In response to a growing crackdown on freedom of expression around the world and in honor of U.N. Human Rights Day, Freedom House calls on human rights organizations, democratic leaders, and citizens to join in an international campaign to defend this critical right.
Yearly Archives: 2009
Switzerland Vote Disappointing Blow to Religious Freedom
Freedom House condemns Switzerland's vote to ban the new construction of minarets in the country as a setback for religious freedom.
Filipino Massacre Reflects Climate of Impunity
The massacre of civilians and journalists that occurred on Monday in the Philippines is a shocking symptom of the country's climate of impunity and the government's inability to protect freedom of expression, Freedom House said today. The organization condemned the killings in the strongest terms possible.
Congress Urged to Lift Ban on U.S. Travel to Cuba
Freedom House today submitted a statement to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs urging Congress to rescind the ban on U.S. citizens traveling to Cuba.
UN Should Pass Resolution Condemning Iran Human Rights Abuses
As the United Nations General Assembly prepares to vote on a Canadian-sponsored resolution condemning ongoing human rights violations in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Freedom House joins Iranian pro-reform activists and other human rights groups in urging member states to support the resolution.
Support Chinese Human Rights Activists, Freedom House Tells Obama on Eve of Visit
It is critical that President Barack Obama emphasize the importance of human rights and democratic standards during his visit to China later this week, Freedom House said today.
Bloggers’ Jailing Threatens New Media’s Emergence in Azerbaijan
The sentencing of two Azerbaijani bloggers to prison yesterday in a markedly non-transparent legal process is deeply disturbing, Freedom House said today, adding that the decision to silence the bloggers strikes a blow against the nascent success of new media in Azerbaijan.
Resolutions on Defamation of Religions Do Not Belong at United Nations, Organizations Say
Freedom House today joined over 100 nongovernmental organizations in a statement declaring that binding resolutions combating 'defamation of religions' have no place at the United Nations and are incompatible with the fundamental freedoms outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Obama Approach to Governing; Afghanistan Policy
David Ignatius's Washington Post column today, "More Than an Orator-in-Chief," provides an intriguing take on President Obama's approach to governing.
Ignatius reports that at a Dec. 1 luncheon for columnists in the White House library, Obama said:
"'If I were basing my decisions on polls, then the banking system might have collapsed, and we probably wouldn't have GM or Chrysler, and it's not clear that the economy would be growing right now.'" "Some presidents have an almost compulsive need to be popular (think Bill Clinton)," Ignatius continues. "This one is less needy, which is an advantage for him and the country."
Regarding the president's planned surge in Afghanistan, Ignatius comments, "there were the two juicy nuggets that stuck in my mind, which hint of a broader and more creative approach to governing and diplomacy. They suggest the strategic thinking in the back of our professorial president's mind....
[First, Obama said:] 'Part of the goal of my presidency is to take the threat of terrorism seriously but expand our notions of security so that it includes improving our science and technology, making sure our schools work, getting serious about clean energy, fixing our health-care system, stabilizing our deficit and our debt.' This may sound like boilerplate, Ignatius suggests, "but it's actually a pretty good manifesto for governing."
"Making responsible policy decisions isn't easy, and in the case of bailing out bankers or sending more troops to Afghanistan, it will leave nearly everyone unhappy. But Obama seems newly comfortable making enemies if he thinks he's doing the right thing."
The second insight involves the role of the Taliban. Responding to Ignatius's question about whether he would back reconciliation with the Taliban, Obama said: "'We are supportive of the Afghan government's efforts to reintegrate those elements of the Taliban that . . . have abandoned violence and are willing to engage in the political process.'
"Obama sent more signals that night at West Point: He dropped the language from his March 27 speech on Afghanistan insisting the Taliban's core 'must be defeated' and promised only to 'reverse the Taliban's momentum and deny it the ability to overthrow the government.' He also pledged to 'support efforts by the Afghan government to open the door to those Taliban' who are ready to make peace.
"The Taliban gave an interesting response a few days later on its Web site, Alemarah.info. It said the group 'has no agenda of meddling in the internal affairs of other countries and is ready to give legal guarantee if the foreign forces withdraw from Afghanistan.' Now, what did that mean? Was it a hint the Taliban might break with al-Qaeda? I don't know, but I hope the White House is asking Saudi Arabia and Pakistan to find out."
Ignatius concludes: "Obama has a cool and detached style that makes people forget, sometimes, that he is an innovator and a change agent. He would be wise to show the country less of the mental teleprompter and more of the fire inside."
Something on Which We Can All Agree – Less Government in Criminal Justice
At last - something on which the right and left can agree....
In "Right and Left Join Forces on Criminal Justice," Adam Liptak describes how both conservatives and liberals are coming around to a position of agreement that government exercises too much power on matters of criminal justice. (The notion of excessive government power is something I've discussed here previously.)
It is great news for all libertarians - civil, progressive, minimalist alike - that conservatives are coming around from their "tough-on-crime" posture they've held since the days of Nixon, to recognizing that government simply too involved in criminalizing individual activity.
Liptak reports:
"'It’s a remarkable phenomenon,' said Norman L. Reimer, executive director of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. 'The left and the right have bent to the point where they are now in agreement on many issues. In the area of criminal justice, the whole idea of less government, less intrusion, less regulation has taken hold.'"
"Edwin Meese III, who was known as a fervent supporter of law and order as attorney general in the Reagan administration, now spends much of his time criticizing what he calls the astounding number and vagueness of federal criminal laws.
"Mr. Meese once referred to the ACLU as part of the 'criminals’ lobby.' These days, he said, 'in terms of working with the ACLU, if they want to join us, we’re happy to have them.'
"Dick Thornburgh, who succeeded Mr. Meese as attorney general under President Ronald Reagan and stayed on under President George Bush, echoed that sentiment in Congressional testimony in July.
“'The problem of overcriminalization is truly one of those issues upon which a wide variety of constituencies can agree,' Mr. Thornburgh said. 'Witness the broad and strong support from such varied groups as the Heritage Foundation, the Washington Legal Foundation, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the A.B.A., the Cato Institute, the Federalist Society and the ACLU.'"
A Heritage Foundation report shows that there are "more than 4,400 criminal offenses in the federal code, many of them lacking a requirement that prosecutors prove traditional kinds of criminal intent."
Liptak continues: "Harvey A. Silverglate, a left-wing civil liberties lawyer in Boston, says he has been surprised and delighted by the reception that his new book, 'Three Felonies a Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent,” has gotten in conservative circles. (A Heritage Foundation official offered this reporter a copy.)
"The book argues that federal criminal law is so comprehensive and vague that all Americans violate it every day, meaning prosecutors can indict anyone at all.
“'Libertarians and the civil liberties left have always had some common ground on these issues,' said Radley Balko, a senior editor at Reason, a libertarian magazine. 'The more vocal presence of conservatives on overcriminalization issues is really what’s new.' ... 'Conservatives now recognize the economic consequences of a criminal justice leviathan,' said Erik Luna, a law professor at Washington and Lee University."
It is a rarity for folks from across the political spectrum to find common ground; but it is encouraging that there seems to be some broadening agreement on lessening the proliferation of criminal statutes.
McDonald v. Chicago – Petitioner’s Brief
The Petitioner's Brief in the McDonald v. Chicago case, involving whether the 2d Amendment applies to the states, has been filed in the Supreme Court. See it here.
The brief spends 66 of its 73 pages arguing that the proper constitutional mechanism for incorporating the 2d amendment is the fourteenth amendment privileges or immunities clause (a provision that was improperly buried by the Supreme Court 136 years ago, in The Slaughter-House Cases - as I've discussed in these pages previously); then makes the conventional due process argument in the remaining pages.
Alan Gura, the attorney for the petitioners, recognizes the rare opportunity this case provides to right a monumental wrong that was perpetrated by a Southern-sympathetic Court after the Civil War, and he's done a terrific job making the arguments in this brief.
(My two articles on this topic - "Second Amendment Incorporation Through the Fourteenth Amendment Privileges or Immunities and Due Process Clauses" (in the 2007 Missouri Law Review); and "Rescuing the Privileges or Immunities Clause: How 'Attrition of Parliamentary Processes' Begat Accidental Ambiguity; How Ambiguity Begat Slaughter-House" (in the forthcoming 2009 William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal) - are cited in this petitioner's brief at pages 29 and 52, respectively.)
Destroy the Filibuster
Anybody besides me disgusted and discouraged with the healthcare debate?
Don't get me started.... Let's just limit the topic for the moment to the entire idea that 41 senators can essentially destroy legislation a majority of Americans AND a majority of Congress want. This is egregiously anti-democratic. Harold Meyerson in his "The Do Nothing Senate" column in the Nov. 11 Washington Post describes the problem well:
"A catastrophic change has overtaken the Senate in recent years. Initially conceived as the body that would cool the passions of the House and consider legislation with a more Olympian perspective, the Senate has become a body that shuns debate, avoids legislative give-and-take, proceeds glacially and produces next to nothing. ... With each passing day, the Senate becomes more of a mockery of the principle of majority rule -- democracy's most fundamental precept."
So it's time to destroy the filibuster. (See, e.g., Chris Bowers' "Open Left" blog of November 10.) It used to be that the filibuster was used only rarely; now it is used on virtually any legislation - and this outrageously undemocratic practice is standing in the way of Progress.
Glenn Beck on Barbara Walters: Describe my politics? "Libertarian, Maximum Freedom"
Barbara Walters Special, Tuesday Night, "America's Ten Most Fascinating People"
BARBARA WALTERS: Does government do anything good?
BECK: Defense.
BARBARA WALTERS: Besides that?
BECK: They made a really nice highway.
Abolish Medicare says Glenn Beck
Libertarians have been calling for abolishment of Medicare and all government-run health care for decades. Now, arguably America's most well-known and popular libertarian broadcaster has joined the call. Beck made the remarks on his radio show the other day.
Transcript from the leftist blog Think Progress:
CO-HOST: This is unbelievable, because the whole thing with the public option, is we were saying this is going to be like Medicare, they just want to make a big — make another Medicare program. And then they said no, public option is just competition.
BECK: And, wait wait wait. And I also said why don’t you just abolish Medicare, because it’s so wildly corrupt and out of control. It’s so inefficient, it is so bad and there’s $47 billion in suspected wrong payments, okay, in Medicare. So what are they saying — now remember, what we’re going to do — the compromise is we’re going to expand Medicare. That way there won’t be a public option, we’ll just — which doesn’t make any sense — we’re going to expand Medicare.
Nancy Pelosi as Stalin: One California Korean-American says it fits
Asian Americans know best about the evils of Communism
An Asian American local councilman is getting both praise and severe criticism for his one-man protest recently. The Democrats in Orange County held a dinner, and controversial Councilman Steven Choi of Irvine showed up with a photo-shopped photo of Nancy Pelosi as Josef Stalin pinned to the back of his suit.
The Scavenger from SFGate explains:
Last Friday, a group rented a room at the Irvine Hilton to protest the Democratic Party of Orange County's 15th Annual Harry Truman Awards and headliner House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Joining the demonstration was Irvine Councilman and Assembly candidate Steven Choi.
An OC Register photographer caught Choi roaming the Hilton lobby before Pelosi's address. Choi is seen in a suit, tie and a depiction of Pelosi as Joseph Stalin, the Soviet dictator who killed millions under his Great Terror campaign. Another photo shows Choi posing with a woman who is wearing a Pelosi-SS guard illustration.
Choi was quoted by the OC Register:
"I'm a Republican Party member and went there to express my disapproval of her policies. I have big concerns with what is going on with the government pushing down the mandated health issues... As a small businessman it would impact me."
One Democrat attendee, a Jewish Rabbi and liberal columnist David Hirschfield commented:
We seem to have endless appetite for comparisons to Hitler, Nazis and the Holocaust, and like all forms of gluttony, it's making us very sick. It's neither a Democratic thing nor a Republican thing, it's a simply and disturbingly a tragic fact of contemporary American life.
But the popular libertarian-leaning Orange Juice Blog defended Choi:
Choi is well thought of in Irvine. He has a great background in education. The blue boys can rail all they want, but Choi is a real threat to them – and their ridiculous attack isn’t going to hurt him. Will it peeve Democrats? Sure. But who cares? He has to win a GOP primary in order to take DeVore’s seat. This story will only help Choi in that primary.
WISCONSIN: Terri McCormick for Congress
LIBERTARIAN REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE PROFILETerri McCormick is a candidate vying for a Congressional Seat in Northern Wisconsin District 8. The seat, currently held by a Democrat, is viewed as one of the most likely pick-ups for the GOP in 2010.
McCormick is a former 3-term State Legislator. She's also the author of the provactively titled book: "What Sex Is a Republican?’ Stories from the Front lines of American Politics and how you can change the way things are"
According to Aaron Biterman, Communications Director for the Republican Liberty Caucus:
Terri is a member of the Republican Liberty Caucus and a former three-term State Representative that held herself to her original term limits pledge. She is a constitutionalist and is anti-statist. She is currently in an eight-way primary, but is the only candidate that has name recognition districtwide. (She ran in 2006 for the same seat, but lost because the NRCC did not want her to be the nominee.)
From her Campaign Website:
Terri believes in the principles of limited government, fiscal restraint, checks and balances, free market competition, constitutional freedoms and rule of law. She believes that “every earmark, pork barrel spending scheme, every bureaucracy created takes freedoms away from American citizens.” She was the author of the Small Business Regulation Reform Act in Wisconsin that requires free market principles and pro market representatives to regulate the impact of endless regulations on business. Removing government regulation unleashes the forces of the free market that raise our living standards. Responsible government begins with the understanding that government is a servant of the people and not a master of them. Free market protections were strengthened by Terri’s reforms for capital investment, competitive bidding pools, market transparency and regulation reform.
She's also a staunch defender of the Second Amendment, and is fiercely opposed to a public option for Health Care.
Senator DeMint officially endorses Michael Williams for US Senate – Texas
The Senate Conservatives Fund is Chaired by South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint. The Fund works to elect Conservatives nationwide to the US Senate.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, December 10, 2009
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina), chairman of the Senate Conservatives Fund (SCF), announced the endorsement of Texas Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams for U.S. Senate in Texas. Williams is running to replace Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) who recently announced plans to resign sometime next year.
"Michael Williams is the Democrat Party's worst nightmare. He's a principled, outspoken conservative who will fight to stop the massive spending, bailouts and takeovers that have destroyed millions of jobs and piled a mountain of debt on our children and grandchildren," said Senator DeMint. "Michael Williams has a compelling life story, a proven conservative record and an energetic grassroots following that make him one of the most exciting Senate candidates in the nation."
"It is an honor to receive the endorsement of a fellow committed, courageous conservative like Senator Jim DeMint," said Commissioner Williams. "Senator DeMint and I are kindred spirits. We seek to bring bold conservative leadership to Washington. We believe in the principles of limited government, strong national defense and traditional family values. I look forward to the day, very soon, when we have the opportunity to work side by side to maximize freedom, security and prosperity through proven conservative principles. We are going to be a great team."
DeMint Announces 4 Endorsements for the Conservatives Fund
Michael Williams is the fourth candidate to be endorsed by the Senate Conservatives Fund in a 2010 Republican primary. SCF has also endorsed former Congressman Pat Toomey in Pennsylvania, former State Speaker of the House Marco Rubio in Florida and Assemblyman Chuck DeVore in California.
"Americans are tired of apologizing for their principles, and they're looking for some new Republicans who will stand up for mainstream American values," said Senator DeMint. "That's why we're helping a strong group of viable conservative candidates in races across the country, including Pat Toomey, Marco Rubio, Chuck DeVore and now Michael Williams. These are leaders who deeply believe in constitutional limits, a balanced budget, and individual liberty. These are not radical ideas - they're the principles that have made our country the envy of the world, and we desperately need leaders in the Senate who will fight to defend them."
Baucus "Bimbo Eruption" gains Criticism back Home; Calls for his Resignation
Pressure mounting on Montana Democrat
An Editorial yesterday morning in the Billings Gazette:
Gazette Opinion: Fallout from Baucus’ poor judgment
What was Max Baucus thinking?
That his personal relationship with his state director, Melodee Hanes, wouldn’t matter when he forwarded her name for consideration as Montana’s U.S. attorney?
Whatever hope of privacy Baucus and Hanes may have had vanished when he recommended her for an important appointed office... the conflict of interest or at least the appearance of conflict is inescapable. All of Hanes’ legal and organizational credentials have been obscured by the label “senator’s girlfriend.”
Thus, for this lapse in good judgment... Baucus gained a scandalous distraction while he is working to shepherd major health care policy legislation through the Senate.
Editorial, Billings Gazette, Dec. 9:
There is no longer a fine line between acceptable personal and public behavior of our politicians. Voters expect them to act responsibly both in out of public view. Sen. Max Baucus has now had to reveal that he used his significant influence to recommend his lover Melodee Hanes for the U.S. attorney for Montana position.
This was happening while both of them were married and carrying on their illicit affair with impunity. His belated admission that this relationship began in the summer of 2008 is simply unacceptable on its face. In the statement issued by Ty Matsdorf, his spokesman, he says that Hanes and Thomas Bennett, her ex-husband, divorced in December 2008. Baucus and his ex-wife, Wanda, announced their divorce in April 2009.
Baucus has now exposed himself to be heartless as well as a scoundrel.
Sen. Ensign was forced to resign his Senate Republican Policy Committee chairmanship for doing the same thing. I am calling on Baucus to immediately resign from the chairmanship of the Senate Finance Committee. Your personal and public life is an open book and you are ridiculing the voters of Montana by staying in office.
Meanwhile, the GOP Chairman Will Deschamps from Helena sees the scandal growing back home.
From the Billings Gazette:
Montana Republican Party Chairman Will Deschamps insisted the issue was "gathering more and more steam."
"Ethics and morality still count," he said.
However, Baucus has his defenders outside of Montana.
Democrat Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada quipped to reporters "it's a non-scandal."
And Newsweek defends Sen. Baucus. From Kate Daily, Columnist, Dec. 10:
Look, I’m all for ethical standards, and obviously this raises many eyebrows. But it also reveals a nasty habit of denying the intellect, experience, or merit belonging to the sexual partner of someone in power. There seems to be the impression that Hanes is a piece of ass totally unqualified for the position, and that Baucus nominated her in lieu of shelling out for concert tickets or a tennis bracelet. The phrase “staff-member girlfriend” makes it sound like she earned her taxpayer-funded paycheck by providing back rubs and listening to Baucus talk about his day.
In fact, “girlfriend” is not Hanes’s primary identity... As Baucus's office points out, she’s an expert on child-abuse prosecution, and has tried more than 100 jury trials.
Hanes sought a position for which she was a qualified candidate... sometimes, the best person for the job also happens to be the person on the other side of the bed.
Not the First Time Baucus has had a Sex Scandal: Harrassment Allegations back in 1999
Senator solicited his Office Director to Fly Away to Disneyland
Montana Senator Max Baucus was recently implicated in a Sex Scandal involving his Deputy Chief of Staff for his Senate office Melodee Hanes. Baucus has admitted to a longterm affair with Hanes. More damaging, he submitted her name at the time she was acting as his Mistress, to the Justice Department to serve as State Attorney General. It was reported on Tuesday that Baucus and Hanes even took "political junkets" to exotic vacation spots including Dubai and Vietnam.
Back in 1999, Baucus had another brief flurry of a Sex Scandal, and the story line is amazingly similar to the current flap with Ms. Hanes.
Salon.com covered the story that year:
Last week, the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call broke the news that mild-mannered Montana Sen. Max Baucus, a Democrat, had fired his chief of staff, Christine Niedermeier, for what he described as management differences and she described as direct retaliation for refusing months of sexual advances.
At its core, it seemed like a classic "he said, she said" kind of tale... Niedermeier, 47 and single, says she was terminated because she rejected his advances and because he feared she was going to file a sexual harassment suit.
on May 3, 1999, she accompanied Baucus to an official White House dinner for Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi.
According to Niedermeier, Baucus asked her questions about her personal life and her relationships with boyfriends, commented on what she was wearing, compared her to his wife and, at times, implored her to go away with him for the weekend. One time he suggested they go to Disney World together.
Niedermeier went on to relay more background including accusations of stalking by a loyal Baucus aide, and Baucus himself, "calling her room repeatedly."
She also describes her last day when Baucus fired her over the phone at the airport. Then when she went to the Senate office to retrieve her private email communications between her and Baucus which included matters of a sensitive nature, she was stopped from entering by Capitol Hill police.
Niedermeier's case was eventually thrown out of court. She missed a 90-day deadline for filing.
Editor's Note - We are grateful to our source in Montana for giving us the background, and tipping us off to this story.
Baucus mistress Melodee Hanes sleeping her way to the Top
Part of her "career path" says former boss
Excerpt from Google News via AP, Dec. 8:
Baucus girlfriend eyed US attorney post for years
Montana Sen. Max Baucus' live-in girlfriend had eyed the state's U.S. attorney post for years before he nominated her for the job, her former colleagues said.
In Montana, Yellowstone County Attorney Dennis Paxinos described Hanes as an accomplished criminal prosecutor. Being named U.S. attorney "was the career path she was working on" since at least 2002, said Paxinos, a Republican and Hanes' former boss.
That year Hanes left her deputy county attorney job to work on Baucus' re-election campaign. The move into politics was based on the assumption that it could lead to the federal prosecutor's job, according to Paxinos.
Local Media query on Affair quelched the Nomination
Montana blogger Jodi Rave of Buffalo's Fire, is a former journalist for the Missoulian. She has just released this information on her blog:
My entry into this story begain around February 2009 when a source called me with information about the beyond-professional relationship between Baucus and Hanes. I made a few phone calls to follow up on the lead. After I had sufficient information, I called Kaiser Barrett, the spokesman for Baucus. I had two questions. First, would Baucus confirm his romantic relationship with Hanes? Second. Did the senator see a conflict of interest in nominating his girlfriend as U.S. attorney? The story stretched out for weeks before I finally placed a final phone call to Barrett around March 11, 2009. I said we’re running the story in the next day’s paper. He then sent out a statement via e-mail saying Hanes was NOT a candidate for U.S. attorney. This was around the same time she apparently withdrew her name, according to recent press reports. I quit working at the paper in May... Amazingly, the Baucus story is breaking more than nine months later. I’d be surprised if it went away any time soon.
Rave goes on to report on her meeting with the former husband of Melodee Hanes. Continuing:
A source tipped me off about the Baucus and Hanes relationship. I tracked down Hanes’ husband, Thomas Bennett, a doctor who lives in Billings, Mont. Bennett and I talked on the phone several times. He said his wife was having an affair with Baucus. He was upset because so many people knew about the affair before him. Bennett and Hanes divorced in December 2008. In February 2009, I arranged a meeting with Bennett in Missoula in which he showed me an e-mail his wife sent to the senator. Hanes called Baucus her ”furnace.”
In a media availability late last Friday, Baucus spokesman Ty Matsdorf in announcing the affair, said of his boss, "Senator Baucus is currently in a mature and happy relationship with Melodee Hanes."
