Especially for Jon Maus

I couldn't help but think of you when I saw this Jon. And just in case anyone is wondering, I don't think Atkins has a prayer of winning this case.

Atkins Diet Company “Pleads First Amendment,” Seeking Protection from Heart Disease Claim in Florida Court

Atkins Asks Court to Find Life-Threatening Diet Advice Protected Under Free Speech Guarantees; Judge May Rule Next Week

West Palm Beach, FL—Rebuffed in its first attempt last month to have a Florida court throw out a landmark personal injury lawsuit challenging the safety of the controversial Atkins Diet, Atkins Nutritionals has submitted a motion arguing that “the ideas and information in a generally circulated self-help book and an associated website are fully protected by the First Amendment even if they cause harm to some readers,” even speech with potentially life-threatening consequences.

Atkins contends that the First Amendment permits it to make false and misleading statements in the course of its business, without incurring liability to its customers. But Dan Kinburn, Gorran’s attorney and senior counsel for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, notes First Amendment free speech guarantees do not apply in cases of false speech. “You can’t yell ‘fire’ in a crowded theater, you can’t run false ads in magazines, and you can’t tell people anxious to solve a health problem that it’s safe to follow a dangerous diet,” he says.

http://www.pcrm.org/news/update041119.html

If you are in the mood for a rant...

...and won't be insulted by some jabs at pro basketball players, humvee owners, Congressional Republicans, and American selfishness you may want to take a look at an op/ed piece written by Thomas Friedman for the New York Times last week. It has been making the rounds on the internet and I think a lot of people shared his outrage.

It's a good piece of writing and I'd say I agree with him about 75 - 80%. Let me know what you think.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/25/opinion/25friedman.html?oref=login

Medical Marijuana

The Supreme Court finally is going to hear a case on this issue tomorrow morning. The issue boils down to this. Does the federal law banning marijuana as a legal drug trump the laws in states such as Washington and California where it has been legalized for medicinal purposes?

The following article is very good. It goes into all of the Constitutional issues involved and the relevant case law. I love that kind of stuff! Plus it has a cool map of which states have acted on this issue. Read it and tell me what you think of this issue.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1129/p02s01-usju.html

For some reason, I love that the case is named Ashcroft v. Raich. I guess it is the possibility of his name being associated with losing something.

Challenges to Democracy - Part 3

Iraq:

Elections are scheduled for January 30th. George W. Bush and interim Prime Minister Aiyad Allawi have insisted that the election will take place on that date.

However, there are a significant number of individuals and groups calling for a delay in the elections because of the on-going violence. They say that many voters will be too afraid to go to the polls, and important towns and cities will be left out of the process.

The answer from Allawi, seen in some parts of Iraq as a pawn of the Bush administration, is that they will not give in to what the insurgents want: a disruption of the process leading Iraq back to independence.

Is it better to have an election sooner, that may leave significant numbers of people out of the vote and risk more lives being lost; or is it more important to forge on ahead and not let the insurgency feel they are succeeding in their attempts at disrupting the process. This is a tough question. What do you think?

Check out more info about this first at:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1129/p01s02-woiq.html

Challenges to Democracy - Part 2

Ukraine:

As I mentioned in a blog below, many Ukranians are up in arms over the outcome of last weekend's Presidential election. It appears that there was considerable vote fraud, and Ukranians have been bravely protesting the results in the streets. What makes this election especially interesting to the United States is that the Kremlin (Russian President Vladimir Putin) was backing the candidate who won the election. Influence over the Ukraine (which was formerly a part of the USSR) is considered very important to Russia, both politically and economically. Our Secretary of State, Colin Powell, has called the results of the election "unacceptable". How will this all impact our relationship with Russia?

A few details:

The election results were declared official on Monday

Numerous election monitors have reported widespread voting fraud and irregularities

On Thursday, Ukraine's Supreme Court has put publication of the election results on hold until the allegations of fraud and abuse can be investigated.

Today, the Parliament called the vote an inaccurate representation of the will of the people and the results invalid. (But parliament doesn't actually have the authority to overturn the results of the vote.)

Some in the country are calling for the entire election to be redone. Avoiding violence is a concern.

Details are all over the news, including the following link:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6374820/

Challenges to Democracy - Part 1

Democracy is a great system, but we no it is not perfect. That is why so many of the principles constitutionalism, natural rights, and republicanism are so important. There are three examples of the news this weekend that show some of the difficulties democracy can face.

Washington State: Getting an accurate vote count is difficult. The recount for our governor has put Dino Rossi ahead by 42 votes. By my calculation that is 42 votes out of 2,808,342 votes cast. It is truly mind blowing. Gregoire's campaign now is calling for a hand recount, which they will have to pay for under state law, and that means that we won't have a winner declared until sometime around Christmas.

Rossi won the first count by 261. It seems to me with almost 3 million votes to count, that a hand recount will probably result in yet a different result. If Rossi wins, then I think Gregoire will have no choice but to concede the election. If Gregoire comes out on top in the hand recount, Rossi will undoubtedly take action demanding the first tallies be recognized as the legitimate.

What are the consequences of such a close elections? Besides the issue of who the actual governor will be, what are the positive and negative impacts this election will have on political participation in this state?

Thursday's papers had lots of info on the election. If you want to access an it on the web try the link below.

http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=recount25m&date=20041125&query=Rossi%2C+Recount

Laws and Sausages

No one wants to take the blame for the mess Congress got itself into this week. Former German Prime Minister Otto Von Bismark once remarked that "Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made." Well, it is still true.

Congress passed a $388 billion omnibus appropriations bill a few days ago that no one had time to read. It was over 3,000 pages long and included an outrageous provision that would have allowed members of a Congressional committee to pry into anyone's IRS records. They say that they are going to undo that little invasion of privacy in a special session, but a closer look at the bill shows that it had a lot of other things in it that people should be upset about. It spent money on all sorts of things to make individual members of Congress look good to their constituents back home. According to the New York Times, the bill is "a cornucopia full of money designated for specific highway projects, locks and dams, parks, libraries, airports, museums, zoos, hospitals, schools and universities in every corner of the country." Here is a sample of a few of the goodies that members of Congress snuck into the bill to make the people in their home states and districts happy:

In earmarking money, Congress left little to chance - or to the judgment of
officials in the executive branch of the government. It set forth long lists of
specific projects to be financed with federal money. One list itemizes 1,032
economic and community development projects. Some of the grants are relatively
small: $20,000 for a jail in Winston County, Ala., and $25,000 for a park in
Chambersburg, Pa.

Another part of the bill sets aside $15,000 for
cameras to be installed in police cars in Berryville, Va., and a similar amount
for the Police Department of West Buechel, Ky.

Critics of such local
projects sometimes refer to them as pork barrel spending, or simply pork. The
2005 spending bill includes $1 million for the Missouri Pork Producers
Federation, to see if hog waste can be used as a source of energy.

The
bill also includes $1 million for seafood marketing efforts in Alaska, $269,000
for harvesting seafood in Mississippi, $200,000 for a new seafood plant on the
coast of Oregon, $4 million for "shrimp aquaculture" in seven states and
$443,000 for research to develop "baby food containing salmon," plus $236,000
for blueberry research in Maine and $133,000 for maple research in Vermont.

This process has gone on for years and it needs to be fixed. The problem is that too many members of Congress help themselves at the expense of the tax paying public. They wait until the end of the year and take numerous bills that haven't passed and roll them all up into one piece of legislation that is needed to keep the government running. There is very little accountability in the system. It is too bad that this issue was given almost no attention in the recent elections.

Happy Thanksgiving! At the Coraggio house, instead of turkey and football, it will be potatoes and Halo! Hope you all enjoy the holiday!

This coulda been us on November 3rd! Many Ukranians are outraged by the election fraud which they believe allowed Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich to be re-elected. International observers have agreed. The winner is the guy Russia's President Putin is backing, so I don't think these people have a "Democrats chance in Ohio" of getting what they want. 

How we win State...

This post is mainly for my current 12th grade WTP class, but if anyone else has some suggestions, please feel free to post your comments.

During WTP class on Friday, many of you weren't there, but those of us who were talked about how we go about winning State. We know that we are on track, but there lies a lot of hard work ahead. We will do it though if we not only work hard, but work smart. So, in the best tradition of civic discourse, I'd like to have your input on how we do this.

Based on my years of teaching/coaching teams, I have some ideas. Please comment here and give me your feedback. Do you have other ideas? Things you think will or will not work? Post your ideas!

First, I think there are a few important things I can do:

1. Be hard on all of you in terms of getting those speeches written and revised BEFORE winter break. January 13th seems like it is far away right now, but it isn't with the goal that we have.

2. Require that each group meet with me outside of class once a week. I have found this time to be very valuable – fewer distractions – I can help with more specific needs. It is kind of hard to find that much time, but I think it is worthwhile.

3. Drill you with follow-up questions as much as possible. It is the most important practice we can do.

4. Schedule some good guest speakers & helpers to work with you. Brian Snure has already told me that he would like to work with one or two of the groups on Friday afternoons, which is when we have free time. I think he’d be a good resource. I’ve also already booked Julia Patterson, Dave Upthegrove, and Congressman Adam Smith to visit with you in during December. I’m trying to get some people that specialize in Constitutional law to visit with us as well. Shay Schual-Berke can also visit. Health care is her big issue (she was a doctor) and I think she can help us understand that issue.

5. Put together some events like our District Qualifier to help us practice. Maybe some of you know a group that would like to hear our presentations. I’d like to do one before winter break and one after winter break.

What we do?

Stay on top of the news and current events. Learn about important issues that you may not completely understand.

Read important historical texts. There are some readings, court cases, speeches that are important for all of us to cover that we haven’t yet. Federalist papers, anti-Federalist papers, de Tocqueville, M. L. King and others are required reading for this kind of subject.

I think Tom Ellington had two good ideas he shared with us in October:
a) each unit create an extensive “things to know” list from their unit that they share with everyone else in the class
b) each unit creates a timeline of important events, court cases, laws, etc. that are important to your unit.
I think that these can kind of be done together to save some time.

Finding someway not to forget everything over winter break and keep moving forward. Some of us will be out of town and some will be here. Tahoma has usually scheduled regular practice sessions over winter break.

Not burning out and having fun with each other as we take on this challenge. Maybe we can find some ways to have fun and get rid of some stress together.

Let me know what you think. I’m very excited about the time between now and January 13th. I’m so impressed with how much you have learned and accomplished. I’m awe-struck at the thought of how good you guys can be.

Keep the faith!

My Class Will Win State!

I know that the State Competition for We the People is not until January 13th, but after the performance by my class on Wednesday evening at the District Qualifier, I can say with confidence that my class will win the State Competition this year.

They are a great group of students, they are well on their way, and I sense the motivation and desire in them to do what is necessary to win.

I'm looking forward to working with them!

Mess with Texas!

That is what the U.S. Supreme Court did today! The case was Smith v. Texas.

The judicial system by which the state of Texas executes criminals is an embarassment to the entire nation. According to the New York Times, "Of the 943 executions in the country since 1976, Texas has carried out 335, more than the next six states combined. It has 457 people on death row, second to the 635 in California, which has conducted 10 executions."

I have been passionately opposed to the death penalty from the time I was a very young person, and I've only become more convinced that it is a barbaric practice that needs to be abolished if we are to develop a civilized society that doesn't teach its children that killing is the answer.

BUT, you don't have to be opposed to the death penalty to be appalled at what has been going on in Texas for decades.

The Times article states, "The errors committed by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in upholding the death sentence of LaRoyce L. Smith were so clear to a majority of the Supreme Court that the justices decided the case in the inmate's favor on the basis of the briefs, without hearing arguments."

According to an AP report, in this case, Smith v. Texas, "The Supreme Court on Monday overturned the death sentence of a convicted Texas killer because jurors in his trial did not consider his learning disability and other evidence."

"There is no question that a jury might well have considered (Smith's) IQ scores and history of participation in special-education classes as a reason to impose a sentence more lenient than death," the court wrote in Monday's decision.

The Supreme Court went on to reprimand the Texas high court according to the Times:

The justices said Monday that the Texas appeals court ignored problems the Supreme Court had already identified and that it should have known, when it affirmed the sentence last April, that the jury instructions made the death sentence unconstitutional. The state court "erroneously relied on a test we never countenanced and now have unequivocally rejected," the justices said.

If that isn't enough to convince you something is seriously wrong in Texas, the AP report concludes with this:

Earlier this year, justices lifted inmate Delma Banks' death sentence and delivered a strong rebuke of Texas officials and lower courts for failing to ensure he received a fair trial. The court said prosecutors hid key information that might have helped Banks' case.

And last year, the court sided with a black Texas death row inmate, Thomas Miller-El, who claimed prosecutors in Dallas County stacked his jury with whites. The Miller-El case will be reviewed by justices for the second time next month because an appeals court again found that he should face the death penalty.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/16/politics/16scotus.html

http://news.findlaw.com/ap_stories/a/w/1154/11-15-2004/20041115091501_06.html

AAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

Why is there never enough time to do everything?!? Why are there so many papers left to grade? Why can't I survive on two hours of sleep? Why won't Ashcroft shut up and leave yet?

All of these questions have been bothering me this weekend.

I have an awesome We the People class this year

I do. Today they made a presentation in front of the Rotary Club as a warm up for the 9th Congressional District "Competition". (We have no challengers again this year.) My class is making excellent progress, and a number of people familiar with the program have commented to me that they have an excellent chance of making a run at the State Championship.

I wonder -- Would some of you who have been in the program in past years would be interested in helping them as they prepare, or simply offer them advice via this blog?

Our District Competition is Wednesday evening, Nov. 17th at 7:00 in the MRHS library.

Our State Competition will be January 13, during the day in Olympia.

Bye, Bye Ashcroft

As you may have heard by now, Attorney General John Ashcroft is resigning. He made himself into one of the most controversial members of the Bush Administration, and a favorite target of the left.

With this turn of events it is an excellent time to review the debate over the Patriot Act. Any of the articles out there about Ashcroft and his legacy would be a good start. It is vital that ALL of my WTP students understand the controversy over the Patriot Act.

Why was Ashcroft such a lightening rod for criticism of the Bush administration? In case any of you have forgotten why, let me sum it up for you. Ashcroft had a leading role in crafting the Patriot Act and zealously used it to prosecute the war on terrorists here at home. You can certainly make one very strong argument in favor of his leadership of the justice department, and he made it in announcing his retirement: there have been no new terrorist attacks on U.S. soil since Sept. 11, 2001.

However, at what cost? Ashcrofts critics point out that he severely limited civil liberties and engaged in unfair profiling of Arab and Muslims living in the U.S. A great place to start with understanding these criticisms is with an interview Newsweek has on their website. Constitutional scholar David Cole from Georgetown University calls Ashcroft the worst Attorney General in American history. Read his criticisms carefully. You can find them at:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6454887/site/newsweek/

Ashcroft was also controversial because of his combative style. In December of 2001 he lashed out at those who raised concerns over civil liberties and questioned their patriotism during testimony before a Congressional committee.

"To those who scare peace-loving people with phantoms of lost liberty, my
message is this: Your tactics only aid terrorists for they erode our unity and
diminish our resolve. They give ammunition to America's enemies and pause to
America's friends.”

Just this past summer he ridiculed librarians who had concerns over the loss of privacy for patrons' records.

So, I'm happy he is gone, but unfortunately Bush has not used this occasion to reach out to those of us in "blue" America by picking a moderate to replace Ashcroft. Nominee Alberto Gonzales is equally fervent in his approach to fighting terror suspects at home. More on him another time.

17 Reasons

Thanks to Yosef for posting Michael Moore's "17 Reasons Not to Slit Your Wrists". (It is one of the 9 comments under the smiling picture of Bush.)

I appreciate you and the rest of the Kerry supporters sharing your grief. I, too, had some pretty depressed hours over the past few days. But hey, those of you Bush supporters, feel free to weigh in here! Maybe you can convince some of us that it really won't be so bad.

I mean, Ashcroft seems to be on his way out. That's a good start!

Red and Blue America, county by county. USA today has a pretty cool section with interactive election maps. http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/front.htm?POE=HFQLCAMP 

He is laughing at my pain... 

Bush receives Kerry's concession call. 

Can we all just get along?

Well.

Well, well, well.

The election is over and the guy I wanted to win has conceeded. Bush and Kerry both spoke today and eloquently called for the people of the nation to come together in a spirit of unity.

Those were nice words, but I'm not so sure it is going to happen that way. I have a lot of thoughts on these issues, but first, what do you think? Will Bush reach out to Democrats? Will Democrats give him a second chance? Or has the bitterness and the harsh rhetoric of the past year left scars that will not heal anytime soon?

(I hope you all remember that this all goes back to those ideas of general welfare and civic virtue. Remember that many of the Framers feared diversity and nation full of factions would poison the spirit of republicanism!)

Indecision 2004

I think Jon Stewart and the Daily Show got this one right. It looks good for Bush, but Kerry still has a slim chance of pulling out a victory in Ohio.

I need to go to bed. Nothing will be decided soon.

One last interesting observation - more voters (according to exit polls) cited cultural issues as their main concern in this election. More than the Iraq War, more than terrorism, more than the economy. Why do these cultural issues stir such passion?

A nail-biter!

Wow. This is close. I'm very nervous about the results. Ohio and Florida are still the big prizes. I'm getting a feeling they are starting to look like they might go to Bush. At least NBC has put Washington and Oregon in the Kerry column.

Patty Murray has been declared the winner. I'm happy for her and for our state. I think she has been a great member of Congress.

So far things look good for Rossi. Ultimately, I voted for Gregoire because she was making stronger statements about supporting teachers and the schools, but I can live with Rossi. I don't think it is going to make a lot of difference which one wins. I think the budget is so tight in our state that they will have few choices about how they govern.

Back to the T.V.!!!

Say it isn't so Florida!

They have to count 1.6 million absentee ballots yet!

Electronic voting machines are failing in southwestern Florida. They are trying to get software guys to fix this as I write. There is no paper trail for these votes! I say we give up the war in Iraq and attack Florida if they screw this up again!

Still to close to call

No surprises yet - Bush is winning where he is supposed to, Kerry is winning where he is supposed to and Coraggio just got finished voting for a lot of Democrats! I didn't even have to wait! The poll workers have said it is very busy, and our state is looking at a record turnout of almost 85%.

The voter turnout among minorities in Florida is encouraging for Kerry. Bush is looking very strong in Michigan - it used to be a Democratic strong-hold.

Keep your eye on these states - also, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

And this is interesting:

Keith Olbermann of MSNBC is reporting that there is concern at the White House tonight....
"Discouragement" at the White House. That’s the term used by NBC’s White House Correspondent David Gregory in his 7:05 PM report, describing the reaction of President Bush’s “top advisors” in a war room within the war room at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. David’s sources report a “tense” set of advisors, who have already determined an unwanted “tightness in the race,” not unlike what they saw in the waning days of the 2000 Gore-Bush vote.


How do you think this will turn out?????

First Results

They are already projecting winners in several states and Bush is leading 39-3 in the electoral vote!

Of course none of these states are surprises, and the old South of the Confederacy is expected to go for Bush.

I don't like that they are calling any states before we on the west coast get to vote! The networks had pledged not to do this a few years ago, but I guess the competition in the news biz is too great.

Ohio closed its polls, but they are still open for voters who haven't gotten in. I finally get to vote. Even though I'm a die-hard democrat it did my heart good to see 5 or 6 of my students out on Marine View Drive waving signs in the cold and the rain for Bush. You ARE good Americans!

Almost votin' time!

Ok, school is over and I can't wait to get to the polls. I am surprised how nervous this election is making me. First I've got Amnesty International though.

It is very cool that a bunch of students are doing last minute electioneering. My current WTP class is split half and half between Dems and Reps. A lot of people are going out to wave signs. Others are doing some canvassing.

It is so exciting that so many people are voting. I do hope I don't have to stand in line forever.

A day at the polls

Well, the big day is here and it already looks like we will in fact have a record turnout for this election. I’m not going to make it to the polls until after school today. What has been your experience out there? Long lines? Anything unusual? Let me know.

It was really cool reading the posts from so many of you. I haven’t had a chance to respond much to people, but I really enjoyed hearing from you.

I’m going to try to post several times today, so visit this blog site early and often! Give me your comments as the day goes on….

Dump the Electoral College?

We talked about this in class today. What do you think about the electoral college?

There was an interesting column written in the Seattle Times Saturday. Here are a few of the quotes from it:

"Why is it that the people of Afghanistan can vote directly for the Afghanistan president, unlike Americans, who cannot vote directly for the American president?

Why is it that Iraqis can vote for their president, but Americans cannot vote for the American president?

...How important can the Electoral College be when America does not export the Electoral College to other new democracies? If the Electoral College is so important in America, then shouldn't Afghanistan have an Electoral College? Shouldn't Iraq have an Electoral College? The answer is that they don't because it's not relevant.

Let the democracy that George Bush is exporting to other countries be imported to America so that Americans can vote for the president directly. "

My point is that the electoral college makes a lot of people feel disenfranchised. This patchwork system that the Framers worked out as a compromise now has morphed into a system that is confusing and less democratic than it could be. I know that if the candidate I am favoring loses, I would be able to deal with that loss a lot better if I knew it was because most Americans really wanted the other candidate to hold that office. This system is too much of a game as I see it. What do you think?

There are organizations dedicated to voting reform. Not all of them call for an abolition of the electoral college, but they do have interesting ideas. Check them out at their websites:
http://www.fairvote.org/e_college/
http://www.reformelections.org/learn/related_links.php
http://www.nvri.org/

Now there are those out there who believe that the Electoral College has served us well. Their views are important to consider as well, but in the end I think the time has come for a change.

William Raspberry published a column calling for reform a couple of weeks ago.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40886-2004Oct17.html

For another viewpoint, David Broder is skeptical of electoral fixes. Check it out.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A50016-2004Oct20.html