A few stories of note
These stories here aren't literally connected with much we've been talking about, but they are there thematically.
Start with Ukraine. Arrests were made yesterday in the 4-year-old murder of Georgian journalist Heorhiy Gongadze, found beheaded in the Ukraine in September of 2000. Why is this important? It was widely believed that Gongadze, an intense investigative journalist and enemy of the Ukrainian regime, was killed at the behest of ex-President Leonoid Kuchma. On a curse-laced tape from an ex-bodyguard, a voice that supposedly is Kuchma is heard speaking of Gongazde in less than flattering terms: "drive him out, throw him out, give him to the Chechens." Generally, when one is given to the Chechens it is not for a pleasant reason. And Gongazde ended up dead. There were protests, which threatened the government, but nothing came of it.
However, following the Orange Revolution, reformist President Viktor Yuschenko has re-opened the case, claiming that Kuchma's government "sheltered Gongadze's killers." This is more than political retribution; this speaks to the heart of the Ukranian Revolution: a journalist cannot be killed for being disagreeable, and there is no one who cannot be held accountable. Even the "ruling class," who previously seemed untouchable in perpetuity.
A bad note, close to home. The husband and 80-year-old mother of US District Judge Joan Lefkow were found murdered in their Chicago home. There are no solid suspects yet, but Judge Lefkow had previously found the vile Matthew Hale in contempt of court, and has been his main legal foe. Hale is the founder and High Priest (or whatever) of the Creativity Movement, formerly the World Church of the Creator. This is a violent, absurd and previously dangerous White Supremacist group that was responsible for the murders of several people, including former Northwestern basketball coach Ricky Byrdsong, on a hot, bullet-filled night in Chicago's ethnically-diverse Roger's Park.
Now, Hale is in jail, locked up so deep and so tight that he can't preach his "Racial Holy War" (or RaHoWa, as is their idiotic rallying cry). They believe there is no god, no heaven or hell, but only the white "race" to stand supreme. Hale is removed from that now, but it stands to reason that any of his followers, who now officially eschew violence, could have done this. It also might not have been them- a judge has a lot of enemies, and it seems her husband had his share of them as well- but that it seems to make sense to fit the murders as part of a RaHoWa (Lefkow is not Jewish, but Hale believes she is) shows that some of the stories around the world fit easily inside an American framework as well. There are bad and stupid thugs everywhere.
But progress inches here, as it should. The US Supreme Court ruled executing people who committed their crimes at 16 or 17 cannot be eligible for the death penalty. It was, of course, a 5-4 decision, and could be reversed with judicial changes, but it was an important ruling in the expansion of the 8th Admendment. Torture and the death penalty are the rights of kings, not of men who bind themselves only to temporal documents, like the Constitution. Torture and execution are for Saudi Arabia. They are the vestiges of tyranny. Every step we take to abolish both makes America a more civilized, decent, and honest country, true to itself, and every step we take away shames the founding documents.
Start with Ukraine. Arrests were made yesterday in the 4-year-old murder of Georgian journalist Heorhiy Gongadze, found beheaded in the Ukraine in September of 2000. Why is this important? It was widely believed that Gongadze, an intense investigative journalist and enemy of the Ukrainian regime, was killed at the behest of ex-President Leonoid Kuchma. On a curse-laced tape from an ex-bodyguard, a voice that supposedly is Kuchma is heard speaking of Gongazde in less than flattering terms: "drive him out, throw him out, give him to the Chechens." Generally, when one is given to the Chechens it is not for a pleasant reason. And Gongazde ended up dead. There were protests, which threatened the government, but nothing came of it.
However, following the Orange Revolution, reformist President Viktor Yuschenko has re-opened the case, claiming that Kuchma's government "sheltered Gongadze's killers." This is more than political retribution; this speaks to the heart of the Ukranian Revolution: a journalist cannot be killed for being disagreeable, and there is no one who cannot be held accountable. Even the "ruling class," who previously seemed untouchable in perpetuity.
A bad note, close to home. The husband and 80-year-old mother of US District Judge Joan Lefkow were found murdered in their Chicago home. There are no solid suspects yet, but Judge Lefkow had previously found the vile Matthew Hale in contempt of court, and has been his main legal foe. Hale is the founder and High Priest (or whatever) of the Creativity Movement, formerly the World Church of the Creator. This is a violent, absurd and previously dangerous White Supremacist group that was responsible for the murders of several people, including former Northwestern basketball coach Ricky Byrdsong, on a hot, bullet-filled night in Chicago's ethnically-diverse Roger's Park.
Now, Hale is in jail, locked up so deep and so tight that he can't preach his "Racial Holy War" (or RaHoWa, as is their idiotic rallying cry). They believe there is no god, no heaven or hell, but only the white "race" to stand supreme. Hale is removed from that now, but it stands to reason that any of his followers, who now officially eschew violence, could have done this. It also might not have been them- a judge has a lot of enemies, and it seems her husband had his share of them as well- but that it seems to make sense to fit the murders as part of a RaHoWa (Lefkow is not Jewish, but Hale believes she is) shows that some of the stories around the world fit easily inside an American framework as well. There are bad and stupid thugs everywhere.
But progress inches here, as it should. The US Supreme Court ruled executing people who committed their crimes at 16 or 17 cannot be eligible for the death penalty. It was, of course, a 5-4 decision, and could be reversed with judicial changes, but it was an important ruling in the expansion of the 8th Admendment. Torture and the death penalty are the rights of kings, not of men who bind themselves only to temporal documents, like the Constitution. Torture and execution are for Saudi Arabia. They are the vestiges of tyranny. Every step we take to abolish both makes America a more civilized, decent, and honest country, true to itself, and every step we take away shames the founding documents.
posted by cairobrian | 3:23 PM
4 Comments:
props to the scotus (kennedy in particular for tipping the scales), and there is one prospective fallout from that decision and the new a.c.l.u. suit against rumsfeld that may not be immediately obvious. when rummy is tried and found liable for the torture abuses at abu ghraib, since he is considered to have the mental capacity of a 16-year old, we will not be able to impose the death penalty. but brian inadvertently gave us the perfect solution: give him to the chechens!
I am a student from your brother's Current Issues class and I would like to compliment you on your site; I've been greatly interested in everything you've been writing.
I agree with you when you say that a progressive step was taken in the abolition of the death penalty for minors. It is not only a violation of the 8th Amendment, but it contradicts the American idea of a citizen's basic rights. Obviously minors are not average citizens; they are "special people" protected from the dangers of cigarettes, alocohol and voting(?). How could we expect a minor to be subject to these same standards of punishment alongside average Americans if he is not yet granted the right to vote for a voice which may represent him in such issues as...well...the death penalty?
If we minors must mature to the age of eighteen in order to enjoy all of our rights and escape such protective regulations, then we should certainly be alloted the same time for maturation before we might pay for crimes with our lives. One step back from a Saudi-like stance on justice. Hurrah America!
Bully to young KP for picking up on one of the fundamental hypocrisies of the death penalty. A 16-year-old is judged, in this nanny society, not to be able to make certain decisons- but if he or she makes one (very) bad decision, the state arrogates upon itself the right to take away life. This is one major piece of the whole absurd and atavistic tapestry that makes up the pro-death penalty argument.
I found Kennedy's idea of the evolving morality intriguing. Scalia hates that kind of talk, but if you take Scalia literally (which I don't even think he does) slavery would still be around and women wouldn't be able to vote. So there are bad and good things to this worldview.
Joking!
No, Scalia just pretends to be the strict, sighing patriarch of original intent only when it suits his purposes. He doesn't really mean that the country should have the same morality is had in 1789- but he gets points for posturing that way while catering to the right, who haven't really shown much respect for the Constitution anyway. Evolving morality is a topic we may try to tackle here a little later on. It will involve meme theory. Excited?
Give Rummy to the Chechens. Nice. I'd like to see him try to pull of that grimiacing, condescending act when Aslan Mashkadov asks if he wants one bullet or two.
i wholeheartedly agree with gregory on rumsfeld's entertainment value. in truth, we haven't seen a presidential appointee as hostile to the fourth estate in some time, maybe since bob mcnamara. (disclaimer: i wasn't born till after 'nam, but i'm safely past beer-drinking age.) his press conferences have always been first-rate, but i'm a particularly big fan of his work in congressional hearings. it's one thing to be pompous and contemptuous with the press, but to tell a group of senators that you have to cut short a hearing about the defense budget because you "have to get to lunch" — now that is recalcitrance personified.
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