Althouse: In the Serenity Garden...

September 11, 2009

In the Serenity Garden...

... life blooms.

10 comments:

ricpic said...: Wow, that is one late blooming lily.; 9/11/09, 2:09 PM
Unknown said...: I think that the combination of photo and sentiment will mean a lot to any 9/11 families that see it.; 9/11/09, 2:19 PM
BJM said...: Ooooo...lilies. Around these parts the Belladonna lily, aka Naked Lady, is the harbinger of autumn. They grow wild in the Oakland Hills and it's a joy to come upon unexpected pockets of pink amid the arid summer worn brown and tan hillsides

One late summer day as the spouse and I were driving down the hill I spied a gorgeous stand of Belladonnas.

"Look!" I exclaimed "Naked Ladies!"

He drove off the road.; 9/11/09, 2:31 PM
Maxine Weiss said...: www.maxinesplace.blogspot.com

sadness; 9/11/09, 2:35 PM
JAL said...: Stargazer?; 9/11/09, 2:40 PM
traditionalguy said...: All men bloom...and then all fade away like grass. But the Word implanted into creation's DNA and also into human culture never passes away. The theme of Gran Torino was the need to pass along our cultural traditions by words withinin our communities in addition to passing the DNA along to our descendants. Both are needed, but the traditions may be more needed.; 9/11/09, 2:58 PM
Wince said...: In the Serenity Garden, a little rain must fall. Expect even more fawning coverage of the Obama adminsitration.

Judge angered by special treatment for Andrew Sullivan
September 10th, 2009

Political commentator, author and writer for The Atlantic magazine Andrew M. Sullivan won’t have to face charges stemming from a recent pot bust at the Cape Cod National Seashore — but a federal judge isn’t happy about it.

U. S. Magistrate Judge Robert B. Collings says in his decision that the case is an example of how sometimes “small cases raise issues of fundamental importance in our system of justice.”

While marijuana possession may have been decriminalized, Sullivan, who owns a home in Provincetown, made the mistake of being caught by a park ranger with a controlled substance on National Park Service lands, a federal misdemeanor.

The ranger issued Sullivan a citation, which required him either to appear in U.S. District Court or, in essence, pay a $125 fine.

But the U.S. Attorney’s Office sought to dismiss the case. Both the federal prosecutor and Sullivan’s attorney said it would have resulted in an “adverse effect” on an unspecified “immigration status” that Sullivan, a British citizen, is applying for.

At the hearing, Collings observed that Sullivan would still have to state on his application that he had been charged with a crime, and he asked both the prosecutor and Sullivan’s attorney, Robert Delahunt Jr. (cousin of U. S. Rep. William D. Delahunt), for more information about why paying the $125 would have “any additional adverse effect.”

When no attorney could fully answer the question beyond citing advice from immigration lawyers, Collings requested that Delahunt submit a brief on the issue. But before Delahunt could reply, Assistant U. S. Attorney James F. Lang jumped in and said that Collings had no power to inquire why the U.S. Attorney had decided to have the charge dismissed.

Collings says he expressed his concern that “a dismissal would result in persons in similar situations being treated unequally before the law. … persons charged with the same offense on the Cape Cod National Seashore were routinely given violation notices, and if they did not agree to [pay the fine] were prosecuted by the United States Attorney … there was no apparent reason for treating Mr. Sullivan differently from other persons charged with the same offense.”

In fact, noted Collings, there were several other defendants appearing in court the same day who were charged with the same offense.

In his opinion, Collings wrote that the U.S. Attorney is “is not being faithful to a cardinal principle of our legal system, i.e., that all persons stand equal before the law and are to be treated equally in a court of justice once judicial processes are invoked. It is quite apparent that Mr. Sullivan is being treated differently from others who have been charged with the same crime in similar circumstances.”

Ultimately, Collings acknowledged that he had no choice other than to allow the case to be dismissed, but “that the Court must so act does not require the Court to believe that the end result is a just one.”

Calls to The Atlantic and Delahunt have not yet been returned.

Blame Rove!

Andrew Sullivan on: What Rove Has Wrought

This strikes me as classic Rove. He works below the radar, using the U.S. Attorney system to throttle the opposition party, knowing that only local media will pick up on the local stories and that the pattern likely won't emerge in the national media. Hence the panic from Gonzales when the media started pulling at the thread. Pull some more, guys. We may have deep, deep corruption of the justice system, all designed to foment unstoppable, uncheckable one-party rule.; 9/11/09, 3:05 PM
bill said...: Until the Reavers show up:

If they take the ship, they'll rape us to death, eat our flesh and sew our skins into their clothing and if we're very very lucky, they'll do it in that order.; 9/11/09, 7:09 PM
Cedarford said...: The photo hit parade continues.

To me, anyone who refers to this blog would be remiss in not mentioning Anne's wonderful photos as a big part of what makes her Blog well worth visiting.; 9/11/09, 9:17 PM
Penny said...: I totally agree, Cedarford.

Althouse has many talents, and those of us who found this site are extremely pleased that she chooses to share many of them here.

I feel the same way about so many of the commenters who continually add value to this site. Some do it through reasoned debate, some through unreasonable debate too! lol

Must say though, that I have a special place in my heart for rhhardin and Vicki, and for Chip Ahoy and his animations and pop-ups, and Lem for his song selections, and...well...for all the Althouse artistes. That includes YOU, Bissage, Titus and Trooper (get your ass back here) York!

It's a goofy bunch of reprobates donning halos and sporting wings, who I love spending time with.; 9/11/09, 10:22 PM