Fighting the Devil

Happy Friday.

Ronnie Earle is a prosecutor in Austin, Texas. For years, Earle was praised for his diligent, determined efforts to reduce crime, seek out justice (not just a conviction), and maintain the integrity of his office. That was, until he challenged the illegal practices of certain Texas politicians--and came up against Karl Rove.

More recently, Earle began investigating the illegal acts of Political Action Committees supporting House Majority Leader Tom Delay. He revealed a massive, unlawful conspiracy among the PACs to raise and spend funds in support of Republican candidates for state, and later national, office. (To be sure, of the public officials he's prosecuted, 12 have been Democrats, three of have been Republicans--so far.)

If you're wondering how November 2d could have happened, here's a clue. Surely, this illegality is not limited to Texas.

Who the Hell is Ronnie Earle?

Think your vote counts? Think again.

It Has Come to This

Happy Friday.

In the February 14th issue of the New Yorker is a rather intriguing article entitled Outsourcing Torture about a practice known as “extraordinary rendition” whereby the United States government ships individuals to other countries where they are interrogated through torture. While some of you may claim the practice is necessary in a post-9/11 world, the realization that our government seizes people from their homes in the middle of the night to subject them to such extreme cruelty that they must be taken overseas is more than a little disturbing--especially considering that the historical precedent for such conduct was limited to places like Nazi Germany, Stalinist Russia, and Amin’s Uganda.

What’s most disturbing, perhaps, is that the practice no longer needs to be kept secret--somehow we have come to accept such things.