I predicted three weeks ago that the cops who killed Sean Bell and wounded his friends in a 50-shot barrage would be acquitted.  Given the burden of proof on the prosecution and the testimony presented in court, I just didn’t see a way the judge would find the accused guilty. 

 Today, all three accused officers were found not guilty on all charges.

As I’ve posted before, Bell was killed not because the police did anything criminal, but because they royally screwed up.  They may have been cowards, they may have been trying to make a bust, any bust, to put a period on the end of their last night as a unit, but they were certainly incompetent.

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In 2005, the state of Texas passed one of the quickest bills in decades, changing the age at which young people with parental consent could legally marry from 14 to 16. Why the hurry? Warren Jeffs and the FLDS had come to town.

Here’s a quick, easy definition of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter-Day Saints: “The FLDS practice polygamy in arranged marriages, sometimes between underage girls and older men.” This is the accepted tagline used with almost no variation by AP, Reuters, the Post, the Times, Fox News… palatable. Neutral. Not too upsetting to hear during breakfast. Not nearly as hard to think about as the truth, which is simple enough for even the Texas Legislature to grasp:

An underage girl is a child. A child cannot consent to a marriage, arranged or otherwise, or to the sexual consummation of that illegal marriage, nor can her parents consent for her. Non-consensual sex is rape. Jeffs, his father before him and two generations of their fellow predators had created, maintained, financed and grown a system of induction centers, internment camps and breeding facilities for new victims, using religion as a cover and barbed wire, isolation and the threat of damnation as controls. Not for years, for decades. If prosecutable evidence was difficult to obtain, the basic tenets and practices of FLDS were no secret. Jeffs’ 2002 conviction on accomplice rape charges certainly confirmed the rumors, if confirmation were needed. Now an entire nest of the same maggots has been exposed to view… and still the mealy-mouthed coverage of the FLDS persists, with a fresh infusion of images of prayerful, modest womanhood cruelly separated from beloved children.

When those weeping mothers in quaint cotton dresses appear on the morning shows again tomorrow, when they show the world the squeaky-clean classrooms and community kitchens of that compound in El Dorado, try to see past the home-baked bread and the tear-stained faces. Try to see what those pathetic, brainwashed women, victims and perpetrators themselves, are truly showing all of us: the daylight side of a world of nighttime terror, the mechanics of a rape camp.

The header on the story reads this way: CU’s Campus Press Fights for Independence.

The subhead is equally on-point: A contentious faculty meeting points to independence for CU-Boulder’s student newspaper — but at what cost?

But at that point the journalism train jumps the tracks, because the first couple grafs eschew any consideration of the alleged story itself in favor of a gratuitous drive-by snarking from reporter Michael Roberts.

University of Colorado at Boulder journalism professor Michael Tracey has never previously suffered from camera shyness. Full Story »

Officials from Texas Child Protective Services (CPS) removed a total of 183 young women, girls and boys from the Fundamentalist LDS Church’s compound near Eldorado, TX. According to Marleigh Meisner, spokesperson for CPS, told reporters they had removed 97 girls, 40 boys and 46 young women over the age of 18 from YFZ Ranch.

Eighteen of the girls removed from the compound were put legally into state custody because they appear to be “under threat of physical, mental or sexual abuse, or of neglect.” The remaining children have been taken to a local civic center for questioning and until authorities have found them foster homes. Full Story »

Nearly every morning for the past few weeks, I’ve brewed a strong cup of orange pekoe, sat down at my computer, and googled “Sean Bell” to get the latest information from a weeks-long trial. In case you haven’t heard, Bell is a young man who was gunned down on the morning of his wedding day by New York City cops who fired 50 shots at Bell and his two companions, claiming that one of them had a gun. No gun was found.

There is a wealth of information on the case here, including a nifty visual recreation complete with comments. If you prefer a more narrative style, you can find it here. But for those who’d rather not read all that, here’s a capsule of the events. Full Story »

I was deeply amused to read the breathless news coverage of Hammerin’ Hank Paulson’s “ambitious” and “sweeping” plans to restructure the federal financial regulatory structure. It says something about how far the goalposts of this country’s discourse have been moved towards rampant, unchecked, unbridled “law of the jungle” financial pillaging that modest reforms like these are considered a major move.

If these pathetic hot-flashing stenographers that call themselves “reporters” would actually take a closer look at the plan itself–hell, even just the fact sheet–they would see that not only is Paulson’s reform agenda miniscule at best, but that it’s a shell game, a distraction designed to accomplish the long-held mantra of the Bush administration–centralizing federal power and weakening consumer protections at the state level. Full Story »

The upcoming presidential election and the economy are pretty poor excuses for our inability to focus on Iraq. Especially since we’ve not only passed the 4,000 mark of American dead, but 25 were killed in a recent two-week span.

It’s frightening how comfortable we’ve learned to live with the war since the “surge” supposedly turned things around. The continuing carnage among those who were supposed to enjoy some of the fruits of our liberation isn’t even on our radar screens.

Not only aren’t most of us following Iraq in the news, we turn our backs on books and movies that dramatize it. Yet our veterans aren’t just returning with problems, but with a whole lore. You can’t help but conclude that their experiences need to be watered down to be made palatable. Full Story »

Item: Citizens are concerned about online privacy and security. According to a new report from USC’s Center for the Digital Future, “Sixty-one percent of adult Americans said they were very or extremely concerned about the privacy of personal information when buying online, an increase from 47 percent in 2006. Before last year, that figure had largely been dropping since 2001.” These fears are well-founded.

The study, to be released Thursday, comes as privacy and security groups report that an increasing number of personal records are being compromised because of data breaches at online retailers, banks, government agencies and corporations. Full Story »

Does this mean Spitzer’s been a Republican all this time?

— heard in the hallway outside my office.

Message to Gov. Eliot Spitzer: I wanted to thank you for giving me the opportunity to define prostitution for my 11-year-old son.

— letter to the editor of The New York Times by Louise Hochberg of Great Neck, N.Y.; March 12.

Only the lobbyists.

— New York Lt. Gov. David Paterson, when asked by the press “whether he, like [Eliot] Spitzer, had ever patronized a prostitute”; March 14.

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I have little to say about the Kabuki theater that is Elliot Spitzer’s fall from grace, so aptly summed up is the situation by my man Motherwell over here. But it does tie in to a larger point–if a former Attorney General and current Governor of one of the most powerful states in the country can be brought down by a wiretap this easily, what chance does anyone have in this, the modern surveillance state?

Because that’s what this is, folks. We’re living in a surveillance society now, our every move tracked, our emails catalogued, our phone calls traced, our Web sites marked for future reference. It doesn’t matter if you’re good or bad, they know when you’re sleeping and awake. And they know who your friends are, who you speak to, where you go, what you buy, and what you do with all of it.

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Maybe you once cared for a drug addict? What led them there, what keeps them there? Not your problem. And you believe in all that “tough love” shit; you know that they must make the decision to come clean and live responsibly.

But you also believe that you can make that journey easier for them by showing them how an addiction-free life can be, and by offering them the advantages that make it worth going cold to achieve.

At some point, though, maybe you get an inkling that the process isn’t working. Maybe it’s after they’ve come out of rehab once too often, only to go on a binge again, that you start thinking that the effort isn’t worth the stress.

Countries are like that too.

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In order for a disparate group of individuals to band together into a workable community, there have to be rules, both implicit and explicit. There are laws that people agree to follow to preserve the good of the whole, and there are social constructs developed that the members adhere to. “Don’t screw your friends.” “Play fair.” “You get what you pay for.” Basic principles that everyone (at least overtly) respects, thus maintaining the even keel of the group.

But we’ve seen over the last thirty years a slow, deliberate erosion of those sort of rules, replaced with the glorification of the individual self as paramount. Nothing else matters but you and what you get for yourself. As long as you profit and make out okay, fuck everyone else. This has led to deliberately hostile, antagonistic moves between the buyer and seller in almost every kind of financial transaction imaginable, and many other social obligations besides. The name of the game is to screw the other guy, before he screws you. Full Story »

Liability protection is critical to securing the private sector’s cooperation with our intelligence efforts. … The Senate has passed a good bill and it has shown that protecting our nation is not a partisan issue.

— President Bush, Feb. 13.

In a presidency of hypocrisy — an administration of exploitation — a labyrinth of leadership — in which every vital fact is a puzzle inside a riddle wrapped in an enigma hidden under a claim of executive privilege supervised by an idiot — this one … is surprisingly easy. President Bush has put protecting the telecom giants from the laws … ahead of protecting you from the terrorists. He has demanded an extension of the FISA law — the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act — but only an extension that includes retroactive immunity for the telecoms who helped him spy on you.

— MSNBC commentator Keith Olbermann, Jan. 31.
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Right now the Senate is embroiled in debate over whether or not to grant the major telecom companies (chiefly AT&T and Verizon) retroactive immunity for their participation in the NSA’s illegal surveillance program, in addition to legitimizing vast new surveillance powers over Americans with almost no oversight. You already know my feelings about that, so I won’t belabor the point.

On this issue, as with many others (such as their opposition to net neutrality), the two giants of the telecom industry have been largely buddy-buddy. Both of them stand to lose millions in damages from lawsuits brought against them for their actions, before even getting into the bad publicity the case has already caused. It’s easy to forget that these two companies are (at least in a technical sense) competitors, and don’t always pursue the same goals in the same way.

Case in point: Full Story »

In a rare and welcome example of showing steel in the collective spine, Senate Democrats have voted down an attempt to shut off debate and block amendments on the FISA reauthorization bill. By refusing cloture, the bill will continue to be debated, with the next step being discussion of a 30-day authorization of the odious “Protect America Act.” If that vote fails, the Act will expire on Friday (February 1st), and (despite what you may have heard), the current FISA law will revert to being the de facto standard for surveillance guidance. Full Story »

The governor of New York, Elliot Spitzer, has decided to raise $13 million for his proposed $124.3 billion budget by requiring your local purveyors of illegal drugs to affix state tax stamps to your nickel bag of horse or the fixings for your evening speedball.

His administration says the program will enhance enforcement and tracking of illegal drug sales. Riiight. That surly-looking fellow slouching on the street corner each night will be sure to run right down to the state Department of Taxation and Finance to buy those tax stamps. Surely that will make law enforcement happy, eh? Good for the fuzz to know who’s selling the fuel for your bong, right?
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I warned you last month that although Chris Dodd and a grassroots push from the blogosphere succeeded in stopping the reauthorization of laws that grant the government vast new spying powers (and immunity from prosecution for telecoms that abet and provide them), this bill would be back, and the fight would come again.

Well, it’s here. Bush is pushing for permanent authorization of the odious Protect America Act, and the extraordinary incompetence of Harry Reid is poised to let him have it. Full Story »

That Bush and his inner circle of neocon zealots lied and cooked the books to get us into a war we never should have fought is not news, of course. But to see the number of lies told and analyzed in such a fashion as Lewis and Reading-Smith have done beggars the imagination–the sheer amount of bullshit spewed by this cabal is astonishing. Consider: Full Story »

The CIA announced today that there had been several successful hacks into city power grids by criminals trying to extort money out of the city. When the city(ies) refused, the hackers successfully caused multiple cities to go dark.

Upon hearing this, I was amazed about two things. The first was that the CIA would release this kind of information. Apparently the CIA carefully weighed their options and decided to declassify this information, according to CIA analyst Tom Donahue (from the Washington Post article). I can only guess why, but it probably has a great deal to do with lighting a fire under intransigent utilities and companies who don’t want to spend the money to upgrade their cybersecurity.

The second thing that amazed me was that it hasn’t happened more often, and that the U.S. thus far appears to be unaffected. Full Story »

This is the second entry in Scholars & Rogues’s 2008 Wish List for the World

My Inbox on Monday morning read like this:

• [No Subject]
• 逆援をお考えの女性の方へ
• Attract and meet your dream mate tonight
• Join the Anatrim revolution
• Quit smoking and live longer
• JANUARY 75% OFF!
• CoyPhallusOverlarge
• This maybe the best stock pick of the year!
• www pharmacy com online us
• Register CAS1NO, GET FREE VIP BONUs 2400$, Win & Party!
• Morttage refiinancing online…
• Isn’t strong & powerful full-size dic’k your dream?

Ok, so that was my spam trap, not my actual Inbox, but my spam trap caught those and 311 others very much like them in the roughly 8 hours since I’d last cleaned out the trap. The veritable flood of spam I get every day renders moot the two real emails I had in the same 8-hour period. Full Story »