That damn pesky law thingy

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The Castro Route
Tom Ginsburg
Chavez’ power grab,(sic) pursued through perfectly legal channels, exposes the Achilles’ heel of the rule of law: so long as you abide by its principles, you can do just about anything, including changing the rules to extend your control.
As long as 54% of voters agree to it. A bit like electing Obama.

Oooh, you are awful, Mr Chavez. Sticking to the rule of law and all, you clever little man!  Not like those great democrats and 'leaders', Bush and Blair, for whom the rule of law meant sweet fuck all.
Chavez has been crafty in manipulating this set of understandings. In December 2007, voters narrowly rejected Chavez’ proposed constitutional amendments, which included both the abolition of term limits and the expansion of emergency presidential powers. Some human rights groups and the United Nations condemned that proposal, mainly for the low bar to invoking a state of emergency. This time Chavez has been careful to restrict the amendment to the abolition of term limits, and the international community has been quiet.
Right. So Chavez dropped the most controversial part of his amendments after they were democratically rejected (although only just) and presented a revised and scaled down version, which the people accepted (slightly more assiduously, by the way,  than the US voters accepted Obama.) This, according to Mr Ginsburg was a 'crafty' thing to do. I wonder if he ever uses the word 'crafty' to describe the behaviour of white US politicians? I doubt it, somehow.

Unbelievable pile of tosh from, naturally, a fucking academic lawyer. Read it and weep (or laugh).


History is written by the victors

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History Taboo in Iraq Schools
Jamil Haydan gets confused whenever he goes through the history of Iraq in the school books. "I feel like there is a gap in the history, specially recent events," the 14-year-old student at a Baghdad school told IslamOnline. "We are treated as if we are unable to know what happens in Iraq, but we are."

The history of the Arab country since the 2003 US-led invasion is completely absent from school textbooks. American troops, George W. Bush and the sectarian violence that plagued the country for years after the invasion are non-existent whether in books or even class discussions. Former president Saddam Hussein, who was ousted by the US and later executed by the Iraqi government, and his longtime ruling Baath party are taboos.

The government admits that banning certain chapters of Iraq's recent history from textbooks is deliberate.

Candid Camera

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Why can't we take pictures of policemen?
From today, new counter-terrorism laws come into effect that will entrench a growing tendency by the police to prevent anyone taking photographs in public, especially if they (the police) are the subject. There has been a worrying increase recently in police arresting or seeking to prevent what is a lawful activity.

Andrew Carter, a plumber from Bedminster, near Bristol, took a photograph of an officer who had ignored a no-entry road sign while driving a police van. This might have appeared a somewhat petulant thing to do, but taking a photograph in a public place is not a crime. Yet the policeman smashed the camera from Mr Carter's hand, handcuffed him, put him in the back of the van and took him to the police station, where he was kept for five hours. When he returned to answer bail the following week, he was kept at the station for another five hours. He was released without charge, despite an attempt by the police to claim some spurious offence of "assault with a camera".
You need one of these:

The boy done bad

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Miliband has been exposed as a liar and is in deep trouble | Letters From A Tory
I bet you thought you’d got away with it, didn’t you. All this talk about how the evil and domineering US had forced your hand into suppressing evidence surrounding the possible torture of Binyam Mohamed seemed so convincing and you were resolute in defending your actions. Unfortunately for you, the truth is no quite as reassuring as you wanted us to believe. It was not the US that deliberately tried to bury the truth about Binyam Mohamed - it was you.
Miliband faces new 'torture cover-up' storm


Testing, testing?

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Foreign Policy In Focus | Gaza: Death's Laboratory
Erik Fosse, a Norwegian cardiologist, worked in Gaza hospitals during the recent war."It was as if they had stepped on a mine," he says of certain Palestinian patients he treated. "But there was no shrapnel in the wound. Some had lost their legs. It looked as though they had been sliced off. I have been to war zones for 30 years, but I have never seen such injuries before."

Dr. Fosse was describing the effects of a U.S. "focused lethality" weapon that minimizes explosive damage to structures while inflicting catastrophic wounds on its victims. But where did the Israelis get this weapon? And was their widespread use in the attack on Gaza a field test for a new generation of explosives?

This is truly shocking

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Judges plead guilty in kickback scheme
Two Pennsylvania judges charged with taking millions of dollars in kickbacks to send youth offenders to privately run detention centers pleaded guilty to fraud Thursday in one of the most stunning cases of judicial corruption on record.

Prosecutors allege Luzerne County Judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan took $2.6 million in payoffs to put juvenile offenders in lockups run by PA Child Care LLC and a sister company, possibly tainting the convictions of thousands of juvenile offenders.

The judges pleaded guilty in federal court in Scranton to honest services fraud and tax fraud. Their plea agreements call for sentences of more than seven years in prison. They were permitted to remain free pending sentencing.
Via Liberal England

Don't get too excited

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Morgan Tsvangirai given a hero's welcome after being sworn in
After a decade of bloodshed, sacrifice and suffering, Zimbabweans erupted in joy and jubilation — emotions almost extinct after 29 years of President Mugabe's misrule — as Morgan Tsvangirai was sworn in as Prime Minister yesterday.
Not everyone joined in the celebrations:
Zimbabwean journalist Basildon Peta suggests that while yesterday's ceremony was a joyous moment for some, he saw no reason to join any parties. "After so many years in exile, I see nothing to suggest that I can now walk back into a free democratic Zimbabwe in which my rights as a citizen will be respected. "There was nothing historic or momentous about yesterday. Morgan Tsvangirai's oath merely threw a line to a heartless, reckless dictator who lost elections but shamelessly clung to power ... "What happened in Zimbabwe yesterday is a monumental tragedy. A travesty of justice. It isn't the delivery of a democratic outcome by the regional African leaders who mediated. It's the betrayal or prostitution of the basic tenets of democracy."