Archive for December, 2011

Independent body needed to investigate miscarriages of justice

0
Comments Posted on Dec 16, 2011 Last Updated Dec 09, 2011 Posted by editor

by Tom Mann

Channel 7 Today Tonight (Adelaide, 6 December 2011) highlighted the urgent need for a review of cases in which juries have reached a verdict based on suspect evidence. David Szach appeared on the program professing his innocence to the murder of lawyer Derrance Stevenson in 1979. After a 14-year prison sentence, and having passed a polygraph test, he has persisted in seeking a review of his case so that his name might be cleared. Attorney-General John Rau of South Australia, however, rejected Szach’s most recent plea to have his case reopened, despite the flawed nature of the evidence clearly raised by Szach in his petition, and supported by eminent scientists.

Read more ...

The Arab Spring, One Year On

0
Comments Posted on Dec 15, 2011 Last Updated Dec 07, 2011 Posted by editor

by Christine Lagarde

Rejecting the Past, Defining the Future

Let me start with the context. As we all know, almost one year ago, everything changed for the people of the Middle East. The region embarked upon a historic transformation. But at the time, few realized where this journey would lead. When Mohamed Bouazizi, the Tunisian street vendor, set himself on fire last year, who could have predicted that his tragic death would herald a whole new Middle East?

Who would have foreseen that this act of desperation against a violation of human dignity would ignite a flame that would eventually illuminate the entire region, toppling governments and leading to mass awakening of social consciousness?

This much is clear: The Arab Spring embodies the hopes, the dreams and aspirations of a people yearning for a better way of life. Yearning for greater freedom, for greater dignity, and for a more widespread and fairer distribution of economic opportunities and resources. Basic human yearnings.

Read more ...

Women Responding to War

0
Comments Posted on Dec 14, 2011 Last Updated Dec 07, 2011 Posted by editor

by Roberta Cohen

Whatever would Aristophanes, the Greek playwright of antiquity, think of the new US Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) documentary, Women, War and Peace? In his play Lysistrata performed in the fifth century B.C., Aristophanes depicted women tired of war and angry over its devastation of their and their families’ lives, uniting marching, occupying the Acropolis and withholding themselves to force men to the negotiating table. They triumph: the warring parties sign a peace agreement and the women propose some of its terms. For Aristophanes and his Greek audiences, women in war did not have to be victims but rather potentially powerful agents of change.

Fast forward twenty-five centuries to the US PBS documentary whose five riveting segments also show that when women join hands, they can rise above enormous odds in wartime. Here is some of what they achieved:  

Read more ...

Political Corruption in New York: Low Comedy and High Cost

0
Comments Posted on Dec 13, 2011 Last Updated Dec 07, 2011 Posted by editor

by Dan Collins

It’s possible, what with the rush of the holiday season, that you have neglected to pay close attention to the city’s latest political corruption trials. I must admit my own attention was wandering until this week, when a Brooklyn Assemblyman was indicted for attempting to solicit bribes so he could pay lawyers to defend from charges of taking bribes in a previous corruption trial.

The star of that saga is William Boyland Jr., who exemplifies all the reasons the words “state legislature” make New Yorkers want to beat their heads against the nearest flat surface.

He has a completely safe seat, which he inherited from his father, William Boyland Sr., who inherited it from his brother. Junior has had a totally undistinguished career in Albany, starring only in the narrow but competitive area of filling out expense forms. But back home he’s apparently been very active in a business loosely described as consulting.

In Albany, consulting is generally a euphemism for being paid to get somebody state money.

Read more ...

Sustainability: A Number of Policy Points Focusing on the Environment and Global Warming

0
Comments Posted on Dec 12, 2011 Last Updated Dec 07, 2011 Posted by editor

by Yusuf Isik

The sustainability question needs to be answered. In this phase of economic development, its impacts on a number of domains need to be considered. Environmental problems, both in the form of global warming and also economic and social issues, are the primary concern. The political implications are also crucial.

Both domains have specific and common aspects regarding sustainability. The world economic crisis of 2008 illustrates vividly the need for economic sustainability. The environmental and climatic concerns related to global warming are more alarming because they, particularly the latter, raise survival issues relating to the near future. They are not just a question of standard of life.

Read more ...
« Older Entries

Connect now

Subscribe

Subscribe to LAWCRIMEPOLITICS.COM

Email address:

Search

Progressing the Social Democratic Agenda