An arrest warrant has been issued for a rape counselor who refused to turn over records of her sessions with a former Air Force Academy cadet, one of the women whose allegations touched off a scandal that toppled the academy's leaders.
The counselor, Jennifer Bier, is fighting a subpoena in the court-martial of Second Lt. Joseph Harding, who is accused of sexually assaulting two women at the academy in 1999 and 2000. His lawyers say his right to a fair trial overrides the accuser's right to privacy.
[. . .]
"For me to betray a client renders my whole field null and void and I refuse to do that," she said.

The above is from the Associated Press' "Rape Counselor Faces Arrest for Refusal to Release Records:"

Lloyd e-mails to note the Associated Press' "Miami Official Prefers Paper Ballots:"


Miami-Dade County's elections chief has recommended getting rid of its A.T.M.-style voting machines, just three years after buying them for $24.5 million to avoid a repeat of the hanging and dimpled chads from the 2000 election.
The elections supervisor, Lester Sola, said in a memorandum on Friday that the county should switch to optical scanners that use paper ballots because voters were losing confidence in the paperless touch-screen machines and because those machines quadrupled Election Day labor costs.

Susan e-mails to note Jason DeParle's front page article entitled "Goals Reached, Donor on Right Closes Up Shop:"

In the budget offices of the right, the loss of Olin, though long anticipated, is bringing a stab of anxiety, as total annual giving of up to $20 million disappears from policy organizations, journals and academic aeries. Yet it is a measure of the foundation's success that the anxiety has not been greater. While a generation ago just three or four major foundations operated on the right, today's conservatism has no shortage of institutions, donors or brio.

Susan: For at least one of those fright wing donors, as Bob Dylan would put it, "It's All Over Now Baby Blue." I do have serious problems with two books being called "classics of the conservative canon." Both books have questionable scholarship. Allan Bloom supposedly critiques our modern civilization and it's decline but his "research" seems to be based primarily on one overheard conversation. As for Charles Murray, I thought his "classic" has long since been discredited. Had they used "popular" I would have less of a problem. But to me "classic" in regards to books is supposed to indicate quality, not popularity.

The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.

[Note: This entry originally appeared at The Common Ills.]