Archive for December, 2007
How to Stop a For-Profit Prison
I’ve just added, as a more permanent page, an email I just received from friend Si Kahn, founder and executive director of Grassroots Leadership. In it he details just what Grassroots Leadership is doing to stop plans for a 1500 “bed” for-profit prison to house undocumented Latinos.
18Dec2007 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
Dan Abrams at msnbc.com Makes Noise, Makes Change
Here’s the lead in from Dan Abrams’ Sunday blog post: Changes in the Civil Rights Division – MSNBC Live with Dan Abrams- msnbc.com Just three days after our series Bush League Justice exposed the dismal record of this Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, in particular the voting rights section, now we learn that the head [...]
18Dec2007 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
Fickle Bureaucratic Accountability
Here’s a piece from Mark Green today that illustrates the fickleness of bureaucratic accountability: Mark Green: Rudy Watch IV: When “Transparency” Means Secrecy and Deception – Politics on The Huffington Post Three City Officials got police security and city cars over eight years — Rudy, me and Comptroller Alan Hevesi. Tragically, Hevesi years later as [...]
14Dec2007 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
From ABC News: Gang-Rape Cover-Up by U.S., Halliburton/KBR
Here’s one of today’s horrendous stories, in which malice ran rampant in the midst of apparently colluding corporate and government bureaucracies. Each points the finger at the other, while no one does anything. It’s a too poignant illustration, thus far, of bureaucracy being “rule by no one.” This will be an important story to [...]
10Dec2007 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
Part Two from GMD: Kiss your 4th Amendment goodbye
Part Two on the Vermont State Police/Pharmacies/4th Amendment story was posted on Green Mountain Daily this morning: UPDATE: Based on confirmation from law enforcement sources, pharmacies that were approached by the State Police on Friday November 30th and from legal sources representing people affected by State Police conduct last Friday, GMD can add the following [...]
7Dec2007 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
Three Posts Today on Huffington Addressing Our Constitutional Core
The first of the three that I recommend is Tram Nguyen’s post excerpted here: Tram Nguyen: Beyond Guantanamo – Politics on The Huffington Post If Americans did understand the stakes, we’d realize that the civil liberties debate isn’t only about the right to privacy and dissent and other good things citizens enjoy, but the integrity [...]
6Dec2007 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
Vermont State Police Collecting Pharmacy Records
That dark underbelly of our famously progressive state I recently wrote about is showing in other places, too: Green Mountain Daily:: BREAKING: State Police Reportedly Collecting Pharmacy Records Across Vermont GMD has learned that State Police representatives are going to Vermont Pharmacies and demanding complete dumps of all information about patients with Schedule II prescriptions [...]
5Dec2007 | Deborah Alicen | 1 comment | Continued
FCC target of House panel’s investigation – Los Angeles Times
FCC target of House panel’s investigation – Los Angeles Times “The lack of transparency in FCC matters has left the public with little faith that the agency is acting in their best interest,” Scott said. That quote caps the story in today’s LA Times about the below-board dealings of the FCC’s chairman, Kevin J. Martin. [...]
4Dec2007 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
Someone Else’s Comment on Al-Arian
I just found this comment added to Al-Arian’s post: In a just country, we’d be able to sue prosecutors for dishonest, vindictive persecutions like this one. To which I say, “Bless you. And maybe someday that will be true.” P eace. Deborah Alicen
3Dec2007 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
One More Similarity
On second thought, I will add comment about one more similarity between my case and Al-Arian’s case: that of having been acquitted of almost everything. (Notice: the following may not be interesting to a lot of people other than psychologists.) The complete text of the appeal decision first addresses the issue of my having been [...]
3Dec2007 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
Boilerplate Bureaucratic Abuse
There’s an extremely moving blog post on Huffington Post today from Laila Al-Arian. Here’s an excerpt: Laila Al-Arian: My Family’s Nightmare Caught on Film – Politics on The Huffington Post Prosecutors in Northern Virginia may soon charge my father with criminal contempt, according to a recent report in The New York Sun. This maneuver would [...]
3Dec2007 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
A Lesser Sidestepping of Law Is Still A Sidestepping
Today’s Boston Globe carries a story on Bush having toned things down a bit in his first “signing statement” since Democrats became the majority in Congress. Bush signing statement is first since ’06 elections – The Boston Globe “They have clearly edited themselves,” said Christopher Kelley, a political science professor at Miami University of Ohio [...]
1Dec2007 | Deborah Alicen | 1 comment | Continued
Yesterday Was A Good Day (or, Creating a State Ombudsman)
In the midst of my usual workday yesterday I was able to connect with a couple of people about the idea of creating a State Ombudsman Office for Vermont. One of those people was my excellent attorney on appeal, David Putter. To give you an idea of how good Putter is, he doesn’t bother with [...]
1Dec2007 | Deborah Alicen | 0 comments | Continued
