Stewart in Leg-irons; the latest victory in the war on terror

Mike Whitney

So far, Bush’s only triumph in his muddled war on terror has been locking up the two Stewart Sisters, Lynne and Martha. (They’re not really sisters) Neither posed any threat to national security, but that’s beside the point. Their arrest sends a chilling message to "home-decoration mavens" and 67 year old cancer patients that they’d better "watch their step" or they’ll find themselves in prison-pinstripes. Do Americans really see how crazy this is or have we been so subsumed in "terror-hysteria" that we’ve lost our sense of humor altogether? Consider this: while attorney Stewart is tottering off to prison for defending a "blind Sheik", a tan and rested Bin Laden is somewhere in the Pakistan-outback working on golf swing and his memoirs? Does that make any sense? Only if the real objective is to intimidate lawyers who defend unpopular clients rather than nailing terrorists...

continua / continued

Ken Lay's Conviction Erased...

Washington Post Carrie Johnson October 17, 2006 09:22 PM

A federal judge in Houston yesterday wiped away the fraud and conspiracy conviction of Kenneth L. Lay, the Enron Corp. founder who died of heart disease in July, bowing to decades of legal precedent but frustrating government attempts to seize nearly $44 million from his family.

The ruling worried employees and investors who lost billions of dollars when the Houston energy-trading company filed for bankruptcy protection in December 2001. It also came more than a week after Congress recessed for the November elections without acting on a last-ditch Justice Department proposal that would have changed the law to allow prosecutors to seize millions of dollars in investments and other assets that Lay controlled.

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