Oh... Oh...  Another CZAR to go??  I really must make sure to watch that!  Who is it this time?  I'm excited!

...several times on his show, Beck has said or implied that Van went to prison for taking part in the Rodney King riots.

Van has never served time in any prison. He has never been convicted of any crime. And just to be clear: Van was not even in Los Angeles during those tumultuous days.

I know because he was working for me -- in San Francisco -- when the four Los Angeles police officers were acquitted in the beating of Rodney King. I was the Executive Director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area when Van was an intern.

The verdicts came down on April 29, 1992. I remember Van (who was then a legal intern working with me from Yale Law School) coming into my office in San Francisco. Many of us, including Van, sat there together, listening to the news and weeping. We were all in a state of shock. That night, TV showed the tragic images of LA burning.

The next day, when an initially peaceful march in downtown San Francisco devolved into chaos, Van left the area in tears. He was not involved in any destructive activity. He even penned an essay despairing of the violence and the state of the country.

So how can Beck make such unsubstantiated claims?

This is what really happened. On May 8, 1992, the week AFTER the Rodney King disturbances, I sent a staff attorney and Van out to be legal monitors at a peaceful march in San Francisco. The local police, perhaps understandably nervous, stopped the march and arrested hundreds of people -- including all the legal monitors.

The matter was quickly sorted out; Van and my staff attorney were released within a few hours. All charges against them were dropped. Van was part of a successful class action lawsuit later; the City of San Francisco ultimately compensated him financially for his unjust arrest (a rare outcome).

So the unwarranted arrest at a peaceful march -- for which the charges were dropped and for which Van was financially compensated -- is the sole basis for the smear that he is some kind of dangerous criminal.

Van has spoken often about that difficult period 17 years ago -- and its impact on him, as a young law student. But to imply that he was somehow a rioter who went to prison is absurd. Beck also bizarrely claims that Van was arrested in the Seattle WTO protests. That is just a flat-out falsehood.

Someone, I know called me just now who listens to Conservative talk radio. Glen Beck, said according to this person, has new information that will blow the top off this administration. Liberals do not start cutting my throat, just the messenger. He said today, *according to this personwho called*, Beck, would give hints today on his show.  Something about Obama being young and something like groomed from childhood to be a communist ( I think) not sure really. No matter what you think of Beck, he blew Van Jones out of the water. I do not personally like Becks show, but may tune in, do not know yet.

The usual; Obama is Satan. 

He's the president, but he's a Democrat, so it's okay to say whatever you want and always believe the worst.