Jonathan P. Baird

I wanted to put up the eulogy I gave for my dad at his memorial service which was held almost a year ago. It will be a year on June 7.

Today I want to offer some words of praise for my Dad.  To me, he was a larger than life figure.  He was a mainstay of love, support and devotion to family.  Even now, his passing comes as a shock because of his presence, his resilience, his energy and his never-say-die spirit.  He was a force.
    He overcame so much in his life.  He had more than his share of ups and downs.  He knew tragedy, but what I find compelling was his unwavering optimism.  In the face of adversities that were crushing, he found a way to remain positive.  As one e-mail we received from a business associate put it, he was the kind of businessman you don’t find these days, one full of passion and integrity.
    My Dad was a totally passionate man.  He had so many life enthusiasms.  I remember very competitive golf, tennis, ping pong, pool, horseback riding, fishing on his boat, Any Old Rags, learning to fly a plane and body surfing and the seashore.
    He took me to Eagles and Phillies games for virtually my whole life.  He taught me an appreciation for sports and a love of athleticism.  When I was 10 or so, he took my friend, Hank Fried and me to Phillies Spring Training in Clearwater, Florida.  We got autographs of Robin Roberts, Richie Ashburn and Curt Simmons.  That was pretty cool for a kid.
    We listened to Stan Hochman talking Philly sports on the radio on the way to school in the morning.  Later, it was sharing Bill Lyon columns from the Inquirer.  Whether it was Richie Allen, Randall Cunningham, T.O. or Donovan McNabb, he loved talking sports, always hoping for that Eagles Super Bowl win that has never happened and that Phillies World Series victory that did.
    As probably some of you know, my Dad and I still talked about 20 times on the phone during every Eagles game.  He would call me in NH and keep me on the phone literally doing play by play.  I loved my Dad’s enthusiasm for the play and players.  Those memories are precious to me.
    I think of my Dad’s passion in other contexts as well.  When my brother Rich died, my Dad felt it so much.  He talked of Rich frequently and how Rich got cheated out of life.  It always bothered the hell out of him.  It was his wish to be buried next to my brother.
    When his dad, Phil, my Pop-Pop died, he went to a minyan at Adath Israel every morning for a year to honor him.  He had tremendous feeling for his own dad.  He always told a story about how he took cream to the prison for his dad when he was incarcerated.  Dad paid off the prison guard to make sure cream got to Pop-Pop for his coffee.
    My Dad completely supported his parents financially for many years.  He did this selflessly and generously.  Generosity was one of his signature characteristics.  He gave even when he could not afford to give.  He paid for private school, college and part of law school.  When I graduated law school in 1985, he drove up a new Honda Civic that he gave me as a graduation present.  When Debra and I bought our house in Wilmot, NH in 1989, he and my mom gave us the downpayment.  We could not have closed on the house otherwise.  He pretty much let me off the hook when I cracked up his fiberglass body Corvette Sting Ray in 1967.  It was crazy how much he gave.  No one knows.
    My Dad was also passionate about my Mom.  He was very proud of my Mom and would lavish praise on her whether it was her superb cooking or her 24/7 care-taking of him.  He would often say that he did not know how she had put up with him for so many years and, in truth, he was not an easy man to oppose.
    He and I had our conflicts.  I remember one blow out argument in a restaurant in South Jersey.  Dad was doing business in Chile.  It was after Gen. Pinochet and the Chilean fascists overthrew Salvador Allende.  We were center stage arguing about the Chilean revolution.  Another time around 1971, dad was upset about sleeping arrangements at our house on Melrose Road when I had a girlfriend over.  His face was beet red and the vein in his forehead was bulging out.  I called him sexually repressed.  I put him through a lot in a 1960s kind of way.
    Still, I feel very fortunate that we were able to work through early conflicts.  We had a chance to reconcile.  My own life experience has given me a much deeper appreciation of how lucky I was to have a Dad like him.
    He took incredible pride in the accomplishments of his children.  So much so that it went completely over the top.  He would tell every Tom, Dick and Harry about his Jonny, Lisa and Rob.  That was cringe time.
    I can safely say that I will never in this lifetime have a booster or fan who compares to my Dad.  No one will ever be that loving, vocal or complimentary.  Dad carried on this quality with grandkids as well.  He bubbled over.
    He always kissed me fully on the lips my whole life.  There is only one other guy I know who does that – my NH friend Steve Cherry.  It leads me to think there are 2 types of people.  The full lip kissers and the people who give cheek.  He was a full lip kisser.  I believe it perfectly reflected his passionate embrace of life and living.
    I miss him.  I used to call him everyday.  I tangibly feel his absence.  I feel pride in the man he was – a man’s man.  I was blessed to have a Dad like him.

When I think of judges in my lifetime who have been truly great, the names that immediately come to mind are Thurgood Marshall, William Brennan, and William O. Douglas. Out of my own lack of awareness, I do not think of judges from outside the United States.
 
One name that does come to mind though is Judge Baltasar Garzon. Judge Garzon has been Spain’s chief criminal magistrate. In his role, Judge Garzon has been bold and fearless. He has defined the term heroic.
 
While he has gone after other big fish, the prosecution that has taken the cake was his pursuit of Gen. Augusto Pinochet, the Chilean dictator. Garzon sought Pinochet’s extradition to Spain to face criminal charges for violating international laws between 1973 and 1990.
 
Pinochet and his military overthrew the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende on September 11,1973. Thousands of Allende’s supporters were murdered, disappeared, imprisoned, tortured and driven into exile. This crime against humanity never faced criminal prosecution until Garzon’s actions in 1998.
 
On October 16,1998, Garzon had Pinochet arrested when Pinochet was in London recuperating from surgery. Pinochet claimed immunity from the jurisdiction of the English courts on the grounds that he was the head of the State of Chile when the alleged crimes were committed.
 
Remarkably, on November 25,1998, in its first judgment on the Pinochet case, the British House of Lords ruled that under international law the former head of state, Pinochet, could not claim immunity from the jurisdiction of the courts of another country to avoid facing charges that he had committed the international crime of torture. The House of Lords decision was based on the 1984 Convention Against Torture.
 
This was a landmark decision. The Convention Against Torture required states to prosecute or extradite any alleged torturer or anybody who had been complicit in torture. Ironically, in 1988, shortly before he left power, Pinochet personally decided that Chile should ratify the Convention Against Torture.
 
Garzon’s actions in 1998 were part of a broader effort by prosecutors in Spain, France, Belgium, and Switzerland. All those countries made extradition requests on Pinochet. During Pinochet’s rule, more than 3,000 people were murdered or disappeared. More than 1500 of the disappeared have never been accounted for.
 
We now know that Pinochet spearheaded a military operation known as Operation Condor. Operation Condor brought together military leaders from Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, and Uraguay. Later Brazil joined. Operation Condor was essentially an international death squad dedicated to the elimination of perceived enemies all over the world.
 
Among the most famous victims of Operation Condor were Orlando Letelier, the former Chilean Ambassador to the United Nations. He and his colleague Ronni Moffitt were murdered by a car bomb in Washington DC in 1976.
 
The previous head of Chile’s scret police, the DINA, Colonel Manuel Contreras Sepulveda confirmed Pinochet’s connections to the murder, torture and disappearances in Chile. In May 2005, while in prison, he explained that he reported directly to Pinochet without any intermediary.
 
The history of the Pinochet case is quite fascinating. Within a week of its first decision, the Judicial Committee of the House of Lords set aside the landmark judgment because it concluded one judge assigned should not have sat on the case. There was a rehearing. The second judgment was even more amazing than the first. The Lords concluded that the Torture Convention provided a universal jurisdiction to pursue torturers.
 
Still, after this second judgment, Pinochet was able to escape punishment. The British government terminated extradition proceeedings and after 16 months, Pinochet escaped back to Chile. Pinochet had used his deteriorating health and his advanced age as a way out.
 
Garzon deserves tremendous credit for the pursuit of a monster like Pinochet. No one else had the guts to go after Pinochet. Garzon did. In the process, The Pinochet case created a precedent which, at the least, has added a level of fear and insecurity for government torturers and their accomplices. Maybe that will make some think twice about torturing.
 
I would also like to point out that the full role of the United States in Operation Condor has never been clarified. We know that the U.S. was involved in the coup against Allende. Five days after the coup, Henry Kissinger told President Nixon “we helped them”. The dimensions of that help deserve full exposure.
 
Garzon now faces troubles of his own. In 2008, Garzon initiated an investigation into the crimes against humanity committed by the fascist forces led by Gen Franco during the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939. In a blatantly political effort led by fascists and their allies, Garzon was accused of exceeding his authority for opening the investigation. Garzon has been suspended as a magistrate. The suspension could last 20 years, effectively ending his legal career.
 
The Right accused Garzon of the crime of judicial prevarication. Because of a 1977 amnesty law, his enemies claim Garzon has no jurisdiction to investigate Spanish Civil War crimes. Again at issue is universal jurisdiction and whether crimes against humanity can be amnestied or subject to a statute of limitations.
 
So is the crime the disappearances or the investigation?
 
I will include an open letter to the Spanish judiciary regarding Garzon signed by lawyers, jurists, intellectuals, and artists. Thousands of people in Spain have been demonstrating in support of Garzon. Anti-fascist Americans have a stake in this case too.

…………….

Open Letter to Spanish Judiciary Authorities in Solidarity with Justice Baltasar Garzón

Judges of the Supreme Court, Criminal chamber

General Prosecutor of the State Cándido Conde-Pumpido Tourón

As jurists, lawyers, judges, academics and human rights defenders of different nationalities signing below, we are writing to you in order to express our perplexity regarding the decision on 3 February 2010 of the Investigative Judge of the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court in the special case Nº: 20048/2009. The judge decided to continue the judicial investigation against Justice Baltasar Garzón, allegedly responsible of the offence of judicial prevarication [1].
The criminal complaint was filed against Justice Garzón for trying to fulfill the obligation of the Spanish State to investigate crimes against humanity committed during Franco’s dictatorship, in particular enforced disappearances. He is allegedly responsible of disregarding the 1977 Amnesty Law, of violating the principle of non retroactivity of criminal law and the principle of legality and prescription of criminal action.

On 31 October 2008, the United Nations Human Rights Committee has expressed its concerns about the existing obstacles that Spanish victims have been fighting against in order to obtain truth, justice and reparation. The Committee has also called Spanish authorities to take the necessary measures to nullify the 1977 Amnesty Law and to guarantee the imperceptibility of crimes against humanity. Moreover, the Committee has asked the Government to create an independent commission to determine the historic truth about human right violations which took place during the Civil War and Franco’s regime, and that will guarantee the localisation, exhumation and identification of the victims’ remains, and its restitution to their families.

The so-called law “of Historical Memory” of 2007 has not taken into account the appropriate and sufficient measures in favor of victims. Contrary to what the investigative judge has stated in the decision against Garzón, the above mentioned law allows him to act in favor of the victims, for example by requesting the exhumation of the remains. Indeed the law establishes that it is “compatible with the exercise of the right to remedy and access to ordinary and extraordinary judicial proceedings, as established in national law or in international treaties and conventions ratified by Spain”.

Enforced disappearances are among the gravest crimes which cannot be prescribed nor be granted with amnesty without attempting against international law, which is part of the Spanish judicial system.

The crime of illegal detention, without giving information of the detainee’s location, or the crime of enforced disappearances, are crimes of continuous nature, that are ongoing until it is known what happened to the victims; that is why these crimes cannot be object of criminal prescription. When these disappearances have been committed in a systematic, massive and generalized manner, as it occurred during the Civil War and Franco’s dictatorship, they are considered as crimes against humanity and hence cannot be subject amnesty nor pardon. For this type of crimes, the principle of non-retroactivity in criminal law cannot apply since the prohibition of such crimes already existed under international customary law (jus cogens) at the time of the facts and, the principle of legality, is formed by national provisions and international human rights law.

The investigative judge adds against Justice Garzón: “Of course, altruist motives, as the laudable wish of palliating the pain of the family of victims of horrendous crimes, do not exonerate, or even attenuate, the possible criminal responsibility of [judge Garzón]”.

Justice Garzón certainly acts within his obligation towards justice and human rights. Altruism can be part of his personal convictions, but what is at stake here is the obligation of the State of Spain to respect the rights of victims of Franco’s dictatorship as well as to fulfill its international obligations as regards human rights.

The investigative judge reproaches Justice Garzón for not having considered the denounced facts as related to political crime and for disregarding the application of the 1977 Amnesty Law. Nevertheless, the same law states in its article 1 that it is not applicable concerning facts that presuppose “grave violence against the life or personal integrity of several persons”.

The International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, ratified by Spain on 24 September 2009, states in its article 13 that “the offence of enforced disappearance shall not be regarded as a political offence or as an offence connected with a political offence or as an offence inspired by political motives”.

In its article 24, the Convention considers as a ’victim’ “the disappeared person and any individual who has suffered harm as the direct result of an enforced disappearance” and states that “each victim has the right to know the truth regarding the circumstances of the enforced disappearance, the progress and results of the investigation and the fate of the disappeared person”. Finally it reiterates the obligation of each State Party to take “all appropriate measures to search for, locate and release disappeared persons and, in the event of death, to locate, respect and return their remains”.

We therefore express to you, dear judges, our perplexity in relation to the use of the offence of judicial prevarication against Justice Baltasar Garzón. Indeed, a judicial officer has always some scope for discretion in the implementation of law. If he does so in order to fulfill the State’s human rights obligations, his acts cannot be considered as irrational or contrary to law, otherwise damaging the basic principles of the administration of criminal justice concerning the investigation, prosecution, reparation and prevention of all types of crimes, in particular crimes of international character, as in the present case.

We would also like to express our recognition of Justice Baltasar Garzón’s work in favour of victims’ rights to truth, justice and reparation, not only in Spain but beyond Spanish borders. He became thereby a very important defender and promoter of international criminal law in the past years, enjoying now a well-earned worldwide recognition.

We hope that you can reverse Francisco Quevedo’s maxim “where there is little justice, it is dangerous to be right”, and contribute to have in Spain a lot of justice and a lot of reason, allowing the rights of victims and their families to be fully respected. We also call you to support judges like Baltasar Garzón, in their actions that enable Spain to fulfill its obligations under international human rights law, and that contribute to the well being of Spanish people but also of the humanity as a whole.

Respectfully yours.

SIGNATORY ORGANISATIONS

Asociación Pro Derechos Humanos de España (APDHE) – ESPAÑA
Comisión Española de Ayuda al Refugiado (CEAR) – ESPAÑA
Institut de Drets Humans de Catalunya (IDHC) – ESPAÑA
Instituto de Estudios Políticos para América Latina y África (IEPALA) – ESPAÑA
Justicia y Paz – ESPAÑA
Liga Española Pro Derechos Humanos – ESPAÑA
Movimiento por la Paz, el Desarme y la Libertad (MPDL) – ESPAÑA
Paz y Cooperación – ESPAÑA
Mundubat – ESPAÑA
UNESCO Etxea – ESPAÑA
ATTAC – ESPAÑA
Comunal Laurita Allende en España de PSCh – ESPAÑA
Asociación para las Naciones Unidas en España (ANUE) – ESPAÑA
Asociación para la Defensa de la Libertad Religiosa (ADLR) – ESPAÑA
Plataforma de Mujeres Artistas contra la Violencia de Género – ESPAÑA
Coordinadora Estatal de Asociaciones Solidarias con el Sáhara (CEAS-Sáhara)
Asociacion Española para el Derecho Internacional de los Derechos Humanos (AEDIDH) – ESPAÑA
Asociación por los Derechos Humanos en Afganistán (ASDHA) – ESPAÑA
IPES Elkartea. Instituto de Estudios Sociales, Navarra – ESPAÑA
Voluntarios Comunidad Parroquial Santo Domingo de la Calzada. Cañada Real. Madrid. – ESPAÑA
Center For Constitutional Rights – USA
Lawyer’s Rights Watch Canada (LRWC) – CANADA
Syndicat de la Magistrature Français – FRANCIA
Conférence du Barreau de Paris – FRANCIA
Grupo Belga por la Justicia y la Paz en Guatemala – BÉLGICA
Unione Forense per la Tutela dei Diritti dell’Uomo (UFTDU) – ITALIA
Asociación Servicios de Promoción Laboral (ASEPROLA) – COSTA RICA
Ligue Djiboutienne des Droits Humains (LDDH) – DJIBOUTI
Asociación Por Derechos Humanos (APRODEH) – PERÚ
Asamblea Permanente por los Derechos Humanos (APDH) – ARGENTINA
Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS) – ARGENTINA
Centro para la Acción Legal en Derechos Humanos (CALDH) – GUATEMALA
Comisión de Derechos Humanos de Guatemala (CDHG) – GUATEMALA
Comisión Ecuménica de Derechos Humanos (CEDHU) – ECUADOR
Frente Ecuatoriano de Derechos Humanos (FEDHU) – ECUADOR
Comisión de Derechos Humanos de El Salvador (CDHES) – EL SALVADOR
Centro de Derechos y Desarrollo – (CEDAL) – PERÚ
Coordinadora Nacional de Derechos Humanos (CNDDHH) – PERÚ
Centro de Políticas Públicas y Derechos Humanos – Perú EQUIDAD – PERU
Coalición Salvadoreña para la Corte Penal Internacional (CSCPI) – EL SALVADOR
Corporación Colectivo de Abogados “José Alvear Restrepo” (CCAJAR) – COLOMBIA
Instituto Latinoamericano de Servicios Legales Alternativos (ILSA) – COLOMBIA
Comité Permanente por la Defensa de Derechos Humanos (CPDH) – COLOMBIA
Organización Femenina Popular – COLOMBIA
Organización Mundial contra la Tortura (OMCT)
Frente Nacional de Resistencia Popular – HONDURAS
Bloque Popular Honduras – HONDURAS
Fundación Regional de Asesoría en Derechos Humanos (INREDH) – ECUADOR
Comité de Acción Jurídica (CAJ) – ARGENTINA
Centro Nicaragüense de Derechos Humanos (CENIDH) – NICARAGUA
Centro de Iniciativas Democráticas (CIDEM) – PANAMÁ
FIAN Internacional
Federación Internacional de Derechos Humanos (FIDH)
Associació per a la recuperació de la memòria històrica de Catalunya (ARMHC)
Fédération euroméditérannéenne contre les disparitions forcées (FEMED)
Collectif des Familles de Disparu(e)s en Algérie (CFDA)

INDIVIDUAL SIGNATURES

Louis Joinet, ex magistrado de la corte de casación francesa y ex relator especial de la ONU para Haití y en la lucha contra la impunidad.
Carla del Ponte, actual embajadora de Suiza en Argentina.
Roberto Garretón Merino, abogado chileno, ex-relator especial y experto de la ONU, y miembro de la Asemblea General de la OMCT.
Luis Acebal Monfort, Vicepresidente Asociación Pro DD HH1 de España (APDHE).
Roberto Saviano. Escritor. Autor de Gomorra.
Inma Chacón, Escritora y Profesora de la Universidad Rey Juan Carlos de Madrid
Javier Mujica. Defensor de Derechos Humanos.
Mario Lana. Presidente Liga Italiana. ITALIA.
Rosa María Ayala Sancha. Defensora DD HH
Carlos Ballesteros García, Profesor Universidad Pontificia Comillas
Ana Barrero Tiscar, Fundación Cultura de Paz
Lionel Baudet Labbé, Presidente Comunal Laurita Allende en España
Andrew Buchan, Lawyer
Eric Alt, delegado del Syndicat de la magistrature à MEDEL (Magistrats européens pour la démocratie et les libertés) FRANCIA
Jorge Auat fiscal a cargo de la Unidad Fiscal de Coordinación y Seguimiento de las causas por violaciones a los Derechos Humanos cometidas durante el terrorismo de Estado (Procuración General de la Nación -ARGENTINA-).
Pablo Parenti, coordinador de la Unidad Fiscal de Coordinación y Seguimiento de las causas por violaciones a los Derechos Humanos cometidas durante el terrorismo de Estado (Procuración General de la Nación -ARGENTINA-).
Amelia M. Bayón Gimeno, APDHE
Mikel Berraondo López. Instituto de DD HH, Universidad de Deusto
Javier Blanco Belda. Defensor DD HH
Raquel Colera Cañas. Defensora DD HH
M. Isabel Córdoba Montaña, Defensora DD HH
Ana Mª Cañas Cortázar. Defensora DD HH
Paco Cascón Soriano. Educador, Defensor de DD HH
Raquel Colera Cañas. Defensora DD HH
Javier Chinchón Álvarez. Profesor de Derecho Internacional y Relaciones Internacionales
Paloma Cruz López. Defensora de DD HH
Bernardo Diaz Salina. Defensor DD HH
Julia Jaraiz. Defensora DD HH
Ana Etxenique. Vicepresidenta Confederación de Consumidores y Usuarios
Celia Fernández Aller. Profesora Derecho, Univ. Politécnica Madrid
José Miguel Fernández López. Defensor DD HH
Paula Fernández Martínez. Defensora DD HH
Ana María Flores Barraza. Directiva APDHE
José Antonio Gimbernat Ordeig, Presidente Federación de Asociaciones de Derechos Humanos – España
Katya Ruiz Jodrá, Defensora DD HH
Bienvenida Goikoechea Aldaz. Defensora DD HH
María Isabel Guijarro Atienza, Defensora DD HH
Mª Pilar Hernández Vázquez. Abogada. Defensora DD HH
Calo Iglesias. Educador para la Paz. Santiago de Compostela
Marisol Iturralde Roger. Directiva APDHE
Augusto Klappenbach Minotti. Ex-Rector Universidad. Argentina
Manuel León Rodríguez, Fundación Socialdemócratas
Pedro López López. Profesor Universidad Complutense.
Antonio López Pina. Catedrático de Derecho Constitucional. Universidad Complutense
Concepción Marino Canosa, Defensora DD HH
Fernando Mariño Menéndez, Director Instituto de Derecho Internacional, Universidad Carlos III, Madrid
María José Martín Antón. Defensora DD HH
Concepcion Martin Rey. Defensora DD HH
Asier Martinez de Bringas. Profesor de Derecho. Constitucional, Barcelona
Federico Mayor Zaragoza, Presidente, Fundación Cultura de Paz
Manuela Mesa Peinado. Directora de CEIPAZ-Fundación Cultura de Paz
Alicia Moreno Pérez. Abogada del Ilustre Colegio de Abogados de Madrid
Adriana Moscoso del Prado Hernández. Directiva APDHE
María Novo Villaverde. Catedrática de la Universidad Nacional a Distancia. Madrid
Carmen Oliart Delgado de Torres, Defensora de DD HH
Manuel Ollé Sesé. Abogado. Presidente APDHE
Rosa Orta Álvarez. Defensora DD HH
Annarita Palumu. Defensora DD HH
Cristina Pascual Álvaro. Defensora DD HH
Francisco José Pascual Díez. Profesor. Defensor DDHH
Fernando Pedrós Pérez. Defensor DD HH
Justo Pérez Corral. Defensor DD HH
Lilian Ana Pertovt, Defensora DD HH
Oscar Peyrou. Defensor DD HH
Annegret Pietsch. Defensora DD HH
José Luis Pitarch Bartolomé. Directiva APDHE. Profesor de Derecho Constitucional, Univ. de Valencia.
Isabel Pizarro Ponce de la Torre. Defensora DD HH
Higinio Polo. Profesor y escritor. Barcelona.
Martin PRADEL, Abogado y Ancien secrétaire de la Conférence du Barreau de Paris – FRANCIA
Jorge Riechmann, Profesor de Filosofía Moral. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Arias, Profesor de Derecho Penal Internacional, Universidad de Castilla La Mancha.
Carlos Ruiz. ATTAC España
Mari Carmen Sánchez Hernández. Defensora DD HH
Mari Carmen Sánchez Sánchez. Defensora DD HH
Santiago Sanz Álvarez. Directiva APDHE
Elias Sanz Casado. Defensor DD HH
Silvia Schmitz Engelke, Defensora DD HH
Patricia Simón Carrasco. Defensora DD HH
Teresa Torres, Defensora DD HH
Silvia Tubert, Defensora DD HH
Lydia Vicente, Abogada, Defensora de los DD HH
Andrés Viñas Orta. Defensor DD HH
María Jesús Fernández Alonso. Defensora DD HH
Crisanta Rey Ordás. Defensora DD HH
Maximino Rey Rey. Defensor DD HH
Paloma Maldonado. Psicóloga.
Jonathan Contreras. Jurista.
José Ugaz Sánchez-Moreno.Penalista. Procurador anticorrupción y profesor de derecho.
Dr. Francisco Ercilio Moura. responsable del Programa de Derechos Centro de Derechos y Desarrollo – CEDAL.
Eduardo A. Coello. Politólogo – HONDURAS
Erasto Reyes Abogado, miembro del Bloque Popular-FNRP-Honduras – HONDURAS
Lorena Zelaya. Resistencia Honduras – HONDURAS
Mario Eduardo Minera Monzón – GUATEMALA
Jime Nani Mosquera. Infostelle – PERÚ
Walter Schweninger. Vocero del Grupo de Trabajo Internacional y Paz de los Verdes de Alemania.
Juan Antonio Gimbernat. Presidente de la Federación de Asociaciones de Defensa y Promoción de los Derechos Humanos-España
Rachel LINDON Abogada y Ancien Secrétaire de la Conférence – FRANCIA
Delphine JAAFAR. Abogada y Ancien Secrétaire de la Conférence du Barreau de Paris – FRANCIA
Francisco Torres Pérez. Sociólogo y profesor del Departamento de Sociología y Antropología Social de la Universidad de Valencia.
Prof. José García Añón. Vicedecano de innovación educativa y calidad y Coordinador de la Facultad de Derecho para la Convergencia al Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior. Universidad de Valencia.
Susana E. Vior. Docente investigadora Universidad Nacional de Luján Argentina
Fouad Lahssaini. Député fédéral. Groupe Ecolo-Goen! Bélgica
Oscar Castellucci. Docente universitario. Presidente de la Asociación Civil Martín Castellucci.
María Adela Antokoletz. Docente. Hermana de Daniel, detenido desaparecido en la ESMA el 10/11/1976.
Jose Antonio García Saez. Defensor DD HH
Manuel Lambert. Conseiller juridique de la Ligue des Droits de l’Homme (Belgique), Président de la Coordination des ONG pour les droits de l’enfant (Belgique) et assistant en droit à l’Université libre de Bruxelles.
Catherine Absalom. Miembro de la FIDH. Defensora DD HH.
Jimena Reyes. Abogada. Defensora DD HH.
Lola Borges Blázquez. Jurista y traductora. Defensora DD HH
Maria Ximena Cañón Dorado. Abogada colombiana. Defensora DD HH
María Roca. Politóloga. Defensora DD HH.
Jaume Gosalbez. Periodista. Defensor DD HH.
Vanesa Vacas. Socióloga. Defensora DD HH.
Luis Guillermo Pérez. Secretario General FIDH y Secretario ejecutivo de CIFCA.
Benjamin Deman Abogado. BÉLGICA
Guyot Madeleine. Defensora DD HH. BÉLGICA
Sharon Weill, Phd Candidate in international law, University of Geneva. SUIZA.
Jules Fafchamps. Sindicalista. BÉLGICA.
Florence Paul. Defensor DD HH.
Liliane Cordova. Defensora DD HH. FRANCIA
Florent Schaeffer. Defensor DD HH. Paris.
Nicole Kahn Lyon. Defensora de los derechos humanos y miembro de la unión judía francesa por la paz que milita por los derechos de los palestinos. FRANCIA.
Kristiina Vainio. M. Pol. Sc. (international law). FINLANDIA
Professor Marian Hobson CBE. Fellow of the British Academy. Cambridge.
Dr. Anat Matar. The Dept. of Philosophy. Tel Aviv University. Tel Aviv 69978. Israel
Enrique Santiago Romero. Abogado.
Ruth Kñallinsky Dra. Dpto. Incidencia y Comunicación Fundación CEAR –Habitáfrica.
Alice Cherki Psiquiatra y Psiconalalista. FRANCIA
Juan Carlos Capurro. Presidente del CAJ y viceporesidente de la FIDH.
AdAr Grayevsky. Defensor DD HH.
Judith Butler. Professor. University of California, Berkeley
Prof. François Lecercle. University of Paris-Sorbonne, Paris IV
Rela Mazali. Defensora DD HH. Israel
Kerstin Reemtsma. Defensora DD HH.
Yuval Yonay. Senior Lecturer. Department of Sociology and Anthropology University of Haifa. ISRAEL
Jaime San De Bremond. Abogado de DD HH
Jean-Michel Frodon. Ecrivain, professeur, critique, ancien directeur des Cahiers du cinéma.
Gustavo Gómez. Abogado del Ilustre Colegio de Abogados de Barcelona. Defensor DD HH
Mauricio Forero. Profesor de Derechos Humanos. Mission de Derechos Humanos en Haiti-MICIVIH
Tom Koenigs, Chairman of the Committee on Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid of the German Bundestag
Footnotes
[1] Article 446 of the Spanish penal code says: “the judge or magistrate who, intentionally, pronounces a ruling or emits a judgment that is not fair will be sanctioned: … 3. by a fine of twelve to twenty-four months and special disqualification from public employment for a period of between ten and twenty years” .

May 1, May Day, is the International Workers Day. It is a day to celebrate working people and the social and economic achievements of the labor movement. As is pretty obvious, in America we celebrate big shots and celebrities who generally don’t deserve it. The hard working people do not get recognition or rewards.
 
Many people might associate May Day with old Red Square parades and official celebrations in places like North Korea. That is unfortunate. While such a perception is not surprising, May Day actually originated in the U.S.
 
May Day came out of the 19th century American movement for an eight hour working day. Working conditions were terrible and it was common for workers to be made to work 10 to 16 hours daily in unsafe conditions.
 
In 1886, American workers decided that May 1 should be the day of universal work stoppage. 200,000 American workers left their jobs and demanded the eight hour day. That year, the Haymarket Riot/Massacre in Chicago also took place. A number of workers and police died in the melee after an anarchist allegedly threw a bomb into a crowd.
 
Eight anarchists were arrested and convicted of murder although a number of the arrested were not even at Haymarket when the bomb went off. In what was the first American Red Scare, four of the arrested, Albert Parsons, August Spies, George Engel, and Adolf Fischer, were executed by the State in 1887.
 
Haymarket proved to be a big impetus to the international celebration of May Day. However, back at home, the American origin of May Day has been disappeared.
 
May Day is an official holiday in 66 countries and it is unofficially celebrated in many more. I think it is fair to say that it is rarely celebrated in the U.S. In 1958, Congress designated May 1 as Loyalty Day. There was a conscious political effort to erase May Day as a workers holiday and to obliterate international working class solidarity.
 
Part of that effort was the creation of Labor Day in September. Our Labor Day is not celebrated outside the U.S. It is an apolitical excuse for a three day weekend. It is a pale shadow of May Day.
 
I think a fitting way to celebrate May Day is to recognize one of the greatest American poets of the people – Langston Hughes. Hughes had an enormous body of work, including many political poems. I think his poetry, more than any other American poet, has embodied the aspirations of the American people for a better life. In honor of May Day, here are two of my favorite Langston Hughes’ poems:
 
 
Dreams 
 
Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
 
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
frozen with snow.
 
 
 
Life is Fine
 
I went down to the river,
I sat down on the bank,
I tried to think but couldn’t,
So I jumped in and sank.
 
I came up once and hollered!
I came up twice and cried!
If that water hadn’t a-been so cold
I might’ve sunk and died.
 
     But it was
     Cold in that water!
     It was cold!
 
I took the elevator
Sixteen floors above the ground.
I thought about my baby
And thought I would jump down.
 
I stood there and I hollered!
I stood there and I cried!
If it hadn’t a-been so high
I might’ve jumped and died.
 
    But it was
    High up there!
    It was high!
 
So since I’m still here livin’,
I guess I will live on.
I could’ve died for love —
But for livin’ I was born.
 
Though you may hear me holler,
And you may see me cry —
I’ll be dogged, sweet baby,
If you gonna see me die.
 
    Life is fine!
    Fine as wine!
    Life is fine!

May 4 is the first anniversary of my Dad’s death. I miss him terribly and I wish I could talk to him about so many things. I want to reflect back on the man that he was.
 
My Dad was representative of the Greatest Generation. After serving in the army, he returned to Philadelphia in the mid 40’s and he went to work. He started his own textile trading business. With help from no one at the start, he created the business and he made it into a very successful enterprise.
 
Dad traded all over the world. In the 50’s and 60’s, he and my mom frequently travelled to Europe (especially Italy), Japan, and Hong Kong. Dad also went to India, Pakistan, the Middle East, and South America. Long before globalization, my dad and mom were wonderful diplomats and ambassadors for America, going off beaten tracks. They were antidotes to the Ugly American.
 
I remember Dad’s international phone calls in those days. He practically screamed through the house to make sure he was heard on the other end. He and my mom had many friends all over the world. When I was a kid, I remember trading partners frequently staying at our house. I think particularly of Aldo Fantacci, Vitaliano, and Mr. Takahashi. They became more than business partners – they were fast friends.
 
My Dad’s drive, determination, hard work, and international busness savvy caused his business, Baird Associates, to thrive for many years. That was a great and creative accomplishment and it allowed his whole family a very comfortable standard of living.
 
This is remarkable considering that as a young man starting out, he had no advantages. He grew up poor. His dad, Phil, my Pop-Pop, was a sweet guy but he was a negligent father and he had trouble with the law. Pop-Pop had a criminal record for arson and interstate robbery. My Dad faced discrimination because he was the son of an ex-con.
 
From the time he was 12 years old, Dad had to take economic responsibility for his whole family. He worked non-stop. Not only did Dad have the financial responsibilities but he had to be a father figure to his younger brother Carl and his sister Arline.
 
Dad used to tell me about going to prison to see his dad. He brought his dad cream for his coffee which the prison did not provide. To get the cream to his dad, he had to pay off a prison guard.
 
Dad supported both his parents from age 12 on. That never stopped until they passed away. Starting at 12, he gave his paycheck to his mother. He started with a paper route and he worked multiple jobs. He pretty much paid for everything where his parents were concerned. Although I knew my grandparents as loving and devoted to their grandchildren, they gave Dad almost nothing.
 
Dad always regretted his lack of education. He had tremendous respect for learning and education. He never had the opportunity to go to college though. He had to drop out of high school to work. He briefly attended the Philadelphia College of Textiles. I do think part of the reason he sent his children to private school was because he had been shortchanged in his own life and he did not want his children to have his experience. He wanted them to have every advantage he missed out on.
 
Dad’s generosity was a defining characteristic. He gave and gave. For someone with street smarts, he often got taken advantage of. That did not stop his giving. As a child of Don’s, I have to say there was not much he and my mom did not give us.
 
When I was 10, my Dad took me and my friend, Hank Fried, to Phillies spring training in Clearwater, Florida. I remember seeing Richie Ashburn, Robin Roberts, and Curt Simmons. That was huge and it is a memory I cherish.
 
Over the years, Dad, Mom and I went to many Phillies and Eagles games together. In the late 50’s-early 60’s, Dad got Eagles season tickets. Together we saw the Norm Van Brocklin-led Eagles beat the Packers at Franklin Field in 1960. That was the last time the Eagles won a champonship.
 
I remember going to the old Connie Mack Stadium to watch the Phils play the Giants. I am not sure why but I remember Willie McCovey hitting a towering homer near the light tower in right field to beat the Phils in a night game. The memories are wonderful.
 
Dad was a good athlete himself. He loved many sports, especially golf. He belonged to quite a few clubs and he could shoot low to mid 80’s at the height of his game. He also played tennis, fished, and rode horses.
 
He had amazing enthusiasm for life and he was always up for trying new things. Later in life, he took flying lessons and he considered getting his own plane. As a son, it was tremendous to have a dad with such zest.
 
To say Dad was a fan of his wife and kids does not do justice to his passion. He was way over the top but I have to say as his child it was wonderful to have such a strong supporter behind you. No one could have been a bigger fan than Dad. He was so effusive talking about his Dee, Jonny, Lise, and Robs. And then later about his grandchildren.
 
While it is superficial to mention this, my Dad was an extremely handsome man. In early pictures, he and my mom look like movie stars. Women always loved my dad and it is easy to see why.
 
Dad and Mom had a very good marriage. They had almost 60 years together. Dad was loyal and a very strong family man. He made me aware of what a family could be in a good sense.
 
Dad was also very stubborn. He was not easy to disagree with. We had our conflicts but I was fortunate in that we were able to move way beyond the conflicts we had when I was in my 20’s.
 
I would not describe Dad as a religious or spiritual person. He grew up in an orthodox Jewish milieu but he rebelled against that. He knew Yiddish and he had great familiarity with things Jewish but he was never much of a believer.
 
As an adult, he became a reform Jew which fit his world view much better. I remember Dad listening to Jewish radio shows on Sunday where Jewish stars sang songs like “My Yiddishe Mama”. Dad could sing that too. He had real feeling for Jewish culture. I would say he was knowledgeable about the tradition but not comfortable with the religious baggage. He used to tell me religion was a crutch for weak people.
 
I remember Dad snoring during Friday night services at Main Line Reform Temple. He would need an elbow sometimes when the snoring got too loud. He did serve in the temple and I remember Dad making pizza at the temple Purim party.
 
Dad had a thing about the extreme Orthodox. Driving around Lower Merion in his later years (which was the community where he lived and I grew up), Dad watched the now large community of Orthodox Jews who were dressed up in old world long Black coats and widebrim hats. He was intolerant of the Orthodox brand of Judaism.
 
Dad was a modernist and he was thoroughly Americanized. Having had exposure to orthodoxy as a child, he was totally turned off to it. He thought the Orthodox were bad for the Jews.
 
I am glad that Dad did not see my sister Lisa die because I think that would have pushed him over the edge. Dad and Lise had a special bond.
 
Since Dad died I have wanted to praise him and to express my eternal thanks to him. I was very fortunate to have a role model like Don Baird. I will close with two poems.
 
My Father   by Yehuda Amichai
 
The memory of my father is wrapped up in
white paper, like sandwiches taken for a week at work.
 
Just as a magician takes towers and rabbits
out of his hat, he drew love from his small body,
 
and the rivers of his hands
overflowed with good deeds.
 
translated from the Hebrew by Azila Talit Reisenberger
 
 
For Brother, What Are We?    by Thomas Wolfe
 
For brother, what are we?
 
 
We are the sons of our father,
Whose face we have never seen,
We are the sons of our father,
Whose voice we have never heard,
We are the sons of our father,
To whom we have cried for strength and comfort
In our agony,
We are the sons of our father,
Whose life like ours
Was lived in solitude and in the wilderness,
We are the sons of our father,
To whom only can we speak out
The strange, dark burden of our heart and spirit,
We are the sons of our father,
And we shall follow the print of his foot forever.

I was meandering in Tracy Memorial Library in New London and I came across a poetry collection edited by Robert Pinsky and Maggie Dietz. It is titled Poems To Read. I was thumbing through it and I found a poem by Pablo Neruda that was so beautiful, I just wanted to share it. The translation is by W.S. Merwin.
 
Tonight I Can Write
 
Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
 
Write, for example, “The night is starry
and the stars are blue and shiver in the distance.”
 
The night wind revolves in the sky and sings.
 
Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too.
 
Through nights like this one I held her in my arms.
I kissed her again and again under the endless sky.
 
She loved me, sometimes I loved her too.
How could one not have loved her great still eyes.
 
Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
To think that I do not have her. To feel that I have lost her.
 
To hear the immense night, still more immense without her
And the verse falls to the soul like dew to the pasture.
 
What does it matter that my love could not keep her.
The night is starry and she is not with me.
 
This is all. In the distance someone is singing. In the distance.
My soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.
 
My sight tries to find her as though to bring her closer.
My heart looks for her, and she is not with me.
 
The same night whitening the same trees.
We, of that time, are no longer the same.
 
I no longer love her, that’s certain, but how I loved her.
My voice tried to find the wind to touch her hearing.
 
Another’s. She will be another’s. As she was before my kisses.
Her voice, her bright body. Her infinite eyes.
 
I no longer love her, that’s certain, but maybe I love her.
Love is so short, forgetting is so long.
 
Because through nights like this one I held her in my arms.
my soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.
 
Though this be the last pain that she makes me suffer
and these the last verses that I write for her.

This last week Red River Theatres in Concord showed the documentary William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe. I found the movie amazingly compelling. Made by Kunstler’s daughters, Emily and Sarah, the movie evokes the late 60’s-early 70’s period better than any movie I have seen in a very long time.
 
The movie also demonstrates the scope of Kunstler’s legal career. From the early civil rights movement to the Chicago 7 trial, to Attica, Wounded Knee and more recent cases, the movie brilliantly covers the history. It shows how Bill Kunstler went from being a suburban liberal to the radical lawyer he became.
 
Having read Kunstler’s autobiography, it is surprising how much was still left out. The list of Bill’s clients was like living history. MLK, Malcolm X, Stokely Carmichael, H. Rap Brown, Lenny Bruce, Adam Clayton Powell: and these are some of the clients the movie pretty much passed on.
 
The Chicago trial, Attica, and Wounded Knee did get a lot of play in the movie. The sequences about Attica and Wounded Knee were particularly powerful. The utter senselessness of the police attack on the prisoners and the captive guards was driven home by former police guard Michael Smith.
 
The Wounded Knee parts conveyed how the trial judge, who appeared to have been written off by the defendants and their lawyers, became outraged at government misconduct. It looked like the defense obtained verdicts they never expected.
 
Later in Kunstler’s career, he did less travelling around and he focused on criminal defense work in New York City. He represented, often successfully, some of the most unpopular defendants imaginable, including El Sayyid Nossair (accused of the murder of Meir Kahane), John Gotti, and Yussef Salaam of the Central Park jogger case.
 
His daughters and others in the movie raise questions about why he chose these clients. No great answers are provided. He paid a huge price and his popularity among liberals took a nosedive. It did seem like he always loved the limelight and these cases guaranteed notoriety.
 
Bill’s opposition to racism struck me as the central theme in his life. He is on an honored short list of white Americans who gave their all to battling racism during their lives. This was true even from the early days of his legal career. Fittingly the movie ends with Bill’s heroic and despised representation of Yussef Salaam. Bill totally stood behind Salaam. Long after Bill died in 2002, Salaam’s conviction was overturned. Bill was vindicated on a case where he had stood alone.
 
Talking to some young attorney friends after the movie, I was struck by how little young people know of the history of that period. America is like an amnesia-creating machine. The events of the late 60’s-early 70’s might as well be ancient history. Sadly, it has been successfully erased.
 
While probably no movie can do justice to that period, this is a good one. Go see it – and take your kids along.

Passover is winding up and I had meant to post this sooner. Passover is probably my favorite Jewish holiday. I love the ritual of the seder and the story of liberation Passover represents. The Jewish people were a slave people who escaped Pharoah.
 
While it is not a Passover poem, I have long loved this poem by Primo Levi that I initially saw in Tikkun Magazine. It has a message that resonates with Passover. It was translated by Ruth Feldman.
 
Gedale’s Song
 
Do you not recognize us? We are the ghetto sheep,
Shorn for a thousand years, resigned to injury.
We are the tailors, the copyists, and the cantors
Withered in the shadow of the Cross.
Now we have learned the forest paths,
Learned to shoot and we’re right on target.
   If I am not for myself, who will be for me?
   If not like this, how? And if not now, when?
Our brothers have risen to the sky
Through the ovens of Sobibor and Treblinka,
They have dug themselves a grave in the air.
Only we few have survived
For the honor of our submerged people,
For revenge and witnessing.
  If I am not for myself, who will be for me?
  If not like this, how? And if not now, when?
We are the sons of David, and the stubborn ones of Masada.
Each of us carries in his pocket the stone
That shattered Goliath’s forehead.
Brothers, away from the Europe of death:
We will climb together toward the land
Where we shall be men among other men.
  If I am not for myself, who will be for me?
  If not like this, how? And if not now, when?
 

I wanted to post this excellent story by Jason Deparle of the New York Times which ran on April 4, 2010. The story exposes the anti-labor practices of TALX, a company that fights workers’ unemployment claims. Deparle interviewed my client Gerard Grenier who lost his job at Walmart and then had to fight TALX in the context of his unemployment benefit hearing.

At Grenier’s hearing, no employer witness showed up. The TALX rep tried to get a postponement based on the fact that Grenier had a lawyer even though they had notice of my appearance. The rep then hung up during the hearing and did not recontact the hearing officer. After the hearing they asked that the claim be reopened. TALX lost on that but I believe those actions typify the type of behaviors TALX practices. Deparle performed a public service with his article. Companies like this must be scrutinized since they cause great harm to working people.

__________

WASHINGTON — With a client list that reads like a roster of Fortune 500 firms, a little-known company with an odd name, the Talx Corporation, has come to dominate a thriving industry: helping employers process — and fight — unemployment claims.
 
Talx, which emerged from obscurity over the last eight years, says it handles more than 30 percent of the nation’s requests for jobless benefits. Pledging to save employers money in part by contesting claims, Talx helps them decide which applications to resist and how to mount effective appeals.
 
The work has made Talx a boom business in a bust economy, but critics say the company has undermined a crucial safety net. Officials in a number of states have called Talx a chronic source of error and delay. Advocates for the unemployed say the company seeks to keep jobless workers from collecting benefits.
 
“Talx often files appeals regardless of merits,” said Jonathan P. Baird, a lawyer at New Hampshire Legal Assistance. “It’s sort of a war of attrition. If you appeal a certain percentage of cases, there are going to be those workers who give up.”
 
When fewer former workers get aid, a company pays lower unemployment taxes.
 
Wisconsin and Iowa passed laws to curtail procedural abuses that officials said were common in cases handled by Talx. Connecticut fined Talx (pronounced talks) and demanded an end to baseless appeals. New York, without naming Talx, instructed the Labor Department staff to side with workers in cases that simply pit their word against those of agents for employers.
 
Talx officials say they have been unfairly blamed for situations caused by tight deadlines, confusing state rules or uncooperative employers. Talx cannot submit information about idled workers, they say, until clients give it to them. They say Talx improves the system’s efficiency by mastering the complexities of 50 state programs, allowing employers to focus on their businesses.
 
“We can speed the whole process, rather than bog it down,” said Michael E. Smith, a senior Talx executive. “The whole idea is to protect those employees who have lost their job through no fault of their own and make sure they get unemployment insurance.”
 
Mr. Smith said employers, not Talx, controlled decisions about which cases to contest. “We just do what the client asks us to do and leave it to the state to decide,” he said.
 
Advocates for the unemployed cite cases like that of Gerald Grenier, 47, who spent four years as a night janitor at a New Hampshire Wal-Mart and was fired for pocketing several dollars in coins from a vending machine. Mr. Grenier, who is mentally disabled, told Wal-Mart he forgot to turn in the change. Talx, representing Wal-Mart, accused him of misconduct and fought his unemployment claim.
 
After Mr. Grenier waited three months for a hearing, Wal-Mart did not appear. A Talx agent joined by phone, then seemingly hung up as Mr. Grenier testified. The hearing officer redialed and left an unanswered message on the agent’s voice mail. The officer called Mr. Grenier “completely credible” and granted him benefits.
 
Talx appealed, claiming that the officer had denied the agent’s request to let Wal-Mart testify by phone. (A recording of the hearing contains no such request.) Mr. Grenier won the appeal, but by then he had lost his apartment and moved in with his sister.
 
“That was a nightmare,” he said.
 
In the case of Dina Griess, Talx and its client, the subprime lender Countrywide Financial, were involved in what a judge deemed an outright fraud. Ms. Griess worked for Countrywide outside Boston and quit as it collapsed in 2008, saying she was distressed by internal investigations of lending practices. People can receive unemployment benefits if they quit for “good cause,” like unsafe working conditions, but Talx argued that Ms. Griess’s reason did not meet the legal standard.
 
She won benefits at a hearing that Talx and Countrywide skipped, but Talx successfully appealed, saying the Countrywide witness had missed the hearing because of a family death. Later asked under oath if that was true, the witness said, “No, it’s not.”
 
A Massachusetts judge reviewing the case, Robert A. Cornetta of Salem District Court, denounced the deceit and gave Ms. Griess benefits. “The court will not be party to a fraud,” he said.
 
Despite the large role that Talx and other agents play in a program that spent $120 billion last year, the federal Department of Labor has done little to measure their impact.
 
Talx, which is based in St. Louis, declined to make clients available for interviews, citing pledges of confidentiality, and none of those contacted chose to comment. Other major employers that have used Talx include Aetna, AT&T, Best Buy, FedEx, Home Depot, Marriott, McDonald’s and the United States Postal Service. (The New York Times uses Talx for a different service, to answer inquiries from lenders about its employees’ earnings.)
 
Talx entered the field brashly, buying the industry’s two largest companies on a single day in 2002. In the next few years, it bought five more. Until then, Talx had never handled an unemployment claim, and skeptics wondered how well it could blend seven companies in an unfamiliar industry.
 
The Federal Trade Commission argued in a 2008 antitrust complaint that the acquisitions, which cost $230 million, had allowed Talx to “raise prices unilaterally” and “decrease the quality of services.” Talx modified some contracts to settle the case, but admitted no legal violations.
 
Financially, the gamble paid off: Talx was acquired three years ago by Equifax, the credit-rating giant, for $1.4 billion. But work once done locally became centralized — at a loss, critics say, of responsiveness and expertise.
 
Wisconsin officials were among the first to complain, passing a law in 2005 to prevent what they called a common Talx practice: failing to respond to requests for information, only to appeal when workers got benefits. That clogged the appeals docket and drained the benefits fund, since money sent to ineligible workers was hard to get back.
 
While the law brought about quicker participation, said Hal Bergan, the state’s unemployment insurance administrator, the company’s overall speed and accuracy “still leaves something to be desired.”
 
Indeed, years of e-mail messages, obtained through an open records law, show a continually exasperated Wisconsin staff. While a few cited improved performance, others complained that Talx “returned half-empty questionnaires,” sent back “minimal or ‘junk’ info,” reported in error that applicants were dead, filed “frivolous protests” and caused “the holdup of many claims.”
 
“Same problems as always,” wrote Amy Banicki, a senior manager, in a 2008 e-mail message. “Talx is Talx.”
 
Iowa passed a similar law in 2008 to curtail unnecessary appeals. Of the 10 employers who most often appealed after failing to respond to data requests, officials said nine were represented by Talx, including Cargill, Target, Tyson Foods, Wal-Mart and Wells Fargo.
 
Connecticut cited “frivolous motions” and “unnecessary delays” in filing a complaint against Talx under a law that regulates employer agents. Without admitting fault, Talx paid a $12,000 fine and agreed to tell clients in writing that it would not file baseless appeals.
 
While there is no comprehensive research, the Labor Department did an internal study of 2,000 cases in 2007 and found Talx significantly slower and less complete in answering auditors’ questions than employers who handled their own claims. Officials said they did not release the study, which drew on seven states, because they could not ensure it was representative. The New York Times obtained it under the Freedom of Information Act.
 
Talx supporters say the program’s tight deadlines often give Talx just a few days to answer requests. They emphasize that Talx is working with states to develop a common computer format that will help provide the data more rapidly. They also say scrutiny of claims by companies like Talx helps deter fraud.
 
“Increased vigilance is an appropriate thing,” said Douglas J. Holmes, president of UWC, a Washington group that represents employers on unemployment issues. “Integrity is important.”
 
But others say that Talx, by promising to save clients money, has an incentive to fight even legitimate claims. In marketing materials, it warns employers that “a single claim can result in a higher tax rate” and makes the promise that “we deliver increased winning percentages.”
 
Joseph Walsh, deputy director of Iowa’s employment security agency, said, “We are more likely to see a claim of misconduct that is completely unsupported by the factual record” when agents are involved.
 
Officials in the New York State Department of Labor were so concerned last year about the credibility of agents that they warned staff members against taking their word over that of jobless workers. Absent other evidence, the officials wrote, “give greater weight to the claimant’s statement.”
 
That guidance was relevant in the case of Genssy Frias, a Bronx woman who took a maternity leave from a sales job at Lord & Taylor. Ms. Frias said that she tried to return but that her supervisor told her she had been laid off. A Talx agent said Ms. Frias quit because she lacked child care.
 
“We did not hear from her again,” the agent wrote.
 
New York canceled Ms. Frias’s benefits and accused her of lying.
 
In an interview, Ms. Frias said the agent’s response to the state was not only inaccurate but also deceitful, because she did not disclose that she worked for Talx and implied first-hand knowledge by using the pronoun “we.” Had she identified herself as an agent, officials would have given her statement less weight.
 
A Talx spokeswoman said the agent made a clerical error in writing “we” and called it an isolated incident. Lord & Taylor did not respond to requests for comment.
 
Ms. Frias appealed and presented a baby sitter’s note, which vouched that she had arranged for child care. Neither Talx nor Lord & Taylor appeared at the hearing, and Ms. Frias won.
 
“I was thinking, how can they lie like that when they know I didn’t quit?” Ms. Frias said.

First, I would like to thank you for the opportunity to speak about economic and social justice, a subject close to my heart. As a legal aid lawyer representing exclusively poor, elderly, and disabled people, I see the effects of poverty everyday.
 
I chose my career as a legal aid lawyer with a notion of doing something to eliminate poverty. Just to give you a little background on myself, I have worked at New Hampshire Legal Assistance (NHLA) for almost 25 years. Most of the legal work I have done has been on behalf of individual poor clients who were denied a public benefit like unemployment insurance or Social Security Disability. I have also done eviction defense, some Chapter 13 bankruptcy and some representation of domestic violence victims.
 
Over the last 14 years, I have worked as the lobbyist for NHLA in the NH state legislature lobbying on issues of concern to poor people such as raising the minimum wage. That effort took 10 years and 5 legislative trys before it succeeded.
 
I mention that because one lesson I have learned is the value of persistence on economic justice issues. I guess I would like to lobby all of you to consider being activists and organizers for economic justice.
 
I firmly believe that poverty could be eliminated in the United States. No political party is currently advocating that but I think it is entirely possible that could change. Or a new party could be created that would advocate that change.
 
In Europe there is an aggressive movement to end poverty. For whatever reason, our media has not reported on it. In 2000, heads of state in Europe pledged to make a decisive eradication of poverty by 2010. There is a renewed effort because the initial effort fell short. A coalition of European NGOs’ organized by the European Anti-Poverty Network is behind this. 2010 is being called the European year for combating poverty and social exclusion. The Europeans involved define poverty as follows:
 
“Poverty is a multidimensional phenomenon: it is not simply the lack of resources and income, whether through employment or social benefits. It also encompasses the notion of vulnerability, precariousness, lack of opportunities and denial of rights, such as access to education and health, culture, housing, employment services and infrastructure as well as access to information and political participation.”
 
We need a new abolitionist movement in the U.S. – this time against poverty. Our task is to make poverty morally and politically unacceptable. We have reached a sad place when our society accommodates the kind of rampant inequality and poverty that is a staple of life in the U.S. now.
 
Instead of outrage at poverty, our society provides multiple spectacles and passifiers so that distractions control us. Who is going to think about poverty when there is the Super Bowl, the Oscars, Wrestlemania, the Final Four, Tiger Woods, Dancing with the Stars, Avatar, American Idol, and 24? And that barely scratches the surface.
 
I should probably confess I am a huge football and baseball fan. I grew up in the Philadelphia area and have a lifelong love of the Eagles and Phillies. I don’t want to give that up either and I can totally relate to the desire to tune out bad stuff. Also, I liked Avatar in 3-D.
 
Unfortunately, the tuning out tendency has proved self-destructive  for the American people. We have been snookered and victimized with only a dim awareness of the cause of our exploitation and who is doing the exploiting.
 
I want to touch on some of the economic realities going on now. While the U.S. has been the richest nation in the world, it has the highest poverty rate in the industrialized world. Over 50 million people in the U.S. are now using food stamps. Hunger is at an all time high.
 
The unemployment rate is officially 9.7% but the government doesn’t count discouraged workers or those who are involuntary part-time workers when it figures the tally. If all the unemployed were actually counted the number of unemployed would be closer to 20%. That is over 30 million unemployed or underemployed.
 
There are six people applying for every job opening. To get back to the 4.6% unemployment rate we had in the U.S. in 2007, we would need to create 10 million new jobs.
 
The massive unemployment has caused enormous human suffering and anguish. I recently had a 55 year old man in my office who had lost his job as a prison guard. In the last year, he lost his home to foreclosure;his wife left him; and he lacked money for rent. He was crashing with a friend. He cried his eyes out in my office. I wish I could say that he was unusual but I don’t think he is at all unique.
 
In the last couple years, 5 million Americans lost their homes to foreclosure. 13 million more are expected to lose their homes by 2014. Everyday another 10,000 homes enter foreclosure.
 
There are approximately 3 million homeless in the U.S.. The fastest growing segment is single parents with children.
 
Over the last 30 years there has been an absolute explosion of inequality. Between 1980-2006, the richest 1% of Americans tripled their after tax percentage of the nation’s total income while the bottom 90% have seen their share drop 20%. The top 1% owns 70% of all financial assets.
 
If anyone wonders where the data I cited comes from, I am quoting from a series of articles by the writer David DeGraw that appeared on the website http://www.alternet.org . I cite these statistics not to be discouraging but to keep it real.
 
It seems like the only thing we, as a society, seriously invest in is the military. I think that is a colossal waste. No one talks about that but the money spent on the military is both ridiculously underquestioned and it is utterly disproportionate to any actual threat to the U.S.
 
When it comes to budgeting, education and social welfare dollars are squeezed to the max but Democrats and Republicans unite in throwing lavish money at the Pentagon. It is our excessive militarism which is scary dangerous and almost completely unchallenged. The historian Chalmers Johnson has written about our over 700 military bases around the world but no one pays attention to that.
 
The problem as I see it is that the business class in America is extremely class conscious about its interests but that is not true of working people. Working people have been getting hammered. So many jobs have gone overseas or have been eliminated. Workers are encouraged to be self-blaming rather than class conscious. Also, there are so many divisions among workers because of racial, sexual, national, and sexual preference differences that it is hard to see commonality as workers. It is easier to fight a poor neighbor who happens to be Black, Asian or Hispanic than a faceless CEO who lives in a gated community you maybe can’t see or even visualize.
 
I once heard a liberal described as a person who leaves the room when the fight begins. Whether that is fair or not, it has to change.
 
I would suggest that liberals and the Left could learn a lot from studying the Right. While their ideology is odious, they are persistent. Their well-financed think tanks have generated many reactionary ideas that have put the Left on the defensive since the Reagan era. In my opinion, they have largely controlled political debate or at least the discussion of what could be considered acceptable reforms.
 
On a wide range of issues from a public jobs program to financial regulation to cutting the defense budget to global warming, progressives need to articulate a new set of long-range goals and then we need to be serious about achieving them.
 
Abolishing poverty is going to take many years. If it is not articulated and forcefully presented, it will be on no agenda.
 
One great thing about living in New Hampshire is that we are closer to the levers of power than people in many other states. New Hampshire has come an incredibly long way in the last decade. The state is no longer controlled by neanderthals at the Union Leader and far right Republicans. That is a sea change. When the Democrats gained control of both Houses in the state legislature as well as the Governor’s corner office in 2006, it was over 100 years since that had happened.
 
There remain great opportunities in our state legislature. Whether as advocates or as legislators, we should be bringing forward progressive legislative solutions. All that is required is some thought, organizing, political savvy, and creativity. And the ability to get our candidates elected.
 
Over the last four years, many positive things have been accomplished at the state level by the Democratic majority. I mentioned raising the minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $7.25 an hour. That was a very hard fought accomplishment. It was continuously opposed for 10 years by an array of business interests. The persistence of advocates made it an issue, framed it, created NH-specific data for it, wore down opponents, and ultimately led to a hugely consequential victory for low wage workers. By raising the floor, legislators gave more wage leverage to thousands of workers who were earning a little above minimum wage.
 
Since the legislative accomplishments of the last four years are not sufficiently appreciated or, in part, not known, I want to mention them.
 
– In 2008, putting an interest rate cap on payday and auto title loans.  These predatory lenders would have made a killing at the expense of consumers during this recession. This anti-usury reform saved NH consumers millions of dollars.
 
– Modernizing and extending unemployment benefits, including making part-time workers eligible. Again, considering the recession, this reform was incredibly timely and beneficial for NH workers, especially women.
 
– Legalizing civil unions and then gay marriage. This reform put NH in the front ranks of states and frankly it probably blew many minds of people who saw NH as a sexless cold Yankee outpost. Take that, California.
 
– Eliminating the developmental disability waitlist. This is again in jeopardy but getting this critical reform for developmentally disabled people given the perennial state budget shortfall was a wonderful achievement.
 
I am afraid there are no short cuts for progressives.We need a long-term perspective and we need to be in the fight for the long haul. Working people have every reason to be upset with the political status quo. It is ironic that the Tea Party movement captures political outrage. Progressives need to reach out to tea partiers and others who are legitimately outraged. I do not like the snootiness and condescension toward working people that is evidenced among liberals who are upset at the tea partiers.
 
In closing, I would like to suggest a point about economic inequality that has been insufficiently made. Inequality is often presented as being about the poor. I would suggest we are all poorer for living in grossly unequal societies.
 
A new book, The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger, by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, argues that case. People living in more unequal societies live significantly shorter, less healthy lives than people who live in societies where wealth is more evenly spread. Inequality leads to poorer health, lower educational attainment, higher crime rates, lower trust and cooperation.
 
I think warmth, humor, and humility are the approprate stance for building a new new left. Also, tolerance for different perspectives. Given the weakness of the left, posturing and negative judgmentalism are not the way to go. Much commonality can be forged simply by defending workers’ needs.
 
Thanks again for the chance to share these thoughts.
 

Although little celebrated in the United States, March 8 is International Women’s Day (IWD). IWD is a celebration of the economic, political, and social achievements of women. The founders of IWD wanted a celebration of working women of all countries, including support for the right of women to vote. That was not accomplished then in some countries.

The holiday has been celebrated for 99 years. It started in 1911 as a Socialist holiday. Over the years, its appeal broadened and it is widely celebrated around the world. In 1975, the U.N. officially recognized IWD. Next year will be the IWD centennial.

In recognition of IWD, I wanted to highlight the poetry of the feminist and leftist poet, Muriel Rukeyser.  Rukeyser was a particular favorite of my sister Lisa. Many moons ago, we went to see Rukeyser read. I still remember her wonderful reading of her poem “Ballad of Orange and Grape”.

It is absurd that a great poet like Rukeyser is a mass culture unknown. We are surrounded by dreck. Rukeyser should be widely known. She has a large body of work and it is hard for me to decide on a favorite poem to cite. My sister loved “Effort At Speech Between Two People” and she read it to me many times. Since I can’t decide, I will include two poems, “Coney Island” and “Yes”.

Effort At Speech Between Two People          

Speak to me.    Take my hand.    What are you now?
I will tell you all.    I will conceal nothing.
When I was three, a little child read a story about a rabbit
who died, in the story, and I crawled under a chair   :
a pink rabbit   :   it was my birthday, and a candle
burnt a sore spot on my finger, and I was told to be happy.

Oh, grow to know me.    I am not happy.   I will be open:
Now I am thinking of white sails against a sky like music,
like glad horns blowing, and birds tilting, and an arm about me.
There was one I loved, who wanted to live, sailing.

Speak to me.    Take my hand.    What are you now?
When I was nine, i was fruitily sentimental,
fluid   :   and my widowed aunt played Chopin,
and I bent my head on the painted woodwork, and wept.
I want now to be close to you.     I would
link the minutes of my days close, somehow, to your days.

I am not happy.     I will be open.
I have liked lamps in evening corners, and quiet poems.
There has been fear in my life.    Sometimes I speculate
On what a tragedy his life was, really.

Take my hand.      Fist my mind in your hand.   What are
       you now?

When i was fourteen, I had dreams of suicide,
and I stood at a steep window, at sunset, hoping toward
      death   :
if the light had not melted clouds and plains to beauty,
if light had not transformed that day, I would have leapt.
I am unhappy.      I am lonely.        Speak to me.

I will be open.     I think he never loved me:
he loved the bright beaches, the little lips of foam
that ride small waves, he loved the veer of gulls:
he said with a gay mouth: I love you.         Grow to know me.

What are you now?     If we could touch one another,
if these our separate entities could come to grips,
clenched like a Chinese puzzle…yesterday
I stood in a crowded street that was live with people,
and no one spoke a word, and the morning shone.
Everyone silent, moving….Take my hand.      Speak to me.

Coney Island

Coney Island, Coney island,
No need to let me know,
No need to tell me so
I need you now to show me…

Some.   Show me what’s under the counter,
           Show me what’s under your skin,
           Show me the way to get out
           And I’ll show you the way to get in.

Others. Show me life, show me lives, people in dives,
           Show me yells, show me smells, and grimy hotels,
           Clams, yams, lobster and shrimps,
           Sand, candy, panders and pimps,
           Show me bim, show me bam, bamboozle me,
           Booze me and use me and foozle me,
           Show me rides, show me slides, people in tides,
           Show me money, show me funny, show me the sea,
                                                             You, show, me.

Houdini and Beatrice. Let me see,
                              Let me feel,
                              Let me know what is real,
                              Let me bel-
                                              ieve.

Yes

It’s like a tap-dance
Or a new pink dress,
A shit-naive feeling
Saying Yes

Some say Good morning
Say say God bless–
Some say Possibly
Some say Yes.

Some say Never
Some say Unless
It’s stupid and lovely
To rush into Yes.

What can it mean?
It’s just like life,
One thing to you
One to your wife.

Some go local
Some go express
Some can’t wait
To answer Yes.

Some complain
Of strain and stress
Their answer may be
No for Yes.

Some like failure
Some like success
Some like Yes Yes
Yes Yes Yes.

Open your eyes,
Dream but don’t guess.
Your biggest surprise
Comes after Yes.