Starting a thread in Politics: I think this may be a first for me.
In any case, Jamis has indicated this topic requires de-zombiefying if it's to be discussed. Here goes:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h5R00na1YSmG6Twv-_-DJiToPt_AD9HDFL580 (Associated Press)
The crack team of
fundraisers lawyers working the Rubashkin case are now claiming that the judge involved was not sufficiently impartial. Their allegations include the claim that by discussing scheduling concerns before the slaughterhouse was raided, the judge was rendered partial to the prosecution.
I consider this to be a desperate attempt to keep the case going as long as possible, long after trial, conviction, and appeal (actually, I think this motion is part of the appeal, not sure). Imho, if you're planning an immigration raid so large that it requires turning half the population of a small city into suspects held in hastily constructed camps, it is wise to check out the schedule of the judge who will end up presiding over the various appearances involved.
In related news, Lubavitch women have been berated to behave and dress more modestly, because it is the immodesty of Lubavitch women that has brought this misfortune down the the Orthodox. Schoolchildren are encouraged or required to pray for Rubashbin's exoneration. The fundraising efforts are massive. No one in a position of power in the man's community has so much as suggested that perhaps the man is in prison for a good long while because he broke a LOT of laws, quite deliberately and with the intention of crying anti-semitism if he was prosecuted.
For the record, my sister and brother-in-law moved to Postville during the heyday of Rubashkin and my brother-in-law worked the plant for a while. They witnessed routine violations of criminal and civil law, not to mention basic ethics on a daily basis. I consider this to be a major problem of Hasidus, a set of sects within Orthodox Judaism where lineage is usually more important than merit, as demonstrated by the tendency of hasidic sects to pass the leadership role down within a family. A man from a good family is afforded a whole lot more consideration and forgiveness than a man from an insignificant family. This motion is not about the law. When several hundred hearings are going to be showing up in a judge's courtroom, it's a good idea to let the judge know about it. This motion is about the Lubavitch community having gotten a bee in its collective bonnet about saving Rubashkin from his own greed and bad character, because after all, "he has a wife and small children" (and is from a very good family).
