Others have made the case more eloquently than I. The Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld cabal sold this war to the American people with lies and fear. It has cost, to date, some $748 BILLION dollars, 4500 American lives and the deaths of countless innocent Iraqis.  As a lawyer, I always hear that we are a nation of laws. Then now let those laws be enforced. Let those who avoided service when it was their turn now be accountable to the American people for this tragic farce.

Attorney General Holder: Go to work.

Now I admit to being something of a Constitutional nerd. I hand copies to each new class I teach and tell them how vitally important it is that they get acquainted with it. Well, in getting ready for the forthcoming semester, I am reminded of Article VI, Clause 3, which reads in relevant part:

“…no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or Public Trust under the United States.”

Tricky document that Constitution.

In a criminal case, a jury must render a unanimous verdict for either acquittal or conviction. When a jury cannot reach a unanimous verdict, the result is a hung jury, or in legal lingo, a mistrial.

When there is a mistrial, the law allows the prosecutors a do-over. That means the bumblers in the U.S Attorney’s office get to spend our money to try the case all over again. And no, the doctrine of double jeopardy does not apply to mistrials. Almost as soon as the result was announced, the lead prosecutor, a hot shot named Patrick Fitzgerald, said how he was going to retry Blago.

Prosecutorial behavior often amazes me. Because they are armed with our money, every time they have an axe to grind they can just try, try and try again. I’m no fan of Blago, a bungling clown in his own right, but I question the motives of a prosecutor who could only get a guilty verdict on 1 of 24 counts. If he wants to pout because his slam dunk case just bounced off the rim, let him do it…but on his own dime.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFC8mNdxV0c

Of course other cops showed up. Then they realized it was one of their own who pulled the gun. He got away. With a police escort.

Shame.

Health care. During the campaign the President was a proponent of universal health care. Not anymore. The President offered no plan of his own, leaving it to that impotent debating society known also as Congress. The health care bill we’re about to get does nothing to reform health insurance, where the true change is needed.

The economy. Unemployment at 10%? Continued bailouts? Stimulus? Who stimulated what for whom? The same old crew who oversaw the economic collapse is still in charge. Wall Street rebounds while regular folks keep getting laid off. Again, instead of genuine economic reform, all the current leadership seems to be doing is looking to restore the status quo ante.

The war(s). Escalation in Afghanistan? Secret incursions into Pakistan (can you say Cambodia 1970?). And a Nobel Peace Prize?

His TV commercials are very misleading. His offer is too. So, as my old Latin teacher used to say, “caveat emptor” (let the buyer beware).  And don’t try his product.

There is something Teddy, quoting his brother Jack, said that helped me clarify my own political philosophy. It also helped me clarify my view of the world. They are words to live by. I put those words here today in the hope that they will continue to inspire me, and perhaps others.

“If by ‘Liberal’ they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people — their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties — someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a “Liberal,” then I’m proud to say I’m a “Liberal.”

RIP.

One day in October 2003, a school administrator, believing that Savana was giving ibuprofen to friends directed that the school nurse conduct a strip search of Savana. Further description of the event is unnecessary.

It is well settled that children do not surrender their civil rights at the schoolhouse door. American schools are all too often little more than warehouses for children, where the goal is more order than education. I have seen in my own practice how school administrators have abused the vast power they wield in the schoolhouse. In one case of mine a student dropped a prescription pill he had, lawfully, on his person. What was the school’s first reaction? To get the student to the school nurse to see if there might be some immediate medical problem? To call the student’s parent to be sure the medication was proper? No. The child was sent home under suspension. The the police were called. By the time I was contacted, local law enforcement was about to launch an investigation aimed at charging this student with possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, i.e. drug dealing. The kid dropped a pill he was supposed to take with his lunch. It was a misunderstanding. But when I met with school administrators, they treated this child as if he were a criminal..with disdain and disregard. Unacceptable.

This is not to say that school administrators should not be concerned about possible drug trafficking on school premises. Of course they should. However, as the court said in this decision, while latitude must be allowed to school administrators in order that they protect the students in their charge, the Fourth Amendment places limits on how far they can go. This time they went too far.

Score one for the Bill of Rights.