The Answers in Genesis Museum is asking the governor of Kentucky to grant it special police powers so that “their 10- to 20-person security team can gain access to better training and equipment to ensure they can handle the crowds and traffic anticipated when the facility opens May 28” according to the Cincinatti Post. “The goal is not to become an armed encampment or anything like that,” says AiG Museum Security Director Jeffrey Hawkins.
When Matt LaClair spoke before the Kearny board of education earlier this week, he gave the board a CD recording of his initial meeting with David Paszkiewicz and Kearny High School principal Al Somma, in which Paszkiewicz denied making the statements that LaClair attributed to him. LaClair had also recorded those, and proved to Somma that Paszkiewicz had lied when he denied making the statements. This recording now proves to everyone other than LaClair, Somma, and Paszkiewicz that Paszkiewicz actually made the denials. The recording of the meeting is available via the website of The Observer editor Kevin Canessa. Canessa also has photos of the board meeting, where Paszkiewicz supporters in the audience held up signs to prevent camera crews from recording the statement made by Paul LaClair, Matthew’s father.
Matthew LaClair will appear tonight on Anderson Cooper’s show on CNN, 10 p.m. EST. UPDATE: Unfortunately, Matthew was bumped from the show.
Ed Brayton points out Jesselyn Radack’s account of the Bush administration’s dishonest and sleazy retaliation against her whistleblowing about the Justice Department’s deception in the so-called “American Taliban” case of John Walker Lindh. Radack was an ethics advisor for the Department of Justice who was called about whether Lindh could be interrogated without an attorney present. She pointed out that Lindh’s father had already retained counsel, and that counsel needed to be present. The FBI interrogated him without counsel anyway, so she advised that that interview would need to be sealed and used only for national security purposes, not for criminal prosecution. She was ignored, Attorney General John Ashcroft lied about Lindh’s rights being respected, and the DOJ tried to destroy evidence of Radack’s correspondence. She recovered her emails and submitted them in a memo with her resignation. As the DOJ continued to lie, Radack went public. The DOJ responded by applying pressure on Radack’s law firm to fire her; they put her on an unpaid leave which turned into a constructive discharge, which the DOJ assisted her law firm in contesting. The government placed her under a bogus criminal investigation (later dropped with no charges), brought multiple state bar complaints against her (one of which she’s still fighting), and put her on the no-fly list (she’s still on it). She finally managed to find a law firm willing to hire her, after three years. Her story is a horrifying tale of an out-of-control government. Now that the Democratic Party runs Congress, will they take some action with respect to this case?
The ACLU and People for the American Way held a press conference today regarding the David Paszkiewicz situation at Kearny High School. On Tuesday, February 13, a tort claims notice was filed with the federal court to preserve the LaClair’s right to file a civil suit should the district not resolve their complaints. Predictably, Kearny education board president Bernadette McDonald was quoted as saying, “It is unfortunate that public dollars will be spent in defending our school district when this matter is already being addressed through dialogue and action.” Those actions included banning taping in the classroom without the teacher’s permission (which would have prevented Paszkiewicz from being caught lying about what he said in the classroom) and switching Paszkiewicz’s U.S. History class with another (so that he no longer has Matthew LaClair in his classroom). More information at the Jersey Journal and 1010 WINS web pages. The Jersey Journal story emphasizes the education board’s position, while the 1010 WINS story emphasizes Matthew LaClair’s. UPDATE (February 20, 2007): The audio of the ACLU/PFAW/LaClair press conference and the text of the Kearny education board’s response may be found at Kevin Canessa’s Corner at The Observer blog. UPDATE (February 21, 2007): Looks like CNN picked up the story yesterday. ...
Sex offender wins $14 million in lottery (Jensen Beach, Florida). Man with year to live wins $50,000 a year (Rochester, New York). Bill would refuse lottery wins for sex offenders (Jefferson City, Missouri). And Jamie Zawinski suggests a fourth: Bill would refuse lottery wins for cancer victims.
The Florida state appeals court ruled that a 16-year-old girl and 17-year-old boy in Tallahassee who took digital photos of themselves having sex were guilty of violating child pornography laws. The appeals court panel rules 2-3 that the Florida Constitution’s right to privacy did not protect them. Judge James Wolf, in the majority opinion, wrote that they could sell the photos to child pornographers, and “if these pictures are ultimately released, future damage may be done to these minors’ careers or personal lives.” Apparently he’s not concerned about the damage he’s doing to them by causing them to become convicted child pornographers for taking pictures of themselves. Judge Philip Padovano, in his dissent, wrote that the law was intended to prevent children from being abused by others, not to punish them for their own mistakes. More details in Declan McCullagh’s story at News.com. ...
The latest news from Kearny High School, via Kevin Canessa at the Observer, is that David Paszkiewicz has removed what he sees as the source of his problems from his classroom by switching classes with another teacher. Now, Debbie Vartan teaches Paszkiewicz’s class and vice versa. Principal Alfred Somma confirms that Paszkiewicz requested the switch. Apparently the ban on classroom recordings wasn’t enough–Paszkiewicz must realize that Matthew LaClair has more credibility than he does with the mainstream media, and his presence in the classroom was cramping his style. Here’s hoping that there’s someone who was in Debbie Vartan’s class who’s got as much integrity and brains as Matthew LaClair, and who will keep the public informed of any further misrepresentations or Establishment clause violations in Paszkiewicz’s classroom.
Declan McCullagh at News.com reports that Sen. John McCain is preparing to hold a press conference with John Walsh of America’s Most Wanted and Miss America 2007 to announce a bill that will create a new mandate for Internet Service Providers to eavesdrop on all of their customers email and web traffic in search of child porn images. The act apparently requires ISPs to implement new technology to compare all images transmitted or received by their customers to a federal database of images (presumably via some one-way hash function, so that the database is not itself distributing child pornography), and to report any that are detected to John Walsh’s National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, a nonprofit, non-governmental organization that operates as a clearinghouse/proxy for federal and state law enforcement with Congressional mandate and federal funding. The new bill is known as the Securing Adolescents From Exploitation Online or SAFE Act, and is not to be confused with the 2003 SAFE Act (Security and Freedom Ensured), the 1997 SAFE Act (Security and Freedom through Encryption), or the 1998 SAFE Act (Safety Advancement For Employees).
As the result of a lawsuit in Michigan based on its 2004 constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, the Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled that domestic partnership benefits in negotiated contracts with public employee’s unions are null and void. The 2004 amendment was written by Citizens for the Protection of Marriage, who wrote in a pamphlet at the time that: Proposal 2 is Only about marriage. Marriage is a union between husband and wife. Proposal 2 will keep it that way. This is not about rights or benefits or how people choose to live their lives. This has to do with family, children and the way people are. It merely settles the question once and for all what marriage is-for families today and future generations.The Alliance Defense Fund, which backed the similar constitutional amendment here in Arizona, has made similar statements. Yet it was Patrick Gillen of the Thomas More Law Center who wrote the amendment for CfPM, and he was also behind the lawsuit that eliminated partnership benefits. Clearly, these people cannot be trusted, and Arizona was wise to reject the similar constitutional amendment here. UPDATE (May 14, 2008): The Michigan Supreme Court has upheld the denial of domestic partnership benefits as a result of their 2004 constitutional amendment. UPDATE (November 16, 2008): Patrick Gillen was also lead counsel for the Dover Area School District in the Kitzmiller v. Dover case, in which he defended the failed attempt to inject intelligent design into the public schools. ...