New York State Infringes The Right To A Public Defense

From the NYCLU:

If you are accused of a crime and cannot afford an attorney, you have the right to be provided meaningful and effective counsel.

It is a right that New Yorkers take for granted.

It is a right denied to hundreds of New Yorkers every day.

It is a right that all New Yorkers have the right to a spirited public defense. It is a travesty that those that can not afford an attorney do not have a fair defense.

The Spies Among Us

More bad news continues to roll out about the NYPD's role in during the GOP Convention in 2004. Now it seems that they went around the U.S., Canada and Europe to conduct surveillance on protestors before they even got to New York. With the intention of stopping groups 'intent on creating havoc' the NYPD infiltrated anti-war organizations and all things anti-Bush and wound up taking down the views of various groups instead. As Big Tent Dem at TalkLeft said, that is how a police state operates.

From the NY Times:

The operation was mounted in 2003 after the Police Department, invoking the fresh horrors of the World Trade Center attack and the prospect of future terrorism, won greater authority from a federal judge to investigate political organizations for criminal activity.

To date, as the boundaries of the department’s expanded powers continue to be debated, police officials have provided only glimpses of its intelligence-gathering.

Now, the broad outlines of the pre-convention operations are emerging from records in federal lawsuits that were brought over mass arrests made during the convention, and in greater detail from still-secret reports reviewed by The New York Times. These include a sample of raw intelligence documents and of summary digests of observations from both the field and the department’s cyberintelligence unit.

This 'intelligence' gathered was a waste of time in looking for actual terrorism. Worse than that, it is an abuse of the American justice system that is supposed to preserve the ideals of what the United States was founded on and not to create a police state. The NYPD seems to lean towards the police state option without regard for the bill of rights and American freedoms in general.

The powers that were afforded to the NYPD are now in review and in the process of being thrown out. Of course Bloomberg's NYC is trying their best to keep their oppressive powers of surveillance despite recent rulings against them. Eventually it will be up to the Supreme Court to make the ultimate decision. I pray that they find for America and not the NYPD.

Bongs Divide Bush And The Religious Right

Normally the Bush Adminstration and the religious right are allies on a whole host of social issues. From gay marriage to abortion, the two are a powerful duo in today's activist government that protrudes into American's personal lives. However, there is a discrepancy now when it comes to free speech and religion.

Five years ago as the Olympic torch made its way to the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City, a young man held up a sign in the crowd that read "Bong Hits 4 Jesus." The principal of the kid's school forced him to take the sign down and suspended him for 10 days. The young man who held the sign up, Joseph Frederick took the case to court and has won many court decisions so far. Now it has made its way to the Supreme Court. What was a prank is now a major political issue and plenty of politicos have taken sides. Even George Bush has gotten involved.

From The New York Times:

The Bush administration entered the case on the side of the principal and the Juneau School Board, which are both represented by Kenneth W. Starr, the former solicitor general and independent counsel. His law firm, Kirkland & Ellis, is handling the appeal without a fee. Mr. Starr and Edwin S. Kneedler, a deputy solicitor general who will present the government’s view, will share argument time on Monday. The National School Board Association, two school principals’ groups, and several antidrug organizations also filed briefs on the school board’s side.

While it is hardly surprising to find the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Coalition Against Censorship on Mr. Frederick’s side, it is the array of briefs from organizations that litigate and speak on behalf of the religious right that has lifted Morse v. Frederick out of the realm of the ordinary.

The groups include the American Center for Law and Justice, founded by the Rev. Pat Robertson; the Christian Legal Society; the Alliance Defense Fund, an organization based in Arizona that describes its mission as “defending the right to hear and speak the Truth”; the Rutherford Institute, which has participated in many religion cases before the court; and Liberty Legal Institute, a nonprofit law firm “dedicated to the preservation of First Amendment rights and religious freedom.”

Here we have a case where the religious freedom of Joseph Frederick and many others that are yet to be determine hang in the balance. George Bush wants to limit this freedom because he apparently sees it as an affront to 'politically correct' (his politics of course) speech. Libertarians and progressives want to continue the nation's long standing ideals for freedom of religion no matter what the nuances of the particular case are. Despite the conservative make-up of the court, it is in the best interest of the country to find for Joseph Frederick, the Bill of Rights and somewhat surprisingly, the leaders of the religious right.