WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Supreme Court is about to get involved in one of the most difficult of American subjects -- middle schools and the care of their inmates who as they emerge half baked from babyhood more resemble zoo animals. Any parent can tell you it is this in-between age that's the most difficult for them and their charges, a sort of purgatory where the occupants without constant vigilance can go from promise to long-term disaster in a split second. It is a land of temptation and experimentation that taxes to the limit the oversight capabilities of educators and leads them often into dangerous uncharted waters where the rights of young people can be sucked into a vortex by overzealousness. [continues 615 words]
Does anyone remember Eleanor Holm? If you don't, it is understandable. But with half the world seemingly concerned about Michael Phelps, it seems appropriate to recall the stunning, blonde 100-meter backstroke champion of the 1932 Olympics whose consumption of a few glasses of champagne and late night dice playing with sportswriters in 1936 cost her a repeat of her earlier gold medal triumph. On the boat over to the Berlin games, Holm ran afoul of Avery Brundage, the strait-laced, sanctimonious U.S. Olympic czar whose unrealistic defense of amateur standing probably cost U. S. athletes more victories over the years than any other single thing. He saw Holm as a threat to his ideals of how an athlete should act in or out of competition and kicked her off the team, sacrificing her to his own ideals about personal behavior. [continues 560 words]
The impact of the Supreme Court's latest First Amendment rulings is well defined in one case and not so in the other, leaving a host of special interests applauding wildly and those who believe that student speech is as protected as any other-shaken. The practical result of the court's 5-4 decision to allow issue ads before an election that mention a specific candidate probably will be to substantially increase the cost of the upcoming presidential and congressional elections, already approaching a record of over $1 billion. Predictions are that freeing up all those special-interest groups, from businesses to unions to religious-based organizations with a social or economic agenda, to back one candidate or debase another could double the expenditures. For instance, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce reportedly has dramatically increased its election-year spending to push its policies on a number of issues despite the new laws on campaign expenditures. [continues 594 words]
Teens Have Right to Act Their Age WASHINGTON - There's an old axiom about bad cases making bad law and that just might be the result of the Supreme Court's latest deliberation over what constitutes free speech. The justices, who seem to work to avoid tackling some of the thornier issues of the day, just completed listening to arguments centering on whether a teenager has the right to act like one and say silly, provocative things. If you missed it, this kid in Alaska a couple of years ago unfurled a sign during an Olympic torch parade that said "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" and was suspended from school for 10 days despite the fact he wasn't on school property. It seems his principal saw this sort of nonsensical message as blatantly furthering the drug culture. So the kid did what every red blooded American is trained to do in these instances, he sued the school and the school board, contending that his First Amendment rights had been violated. [continues 582 words]
There are two areas of concern Congress needs to deal with immediately - - marijuana as a medical tool and pharmacists who place their religious beliefs above their licensed duty. While these issues don't seem as pressing in the scheme of things as democratizing Iraq or solving the long-range problems of Social Security, resolving them quickly might just send a signal that now and then common sense does prevail in government, a badly needed sign in these days of prolonged squabbling over legislative procedure. [continues 428 words]
WASHINGTON -- There are two areas of concern Congress needs to deal with immediately -- marijuana as a medical tool and pharmacists who place their religious beliefs above their licensed duty. While these issues don't seem as pressing in the scheme of things as democratizing Iraq or solving the long-range problems of Social Security, resolving them quickly might just send a signal that now and then common sense does prevail in government, a badly needed sign in these days of prolonged squabbling over legislative procedure. [continues 664 words]
WASHINGTON -- Amid the increasing turmoil that surrounds the nation's criminal justice system, from the Patriot Act to the debate over the death penalty, few things in memory have shaken the faith in its basic fairness as has the monumental travesty that took place in Tulia. Even though Gov. Rick Perry has pardoned the 35 mostly black residents of this small town of alleged drug dealings, the reverberations from the injustices perpetrated by legal authorities will be felt for a long time -- as a warning, we hope, of what can happen when the process goes wrong. [continues 667 words]
Amidst the increasing turmoil that surrounds the nation's criminal justice system, from the Patriot Act to the debate over the death penalty, few things in memory have shaken the faith in its basic fairness as the monumental travesty that took place in Tulia, Texas. Even though Gov. Rick Perry has pardoned the 35 mostly black residents of this small town of alleged drug dealings, the reverberations from the injustices perpetrated by legal authorities will be felt for a long time - hopefully as a warning of what can happen when the process goes wrong. [continues 586 words]
Scripps Howard News Service WASHINGTON (SH) - Amidst the increasing turmoil that surrounds the nation's criminal justice system, from the Patriot Act to the debate over the death penalty, few things in memory have shaken the faith in its basic fairness as the monumental travesty that took place in Tulia, Texas. Even though Gov. Rick Perry has pardoned the 35 mostly black residents of this small town of alleged drug dealings, the reverberations from the injustices perpetrated by legal authorities will be felt for a long time - hopefully as a warning of what can happen when the process goes wrong. One thing for certain: Someone owes these victims a pile of money for their pain and suffering, and they are rightfully going to go after it. [continues 645 words]
Earlier in the decade, a young investigative reporter for Scripps Howard with two Pulitzer Prizes in his pocket and a pit bull's tenacity discovered a federal practice so despicable as to violate every assurance of justice on which this country was founded. It was called "civil asset forfeiture," and it allowed the government to confiscate property of those who were merely suspected of being involved tangentially or otherwise in criminal activity. In a six-month inquiry, Andy Schneider uncovered one horror story after another beginning with the plight of a Tennessee nurseryman whose livelihood was interrupted on the mere suspicion that he was going to the West Coast to buy drugs. In fact, he was innocently going there with cash to buy plants for his nursery. He was never arrested or charged nor anything and it took him several years to recover the money that had been confiscated. [continues 566 words]
