November 29, 2012 at 1:42 P.M. I was forced to sign-in at Yahoo (Spanish) when I logged on to computer number #4, Morningside Heights branch, NYPL. I can never know from one day to the next whether I will be able to write at these blogs. If more than two days pass without alteration of these writings it means that I am prevented from writing against my will. Hacking into NYPL computers is a violation of the law, Mr. Menendez. ("How censorship works in America.")
November 28, 2012 at 12:01 P.M. I received a call at my home from 1-347-502-2556. This is one of several calls from this cell phone number which, I am sure, is legitimate. Perhaps the call is from "Jazmin" at Time/Warner? Yahoo in Spanish?
Jimmy Carter, "A Cruel and Unusual Record," in The New York Times, June 25, 2012, at p. A19.
Lauren E. Bohn, "Carter Declares A 'Crisis Stage' For Israeli/Palestinian Relations," in The Star Ledger, October 23, 2012, at p. 8.
Mark Landler & Jeremy Peters, "Rice Concedes Error On Libya; G.O.P. Digs In," in The New York Times, November 28, 2012, at p. A1.
I have yet to read the U.S. Supreme Court's decision upholding -- at least in part -- the Obama Health Care Law. Efforts by Republicans to make this law an issue in the presidential election backfired on them, fortunately.
On the basis of news accounts, this seems like a sound judicial decision reflecting Chief Justice Roberts' recognition, I believe, that the Court must not be perceived as politically partisan on issues (which it often is) or motivated by a desire to assist one political party or the other (which is rarely true), together with his effort to balance the scales by granting an outcome to the liberal justices.
Justice Scalia is still, allegedly and reputedly, furious with the Chief for his vote in this controversial case.
The swing vote on the Court is usually Justice Kennedy's "concurrance." Perhaps, in the future, Chief Justice Roberts will more often side with the forces of goodness and light -- i.e., the liberals -- ensuring a greater place for himself in legal history. If Justice Holmes is remembered as "the Great Dissenter," then Justice Kennedy may be known to history as the "the Great Concurrer."
During a week (Summer, 2012) when the Attorney General of the United States, Eric Holder, faced contempt charges for withholding discoverable material from Congress (Ms. Rice?), the national commitment to and understanding of the rule of law has become suspect and is subject to challenge. ("New Jersey's 'Ethical' Legal System" and "Law and Ethics in the Soprano State" then "New Jersey's Office of Attorney Ethics.")
The perception in the world is that U.S. talk of "legality" is often a hypocritical lie. ("Legality and Legal Ethics" and "New Jersey is the Home of the Living Dead" then "Is America's Legal Ethics a Lie?")
"Revelations that top officials are targeting people to be assassinated abroad, including American citizens, are only the most recent, disturbing proof of how far our nation's violations of human rights have extended."
These are the words of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter who is also a Nobel Prize winner (2005):
"Recent legislation has made legal the president's right to detain a person indefinitely on suspicion of affiliation with terrorist organizations. ..." (emphasis added!)
Americans are being targeted for assassination without judicial proceedings of any kind or (in the opinion of most legal experts) anything that can be called "due process of law" as required by the Constitution.
Mr. Holder, it is not due process of law to say: "We discussed this assassination among ourselves and decided there was no need to tell the victim or to explain our secret reasons for determining that an American citizen should be killed without having a chance to counter whatever accusations, if any, there may be against him or her, or to explain him- or herself."
No one seems to care much about this. The corporate media seems strangely docile.
What happened to the independent press in America? 9/11? Is there any independent press these days? Not that I can see. ("What is it like to be plagiarized?" and "'Brideshead Revisited': A Movie Review.")
Many of us who are dark-skinned or "ethnic" (Latinos) are also subject to "stop and frisk" detentions, sometimes for hours, monitored or censored and prevented from speaking based on our opinions, or worse -- like me -- also plagiarized, exposed to cybercrime, assaults, and more based on our controversial statements, or for any or no reason that is ever communicated to us.
"Yahoo in Spanish" should be taking notes: Are you people from Miami or Union City? ("Manohla Dargis Strikes Again" and "Cubanazos Pose a Threat to National Security.")
A recent documentary on the Central Park jogger case or the murder of Trayvon Martin makes it clear that we have a long way to go to achieve true racial justice.
Other persons in America may be stolen from with impunity, tortured or raped in prisons and jails. ("Albert Florence and American Racism" and "Psychological Torture in the American Legal System" then "Terry Tuchin, Diana Lisa Riccioli, and New Jersey's Agency of Torture" and "America's Holocaust" and "Foucault, Rose, Davis and the Meanings of Prison.")
Like the robot-bomb campaign, mindless "get tough" policies have been counterproductive, turning people against the U.S. by creating enemies where we should find friends -- as in Pakistan -- while fostering long-lasting hatreds.
Hostility to Americans is on the rise in many parts of the world, not just the Middle East. This hostility accounts for the attacks on the U.S. embassy in Libya and may well produce similar attacks in any of a dozen other embassies at any time. ("A Report Card For Barack Obama" and "Havana Nights and C.I.A. Tapes.")
As in New Jersey, where courts and the legal establishment have negated legal ethics and come to symbolize appalling corruption and America's so-called "decline" for many persons in the world, so the U.S. which, essentially, created the modern system of international law after World War Two, is now the embodiment of international illegality -- or even CRIMINALITY -- for millions (or billions) of people. President Carter closed his essay with an important caution:
"At a time when popular revolutions are sweeping the globe, the United States should be strengthening, not weakening, basic rules of law and principles of justice enumerated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But instead of making the world safer, America's violation of international human rights abets our enemies and alienates our friends."
