Jonathan P. Baird

1
Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose.

Henceforth I ask not good-fortune, I myself am good-fortune,
Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing,
Done with indoor complaints, libraries, querulous criticisms,
Strong and content I travel the open road.

The earth, that is sufficient,
I do not want the constellations any nearer,
I know they are very well where they are,
I know they suffice for those who belong to them.

(Still here I carry my old delicious burdens,
I carry them, men and women, I carry them with me wherever I go,
I swear it is impossible for me to get rid of them,
I am fill’d with them, and I will fill them in return.)

2
You road I enter upon and look around, I believe you are not all that is here,
I believe that much unseen is also here.

Here the profound lesson of reception, nor preference nor denial,
The black with his woolly head, the felon, the diseas’d, the illiterate person, are not denied;
The birth, the hasting after the physician, the beggar’s tramp, the drunkard’s stagger, the laughing party of mechanics,
The escaped youth, the rich person’s carriage, the fop, the eloping couple,

The early market-man, the hearse, the moving of furniture into the town, the return back from the town,
They pass, I also pass, any thing passes, none can be interdicted,
None but are accepted, none but shall be dear to me.

3
You air that serves me with breath to speak!
You objects that call from diffusion my meanings and give them shape!
You light that wraps me and all things in delicate equable showers!
You paths worn in the irregular hollows by the roadsides!
I believe you are latent with unseen existences, you are so dear to me.

You flagg’d walks of the cities! you strong curbs at the edges!
You ferries! you planks and posts of wharves! you timber-lined sides! you distant ships!

You rows of houses! you window-pierc’d façades! you roofs!
You porches and entrances! you copings and iron guards!
You windows whose transparent shells might expose so much!
You doors and ascending steps! you arches!
You gray stones of interminable pavements! you trodden crossings!
From all that has touch’d you I believe you have imparted to yourselves, and now would impart the same secretly to me,
From the living and the dead you have peopled your impassive surfaces, and the spirits thereof would be evident and amicable with me.

4
The earth expanding right hand and left hand,
The picture alive, every part in its best light,
The music falling in where it is wanted, and stopping where it is not wanted,
The cheerful voice of the public road, the gay fresh sentiment of the road.

O highway I travel, do you say to me Do not leave me?
Do you say Venture not—if you leave me you are lost?
Do you say I am already prepared, I am well-beaten and undenied, adhere to me?

O public road, I say back I am not afraid to leave you, yet I love you,
You express me better than I can express myself,
You shall be more to me than my poem.

I think heroic deeds were all conceiv’d in the open air, and all free poems also,
I think I could stop here myself and do miracles,
I think whatever I shall meet on the road I shall like, and whoever beholds me shall like me,
I think whoever I see must be happy.

5
From this hour I ordain myself loos’d of limits and imaginary lines,
Going where I list, my own master total and absolute,
Listening to others, considering well what they say,
Pausing, searching, receiving, contemplating,
Gently,but with undeniable will, divesting myself of the holds that would hold me.
I inhale great draughts of space,
The east and the west are mine, and the north and the south are mine.

I am larger, better than I thought,
I did not know I held so much goodness.

All seems beautiful to me,
I can repeat over to men and women You have done such good to me I would do the same to you,
I will recruit for myself and you as I go,
I will scatter myself among men and women as I go,
I will toss a new gladness and roughness among them,
Whoever denies me it shall not trouble me,
Whoever accepts me he or she shall be blessed and shall bless me.

6
Now if a thousand perfect men were to appear it would not amaze me,
Now if a thousand beautiful forms of women appear’d it would not astonish me.

Now I see the secret of the making of the best persons,
It is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth.

Here a great personal deed has room,
(Such a deed seizes upon the hearts of the whole race of men,
Its effusion of strength and will overwhelms law and mocks all authority and all argument against it.)

Here is the test of wisdom,
Wisdom is not finally tested in schools,
Wisdom cannot be pass’d from one having it to another not having it,
Wisdom is of the soul, is not susceptible of proof, is its own proof,
Applies to all stages and objects and qualities and is content,
Is the certainty of the reality and immortality of things, and the excellence of things;
Something there is in the float of the sight of things that provokes it out of the soul.

Now I re-examine philosophies and religions,
They may prove well in lecture-rooms, yet not prove at all under the spacious clouds and along the landscape and flowing currents.

Here is realization,
Here is a man tallied—he realizes here what he has in him,
The past, the future, majesty, love—if they are vacant of you, you are vacant of them.

Only the kernel of every object nourishes;
Where is he who tears off the husks for you and me?
Where is he that undoes stratagems and envelopes for you and me?

Here is adhesiveness, it is not previously fashion’d, it is apropos;
Do you know what it is as you pass to be loved by strangers?
Do you know the talk of those turning eye-balls?

7
Here is the efflux of the soul,
The efflux of the soul comes from within through embower’d gates, ever provoking questions,
These yearnings why are they? these thoughts in the darkness why are they?
Why are there men and women that while they are nigh me the sunlight expands my blood?
Why when they leave me do my pennants of joy sink flat and lank?
Why are there trees I never walk under but large and melodious thoughts descend upon me?
(I think they hang there winter and summer on those trees and always drop fruit as I pass;)
What is it I interchange so suddenly with strangers?
What with some driver as I ride on the seat by his side?
What with some fisherman drawing his seine by the shore as I walk by and pause?
What gives me to be free to a woman’s and man’s good-will? what gives them to be free to mine?

8
The efflux of the soul is happiness, here is happiness,
I think it pervades the open air, waiting at all times,
Now it flows unto us, we are rightly charged.

Here rises the fluid and attaching character,
The fluid and attaching character is the freshness and sweetness of man and woman,
(The herbs of the morning sprout no fresher and sweeter every day out of the roots of themselves, than it sprouts fresh and sweet continually out of itself.)

Toward the fluid and attaching character exudes the sweat of the love of young and old,
From it falls distill’d the charm that mocks beauty and attainments,
Toward it heaves the shuddering longing ache of contact.

9
Allons! whoever you are come travel with me!
Traveling with me you find what never tires.

The earth never tires,
The earth is rude, silent, incomprehensible at first, Nature is rude and incomprehensible at first,
Be not discouraged, keep on, there are divine things well envelop’d,
I swear to you there are divine things more beautiful than words can tell.

Allons! we must not stop here,
However sweet these laid-up stores, however convenient this dwelling we cannot remain here,
However shelter’d this port and however calm these waters we must not anchor here,
However welcome the hospitality that surrounds us we are permitted to receive it but a little while.

10
Allons! the inducements shall be greater,
We will sail pathless and wild seas,
We will go where winds blow, waves dash, and the Yankee clipper speeds by under full sail.

Allons! with power, liberty, the earth, the elements,
Health, defiance, gayety, self-esteem, curiosity;
Allons! from all formules!
From your formules, O bat-eyed and materialistic priests.

The stale cadaver blocks up the passage—the burial waits no longer.

Allons! yet take warning!
He traveling with me needs the best blood, thews, endurance,
None may come to the trial till he or she bring courage and health,
Come not here if you have already spent the best of yourself,
Only those may come who come in sweet and determin’d bodies,
No diseas’d person, no rum-drinker or venereal taint is permitted here.

(I and mine do not convince by arguments, similes, rhymes,
We convince by our presence.)

11
Listen! I will be honest with you,
I do not offer the old smooth prizes, but offer rough new prizes,
These are the days that must happen to you:
You shall not heap up what is call’d riches,
You shall scatter with lavish hand all that you earn or achieve,
You but arrive at the city to which you were destin’d, you hardly settle yourself to satisfaction before you are call’d by an irresistible call to depart,
You shall be treated to the ironical smiles and mockings of those who remain behind you,
What beckonings of love you receive you shall only answer with passionate kisses of parting,
You shall not allow the hold of those who spread their reach’d hands toward you.

12
Allons! after the great Companions, and to belong to them!
They too are on the road—they are the swift and majestic men—they are the greatest women,
Enjoyers of calms of seas and storms of seas,
Sailors of many a ship, walkers of many a mile of land,
Habituès of many distant countries, habituès of far-distant dwellings,
Trusters of men and women, observers of cities, solitary toilers,
Pausers and contemplators of tufts, blossoms, shells of the shore,
Dancers at wedding-dances, kissers of brides, tender helpers of children, bearers of children,
Soldiers of revolts, standers by gaping graves, lowerers-down of coffins,
Journeyers over consecutive seasons, over the years, the curious years each emerging from that which preceded it,
Journeyers as with companions, namely their own diverse phases,
Forth-steppers from the latent unrealized baby-days,
Journeyers gayly with their own youth, journeyers with their bearded and well-grain’d manhood,
Journeyers with their womanhood, ample, unsurpass’d, content,
Journeyers with their own sublime old age of manhood or womanhood,
Old age, calm, expanded, broad with the haughty breadth of the universe,
Old age, flowing free with the delicious near-by freedom of death.

13
Allons! to that which is endless as it was beginningless,
To undergo much, tramps of days, rests of nights,
To merge all in the travel they tend to, and the days and nights they tend to,
Again to merge them in the start of superior journeys,
To see nothing anywhere but what you may reach it and pass it,
To conceive no time, however distant, but what you may reach it and pass it,
To look up or down no road but it stretches and waits for you, however long but it stretches and waits for you,
To see no being, not God’s or any, but you also go thither,
To see no possession but you may possess it, enjoying all without labor or purchase, abstracting the feast yet not abstracting one particle of it,
To take the best of the farmer’s farm and the rich man’s elegant villa, and the chaste blessings of the well-married couple, and the fruits of orchards and flowers of gardens,
To take to your use out of the compact cities as you pass through,
To carry buildings and streets with you afterward wherever you go,
To gather the minds of men out of their brains as you encounter them, to gather the love out of their hearts,
To take your lovers on the road with you, for all that you leave them behind you,
To know the universe itself as a road, as many roads, as roads for traveling souls.

All parts away for the progress of souls,
All religion, all solid things, arts, governments—all that was or is apparent upon this globe or any globe, falls into niches and corners before the procession of souls along the grand roads of the universe.

Of the progress of the souls of men and women along the grand roads of the universe, all other progress is the needed emblem and sustenance.

Forever alive, forever forward,
Stately, solemn, sad, withdrawn, baffled, mad, turbulent, feeble, dissatisfied,
Desperate, proud, fond, sick, accepted by men, rejected by men,
They go! they go! I know that they go, but I know not where they go,
But I know that they go toward the best—toward something great.

Whoever you are, come forth! or man or woman come forth!
You must not stay sleeping and dallying there in the house, though you built it, or though it has been built for you.

Out of the dark confinement! out from behind the screen!
It is useless to protest, I know all and expose it.

Behold through you as bad as the rest,
Through the laughter, dancing, dining, supping, of people,
Inside of dresses and ornaments, inside of those wash’d and trimm’d faces,
Behold a secret silent loathing and despair.

No husband, no wife, no friend, trusted to hear the confession,
Another self, a duplicate of every one, skulking and hiding it goes,
Formless and wordless through the streets of the cities, polite and bland in the parlors,
In the cars of railroads, in steamboats, in the public assembly,
Home to the houses of men and women, at the table, in the bedroom, everywhere,
Smartly attired, countenance smiling, form upright, death under the breast-bones, hell under the skull-bones,
Under the broadcloth and gloves, under the ribbons and artificial flowers,
Keeping fair with the customs, speaking not a syllable of itself,
Speaking of any thing else but never of itself.

14
Allons! through struggles and wars!
The goal that was named cannot be countermanded.

Have the past struggles succeeded?
What has succeeded? yourself? your nation? Nature?
Now understand me well—it is provided in the essence of things that from any fruition of success, no matter what, shall come forth something to make a greater struggle necessary.

My call is the call of battle, I nourish active rebellion,
He going with me must go well arm’d,
He going with me goes often with spare diet, poverty, angry enemies, desertions.

15
Allons! the road is before us!
It is safe—I have tried it—my own feet have tried it well—be not detain’d!

Let the paper remain on the desk unwritten, and the book on the shelf unopen’d!
Let the tools remain in the workshop! let the money remain unearn’d!
Let the school stand! mind not the cry of the teacher!
Let the preacher preach in his pulpit! let the lawyer plead in the court, and the judge expound the law.

Camerado, I give you my hand!
I give you my love more precious than money,
I give you myself before preaching or law;
Will you give me yourself? will you come travel with me?
Shall we stick by each other as long as we live?

This has been a tumultuous time in my life.  In the last year, I lost my dad and my sister.  I have left a job I loved and a place I loved, Wilmot, NH. I have moved to Anchorage Alaska to accept a new job as an administrative law judge for the Social Security Administration. My wife Debra Reis and I are temporarily living apart as we navigate this transition. There are many loose ends.

With so many changes, i wanted to write something that expressed my love for my wife. I have long held onto and admired the below poem by Wendell Berry.  it is a poem that I have carried with me for a long time. It says things better than I can.

Ripening     by Wendell Berry

The longer we are together
the larger death grows around us.
How many we know by now
who are dead!  We, who were young,
now count the cost of having been.
And yet as we know the dead
we grow familiar with the world.
We, who were young and loved each other
ignorantly, now come to know
each other in love, married
by what we have done, as much
as by what we intend.  Our hair
turns white with our ripening
as though to fly away in some
coming wind, bearing the seed
of what we know. It was bitter to learn
that we come to death as we come
to love, bitter to face
the just and solving welcome
that death prepares. But that is bitter
only to the ignorant, who pray
it will not happen. Having come
the bitter way to better prayer, we have
the sweetness of ripening. How sweet
to know you by the signs of this world!

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.