Month: May 2009

This is an update to a previous thread, Supreme Court to Hear Case Concerning Illegals & ID Theft. The US Supreme Court has unanimously rejected tactics of the federal government in pursuing Identity Theft charges against undocumented workers as a means to enforce immigration laws.

More from the American Immigration Law Foundation:

American Immigration Law Foundation

For Immediate Release

AILF Lauds Today’s Supreme Court Decision
Supreme Court Overrules Government Tactics to Criminalize Immigrant Workers
May 4, 2009

Washington, DC – AILF’s Legal Action Center applauds a unanimous decision today of the U.S. Supreme Court, that rejects the government’s efforts to overreach in prosecutions of immigrant workers. The Court held that to convict a defendant of aggravated identity theft, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in prison, the government must establish that the person knew the identification belonged to another person.

“The Court sent a clear message that the government must not misuse a criminal statute intended to combat actual identity theft in order to drop a hammer on unauthorized workers,” said Nadine Wettstein, Director of the Legal Action Center.

In the case before the Court, a worker, Ignacio Flores-Figueroa, had given his employer counterfeit Social Security and alien registration cards in order to continue working. The government charged Flores with misusing immigration documents, but also elevated the charges by including a charge of aggravated identity theft. The government argued that to convict on that charge, it did not have to prove that Flores knew the number actually belonged to another person.

The Court disagreed. It rejected the government’s claim that it would be too hard to prove a defendant knew the identification belonged to someone else. Significantly, the Court said that when the government properly charges defendants with this crime, the government should have no difficulty proving “knowledge:”

…[I]n the classic case of identity theft, intent is generally not difficult to prove. For example, where a defendant has used another person’s identification information to get access to that person’s bank account, the Government can prove knowledge with little difficulty. The same is true when the defendant has gone through someone else’s trash to find discarded credit card and bank statements…”

The government charged more than 300 workers in Postville, Iowa in 2008 with violating this very statute. Because of the threat of serving two years in prison, almost all of the Postville defendants pled guilty to lesser charges in expedited hearings that led to widespread condemnation.

Mr. Flores-Figueroa was represented at the Supreme Court by Kevin Russell of Howe and Russell of Bethesda, Maryland. Amicus Curiae (“friend of the court”) briefs were filed by several organizations, including Washington Square Legal Services, New York, on behalf of approximately 20 organizations.

Senior Bush White House staff, the Supreme Court, the Justice Department, the CIA, various government agencies, the Vice President all staked out a position over water boarding and torture in general during the last administration. Today’s New York Times paints a picture of warring factions over this much debated topic. The two major warring camps here appear to be Vice President Dick Cheney vs. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Looking past the 2 major players in the last administration, the NY Times article shows a tug of war that speaks out of both sides of its mouth. President Bush made flowery political statements condemning torture to the UN, which only unleashed a wave of phone calls from the CIA bemoaning that its interrogators would get skittish.

The United States is “committed to the worldwide elimination of torture and we are leading this fight by example,” Mr. Bush declared, vowing to prosecute torture and to prevent “other cruel and unusual punishment.”

But inside the Central Intelligence Agency, the statement set off alarms. The agency’s top lawyer, Scott W. Muller, called the White House to complain. The statement by the president could unnerve the C.I.A. interrogators Mr. Bush had authorized to use brutal tactics on members of Al Qaeda, Mr. Muller said, raising fears that political winds could change and make them scapegoats.

White House officials reaffirmed their support for the C.I.A. methods. But the exchange was a harbinger of the conflict between the coercive interrogations and the United States’ historical stance against torture that would deeply divide the Bush administration and ultimately undo the program.

The cloak and danger implications of this Bush Administration policy on the definition and the use of what many consider to be torture dragged on back and forth during much of the Bush Presidency. The intrigue between players and agencies is much like a huge spider web. It is not an easy read but a necessary read to put the contention all into perspective.

Ms. Rice and her ally, John B. Bellinger III may be the real unsung heroes of the Bush Administration on this topic. Last week many of us saw a video of her defending water-boarding and other questionable techniques to a student. She insisted that the USA did not torture. What she didn’t share was how deeply divided the administration was over all of these issues and how hard she fought against the use of practices that some might consider torture.

When Mr. Bush finally reauthorized C.I.A. interrogations with an executive order in July 2007, it reflected the yearlong lobbying of Mr. Bellinger and Ms. Rice: forced nudity was banned, and guidelines for sleep deprivation were tighter.

But Mr. Cheney and his allies secured other victories. The executive order preserved the secret jails and authorized a laundry list of coercive methods. Ms. Rice, several officials say, declined to endorse the order but chose not to block it

.

The desire to be an honorable, civilized nation was in deep conflict with the need to protect American lives. The debate ended on January 20, 2009 when President Barack Obama was sworn in as President of the United States.

When Mr. Obama was sworn in on Jan. 20, the C.I.A. still maintained a network of empty jails overseas, where interrogators were still authorized to use physical pressure. Within 48 hours, he banned the methods.

Finally, last month, the program that had been the source of so many vigorous fights in Washington’s power corridors met a prosaic end.

Leon E. Panetta, the new C.I.A. chief, terminated the agency’s contracts providing the security and maintenance for the prisons, emphasizing the economic benefits. Closing the C.I.A. prisons, Mr. Panetta said, would save taxpayers $4 million.

Does it do any good to dredge up the past? Should this investigation continue? If yes, for what purpose? Do Americans feel conflicted over this issue? Who are the villains?

In all probability, Americans are as conflicted over this debate as the Bush Adminstration was. It is probably time to move forward. Civilized societies often walk a thin line. It appeared that many posters were holding back their comments on the issue of torture, water-board, and US policy. Perhaps this article will cause some of us to draw our line in the sand, or become more muddled. Your thoughts?

Horse lovers and racing fans all over the world consider the first Saturday in May to be the High Holy Day of Horse Racing. Today is Kentucky Derby Day. So ladies, put on your big hats and everyone gather round for mint juleps. We might just have a Triple Crown Winner today.

There has not been a Triple Crown Winner in 31 years. The 70’s were good years for the Triple Crown. Great racing athletes like Secretariat (1973), Seattle Slew (1977), and Affirmed (1978) all ‘ran for the roses’ and walked away with the most coveted prize of all, the Triple Crown.

Technically speaking, a race horse only ‘runs for the roses’ in the Kentucky Derby. In 2 weeks, the horses will run in the Preakness, for the black eyed Susan. Those running in the Belmont will run for the blanket of white carnations. The Belmont Stakes will be held June 6 at Belmont Park in New York.

Every year fans keep their fingers crossed that this will be the year—the year of a Triple Crown Winner. Things are a little wobbly at the moment. Today, Kentucky Derby favored I want Revenge was scratched due to a wretched front ankle. He will go on to Pimlico early in hopes of being well for the Preakness in 2 weeks. Whoever wins today’s derby, might just lose out in the Preakness if I want Revenge is back to normal and is as strong of a runner as some feel he is.

List of 20^th Century Triple Crown Winners

Historical pictures of the Derby

Official Kentucky Derby Site

Video of former Triple Crown Winners

More information on that fine Virginia athlete, Secretariat (1970-1989)

Who is your favorite? Will we have a Triple Crown winner this year? Has anyone ever been to the Kentucky Derby? How many people frequent Charles Town?  Should horse racing be banned, as some animal rights activists want?  Will the swine flu scare keep crowds low at the Derby?

[ED:  Gainesville Resident has found the following link that shows an aerial shot of the race as well as a heart-warming interview with Jockey Cal ‘Bo-RAIL’  Borel.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjY-rrAoTl8]

Has the swine flu pandemic given rise to even more anti-immigrant hatred?  An article a friend sent me from MSNBC.COM suggests yes:

“No contact anywhere with an illegal alien!” conservative talk show host Michael Savage advised his U.S. listeners this week on how to avoid the swine flu. “And that starts in the restaurants” where he said, you “don’t know if they wipe their behinds with their hands!”

And Thursday, Boston talk radio host Jay Severin was suspended after calling Mexican immigrants “criminalians” during a discussion of swine flu and saying that emergency rooms had become “essentially condos for Mexicans.”

That’s tepid compared to some of the xenophobic reactions spreading like an emerging virus across the Internet. “This disgusting blight is because MEXICANS ARE PIGS!” an anonymous poster ranted on the “prison planet” forum, part of radio host and columnist Alex Jones’ Web site.

There is even talk of conspiracy. Savage speculated that terrorists are using Mexican immigrants as walking germ warfare weapons. “It would be easy,” he said, “to bring an altered virus into Mexico, put it in the general population, and have them march across the border.”

 

 

The following Keither Olbermann video gives further examples of scapegoating. 

 

Do people really respond to microbes this way?  Was this the excuse people were looking for? 

Most Latinos in our area are from countries other than Mexico.  Only about 25% our our Hispanic population is from Mexico.  Have they been treated differently since this outbreak?  Perhaps those who are slinging this kind of trash should be reminded that the first cases of swine flu in the United States were brought back by American Catholic high school students who had been vacationing over Spring break in Cancun.   Surely no one will suggest that we ban American Catholic high school students.

[ed note: I am aware that this video is not neutral view point. However, people’s words do speak for themselves, so I opted to use the material. ]

 

 

Recently, cities and counties all over Northern Virginia scrambled to approve budgets that reduced the real estate tax burden on residents but yet gave the jurisdictions enough money to run operations.  Some counties were successful, some, not so successful. 

 

Both Loudoun County and Fairfax County have some areas where homes prices have been fairly stable. These residents have received bills that show a tax increase, some as much as $1000 increase per year.  About 150,000 households in Fairfax will owe more taxes than they did last year.  Western Loudoun and areas like Fairfax Station have been hit with the increased rates but their houses haven’t lost that much in value.   Higher rates and stable house values spell higher taxes for residents in both of those counties.

 

–But not Prince William County.  According to the Washington Post, every residence in Prince William County will show a lower tax bill:

 

Unlike in the other jurisdictions, every Prince William County homeowner will see a lower tax bill. The average tax savings will be $435. But it came at a price.

The Prince William school system will receive $26 million less from the county this year despite the expected influx of about 1,420 new students in the fall. Officials said they expect federal stimulus funds to make up the difference. The county also is slashing 140 positions, reducing some library hours and eliminating its Office on Youth.

Chairman Corey Stewart responded with the following:

“We’ve slashed the budget. We’ve cut our costs. We’ve made our government more efficient. And by doing so, we are able to reward our constituents with a sizable tax cut,” said Corey A. Stewart (R), chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors.

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