If you care about the quality of the forensic evidence that police and prosecutors use to obtain criminal convictions, you'll want to get your hands on a report that the National Academy of Sciences will be releasing later this month. The science practiced in crime labs isn't as miraculous as CSI makes it out to be.

People who have seen it say it is a sweeping critique of many forensic methods that the police and prosecutors rely on, including fingerprinting, firearms identification and analysis of bite marks, blood spatter, hair and handwriting. The report says such analyses are often handled by poorly trained technicians who then exaggerate the accuracy of their methods in court. It concludes that Congress should create a federal agency to guarantee the independence of the field, which has been dominated by law enforcement agencies, say forensic professionals, scholars and scientists who have seen review copies of the study.

[more ...]

Finally, we get an answer from President Obama on the recent DEA medical marijuana raids in California. And, it's the right answer.

The White House said it expects those kinds of raids to end once Mr. Obama nominates someone to take charge of DEA, which is still run by Bush administration holdovers.

“The president believes that federal resources should not be used to circumvent state laws, and as he continues to appoint senior leadership to fill out the ranks of the federal government, he expects them to review their policies with that in mind," White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said.

It's good to know President Obama will keep his campaign promise. Now, the question I have is, will AG Eric Holder file federal criminal cases against those busted after Obama's inauguration? The DEA's first post-inaugural raids were reported here.

After a morning spent in high dudgeon, I am out for the rest of the day. Talk to you all tonight. J, TChris and Ethan will no doubt be around.

This is an Open Thread.

So Media Matters pointed out that when Mike Barnicle complained about a cap on compensation for bank executives, he failed to disclose that his wife is an executive with Bank of America. Barnicle, who in the past has been brazen enough to lecture on journalism to bloggers, did not appreciate having his most recent journalistic lapse discussed:

Barnicle responds to Media Matters: "[P]eople out there with time on their hands who send me e-mails saying, you've gotta come clean ... because your wife works at Bank of America. ... I'm not getting divorced over this"

Not the point Mike. Though I do think NBC should seriously consider a journalistic divorce from Mike Barnicle. But that would require NBC to actually care about its journalism. They never have before.

Speaking for me only

In some other dimension:

Productivity was increasing at the end of last year at three times the expected pace while labor costs slowed significantly, underscoring that a deepening recession has taken away the threat of inflation. . . . Before the financial crisis hit with ferocity last fall, the Federal Reserve had begun to worry that rising inflation could become a problem threatening the economy. . . .

Buried in the AP story?

In another report, the government said that new jobless claims jumped far more than expected last week in an already dismal labor market and that there was no relief in sight for workers as mass layoffs persist.

Meanwhile, back on Planet Earth, Paul Krugman describes the deflationary threat:

While the Beltway "Bipartisan" BSers fiddle, the nation's economy is melting:

The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for unemployment benefits jumped to a 26-year high last week, according to government data on Thursday that pointed to a rapid deterioration in the economy.

. . . [I]nitial claims for state unemployment insurance benefits rose 35,000 to a seasonally adjusted 626,000 in the week ended January 31, the highest since the week ending October 30, 1982. The prior week's number was revised up to 591,000 from 588,000. . . . The four-week moving average for new claims, considered to be a better gauge of underlying trends as it irons out week-to-week volatility, rose to 582,250, the highest reading since the week ending December 4, 1982.

Time to act, NOW.

Speaking for me only

In the WaPo today, President Barack Obama writes:

What Americans expect from Washington is action that matches the urgency they feel in their daily lives -- action that's swift, bold and wise enough for us to climb out of this crisis.

Is the economic stimulus plan looking bold and wise enough (on the swift part, Obama is trying)? Obama's opening proposal was too timid and not near enough to stem the tide of this economic calamity imo. But it is better than nothing I suppose. Of course, Fred Hiatt and the WaPo Editorial Board and the typical Beltway "bipartisan" BSers not only feel no sense of urgency -- they simply have no grasp of the magnitude of the problem:

Last week I wrote about Ohio criminal defense lawyer Frank Pignatelli, who according to news reports in Ohio, was about to get indicted in a drug case and got himself off the hook by ratting out his clients, which resulted in Ohio obtaining 30 convictions. One former client got 15 years.

I was not happy to learn Pignatelli moved to Colorado, obtained a law license and was representing defendants in federal drug cases.

Apparently, either was the Colorado disciplinary counsel. They have issued a press release advising that they have taken action against Pignatelli to suspend his license in Colorado because of allegedly fraudulent statements in his application. Fox31 Denver has the report. [More...]

David Sanger does a good job of reporting the story:

The Senate, at the urging of White House officials, agreed Wednesday night to water down some of the “Buy America” provisions in its version of the $900 billion economic stimulus bill. The vote gave President Obama a victory in the first test of how he will balance his campaign promises to toughen protections for American workers against a storm of protests by American trading partners who have threatened retaliation.

The White House had been seeking assurances that any requirements barring purchases from abroad did not significantly expand existing law or violate existing trade treaties. The language approved by the Senate said such provisions should be “applied in a manner consistent with United States obligations under international agreements.”

(Emphasis supplied.) So Buy America will stay in place as it exists - with preferences for US goods, unless we have reciprocal agreements with other countries. So what was this really all about? US steel and iron producers, who apparently need bigger preferences:

They are still operating under the grudge expectations of the past . . . Obama clearly seems to want none of this. He really seems to mean it when he says that this bill is not “his” bill, but everyone seems to be skeptical. . . . Change will not come in two weeks. It will be a long process that requires building trust first. He seems right now to be committed to this process and I will give him the benefit of the doubt.

Obama today:

"A failure to act, and act now, will turn crisis into a catastrophe and guarantee a longer recession, a less robust recovery, and a more uncertain future," he said. "That's why I feel such a sense of urgency about the Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Plan."

Maybe not such a "long process" after all, ay? After all, trust Obama, right?

Speaking for me only

In news no one but Teresa and I care about at this blog, Nu Keese Richardson, from my hometown of Pahokee, Florida, bagged his verbal commitment to play for the Gators and instead decided that Rocky Top is his new favorite song. Traitor.

This is an Open Thread.

Digby d-day writes:

The upshot is that this [stimulus] bill, with the entire goal of stopping a careening disaster in the economy and putting people to work, is seriously off the rails. And I've got to say, a lot of it is because the Obama Administration isn't answering the critics with any kind of force or action plan.

I disagree with Digby d-day. The entire plan went off the rails from the word go, because Obama put the post-partisan unity schtick as a higher priority than the actual efficacy of the plan from the beginning - meaning his own timid and inadequate initial proposal.

So the question is this - how's that 11 dimensional political chess working out for you now? It's not so easy when Clinton Derangement Syndrome is not in the mix.

Speaking for me only