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hypnoticmix Much a do about nothing? Nov 20, 2009 3:49 PM
stephley Holder's Decision "Reasonable" Nov 20, 2009 11:58 AM Jim Comey, a deputy attorney general and U.S. attorney in Manhattan during the Bush administration, is general counsel of Lockheed Martin Corp. Jack Goldsmith, an assistant attorney general during the Bush administration, teaches at Harvard Law School and is on the Hoover Institution's Task Force on National Security and Law. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/19/AR2009111903470.html?hpid=opinionsbox1 Reasonable minds can disagree about Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to prosecute Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four other alleged Sept. 11 perpetrators in a Manhattan federal court. But some prominent criticisms are exaggerated, and others place undue faith in military commissions as an alternative to civilian trials. Mohammed is many things: an enemy combatant in a war against the United States whom the government can detain without trial until the conflict ends; a war criminal subject to trial by military commission under the laws of war; and someone answerable in federal court for violations of the U.S. criminal code. Which system he is placed in for purposes of incapacitation and justice involves complex legal and political trade-offs. A trial in Manhattan will bring enormous media attention and require unprecedented security. But it is unlikely to make New York a bigger target than it has been since February 1993, when Mohammed's nephew Ramzi Yousef attacked the World Trade Center. If al-Qaeda could carry out another attack in New York, it would -- a fact true a week ago and for a long time. Its inability to do so is a testament to our military, intelligence and law enforcement responses since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. In deciding to use federal court, the attorney general probably considered the record of the military commission system that was established in November 2001. This system secured three convictions in eight years. The only person who had a full commission trial, Osama bin Laden's driver, received five additional months in prison, resulting in a sentence that was shorter than he probably would have received from a federal judge. One reason commissions have not worked well is that changes in constitutional, international and military laws since they were last used, during World War II, have produced great uncertainty about the commissions' validity. This uncertainty has led to many legal challenges that will continue indefinitely -- hardly an ideal situation for the trial of the century. By contrast, there is no question about the legitimacy of U.S. federal courts to incapacitate terrorists. Many of Holder's critics appear to have forgotten that the Bush administration used civilian courts to put away dozens of terrorists, including "shoe bomber" Richard Reid; al-Qaeda agent Jose Padilla; "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh; the Lackawanna Six; and Zacarias Moussaoui, who was prosecuted for the same conspiracy for which Mohammed is likely to be charged. Many of these terrorists are locked in a supermax prison in Colorado, never to be seen again. In terrorist trials over the past 15 years, federal prosecutors and judges have gained extensive experience protecting intelligence sources and methods, limiting a defendant's ability to raise irrelevant issues and tightly controlling the courtroom. Moussaoui's trial was challenging because his request for access to terrorists held at "black" sites had to be litigated. Difficulties also arose because Moussaoui acted as his own lawyer, and the judge labored to control him. But it is difficult to imagine a military commission of rudimentary fairness that would not allow a defendant a similar right to represent himself and speak out in court. In either trial forum, defendants will make an issue of how they were treated and attempt to undermine the trial politically. These efforts are likely to have more traction in a military than a civilian court. No matter how scrupulously fair the commissions are, defendants will criticize their relatively loose rules of evidence, their absence of a civilian jury and their restrictions on the ability to examine classified evidence used against them. Some say it is wrong to give Mohammed trial rights ordinarily conferred on Americans, but a benefit of civilian trials over commissions is that they make it harder for defendants to complain about kangaroo courts or victor's justice. The potential procedural advantages of military commission trials are relatively unimportant with obviously guilty defendants such as Mohammed, but they help explain the attorney general's related decision last week to consign five men accused of attacking the USS Cole to a military commission. Holder indicated that he was doing so in part because the Cole was a military target outside the United States, but that reason does not hold up. The Pentagon was a military target, many aspects of the Sept. 11 attacks were planned abroad, and the Cole attack is already the subject of a federal indictment in New York. It is more likely that Holder decided to use a commission system still learning to walk because the Cole case is relatively weak and will benefit from the marginal advantages the commission system offers the government. It is also likely that the Justice Department will decide that many other terrorists at Guantanamo Bay will not be tried in civilian or military court but, rather, will be held under a military detention rationale more suitable to the circumstances of their cases. These decisions have already invited charges of opportunistic forum shopping. The Bush administration, criticized on similar grounds, properly explained that it would use whatever lawful tool worked best, all things considered, to incapacitate a particular terrorist. Holder's decisions appear to reflect a similarly pragmatic approach. Of course, the attorney general made a different call on Mohammed than did the Bush administration. The wisdom of that difficult judgment will be determined by future events. But Holder's critics do not help their case by understating the criminal justice system's capacities, overstating the military system's virtues and bumper-stickering a reasonable decision. Correction to This Article The Nov. 20 op-ed by Jim Comey and Jack Goldsmith said that Attorney General Eric Holder sent to military commissions five suspects charged with bombing the USS Cole. Holder did send five detainees to be tried by military commission, but only one was previously charged in the Cole bombing.
amybdk Italy collector finds Galileo's lost tooth, fingers Nov 20, 2009 9:55 AM   Source   Fri Nov 20, 2009 12:17pm EST ROME (Reuters) - An art collector has found a tooth, thumb and finger of the renowned Italian scientist Galileo Galilei who died in the 17th century, Florence's History of Science museum announced on Friday.   The body parts, along with another finger and a vertebrae, were cut from Galileo's corpse by scientists and historians during a burial ceremony held 95 years after his death in 1642.   Giovanni Targioni Tozzetti, a science historian who cut away the parts and wrote about the ceremony, "confessed he had found it hard to resist the temptation to take away the skull which had housed such extraordinary genius," the museum said.   The newly-found relics had passed from one collector to another until they went missing in 1905. The remaining finger and the vertebrae have been conserved since 1737 in a mummified state in museums in Florence and Padua.   "All the organic material extracted from the corpse has therefore now been identified and is conserved in responsible hands," the museum said in a statement.   "On the basis of considerable historical documentation, there are no doubts about the authenticity of the items," it added.   They will be exhibited from early 2010, when the museum will re-open after current renovation work and will change its name to the Galileo museum.   Galileo, born in Pisa in 1564, is considered one of the fathers of modern science due to his studies in physics, mathematics and particularly astronomy, where he led great advances in developing the telescope.   His lost fingers and tooth were bought by an unnamed collector at a recent auction, where they were being sold as unidentified artifacts contained in an 17th century wooden case, the museum said.   For 95 years after his death, ecclesiastical authorities refused to allow Galileo to be buried in consecrated ground because his findings were considered contrary to the teachings of the Catholic church.   His body now lies in Florence's Santa Croce church, opposite the tomb of Michelangelo.
amybdk Diocese: Pedophile priests should get benefits Nov 20, 2009 9:19 AM     Source   Nov 20 11:47 AM US/Eastern By RANDALL CHASE Associated Press Writer WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) - The Catholic Diocese of Wilmington says it is obligated to keep paying retirement benefits to six priests who church officials have confirmed are pedophiles. The diocese filed for Chapter 11 protection last month. Officials had told the judge the church would not make any payments to priests accused of sexual abuse without a court order, even if the abuse had not been substantiated.   But in a filing late Thursday, the diocese said it has an obligation to care for retired clergy, including priests dismissed from public ministry.   The motion asks for permission to continue paying benefits to six confirmed pedophiles, including 80-year-old former priest Francis DeLuca, who was defrocked after serving a jail term in New York for repeatedly abusing his grandnephew.
amybdk Why Oprah Is Hanging Up the Mic Nov 20, 2009 8:32 AM   Source   Posted: November 20, 2009 at 10:14 AM   Oprah Winfrey is going to announce today that she will be leaving her eponymous talk show in 2011. The New York Times believes Winfrey is resigning from network TV in order to focus on the cable network she's working on, called OWN, which will feature shows from all of her favorite cronies, like Dr. Oz, Rachael Ray, and Dr. Phil. While this might be the case, I think another reason Oprah is hanging up the mic is because she has destroyed the core of what made her so popular in the first place: She's no longer relatable.   Last year I profiled a blogger for the Times who was living her life based on all Oprah's advice for a year. The blogger, Robyn Okrant, has a forthcoming book based on her experience , and one of the major points she makes is that Oprah is now more famous than almost anyone she interviews. This wouldn't necessarily be a problem, except that Oprah gathered her fan base because of the fact that she was just like them. What pop-culturally conscious woman who was alive in the mid-'80s does not remember when Oprah dropped 67 pounds on the crash diet Optifast and wheeled out a giant tub of fat on her show to signify that weight loss? And who doesn't remember when she gained it all back? The average Jane could easily commisserate with this kind of vulnerability and outward struggle. Of course, Oprah still struggles with her weight, but she does it with the help of a vegan chef, a physical trainer, and a team of assistants.   Many women without personal chefs still watch Lady O, but her ratings have been declining substantially. During the July 2009 rerun season, Oprah had her lowest ratings since the show debuted in 1985 . Oprah's minions still have enough of the common touch to appeal to the audience that she seeks to move over to her cable network. Or at least that's what she's hoping.  

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Holder's Decision "Reasonable" Italy collector finds Galileo's lost tooth, fingers Diocese: Pedophile priests should get benefits Why Oprah Is Hanging Up the Mic

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