11-03-30 The Death Penalty in Louisiana // La pena de muerte en Louisiana // 在路易斯安那州的死刑

http://reason.com/blog/2011/03/29/supreme-court-firms-up-state-i

Supreme Court Firms Up State Immunity From Wrongful Conviction Lawsuits

Radley Balko | March 29, 2011

By a ideologically right-left, 5-4 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled today (PDF) that a wrongly convicted Louisiana man—who at one point was just weeks away from execution—isn't permitted to sue the DA's office that for 14 years sat on the evidence proving his innocence.

Jacob Sullum wrote about Connick v. Thompson in March of last year. As Sullum pointed out, while it's clear that prosecutors knew about the evidence for years (a bloody piece of cloth), there are competing theories about whether they knew they had to turn the cloth over and willfully withheld it anyway, or if they simply didn't know they were obligated to turn it over. (As Sullum also noted, it's hard to decide which scenario is worse.) The latter seems rather unlikely, even though during the civil trial, Orelans Parish District Attorney Harry Connick and his assistants apparently couldn't articulate the Brady Rule, the law requiring the disclosure of such evidence. Of course, the former—the willful misconduct—is also much harder to prove.

In any case, the Court's ruling today, taken with past rulings, further illustrates how the old mantra that "ignorance of the law is no excuse" seems to apply to everyone except for actual members of law enforcement.

The majority opinion, written by Justice Clarence Thomas, found that the failure of Connick (fun side note: he's the father of crooner Harry Connick, Jr.) to train his assistants on their obligation to turn over exculpatory evidence isn't negligent enough to subject the government that employs him to liability. Connick and his assistants themselves (an office with a long history of misconduct) were already protected from any personal liability by absolute prosecutorial immunity, a concept the Supreme Court essentially invented from whole cloth.

Keith Findley, President of the Innocence Network, comments:

"Basically, what the Court is saying is that because they are lawyers, there was no reason for the District Attorney to believe that his prosecutors might need training to be sure they are fulfilling their constitutional obligations to disclose information that might be useful to their defense. This logic completely ignores the reality of what happened to John Thompson who was sentenced to death by prosecutors who repeatedly failed in their obligation to disclose exculpatory information. No other profession is shielded from this complete lack of accountability."

The ruling also negates a $14 million jury award to John Thompson, the man wrongly convicted. It also means that for his 18 years in prison, 14 of which he spent on death row, Thompson will now at most get $150,000, the maximum compensation for a wrongful conviction allowed under Louisiana law.

11-03-30 Welcome Jamaica - Newest Country! // Bienvenido Jamaica - Pais Mas Reciente! // 欢迎牙买加 -最新的国家！

        

Newest Country Jamaica Last Visited March 30, 2011

11-03-30 Welcome United Kingdom! // Bienvenido Reino Unido! // 英国欢迎！

Last New Visitor United Kingdom Visited March 30, 2011

11-03-30 Welcome Mauritius - Newest Country! // Bienvenido Mauritius - Pais Mas Reciente! // 欢迎毛里求斯 -最新的国家！

     

Last New Visitor Mauritius Visited March 30, 2011

11-03-29 USA leading the world! // EE.UU. líder en el mundo! // 美国领导的世界！

Tracking Our Downward Spiral

The Ways in Which America Still “Leads’ the World

By Richard Clark

March 29, 2011 "Information Clearing House" ----  According to Yes Magazine, amongst 20 of the world’s wealthiest countries, America now has:

• the highest poverty rate, both generally and for children;

• the greatest inequality of incomes;

• the smallest amount of government spending (as a percentage of GDP) on social programs for the disadvantaged;

• the lowest number of paid holidays, annual leave days and maternity leave days;

• the lowest score on the UN’s index of material well-being of children;

• the worst score on the UN’s gender inequality index;

• the lowest social mobility (i.e. in America, more members of the lower and middle class remain stuck in that class than ever before);

• the highest public and private expenditure on health care (as a portion of GDP), and yet accompanied by:

-         the highest infant mortality rate

-         the greatest prevalence of mental health problems

-         the highest obesity rate

-         the largest percentage of people going without health care due to cost

-         the greatest number of low birth weight children per capita

-         the greatest consumption of anti-depressants per capita

-         the shortest life expectancy at birth (except for Portugal);

-         the largest amount of carbon dioxide emissions and water consumption per capita;

-         the lowest score on the World Economic Forums Environmental Performance Index and the largest Ecological Footprint per capita (except for Belgium);

-         the highest rate of failing to ratify international agreements;

-         the lowest amount of spending on international development and humanitarian assistance as a percentage of GDP;

-         the largest amount of military spending as a portion of GDP;

-         the largest amount of international arms sales;

-         the largest negative balance of payments (except New Zealand, Spain and Portugal);

-         the lowest scores for student performance in math (except for Portugal and Italy) (and far down from the top in both science and reading);

-         the highest high school drop out rate (except for Spain);

And now, to top it off, America is leading all other industrialized democracies by bringing back debtors’ prisons!

Millions of folks around the good ol’ USA have been screwed over by predatory lenders and fine-print credit card contracts, and now, partly because of that, many of them are swimming in debt. And now, some of these people are actually being thrown in prison for going into debt.   That’s right, America in the 21st century is bringing back debtors’ prisons!   People who can’t pay off their credit cards can now be thrown in jail in a third of the states in our nation — and since the start of 2010, over 5,000 arrest warrants have been issued against people who owe as little as $1,000 to massively profitable corporations like Capital One.  (Source:  Thom Hartmann’s emailed newsletter)

So let me get this straight.   A few years after the financial crisis, where massive fraud was perpetrated by Wall Street, not one bankster is in jail, but 5,000 lower- or middle-class Americans, who were screwed over by these banksters, were sent to debtors’ prison??!

Republicans have set our country back more than 100 years — to the 1800′s — when the Robber Barons ruled and our politics were corrupted to the core.

Be proud, Americans.   Be very proud.

11-03-29 Judicial Corruption in Pennsylvania and California // La corrupción judicial en Pensilvania y California // 司法腐败在宾夕法尼亚州和加利福尼亚州

March 27 

California looks at Ciavarella outcome

SHEENA DELAZIO sdelazio@timesleader.com 

WILKES-BARRE – The federal corruption trial of former Judge Mark Ciavarella was at the center of attention of Luzerne County.

click image to enlarge

Former Judge Mark Ciavarella responds to questions along North Washington Avenue in Scranton after being found guilty of 12 of 39 counts. BILL TARUTIS/FOR THE TIMES LEADER

Select images available for purchase in the
Times Leader Photo Store

The story made local headlines first. Then, the national press and news shows such as ABC’s “Good Morning America” and “20/20” and NBC’s “Today” aired stories.

Now, the case is being read by California lawyers, after the California Bar Journal published an article about the trial in its March edition.

The article is headlined “Could it happen here?” and is written by Janice M. Brickley, a legal advisor to commissioners at the California Commission on Judicial Performance.

“The case, an alarming story of judicial corruption and failures throughout the justice system that lasted two years, should raise a question in the minds of Californians: Could it happen here?” she wrote.

Brickley outlined the outcome of the trial, including Ciavarella’s conviction on 12 of 39 counts, including racketeering and mail fraud, as well as the indictment against Ciavarella.

READ THE FULL STORY:

http://www.timesleader.com/news/California-looks-at-Ciavarella-outcome.html

_____

To the Editor:

In response to your article, "California looks at Ciavarella outcome", the question should be: Why is the US Department of Justice refusing to prosecute racketeering judges in California?

Ongoing large-scale false imprisonment in Los Angeles County have been documented in the Rampart scandal investigation (1998-2000).

Prof Erwin Chemerinsky concluded in 2001 "This is conduct associated with the most repressive dictators and police states... and judges must share responsibility when innocent people are convicted."

The 2006 LAPD Blue Ribbon Review Panel concluded "Innocent people remain in prison".  It documented that the victims by and large remained imprisoned.  Judges of the Los Angeles Superior Court object to their release, since it would cause "collapse of the justice system".  The report further concluded that "...the LA Superior Court and the DA office,[are] the two other parts of the justice system that the Blue Panel Report recommends must be investigated relative to the integrity of the system".

The 2010 Staff Report of the Human Right Council of the United Nations concluded "corruption of the courts and the legal profession and discrimination by law enforcement in California".

LINKS:

____________________________

WHAT DID THE EXPERTS SAY ABOUT THE JUSTICE SYSTEM IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY, CALIFORNIA?

* "...judges tried and sentenced a staggering number of people for crimes they did not commit." 

Prof David Burcham, Dean, Loyola Law School, LA (2001) 

http://www.scribd.com/doc/29043589/

* "This is conduct associated with the most repressive dictators and police states... and judges must share responsibility when innocent people are convicted."     

Prof Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean, Irvine Law School (2001) 

http://www.scribd.com/doc/27433920/

* "Innocent people remain in prison"

* "...the LA Superior Court and the DA office, the two other parts of the justice system that the Blue Panel Report recommends must be investigated relative to the integrity of the system, have not produced any response that we know of..."

LAPD Blue Ribbon Review Panel Report (2006)

http://www.scribd.com/doc/24902306/

_____________________________

WHAT DID THE EXPERTS SAY ABOUT THE JUSTICE SYSTEM IN CALIFORNIA?

* "...corruption of the courts and the legal profession and discrimination by law enforcement in California." 

United Nations Human Rights Council Staff Report (2010)

http://www.scribd.com/doc/38566837/

_____________________________

WHAT DID THE EXPERTS SAY ABOUT THE STATE COURTS IN THE UNITED STATES?

* "On July 26, 2010, Laurence Tribe, Senior Counsel for the United States Department of Justice, Access to Justice Initiative, delivered an important speech to the Conference of Chief Justices, challenging them to halt the disintegration of our state justice systems before they become indistinguishable from courts of third world nations."

Prof Laurence Tribe, Harvard Law School (2010), per National Defender Leadership Institute (2010)

http://www.nlada.net/library/article/national_dojspeechto%20chiefjustice07-26-2010_gideonalert 

_____

joseph Zernik, PhD

Human Rights Alert (NGO)

11-03-29 Los Angeles Judges on the Take // Jueces corruptos en Los Angeles // 法官在洛杉矶舞弊

How To Disqualify Your State Superior Court Judge & Get A New Trial
Internet Exclusive Video News Blog: 15:40 min
Release Date: March 22, 2011
Watch the full video:
http://fulldisclosure.net/Blogs/96.php



Los Angeles, CA Former U S Prosecutor Dr. Richard I Fine explains how citizens can disqualify a State judge who is "on the take". All 430 California Superior Court Judges in L A County can be disqualified by citizens who have been involved in litigation against the County of Los Angeles in the last two decades. If you lost your case and did not know your judge was getting money from the County, Richard Fine says you can "Null & Void" the Judge's Order and get a new trial.
GET YOUR MONEY BACK?
If you paid money to the County, you now have a chance to recover that money, according to Dr. Fine's experience, he has already disqualified five judges who have been "On the Take" in his cases involving the County of L.A. That is why he was locked up in L A County jail for 18 months without being charged or convicted of a crime. Now he can show you the way to get JUSTICE. Featured here are Dr. Fine's Motions to "Null & Void" that were used by him to disqualify the five Judges so far in his case.
DO IT YOURSELF OR HAVE YOUR ATTORNEY FILE?
Richard Fine suggests that you can file "In Pro-Per" or better yet ask your attorney to use Dr. Fine's Motions To Null & Void the Decision made by your Judge. The templates he used are shown below.

Step 1	Contact L A County Auditor-Controller: Greg Iverson GIVERSON@auditor.lacounty.gov to request amount County paid to your judge since 1987 (link to Richard Fine's example below). Use the Template with name & E-mail address where to send: (download & print here) (and here)
Step 2	Download Richard Fine's TEMPLATE Motions to Disqualify & Null & Void Judge's Orders: Motion to Disqualify, Null & Void Judge David Yaffe (Aug. 6, 2010) (Aug. 27, 2010) Motion to Disqualify, Null & Void Judge Robert O'Brien (Dec. 2010) (Jan. 27, 2011) Reply Motion to Disqualify, Null & Void Elihu Berle ( Mar 2, 2011) Motion to Disqualify, Null & Void Judge Carolyn B. Kuhl (RemoveJudgeKuhl)
Step 3	Send a copy of your Motion with Case number to Full Disclosure Network, 333 Washington Blvd. Suite #24, Marina del Rey, CA 90402 or E-mail it to feedback@fulldisclosure.net so Full Disclosure Network can follow and report on YOUR case.

NOTE: Please send Full Disclosure a copy of the L A Auditor-Controller's response to you with the amount of money your Judge received. We will post a chart with the totals to inform the public on how much the Judges are receiving in this illegal Double Benefits.

11-03-28 Welcome Malaysia! // Bienvenido Malaysia! // 欢迎马来西亚！

Last New Visitor Malaysia Visited March 28, 2011

11-03-28 Multiple Social Security numbers linked to President Obama - initial signs of Fraud in litigation in the US District, Washington DC // El fraude en el Tribunal de Justicia de EE.UU. en un caso sobre el presidente Obama // 在美国法院诈骗一案有关总统奥巴马

 
Chief Judge Royce Lamberth, US District Court, Washington DC

Taitz v Astrue - pertaining to multiple Social Security numbers linked to President Obama -  initial signs of Fraud in litigation in the US District Court, Washington DC

The case is characterized by the relatively simple underlying facts and law.  The Chief Judge of the US District Court in Washington DC Royce Lamberth may proceed to dismiss the complaint under pretense of judicial review.  However, the practice of pretense litigation undermines any remaining credibility of the US justice system.

Los Angeles, March 28 -  Human Rights Alert (NGO) and Joseph Zernik, PhD, have published commencing  records and reports from litigation of Taitz v Astrue in the US District Court, Washington DC, claiming that the litigation has already been set up for Fraud on the Court -  as pretense litigation. [i,ii]

The complaint in Taitz v Astrue was filed by Dr Orly Taitz against the Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue, pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act. The complaint pertained to refusal of the Social Security Administration to release information, which was requested as part of efforts to ascertain the validity, or lack thereof, of various Social Security numbers linked to President Barack Obama.

The complaint includes as exhibits two affidavits by licensed Private Investigators:

• Susan Elizabeth Daniels from Ohio, who located a total of nine (9) Social Security numbers linked to President Obama, and
• Neil Sankey from California (former Detective Sergeant, New Scotland Yard), who located a total of thirty nine (39) Social Security numbers linked to President Obama.  

While the significance of these findings is at present unclear, Dr Zernik claims that treatment of the case by the US District Court in Washington DC is alarming.

Review of commencing records in the litigation shows that:

• A civil docket was initiated in the case with invalid Civil Cover Sheet in disregard of the Civil Litigation Management Manual of the Judicial Conference of the United States; [iii]
• Summons was issued by the Office of the Clerk, but was not docketed, in apparent violation of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure;
• Since the Summons was not docketed, no electronic certificate of authentication/attestation (NEF  Notice of Electronic Filing) [iv,v] could possibly be issued for the Summons, which would therefore render the Summons an invalid court record;
• Chief Judge of the US District Court, Washington DC Royce Lamberth is listed as Presiding Judge in the case, with no valid Assignment Order.

Combined, the records indicate that from the outset the litigation of Taitz v Astrue has been set up by the Office of Clerk Nancy Mayer-Whittington and Chief Judge Royce Lamberth as pretense litigation.

Pretense litigation is the practice of the US courts of conducting court cases, where all records are deemed void by the court itself, but are published in the online public access system in a misleading manner as valid court records.  Minutes, orders, and judgment are not entered, or entered with invalid electronic certificate of authentication/attestation by the clerks of the courts.  In other cases, the offices of the clerks of the courts deny access to the electronic certificate of authentication/attestation in alleged violation of First Amendment rights.  Therefore, the US courts leave the public unable to distinguish, whether the court records are valid or void.  

The conduct of pretense litigation has been documented in the US courts from coast to coast, including cases of high public policy significance. [vi,vii] Some of the cases were extensively covered by both US and international media, which failed to report the invalidity of the litigation records. The practice is facilitated by the electronic public access and case management systems of the US courts (PACER and CM/ECF). [viii]

The case at hand is characterized by the relatively simple underlying facts and law.  The Chief Judge of the US District Court in Washington DC Royce Lamberth may proceed to dismiss the complaint under pretense of judicial review.  However, the practice of pretense litigation undermines any remaining credibility of the US justice system.

LINKS:
i. 11-02-16 Taitz v Astrue (1:11-cv-00402) in the US District Court, Washington, DC - pertaining to refusal of Social Security Administration to release information regarding President Obama's Social Security data - Dkt #001: Complaint, Exhibits, Cover Sheet, and NEF
http://www.scribd.com/doc/51556092/
ii.  11-03-26 Taitz v Astrue (1:11-cv-00402)  Initial signs of Fraud in litigation in the US District, Washington DC-s
http://www.scribd.com/doc/51680100/
iii. 10-11-19 Civil Litigation Management Manual, Second Edition (2010) Judicial Conference of the United States, Committee on Court Administration and Case Management
http://www.scribd.com/doc/43498081/ 
iv. 08-02-00 US District Court Central District of California: General Order 08-02, Authorizing CM/ECF, Digital Authentication and Attestation in NEFs
http://www.scribd.com/doc/27632471/
v. 10-04-01 Administrative Policies and Procedures for Electronic Filing - US District Court, Western District of Texas, Revised April 1, 2010
http://www.scribd.com/doc/48329825/
vi. Zernik, Joseph: Securities and Exchange Commission v Bank of America Corporation - Pretense Litigation and Pretense Banking Regulation in the United States
http://www.scribd.com/doc/44663232/
vii, 11-01-07 Log Cabin Republicans v USA et al (10-56634) at the US Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit - Motion to Intervene and Concomitantly Filed Papers as published in the online PACER dockets
http://www.scribd.com/doc/46516034/ 
viii. 10-08-18 Zernik, J: Data Mining of Online Judicial Records of the Networked US Federal Courts, International Journal on Social Media: Monitoring, Measurement, Mining, 1:69-83 (2010)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/38328585/

11-03-28 Restricting Trade Unions // La restricción de los sindicatos // 限制工会

Lawless Wisconsin GOPers Defy Court Order Against Anti-Union Law

Last week, a Wisconsin judge issued an order“restrain[ing] and enjoin[ing] the further implementation” of Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) anti-worker law until she has time to fully consider a lawsuit claiming that the law was not validly enacted. Yet, despite this clear and unambiguous order, Walker and his allies have decided that they are not bound by the law:

In a stunning twist, Gov. Scott Walker’s legislation limiting collective bargaining for public workers was published Friday despite a judge’s hold on the measure, prompting a dispute over whether it takes effect Saturday. [...]
“It’s published,” [Senate Majority Leader Scott] Fitzgerald said. “It’s law. That’s what I contend.” [...]
Walker’s top cabinet official, Administration Secretary Mike Huebsch, gave only a brief statement reacting to Friday’s news.
“Today the administration was notified that the LRB published the budget-repair bill as required by law,” he said. “The administration will carry out the law as required.”

Under Wisconsin law, someone who intentionally defies a court order is in contempt of court, and can be fined up to $2,000 for each day that they disobey the court or imprisoned for up to six months.

Ohio GOP Revises Union Bill

Lawmakers, Fearing Legal Fights and a Voter Backlash, Soften Some Provisions

BY KRIS MAHER AND JAMES R. HAGERTY

COLUMBUS, Ohio—The most ambitious attempt by a state this year to restrict union rights is being scaled back to reflect some Republicans' concerns that it is vulnerable to legal challenges and would spark a backlash.

The leader of the effort to downsize Ohio Senate Bill 5 is Sen. Bill Seitz, a conservative who was behind the state law banning same-sex marriages and rules limiting damages in civil lawsuits. Mr. Seitz and five other Republican state senators voted against the bill and are pressing for revisions in the state House, which is considering the bill now.

The back-and-forth among Ohio Republicans ...

Thousands of union supporters march through downtown LA

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Darsha Philips
More: Bio, E-mail, Recent Stories, News Team

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Some 10,000 people marched through downtown Los Angeles supporting union workers in Wisconsin in what protesters have dubbed, "Solidarity Saturday."

Wisconsin passed a law stripping public employee unions of collective bargaining rights and local protesters say it could happen in Southern California.
Union members and their allies gathered at the Los Angeles Convention Center and marched onward to Pershing Square in hopes of sending out a message that collective bargaining rights cannot be taken away from unions.
A controversial bill in Wisconsin has pitted Democrats and Republicans against each other, limiting collective bargaining rights of government employees.
The bill was signed into law by Republican Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. Legislators and governors in several other states are seeking to adopt similar laws, citing budget problems.

The bill was blocked by a judge but published online on Friday by the state's Legislative Reference Bureau, which essentially means it would go into effect.
Ultimately, though, the state Supreme Court will likely decide the law's fate. A state appeals court earlier in the week asked the Supreme Court to take up one of several lawsuits challenging its approval of the bill.
The president of Professional Firefighters of Wisconsin came to California for Saturday's rally, and though firefighters and law enforcement officials are exempt from the bill, Mahlon Mitchell said he came to support all workers and protect the rights of the middle class.
"I think the future of unions are in trouble. They're in danger. But this is not just about unions. This is about the middle class. It's about a movement that the middle class has to stand up for themselves, because if we don't stand up now, we'll continue to have more attacks later," said Mitchell.
Marchers were making their way through downtown before reaching Pershing Square, where a rally was planned with music and speakers.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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