Crime

My heart goes to out to Jennifer Hudson and her family. The body of her nephew was found in an SUV. He is the third person murdered in her family over the weekend.

Jennifer is the quintessential example of how if you have talent, work hard and find the right guardian angels, you can  live the "American Dream".

Yet unfortunately dreams are dreams and the reality of living in "the 'hood" can be violently tragic. The murders of Jennifer's mother, brother and nephew do not sound random at all. These murders unfortunately have the markers of a drug gang take down.

It just breaks my heart that when one of our own soars so high to make a name for themselves, there's a pack of haters waiting to take them down. Because on this one, you know we can't blame "the man" for these hateful murders.

I called bullshit on Twitter more than 4 hours ago:

am not saying the assault was real, but i hope the guy gets caught. i'd really hate it if it were effed up hoax

if you don't know what am talking about, it's of the "random" McCain college supporter who got robbed and attacked by an alleged Obamabot

@nezua yup. which is why it's so suspect. the timing, the characters involved. too little green footballs for my taste

Here's the "official story" :

Police spokeswoman Diane Richard said the robber took $60 from Todd, then became angry when he saw a McCain bumper sticker on the victim's car. The attacker then punched and kicked the victim, before using the knife to scratch the letter "B" into her face, Richard said.

The robber is described as a dark-skinned black man, 6 feet 4 inches tall, 200 pounds with a medium build, short black hair and brown eyes. The man was wearing dark colored jeans, a black undershirt and black shoes.

Seems rather convenient for the governor to have had our Alaskan friends release the abuse of power investigation way past 5pm EST on a Friday. And it's a 263-page report at that!

It looks like a mixed bag of findings. Palin didn't break labor laws when she decided to reassign the then Public Safety Commissioner, Walt Monegan, as retaliation for his insubordination. Of course, her camp is spinning it as a decisive victory for her.

Yet the report does say she broke ethics laws by abusing her executive power. In her case though was her inability to reign in her husband's "inappropriate efforts" in trying to get their ex-brother in-law fired

My email has been bursting with amazing stuff this week. The latest offering is a web ad by WAMP - Women Against McCain-Palin and titled "Rape Victim".

"I was raped. Then I got pregnant. Sarah Palin believes the government should force me to take the pregnancy to term."

And with those words start an incredibly powerful and courageous 35 seconds.

I have to reblog this because last night I saw one of the best quick comments about this bailout travesty : On the eve of a black man coming into the White House, they hustle all the money out of the Treasury. (H/T Ruby and Professor Kim)

Michael Moore sees it more broadly : this is the way the wealthy stage a coup before they're taxed in the coming administration.

I cannot lie : I can't understand the whole concept of prostitution.

I can't understand why I woman would want to get paid by 2, 3, 6, 10 guys (or gals) a night to make rent. I can't understand how people can use their bodies as a tool or an instrument in that fashion.

I can't understand either why a guy would want to pay for sex. Yes, I know, I've heard about the whole "it's about having control and power and no string attached" spiel. Yet whereas many people see that as an exploitative act that gives men an unlimited amount of power, I see it more as a sign of weakness and even impotence. A guy that has to pay for it can't get it any other way and paying it for it is just part of the thrill.

Yet just because I don't understand the psychological dynamics of prostitution does it mean that it should be outlawed. On the contrary, just as with most drugs, I believe that we should follow Holland's lead and legalize prostitution.

Banning prostitution is not going to make it go away. On the contrary, the allure of breaking the taboo would be even stronger. If women and men want to turn sex into a transaction then, by all means, make it safe and make it fair.

Prostitution should be taxed and considered labor.

Prostitutes should be certified by the board of health.

Prostitution houses ought to be licensed and provide security services, along with health benefits and other labor benefits, to all their workers.

Do I believe that Eliot Spitzer is the target of a political witch hunt by the Bush Justice Department? Up to a certain point yes, but when you have the arrogance to not follow your own advice you are royally screwed by your own lack of judgement.

And that's what makes it worse :

People can be very unforgiving of moral crusaders who are caught with their hands in the cookie jar. And money laundering is a far more serious crime for a government official than paying for sex. He might have been forgiven for an affair or even being caught with a prostitute after some time spent with family, a few stiff and tearful press conferences with his wife standing grimly at his side. It’s easy to cast that as a private matter. But when you make a career of fighting financial improprieties and then get caught in some of your own, it’s not easy to be forgiven for that.

On May 25th, 2005, I wrote the following about Lawrence Lessig :

Today we're all having one of those days : the four of us woke up somewhat askew. Whether it is allergies or a cold, we're not feeling well. So I decided to not take the kids to their usual martial arts class. But to minimize the askweness of the day, we followed part of our Monday "script" and procured the "start of the week" stash of candy.

And then, to make things more "different" I bought New York Magazine because this week's cover story caught my eye. Simply titled, The Choirboy, the hook goes : "The American Boychoir School in Princeton was a twisted sanctuary for the sexual abuse of children. Why is one of America's most famous lawyers taking it on? He was one of the victims". Needsless to say, I had to get this magazine. With all the child abuse scandals plaguing the Catholic Church, I was intrigued. So I immediately went on to page 28 while my two little boys were enjoying their Monday afternoon treat and I immediately broke down.

The lawyer and former abused choirboy is none other than Lawrence Lessig; a man who could only be described as force of nature on the internet.

There on page 29 of this week's New York Magazine, is a man that I have long admired, not just because of his books championing freedom of speach on the Internet, not just because he founded Creative Commons, but because Lawrence Lessig was one of the few people to come to our family's rescue and tell us "everything is going to be alright". Back in 1997 my husband became on of the first artists to be threatened with intellectual property lawsuits for derivative work displayed and distributed through the internet and Lessig was one of the few people who was able to offer some advice --because nothing like this had happened to any artists on the net.

It's because of this that nowadays, when working on a project, we always ask WWLLD? or "What would Lawrence Lessig do?" : We're not religious people but we do believe in the legal judgement of Lessig.

As one of the commenters over at Lessig's said, "Having high-profile, successful people step forward with their stories is important. It makes the burden easier to carry for others, and it shows in a practical way that though such a past will always -color- you to some degree, it doesn't need to -define- you."

Yet it's the fact that he took on this legal challenge after losing one of the biggest and most important legal fights in his area of special --copyright and intellectual property-- that is more poignant.