{"id":200,"date":"2007-01-13T09:03:20","date_gmt":"2007-01-13T14:03:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/2007\/01\/13\/celebrating-the-un-american\/"},"modified":"2007-01-13T09:03:20","modified_gmt":"2007-01-13T14:03:20","slug":"celebrating-the-un-american","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/2007\/01\/13\/celebrating-the-un-american\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating the un-American"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jim Hoeft, at Bearing Drift, ably takes on<\/a> official Virginia’s celebration of Lee-Jackson Day. I find Lee-Jackson Day even more offensive than I did the Confederate Memorial holiday<\/a> that always surprised me with a day off when I lived in Georgia . . .<\/p>\n

~<\/p>\n

And speaking of celebrating un-American values, why is this man<\/a> still working at the Defense Department? Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (for detainee affairs) Cully Stimson, is a former federal attorney and Navy lawyer<\/em>. And yet he had the . . . I don’t even know what to call it . . to say this on Federal News Radio:<\/p>\n

“It’s shocking. The major law firms in this country . . . are out there representing detainees.”<\/p>\n

[ . . . ]<\/p>\n

”I think quite honestly when corporate CEOs see that those firms are representing the very terrorists that hit their bottom line in 2001,” he said, “those CEOs are going to make those law firms choose between representing terrorists or representing reputable firms.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When I heard that on the radio this morning, my jaw dropped.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s a subject for a much longer post, but if there is one thing I can point to that gives me hope for the profession as a whole, it’s the willingness of such firms to step in and do exactly what they’re doing – devoting enormous amounts of resources to very unpopular causes and clients, pro bono<\/em>.\u00c2\u00a0 Karen Mathis, president of the ABA, put it well:<\/p>\n

‘Lawyers represent people in criminal cases to fulfill a core American value: the treatment of all people equally before the law.\u00c2\u00a0 To impugn those who are doing this critical work — and doing it on a volunteer basis — is deeply offensive to members of the legal profession, and we hope to all Americans.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

More on Stimson’s appalling contribution to the public conversation here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jim Hoeft, at Bearing Drift, ably takes on official Virginia’s celebration of Lee-Jackson Day. I find Lee-Jackson Day even more offensive than I did the Confederate Memorial holiday that always surprised me with a day off when I lived in Georgia . . . ~ And speaking of celebrating un-American values, why is this man […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-law","category-society"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t