THE GREAT WHITE BEAR

clockwise from left: Atty. Gen. Alberto Gonzales, Whitehouse Counsel and former Supreme Court nominee Harriet Meirs, Director of Assistant Attys. Gen. Michael Battle, terrorism suspect Jose Padilla

It has been a tough few weeks for American Justice. First, there was the continuing fiasco that is the Jose Padilla trial. Seems the prosecution and Justice Dept. have "lost" the tape of Padilla's final interrogation, the one that Padilla's lawyers have contended all along contain images that would explain Padilla's current mental state. Now who really believes that they lost this tape? Only someone who hasn't been around the barnyard a time or two!

And then, of course, is the continuing saga of the political firings of eight asst. US Attys. Gen. Just a couple of days ago, Atty. Gen. Alberto Gonzales was swearing that these firings were performance related, not political, and that the White House had no involvement.

Of course, It turns out that not only was the White House involved, but according to two years worth of memos from White House Counsel Harriet Meirs to US Atty Executive Office Director Michael Battle, the White House wanted to fire all fifty assistant US Attys., and replace them, without Senate approval, via a little known clause in the US Patriot act that allows the Atty Gen. to fill vacancies without said approval. Micheal Battle has become the fall guy for the Administration, having been fired today. But virtually everyone in the country should be thanking him for talking the Administration down from 50 firings to eight.

It dismays me, this administrations total lack of regard for the rule of law, and the American public's apparent willingness to accept it.

Then their was the totally Orwellian Sunday NY Times op-ed piece about the use of brain scans as evidence in trials. Currently, they are mostly only used in the sentencing phase of death penalty cases, to argue that the defendant couldn't help himself, the make up of his brain caused him to do it.

The whole process begs the question as to whether or not we will soon be locking up people not because they have committed a crime, but to prevent them from doing so. Will the government, in the name of public safety, be allowed access to our most secret thoughts and desires? Holy 1984!!!!!

You can hear a totally disconcerting and rather creepy interview with the author HERE

And finally, there was this recent depressing article in the local paper:

Homeless man spent 17 months in jail for stealing a soda
CROWN POINT, Ind. (AP) -- Officials are at a loss to explain how they allowed a homeless, mentally ill man accused of stealing a soda to languish in jail for 17 months.

Edward Perez's attorney, his court-appointed psychiatrist, the judge in his case and Lake County jail officials all apparently believed he had been released a year ago.

The mistake wasn't discovered until this month, after a new warden ordered a review of all inmates' files, Sheriff Roy Dominguez told the Post-Tribune of Merrillville for a story Friday.

''This is very unfortunate,'' Judge Sheila Moss said. ''This is a guy who apparently needed services, and he should have been somewhere where he could get that, rather than sitting in our county jail, which is already overcrowded.''

The jail released Perez, 22, and transferred him to a mental health clinic Feb. 7, Dominguez said.

Perez had stayed in the jail's medical wing since July 2, 2005, after allegedly stealing a bottle of Pepsi from a Wal-Mart in Schererville, Dominguez said.

A police report that referred to the man as ''Edward Hammer-Perez'' said that before stealing the soda, he said he had just gotten out of jail and wanted to go back. He listed the state psychiatric hospital in Logansport as his address.

In February 2006, the psychiatrist went to the jail to evaluate Perez only to be told he already had been released, Moss said. The judge said that after the psychiatrist informed her, she deferred to defense attorney Fred Flores, who agreed that his client was not behind bars.

Prosecutors said they would dismiss the charges, Moss said, adding, ''I could see no need to send a court order to that effect over to the jail, since the defendant was, by all accounts, already free.''

However, since the jail never received a release order, it kept Perez in custody, said Mike Higgins, a spokesman for Dominguez.

Moss, noting that Perez appeared in some records as ''Edward Hammer-Perez,'' speculated he might have been jailed under a different name than appeared on his court file.

A telephone message left by The Associated Press seeking comment from Flores was not immediately returned Friday. An employee at the clinic where Perez was taken said officials authorized to comment were unavailable until Monday.