Saturday, November 30, 2013

For Fordham, a Special Season Lives On // NY Times

In 1942 Fordham won the Sugar Bowl 2-0.  Dom Santilli recovered a fumble for a safety. - GWC
For Fordham, a Special Season Lives On   - NY Times

On November 30, 2013 the Rams earned their program-record 12th victory by beating Sacred Heart, 37-27, in a Football Championship Subdivision playoff game.

Reminders of the glory days of Fordham football are everywhere. The famed Seven Blocks of Granite are honored with a monument erected in 2008. Vince Lombardi, a guard on that unit and later a renowned coach, will forever be celebrated as a towering figure in the university’s history.

One does not expect a return of the golden years of the 1930s, when Fordham defeated national powers before capacity crowds at Yankee Stadium and at the Polo Grounds. But none of that is keeping this from being a special time as the Rams earned their program-record 12th victory on Saturday, 37-27 against Sacred Heart, in the first Football Championship Subdivision playoff game at Jack Coffey Field in the Bronx.

The sweetness of the moment was not lost on Joe Moorhead, the Rams’ second-year coach. He inherited a 1-10 program and oversaw a 6-5 turnaround that built momentum for this year’s 12-1 breakthrough entering next Saturday’s game at Towson in the Round of 16.

Friday, November 29, 2013

China Communist Party Issues Five Year plan for Party regs

Thanks to Jamie Horsley, Yale China Law Center for this important report.  The Chinese CP announces an intention to be more internal democracy. - GWC
Following up an earlier thread on this list, I thought members might be interested that  the CPC has just released a five-year plan for internal Party regulations [法规] ,中央党内法规制定工作五年规划纲要(20132017年). 

The document  or Outline on its face gives precedence to the Constitution:  宪法为上、党章为本。以宪法为遵循,保证党内法规体现宪法和法律的精神和要求,保证党内法规制度体系与中国特色社会主义法律体系内在统一,确保各级党组织和党员在宪法和法律范围内活动,认真履行党内的各项职责和义务。以党章为根本,按照党章确定的基本原则、要求和任务,推进党内法规制定工作。

I also find of interest that this Outline mentions the “4 democratic rights” of CPC members and calls for participation by Party members in setting Party rules.  It also calls for research and formulating regulations on Open Party Affairs: 研究制定《中国共产党党务公开条例》.

The Chinese text follows an English article on these.



CPC issues plan to update key regulations

Updated: 2013-11-28 00:24

By Zhao Lei (China Daily)


The Communist Party of China will amend and add to a set of its key rules within five years to improve its internal management and supervision, according to a plan issued on Wednesday.

The plan, the first of its kind since the CPC's founding in 1921, sets guidelines, goals, tasks and requirements for the Party's making of regulations from 2013 to 2017.

"Facing the new situation and new missions, the current intra-Party regulatory system should be improved to be more systematic and integrated," the CPC Central Committee said in a statement on Wednesday. "Some fundamental or urgently needed regulations have yet to be made, failing to meet the demands of our missions and development."

It said the plan will gradually advance the making of intra-Party regulations and strengthen the Party's governance capability, adding that power will in future be executed with stricter restrictions and supervision.

The plan requires that the formation of CPC rules must conform to China's Constitution and laws as well as the Party constitution. Rule makers must solicit opinions and suggestions from Party members in drafting intra-Party regulations.

Current regulations that have become outdated or inconsistent with others will be abolished or revised, it added.

The CPC began to check its intra-Party regulations in July 2012 and identify those that needed to be removed or altered. The first phase of the effort focused on documents issued from 1978, the year the CPC initiated the reform and opening-up, to 2012, and concluded in September. In the process, 300 regulations were abolished, with the remaining 467 staying in place but 42 identified as in need of amendment.

The second phase, which began in October and will end in December 2014, targets regulations published from 1949, when the People's Republic of China was founded, to 1978.

Wu Hui, an associate professor of governance at the Party School of the CPC Central Committee, said: "There are still some loopholes in the Party's inner regulatory system. Some of the regulations are not able to serve the current situation while some cannot coordinate with others, or even contradict them."

He expected the plan to set a comprehensive road map to make new intra-Party regulations and integrate them with current ones.

"In addition, the leadership should pay equal attention to the implementation of the rules after they are issued, and make sure those who violate them are exposed and punished," he said.

The Party has taken a host of measures to enhance its governance capability and pledged to root out all corrupt officials since its new leadership took office in November 2012. A raft of officials has since come under investigation for alleged misconduct and violations of law.

On Wednesday, it was announced that Guo Youming, vice-governor of Hubei, is being investigated on suspicion of "serious violation of disciplines and laws", according to a statement from the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. It did not give further details of the investigation.

Following up an earlier thread on this list, I thought members might be interested that  the CPC has just released a five-year plan for internal Party regulations [法规] ,中央党内法规制定工作五年规划纲要(20132017年). 

The document  or Outline on its face gives precedence to the Constitution:  宪法为上、党章为本。以宪法为遵循,保证党内法规体现宪法和法律的精神和要求,保证党内法规制度体系与中国特色社会主义法律体系内在统一,确保各级党组织和党员在宪法和法律范围内活动,认真履行党内的各项职责和义务。以党章为根本,按照党章确定的基本原则、要求和任务,推进党内法规制定工作。

I also find of interest that this Outline mentions the “4 democratic rights” of CPC members and calls for participation by Party members in setting Party rules.  It also calls for research and formulating regulations on Open Party Affairs: 研究制定《中国共产党党务公开条例》.

The Chinese text follows an English article on these.



CPC issues plan to update key regulations

Updated: 2013-11-28 00:24

By Zhao Lei (China Daily)


The Communist Party of China will amend and add to a set of its key rules within five years to improve its internal management and supervision, according to a plan issued on Wednesday.

The plan, the first of its kind since the CPC's founding in 1921, sets guidelines, goals, tasks and requirements for the Party's making of regulations from 2013 to 2017.

"Facing the new situation and new missions, the current intra-Party regulatory system should be improved to be more systematic and integrated," the CPC Central Committee said in a statement on Wednesday. "Some fundamental or urgently needed regulations have yet to be made, failing to meet the demands of our missions and development."

It said the plan will gradually advance the making of intra-Party regulations and strengthen the Party's governance capability, adding that power will in future be executed with stricter restrictions and supervision.

The plan requires that the formation of CPC rules must conform to China's Constitution and laws as well as the Party constitution. Rule makers must solicit opinions and suggestions from Party members in drafting intra-Party regulations.

Current regulations that have become outdated or inconsistent with others will be abolished or revised, it added.

The CPC began to check its intra-Party regulations in July 2012 and identify those that needed to be removed or altered. The first phase of the effort focused on documents issued from 1978, the year the CPC initiated the reform and opening-up, to 2012, and concluded in September. In the process, 300 regulations were abolished, with the remaining 467 staying in place but 42 identified as in need of amendment.

The second phase, which began in October and will end in December 2014, targets regulations published from 1949, when the People's Republic of China was founded, to 1978.

Wu Hui, an associate professor of governance at the Party School of the CPC Central Committee, said: "There are still some loopholes in the Party's inner regulatory system. Some of the regulations are not able to serve the current situation while some cannot coordinate with others, or even contradict them."

He expected the plan to set a comprehensive road map to make new intra-Party regulations and integrate them with current ones.

"In addition, the leadership should pay equal attention to the implementation of the rules after they are issued, and make sure those who violate them are exposed and punished," he said.

The Party has taken a host of measures to enhance its governance capability and pledged to root out all corrupt officials since its new leadership took office in November 2012. A raft of officials has since come under investigation for alleged misconduct and violations of law.

On Wednesday, it was announced that Guo Youming, vice-governor of Hubei, is being investigated on suspicion of "serious violation of disciplines and laws", according to a statement from the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. It did not give further details of the investigation.

Abortion, Birth Control Rulings Tilted Democrats Against the Filibuster - NYTimes.com

The Texas abortion clinic shutdowns and the Gilardi ruling in the D.C. striking the mandatory contraceptive coverage requirement for private businesses owned by Catholics drove Democrats to say now or never.  They changed the Senate rules to prevent a conservative lock on the federal judiciary.  I hope it's not too little too late. - GWC
Abortion Cases in Court Helped Tilt Democrats Against the Filibuster - NYTimes.com: by Jeremy Peters

WASHINGTON — Within hours of each other, two federal appeals courts handed down separate decisions that affirmed sharp new limits on abortion and birth controlOne on Oct. 31 forced abortion clinics across Texas to close. The other, on Nov. 1, compared contraception to “a grave moral wrong” and sided with businesses that refused to provide it in health care coverage
   Very quickly and unexpectedly, abortion and contraceptive rights became the decisive factor in the filibuster fight. First there were the two coincidentally timed decisions out of Texas and Washington. Then momentum to change the rules reached a critical mass when Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California and a defender of abortion rights, decided to put aside her misgivings, in large part because the recent court action was so alarming to her, Democrats said. 'via Blog this'

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Obamacare birth control mandate lawsuit: How a radical argument went mainstream.

It's hard to wrap one's head around the fact that the fight for "birth control" which we thought had been won is now at the center of the latest of the hydra-headed attacks on "Obamacare".  The intellectual weakness on the left is that ACLU-types - having honed their First Amendment absolutism - are unable to see that the relevant burden is not the business owners who adhere to the Catholic Church's regressive insistence that artificial birth control is sinful.  The correct focus is the right of employees to exercise their rights - to choose contraception, rather than be pregnant. - GWC

Obamacare birth control mandate lawsuit: How a radical argument went mainstream.:
The Supreme Court just agreed to hear a case challenging the requirement that most employers provide contraceptive coverage in their employee health insurance plans. On the front page of Monday’s paper, the New York Times previewed one of the two cases the justices have agreed to hear: Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. At issue is whether for-profit corporations can have rights of religious conscience.
Surprisingly, the Times’ coverage was badly lopsided in favor of the rights of corporations. Constitutional arguments that were only recently considered “off the wall” are apparently moving into the mainstream media. We saw this process at work during the last legal challenge to Obamacare, when unprecedented arguments from conservatives eventually came to be accepted by many justices on the Supreme Court. It could be happening again, and it all begins when serious newspapers accept flawed legal arguments uncritically.
The precise question before the court is whether for-profit corporations can claim a religious freedom exception to the contraception mandate—the requirement under Obamacare that employers offer contraception coverage as part of health insurance for their employees. Exceptions already exist for religious organizations, for certain religiously affiliated nonprofits, for grandfathered employers, and for profit-seeking corporations with fewer than 50 employees. But no such exception exists for large companies. As a result, some corporations controlled by owners with religious objections to contraception have sued, contending that religious freedom laws exempt them from the contraception mandate

'via Blog this'

A Living Death: Sentenced to Die Behind Bars for What? | American Civil Liberties Union

If you read that people who committed low level non-violent crimes were sentenced to life without parole in Iran or China you would immediately attribute it to Islamic or Communist dictatorship.  But it happens here all the time and scarcely a voice is raised.  Are we too embarrassed? Ignorant? to face the fact that 25% of the world's prisoners are here in America?   Do you think we have 25% of the world's criminals?  That other countries have higher crime rates because they are too lenient?   Actually it's the reverse we have a high crime rate and a high imprisonment rate.  One has to ask if the high imprisonment rate actually worsens our crime problem.  The answer is surely Yes.  It is not just the ACLU, but also the conservative group Right on Crime  that recognizes that our criminal justice policies are self-destructive.  
It is time to speak up.  Thank goodness the ACLU is doing that with its home for the holidays campaign. - GWC
A Living Death: Sentenced to Die Behind Bars for What? | American Civil Liberties Union:

SEND THESE PEOPLE HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS

Because of our overly extreme sentencing laws, thousands of people will never spend another holiday season with their families. Instead, these people will be behind bars until they die for relatively minor drug and property crimes. This is an injustice, but it’s not an injustice that’s set in stone. President Obama has the power to reduce these cruel and wasteful sentences, but the Obama Administration has used this commutation power less than any administration in recent history.
It’s time for President Obama to reverse his record. This holiday season, ask the President to send people serving life without parole for nonviolent offenses #homefortheholidays.

'via Blog this'

China Courts to publish judgments on the internet

In an advance that our courts in many place still have not achieved, the Supreme Peoples Court of China has announced that judgments are to be published on the internet.
The Supreme People's Court Regulation on People's Courts Release of Judgments on the Internet
(Passed at the 1595th meeting of the Judicial Committee of the Supreme People's November 13, 2013)
The follow Regulation is formulated in accordance with the Criminal Procedure Law of the PRC, the Civil Procedure Law of the PRC, the Administrative Procedure Law of the the PRC and relevant provisions, taken together with the actual work conditions in the people's courts, to implement the principle of disclosing judgments, to standardize efforts of the people's courts to release judgments online, to advance judicial fairness and increase judicial credibility.
Article 1:People's Court's release of judgment documents on the internet shall follow the principles of lawfulness, timeliness, standardization and truth.
Article 2:The Supreme People's Court established the Judicial Opinions of China Network for unified release of effective judgments from all levels of people's courts.
People's courts at all levels are responsible for the quality of the judgment documents they release on the China Judicial Opinions Network.
Article 3:People's courts at all levels shall designate a special organization responsible for managing the internet release of judgment documents. This organization performs the following duties:
(1) organizes, uploads judgment documents;
(2) Coordinates the relevant departments to handle typos, improper technical handling of a judgment document or other such problems it discovers.
(3)Other related guidance, supervision or evaluation work.
Article 4: The judgment documents of people's courts shall be released on the internet, but with an exception in any of the following circumstances:
(1) those touching upon state secrets or personal privacy;
(2) those involving juvenile violations or crimes;
(3)those cases concluded by mediation;
(4)Others not suited for release on the internet.
Article 5:People's Court shall inform the parties of the scope of internet release of judgment documents in the case acceptance notice, and use means such as government websites, electronic touch screens, litigation guides to inform the public of the regulations related to the people's courts' release of judgment documents on the internet.

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

"Leading the charge" against the DHHS Mandate for Contraceptive Coverage - the Becket Fund


LEGAL CHALLENGES to the HHS Mandate  The Becket Fund
"Leading the charge against the HHS Mandate" is how they sell themselves.   I don't know what motivates them.   They think they're heroes.  I think they're nuts.  Complicity in contraception is a moral burden an employer cannot be compelled to bear? But so far it looks like they may be wining!  The rights of the employees of companies whose owners adhere to Catholic orthodoxy nowhere appear in the Becket vision. 

In Korte V. Sebelius the majority opinion written by Judge Sykes declares
Accordingly, we take it as both conceded and noncontroversial that the use of the corporate form and the associated legal attributes of that status—think separate legal personhood, limitations on owners’ liability, special tax treatment—do not disable an organization from engaging in the exercise of religion within the meaning of RFRA (or the Free Exercise Clause, for that matter).
Gee. I thought that was settled 400 years ago. 401, to be exact, in The Sutton's Hospital Case. 

Corporations have no soul: Coke -The Case of Sutton's Hospital. 1612 - Selected Writings of Sir Edward Coke, vol. I

Sir Edward Coke (1552-1634)
Corporations have no soul...Nor are they subject to imbecilities.  One would hope the same for the Supreme Court, which will soon decide if corporations can refuse to provide contraceptive coverage because their owners abide by the Pope's injunction against "artificial birth control". - gwc
Online Library of Liberty - The Case of Sutton's Hospital. - Selected Writings of Sir Edward Coke, vol. I: Lord Coke (1612)
So I have seen a Record, That Catharine the first wife of King Henry the eighth had a licence to found a Chauntry by the name of the Chauntry de monte Calvarie extra Algate London. And it is great reason that an Hospital in expectancy or intendment, or nomination, shall be sufficient to support the name of an Incorporation, when the Corporation itself is onely in abstracto, and resteth onely in intendment and consideration of the Law; for a Corporation aggregate of many is invisible, immortal, & resteth only in intendment and consideration of the Law; and therefore in 39 H. 6. 13b. 14 a. Dean and Chapter cannot have predecessor nor successor. 21 E. 4. 27. & 30 E. 3. 15. 6. They may not commit treason, nor be outlawed, nor excommunicate, for they have no souls, neither can they appear in person, but by Attorney 33 H. 8. Br. Fealty. A Corporation aggregate of many cannot do fealty, for an invisible body cannot be in person, nor can swear, Plow. Com. 213, and The Lord Berkley’s Case 245, it is not subject to imbecilities, or death of the natural, body, and divers other cases. A thing which is not in esse but in apparant expectancy is regarded in Law, as a Bishop who is elect before he be consecrated, an infant in his mother’s belly before his birth, &c. 5 E. 2. Bre. 80. 8 E. 2. voucher 237. 38 E. 3. 30. 41 E. 3. 5. 11 E. 3. Quare Impedit 158. So for the name of a Corporation it is sufficient to name a place in England by the name of Jerusalem, mount Calvary, mount Carmel, Bethlehem, &c. a fortiori, the name of a spacious and goodly house well and actually buildeth by the name of an Hospital is sufficient; for the same importeth truth and certainty. By which it appeareth, that in the case at barre there was a lawful incorporation of the Governours, &c. created and instituted by the King’s Charter, and by consequence as well any person in England, as Sutton, might give and grant to them before any foundation laid, or to be laid by Sutton (as it was imagined he ought to have done before they were capable, &c.) but the same is clearly answered and confuted before; and in truth haec recitasse, est confutasse.
'via Blog this'

Congress: How Can It Get Worse? - Norm Ornstein -NationalJournal.com

Norm Ornstein - as veteran Newshour watchers can affirm - is a seasoned and sober Congress watcher.  He assesses the impact of the filibuster reform.  Not much - except that Obama will be able to fill some long-standing judicial vacancies, and sub-cabinet level federal posts after years of obstruction. But his is an illuminating account of how the Senate works. - GWC
How Can It Get Worse? - NationalJournal.com:
by Norm Ornstein
So much has now been written about the filibuster that one might think there is nothing more to say. Wrong! I do have some observations, about the Senate leading up to this change, and about the Senate going forward, that I hope will plow new ground—or at least use different furrows.
First off, I view the actions taken last week with some sorrow. I am not exultant that the change took place the way it did. I have long been an advocate not of removal of the filibuster, but of filibuster reform; my main idea has been to shift the threshold from 60 votes needed to stop debate to 40 votes needed to continue it—putting the onus where it belongs, on the minority, with an even more relaxed threshold for executive nominations.
But I would much rather have seen this impasse resolved the way it has been in the past, with a bipartisan agreement to break the logjam and approve most of the president's nominees, along with a return to the 2005 standard that filibusters of nominations should be reserved for "extraordinary circumstances." When it became clear that there was no chance of such a deal, I supported Harry Reid's actions.....

'via Blog this'

Toobin: How Blue Slips May Help Senate Obstructionists Survive the Nuclear Option : The New Yorker

How Blue Slips May Help Senate Obstructionists Survive the Nuclear Option : The New Yorker:
by Jeffrey Toobin
The Senate transformed President Obama’s ability to win confirmation for his judicial appointments last week by invoking the nuclear option—a ban on filibusters against nominees, apart from Supreme Court justices. With that, Democrats effectively lowered their threshold for victory from sixty votes (the number needed to cut off debate) to a simple majority of fifty-one. (Fifty-five Senators currently vote as Democrats.)
But Obama faces one remaining barrier to his ability to fill vacancies in the federal courts: an arcane senatorial tradition known as the blue slip.When a Presidential nominee for a judgeship is referred to the Judiciary Committee—the start of the confirmation process—the two senators from the nominee’s home state are informed by a letter on light blue paper. The letter invites each senator to check a box indicating whether he or she approves or disapproves of the nomination. Blue slips are not authorized or mentioned in the Constitution, in federal law, or even in the rules of the Senate.
They are nothing more than a tradition, which has been in use off and on (mostly on) since the early twentieth century. (The Congressional Research Service put together ahistory of the blue slip in 2003.) “It appears to have started as an information-gathering tool for the Judiciary Committee, but it evolved into something like a veto power,” Sarah Binder, a congressional scholar at the Brookings Institution, told me.

'via Blog this'

Karl Marx or Pope Francis? — Crooked Timber

Karl Marx or Pope Francis? — Crooked Timber:
Take the test!

'via Blog this'

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Leiter: The rule of law applies to all, even religious believers | Al Jazeera America

The Holy SeeThe Supreme Court has agreed to decide if Catholic owners of incorporated businesses can decide not to provide legally mandated contraceptive coverage if the owners object to contraception - even though nobody is making them (the owners) use them  Just writing the check is a burden on their free exercise of religion, is the argument. The Religious Freedom Restoration Act stands as a plausible source of support for them if the Court concludes the contraceptive coverage mandate is a "substantial burden" on believers in Pope Paul VI's ill-conceived 1968 decree banning artificial birth control.  - GWC


The rule of law applies to all, even religious believers | Al Jazeera America:
by Brian Leiter - Karl Llewellyn Professor at University of Chicago Law School
Just societies enact laws to promote the general welfare. Some people, invariably, refuse to comply with those laws, and they face sanctions in accordance with them.In the United States, however, we have institutionalized a right of noncompliance to the law, to the detriment of society as a whole. Its latest outrageous expression is the attempt by Roman Catholic businesses to avoid contraceptive coverage as part of the Affordable Care Act.America is a religious country, to be sure, but it is also unique among democratic societies for the extent to which it grants religious believers special exemptions from complying with the laws that apply to the rest of us. In 1990, in Employment Division v. Smith, the U.S. Supreme Court, in an opinion by Justice Antonin Scalia, a conservative, tried to put a stop to this legal inequity, noting that "the right of free exercise (of religion) does not relieve an individual of the obligation to comply with a 'valid and neutral law of general applicability on the ground that the law proscribes (or prescribes) conduct that his religion prescribes (or proscribes).'" At issue was denial of unemployment benefits to Alfred Smith, an Oregon drug-rehabilitation counselor, after he was fired, but for cause: He had lost his job because he had tested positive for use of an illegal narcotic, but one required by the rituals of the Native American religion to which he subscribed. The court concluded that the state did not have to carve out exceptions to a law regulating illegal narcotics to accommodate religious believers.
.*******
 "For several decades now, sectarian religious believers in the United States have sought and often received special treatment — a "free pass" for breaking laws they do not like. To be sure, the religious objectors claim a “conscientious” objection to the laws. But conscience is not proprietary to religious believers, and most conscientious objectors to laws either bite their lip and comply or face the consequences. I have no doubt that the vast majority of religious objectors to the Affordable Care Act will, if forced to do so, "bite their lip" and comply with the law that everyone else complies with. As things stand, however, religious believers recognize that our laws may give them a free pass if they can claim a religious objection to compliance and can convince a court to recognize it. They thereby have a perverse incentive to push for exemptions. The United States is not a theocracy. Everyone, even religious believers, should be required to comply with the law."

'via Blog this'

Evangelii Gaudium, Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Francis, 2013

Evangelii Gaudium, Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Francis, 2013:
APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION
EVANGELII GAUDIUM
OF THE HOLY FATHER
FRANCIS
TO THE BISHOPS, CLERGY,
CONSECRATED PERSONS
AND THE LAY FAITHFUL
ON THE PROCLAMATION OF THE GOSPEL
IN TODAY’S WORLD


INDEX

Eternal newness [11-13]
CHAPTER THREE
THE PROCLAMATION OF THE GOSPEL [110]
II. THE HOMILY [135-144]
III. PREPARING TO PREACH [145-159]
CHAPTER FIVE
SPIRIT-FILLED EVANGELIZERS [259-261]

'via Blog this'