Archive for the ‘Law’ Category

Choosing One’s Enemies Wisely

Sunday, December 11th, 2005

Conventional political wisdom holds that presidential candidates must tack toward the extremes of their party in order to secure the nomination and then race to claim the center for the general election. The trick is not to drift so far to the extremes that it becomes rhetorically difficult to credibly move back to the center. Consequently, if a candidate has little competition in the primaries, it is easier to linger around the center. This is what gives incumbent presidents such an advantage. Many times they are unchallenged in the primaries. With no tug from the extremes, their base secure, they can reach toward the center to persuade less partisan voters.

Among Democrats or those independents who might vote in Democrat primaries, a NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll reports that Senator Hillary Clinton leads her nearest rival, former Senator John Edwards, 41% to 14%. Not only is the lead large, but John Edwards does not arise from the Left end of the Democratic Party. Hillary Clinton is not currently being pulled to the Left in the 2008 race.

The Iraq War may prove to be the most divisive issue in 2008. Senator Clinton voted to authorize the President to use military force in Iraq. In October 2002, Hillary Clinton took a hard line against Saddam Hussein when she argued:

“In the four years since the inspectors left, intelligence reports show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock, his missile delivery capability, and his nuclear program. He has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including Al Qaeda members, though there is apparently no evidence of his involvement in the terrible events of September 11, 2001. It is clear, however, that if left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical warfare, and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons. Should he succeed in that endeavor, he could alter the political and security landscape of the Middle East, which as we know all too well affects American security.”

Should the War in Iraq prove successful, she could credibly claim that she supported the war all along. Senator Clinton realizes that a potential perceived weakness of a woman seriously running for president for the first time could be national security. One calculation is that she is given so much deference by the Left of her party, that she can remain relatively hawkish on the war with little consequence to her support with the Democratic base.

However, it now appears that she is being dogged at recent fund-raising events by a group a far-Left feminists call Code Pink. Code Pink’s positions include support for Cuba’s Fidel Castro and Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez. The group from Code Pink interrupts her speeches with angry chants of “Troops out now.”

Senator Clinton could not be more fortunate in selecting her enemies. She may be undergoing her equivalent of her husband’s “Sister Souljah Moment.” In 1992, when Bill Clinton was running for president, he earned the reputation as a panderer, one who promised everything to every Democratic constituent group. Democratic competitor Paul Tsongas coined the term “panderer bear” as a clever anti-Clinton retort.

Sister Souljah was a rapper who had made some extreme and divisive statements. Clinton repudiated her statements in front of an African-American audience changing his reputation from a special interest panderer to a moderate who would standup to special interest groups. It helped get him elected.

If Senator Clinton continues to stand up to the extreme anti-war Left, she may convince the moderate electorate that she shares their values even if it conflicts with extreme parts of the Democratic base.

The King Solomon Judical Test

Sunday, December 11th, 2005

The Biblical story of King Solomon is a familiar one. Two women both claim the same child and Solomon, in his wisdom, must decide which woman’s claim is more credible. He decided that the child be physicallysplit in two and divided between the women. One woman accepts the terms. The other renounces her claim because she would rather suffer the acute pain of having her son raised by someone else than killed. Solomon immediately knew who the true mother was. It was the woman who put her child first.

The story illustrates an important point. The importance one places on something of value is, in part, measured by how much one is willing to forego for that value. Hence. it is more than a little ironic that the late New York Republican Representative Gerald Solomon helped pass an amendment in 1996 that requires that law schools give equal accommodation to military recruiters. Some law schools object to the Congressional directed “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy that prevents openly gay people from serving in the US military. The Solomon Amendment punishes the refusal to allow military recruiters the same access to student as other employers with a cut off of federal funds.

Schools have sued, but backed down. The rhetorical support of the gay rights agenda does not extend to declining federal funds as a matter of principle. Solomon’s Amendment helps us calibrate the value that these schools actually put on their self-righteous rhetoric.

Law schools have argued that the law suppresses their First Amendment right to express an opinion contrary to military policy. A law suit initiated by Yale Law School has made its way to the US Supreme Court. During recent oral arguments, the Court did not appear particularly sympathetic to Yale’s position. If the position of the law school holds, then anyone can claim exemption from a law because compliance would conflict with their right to express disagreement with the law.

The justices sliced through Joshua Rosenkranz who was one of the lawyers arguing in favor of the laws schools First Amendment right to ignore the law. When pressed by Justice Stephen Breyer, Rosenkranaz was forced to concede that such an interpretation would allow law schools to violate federal civil rights laws if they do so as a matter of conscience.

Justice Sandra Day O’Connor pointed out that colleges are still “entirely free to convey its message.” They could, for example, put signs all around the recruiters stating their opposition to the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. Military recruiters are willing to wade in unfriendly arenas and make their case for a military career to perspective law students. It is the law schools that seem unwilling to fairly compete in the arena of ideas.

New Chief Justice John Roberts made clear the choice to the attorneys representing the law schools. “You are perfectly free to do that [express your opposition to military policy by banning military recruiters], if you don’t take the money.” With this single statement, Justice Roberts applied the King Solomon test to assess the value these schools really put on their expressive conduct.

The Use of Torture

Sunday, November 27th, 2005

There are extreme situations when we grant authorities the discretion to perform acts that would not be permitted under circumstances where more deliberation or other alternatives are possible. For example, if a person is in imminent danger of being killed by a third party, a policeman can use lethal force to protect the threatened person. We would never allow police use of lethal force as summary punishment. However, we have collectively recognized that it is impossible and morally irresponsible to formulate absolutes like “lethal force will never be used.” It is possible to encounter difficult situations when it is necessary to opt between the lesser of two evils. We have consequently developed a whole jurisprudence about when lethal force can and should be applied. Generally, the balanced is tipped toward the protection of innocent life.

Charles Krauthammer has written a thoughtful piece in the Weekly Standard, “The Truth about Torture,” examining the circumstances under which torture might not only be morally permissible but a positive duty. The classic extreme case is when a captured terrorist knows the location of a nuclear weapon about to explode and kill many thousands of people. Is torture permissible to extract the information necessary to prevent this catastrophe? Krauthammer’s conclusion is direct: “Now, on most issues regarding torture, I confess tentativeness and uncertainty. But on this issue, there can be no uncertainty: Not only is it permissible to hang this miscreant by his thumbs. It is a moral duty.”

This case is certainly extreme, but this extreme educes an important principle. If there are cases when torture is ethically required, then morally serious people in government ought to establish guidelines for its appropriate use.

Senator John McCain’s bill prohibiting “cruel, inhuman, or degrading” interrogations by persons acting on behalf of the US government was passed by an overwhelming margin in the Senate. The Bush Administration was willing to accept categorical restrictions for the US military. Indeed, the limitations are already part of the Army Field Manual. However, the Administration did not want to establish an absolute prohibition for intelligence agencies.

If there are exigencies when torture is required, not delineating conditions for appropriate use could lead to two negative outcomes. First, the restrictions may tie the hands of officials when torture might be necessary. Or, torture is driven so deep underground that it is practiced without regulation and it becomes more likely to descend from a search for necessary information into unsanctioned punishment and revenge.

Krauthammer distinguishes between three types of detainees. The first are members of combatant militaries that are captured. These people ought to be treated with the utmost respect and deference. The Geneva Convention establishes conditions for treatment of these legal combatants less to protect detainees, then to protect civilians. In exchange for not targeting civilians and conducting operations in accord with the rules of war, military prisoners of war are detained only for the purpose of keeping detainees from the battle field. Detainees are held to keep them from battle, not for punishment.

The second group is composed of captured terrorists who have violated the rules of war but lack any especially useful information. By virtue of their violation of the rules of war, they have not earned any humane treatment. We treat them humanely and make sure they are reasonably comfortable, because we do not wish to pay the price of the emotional and moral damage of doing otherwise.

The third group consists of terrorists that have information that could save lives. This information could be of the immediate variety, where a terrorist knows of a particular bomb about to go off in a particular place. The second type of terrorist would be a very high level operative who has wide-range knowledge about future operations. Krauthammer argues that more aggressive interrogation is justified in such cases. The level of aggressiveness should be proportional to the immediacy and size of the future danger.

The use of torture not only dehumanizes the subject of the torture, but also the persons inflicting the pain. As a matter of maintaining the moral and warrior spirit of the military, military people ought not to be called upon to use aggressive interrogation techniques. These ought to applied by a small, well-trained cadre of experts and only under the supervision of independent quasi-judicial supervision.

Krauthammer may not have struck upon the proper balance between the sin of inhuman treatment against the sin of allowing innocents to die when it is in our power to stop it, but he has at least opened the debate in a constructive wave. The weighing of competing values is difficult and it can be too easy to hide mere retribution and vengeance behind a veil of civilian protection. The danger lies in becoming like the type of people we are seeking to protect ourselves from.

The categorical restrictions passed by the Senate may be a consequence of the concern that though torture may be necessary, an absolute prohibition prevents its misuse. This is a morally serious position. However, this very reasonable concern must be weighed against the destruction of innocent life. If the potential loss is grave, we may not be able to enjoy the luxury of categorical prohibitions.

The Administration has been negligent in not proffering a set of guidelines for reasonable and appropriate use of coercive interrogation techniques. At the same time, the moral posturing by a lop-sided vote in the Senate has shrouded clear thinking in a squid-like ink of moral vanity.

Libby Gets Indicted

Sunday, October 30th, 2005

Recently, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, resigned as Chief of Staff for Vice-President Dick Cheney after being indicted for perjury and obstruction of justice.  The indictment stems from an investigation surrounding the leaking of Valerie Plame’s identity as a CIA employee. Valerie Plame is the wife of Joseph Wilson, critic of the Bush Administration. Joseph Wilson asserts that the revelation of his wife’s employment was retaliation for his debunking of the claim in the President’s State of the Union address that “The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.”

There are a couple of critical problems with Wilson’s argument.  The first is that the President’s words are absolutely true and to this day, the British government stands by the intelligence assessment the President cited. Second, Wilson’s oral brief to the CIA upon returning from his short trip to Niger reported that Iraq had tried to obtain uranium yellowcake from Niger, though Niger declined Iraq’s overtures. The CIA believed Wilson’s report substantiated suspicions about Iraqi intentions. Third, Wilson self-aggrandizingly told the press that his report had debunked forgeries about Niger uranium sales. These papers had turned up in Italy. The timing for this claim of Wilson does not tally. The US did not come into possession of those forgeries until months after Wilson’s trip and report. This timeline can be found in the 9/11 Commission Report.

In 2003, Wilson was polluting political waters with inaccurate information and the Administration was clearly trying to deal with Wilson’s charges. Wilson claimed that he was sent to Niger on behalf of the Vice-President. The natural question was why Wilson. He was a critic of the Administration and a Gore supporter. He was not qualified in proliferation matters. Why would the Vice-President send him?  He didn’t. In the course of refuting Wilson, presumably Scooter Libby and perhaps others said the Wilson’s wife, an employee of the CIA, was responsible for the trip.  This was repeatedly denied by Wilson, whose pride as a former ambassador may have been wounded by the need for nepotism.  The 9/11 Commission unequivocally concluded that Ms. Plame recommended Wilson for the trip.

There was concern in 2003 that perhaps the identity of a CIA employee at been illegally compromised, but that particular charge seems not to have borne scrutiny. Libby, if he is found guilty, committed the crime obstructing an investigation premised on crime for which there is no prosecution.

If Libby did perjure himself or obstruct justice, then he should be appropriately punished.  Conservatives and Republicans should not be lured into the Clinton defense that perjury and obstruction of justice do not count if the underlying crime seems incommensurate with the penalties for perjury or obstruction of justice. For the answer as to Libby’s guilt we will have to await the results of a trial or plea bargain.

It should also be remembered that at this point, there only seems to be the prosecution of a person with regard to an issue orthogonal to lack of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The Left continues to push the narrative that Bush lied about WMD to get the US into Iraq. For that to be true, President Clinton, Senator Hillary Clinton, the Senate Intelligence Committee, the French, and the Germans would have to abetted in the lie, an unlikely alliance. The 9/11 Commission Report concluded as much, yet the Left still persists in its mendacity.

The Left had hoped that the Libby scandal would allow one more opportunity to peddle their deliberately misleading narrative about the origins of the war. Now it seems that the investigation has narrowed. The prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has said as much:

“This indictment is not about the war. This indictment’s not about the propriety of the war. And people who believe fervently in the war effort, people who oppose it, people who have mixed feelings about it should not look to this indictment for any resolution of how they feel or any vindication of how they feel.”

The Left does not really care about Scooter Libby or Valerie Plame. It only cares about undermining Bush.  Who knows? The may succeed one day.  But it hasn’t happened yet and the frustration will likely to increase the vitriol around the Libby case.

Liberal Recognizes Flaws in Roe v. Wade

Sunday, October 23rd, 2005

Occasionally Conservatives repeat themselves over and over again and it seems that no one is listening or at least the point is not fully appreciated. Then, when one least expects it, the message leaks through. For this we have, the reliably Left-wing Richard Cohen,  a pundit with the Washington Post, to thank. Conservatives have often said that the issue of abortion is really two issues that have been treated as one. The result of the failure to separate these issues is confusion, anger, and a judicial nomination process for the federal courts that has been deformed into a political slug fest, complete with character assassination and rhetorical hyperbole.

The first question is what status and what protections ought to be afforded a fetus.  At what point from conception to birth should a fetus be accorded rights associated with personhood?  The second question is what does the US Constitution say, if anything, about a right to an abortion.

The Conservative judicial position has always been that Roe v. Wade was wrongly decided as a matter of law.  While there is certainly a right of privacy in the Constitution, especially as embodied in the Forth Amendment’s protections “against unreasonable searches and seizures,” there is no right to procure whatever medical services one is willing to pay for.  The jurisprudence that gave us Roe v. Wade was entirely arbitrary.  There is no explicit or implied right that prevents state governments from regulating the circumstances and conditions of medical procedures.  Indeed, states and the federal government do so all the time, with nary a Constitutional whimper.

There are requirements on the length of hospital stays for certain procedures and limits on what drugs doctors can prescribe. Decisions on medical procedures are not the exclusive province of doctors and their patients. These requirements may be wise or foolish. They may not conform with a libertarian minimalist approach to government intrusion, but medicine is a business like others, provided to the general public, and there is no constitutional impediment to regulation. In Roe v. Wade the court simply decided that abortion ought to be legal and barely gave the Constitution a serious thought before the Court legislated its preferences.

Now even some Liberals are willing to appreciate the nature of the two arguments. As Cohen now concedes, the logic of Roe v. Wade “has not held up … It seems more fiat than argument.” Cohen has come to appreciate that the question of abortion ought to be decided by the public and not dictated by Courts.  Conservatives take heart, Apparently, he has been listening. Cohen is self-described as pro-choice, and finally sees the necessity of making the case for abortion to the public, to gain the legitimacy afforded from the assent of the governed.

If Roe v. Wade were overturned and states were left to their own devices, most would permit abortions of some type, particularly in the first trimester. Later-term abortions would be more regulated and minors would probably have to obtain the consent of a responsible adult (parent, guardian, or judge) to obtain an abortion.  There are some states that would be far more restrictive.  Under such a change, pro-abortion groups could devote their resources to providing transportation for women in states with restrictive abortion laws to travel to states where abortion is liberalized.

The first and primary question about abortion, the status of the fetus, has not been debated. The arbitrary decision in Roev. Wade suspended substantive debate on the core issue of the status of a fetus and focused the public on Constitutional arguments and on extraordinary efforts to influence the selection of federal judges. The past thirty years could have been spent in a serious national debate conducted state-by-state, a thoroughly deliberative process. Instead, we have acrimony and a damaged Constitutional jurisprudence. With the prospect of a Court tilted to the Right, the Left is now beginning to appreciate that it will have to appeal to the public and will not be able to foist a decision upon them.

Delay and Earle – Rounds One and Two

Sunday, October 9th, 2005

Even those who pay only casual attention to the news know by now that Representative Tom Delay from Texas, in accordance with House rules, stepped down as House Majority Leader, after having been indicted by Austin District Attorney Ronnie Earle. The charges center on alleged campaign finance law violations. Known as the “Hammer,” by both fans and critics for treating every political predicament like a nail, Delay claims that he is the victim of a politically-motivated legal assault.

There are at least three possible outcomes for this legal conflict. First, it may turn out that Ronnie Earle has a strong case and manages to convict Delay. Delay’s political career would be over. Political comebacks after a conviction are virtually impossible. Former Mayor of Washington, DC, Marion Berry may be the best known exception. Second, Earle may have a sufficiently strong case that lasts for a long time, all the while bleeding Delay of political power even if acquittal is the final result. Third, the case could be dismissed or acquittal may come quickly, essentially vindicating Delay, buttressing the argument that Earle’s prosecution was without merit and politically motivated.

The first and second outcomes would impact Republicans negatively, but corruption in politics will happen. One more politician convicted of wrong doing will not have very much of a long term impact and may be salutary. In many ways, the third outcome, although beneficial for Republicans, would deal the biggest blow to the republic. It would mean that an out-of-control local prosecutor could affect the leadership of the national legislature based on frivolous charges.

The real current problem is the lack of balanced coverage by the mainstream press organs. The indictment of Delay was duly recorded. Though a Conservatively inclined ear might have detected a note a glee in the reporting on Delay, relevant facts were provided.

However, since the September 28 indictment a number of new an important facts have emerged, which have largely been ignored. The Washington Post has not reported on Delay since October 2. After the initial coverage of the indictment, the New York Times neglected reporting on the indictment until October 8. They reluctantly reported that Delay’s lawyers formally charged Earle with prosecutorial misconduct, without going into the nature of the charges against Earle. It is hard to believe that in a similar situation, a flamboyant Republican DA using extraordinary means to prosecute a Liberal Democratic leader in Congress, these two papers would have remained so silent.

What has happened since the indictment?  First the foreman of the grand jury William Gibson conceded that his decision to indict had nothing to do with the facts presented to the grand jury, but with his anger at political ads. Here is a short excerpt from an interview on KBLJ radio:

Grand Jury Foreman William Gibson: All this all came out way before I was on the grand jury, these mailers were in your paper, in Austin paper, everyone else’s paper, they flooding the market around here. But those were way before I ever went on the grand jury and my decision was based on upon those (the TAB ads,) not what might have happened in the grand jury room…

KLBJ host: Oh. Ok. Your mind was made up after you learned about the ads.

William Gibson: Right, those ads, way back. telling people how, so-called freedom of the speech deal, and I looked at it and they are just telling people go vote for that person, go vote for that person.

KLBJ host: So they didn’t have to persuade you in the grand jury with any evidence, you already…

William Gibson: That was already public knowledge there and way back (unintelligible)…they stated their positions and I could state my position by say I don’t like that.

This does not represent the sort of fairness, one normally expects from a grand juror and one can reasonably call into question the evenhandedness of the indictment process.

Second, there have been questionable and extraordinary legal maneuverings by Earle since the original indictment. After there was a technical issue arising out of the first indictment, Earle rushed back to obtain a new indictment on a slightly different alleged transgression surrounding the same campaign finance issues of the original indictment. The grand jury reported “No Bill” indicating no indictment would be returned. The Associated Press reports that Earle was visibly angry at the obstinate jurors. The reported incident is not consistent with a dispassionate DA. Frustrated, Earle rushed a newly impaneled to return an additional indictment against Delay.

None of these events proves that Earle is out of control and Delay could still be guilty even if Earle is overly aggressive in his legal pursuit of Delay. However, people deserved to know about the extraordinary events surrounding the indictment of the former House Majority Leader. The main stream media have failed news consumers once again. At the same time, these traditional news sources fecklessly wonder why fewer and fewer pay much attention to them.

The Price of Miers

Tuesday, October 4th, 2005

One of President George W. Bush’s endearing qualities is his willingness, perhaps even perverse eagerness, to do what he thinks is right without regard to the political consequences. Although he does tact with the political wind when necessary, on core issues: the War in Iraq or his obligation to nominate judges for the Supreme Court, Bush seems to charge off in an independent direction. The selection of White House counsel Harriet Miers for the US Supreme Court may prove to be one such decision that comes back to haunt the President.

Ms. Miers has little public record against which to measure her judicial philosophy. George Bush is most comfortable dealing with people one-on-one and his close association with Miers has apparently convinced him that she shares his judicial philosophy. For the purposes of argument let us assume the Bush has an accurate read on Miers. Let’s assume that over the next 20 years, Ms. Miers out-Scalias Judge Antonin Scalia and makes Judge Clarence Thomas look as Liberal as Judge David Souter. Let’s assume she steers the Court squarely to the right powered by an engine of brilliantly written opinions for the Court. This represents a long-term advantage for the country and an important legacy for Bush. However, much the same could have been accomplished by another pick.

Assuming that Bush wished to bow at the altar of identity politics and wanted to appoint a woman to fill the seat vacated by Sandra Day O’Connor, there is a bench of female judges with clearly Conservative judicial records from Judges Priscilla R. Owen to Judge Janice Rogers Brown that would have enraged Democrats and elated Conservatives. President Bush has manufactured a “perfect storm” to move the Supreme Court to the right. Republicans have a strong majority in the Senate and have maneuvered Democrats into a political corner making it difficult to sustain a filibuster. Bush have could pick almost anyone he wanted, and Conservative lips were drooling in anticipation.

Now Bush picks a virtual unknown. He has to persuade fellow Conservatives that she is indeed picking a Conservative. Moreover, Conservatives are right to want a rock-solid judicial Conservative whose judicial philosophy has remained consistent over time. It is too easy for casual Conservatives to melt under the Liberal spotlight of Washington, where Conservatives are often lonely voices.

Even if Bush proves prescient in his choice of Miers, he will likely pay a price twelve months from now in the mid-term elections. It takes time for us to really know about a judge. Baring some spectacularly Conservative decisions led by Miers in the next year, Conservatives will have to swallow disappointment in grudgingly and reluctantly supporting Bush’s choice. Mid-term elections are often decided by the energy of partisans. Depressed and disillusioned Conservatives will not have the sort of energy required for a strong turnout in the mid-term elections. Miers had better prove to be as Conservative as Bush says she is because she is coming at a very dear political price.

Repression and Routers

Sunday, September 25th, 2005

Shi Tao was an editor with the Chinese publication Dungdai Shangba. He was a recently sentenced to 10 years in prison for communicating with foreigners via e-mail. His crime was “illegally providing state secrets to foreign entities,” a common charge in China used to suppress independent journalism. What makes Tao’s case particularly worrisome is that Tao was tracked down via his supposedly anonymous Yahoo e-mail account with the cooperation of Yahoo’s operations in China. Jerry Yang, one of the founders of Yahoo, as well as the entire corporation, has come under criticism in the Internet community for their cooperation. Yahoo’s defense is that they have no choice but to comply with the laws of the countries in which they operate.

Yahoo’s position is not courageous or noble, but it is hard to articulate a realistic alternative corporate position for Yahoo. The option of all major free e-mail suppliers like Yahoo, Google, and MSN pulling operations out of China would not seem viable. Even if these companies were willing to forgo such a lucrative market, many Chinese would be left with far fewer e-mail options and these would likely be even more controlled by the Chinese government

While it is clear that cooperation with the Chinese government’s efforts to intimidate journalists facilitates repression, there are other cases that are not so clear. Should, for example, Yahoo cooperate with the US government, presumably acting with court authorization, to track down e-mailers using Yahoo to conspire to commit a terrorist act? On one extreme, one would not want Yahoo to cooperate with Chinese repression of journalism and at the other extreme we would expect cooperation against terrorism. In the close cases, it might not be wise to have Yahoo or other corporations deciding when cooperation would be warranted. Perhaps, the best we could expect from Internet providers like Yahoo is that they provide tools to help maintain privacy. Perhaps, if they incorporated encryption by default in their e-mail services, they could do far more to protect personal liberty.

The old conventional wisdom was that political and economic liberties are inseparable. If a government tried to allow economic liberty to release market forces and to grow wealth, it would inevitably lead to the destruction of barriers protecting political repression. Modern, economically free societies require transparency and rapid communication. It is difficult to maintain political control under such circumstances. This conventional wisdom held that putting political censors between people, slows down communication and is incompatible with the rapid pace of modern economies. Perhaps, this conventional wisdom is being shattered by rapidly evolving technology.

China is on the forefront of marrying a modern economy with rigorous political orthodoxy. They are already using their control over the Internet infrastructure to block out political apostasy. If a user points a browser to a prohibited URL, the user receives a benign-appearing “File not found” message. It is difficult to distinguish between the suppression of free speech from ordinary network failures; censorship with a gentler, less aggravating face.

Up until this point, the level of political censorship was limited by the technical capacity to search for offending key words and to block offending IP addresses. To help in enforcement, China employs legions of Internet police. With a planned new upgrade in their communications infrastructure and a new generation of smart routers from Cisco and other manufactures, China is looking forward to a greater capacity for censorship. If censorship can be carried out efficiently at the router level, then perhaps it will be possible to have political censorship without slowing down the commercial communications necessary for a modern economy. Even more depressing, as manufacturers develop new censorship hardware for China, the technology will be available to others, less able to fund the development of such new capability, but certainly willing to employ it if available.

In the face of this development, perhaps there are some glimmers of hope. The personal interactions between people in and out of China, the travel incumbent in commercial societies, will inevitably expose the Chinese to the habits of free people. The willingness to question authority and a personal ease associated with knowing no one is listening over one’s shoulder with inevitably infect Chinese culture. Indeed perhaps, it is these same qualities that insure success in the market. The economic success of those who possess such a disposition may leak over into their political dispositions as well.

It is a race between improvements in censorship technology and the inherent need for freedom and openness, coupled with the evolution of technological counter measures. The winner is not yet clear.

Reference:

Cherry, Steven, “The Net Effect,” IEEE Spectrum, 38-44, June, 2005.


Frank Monaldo — Please e-mail comments to frank@monaldo.net

This page last updated on: 09/25/2005 19:55:57

The Power to Decide

Sunday, August 28th, 2005

There are many important and controversial issues — complex legal, medical, ethical, moral, and religious — surrounding abortion. There are strong, well-founded positions on both sides that arise from considerable deliberation and debate. However, with respect to a girl who has not yet reached the age of majority, it is the opinion of many Liberals and certainly of the Left-wing of the Democratic Party, that she is capable of reaching a considered decision with respect to obtaining an abortion without the involvement of her parents. The Left believes that a girl with an inconvenient pregnancy can reach a measured decision about an abortion without her parents consent and without even their notification.

Now there are extremely abusive situations, for example, where a pregnancy may be the result of incest, when notification might lead to further abuse. There might be emergency medical situations where parental notification would be impractical. Laws attempting to institute a protocol for parental notification, invariably include exceptions for such extreme situations.

No, the Liberal embrace of abortion is so fierce they are willing to allow young girls to make difficult decisions with out the aid and comfort of their families. After all, they might reach a decision the Left would not prefer. Do you think the Left would be concerned about parental notification, if parents inevitably encouraged reluctant underage girls to have abortions? In such cases, they would make notification mandatory.

Now compare this situation with the rhetoric of the Left concerning the Iraq War. Actor Richard Dreyfuss recently commented that, “No one should come for my son and tell my son to go and kill someone or put himself in harm’s way unless I understand and agree to the need.”

Part of the incongruity of this statement is associated with the fact that many members of the feeble and aging Left seemed trapped in a time warp. Within the confines of this temporal hiccup, people re-live 1968 over and over again in an endless loop, when young men were drafted for war. We are now protected by an army of highly-motivated volunteers and the Left just has not been able to understand it. They reflexively act as if there were a draft.

How can the Left on one hand argue that underage girls can make momentous decisions with regard to abortion without their parents’ consent or even knowledge, while at the same time asserting that young men and woman over 18 do not make reasoned decisions with regard to military service? Cindy Sheehan’s son, who has attracted so much controversy re-enlisted at age 24 in October 2003, when weapons of mass destruction had not been found and the reconstruction of Iraq was clearly going to be bloody. Cindy Sheehan herself did not trust her son’s judgment. According to Cindy Sheehan, Casey “felt that he had to go to protect his buddies, to be there for his buddies, to be support, and they are brainwashed into thinking that even if they don’t agree with the mission, they’re brainwashed into just blindly following it.”

Who understands the workings of Cindy Sheehan’s mind? I prefer to believe she is confused by grief. I also prefer to believe that her son, the 24-year old Casey Sheehan, was capable of making heroic decision to “protect his buddies” out of uncommon love, not brainwashing. Does it do Casey Sheehan more personal honor to suggest that he acted out of valor or because he was brainwashed?

Perhaps the Left can learn to trust the independence and judgment of young men and women older than 18 and sometimes many years older as much as they trust the judgment of frightened 14-year old girls.

Religious Test for the Supreme Court

Sunday, August 7th, 2005

“The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.” — Article VI, Clause 3 of the US Constitution.

“I, [NAME], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as [Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court] under the Constitution and laws of the United States. So help me God.” — Oath of Office for a Supreme Court Justice.

Even though there is no formal religious test for office, some on the Left have questioned the suitability of Justice John Roberts, Jr. for the Supreme Court because he takes his Catholic faith seriously. The implicit assumption is that a Catholic can not render a judicial decision with respect to abortion consistent with the law since the Catholic Church has a strong position against abortion. Make no mistake. The question is primarily about abortion.

Questions about Roberts’ religion on the Left, from the likes of Christopher Hitchens and E. J. Dionne are only being broached because of abortion. The Catholic Church is also strongly (though not as strongly) against capital punishment. However, the legal status of capital punishment under a Catholic judge is not the issue that worries Dionne or Hitchens. Moreover, if a Conservative Protestant where to question the qualifications of a Catholic judge because of the Church’s stand against capital punishment, he or she would be loudly and properly chastised for religious intolerance. However, in the service of abortion, the Left and the media that support the Left, have difficulty in recognizing any limits of probity.

Hitchens’ motivation is transparent. He is fundamentally anti-religious and doesn’t trust anyone of deep religious conviction, be it Mother Theresa or Judge Roberts. That is why Hitchens is one of the few on the Left that is so eloquently persuasive about the necessity of fighting Islamofascism in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere. With others on the Left, Hitchens stands against fascism, but he reserves special opprobrium for religiously-motivated fascists.

By contrast, Dionne’s questions about the relationship of faith and the state are far more serious and subtle. Dionne and Conservatives share a common belief that religious faith informs our values and who we are as a people, a community, and as a country. Religious and ethical beliefs affect the way we help others and the role we expect of the government acting on our behalf to act. The religious culture of a country defines who we are and how we govern. Hence, religion ought not to be relegated solely to private spirituality, but should have an important voice in the public square.

When then are the general ethical and religious perspectives of a leader important? How should such questions appropriately enter the public discourse? While there are no particular religious doctrinal tests to apply, surely we have to appreciate the values of our leaders and those values are many times informed by religious belief. For example, if a potential leader were an avowed pacifist, whether by religious or ethical conviction, it would be an important factor in assessing the suitability of someone who might be our Commander-and-Chief or someone who might vote on military appropriation bills.

It is reasonable for a citizen to weigh the full character, including the intelligence and religious and ethical underpinnings of our leaders — at least the ones we vote for. Those leaders are the ones we choose to act on our behalf. The law and Constitution allow no restrictions on religious affiliation for officials. Though we as voters ought not to vote on narrow sectarian grounds, is it not responsible to weigh the entire set of human qualities and beliefs in voting for our leaders?

First, though we as voters can consider a broad range of judgment criteria, our representatives cannot use religious litmus tests in their capacity as government officials. This would tie state decisions too directly to religious affiliation. A Senator of one particular religion questioning potential judges of a different religious belief at a public hearing would give the unseemly appearance of an inquisition.

Moreover, judges are not political leaders. They are ideally neutral arbitrators of existing law. Dionne writes, “President Bush has spoken about the political implications of his faith. His nominee should not be afraid to do the same.” Dionne skirts by the key point, but leaves it unexamined blinded by the Left’s misunderstanding of the role of judges. Bush is a political leader and can be judged as a politician. Judges, contrary to the Liberal intuition, ought not to be political and as such should be evaluated under a narrower range of criteria.

Of a judge, we may query about judicial intelligence, temperament, and philosophy. Of his other convictions, we only need to know his or her fidelity to the oath to “…faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as [Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court] under the Constitution and laws of the United States.” If a potential judge can take that oath with integrity, then examination of his or her religious convictions descends more into religious bigotry.

The notion that Judge Roberts’s Catholicism makes him an inappropriate selection for the Supreme Court says more about the intolerance of a troubling undercurrent in modern Liberalism than it does about Judge Roberts. It reflects more of the sacrifice of all Liberal jurisprudence at the altar of unrestricted abortion rights. Protests around abortion clinics, limiting the First Amendment right to peaceably assemble, were prohibited in service of abortion. Now traditional Liberal religious tolerance is being lost in service of abortion.