The Hollywood Liberal

The Tattlesnake – East Coast Blizzard Buries Snow-Job Political Futures Edition
Your Tattler remembers well the Chicago blizzard of 1979 that buried the city under several feet of the stuff, along with the political future of Chicago Mayor Michael Bilandic. Days after the snow stopped, the side streets were still not plowed, main arteries were narrow two-lane ruts in the snow, and parking was a matter […]

Study: Conservatives Have Larger ‘Fear Centers’ in Their Brains
British study shows conservatives’ brains tend to have larger amygdalas, which responsible for primitive emotions.

2010: The Year the Tide Turned Against AIDS?
A number of new medical breakthroughs, a slightly softened stance from the Vatican and a vigorous new generation of activists offer new hope–but huge challenges remain.

The Soy and Other ‘Natural’ Food Products in Your Cabinet May Contain a Dangerous Neurotoxin
All too often it’s the companies playing the "natural" card that are doing the most unnatural things to your food.

Marty Peretz Pays The Price
New York magazine has a terrific piece on what has become of Martin Peretz since he was exposed as a racist. He is ostracized at Harvard, pushed out at the New Republic, mocked in the Jewish community, even his Muslim-bashing…

Christmas Eve Prediction: Obama Easily Re-Elected
It came to me as if in a dream. A year from now, President Obama’s re-election will be assured. The GOP primary battle will be amusing, but — like the GOP primaries in 1996 — it will be clear that…

Does Incoming House Judiciary Chairman Believe In Admitting Torture-Tainted Evidence?
Our guest blogger is Elon Green, a freelance writer living in Brooklyn. During George W. Bush’s presidency, it was not uncommon for terrorism suspects to be tried, convicted and receive lengthy sentences in American courts. These numbers include Mohammed Jabarah, Richard Reid, the “shoe bomber,” Bryant Neal Vinas, Mohammed Junaid Babar and Shahawar Matin Siraj […]

Our guest blogger is Elon Green, a freelance writer living in Brooklyn.

During George W. Bush’s presidency, it was not uncommon for terrorism suspects to be tried, convicted and receive lengthy sentences in American courts. These numbers include Mohammed Jabarah, Richard Reid, the “shoe bomber,” Bryant Neal Vinas, Mohammed Junaid Babar and Shahawar Matin Siraj — all of whom will be imprisoned for decades.

It is therefore disappointing to see Rep. Lamar Smith, the incumbent chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, act as if trying terrorism cases on American soil is an idea devised by the Obama Administration. In an interview with Hugh Hewitt, Smith suggests the conviction of Ahmed Ghailani is an unfortunate precedent and a reason to favor military tribunals over the courts:

HH: In terms of other oversight issues, Congressman Smith, with the border, with Gitmo not closing, and that fiasco we had in New York City, do you think your committee will be looking at stopping additional trials of terror suspects in the United States?

LS: Well, as you say, they tried a terrorist in New York City. That was supposed to be their best case, they had their best witnesses. That was the one that they were going to use as an example and say you know, here, yes we can conduct a trial of a terrorist in the United States. And even if they get some rights as citizens, we’re still going to be able to find them guilty on all counts. Well as you know, this individual was found guilty on one count of, I think, 254. And even though he was found guilty of building the explosives, he wasn’t found guilty of killing, I think, 254 innocent people who were killed, among them several dozen Americans. So in that situation, it clearly did not work as the administration had planned, and it kind of blew up in their face, and the judge didn’t allow some of the evidence and some of the testimony that would have been allowed if this individual had been tried at Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba, the so-called Gitmo.

It’s certainly true that Judge Lewis Kaplan excluded evidence and testimony. Unmentioned by Rep. Smith — rather conveniently — is Judge Kaplan’s reason for doing so: the evidence was obtained after Ghailani was allegedly tortured, rendering it fruit of the poisonous tree.

Furthermore, the notion that the excluded evidence would have been admissible in a military tribunal setting is misguided. Experts across the political spectrum, including former Bush assistant attorney general Jack Goldsmith, disagree.

Rep. Smith displays a similar lack of awareness of current court cases. In addition to the convictions listed above, New York has been awash in terrorism cases for some time. As the Daily News noted nearly a year ago:

Pending right now in the Southern District of New York is a list of terrorism cases from around the world: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Colombia, North Africa.

In fact, a week ago, Manhattan’s 2nd Circuit upheld the conviction of Hassan Abu-Jihaad, “a former member of the U.S. Navy of leaking classified ship movements to a jihadist organization.”

The Ghailani case was not “an example” for future terrorism trials; it was simply one of many.

Christine O’Donnell, ex-Senate candidate, subject of federal campaign funds probe
The Justice Department is investigating whether former U.S. Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell violated federal law by diverting campaign funds for personal use, law enforcement sources said Wednesday.

Newark mayor using robust Twitter presence to reach snowed-under residents
Newark Mayor Cory Booker has been battling the snow on his city’s streets tweet by tweet - and getting a lot of attention doing it.

Some GOP stalwarts defend first lady’s anti-obesity campaign from Palin’s shots
Some Republicans watching the cluttered 2012 presidential field may have found an unlikely point of disagreement: the first lady and flab .

Two new rules will give Constitution a starring role in GOP-controlled House
When Republicans take over the House next week, they will do something that apparently has never been done before in the chamber’s 221-year history:

Capehart: Playing (race) cards with Bill Clinton in Chicago
Some members of Chicago’s black political class are a wee bit ticked that former president Bill Clinton is getting involved in the impending mayor’s race by doing a campaign event next month for former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel. I get it. If you don’t have the Big Dog in your corner…

Number of Bills Await Obama’s Signature

Is Health Care a ‘Right’ or Isn’t It?
Ross Kaminsky, The American Spectator
In an October, 2008 debate against John McCain, Barack Obama said that health care “should be a right for every American.”In rights parlance, his assertion is one of a “positive right” meaning that others may be compelled to provide a person's health care. This is distinguished from essentially every right laid out for Americans in our Constitution: these are “negative rights,” meaning that they proscribe others from inhibiting you from exercising your right but do not otherwise require active cooperation of others.

Death Panels Revisited

Golden Years
I guess there’s not as much graft to go with the continued failure.

I guess that makes just him and Fred Barnes.

Longing for the early years of the Bush administration, Afghan President Hamid Karzai has been consumed by anti-U.S. conspiracy theories, convinced American officials are now working against him, according to a diplomatic cable from the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan…wistfully longing for the early days of the Bush administration, which he referred to as a “golden age.”

I guess there haven’t been any recent pipeline kickbacks and big bags o’ cash.

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Home Prices Plunge With No Bounce in Sight
October wasn’t a good month for sales of single-family homes in the U.S.—in fact, it was pretty dismal—and you know it’s bad when number-crunching economist types say there’s nothing good to say about not only the current moment but the foreseeable future as well.  —KA The Washington Post: The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller index, long considered a reliable gauge of the housing market’s health, reported Tuesday that prices of single-family homes dropped 1.3 percent in all 20 regions it tracks. The housing market’s collapse crippled the economy, and a recovery in home prices is considered critical to getting the market back on track. But many economists predict that home prices will continue to fall into the new year and possibly beyond. Read more

October wasn’t a good month for sales of single-family homes in the U.S.—in fact, it was pretty dismal—and you know it’s bad when number-crunching economist types say there’s nothing good to say about not only the current moment but the foreseeable future as well.? —KA

The Washington Post:

The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller index, long considered a reliable gauge of the housing market’s health, reported Tuesday that prices of single-family homes dropped 1.3 percent in all 20 regions it tracks.

The housing market’s collapse crippled the economy, and a recovery in home prices is considered critical to getting the market back on track. But many economists predict that home prices will continue to fall into the new year and possibly beyond.

Read more

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