Greetings from Richmond.

Virginia’s own little Julian Assange?

Mo Karn, Richmond anarchist, social activist, and resident bundle of joy is being sued by the Richmond Police Chief Bryan T. Norwood for return of documents she obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. In his complaint Chief Norwood states, “… the dissemination of these documents in any form to the public jeopardizes and endangers Richmond police officers and citizens… specifically, this information includes tactical plans for what police do in emergency situations.”

The VA ACLU has announced that they will defend Karn in court. They plan on arguing that there is no legal basis under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act for recovery of documents once they have been released.

Before I go on, full disclosure- I know Mo. Furthermore, I happen to really like Mo because of her unmitigated, unbounded happiness.

If these documents were obtained legally under FOIA, then what is the problem? For some insight into the motivations we turn to the complaint filed in which the Chief describes Mo as, “a known and admitted anarchist.” To say this bothers me would be such an immense understatement. But I am tired and a terrible writer, so let’s suffice it to say that I am very bothered. What on earth do her ideological leanings have to do with application of the laws? Chief Norwood, would you abide by the law and drop the case if a known and admitted Democrat had filed this very legal request and received the documents?

Another important thing to ask here is how the city of Richmond actually expects to retract these documents. The Chief wants them off Mo’s website, and to block her from further distribution, but we all know these documents will still be in the public and all over the internet. I don’t even find the content particularly interesting, but I might go print off a copy for fun right now, and I suspect others have already done the same, Chief Norwood.

Norwood maintains that these documents should not have been released without his consent and that the department attorney who aided Mo in obtaining the documents acted of her own accord. While he may have a good cause for firing the department attorney, I fail to see where Mo did anything wrong here. If you can’t actually get these documents back, and Mo did not break any laws, then what are you doing besides wasting the tax dollars of Richmond citizens?

While this case obviously differs from Wikileaks in many ways, at the core it boils down to the same issue: does our government require the legal right to withhold information in order to do their job? To the bulk of Americans the answer is a resounding yes. In fact, over the history of our nation the self evident importance of secrecy has rarely been challenged.

However, as an increasingly globalized generation comes into their own, people like Julian Assange and Mo Karn are challenging the traditional paradigms that dictate national secrecy and domestic government privacy. Despite the outrage over their actions, it is difficult to assail a position which boils down to increased transparency. How much can you really fault someone for disseminating the truth? National boundaries will continue to blur more and more as globalization pushes us more and more towards an international community. Who knows? The next generation may decide it’s really in the world’s best interest if our systems of governance are simply honest with one another and the people they are ultimately beholden to. Wouldn’t that be something?

Given the absurdity of this suit I can’t help myself- Here is one of the documents released. This is the Mobile Command Center Training manual for the Richmond Police Department. I did not find it particularly compelling, but I also did not find any reason it should not be public knowledge.

Chief Norwood and the City of Richmond: I shall be waiting near my mail box, anxiously awaiting notice that you are suing me for distributing this manual… or better yet, I will look for tomorrow’s article announcing you have dropped this ridiculous suit.

Delegate Hamilton is getting in trouble (and most people say he had it coming)

A while back now it was reported that Delegate Hamilton used his position to create a job for himself at ODU. We are finally getting around to punishing him for that.

Girl gets away with murder!

Everyone hates to see someone walk away from a crime we all know they committed. That being said, she was denied a basic right during interrogation. This ought to be a lesson to Norfolk’s Police department that we are serious when we talk about silly little things like civil rights and the right to have a lawyer present during interrogations.

A secondary point of interest- this girl’s father was an employee of Blackwater who was tragically killed in Iraq, where he was working as a soldier of fortune. She murdered a boy by shooting him “about 17 times.” We really do pass things on to our children, whether it be patterns in poverty or violence. Just some food for thought.

I also think it is worth revisiting the fact that the Pilot reported that the slain boy had been shot, “about 17 times.” We now round up on gunshot wounds now? I have seen CSI at least once and have full confidence that, if nothing else, we are able to count how many times a person has been shot. Come on NPD.

Light rail has test run!!!

Much to the astonishment of local naysayers the Light Rail proved itself to be real by taking a stroll through downtown to show off the sweet Jetson’s type future Norfolk has in store.

I really would like to have an all day dance party on the light rail the day it opens. Nothing would be a bigger show of support then to have Altdaily readers flood this thing on opening day and show that we’ve got the love. Get on board.