Justice Ginsburg details death threat

(hat tip The HZA; reported on CNN

Speech says O'Connor also warned after lawmakers fuel 'fringe'

From Bill Mears
CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has acknowledged a specific death threat against her and her retired colleague Sandra Day O'Connor, blaming lawmakers for fueling "the irrational fringe."

The remarks came in a speech Ginsburg gave recently in South Africa, where she discussed her occasional reference to international law when looking at high court rulings.

She noted opposition to the idea by some members of Congress, adding it "is disquieting that they have attracted sizable support."

"One not-so-small concern -- they fuel the irrational fringe," Ginsburg said.

She said the court's marshal, Pamela Talkin, alerted her and O'Connor to a February 28, 2005, Internet chat posting by an unidentified person to his fellow "commandoes" urging a "patriotic assignment."

According to Ginsburg, the Web author criticized the justices' prior reference of international laws, saying, "This is a huge threat to our Republic and Constitutional freedom. ... If you are what you say you are, and NOT armchair patriots, then those two justices will not live another week."

The threat came amid growing concern in the judicial community over the personal safety of judges and court personnel. A federal judge's husband was murdered last year in Illinois by an angry litigant. Less than two weeks later, a shooting spree in Georgia left a judge, a court reporter and a deputy dead in a county courtroom.

A conservative radio commentator in January suggested -- in a kidding manner -- that Justice John Paul Stevens be poisoned. Deadly anthrax spores were mailed to the Supreme Court's building in 2001, prompting the building to be evacuated for several weeks, although no injuries were reported.

Security was a major issue at this week's semiannual meeting of the Judicial Conference in Washington, according to Judge Thomas Hogan, chairman of the group's executive committee. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told the conference that three-fourths of the 2,220 or so federal judges have asked for home security systems, which would be paid for by the government.

Ginsburg's remarks were made February 7 and posted almost unnoticed on the Supreme Court's Web site March 2. They first gained media attention after a Wednesday report on the Legal Times Web site.

The justice said nothing had come from the threat, at least so far, and managed to joke about the matter.

"Nearly a year has passed since that posting. Justice O'Connor, though to my great sorrow retired just last week from the court's bench, remains alive and well. As for me, you can judge for yourself," said Ginsburg, who turned 73 Wednesday.

Spokeswoman Kathy Arberg would not offer further details of the incident, saying the court does not comment on security matters.

Misinformation, said Ginsburg, was driving much of the debate over how the courts reach their decisions.

"Many current members of the U.S. Congress would terminate all debate over whether federal courts should refer to foreign or international legal materials," she said. "For the most part, they would respond to the question with a resounding 'No.' "

Two resolutions in the House and Senate from 2004 would prevent federal courts from using "judgments, laws, or pronouncements of foreign institutions unless such [materials] inform an understanding of the original meaning of the Constitution."

"To a large extent, I believe, the critics in Congress and in the media misperceive how and why U.S. courts refer to foreign and international court decisions," Ginsburg said. "We refer to decisions rendered abroad, it bears repetition, not as controlling authorities."

Justice Antonin Scalia has been an outspoken opponent of using foreign law in reference to U.S. statutes. He criticized a ruling last year by Justice Anthony Kennedy that banned the death penalty for juvenile killers.

In it, Kennedy wrote, "It is proper that we acknowledge the overwhelming weight of international opinion against the juvenile death penalty, resting in large part on the understanding that the instability and emotional imbalance of young people may often be a factor in the crime."

That case is cited by many conservatives in their opposition to use of international law in U.S. rulings. Other high court cases citing international law included a 2003 ruling banning state laws against homosexual sodomy. Several lawmakers called for the impeachment of Kennedy and other judges.

O'Connor criticizes lawmakers

O'Connor last week criticized lawmakers who were "creating a culture" that threatens the credibility of the rule of law.

"It gets worse," O'Connor told a group of lawyers at Georgetown University on Thursday. "It doesn't help when a high-profile senator suggests a 'cause-and-effect connection' " between controversial rulings and subsequent acts of violence.

She was referring to Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, who said last April he was troubled by what he saw as the Supreme Court becoming a "policy maker."

"It causes a lot of people, including me, great distress to see judges use the authority that they have been given to make raw political or ideological decisions," he said. "I don't know if there is a cause-and-effect connection, but we have seen some recent episodes of courthouse violence in this country.

"I wonder whether there may be some connection between the perception in some quarters, on some occasions, where judges are making political decisions yet are unaccountable to the public, that it builds up and builds up and builds up to the point where some people engage in violence. Certainly without any justification, but a concern that I have," he said.

Ginsburg has served on the high court since she was appointed by President Clinton in 1993. Appointed by President Reagan, O'Connor announced her retirement January 31 after nearly a quarter-century as a justice.

Drink of champions

Chocolate milk may do a body better than a sports drink when it comes to replenishing energy, a study finds. In the spirit of competition, the results are being challenged.

By Janet Cromley
Times Staff Writer

March 13, 2006

ONE little milk study and everyone's having a cow.

For decades, biochemists and physiologists in the dog-eat-dog world of sports drink technology have struggled to find the perfect elixir — the right balance of carbohydrates, electrolytes, protein and fluid to keep athletes in peak form after various types of exercise.

So it was big news when exercise kinesiology professor Joel Stager and co-workers at Indiana University in Bloomington declared they had stumbled upon the perfect drink for elite cyclists recovering their energy after strenuous exercise.
FOR THE RECORD:
Chocolate milk —In Monday's Health section, a photo accompanying an article on chocolate milk and athletes should have been credited to Times photographer Al Seib.
That beverage was chocolate milk.

In three trials administered at one-week intervals, nine male cyclists performed a strenuous workout then drank one of three drinks. One group got standard 2% chocolate milk, another drank fluid- and electrolyte-replenishing Gatorade and a third group Endurox R4, a specially formulated beverage with a "patented 4 to 1 ratio of carbohydrates to protein" and other ingredients aimed at replenishing muscle glycogen stores and helping rebuild muscle.

Then, after a rest period, the cyclists exercised again, this time to exhaustion.

The study, published in the February issue of the International Journal of Sports Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, and funded in part by the dairy industry, reported that cyclists who drank chocolate milk at the break were able to continue cycling about 50% longer than those who drank Endurox R4 and about equally as long as those who drank Gatorade.

The dairy industry swiftly embraced the study. A group affiliated with the nation's milk processors, the Milk Processor Education Program, or MilkPEP, issued a statement suggesting that chocolate milk had outperformed Gatorade.

Gatorade, for its part, immediately issued a spirited rebuttal of the conclusions arrived at by MilkPEP.

And Robert Portman, chief executive of PacificHealth Laboratories Inc., which manufactures Endurox R4, groused, when telephoned, of the milk industry funding: "That's like a cigarette manufacturer concluding that smoking is good for you."

Some sports nutritionists weren't surprised by the results. "I've been touting chocolate milk for years," says Felice Kurtzman, sports nutritionist for UCLA's athletic department.

"Chocolate milk provides carbohydrates, calcium, other trace minerals," she says. "And the important thing is that the kids drink it. I can tell you from our training table that football drinks it, swimming drinks it, track drinks it."

At issue is which drink best supplies the body's needs to reinvigorate and repair itself following strenuous exercise.

Carbohydrates are the most important factor in the short-term for replenishing the energy after vigorous exercise, sports nutritionists say.

"The body needs carbohydrates to refuel the muscles," says Nancy Clark, a Boston-based sports nutritionist in private practice and author of "Nancy Clark's Sports Nutrition Guidebook."

But protein is also important for recovery, Clark says. It provides amino acids for the building and repair of muscle tissues.

More immediately, she adds, a little protein might give an athlete a performance edge by enhancing insulin release, which aids in the transport of carbohydrates to the muscles.

Several sports nutritionists say the study has a few limitations, including its small size.

They also express surprise that chocolate milk outperformed Endurox R4 because both contain large amounts of carbohydrates. Some said they were surprised that Gatorade did as well as it did, as it is not designed to be a recovery drink.

Still, Clark says she's happy to see chocolate milk get its due. Athletes used to thrive on real food, but now they're relying on supplements.

"I like that it brings people back to real food," she says. "Sometimes they forget that food works."

The fact that a study on milk was supported by the dairy industry isn't unusual in the field of nutrition science, in which research dollars are scarce. But the study struck a sour note with sports drinks producers, who take energy drinks very seriously.

Portman, of PacificHealth Laboratories, said at least part of the results contradict the large body of research highlighting the importance of carbohydrates. Based on that criterion, chocolate milk should have been running laps around Gatorade, which has about half as many carbohydrates as the chocolate milk. And milk should have performed about as well as Endurox R4, which has components similar to milk.

Bob Murray, director of Gatorade Sports Science Institute and an exercise physiologist, objects to the inclusion of Gatorade.

"It's a matter of what the beverages were designed for," he says. "I wouldn't put Gatorade on my cereal."

Stager says he wasn't surprised at the performance of chocolate milk.

He said he first noted the effectiveness of the drink years ago as a high school athletics coach in Bloomington.

He'd noticed that some of the kids would skip lunch, which impaired their performance. One day, he introduced chocolate milk into the training regimen — and with each glass of milk, which the kids happily lapped up, their performance improved.

"There's a truism in the world of sports science," he says, "that many times sports researchers identify things that the athletes already know."

Copyright © 2006, The Los Angeles Times

Vermont Towns Endorse Move to Impeach Bush

Vermont Towns Endorse Move to Impeach Bush
By DAVID GRAM, Associated Press Writer
Wed Mar 8, 5:05 AM ET

In five Vermont communities, a centuries-old tradition of residents gathering in town halls to conduct local business became a vehicle to send a message to Washington: Impeach the president.

An impeachment article, approved by a paper ballot 121-29 in Newfane Tuesday, calls on Vermont's lone member of the U.S. House, independent Rep. Bernie Sanders, to file articles of impeachment against President Bush, alleging he misled the nation into the Iraq war and engaged in illegal domestic spying.

"It absolutely affects us locally," said Newfane select board member Dan DeWalt, who drafted the impeachment article. "It's our sons and daughters, our mothers and fathers, who are dying" in the war in Iraq.

At least four other Vermont towns, spurred by publicity about Newfane's resolution, endorsed similar resolutions during Tuesday's meetings: Brookfield, Dummerston, Marlboro and Putney.

>snip<
The Bush vote is not the first time Newfane has used its town meeting forum to take a state or national stand. Last year, for example, the town went on record against the Iraq war.