by TChris

A strange kind of freedom will be celebrated in the nation's capitol tomorrow. If you try to join the celebration, you'll be arrested.

A "Freedom Walk" on Sunday in honor of the military, from the Pentagon to the Washington Mall, is open only to those pre-registered - and the U.S. Park Police has warned that it will arrest anyone who shows up without a pass.

by TChris

The Bush administration assures us that it hasn't abused the powers conferred by the Patriot Act, including those that allow the government to review library records. At the same time, it's trying to prevent a nonprofit library organization from revealing its identity as the recipient of an FBI request for its patron information. Assisted by the ACLU, the organization won the first round of its battle to tell the public what the FBI is doing.

Judge Janet C. Hall ... found that the government fell short in meeting the heavy burden of proof needed to argue that national security interests warrant ignoring the organization's First Amendment right to free speech.

A footnote to the decision reveals that the FBI has demanded library records many times. The administration's position has always been, "don't worry, we really don't use that Patriot Act power." A Connecticut library organization hopes to tell the country that the FBI is, indeed, poking into the reading habits of its patrons. Judge Hall correctly concluded that the organization has an interest in publicly identifying itself as the recipient of the FBI's demand for records.

by Last Night in Little Rock

The California legislature today adopted a same sex marriage bill, making California the first state to adopt legislation authorizing gay marriage.

The legislation could be vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has expressed an acceptance of gay marriages but said it's an issue that should be decided by voters or the courts.

"He will uphold whatever the court decides," spokeswoman Margita Thompson said Tuesday after the state Assembly approved the same-sex marriage measure, 41-35. The Senate had approved it last week.

Update (TL): Gov. Arnold now says he will veto the bill.

An article in today's Salt Lake City Weekly lays out the details of the permit flap in the Utah County rave bust of a few weeks ago. The sheriff's argument looks to be pretty thin: He anticipated (as if he had a crystal ball) the rave would exceed 12 hours which would have required an additional permit and other measures.

The promotor, on the other hand, knew his event was for less than 12 hours and planned accordingly:

[Brandon] Fullmer, who scheduled the event for a 9.5-hour period, from 9 p.m. to 6:30 a.m., secured a permit through the Utah County Health Department (UCHD). He took out a $1 million insurance policy, hired security guards, rented portable toilets, obtained a solid-waste permit and met a number of other requirements before booking out-of-state and local DJs.

Since the bust occurred only a few hours into the rave, how is the Sheriff going to establish that it would exceed 12 hours?

“I don’t think there’s any question that the sheriff misapplied the ordinance and acted improperly,” [attorney Brian] Barnard said, adding that the raid was discriminatory and an act of censorship. “If individuals break the law, punish them. But don’t assume that everyone who goes to a rap, hip-hop, or electronic music concert is a criminal.”

Barnard will be representing the promoter and the land owner in a federal civil rights lawsuit against the County.

by TChris

The University of California sets admissions standards that require applicants to have completed high school courses in a broad range of core subjects, “including science, mathematics, history, literature and the arts.” To receive credit for taking a science class, a student must be taught course content that is generally accepted in the scientific community.

Some students from Christian schools haven’t satisfied those admissions standards because their instructional programs substituted faith for science. The Association of Christian Schools International and the Calvary Chapel Christian School have sued UC, claiming its admissions standards violate the civil rights of their Christian students.

Under a policy implemented with little fanfare a year ago, UC admissions authorities have refused to certify high school science courses that use textbooks challenging Darwin's theory of evolution, the suit says.
…

According to the lawsuit, UC's board of admissions also advised the school that it would not approve biology and science courses that relied primarily on textbooks published by Bob Jones University Press and A Beka Books, two Christian publishers.

…

"It appears that the UC system is attempting to secularize Christian schools and prevent them from teaching from a world Christian view," said Patrick H. Tyler, a lawyer with Advocates for Faith and Freedom, which is assisting the plaintiffs.

Not really. UC doesn’t prevent any school from teaching anything it chooses. It’s simply setting standards for a minimum knowledge base that a high school education should be expected to provide. It isn’t the task of UC professors to teach fundamental knowledge that students should pick up by the end of their high school careers.

by TChris

Despite the propogandists who relentlessly proclaim that protest against the war in Iraq is unpatriotic and unsupportive of the troops, the American public overwhelmingly believes protesters have the right to protest.

Nearly three weeks after a grieving California mother named Cindy Sheehan started her anti-war protest near President Bush's Texas ranch, nine of 10 people surveyed in an AP-Ipsos poll say it's OK for war opponents to publicly share their concerns about the conflict.

That 90 percent of the public agrees on anything is amazing. It's heartening to know that the constitutional protection of free speech still commands respect.

by TChris

The Department of Health and Human Services gave The Silver Ring Thing more than a million dollars over two years to promote its abstinence program. It may have been with a wink and a nudge that HHS obtained assurances that the faith-based program would not “engage in inherently religious activities, such as worship, religious instruction, or proselytization." Three months after the ACLU filed suit, HHS suspended funding of the program, recognizing that The Silver Thing used federal funds to advance religious indoctrination.

Federal funding of the organization, which is based in suburban Pittsburgh, will be halted until the government is confident that the program is obeying department rules, said the letter from Harry Wilson, associate commissioner of the Family and Youth Services Bureau. The Silver Ring Thing has until Sept. 6 to submit a plan showing that it separates its abstinence message from its encouragement of Christian values.

Lorraine Kenny, the public education coordinator for the ACLU's Reproductive Freedom Project, argues that The Silver Ring Thing used its federal funding “to basically put on a religious road show across the country.” She plans to ask the court to stay further proceedings in the lawsuit until The Silver Ring Thing produces its plan to comply with the law.

by TChris

Seven African American police officers who tested positive for cocaine use are suing the Boston Police Department. They all say they didn't ingest cocaine, although they may have been contaminated with it during the course of their work. They contend that tests of their hair are unreliable and racially biased.

Their civil rights lawsuit is one of many legal challenges against hair drug tests, which are used by companies and police departments nationwide. Employers like the test because it can detect drugs up to three months after use; urine tests go back only a few days and can be easily altered.

But studies have found dark-haired people are more likely to test positive for drugs because they have higher levels of melanin, which allows drug compounds to bind more easily to their hair.

A few days after the positive tests, six of the seven officers had negative hair tests. Yet departmental policy requires officers with a positive test to enter into a rehabilitation agreement during a 45 day suspension or be fired. The six officers refused. They hope the lawsuit will lead to their reinstatement.

by TChris

Driving While Black (DWB) is viewed with suspicion by police officers in many jurisdictions. Statistics that establish a relationship between race and the treatment of drivers during traffic stops are routinely discounted by law enforcement, so it isn't surprising that the Justice Department wants to minimize their importance. In keeping with the Bush administration�s treatment of unpleasant facts -- deny or bury -- the administration, according to Lawrence Greenfeld, pressured the Bureau of Justice Statistics (headed by Greenfeld since 2001) to censor a news release that would have announced the results of "a major study on traffic stops and racial profiling, which found disparities in how racial groups were treated once they were stopped by the police."

The Bush administration's heavy-handed approach to federal employees who tell the truth was evident in the demotion of Greenfeld, who "refused to delete the racial references, arguing to his supervisors that the omissions would make the public announcement incomplete and misleading." The Justice Department responded by killing the news release, in the evident hope that the ugly reality of racial profiling wouldn't be noticed.

Bowing to the radical right cries against illegal immigrants, Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff today said the U.S. plans to toughen the deportation system :

"In addition to [cameras and motion detectors] the secretary intends to bolster the deportation process so that an overwhelmed detention system does not cause illegal immigrants to be set free instead of being sent home. He plans to add beds for detainees, expedite deportations by making more judges and lawyers available, and try to track down more illegal immigrants who do not appear for deportation hearings.

New York City has just signed a $212 million security contract has just been signed with Lockheed Martin. 1,000 cameras, 3,000 motion detectors will be installed on subways and other forms of mass transit. The intent is:

to stop attacks before they happen by spotting unattended packages that may contain bombs and alerting its employees to unauthorized intruders in its tunnels and other sensitive areas.

Of course, it won't spot explosives or biological agents. I guess hand searches of your bags will do that.

Get your TalkLeft Fourth Amendment subway tote and confront the searchers with those hallowed words every time you're on the subway. It may not make a difference, but it will make you feel good.

Remember Operation Tips, where neighbors and workers were going to be recruited in the Government's war on terror to inform on their neighbors?

It seems some local law enforcement agencies are creating their own "tips" programs. In this case, it's pest control workers:

Technicians from Truly Nolen Pest Control of America are being trained by local law enforcement to spot anything unusual as they visit customer's homes...."Our vehicles really get into the bowels of the neighborhood and we're back there where all the homes are, in the cul-de-sacs," Truly Nolen spokesman Barry Murray said. "And part of being a good neighbor is looking out for one another." The pest control workers will call police if they see something unusual during their stops, according to the report.

Nonsensical statement of the day (so far):

"Our point is not to invade people's houses or make them feel like their privacy is being invaded. It's just to try to have an extra set of eyes and ears out there," Truley Nolen worker Ronnie Rachels said.