Search

Results

Guantanamo detention no day at the beach

09 Aug 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

Elijah despairs and is ready to die in the reading from 1 Kings this Sunday. Some of the detainees held indefinitely without trial at the military prison at Guantanamo Bay have felt the same way. The Obama administration has pledged to close the facility by year's end and move some detainees to U.S. prisons. New information suggests where they might be housed. The administration is considering a facility in the United States that would contain courtrooms to hold federal criminal trials and military commissions to prosecute terrorism suspects. Planners have focused on the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas and a state maximum-security prison in Standish, Michigan that is scheduled to be closed, sources said. An administration official stressed that the idea has not moved beyond the discussion stage. "This is one of the ideas that's been floated and come under discussion," the official said. The administration has signaled that some Guantanamo Bay detainees will be tried in federal court and some by military commissions. It also said there may be a third category of prisoners who are deemed too dangerous to release but who cannot be tried because of a lack of evidence or the need to protect intelligence material. Officials said any system of indefinite detention will include legal safeguards such as periodic reviews by judges and congressional oversight. But human rights and civil liberties groups like Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union oppose detention without trial. Source: An article by Peter Finn and Scott Wilson for the Washington Post

american civil liberties union obama administration human rights watch guantanamo bay prison detainees fort leavenworth standish michigan detention
“Christian” militia members charged with conspiracy

04 Apr 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

In this Sunday's reading from the Acts of the Apostles Saint Peter summarizes the mission of Jesus succinctly: "He went about doing good." Nine members of a militia group calling themselves "Christian warriors" were rounded up Monday for allegedly being up to no good. They are accused of planning an attack against law enforcement officials involving weapons of mass destruction. Eight of the suspects were arraigned Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Detroit, including the alleged ringleader, 44-year-old David Brian Stone. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ronald Waterstreet said in court that an undercover agent had infiltrated the militia group and built explosives under Stone's guidance. In arguing for their detention, Waterstreet told the court the suspects' conduct was at issue. "It's not about a religious group," Waterstreet said. "It's not about the militia. It's about a group who decided to oppose by force the U.S. by using violence and weapons." In Indiana Judge Paul Cherry ordered the ninth suspect, Thomas W. Piatek of Whiting, Indiana, held without bond and transferred to Michigan to face weapons and conspiracy charges with the other defendants. FBI agents reported finding 46 guns and 13,000 rounds of ammunition in Piatek's home. The so-called patriot movement has grown dramatically since the election of President Barack Obama, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit civil-rights organization in Montgomery, Alabama that tracks hate-group activity. Analysts see a combination of factors contributing to the rise in militias: a faltering economy, changing roles within the traditional family structure, and shifts in the racial makeup of the country's population among them. They said that shared anxiety among lower-to-middle-class people is often a catalyst for generating conspiracy theories that have the potency to provoke people to take up arms and commit violence. Source: Articles by Ben Schmitt, Niraj Warikoo, and Tammy Stables for the Detroit Free Press, Mark Guarino for the Christian Science Monitor, and David Runk, Corey Williams, Jeff Karour, and John Seewer for the Associated Press

terrorism hutaree patriot movement michigan thomas w piatek ronald waterstreet david brian stone militia groups
Racial prejudice a suspect in death-penalty verdicts

12 Feb 2012 - Preaching the News for Sunday

Considered guilty of sin, lepers faced great prejudice in ancient societies. Jesus, moved by compassion, modeled a different response in this Sunday’s gospel. A university’s death-penalty study has the potential to offer a new model for death-row inmates in North Carolina who are trying to prove that racial prejudice played a significant role in the selection of the juries that determined their punishment. The study finds that blacks are more than twice as likely as whites to be dismissed as potential jurors in such cases. North Carolina passed the Racial Justice Act in 2009, making it the first state in the country to give death-row inmates a chance to have their sentences changed to life without parole if they can prove that race played a significant role in determining punishment. A study by researchers at Michigan State University may prove to be instrumental in showing this kind of bias. In 173 cases between 1990 and 2010, the study examined decisions involving 7,421 potential jurors (82 percent were white; 16 percent were black). In cases where there was at least one black potential juror, prosecutors dismissed more than twice as many blacks from the jury (56 percent) as others (25 percent). When the defendant was black, the disparity was even greater. Even accounting for “alternative explanations” besides race for different “strike rates”--for instance, excluding those who expressed ambivalence about the death penalty--the study found blacks were still more than twice as likely to be dismissed. Under a 1986 U.S. Supreme Court case, it is unconstitutional for a prosecutor to strike any potential juror on the basis of race, ethnicity, or gender. Source: An editorial by the New York Times

Prejudice north carolina death penalty jurors juries michigan state university
Flint, Michigan drinking water still tapped out

19 Mar 2017 - Preaching the News for the Third Sunday of Lent, Cycle A

Jesus has the most basic of needs in this Sunday’s gospel as he sits by a well after a long journey—the need for water. He promises the Samaritan woman who attends him that he can give her a "spring of water welling up to eternal life.” It has been nearly three years since the people of Flint, Michigan had clean drinking water flowing from their taps, yet only now are the responsible parties being brought to justice. A former top state health official was sentenced to one year’s probation Monday for her role in the Flint water crisis, and seven other state employees charged in connection with the lead contamination of the city’s drinking water will have preliminary examinations later this year. Corinne Miller, the retired head of the Health and Human Services Epidemiology Department, had pleaded no contest in September to a charge of willful neglect of duty, a misdemeanor punishable by a year in jail. But under a sentencing agreement, Judge Jennifer Manley of Flint’s 67th District Court spared Miller incarceration, with conditions that include her continued cooperation with the state attorney general’s investigation into the water crisis. The seven other state employees face charges ranging from misconduct in office to tampering with evidence. The Michigan Attorney General’s Office said actions—and inaction—by state health employees led to Flint using its river for drinking water from April 2014 until October 2015 without employing corrosion controls to prevent lead contamination. Unsuspecting Flint residents, including thousands of children, were exposed to water with high concentrations of lead. The resulting crisis has been linked to several deaths, including cases of Legionnaires’ disease. It has made international news as officials scrambled to provide filters and bottled water to families. “(Miller) was the first one to come forward and face the music,” Todd Flood, special prosecutor in the case, told reporters outside the courtroom Monday. “And she is continuing to cooperate.” Besides providing her help, Miller must stay crime-free, do 300 hours of community service, pay $1,325 in court costs and fees, and write a letter apologizing to the citizens of Flint, Manley ordered Monday. Flood declined to discuss whether others might be charged in the Flint investigation. He argued successfully last Monday against a request from defense attorneys for the dismissal of misconduct charges against Michael Francis-Gerard Prysby, a district engineer, and Stephen Benjamin Busch, a DEQ district supervisor, and other defendants. Prysby, Busch, and the five other defendants will have preliminary examinations later this year to determine if they will stand trial on charges that can carry up to five years in prison and fines. “I do certainly understand the seriousness of a preliminary exam . . . but I am not going to make a ruling on whether” to dismiss charges at this point, said Judge Manley. Lessons drawn from the readings The thirsty Israelites grumbled during their desert sojourn and turned against their leader Moses until he was able—with divine assistance—to provide them with fresh water. Our own leaders should take note of the message of the first reading—meet the people’s most basic needs! Final thought in light of the news Flint has not had clean drinking water since April 25, 2014, when the city switched its drinking water supply to the Flint River. Since news broke of Flint’s water crisis, celebrities, and politicians have exploited the crisis to elevate their images, cast blame on their opponents, and boost fundraising for their own endeavors—all while Flint’s water remains polluted. Let’s call our leaders to real accountability, not posturing. They must preserve and protect the most basic and precious of resources—clean drinking water. Without water there is no life, the greatest gift of our Creator. Let’s honor that gift through good stewardship.

clean water drinking water flint, michigan lead poisoning flint water crisis
Quote of the week

19 Mar 2017 - Preaching the News for the Third Sunday of Lent, Cycle A

“We’re angry, and we’re scared, and we’re anxious, and we’re confused, and we sure don’t trust.” Flint Mayor Karen Weaver

flint, michigan karen weaver flint water crisis
Fact of the week

19 Mar 2017 - Preaching the News for the Third Sunday of Lent, Cycle A

In December, a Reuters report found nearly 3,000 areas around the country that had recent lead poisoning rates at least double those in Flint at the peak of the crisis. The thousands of U.S. locales where lead poisoning is worse than in Flint

lead poisoning clean water drinking water flint, michigan
Homily stories

13 Aug 2023 - Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A

I love being with people when they visit Lake Michigan for the first time. “You can’t see across!” they sometimes exclaim. Or they say, “It’s like the ocean!” as they marvel at crashing waves and swathes of sand. I’ve lived on this lake almost my whole life, so its immensity and ferocity has always been with me, and I’m surprised by their surprise. Although familiarity can sometimes make a person underestimate how powerful the lake can be. The times it’s like glass lulls you into thinking it’s not dangerous, and when rollers kick up, that can make for some fun body or board surfing! How I love to watch the kite surfers who brave gale force winds to pop 20 feet in the air off the crest of a wave. But the force of the lake demands respect, and tragically there are several drownings every summer in my town. Many beach towns try to deter risk-taking by issuing $1,000 tickets for swimming when red flags are posted, which ban anyone from getting in the water. I’ve seen the Sea of Galilee once—and it’s no Lake Michigan. I puzzled over how a body of water that size could get stormy enough to scare anyone. But then I reminded myself that I know water and wind are capable of anything—as is God—and skepticism can get you into trouble.

Authors Jennifer Tomshack

body of water lake michigan sea of galilee

Restricted