u.s. attorneys targetting undocumented immigrants' basic human needs

Ugh. Why is it that anti-trafficking laws always get twisted to try to create bizarre results? Case in point, federal prosecutors apparently attempted to use "anti-harboring" laws, designed to prevent human trafficking for the purposes of exploitative or forced labor, to screw a landlord who wasn't checking immigration papers of his tenants. From the Lexington Herald-Leader (KY):

A jury rejected the federal government's unprecedented prosecution Friday of a Lexington landlord who rented to illegal immigrants, finding him not guilty of 62 criminal counts.

William Jerry Hadden, 69, wept after a judge read the verdict in U.S. District Court in Lexington. Hadden had rented to 60 undocumented immigrants at Cross Keys and Woodridge apartments, actions that prosecutors argued violated federal harboring laws.

The case is thought to be the first time that the government has prosecuted a landlord merely for renting to illegal immigrants.

[...]

Hadden's attorney, Russ Baldani, said the verdict sent a message.

“These are not illegals; they're human beings,” Baldani said. “You can't solve immigration problems by choking off basic necessities for people that are here.”

[...]

“The prosecution was essentially seeking to impose on every American business the obligation to verify the immigration status of every customer,” Baesler said. “It was far beyond anything the government has attempted elsewhere in America. It's a significant defeat of the prosecution, but it's also a great victory for hard-working business owners who are trying to do the right thing while making a decent living.”

At issue was whether Hadden had violated federal harboring and inducing laws by renting to illegal immigrants. The laws, written in 1986, were intended to fight human traffickers and rogue businesses that exploit undocumented workers.

Um, I haven't had to show my birth certificate or passport when I've rented an apartment; does that mean that my management company is guilty of harboring? More fundamentally, since when do you have to be a permanent resident or citizen to rent an apartment? Answer: since never.

Thankfully, the Kentucky jury was too smart to fall for this bullshit, which would have created liability for any business who didn't play La Migra every single time they served a customer.

And in case you haven't been keeping tabs, this likely has something to do with the fact that the U.S. Attorney corps have been purged of those who aren't toeing the Republican Party line and filled instead with political hacks.

Less than 204 days left!

climate change hits the west

Hundreds of wildfires have been raging throughout California over the last week, with firefighters and the National Guard finding the fires especially challenging given the early heat wave that has also stricken the state.

Is it possible the two are connected to climate change?

A report released in March by the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization and the National Resources Defense Council says "yes." As for temperature, the average increase in temperature over historical averages in the West from 2003-2007 was 1.7 degrees Fahrenheit, with an increase of 1.1 degrees F in California. This increase is happening at a rate much greater than across the rest of North America. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography both confirm that the dramatic change has been caused by human activities. Not only is the increasing temperature threatening the West's already critical water supply (the temperatures are leading to reduced snowpacks, the primary source of fresh water in the West where rainfall is much more scarce), but the heat creates drier soil and longer summer seasons, leading to more and larger wildfires. The International Panel on Climate Change, relying on Scripps' data, predicts the following with regard to wildfires in the West:

• A 78-day increase in the length of the fire season


• A fourfold increase in the number of fires


• A fivefold increase in the time needed to put out the average wildfire


• 6.7 times as much area being burned

Whether or not the tipping point has already come is not known, but what is known is how to mitigate and reduce the most devastating effects of climate change:

• Increased energy efficiency in vehicles, buildings and industries through carbon taxes which can be reinvested to create Green Collar jobs and better green technologies


• A shift in our reliance on non-renewable fossil fuels like coal and petroleum to carbon-neutral, renewable energy sources such as wind and solar


• Creation of biofuels for transportation using efficient and non-edible sources, and


• A ban on coal plants until effective carbon capture and sequestration technology is in place

If you have a chance, write Sen. Barbara Boxer to let her know that any truly effective climate change legislation must contain these elements.

old school nes games playable in your browser

Just FYI.

"a brand new level of crazy"

kos on the Supreme Court's decision striking down the "Millionaire's Amendment" of the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Law:

In essence, the court just ruled that even though a millionaire can spend what he or she wants to say what he or she wants, the fact that his or her opponent gets to raise additional money is an infringement on the millionaire's free speech rights.

The problem is that, as the dissent says here, no one is stifling the millionaires' speech. They can still spend whatever they want to say whatever they want. This just enhances their opponents' speech.

The notion that enhancing your opponents' speech is infringing on your own is a brand new level of crazy, and I say that as someone who essentially agrees with Buckley that money equals speech. (Try to get your message out to a wide audience without spending a dime.)

Apparently, to conservatives, money only equals speech when it's rich people's money.

There is a quick and easy way to fix this -- pass a new law that would raise the contribution limits to both candidates, the millionaire included. If the Daddy Warbucks candidate could raise money, he or she wouldn't have to self-fund, so in essence, this would mostly help the challenger.

(emphasis mine)

kos' idea for fixing the Millionaire's Amendment is simple and straightforward.

republicans have more bad dreams

Republicans have three times as many nightmares as Democrats (h/t Open Left):

The further your politics lean to the right the more likely you are to have nightmares, according to a dream researcher from Santa Clara University in California.

Kelly Bulkeley found that US Republicans are almost three times more likely to have bad dreams than Democrats.

"That's a lot. No wonder they're twitching all the time," says Rick Hess, spokesman for the Democratic party in Washington DC. "Even during the election Bush was saying some pretty scary things. If I were a Republican right now, I'd be having nightmares too."

This isn't surprising; social psychologists have also found that conservatives operate in a primarily fear-based frame, whereas progressives and liberals operate in a primarily hope-based frame.

life on mars? well, ice on mars!

NASA's Phoenix Lander has discovered ice on Mars!

Ice. As in water.

Water, as in a key component to life!

From NASA:

June 19, 2008 -- Dice-size crumbs of bright material have vanished from inside a trench where they were photographed by NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander four days ago, convincing scientists that the material was frozen water that vaporized after digging exposed it.

"It must be ice," said Phoenix Principal Investigator Peter Smith of the University of Arizona, Tucson. "These little clumps completely disappearing over the course of a few days, that is perfect evidence that it's ice. There had been some question whether the bright material was salt. Salt can't do that."

The chunks were left at the bottom of a trench informally called "Dodo-Goldilocks" when Phoenix's Robotic Arm enlarged that trench on June 15, during the 20th Martian day, or sol, since landing. Several were gone when Phoenix looked at the trench early today, on Sol 24.

Next up, little green men.

if you think telling kids there's no santa is hard, try telling them there's no north pole

"On global warming," via freewayblogger:


caption: If you think telling kids there's no Santa is hard; Try telling them there's no North Pole

Perhaps a good time to buy one of Honda's new zero-emission cars, which hydrogen consumption the equivalent of 74 miles per gallon?

best. ad. ever.

From Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX):



Man, with ads like this, the Republicans are sure to be victorious in November!

Cornyn thinks so, too:

"My staff convinced me it was a good idea," Cornyn said. "Maybe I need a new staff."

progressive vs. regressive = obama vs. mccain

optimism in a post-colonial world?

Progressive civil rights lawyer Shahid Buttar ties Sen. Obama's candidacy into the larger global-historical context of Barack's heritage at Huffington Post.

Obama will be the first standard-bearer of colonized peoples to lead a global superpower.

On the one hand, his personal history does not intersect the brutal legacy of crimes committed against African-Americans who trace their origins in the U.S. to the abomination of slavery. But his father is from Kenya, which was colonized by Britain. And, in a typical response to the impacts of colonialism, he came to the U.S. seeking educational opportunity. Obama's origins reflect quintessentially post-colonial migration.

[...]

At the same time that our world-historical fortune has seemed to wane, the United States is reminded by Barack Obama of "where it came from." The country that introduced democracy to the modern world, defended it from totalitarianism, and forged a multicultural melting pot will now be led by a man who is half-African.

No candidate with Indonesian parentage has ever viably contested senior executive office in the Netherlands, nor have any with Algierian lineage done so in France. Such a feat would not be possible in Britain, which colonized the land of Obama's father. While Benjamin Disraeli led Britain in the 19th century, his family was European and had lived in England for fifty years by the time he was born, he renounced his Italian and Jewish heritage long before entering public service, and he was a staunch supporter of imperialism.[1] South Asians remain marginalized in Britain. Finally, the indigenous peoples of South America continue to struggle for basic rights in their own states, well after having thrown off the yoke of Spanish colonialism.

[...]

Senator Obama has no historical parallel.

An interesting global perspective, tied together with a heavy dose of optimism. Buttar sees the Senator from Illinois as able to raise up America, both domestically and internationally, by reemphasizing the two American narratives of "meritocracy and our cultural inclusiveness." Whether he will truly be able to do so, given his often "post-racial" rhetoric that skews closer to "colorblindness" than "inclusiveness" (yes, there's a significant difference) and the monopoly that conservatives have had over meritocracy (in the form of "individual responsibility") over the last two and a half decades, is yet to be seen.

bravo's first female top chef

Stephanie Izard, owner and chef of Chicago's Scylla and winner of Season 4


Last Season, Bravo's Top Chef broke the stereotypical mold of the Chef as a white male with a win by Hung Hyunh, now executive chef at NYC's Solo (@ the Sony Building, Madison Ave). Last night, the mold was broken yet again, as the Stephanie's finale four-course meal topped Richard's experimentation and Lisa's spiciness.

If there was such thing as a winning recipe, it was Stephanie's roasted lamb medallions with braised pistachios, the judges' favorite dish of the night.

More good news for Chicagoans, as Stephanie is already considering using part of her prize money toward opening up a new restaurant.

is the individual mandate dead at the federal level?

The WSJ seems to think so, as they posited today (via KFF). Sen. Hillary Clinton is a proponent of the individual health insurance mandate (a la Massachusetts), as I've discussed before, and the WSJ appears to believe that the mechanism, which requires all individuals to purchase insurance and fines those who are not covered, is now dead, as neither Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama nor Republican nominee Sen. John "Not Your Friend" McCain support individual mandates. Obama hasn't ruled it out, but doesn't want them unless the government can guarantee affordability first. That's what I like to hear.

I'm not as sure as the WSJ that the mandate is done for, however. If you watch Obama's victory speech from last Tuesday, and some of the post-Clinton-concession talks, you'll note that Obama emphasizes Clinton's leadership on health care. Could it be that he's willing to (or already has) compromise(d) with her on substantive policy in order to gain her full support? Is it possible that Clinton will try her hand at putting together the charge for a national health care plan again?

Should be interesting to watch if she does.

r.i.p. bo diddley, 1928-2008

Mark on Diddley:

Bo Diddley died last week at the age of 79.

Diddley was an American music pioneer, and I mean that in a non-hyperbolic way; whenever a musician dies there is a tendency to call them “groundbreaking” or an “innovator,” and that irritates the heck out of me. In this case, though, it’s true. Bo Diddley defied assignment into a musical enre because Bo Diddley defied convention. He played on a rectangular guitar that he designed himself, and the music that came out of it straddled the blues, rock, country, pop, calypso, and folk. If you haven’t heard anything by him, a good starting place is Chess records’ “Bo Diddley: His best.” I picked up a copy of that when I was in college, and I listened the hell out of it. What’s funny is that the famed “Bo Diddley Beat” figures prominantly on many songs, but Bo Diddley made songs that ranged far from that sound; “Pills” is a song about drug use that sounds like it could have been written by a completely different person from the writer of the agressive “Bring to Jerome.”

My favorite little bit of trivia about Diddley is that his song “I’m a Man” directly caused the creation of one of the greatest blues hits in history, “Mannish Boy” by Muddy Waters. The songs are basically the same chords, with Waters and Diddley sharing writing credit on the latter (along with Mel London). “Mannish Boy” went on to be the medium by which the chords and structure of “I’m a Man” were transmitted to a larger audience, much like how Greek/Hellenic culture, science, and philosophy were transmitted to the larger world by the later Hellenistic empires that sprang up after the death of Alexander the Great.

it's over!

Breaking, from TPM:

A senior Hillaryland source confirms to us that reports Hillary will drop out of the race on Friday and endorse Obama are accurate.

NYT:

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is moving to suspend her campaign and endorse Senator Barack Obama on Friday after Democratic members of Congress urged her Wednesday to leave the race and allow the party to coalesce around Mr. Obama, according to a senior adviser to Mrs. Clinton.

Mrs. Clinton is likely to make the announcement in New York City, an aide said, though no final venue has been chosen.

Her decision came after a day of telephone conversations with supporters on Capitol Hill about what she should do now that Mr. Obama had claimed enough delegates to be able to clinch the nomination. Mrs. Clinton had initially said she wanted to wait before making any decision, but her aides said that in conversations, some of her closest supporters said it was urgent that she step aside.

"We pledged to support her to the end," said Representative Charles W. Rangel, a New York Democrat who has been a patron of Mrs. Clinton since she first ran for the Senate. "Our problem is not being able to determine when the hell the end is."

Late Update: The latest reports are that the event where she announces her withdrawal and endorsement will be Saturday.

Late Late Update: Here's the statement from the Hillary campaign -- the event is indeed on Saturday:

Senator Clinton will be hosting an event in Washington, DC on [Saturday] to thank her supporters and express her support for Senator Obama and party unity

.

Friday would have been weird, as we know from her speech yesterday that she's very much about people paying attention to her (what was with leading us on throughout the whole speech, vacilating between conceding and declaring the fight would go on, only to culminate anti-climatically with the meaningless 'I won't be making any decisions tonight!' (cue cheers of Hillaryland)?). So Saturday makes more sense... maybe she'll even get to do the Sunday news shows circuit!

Thank you, Sen. Clinton, for your barrier-breaking campaign that proved that you can both break barriers for yourself and reinforce them for others at the same time.

Sorry, I forgot that in the interest of "party unity" I'm supposed to ignore all the crap she pulled this year (like this and this and this).

19 years ago today...

It's June 4 right now in Beijing. 19 years ago today, the Chinese government killed hundreds--possibly thousands--of peaceful protesters in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, using tanks and massive gunfire to clear the public square after a seven week peaceful sit-in.

The action was internationally condemned, including by U.S. President Bush (the First) and U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

19 years later, today, Beijing prepares to host the Summer Games of the Olympics. As of February, news reports estimated up to 2 million displaced from their homes and up to 400,000 arrested for protesting the destruction of their homes. 200 who chained themselves to their homes to protest removal were sent to "labor re-education camps" for five weeks.

Video of 4 June 1989 from CBC:


Video of 4 June 1989 from BBC:

the last two primaries on tuesday; SD polls close @ 9p edt, MT @ 10p edt

This is it. The last two primaries.

Rumors say that Hillary, who plans on speaking tomorrow from New York, is going to suspend her campaign. Rumors backed up with more rumors of staff going on vacation and advance teams being fired.

South Dakota closes first at 7p Mountain Daylight Time, or 9p EDT.

Montana marks the final pledged delegates to be announced, with polls closing at 8p MDT, 10p EDT.

I'm going to celebrate with arepas! Or maybe a bison steak, in homage to the Great Plains states.

Oh yeah, and in case you're wondering, while the decision by the DNC Rules Committee on Florida and Michigan (full delegations seated but with only 1/2 votes each; all "Uncommitted" in MI go to Obama) ensures that Obama will win the majority of pledged delegates (duh, already knew that), there are only a total of 31 pledged delegates to be awarded by both contests tomorrow. Of those 31, Obama is expected to get 19, putting him 24 delegates short of the nomination. So 24 superdelegates need to step up now.

correction: Eastern South Dakota is on Central Daylight Time, and Western South Dakota is on Mountain Daylight Time. Regardless, no results or exit polling will be announced until all polls in the state close, and so 9pEDT is still the expected time for networks to call the state (presumably for Obama).