esrosedotblog

LEFT OUT

I am fascinated with the Lynne F. Stewart Case: Lawyer Is Guilty of Aiding Terror (great photo) from yesterday's NY Times and then today again in the Times: Regretting the Bravado, a Convicted Lawyer Examines Her Options.

This thing has grabbed me from the beginning. Apparently only me as it is not in any way a cause celebré in blogland or anywhere else. Yet, Stewart is a clear victim of the aggressive prosecutions under the so called Patriot Law.

Now don't get me wrong. From what I read she is guilty as hell and no reading of the facts that even the defense agrees are true could say otherwise. Her statement in the latter article that her bravado got her in trouble is an understatement. She thought that she could get away with flagrant violation of even the more basic non-patriot provisions and get away with it. She passed messages despite court orders and to people who are sworn terrorists.

After all, this blind guy is the one who blew up the garage under the Trade Center the first time. Thus ruining my hotel room and the restaurant I ate in at the Marriott for about a year. Now there is nothing there. Not even me. But I digress.

There are two things that floor me. The first is the flagrant disregard for the court on the part of an officer of the court. The second is the support by a supposed lefty of the islamic movement, terrorist or no. I don't get how the politics gibe. I have missed this one before and I think that it is the core of a lot of the misunderstanding of where the left sits v.v. 9-11, Iraq, and all the rest. It is this lack of clarity that leads the public to worry about what a liberal Democratic administration would do about the islamists and how 'soft' they would be.

Now Stewart is acting alone. She is her own cannon loosed upon the scene. Some of this can be picked up from her web site: Who is Lynne Stewart? In this regard she is a lot like the late William Kunstler who pursued his own lefty dream while he was lawyering for some of the worst of the bad actors of the time. Neither are or, for that matter, should be even remotely concerned about the effect of their actions on the left in general or the country as a whole. And yet, there is a problem with the proximity of their actions to the political arena.

Like I said, I don't get it. It might be an ego thing and have absolutely nothing to do with being a lefty. God knows, left and right suffer from their various loudmouths pushing a personal agenda.

In any case, I thought I would present the puzzle. Why would someone so well situated do this kind of thing and then still be figuring out a way to undo the whole thing and get away with it. Dunno.