Happy Thanksgiving! Long Live Fryer and Flier (a pair of pardoned turkeys who still failed to make Bill Schneider's CNN List of Political Turkeys)

This nice look back into time from George Will at the Washington Post begins here,

"Twas founded be th' Puritans to give thanks f'r bein' presarved fr'm th' Indyans, an' . . . we keep it to give thanks we are presarved fr'm th' Puritans."

-- Finley Peter Dunne

and ends with this,

Thanksgiving is, Hodgson thinks, a counterpoint to Americans' other great civic festival, the Fourth of July:

"It is good to celebrate the public glories and the promise of American life with fireworks and speeches, better still to celebrate the mysterious cycle of life, the parade of the generations, and the fragile miracle of plenty, in the small warm circle of family, the building brick of which all prouder towers have always been constructed."

An Englishman (Samuel Johnson) said that people more often need to be reminded than informed. Sometimes Americans need a sympathetic foreigner, such as Hodgson, to remind them of the dignity of what they are doing, on this day and all others.

For us, here and now, its all about football, food and for those of us who have them, family. There was a time once, a long, long time ago, when it meant something different: Overcoming hardship, making new cultural connections, and above all, peace. At a minimum we can think about this as we munch chips and drink beer. A lot has happened between then, and now.

Happy Turkey Day!

INMATES ON MYSPACE: IS THE FIRST AMENDMENT MORALLY REPREHENSIBLE?

Wired has an interesting comment on the death row inmates posting diary entries on Myspace. How dangerous is that? So they are supposed to shut up and die, but for 25 years?

Bush Wiretapping Program Violates Federal Laws and the Constitution, Says ACLU
-- The ACLU issued press release that begins, "The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Michigan today urged a federal appeals court to uphold a lower court ruling declaring the government's warrantless National Security Agency wiretapping program illegal, calling the government's assertion of unchecked spying powers 'radical' and a threat to American democracy."
-- Brief for Appellees filed in the NSA wiretapping appeal, pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, is available by clicking here. Thanks Howard Bashman

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (TCCA), that State's highest court in criminal cases, holds that President Bush was powerless to force the Texas judiciary to disregard its rules of procedural default to consider on the merits a Mexican death row inmate's Article 36 Vienna Convention claim. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals today issued its ruling in Ex Parte Jose Ernesto Medellin. Access the lead opinion at this link, while the concurring opinions can be accessed here, here, here, and here. For more click this, at SCOTUSblog.

When George Will writes, he's news. His column in the Washington Post, found here, is about the recent Belmontes decision. Kent Scheidegger reactions are here at Crime & Consequences. Brian Tamanaha has thoughtful ruminations on jury instructions in the wake of Belmontes here at Balkinization. Thanks SCOTUSblog.

WHEN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Go see
Prison Art Gallery
1600 K Street NW
Suite 501
Washington, DC
202-393-1511