Whenever they don't like a judicial decision, many conservatives rant against 'unelected judges'... except of course, for US Supreme Court justices Scalia and Thomas. Calling a judge unelected is suppose to delegitimize his or her authority, even though our sainted Founding Fathers structured the judiciary this way intentionally to give it a degree of independence.
However, electing judges, as most states do to varying degrees, has its own problems. In a system where money is fraudulently equated to speech, elected judges are subject to the same corrupting influence of legalized campaign bribes as elected politicians.
New York's top judge has recognized this and made the state the first in the nation to implement a policy on the financing of judicial campaigns. Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman announced new rules that would bar judges in the state from hearing any case in which the lawyers or participants donated $2,500 or more to the judge's electoral campaign.
This is a very welcome move by the chief judge to help ensure the integrity of the courts. The move also recognizes the corrupting influence of money on electoral campaigns in a way that should give lie to the 'money equals speech' fraud.
Showing posts with label judges. Show all posts
Showing posts with label judges. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Random thoughts
PRIORITIES
The American people had no problem with kidnapping random and sundry foreigners on foreign soil, guilty or not, and “renditioning” them to torturous regimes under the pretext of national security. We had no problem with funding such tortuous regimes with oodles of your tax money (but God forbid we help working Americans get health care). We had no problem with our agents doing the torturing themselves. We had no problem with the horrors revealed in Wikileaks’ Afghan and Iraq war logs (sorry I can’t link to them as Wikileaks’ site curiously appears to be down). Heck, we had little problem with the insane and counterproductive aggression against Iraq in the first place, even after the WMD fairy refused to show us where those weapons were. But we draw the line at airport pat downs and body scanners?
**
NATIONAL 'DON'T USE YOUR BRAIN' DAY
First, there was a national “Don’t Buy Gas” Day protest. Now, there’s a “Buy Nothing” Day. Do people realize how stupid and pointless these one day protests are? Do you seriously think you’re sending a warning to the consumerist economy by refusing to spend a dime on useless crap today but then going out and buying useless crap tomorrow? Is the self-indulgence of empty symbolism really that powerful? If you really want to send a message, don’t change your day. Change your dang lifestyle.
**
ACCOUNTABILITY FOR ONE, ACCOUNTABILITY FOR ALL
If teachers should be held “accountable” via their students’ test scores, shouldn’t corrections officers be similarly held “accountable” via their released prisoners’ recidivism rates?
**
THE JUDICIARY HIJACKED BY THE MOB
So Mike Huckabee is gloating that he and his fellow theocrats helped oust several Iowa Supreme Court justices who ruled in favor of equal protection of the law for gay citizens. He claimed that the ruling sent a message.
It sent a message indeed: beyond a certain level, we shouldn't have elected judges.
The system here in New York is fine. Trial court judges are elected. But appellate court judges, those who set precedents, are appointed by the governor and approved by the legislature but to a limited term of office. This gives them a certain degree of accountability but shields them to a certain extent from mob fury.
The judiciary is not supposed represent the "will of the people." It's supposed to uphold constitutions, including minority rights protections, regardless of what the hysteria or scapegoat of the day happens to be.
And it sent another message about why electing judges is dangerous: it lends itself to the same corruption of outside money as the election of politicians.
**
OXYMORON OF THE DAY
New York’s governor-elect wants the judiciary to intervene in a few close election recounts to ensure that we have a “functioning Senate” in January. It’s amusing that he thinks the courts can impose this. Between being run by boobs and criminals (convicted, indicted and not-yet-indicted), NYS hasn’t had a functioning Senate in several years.
**
MONEY WELL SPENT?
The US alone has spent $56 billion on “Afghanistan reconstruction.” For reference, if the US had instead divvied up that money equally and directly given it to the people, that would have put $2000 in the hands of every single Afghan.
**
FORTUNATELY NO ONE EXPECTS COHERENCE FROM SPORTS ANNOUNCERS
Soccer commentators should be thrashed for improper use of the word 'unlucky.' Hitting a shot 15 feet over the cross bar or, worse, out for a throw in is NOT unlucky; it's incompetent. Unlucky is the FC Dallas player who scored the own goal on Sunday night.
**
RADIATING FURY
Last month, Hundreds of gallons of radioactive water from a cleanup at the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory spilled from a drainage pipe into the Mohawk River in NY’s Capital District, according to an article in the Albany Times Union. A failed sump pump system caused about 630 gallons of tainted water -- containing Cesium-137, Strontium-90, uranium and plutonium -- to overflow into a culvert draining directly into the river, [the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation] reported.
The T-U described these as ‘known carcinogens.’
I can’t imagine why there’s public reticence about the expansion of nuclear power as an energy source.
The American people had no problem with kidnapping random and sundry foreigners on foreign soil, guilty or not, and “renditioning” them to torturous regimes under the pretext of national security. We had no problem with funding such tortuous regimes with oodles of your tax money (but God forbid we help working Americans get health care). We had no problem with our agents doing the torturing themselves. We had no problem with the horrors revealed in Wikileaks’ Afghan and Iraq war logs (sorry I can’t link to them as Wikileaks’ site curiously appears to be down). Heck, we had little problem with the insane and counterproductive aggression against Iraq in the first place, even after the WMD fairy refused to show us where those weapons were. But we draw the line at airport pat downs and body scanners?
**
NATIONAL 'DON'T USE YOUR BRAIN' DAY
First, there was a national “Don’t Buy Gas” Day protest. Now, there’s a “Buy Nothing” Day. Do people realize how stupid and pointless these one day protests are? Do you seriously think you’re sending a warning to the consumerist economy by refusing to spend a dime on useless crap today but then going out and buying useless crap tomorrow? Is the self-indulgence of empty symbolism really that powerful? If you really want to send a message, don’t change your day. Change your dang lifestyle.
**
ACCOUNTABILITY FOR ONE, ACCOUNTABILITY FOR ALL
If teachers should be held “accountable” via their students’ test scores, shouldn’t corrections officers be similarly held “accountable” via their released prisoners’ recidivism rates?
**
THE JUDICIARY HIJACKED BY THE MOB
So Mike Huckabee is gloating that he and his fellow theocrats helped oust several Iowa Supreme Court justices who ruled in favor of equal protection of the law for gay citizens. He claimed that the ruling sent a message.
It sent a message indeed: beyond a certain level, we shouldn't have elected judges.
The system here in New York is fine. Trial court judges are elected. But appellate court judges, those who set precedents, are appointed by the governor and approved by the legislature but to a limited term of office. This gives them a certain degree of accountability but shields them to a certain extent from mob fury.
The judiciary is not supposed represent the "will of the people." It's supposed to uphold constitutions, including minority rights protections, regardless of what the hysteria or scapegoat of the day happens to be.
And it sent another message about why electing judges is dangerous: it lends itself to the same corruption of outside money as the election of politicians.
**
OXYMORON OF THE DAY
New York’s governor-elect wants the judiciary to intervene in a few close election recounts to ensure that we have a “functioning Senate” in January. It’s amusing that he thinks the courts can impose this. Between being run by boobs and criminals (convicted, indicted and not-yet-indicted), NYS hasn’t had a functioning Senate in several years.
**
MONEY WELL SPENT?
The US alone has spent $56 billion on “Afghanistan reconstruction.” For reference, if the US had instead divvied up that money equally and directly given it to the people, that would have put $2000 in the hands of every single Afghan.
**
FORTUNATELY NO ONE EXPECTS COHERENCE FROM SPORTS ANNOUNCERS
Soccer commentators should be thrashed for improper use of the word 'unlucky.' Hitting a shot 15 feet over the cross bar or, worse, out for a throw in is NOT unlucky; it's incompetent. Unlucky is the FC Dallas player who scored the own goal on Sunday night.
**
RADIATING FURY
Last month, Hundreds of gallons of radioactive water from a cleanup at the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory spilled from a drainage pipe into the Mohawk River in NY’s Capital District, according to an article in the Albany Times Union. A failed sump pump system caused about 630 gallons of tainted water -- containing Cesium-137, Strontium-90, uranium and plutonium -- to overflow into a culvert draining directly into the river, [the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation] reported.
The T-U described these as ‘known carcinogens.’
I can’t imagine why there’s public reticence about the expansion of nuclear power as an energy source.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Bits and pieces
PR FOR DICTATORS
A New York Times' piece explores efforts by the world's worst dictator, Equatorial Guinea's Teodoro Obiang Nguema, to refashion his image.
OILY JUDGES
On January 20, 2009, most of America rejoiced at the end of the error that was the Bush/Cheney regime. However, the effects of the oil men's reign was always going to last far more than eight years. The BP/Gulf of Mexico oil cataclysm is the logical consequence of the Bush/Cheney/Tea Party ideology of letting industry regulate itself without the meddling of 'liberty snatching' government. An Associated Press analysis points out another consequence: the majority of federal judges in the Gulf coast have financial connections to the oil and gas industry. These are the judges that would hear lawsuits relating to the oil catastrophe.
PUNDITOCRCACY CONTINUES TO SUFFOCATE JOURNALISM
I've frequently commented on the manner in which the punditocracy suffocates the practice of journalism... specifically how polls, speculation and horse race crap is replacing the real news reporting. In defending this, corporate media types piously claim that it's not because the horse race crap is easy, lazy stuff but that they are just giving the people what they want. The Washington Post's excellent media critic Howard Kurtz gives lie to that claim. In a Tweet, he pointed out that 5 pct. of people were interested in last week's primaries but they got 18 pct. of the news coverage.
SHOULD HETEROSEXUALS BE ALLOWED TO ADOPT KIDS?
CNN reports on a quarter century long study published in the journal Pediatrics concluding that kids of lesbians have fewer behavioral problems than their powers. This will surely have no impact on the opinions of the far right, the Catholic Church and other groups who reject scientific analysis on principle. But it begs the question: should heterosexual adoption be banned? For the well-being of the children, of course.
WORLD CUP STARTS TODAY!
And the world's most important sport event in its most beloved sport starts today. From now until July 11, the soccer World Cup will be held in sites throughout South Africa. For one month out of every four years, soccer fans in America get to be as insufferable as fans of the boring pointyball are for the other 47 months. My predicted semifinalists are Argentina, Spain, the Netherlands and Nigeria (though watch out for dark horses Serbia, Uruguay and Cameroon), with Spain beating the Netherlands in the final. The US plays the hated England tomorrow at 2:30p ET, Slovenia next Friday and Algeria the following Wednesday. The full World Cup broadcast schedule can be found here. C'mon USA!
A New York Times' piece explores efforts by the world's worst dictator, Equatorial Guinea's Teodoro Obiang Nguema, to refashion his image.
OILY JUDGES
On January 20, 2009, most of America rejoiced at the end of the error that was the Bush/Cheney regime. However, the effects of the oil men's reign was always going to last far more than eight years. The BP/Gulf of Mexico oil cataclysm is the logical consequence of the Bush/Cheney/Tea Party ideology of letting industry regulate itself without the meddling of 'liberty snatching' government. An Associated Press analysis points out another consequence: the majority of federal judges in the Gulf coast have financial connections to the oil and gas industry. These are the judges that would hear lawsuits relating to the oil catastrophe.
PUNDITOCRCACY CONTINUES TO SUFFOCATE JOURNALISM
I've frequently commented on the manner in which the punditocracy suffocates the practice of journalism... specifically how polls, speculation and horse race crap is replacing the real news reporting. In defending this, corporate media types piously claim that it's not because the horse race crap is easy, lazy stuff but that they are just giving the people what they want. The Washington Post's excellent media critic Howard Kurtz gives lie to that claim. In a Tweet, he pointed out that 5 pct. of people were interested in last week's primaries but they got 18 pct. of the news coverage.
SHOULD HETEROSEXUALS BE ALLOWED TO ADOPT KIDS?
CNN reports on a quarter century long study published in the journal Pediatrics concluding that kids of lesbians have fewer behavioral problems than their powers. This will surely have no impact on the opinions of the far right, the Catholic Church and other groups who reject scientific analysis on principle. But it begs the question: should heterosexual adoption be banned? For the well-being of the children, of course.
WORLD CUP STARTS TODAY!
And the world's most important sport event in its most beloved sport starts today. From now until July 11, the soccer World Cup will be held in sites throughout South Africa. For one month out of every four years, soccer fans in America get to be as insufferable as fans of the boring pointyball are for the other 47 months. My predicted semifinalists are Argentina, Spain, the Netherlands and Nigeria (though watch out for dark horses Serbia, Uruguay and Cameroon), with Spain beating the Netherlands in the final. The US plays the hated England tomorrow at 2:30p ET, Slovenia next Friday and Algeria the following Wednesday. The full World Cup broadcast schedule can be found here. C'mon USA!
Monday, November 02, 2009
Guide to judicial candidates
Adirondack Almanack has a useful guide to local judicial candidates for the state Supreme Court* as well as a link to a statewide guide.
*-The Supreme Court is actually the lowest level (trial) court in the New York state system and its justices are elected.
*-The Supreme Court is actually the lowest level (trial) court in the New York state system and its justices are elected.
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