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D.C. Handgun Ban Struck Down by Federal Appeals Court

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March 9 — A U.S. appeals court struck down a three-decade-old District of Columbia law that bans residents from keeping a handgun in their homes, saying the Constitution’s Second Amendment protects an individual right to bear arms.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in Washington also threw out a district law requiring registered firearms to be kept disassembled or under trigger lock.

It’s the first time a federal appeals court has struck down a gun-control measure on Second Amendment grounds. Nelson Lund, a constitutional law professor at George Mason University in neighboring Virginia, said an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court is “very likely.”

“This is clearly an extremely significant ruling,” Lund said, “The District of Columbia had some of the most restrictive gun control laws in the country.’

The Second Amendment says, “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”

Lawyers for the District of Columbia, which banned residents from owning handguns in 1976 for public safety reasons, argued that the amendment guarantees the right to bear arms only for members of a militia.

[Bloomberg]

Bush greeted by protests in Latin America

[neoncobra.blogspot]

Yet as the protests demonstrate, anti-Americanism runs deep in Latin America, and many are skeptical (LAT) of this new attention from the United States. Some see Bush’s visit as a weak attempt to counter Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s influence. High oil prices have given Chavez the ability to buy some $1.5 billion of Argentina’s bonds and offer to underwrite coca production in Bolivia, among other ventures. In contrast, Bush’s newly-announced aid package and his proposed 2008 foreign aid budget for Latin America are quite modest (NYT). Due to likely congressional restraints, “Bush, particularly on trade issues, probably has very little to concretely offer these countries,” says CFR Fellow Shannon O’Neil in an interview

[CFR]

Southern Baptist leader calls for the prevention of gay babies, if it becomes scientifically possible

One of the nation’s leading Southern Baptists has called for a policy that would support medical treatment, if it were to become available, to change the sexual orientation of a fetus inside its mother’s womb from homosexual to heterosexual. This latest assault on our dignity and existence comes from no less a personage than Rev. R. Albert Mohler, the president of the prominent and influential Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary is the flagship school of the Southern Baptist Convention and one of the largest seminaries in the world.

Acknowledging the strides that genetic science is making in identifying and isolating genetic abnormalities, defects and diseases, Mohler embraces this advance in medical science as yet another tool in the war to root out and cleanse sin. The good reverend explains that “Given the consequences of the Fall and the effects of human sin, we should not be surprised that such a causation or link is found. After all, the human genetic structure, along with every other aspect of creation, shows the pernicious effects of the Fall and of God’s judgment.”

[RawStory]

Who’s Hyperpartisan?

Hand-wringing over extreme partisanship has become a popular cause among learned analysts. They operate from Olympian heights and strain for evenhandedness by issuing tut-tuts to all sides, Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives.

But the evidence of recent days should settle the case: This administration has operated on the basis of a hyperpartisanship not seen in decades. Worse, the destroy-the-opposition, our-team-vs.-their-team approach has infected large parts of the conservative movement and the Republican Party. That’s a shame, since there are plenty of good people in both. Still, the tendency to subordinate principles to win short-term victories and cover up for the administration is, alas, rampant on the right.

Take the rush of conservative organs demanding an immediate pardon of Scooter Libby after his conviction on four counts related to lying and obstruction of justice. Last I checked, conservatives were deeply committed to the rule of law. They said so frequently during the Clinton impeachment saga.

[WashingtonPost]

Illegal drugs can be harmless, report says

Illegal drugs can be “harmless” and should no longer be “demonised”, a wide-ranging two-year study concluded today.

The report said Britain’s drug laws were “not fit for purpose” and should be torn up in favour of a system which recognised that drinking and smoking could cause more harm.

The RSA Commission on Illegal Drugs ,set up in January 2005, also called for the main focus of drugs education to be shifted from secondary to primary schools and recommended the introduction of so-called “shooting galleries” – rooms where users can inject drugs.

The report, compiled by a panel of academics, politicians, drugs workers, journalists and a senior police officer, also called for the Home Office to be stripped of its lead role in drugs policy.

It recommended the Misuse of Drugs Act be scrapped in favour of a wider-ranging Misuse of Substances Act, and the current ABC classification system be abandoned in favour of an “index of harms”.

Current laws, the panel claimed, were been “driven by moral panic” with large amounts of money wasted on “futile” efforts to stop supply rather than going after the criminal networks behind the drugs on British streets.

[TheGuardian]

“Read the Bills Act” (RTBA)

Most Congressmen are lawyers, and many others are businessmen. They know what “fiduciary responsibility” is. For Members of Congress, fiduciary responsibility means reading each word of every bill before they vote.

But Congress has not met this duty for a long time. Instead . . .

  • They carelessly pass mammoth bills that none of them have read. Sometimes printed copies aren’t even available when they vote!
  • Often no one knows what these bills contain, or what they really do, or what they will really cost.
  • Additions and deletions are made at the last minute, in secrecy.
  • They combine unpopular proposals with popular measures that few in Congress want to oppose. (This practice is called “log-rolling.”)
  • And votes are held with little debate or public notice.
  • Oh, and once these bills are passed, and one of these unpopular proposals comes to light, they pretend to be shocked. “How did that get in there?” they say.

To this end we have created the “Read the Bills Act (RTBA).” RTBA requires that . . .

  • Each bill, and every amendment, must be read in its entirety before a quorum in both the House and Senate.
  • Every member of the House and Senate must sign a sworn affidavit, under penalty of perjury, that he or she has attentively either personally read, or heard read, the complete bill to be voted on.
  • Every old law coming up for renewal under the sunset provisions must also be read according to the same rules that apply to new bills.
  • Every bill to be voted on must be published on the Internet at least 7 days before a vote, and Congress must give public notice of the date when a vote will be held on that bill.
  • Passage of a bill that does not abide by these provisions will render the measure null and void, and establish grounds for the law to be challenged in court.
  • Congress cannot waive these requirements.

[DownsizeDC]

South Korea devises ‘robot ethics charter’

South Korea’s obsession with technology has led it to consider what may be the first government-backed ethical code for robots.

Already well advanced in considering potential uses for robots, from the battlefield to the kitchen, the Korean ministry of commerce, industry and energy today said it hoped to publish guidelines for human-robot relations by the end of the year.

In a move sure to delight science fiction fans, the “Robot Ethics Charter” is likely to be modelled on the instructions devised by the American writer Isaac Asimov in his series, I, Robot.

This was a sort of Hippocratic oath for androids: they were not allowed to harm humans, or allow them to come to harm through inaction; they had to obey orders; and they had to protect themselves if that did not compromise the first two instructions.

[The Telegraph]

Former Iranian Defense Official Talks to Western Intelligence

A former Iranian deputy defense minister who once commanded the Revolutionary Guard has left his country and is cooperating with Western intelligence agencies, providing information on Hezbollah and Iran’s ties to the organization, according to a senior U.S. official.

Ali Rez Asgari disappeared last month during a visit to Turkey. Iranian officials suggested yesterday that he may have been kidnapped by Israel or the United States. The U.S. official said Asgari is willingly cooperating. He did not divulge Asgari’s whereabouts or specify who is questioning him, but made clear that the information Asgari is offering is fully available to U.S. intelligence.

Asgari served in the Iranian government until early 2005 under then-President Mohammad Khatami. Asgari’s background suggests that he would have deep knowledge of Iran’s national security infrastructure, conventional weapons arsenal and ties to Hezbollah in south Lebanon. Iranian officials said he was not involved in the country’s nuclear program, and the senior U.S. official said Asgari is not being questioned about it. Former officers with Israel’s Mossad spy agency said yesterday that Asgari had been instrumental in the founding of Hezbollah in the 1980s, around the time of the bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut.

[WashingtonPost]

Gingrich Had Affair During Clinton Probe

WASHINGTON — Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich acknowledged he was having an extramarital affair even as he led the charge against President Clinton over the Monica Lewinsky affair, he acknowledged in an interview with a conservative Christian group.

“The honest answer is yes,” Gingrich, a potential 2008 Republican presidential candidate, said in an interview with Focus on the Family founder James Dobson to be aired Friday, according to a transcript provided to The Associated Press. “There are times that I have fallen short of my own standards. There’s certainly times when I’ve fallen short of God’s standards.”

Gingrich argued in the interview, however, that he should not be viewed as a hypocrite for pursuing Clinton’s infidelity.

[HuffPost]

White House Hangs Veto Over Pullout Plan

WASHINGTON — House Democratic leaders vowed Thursday to pass legislation setting a deadline of Sept. 1, 2008, for the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq, a challenge to President Bush’s war policy that drew a blunt veto threat in return.

“It would unnecessarily handcuff our generals on the ground, and it’s safe to say it’s a nonstarter for the president,” said White House spokesman Dan Bartlett.

Little more than two months after Democrats took control of the House and Senate, Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California said the bill would set “dates certain for the first time in the Congress for the redeployment of our troops out of Iraq.”

[AP/HuffPost]

Edwards to skip debate hosted by Fox News

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards will skip an August 14 debate hosted by the Fox News Channel and the Nevada Democratic Party, reports the Associated Press.

The Edwards campaign acknowledged that Fox News’ participation in the debate was a factor in their decision, also citing a busy campaigning schedule.

Edwards’ decision to pass on the Fox-hosted debate is being hailed as a victory by online critics who have opposed the debate and have pushed for the Nevada Democratic Party to drop Fox as a broadcasting partner.

[RawStory]

Surprise! Pork-Barrel Spending Drops

Tax money spent on small projects that only benefit one congressional district or region are often slipped into legislation at the 11th hour — a time-worn and much criticized part of Congress known as pork-barrel spending.

Each year the Citizens Against Government Waste exposes that pork in its annual “Congressional Pig Book.” The group had no problem sniffing out the pork this year, although it says it “will be a smaller pig than usual.”

The private, nonpartisan organization says that reduction is a welcome change from past pork-barrel spending levels.

Why the change in 2006 spending? Partly because only two of the 11 proposed spending bills were passed last year, giving legislators fewer places to hide the pork. Also, the new Democratic Congress enforced a moratorium on earmarks, the projects that members slip into appropriations legislation usually without the full scrutiny of Congress.

Even so, the group says “there is still enough pork to cause concern for taxpayers.”

[ABCNews]

Drones vs. Missiles

Government scientists and military contractors have proposed all kinds of tricks to protect passenger planes from shoulder-fired missiles since 2002, when an Israeli 757 was attacked in Kenya. Laser dazzlers, microwave blasters, even chemical-powered ray guns have all made the list. According to the DD story (sorry folks, subscription only), Homeland Security’s plan involves placing a drone is a perpetual orbit over airports. It’s part of a broader science and technology effort called “Project Chloe.”

Under Chloe, the UAS [unammned aerial system] would loiter for a day at around 65,000 feet above an airport. At that altitude an unmanned aircraft would be above the National Airspace and not conflict with routine aircraft traffic managed by the Federal Aviation Administration.

The system would be equipped with a missile warning system and a DIRCM ["Directional InfraRed Counter-Measures," which use missile-confusing laser beams] to detect and defeat shoulder-fired missile threats, Cohen said. A higher powered laser would likely be needed than what is envisioned for commercial aircraft because of the high altitude, he said. Cohen also suggested that instead of blinding the missile’s seeker, a laser could be used to decoy it to a higher altitude where it would eventually run out of fuel.

[WIRED]

Soviet-era compound in northern Poland was site of secret CIA interrogation, detentions

POLAND — The CIA operated an interrogation and short-term detention facility for suspected terrorists within a Polish intelligence training school with the explicit approval of British and US authorities, according to British and Polish intelligence officials familiar with the arrangements.

Intelligence officials identify the site as a component of a Polish intelligence training school outside the northern Polish village of Stare Kiejkuty. While previously suspected, the facility has never been conclusively identified as being part of the CIA’s secret rendition and detention program.

Only the Polish prime minister and top Polish intelligence brass were told of the plan, in which agents of the United States quietly shuttled detainees from other holding facilities around the globe for stopovers and short-term interrogation in Poland between late 2002 and 2004.

According to a confidential British intelligence memo shown to RAW STORY, Prime Minister Tony Blair told Poland’s then-Prime Minister Leszek Miller to keep the information secret, even from his own government.

[RawStory]

Wired Iraqi man triggers scare at L.A. airport

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – An Iraqi national wearing wires and concealing a magnet inside his rectum triggered a security scare at Los Angeles International Airport on Tuesday but officials said he posed no apparent threat.

The man, identified by law enforcement officials as Fadhel al-Maliki, 35, set off an alarm during passenger screening at the airport early on Tuesday morning.

“He was secreting these items in a body cavity and that was a great concern because there were also some electric wires associated with that body cavity,” Larry Fetters, security director for the Transportation Security Administration at the airport, told reporters.

[Reuters]