry Christmas cards with social justice information about vary groups to whom I have donated a small amount. I say this because I have just added The Innocence Project to this list, and I know exactly which family member will get this information.
I thank you for this diary and I'm glad I found it this morning.
Republicans: Your history has earned you a new mantra: "War and waste." ~~ Marta Jorgensen (CA-24 in '08)
I am an Edwards Democrat!
by Scubaval on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 04:34:36 AM PDT
just like this one, but you have to look for them. Unfortunately, with all the candidate diaries, they scroll off too quickly and are easy to miss. Keep looking, though!
by Lujane on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 08:52:25 AM PDT
by PlanetTreasures on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 06:57:49 AM PDT
ratified that one, so give us a break
Like the Convention to End All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the USA has yet to ratify several major international human rights treaties.
Selected Human Rights Treaties and US Status
by tiggers thotful spot on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 08:08:38 AM PDT
I'll try to get my update on tomorrow morning, complete with pootie pix. :)
If our laws were in compliance with the ICCPR, there would be remedy for Geneva France (art. 14, sec. 5), but our government would rather sign human rights treaties than comply with them.
The working title is Bush DoJ: She's A Star-Spangled Harlot!
by Bouldergeist on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 11:43:44 AM PDT
eom
Also, I can kill you with my brain.
by Puffin on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 01:14:48 AM PDT
Thank you for reminding us that real injustice too often gets lost in the horserace. Let us not forget that a new president is only as good as what he or she will do for our country and people who have suffered injustice like Geneva France.
You know we live in strange times when hearing something as simple as the truth almost seems shocking.
by redhaze on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 02:23:36 AM PDT
By the way, it's "Drug Enforcement Administration", not "Agency". I added the correct tag - keeping the "agency" one though, since it's a very common mistake.
The Dutch children's chorus Kinderen voor Kinderen (= “kids for kids”): is a world cultural treasure.
by lotlizard on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 02:28:42 AM PDT
...that is of value. And this is such an important diary - glad u wrote it.
There are a few good candidate diaries.
But mostly dumb ones that hurt the site.
I expect that from the Mainstream Media and Commercials. I'm surprised to see it on dkos.
Political Expediency: Its The New Black!
by BentLiberal on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 02:59:56 AM PDT
...because all three major Democratic candidates support the War on (Certain Classes of People Who Use) Drugs.
Want to change things like this? Stop supporting center-right Democrats like the three frontrunners!
This nicely summarizes what's wrong with American political life today. (Source)
by GreenSooner on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 03:42:42 AM PDT
candidate supporter retorts, especially without supporting sources. I almost posted my candidate's stand on the issue, but it's not appropriate here.
by Scubaval on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 04:40:24 AM PDT
It can be hard to find information on the issue 'cause its fallen off the radar, but here you go.
Barack Obama seems to want to moderate sentences for first-time drug offenders (a fine thing) but doesn't question the war on drugs overall. From a September 28, 2007 speech at Howard University:
I think it's time we also took a hard look at the wisdom of locking up some first-time, non-violent drug users for decades. Someone once said that "...long minimum sentences for first-time users may not be the best way to occupy jail space and/or heal people from their disease." That someone was George W. Bush - six years ago. I don't say this very often, but I agree with the President. The difference is, he hasn't done anything about it. When I'm President, I will. We will review these sentences to see where we can be smarter on crime and reduce the blind and counterproductive warehousing of non-violent offenders. And we will give first-time, non-violent drug offenders a chance to serve their sentence, where appropriate, in the type of drug rehabilitation programs that have proven to work better than a prison term in changing bad behavior. So let's reform this system. Let's do what's smart. Let's do what's just.
Sen. Clinton's position (unsurprisingly) seems nearly identical to Obama's: no hard time for first time, nonviolent drug offenders, same sentences for crack and powder cocain. Again, small, positive steps but no opposition to the War on Drugs as such.
John Edwards (again not surprisingly) seems measurably, but not dramatically, better. On at least one occasion last fall, Edwards suggested that we need to rethink the War on Drugs. But I can't find any suggested alternative approach based on, e.g., harm reduction.
The overwhelming fact about these three candidates (and for that matter most of the rest of the Democratic field) is that they aren't much addressing this issue at all.
by GreenSooner on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 09:11:01 AM PDT
we need to rethink it... and there are a lot of big issues that need to be addressed in this country, so I would defend "rethinking" as being more progressive than "small, positive steps" ~~ rethinking could eventually mean doing away with.
On another note, I have noticed McCain reframing the GWOT ~~ he even caught himself a few times and rephrased it as "struggle against terrorism." Bet he'll change back if he gets into the WH. Yikes!
by Scubaval on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 12:06:16 PM PDT
by Scubaval on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 12:06:40 PM PDT
It's become all about the W. Although DAs, Law Enforcement and Judges are theoretically independent of each other, they all play on the same team and work to protect each other.
The Defandant is the enemy, and he's presumed guilty. What's even more amazing is that convictions are gotten on evidence which in more than a few cases the prosecutor should be disbarred for even trying.
Only in America can a lady like Nancy Grace, who probably had no business trying cases, can get a TV show on a major cable network. That should tell you all you need to know right there. We've seem to forgotten why it is the defendant is presumed innocent, and why the Founding Fathers wanted it that way.
by Vinnie Vegas on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 04:07:28 AM PDT
Supreme Court refuses to hear Enron case...
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court dealt a blow Tuesday to Enron investors who sued major investment banks to recover money lost when the Texas energy giant collapsed amid a massive accounting fraud. By refusing to review the investors' lawsuit, the court took away what may have been their only hope of keeping the case alive. Enron stockholders may seek to revive their case in the lower federal courts, though the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans has ruled against them once before. Enron's demise wiped out thousands of jobs, more than $60 billion in market value and more than $2 billion in pension plans. Tuesday's turndown for the Enron investors came without comment in a routine Supreme Court list of cases the justices had decided not to hear.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court dealt a blow Tuesday to Enron investors who sued major investment banks to recover money lost when the Texas energy giant collapsed amid a massive accounting fraud. By refusing to review the investors' lawsuit, the court took away what may have been their only hope of keeping the case alive.
Enron stockholders may seek to revive their case in the lower federal courts, though the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans has ruled against them once before.
Enron's demise wiped out thousands of jobs, more than $60 billion in market value and more than $2 billion in pension plans.
Tuesday's turndown for the Enron investors came without comment in a routine Supreme Court list of cases the justices had decided not to hear.
The Dream Ticket can win the General Election
by Pink Lady on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 07:49:47 AM PDT
The criminal justice system has been used to score points by unprincipled and dishonest DAs who use the system to promote their political ambitions. They use the number of convictions notched on their gun belts as some sort of red badge of courage. They claim to be tough on crime when they are really soft on crime. Aided and abetted by lazy and corrupt police officers who are unwilling to actually investigate a crime, these prosecutors make a joke of our criminal justice system. They single out the poor, the mentally ill, and the weakest members of our society as the victims of their brand of justice. These people are too poor to fight back and must depend upon often incompetent and unwilling court-assigned defenders for their defense. They mount a weak defense for the accused and allow the prosecutors to run rampant over our justice system. We need to start putting these prosecutors and their accomplices behind bars themselves for what can only be called deliberate miscarriages of justice. The only way to fix the justice system is to remove the people who are abusing it and to punish them for their crimes.
by MagisterLudi on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 09:13:45 AM PDT
A justice system that vies for numbers, results and convictions, at all cost, is a justice system crying out for oversight.
Every single ill of the last seven years can be put down to a climate of lax oversight, unaccountability, ethical corruption that has paid off beautifully and a climate in which lies are freely retailed for personal gain. That can be seen on a grand scale, or on a small and more intimate one like the destruction of a young woman's life.
What might help is a series of suits for damages. Wait, is that why the President is so fervent about Tort Reform? To shield him from a lifetime of litigation? It reminds me of Berlosconi passing laws to shield himself before leaving office.
by arthura on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 04:43:13 AM PDT
Please forgive us for allowing this to happen to you.
Is there anyway I can send her some financial help?
The judicial system is rotten to the core. It is made much worse by judges and politicians who claim to be 'tough on crime'.
Shame on this country, shame on the judges, shame on the police, shame on the lawyers, shame on FBI and most importantly shame on us that we allow this to happen in our society. All are co-conspirators in this abomination. And I can bet that there are at least ten Geneva France rotting in the prisons for every Geneva France that we know about. How can we do this to innocent people? How can we--oh my God
What's the use of happiness? It can't buy you money- Henny Youngman
by sheep in wolf clothing on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 05:09:27 AM PDT
... every day, as it's the local paper-of-record, and when I hit that story, with a heart-wrenching photo of Geneva holding her youngest child, I had to set the paper down and take a minute to ask myself what the hell happened to our system of "justice" that this sort of thing could happen?
I still haven't found an answer.
NFTT Progressively supporting the troops
by Timroff on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 05:54:04 AM PDT
I've got this law degree and bar membership that I'm shamefully underutilizing. Perhaps a little elbow throwing Pro-Bono work will help restore my faith inthe justice system after reading something like that.
I live near Baltimore, orgination of the "Stop Snitching" movement, and at first I reacted to as I suspect most of us have- with disgust at an obvious attempt at intimidation of good people by violent thugs.
I've recently been told by some of those who live in places that make the setting of the Wire look like Disneyland that Yes that is part of it, but the other part of it is community disgust at dealers that finger innocent people in order to reduce their sentences when caught.
It appears that a consequence of our drug war tactics is that we jail actual drug dealers for far less time than innocent people they claim as their suppliers..
Knowledge is power Power Corrupts Study Hard Be Evil
by Magorn on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 06:02:06 AM PDT
$25 to the Innocence Project.
I will donate again. What a desperately worthy cause.
by concernedamerican on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 06:17:57 AM PDT
or whomever runs the government of your county and ask them to better fund the Public Defenders office if you really want to help. We get much less funding than the DA and have far, far fewer investigators and support staff. I'm not even asking you to ask for more attorneys, though we have a caseload that would choke a private attorney, just get us some Paul Drakes and we can do more than anyone else to keep the innocent out of jail-cause they are generally the poor-the rich don't get drug through the process casually.
"I said, 'Wait a minute, Chester, you know I'm a peaceful man.'" Robbie Robertson
by NearlyNormal on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 06:44:14 AM PDT
Thousands of people are incarcerated in this country for crimes they did not commit. Their lives are ruined and many are killed.
Even more are imprisoned with mental illness, and still more with physical ailments left untreated (some of which can be linked to the deplorable conditions in which they are held).
In some places, notably Sheriff Arpaio's gulags in Arizona, undocumented aliens who could simply be deported (not that that's a great option either, but it's better) are instead held captive at the taxpayer's expense, and some die there.
Millions are held for nonviolent drug-related offences, some even for marijuana, others for more dangerous drugs who need treatment, not prison.
All over the country our prisoners are treated as slaves for private corporations, exploited instead of rehabilitated.
When are we going to make this an issue? When are we going to fight for the helpless, the captive, the exploited, the innocent? Isn't that what we're supposed to be about?
During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act. - George Orwell
by kyril on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 08:21:05 AM PDT
There was actually a serial rapist and child predator that was caught in Arizona recently. He's undocumented. Should he just be sent across the border so that he can try to return and assault little girls again? How is that better? He committed a crime here, he should be incarcerated.
Nothing to do with the rest of this diary, but still.
by paiges on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 09:22:08 AM PDT
Got my renewal notice from the ACLU yesterday - I'll make sure I renew my membership.
Character is much easier kept than recovered. Thomas Paine
by TokenLiberal on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 08:53:07 AM PDT
wide narrow
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