By Ross Parker ticklethewire.com If you haven’t seen the Oscar-nominated film Winter’s Bone yet, put it on your to-do list. The movie is about a seventeen-year old Ozark girl who searches for her fugitive father, a long time meth maker, among the dangerous and bleak terrain of the mountains’ criminal clans who manufacture and sell…
The “rule of law”—What does it mean? For most of history since its origin in ancient Greece it has meant that the law, however it was created, rules events and relationships not the whim of the sovereign or the government. But in this country rule of law has evolved through a gradual building process to…
By Ross Parker ticklethewire.com Every young lawyer remembers the guy who gave him his first real job. For me and some others, it was a mark of distinction that that guy was Jim Robinson. His death last Friday from cancer evokes a painful loss but also many happy memories about a man who was one…
“The Secrets of Abu Ghraib Revealed—American Soldiers on Trial” by Christopher Graveline and Michael Clemens. The book is available at Amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com and Borders books. By Ross Parker An acquaintance from another country recently posed a question to me: How is it that such an idealistic country as America, whose people are willing to sacrifice…
By Ross Parker Are we the most violent, the most criminal country on the globe? As someone who was a career federal prosecutor and reveres the criminal justice system, the question seems almost insulting. Do we not have one of the most finely nuanced systems when it comes to protecting human rights while protecting the…
By Ross Parker ticklethewire.com In October, 2008 this column pointed out the growing link between international narcotics traffickers and terrorists, especially in Afghanistan. This was not news to federal law enforcement. Still, few politicians or members of the public were aware of this relationship. Support for a well financed and coordinated international enforcement strategy, despite…
By Ross Parker The decision of where and in what forum—civilian court or military commission—to prosecute Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his four co-defendants has sparked a political firestorm of debate. “Conservative” politicians and pundits have managed to cast the debate in terms of rights of enemy combatants versus the legitimate security needs of the United…
By Ross Parker ticklethewire.com columnist This fall someone near and dear to me began a job tutoring and counseling students at an inner-city Detroit high school. Her daily reports over the dinner table range from disturbing to appalling. Despite the heroic efforts by some of the teachers and students, attending school consists mainly of fighting…
