The Seth Walsh Project. Its about friggin time.

The ACLU announced the creation of the Seth Walsh Project today. Seth was an 8th grade gay student in Tehachapi, a small town in the mountains east of Bakersfield, that hung himself when the bullying finally got to him. His family alerted the school administrative staff and the school board many times, prior to Seth's suicide, of the obvious and overt bullying by other students,but to no avail.  I wrote about him here, in a post entitled Bullied to Death-Seth Walsh's last words, and included the video at the end of this post.

The ACLU project's goal is to combat bullying of gay students in California schools. From their website:

All students have a right to attend school in a safe learning environment, and their parents have a right to know their children will come home unharmed. But sadly, that is not the reality in California. Far too often, teachers and administrators discount--or worse, ignore entirely--incidents of violence happening right under their noses.

Today, the ACLU of Southern California announced the launch of the Seth Walsh Students' Rights Project -- a major new initiative aimed at combating bullying and discrimination in California schools, particularly harassment directed at lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning students.

Prompted by the September 2010 suicide of Seth Walsh, a 13-year old student at Tehachapi's Jacobsen Middle School who endured years of anti-gay harassment at school, the Project will investigate incidents of harassment and discrimination; educate administrators and teachers of their responsibilities under both state and federal law to make sure all students have a safe learning environment; and work closely with LGBTQ students and their parents to ensure they have the same educational opportunities as their peers.

It's about fucking time. As the ACLU states, schools have an obligation to protect their students from bullying..of any type. They are obligated to provide a safe learning environment.

They failed Seth. The fuckers in charge failed this child miserably and to that end..my hope is that the ACLU will be a beacon in the fight for a safe learning environment for all children in California's schools.

I just wish it was a nationwide project..because we know it happens all over these United States of America, at all levels of education...and it has to stop. NOW. 

ACLU to defend student sent home for wearing pro-equality Tshirt

The state is Louisiana, which isn't surprising in and of itself. From RawStory:

KTBS reported that De Soto Middle School student Dawn Henderson was ordered to go home after refusing to remove a shirt with the text "Some Kids are Gay. That's OK." 

De Soto Middle School Principal Keith Simmons said he sent her home because her shirt was a distraction to other students. 

"Students do not give up their free speech rights at the schoolhouse gate," ACLU of Louisiana Executive Director Marjorie R. Esman said in a letter to Simmons. "To allow students to express one kind of opinion but not another is the very definition of censorship, and it violates the Constitutional rights of students like Dawn Henderson, who may have views different from those of her school Principal." 

"Schools should encourage discussion of issues of public concern, and especially issues about which there may be conflicting opinions," Esman continued. "Sending Dawn home for wearing a shirt with the word ‘gay’ on it not only trampled her right to freedom of expression, but also sent a destructive message to all students that there is something wrong with being gay or even saying the word 'gay.' A school is the best place to encourage young people to share opinions." 

In a similar incident, the ACLU of Illinois defended the free speech rights of Neuqua Valley High School students who wore shirts that said "Be Happy, Not Gay." The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in early March that a "school that permits advocacy of the rights of homosexual students cannot be allowed to stifle criticism of homosexuality."

This also goes to the point that the ACLU does represent unpopular causes, like the IL student that appears to not like gay people. Whatever your pov is on the ACLU, they are there to protect everyone's rights..and that is a good thing, as even homophobes have the right to express their opinions...unless it's the idiots at Westboro, then you won't find me supporting their right to hate speech and picketing innocent soldiers funerals and verbally brutalizing the family that is trying to mourn their dead child.  The first amendment right does NOT trump all other rights in my humble yet noisy opinion.

Below is a photo of Dawn in her Tshirt, courtesy of TheDailyMail and KTBS.

Tortured Logic-New Video from ACLU

After watching this..please sign up at the ACLU website to send this to AG Holder.

ACLU report: Identifying School-to-Prison Pipeline in State

Pandagon has an excellent post up about racism and racial stereotyping within the Michigan school systems. Full disclosure: The author works for the ACLU in Michigan. You can read the ACLU report entitled “Reclaiming Michigan’s Throwaway Kids: Students Trapped in the School-to-Prison Pipeline,” here. The report addresses the disciplinary practices which are highly suspect and disproportionate with regard to African-American students in the state. A few highlights of the Pandagon article:

One of the things the report discusses is the vastly disproportionate numbers of punishments that black students receive - in Ann Arbor, for instance, black students make up 18% of students but 58% of suspensions, with numbers like these are repeated in districts across the state. I’ve had this discussion with people before, and the explanations for this usually attempt to pin it on parental involvement, or culture, somehow believing that the apogee of black culture is mouthing off to a teacher, because that makes sense.

I have a basic rule in life: if a group of people seem to be acting illogically given what are seemingly clear reasons not to, then there’s likely something else at work. We could accept that black kids and black families are just drastically more likely to train themselves to do disruptive things that will be cracked down on in schools, but that makes virtually no sense whatsoever. I think there are a couple of things at work, the first being that assumption by many teachers that black students and black males in particular are more aggressive and therefore more likely to transgress initially. The second is that, from the perspective of black students, being more likely to be treated in a capricious and heavy-handed manner by authority figures makes you less likely to respect those authority figures.

In my mind, it's logical to have less respect for authority figures when you are constantly being treated 'capriciously' by the asshole in charge because of the color of your skin or because of your sex. This paragraph in the Pandagon article really hit it for me:

Any more, many schools don’t do detention, they just suspend or expel. Combined with zero tolerance policies, often for subjective transgressions, being a grade school or high school student is perilous - whether you behave well or behave poorly, your continued presence in school is often subjected to the whims of teachers or administrators in dealing with you.

With all the budget cuts, they don't have the teachers to hold detention after school anymore. It's also a lot easier and cheaper, to expel or suspend a child. From the ACLU report:

Through its research the ACLU found that disproportionate discipline towards African American students was apparent in the majority of the school districts examined in the study. For instance, in the Ann Arbor School District during the 2006/07 school year, black students accounted for 18 percent of a secondary school student population, but they received 58 percent of suspensions. This trend is reflected in school districts statewide.

“In school district after school district, from one end of the state to another, we found that black kids are consistently suspended in numbers that are considerably disproportionate to their representation in the various student populations,” said Mark P. Fancher, ACLU of Michigan Racial Justice Project staff attorney and principal author of the report. “More alarming still are studies we examined that show that the behavior of black kids and white kids is essentially the same, and black kids are still kicked out of school proportionately more often. This is true regardless of socio-economic factors and geography.”

Racial stereotyping is alive and well isn't it? Damn it..damn it all.

States Secrets Privilege can't be used for rendition case.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has told Eric Holder NO on using the states secret privilege argument in the rendition case against a Boeing subsidiary.

Bet that just ruined his day! From the Jurist writeup linked above:

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled Tuesday that the state secrets privilege does not bar a lawsuit against a company that allegedly provided logistical support for CIA rendition flights. Plaintiffs Binyam Mohamed, Abou Elkassim Britel, Ahmed Agiza, Mohamed Farag Ahmad Bashmilah, and Bisher al-Rawi allege that Jeppesen Dataplan, a wholly owned subsidiary of Boeing, knowingly supported direct flights to secret CIA prisons, facilitating the torture and mistreatment of US detainees. The US Department of Justice (DOJ) intervened in 2007 before the defendant filed an answer, arguing that the lawsuit posed a risk to national security. In overturning the lower court's dismissal of the case, the Ninth Circuit ruled that the state secret privilege must be based on actual evidence in the case, not on what evidence might be involved in the case:

Concluding that the subject matter of this lawsuit is not a state secret because it is not predicated on the existence of a secret agreement between plaintiffs and the Executive, and recognizing that our limited inquiry under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) precludes prospective consideration of hypothetical evidence, we reverse and remand.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which filed the suit on plaintiffs' behalf, welcomed [press release] Tuesday's ruling, saying, "[t]his historic decision marks the beginning, not the end, of this litigation."

ACLU is batting a thousand lately..and I do love it! ;)

ACLU representing RNC protesters

From the fine folks at the Real News Network. From their website:

Chuck Samuelson of the ACLU says much of the police repression during the RNC was based on law coming out of the Patriot Act.

The right to assembly, just another of our civil rights being circumvented by the assholes in the Bush Administration.

ACLU files lawsuit against new FISA law.

They didn't waste anytime did they? Bless those wonderful people at the ACLU. Friday, they filed suit (pdf file) in federal court in the southern district of New York, their press release can be read here. From Jurist:

The ACLU claims that the law violates the Fourth Amendment by allowing unjustified and unregulated surveillance, and violates the First Amendment by limiting the freedom of speech and the press. The complaint also alleges that the Act violates the "case or controversy" requirement and separation of powers. The ACLU asks the court to declare the law unconstitutional and to permanently enjoin such surveillance. The ACLU also filed a separate motion requesting that it be given leave to participate in all cases concerning the Act. The separate motion also requests that publications of all related motions and decisions be made available to the public. The New York Sun has more.

I am so proud of the ACLU and their tireless and sometimes thankless work on behalf of Americans, our freedoms and our Constitution. It is heartwarming and it gives one hope that all is not lost.

Of course, being the curmudgeon I am..I bet the court will toss the case..but allow me a small amount of smugness at this point in time ok? ;) May this lawsuit give Bush and Mukasey major heartburn and hopefully it will embarrass all those phony fucking Democrats that voted for the bill in Congress.

FISA court considering FOIA request.

I bet this news put a crimp in King George's vacation yesterday. According to the NYT:

In an order signed by Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, the presiding judge, on Thursday and released on Friday, the court called the A.C.L.U.'s motion "an unprecedented request that warrants further briefing."

The court ordered the government to respond on the issue by Aug. 31, saying that anything involving classified material could be filed under court seal.

The ACLU is claiming victory just by the mere fact that the FISA court and head jurist Ms. Kollar-Kotelly are even considering the FOIA request.

Tags: FISA, FOIA, ACLU

ACLU's protest today on Habeus Corpus in DC.

Today was the rally for restoring Habeus Corpus and the rule of Law and Justice in DC. If you would like to watch the speakers from today, you can do so here. The most moving speakers for me was the gentleman from the Hip Hop Caucus and Dennis Kucinich.

Tags: Politics, Habeus Corpus, ACLU, Restore Law and Justice

What's a dead Iraqi relative worth these days?

As I write this Wednesday afternoon, the death toll in Iraq for today only, is: 160 human beings and counting. The folks who work for the ACLU have doggedly persevered in their mission to bring us the hidden truths about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They spend thousands of dollars and hundreds of man hours filing FOIA requests and re-requests to the federal government and our court systems for information that many times, should be readily available.

When I read this last week, I was stunned at how callous and cold the report was. But, I suppose I shouldn’t of been, afterall..its merely an accounting of finances. The strange feeling I got while perusing the list in the middle of the night can only be explained as voyeuristic, but it was far from titillating.

The list starts out with death# 18 and goes through death# 1771. It covers Afghanistan and Iraq, but only a small percentage of the deaths are in Afghanistan. Either we didn’t pay them for their pain and suffering or it was an out-of-pocket, petty cash expense…We weren’t exactly accurate in our bookkeeping over in the war zone remember.

Lets take the first one, It took place in Kabul, Afghanistan on 5/29/06: Claim filed on behalf of Afghan taxi driver [Redacted] by brother. Taxi driver happened to be at site of a riot that broke out after a US Forces HEMMT vehicle lost control and crashed into several cars. US soldiers and Afghan personnel fired into the crowd, killing [Redacted]. Finding: negligence; Compensation: 200, 000 Afghani (appx. $3,991.22 US). See Army 30- 34, 35- 39, 40- 43, 44- 48, 49- 51, 67- 74 for related deaths. The Statement of Facts in the DOD memo appear to be copied for all relevant death investigations.

Apparently the dollar value of a life is roughly $3991 in Afghanistan and Iraq. There are of course some that are more or less expensive..even some that weren’t even compensated with little explanation.

We, in America, would scoff at such an offer if one of our loved ones were killed for no apparent reason, or by ‘accident’ at the hands of a member of our military or even a government official.

The NYT, that wretched liberal rag, did a piece about this FOIA document dump by the DoD. I was going to add up the total dollar value of the lives snuffed out on this report but a hat-tip to the NYT for doing it for me:

They represent only a small fraction of the claims filed. In all, the military has paid more than $32 million to Iraqi and Afghan civilians for noncombat-related killings, injuries and property damage, an Army spokeswoman said. That figure does not include condolence payments made at a unit commander’s discretion.

The ACLU has kindly broken down the payments for us:

Of the 496 files, 198 were denied because the military found that the incidents arose “from action by an enemy or resulted directly or indirectly from an act of the armed forces of the United States in combat,” which the military calls “combat exclusion.”
Of the 496 claims, 164 incidents resulted in cash payments to family members. In approximately half of the cash payment cases, the United States accepted responsibility for the death of the civilian and offered a “compensation payment.” In the other half, U.S. authorities issued “condolence” payments, which are discretionary payments capped at $2,500 and offered “as an expression of sympathy” but “without reference to fault.” Claims based on incidents that were not reported in the military’s “SIGACT” (”significant act”) database, despite eyewitness corroborations, are generally denied for compensation although a condolence payment may be issued.

If you ignore the hard, cold, dead facts above and concentrate on a few of the stories contained in these numbers you will find ones like these:

In one file, a civilian from the Salah Ad Din (PDF) province in eastern Iraq states that U.S. forces opened fire with more than 100 hundred rounds on his sleeping family, killing his mother, father and brother. The firepower was of such magnitude that 32 of the family’s sheep were also killed.

In the case of the fisherman in Tikrit, he and his companion desperately tried to appear unthreatening to an American helicopter overhead. “They held up the fish in the air and shouted ‘Fish! Fish!’ to show they meant no harm,” said the Army report attached to the claim filed by the fisherman’s family. The Army refused to compensate for the killing, ruling that it was “combat activity,” but approved $3,500 for his boat, net and cellphone, which drifted away and were stolen.

In Haditha, one of the most notorious incidents involving American troops in Iraq, the Marines paid residents $38,000 after troops killed two dozen people in November 2005.

When our military blows away one of your relatives in Iraq, they hand you a card, just like the one in my graphic. It reminds me of a penalty card in soccer.

And it has just about as much power and authority. There is no guarantee we won’t shoot your children, husbands or close relatives ‘by accident’ and then reimburse you for it in Iraq and Afghanistan. And if that Iraqi or Afghani happened to be the sole provider of your entire family, that’s too damn bad.

Because it’s not our military's fault 'those people' had the audacity to try to live their lives in the middle of a warzone. Perhaps they should get out now..as my dad used to say; While the getting is still good. Because this writeup tells us that the masses of refugees leaving Iraq are finding it very hard to leave that little piece of hell on earth.

But that’s for another post...and btw..the final count on deaths Wednesday in Iraq was 183 just in Baghdad, 223 Nationwide.

Cross-Posted at Bring It On!

Tags: Politics, FOIA, Iraq, ACLU