Last week on NARN we mentioned Sen. Amy Klobuchar's participation in stripping the so-called "John Doe" protections from legislation moving through the Senate. A public servant fresh off a landslide victory taking a stance in opposition to the common sense wisdom of the vast majority of her constituency? I ain't no managing editor, but it seems like a newsworthy item.
Crazy talk, I know. Those currently presiding over the sinking ships of both newspapers know best and little was made of Klobuchar's actions in the local press. The Star Tribune and Pioneer Press have trained us long-time residents of the Twin Cities not to expect this kind of coverage. (Not coincidentally, they've also trained us not to subscribe to them.) That kind of story just wouldn't be helpful and doesn't go far enough in afflicting the comfortable., I suppose.
Once again, Katherine Kersten does her best to fill the news breach from her opinion column. Her report is on Ms. Klobuchar's apparent flip-flop on the issue:
Klobuchar's vote was one of the three that seemed to sink John Doe. But on Monday, she told me that she had decided to support the measure. "It came up in the middle of the night, attached to an unrelated bill," she said. "I was thinking about a case I had in Bloomington as [Hennepin] county attorney. A security guard reported a series of fires set by a 'Middle Eastern man,' but police discovered he had set the fires himself.
Someone needs to check the facts on the xenophobic arsonist story. It might be true, or parts of it might be, but it sounds a little too PC-perfect for my ears.
True or not, Klobuchar's reliance on this example is illustrative of her mindset. The theoretical possibility that a false accusation could be leveled against a member of a protected class is enough to junk the notion that all citizens should be protected from getting sued for reporting suspicious behavior. So until we realize the utopian vision where racism doesn't exist in society, you people better think twice before objecting to the guy re-enacting a scene from United 93.
Of course, this utopian vision will never be realized. There is the potential for abuse in any law. The question is, on which side do you want to err?
If you enact this measure, people in protected classes might get falsely accused and not be able to sue for damages (gasp!). But if you kill the bill, those reporting their concerns, in good faith, may be frivolously sued and be financially devastated in defending themselves. And, more to the point, the mere threat of this would create a chilling effect on citizen's willingness to bother reporting suspicious behavior, with potentially fatal consequences.
Which do you chose? Who's interests are you looking out for? In this era of terrorism, and frivolous lawsuits, this seems to be an easy call. But not for the conflicted junior Senator from Minnesota.
I guess there is a happy ending. She has begrudgingly come around to supporting it:
"I wanted to make sure that the [immunity provision] had exceptions that would preserve the right to sue under such circumstances."
After the late-night vote, Klobuchar talked to Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., a cochairman of the committee and a supporter of the John Doe provision. He alleviated her concerns, she said.
It would be nice if she actually understood the bill before she voted on it the first time. She's still new, maybe they didn't cover that in freshman orientation classes. But in the absence of perfect information, it's interesting to note what her instincts tell her to do.
أما النمل فهي حشرة تصاب بالتسمم حال تناولا للخيار ولا تستطيع أن تشم رائحة تواجد الطعام جيدًا حال تناولها السمسم شركة مكافحة حشرات بالرياض لذلك يمكن وضع قشور الخيار وقطع الخيار في أمكن وجحور تواجدها لتسمم النمل وتستخدم السمسم عدة مرات عند كل مرة ننظف فيها المنزل لكي يصاب النمل بتعطيل حاسة الشم وبالتالي لا يمكنه الحصول على الطعام، فيما يمكن قتل النمل نهائيًا باستخدام عجين الصودا رش مبيدات بالرياض والسكر معًا وهو يتم تحضيره من خلال وضع كيس من الصودا مع ثلاث ملاعق من السكر وتنظيف أرجاء المنزل به ووضعه في الثقوب أيضًا فيموت النمل في الحال.
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