Ramsey Clark Awarded U.N. Human Rights Award 2008

Well deserved tribute for Ramsey Clark, a genuine American political hero of moral courage*:

[from statement publicly released]
“Ramsey Clark receives UN Human Rights Award 2008

International Action Center founder Ramsey Clark, a former US Attorney
General and internationally renown human rights defender, received the
respected United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights on the 60th
Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at United
Nations Headquarters in New York on 10 December 2008.

The announcement of the award was presented by the President of the
General Assembly, Miguel d

Update on that Insanity Defense Idea

Update on that Insanity Defense Idea –As said before (yesterday), this may well be just a joke or inflated rumor–but that notion of Illinois Gov. Blagojevich prepping an ‘insanity defense’ is still carrying on.

ABC News has picked up the idea, such as it is. Both Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow cited accusations, frequent apparently, of irrationality or worse against Blagojevich on their shows last night. At least one Chicago columnist, John Kass, seems to be debunking the idea or perhaps torpedoing the putative defense along these lines.

In all seriousness, the conversations revealed by the feds in that charging document–erroneously called an ‘indictment’ in both the Washington Post and MSNBC yesterday, thereby missing the real story here–seem to show that Blagojevich talked to his closest aides the way I talk to myself. And as far as I am concerned, talking to oneself–and what one says to self–is not genuine evidence of either insanity or crime.

I’m not a lawyer, of course. I have started wondering whether all this hoopla, obviously foreseen by the prosecution, inevitably taints any jury pool. Following this hypothesis to its logical conclusion, that wd mean that the feds do not necessarily believe there will ever be a trial. Something to think about.

NDIL spokesman Randy Samborn returned call for comment today, btw. Asked about possible consequences for Chicago’s newspapers from that charging document, he declined courteously to speculate on anything that may happen in the future.

More later. I am not inherently a contrarian, but somehow this arrest arouses qualms at a gut level. An attorney friend of mine pointed out a good column by Fitzgerald friend and legal author Scott Turow in yesterday’s NYTimes. Turow specifies among other things how U.S. Patrick Fitzgerald has in the past timed legal actions to avoid elections or other political consequences–for one, he went along with the Libby defense request to postpone the Libby trial until after the 2006 elections.

Turow says point-blank that Fitzgerald had to bring this case, i.e. I suppose make this arrest, before he was ready. MSNBC’s Pat Buchanan said pretty much the same thing. I, au contraire, do not see how it wd have been possible that Blago cd have appointed the replacement senator with a day or even within a few days. –After all, if you’re actually running an auction, it is self-evident that if you want bids to go up, you want the auction to run on for a while. From the tapes, Blago and his crew did not seem even to have the channels opened up and running, yet.

If, reasoning along these lines, Blago had given up the notion of selling–maybe not too speedy a decision, given his delusions–and had appointed himself to the senate, it wd have been even easier to file charges against him. There would have been more material to use, starting with the on-its-face undisputed fact that he had appointed himself, never a popular move. And prosecutors wd have had the advantage of additional material from anyone Blagojevich or his aides had been in contact with, incl from anyone who repudiated his illicit offers. Too bad in a way that the arrest forestalled that . . . no wonder the GOP is so happy. This swift arrest leaves a cloud over everyone (Dem) who cd even have been supposed to have an interest in the senate.

AUTOMOBILE JOB LOSSES, STATE BY STATE

AUTOMOBILE JOB LOSSES, STATE BY STATE –As accurately noted in this graphic and article at CNN.com, automobile jobs are not confined to Detroit.

Look at the map of the United States, showing job losses for auto workers across the nation, and then check out some of the numbers. Btw even commentators appearing on Fox News Sunday noted that the CEOs in the financial industry were not compelled to appear before Congress, to get their $700B bailout authorized, as the heads of the Big Three were. ‘Double standard’ is too weak a term.

The states are ranked by total jobs, auto assembly jobs, auto parts jobs, auto sales jobs, and average salary. Here are the top ten: 

Michigan 1 241,883 57,997 144,413 39,473 $65,119
California 2 189,749 7,430 42,741 139,578 $17,590
Ohio 3 159,061 21,974 89,244 47,843 $44,319
Texas 4 137,191 9,104 28,487 99,600 $17,243
Indiana 5 111,665 12,622 71,403 27,640 $46,792
Florida 6 99,199 915 12,083 86,201 $9,189
Illinois 7 93,763 7,227 35,936 50,600 $26,281
New York 8 82,357 607 28,792 52,958 $54,826
Tennessee 9 79,424 10,636 42,415 26,373 $35,744
Pennsylvania 10 76,759 533 17,128 59,098 $13,619

PROSECUTORS AND NEWSPAPERS–Assisting the Trib, dissing the Sun-Times

United States of America v. Rod Blagojevich and John Harris

PROSECUTORS AND NEWSPAPERS —The arrest of Illinois Gov. Blagojevich looks to carry
consequences for the two major Chicago
newspapers. Charges issued thus far by the prosecution might have the effect of
assisting one paper and downgrading the other.

 

The various individuals mentioned in the charging
document
used to arrest Rod Blagojevich are not named, but according to some
reports

WHY DID FITZGERALD ARREST THE GOVERNOR OF ILLINOIS INSTEAD OF INDICTING HIM?

United States of America v. Rod Blagojevich and John Harris

WHY DID FITZGERALD ARREST THE GOVERNOR OF ILLINOIS
INSTEAD OF INDICTING HIM?

 

UPDATE: CHICAGO
TRIBUNE, FAVORED BY PROSECUTOR PATRICK FITZGERALD, DECLARES
BANKRUPTCY

Yes, obviously arresting a governor packs maximum drama,
makes an incomparably bigger splash than indicting him.

Loose Ends Include those CIA Videotapes

Loose Ends Include those CIA Videotapes —Almost exactly a year ago, GWU law
professor Stephen Saltzburg testified before Congress that the explanation
given by the CIA for destroying hours of videotape of torture interrogations

Who are these searchers in Chicago? And why did Gonzales turn down the Supreme Court?

Who are these searchers in Chicago? –With people and plaster dust all over the house, papers to grade, writing to work on and the state of the nation to ponder, there are bigger issues, of course, but still it is puzzling that individuals I do not know in Chicago are ‘searching’ me out in Reunion.com.

This is not recent; it started several years ago; and it seems to be the same individuals. An easy ID online, nothing secret or lurid, but no answer to my couple of polite notes telling them foursquare who I am and inquiring why the search.

Also, one of them is an older woman –except that her ID comes back as a man in his thirties. All the names are MaryMargaret type monickers, including that of the guy.

Seems odd.

Meanwhile, speaking of people searches: One of my top recommendations for a newly invigorated FBI, under a new administration, would be the appointment of Colleen Rowley.

At the congressional hearing where the admirable FBI special agent Rowley testified, the public was repeatedly assured by Committee members that there would be no retaliation or pressure on Rowley as a result of her world-famous famous whistle-blowing. Where is she now?
Sic semper whistle-blowers . . .

Meanwhile, at or near the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, I am told on good lawlerly authority that President Bush offered a seat on the Supreme Court to White House Counsel and then Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

Gonzales, motivated–it is said–by loyalty to Bush, turned down the offered nomination.

Since this all took place well before Congress grew any spine, the smart money, locally speaking, in Texas political-legal circles has it that Gonzales made a big mistake out of a wish to stay with Bush. He would have been approved for the highest court in the land, they say.

What ifs are always tentative, of course. But there is assuredly no argument to contradict that idea; look at the confirmations of a string of neocon personnel including all the architects of the Iraq war, the unending and unsuccessful ‘war on terror’, indefinite detention, illegal ‘renditions’ and torture.