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It’s been a year and a half since Sean Bell and his two friends were shot 26 times by five NYPD officers. Bell was to be married later that day. He and his friends (who both survived) were unarmed. It seems likely that they didn’t even realize they were being confronted by plainclothes police officers, as opposed to being carjacked at gunpoint.

This morning, all of the police officers got off scot-free. They didn’t even receive a token “reckless endangerment” conviction, perhaps because the presiding judge was of the opinion that “Carelessness is not a crime.” Really? Somehow I thought that’s what reckless endangerment and manslaughter charges were all about. I guess police can’t commit those crimes. If shooting 31 times — including pausing to reload — into a car full of unarmed men doesn’t qualify, I’m not sure what does.

There was no jury, just the judge, who acquitted the three cops on the grounds of faulty prosecution.

Justice Arthur Cooperman said he found problems with the prosecution’s case. He said some prosecution witnesses contradicted themselves, and he cited prior convictions and incarcerations of witnesses.

He also cited the demeanor of some witnesses on the stand.

In other words, how dare you bring witnesses to testify against police officers who have run afoul of the criminal justice system before? They’re too sketchy to be in my courtroom. Seriously… isn’t this the crux of the problem? A blatant example of who is listened to in our courts and who gets the shaft? This is exactly why it’s horrifyingly unsurprising that cops walk.
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Though not surprising, this is incredibly disturbing — and indicative of yet another failure of a lazy corporate media and a twisted, absolutist government that seems to be taking its cues from fascist regimes:

In the summer of 2005, the Bush administration confronted a fresh wave of criticism over Guantánamo Bay. The detention center had just been branded “the gulag of our times” by Amnesty International, there were new allegations of abuse from United Nations human rights experts and calls were mounting for its closure.

The administration’s communications experts responded swiftly. Early one Friday morning, they put a group of retired military officers on one of the jets normally used by Vice President Dick Cheney and flew them to Cuba for a carefully orchestrated tour of Guantánamo.

To the public, these men are members of a familiar fraternity, presented tens of thousands of times on television and radio as “military analysts” whose long service has equipped them to give authoritative and unfettered judgments about the most pressing issues of the post-Sept. 11 world.

Hidden behind that appearance of objectivity, though, is a Pentagon information apparatus that has used those analysts in a campaign to generate favorable news coverage of the administration’s wartime performance, an examination by The New York Times has found.

The effort, which began with the buildup to the Iraq war and continues to this day, has sought to exploit ideological and military allegiances, and also a powerful financial dynamic: Most of the analysts have ties to military contractors vested in the very war policies they are asked to assess on air.

Those business relationships are hardly ever disclosed to the viewers, and sometimes not even to the networks themselves. But collectively, the men on the plane and several dozen other military analysts represent more than 150 military contractors either as lobbyists, senior executives, board members or consultants. The companies include defense heavyweights, but also scores of smaller companies, all part of a vast assemblage of contractors scrambling for hundreds of billions in military business generated by the administration’s war on terror. It is a furious competition, one in which inside information and easy access to senior officials are highly prized.

Records and interviews show how the Bush administration has used its control over access and information in an effort to transform the analysts into a kind of media Trojan horse — an instrument intended to shape terrorism coverage from inside the major TV and radio networks.

Analysts have been wooed in hundreds of private briefings with senior military leaders, including officials with significant influence over contracting and budget matters, records show. They have been taken on tours of Iraq and given access to classified intelligence. They have been briefed by officials from the White House, State Department and Justice Department, including Mr. Cheney, Alberto R. Gonzales and Stephen J. Hadley.

In turn, members of this group have echoed administration talking points, sometimes even when they suspected the information was false or inflated. Some analysts acknowledge they suppressed doubts because they feared jeopardizing their access.

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Well this is bullshit. Sen. David Vitter, a right-wing “family values” crusader and abstinence-only indoctrination architect, will likely be getting a pass in the trial of the D.C. madam he visited. Several other powerful men who visited the sex workers also won’t be at the trial.

Who will be hauled into court? Fifteen sex workers, who will subsequently be humiliated and asked about all the titillating, dirty details:

Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana and other powerful men appear likely to get a pass. Less lucky: the 15 terrified women being hauled by prosecutors into court to recount in graphic detail their past work as prostitutes — and more than 100 other former prostitutes whose names prosecutors are trying to make public.

Wednesday, prosecutors forced a 63-year-old retired PhD — her name, like those of other witnesses, now a matter of public record — to testify about inducing orgasms in her client; the government’s lawyers had similar questions for a mother of three who worked briefly for the escort service nearly 15 years ago.

Yesterday, it was the turn of a young naval officer to take the stand; the case will almost certainly end her career. The prosecutor, Daniel Butler, had the woman spell her name slowly and clearly, then had her talk about when she was “aggressive” with a client, when she was “more submissive,” when she had a difficult client (”he tried to remove the condom”) and how often she got “intimate.”

“What do you mean by ‘intimate’? ”

The soon-to-be-former naval officer looked at him in disbelief. “Touching, caressing,” she explained.

“What happened” after that? he demanded.

“Sex.”

“What type of sex?”

“Sometimes it was oral sex; usually it was normal.”

“Normal?” Butler persisted.

“I’m not sure what you’re getting at,” the stricken witness pleaded.

“What’s normal sex?” Butler again demanded.

Judge James Robertson intervened. “He wants to know if you mean intercourse.”

Butler pressed on with more humiliating questions until the judge cut him off. “That’s enough,” Robertson said. Minutes later, the dazed woman was helped out of the room.

So the women who worked for about $40 an hour as sex workers to some of the most powerful men in the country are dragged into court and humiliated (at one point the prosecutor even asked one woman what she did about the whole sex thing while she was menstruating). But all the men who broke the law by visiting sex workers get a pass — and, like David Vitter, get to stay in office, and get to continue fighting for “family values” policies that do harm to the very women they paid to see.

Once again, I am eternally grateful for our “assholes” tag.

(”Thowra,” which in Arabic literally means “revolution”)

Hey All,

I’m Fauzia and I guest blogged here at Feministe a while back. I initially wrote to Jill about this story as I thought she’d have some good commentary on the issue. But after some thought, and an offer from Jill to return to my guest-blog status for just one more post I figured it might be easier if I wrote about this myself.

Disclaimer: I’m an American currently living in Egypt (Cairo) working at a center that promotes civic engagement and researches the rising sector of Arab philanthropy. I work downtown, near Midan Tahrir (literally “Freedom Square”). In the last 9 months that I’ve been living in Cairo I’ve managed to witness the absolute poverty this country is living in. On the other hand, I’ve managed to witness the growing gap between the rich and poor. Students at the American University, for the most part, are the upper echelon of Egyptian society (note: I’m not saying that they are ALL upper class Egyptians, but for the most part…). I’ve only lived here for 9 months so I’m not professing that I have a huge handle on the situation. So here it goes…

I don’t know how much Western newspapers are covering this issue, but I’m sure by the end of the week they’ll be a few stories. I know that the hard copy of the International Herald Tribune covered this issue this morning (Monday) and online, again, a few minutes ago.

Yesterday (Sunday, April 6) was, essentially, a nationwide strike for many Egyptian workers and activists, in solidarity with the workers of Ghazl El-Mahalla, one of the biggest textile factories in Egypt. The growing problems of low wages and rising prices of food (especially bread and cooking oil) have pushed Egyptian society into a state of anger and frustration. The production and distribution of bread has led to, on many occasions, violence in bread lines. In one instance, a man was stabbed during an argument over bread distribution.

Before I go further, here is some logistical and basic information on the history of labor movements, the current strike (who initiated it, how it snowballed into a national call, etc.) The writer of these articles is Joel Beinin, a professor and head of the Middle East Studies department at the American University in Cairo. He links a few other articles that are pretty informative as well.

Yesterday’s strike, though, was a historical moment for Egypt. Though the country professes to be a “democracy,” (ironically Hosni Mubarak’s party is called “The National Democratic Party,”) it is pretty apparent that no such thing exists in the Egypt. Protests, strikes, and demonstrations have been completely outlawed in Egypt since the declaration of emergency law after the assassination of Anwar Sadat in 1981.
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Is basically summed up in this comment to a story on another KBR rape case:

If we can look the other way while female “employees” are raped, why can’t we open gov’t funed bordellos, get the whole thing out in the open, and then look the other way. That, in and of itself, would be the greatest protection for those females hoping to take advantage of the lucrative oportunities available to them in the war zone, while at the same time creating another lucrative oportunity for the women who want to make money in the sex trade. Simple solution. Police the approved houses of ilrepute, give the whores medical attention, and away we go.

There’s a great solution: Instead of actually doing anything about rapists, let’s give them Iraqi women to rape and call it “sex work.”

(And before anyone says that I’m equating prostitution with rape, my point is that the Americans in Iraq who are raping their fellow employees are looking to rape — that is, to hurt women sexually. Offering up a house full of Iraqi women isn’t going to turn them into kind and thoughtful johns. I suspect the commenter know this, and just doesn’t care).

This is just another in a line of allegations that American mercenaries and military men are sexually assaulting their own. What’s astounding isn’t just that it’s happening, but the arrogance that it’s happening with — the American rapists in Iraq are confident that they can get away with it. And if prosecutions of soldiers and defense contractors are any indication, they can.

And if defense contractors and soldiers think that they can get away with doing this to American women, imagine what’s happening to Iraqi women.

This is disgusting:

Up until just a few years ago, lawmakers would go “window shopping” for interns at the start of every legislative session. In a practice that went on for decades, the interns would be corraled in a Capitol newsstand, and legislators would take their pick.

The hanky-panky even has its own lexicon: There’s the “Bear Mountain Compact,” which says that what goes on north of the state park just outside New York City stays there. Lobbyists, staffers and reporters who seek to enhance their influence by bedding powerful lawmakers are known as “big game hunters.” And the men who sleep with the women lawmakers are “boy toys.”

“Unfortunately, many of the people who seek public office are flawed people to begin with and the environment in Albany just tends to bring that out,” said Paul Clyne, former district attorney in Albany.

Clyne issued a scathing report in 2004 on the internship program at the Capitol, famously saying he would never let his daughter become an intern. The report led to reforms in the program, including an end to fraternization between lawmakers and interns outside the office.

“There was a lot of hitting on us and boundaries being crossed,” said one young woman lobbyist who was part of that scene for years.

An internship is not a cattle call. And as Digby points out, this is more than just offensive — it’s sex discrimination. And heads should roll.

[T]his truly is beyond the pale and should be a matter for investigation. If politicians who corralled a bunch of women into a newsstand to be chosen for jobs in legislators’ offices based on their sexual attractiveness to the disgusting pigs they were going to work for are still in office today, they should be exposed. That’s not consensual behavior, that’s sex discrimination. This practice apparently went on until 2004, and there’s no excuse for it.

I’m not surprised that extramarital sex goes on in political capitals, where people from far flung parts of the state or the nation are brought together, away from their normal social and private circumstances. It happens in show business too, for similar reasons — fame, power and fortune create a whole bunch of incentives that don’t necessarily exist in people’s everyday lives.

But this article indicates that lobbyists are selling their bodies for political consideration and that lawmakers used the intern pool (at least until recently) as their own private whorehouse. It’s institutional, not personal. That’s called corruption and discrimination and it’s not the same thing as consensual sex between two adults. This is more like some kind of sexual plantation.

His prostitution solution:

Prostitution, like drug trafficking, is one of those zones where libertarianism bumps up against the realities of human nature.

To a lover of liberty, it’s hard to see why a woman shouldn’t sell her favors if she wants to. Trouble is, weak or dimwitted women end up in near-slavery to unscrupulous men, and I think there’s a legitimate public interest in not letting that happen.

The best private sector solution would be a guild system, like the geishas had in old Japan. There’d be entry standards for the guild. Women would have to pass exams, and have some entertainment skills other than the obvious ones. The guild would police itself, expelling miscreants. Freelancing outside the guild could be under strong social disapproval, even made illegal.

Emphasis mine.

While women who are trafficked or forced into sex work are certainly not all “dimwitted” or “weak,” I think it’s safe to say that people who write for the National Review probably are (doubly so on the “dimwitted”). And comments like that are especially disgusting when they come from pervy borderline chi-mos like John “expiration date” Derbyshire.

I said in my post yesterday about Eliot Spitzer’s revelation that he was a patron of a prostitution ring that I hoped he hadn’t been so stupid as to pay with a credit card. Client 9, however, insisted on paying cash.

But Spitzer may have been too clever by half when it came to moving that much cash around.

There, in the Hauppauge offices of the Internal Revenue Service, investigators conducting a routine examination of suspicious financial transactions reported to them by banks found several unusual movements of cash involving the governor of New York, several officials said.

The investigators working out of the three-story office building, which faces Veterans Highway, typically review such reports, the officials said. But this was not typical: transactions by a governor who appeared to be trying to conceal the source, destination or purpose of the movement of thousands of dollars in cash, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The money ended up in the bank accounts of what appeared to be shell companies, corporations that essentially had no real business.

The transactions, officials said, suggested possible financial crimes — maybe bribery, political corruption, or something inappropriate involving campaign finance. Prostitution, they said, was the furthest thing from the minds of the investigators.

Soon, the I.R.S. agents, from the agency’s Criminal Investigation Division, were working with F.B.I. agents and federal prosecutors from Manhattan who specialize in political corruption.

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Eliot Spitzer, the NY governor absolutely adore, has been linked to a prostitution ring. According to local news, he just resigned. The Times doesn’t have anything up yet about his resignation, and I’m running out the door to a fabulous event put on by the Women’s Campaign Forum so I won’t be updating, but I suspect the local news is sadly correct and the Spitz has left office. So, so sad.

They get to rape with impunity. And their punishment is arbitration.

Ms. Kineston is among a number of American women who have reported that they were sexually assaulted by co-workers while working as contractors in Iraq but now find themselves in legal limbo, unable to seek justice or even significant compensation.

Many of the same legal and logistical obstacles that have impeded other types of investigations involving contractors in Iraq, like shootings involving security guards for Blackwater Worldwide, have made it difficult for the United States government to pursue charges related to sexual offenses. The military justice system does not apply to them, and the reach of other American laws on contractors working in foreign war zones remains unclear five years after the United States invasion of Iraq.

KBR and other companies, meanwhile, have required Iraq-bound employees to agree to take personnel disputes to private arbitration rather than sue the companies in American courts. The companies have repeatedly challenged arbitration claims of sexual assault or harassment brought by women who served in Iraq, raising fears among some women about going public with their claims.

But American female employees at least have some recourse, however inadequate. There hasn’t been much talk about Iraqi victims of contractor violence (sexual and otherwise), but it is certainly an ongoing problem. Contractors aren’t subject to military, American or Iraqi law — meaning that they can pretty much do whatever they want without legal consequences. Their assaults on fellow employees are only the tip of the iceberg.