Even biased judges sometimes decide cases correctly, and with free speech experts of all stripes applauding the Citizens United decision, it’s far from apparent the Supremes falsely interpreted the First Amendment for political or ideological reasons.
Refuting conventional wisdom that the man who wrote the majority opinion was nefariously motivated, left-leaning constitutional scholar Jonathan Turley told Keith Olbermann: “[Justice Anthony] Kennedy is no corporate shill. He really believes in this...It’s all about limiting speech."
Wyclef Jean’s defensive and amateurish video response to legitimate questions about his NGO, Yéle Haiti, suggests doubts about the charity are well-founded. Under fire for alleged financial improprieties and the perception he’s in over his head trying to raise funds on a massive scale for earthquake victims in Haiti, Jean simply ignored concerns about Yéle’s ability to compete with larger and more established groups such as the American Red Cross.
At a public hearing Wednesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Chad Hummel, the lead defense attorney in Roman Polanski's criminal matter, wanted it known that although he had recently asked for an in-chambers meeting to confer about one particular issue of "great sensitivity," he had never suggested anything else shouldn't be discussed in open court.
One reason I don't hate Roman Polanski is I don't know exactly what he did with or to Samantha Geimer in 1977. Moreover, compared to those who perniciously enable systemic corruption by obsessing over the punishment of one person, I think Polanski's reaction to evident judicial misconduct is laudable. Why should anyone take that crap?
Demonstrating the same lack of self-esteem as prisoners who beat up child molesters, noisy segments of the American population continue to hyperventilate over Roman Polanski as if the sexual abuse of minors were not already sufficiently condemned by our society.
When Emily Bazelon of Slate.com recently asked Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley about the Roman Polanski case, “Cooley’s deputy tried to shush him.” But the DA was apparently in no mood to remain silent.
It’s a fallacy that there’s a morally or legally significant difference between what Robert Halderman stands accused of doing, and what agents and lawyers do all the time. Halderman had a marketable story to sell. Just because most agents and lawyers wouldn’t go to David Letterman’s house doesn’t mean that going to Letterman’s house is a criminal act. It’s not unlawful to sell a story without using an agent or a lawyer, and making a proposal to someone who might be embarrassed by the dissemination of a story isn’t prohibited.
Gary Gordon, a brilliant musician-satirist who nails it every time he takes the stage, suggested we approach The Lowdown as sort of an updated version of The Dick Cavett Show with each of our events focusing on a particular topic that changes from show to show. Even though he had fed me half a Quaalude while groping me in a hot tub just prior to making that suggestion, I really think it’s a good idea. It’s so good, in fact, that I’ve decided not to press charges, although I have no control over what the DA or Swiss authorities might choose to do.
Whether it’s attributable to routine incompetence or more nefarious motives, most U.S. media organizations have been treating allegations of election fraud in Iran as statements of fact. In particular, talk radio and cable news interviewees who claim the recent presidential election was fixed, are not being asked to support their assertions even though articles published by The Washington Post, Truthdig and Politico offer compelling evidence that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is the likely victor.
In his interview with Roland Burris Wednesday, Chris Matthews conducted himself not as a fair-minded journalist but a prosecutor who believes it’s okay to conceal exculpatory evidence to win a case. Like everyone else who has been sucked in by a lynch mob mentality at Burris’s expense, Matthews simply ignored that it was completely routine for Robert Blagojevich, brother of Gov. Rod Blagojevich, to have sought a campaign contribution from Burris in a telephone conversation.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
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