Georgia Prosecutor Paul Howard is a man on a mission. Having failed to get the death penalty for Brian Nichols, he's not giving up. He's going to ask the feds to bring a death penalty case against Nichols on the charge of killing a federal officer, a different offense than the one charged in Georgia. One of the victims in the Atlanta case was a customs officer whom Nichols killed in his home.

He's also going to seek a change in state law for future cases -- he'll ask them to remove the requirement of a unanimous verdict in cases where the victim is a law enforcement officer, the killing occurred during the course of a robbery or while the offender was in custody. The Georgia House passed such an amendment earlier this year to a Senate bill providing for life without parole in certain cases, but the Senate refused to adopt it in the final version that became law.

He complains the state doesn't get a level playing field in death cases. That's ridiculous. [More...]

Jamison Foser writes:

To anyone who lived through the media feeding frenzy of the 1990s, during which the nation's leading news organizations spent the better part of a decade destroying their own credibility by relentlessly hyping a series of non-scandals, the past few days, in which the media have tried to shoehorn Barack Obama into the Rod Blagojevich scandal, have been sickeningly familiar.

I lived through the feeding frenzy against Hillary Clinton in the Dem primary (that one was cheered in certain Left circles), the frenzy against Al Gore in the 2000 election, through the Media feeding frenzies of the Iraq Debacle, and the various and sundry other Media feeding frenzies of the last 8 years. In my view, Obama has gotten nothing compared to that over Blagojevich. Indeed, the attempts to start the frenzy have been nonstarters for the most part.

Don't get me wrong - I admire the vigilance of Foser, Media Matters and others on the Left against the Media. We must always stand vigilant. But that vigilance was sorely lacking in the last year when the subject of the attacks was Hillary Clinton. The good news is that, by and large, President-Elect Obama remains a Media Darling and will be difficult to touch in the next year. More worrisome to me frankly is the likelihood that legitimate progressive criticism of Obama will be shouted down. We must be vigilant against that as well.

Speaking for me only

The Atlanta jury which was deadlocked Thursday on the death penalty for Brian Nichols remained deadlocked today. The final outcome was 9 to 3 for death. As a result, the judge will impose a sentence of life without parole on Nichols today.

Nichols, who turned 37 on Wednesday, sagged in the shoulders as he heard of the continued deadlock that foreshadowed his escape from execution. Wearing a dark pin-striped suit and cobalt blue shirt, the former $80,000-a-year UNIX administrator for United Parcel Service sat expressionless, as he has for most of the 56 days of the trial, his only hint of nervousness an eye that blinked repeatedly.

The prosecution turned down an offer by Nichols to plead to life without parole last year. The cost of this trial was enormous.

The jury heard 144 witnesses and considered more than 1,200 pieces of evidence. The cost to taxpayers for the defense alone is estimated to have cost well over $2 million — perhaps more than $3 million — although a final accounting won’t be known until all vouchers for lawyers, their staff and four expert witnesses are submitted.

Hopefully in the future, more prosecutors will see the wisdom behind such pleas.

Via HuffPo, on the Daily Show last night, Hall and Oates sang goodbye to Alan Colmes who is leaving Hannity and Colmes in January. (Alan asked to leave the show and will be staying with the network in another capacity.)

Oates has a new album out, 1,000 Miles of Life, that was recorded in Nashville and includes performances by Blues Traveler’s John Popper, Bela Fleck, Blind Boys of Alabama, Steve Cropper, Bonnie and Bekka Bramlett. His home? Since the 1980's it's been Aspen, Colorado where he spends a lot of time shredding.

This is an open thread.

I find it interesting that Cole endorses the Obama as conventional pol interpretation offered by Daniel Larison:

Having finally recognized that Obama is a savvy political operator who is interested in effective government to pursue what are still broadly progressive goals, and having started to grasp that Obama is not a neo-McGovernite radical dove but is actually rather hawkish and establishmentarian in his instincts . . . People have a hard time making sense of a politician who can appear as the friend of the Hyde Park Independents and the Daley machine when each connection suits him, because it isn’t supposed to work that way.

I am not at all sure why it is not supposed to work that way (FDR worked with Tammany and reformers) - but I do find it amusing that this interpretation of Obama as conventional pol is now considered singularly insightful, when it was once considered an affront (I know this because this has always been my interpretation of Obama and I affronted most Obama supporters with it).

Speaking for me only

Attorney Maureen Martin makes the legal case for Gov. Rod Blagojevich in the Chicago Tribune today.

She says it's questionable whether a federal crime was committed and Fitz should have waited for the grand jury to indict before arresting him. She says this should be a state bribery case, brought in state court.

Food for thought. A few of her arguments are below:

Omar Khadr, the Canadian captured as a teen on the battlefield in Afghanistan, has a hearing today in his military commissions proceeding at Guantanamo.

Most human rights and legal experts say the evidence against Khadr seems too weak to be able to hold up in a US civil court or an ordinary military tribunal.

Khadr could then become the first beneficiary of the closing of the Guantanamo detention facility.

The ACLU is monitoring from Gitmo. [More...]

Congrats to Anita! Her book, The Gonzo Way, on her late husband Hunter S. Thompson, has won the Grand Prize at the London Book Festival.

She will accept the award in person on Dec. 18. Background on the book is here.

There's also a very interesting interview with Anita in the Sunday Scotsman Herald, which as a result of the final few paragraphs, has been noted by Esquire, Gawker, Britain's First Post and our local news.

As to Gonzo Way:

“The Gonzo Way: A Celebration of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson” written by his wife, Anita Thompson, is the grand prize winner of the 2008 London Book Festival.

[More...]

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has asked the state supreme court to declare Gov. Rod Blagojevich unfit to serve.

The move came as the governor prayed with several ministers in his home before heading to his office, telling them he is innocent and will be vindicated "when you hear each chapter completely written," according to one of the pastors.

Madigan will hold a press conference on her motion today.

At least it is midday where I am.

This is an Open Thread.

Bob Stein:

In killing the Detroit bailout yesterday, Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Toyota joined his colleagues Dick Shelby of Honda and Bob Corker of Nissan in upholding a basic American principle: Blame all economic woes on greedy unions. . . . [This]is a perfect example of what the great journalist Murray Kempton described half a century ago [-] “There is a certain kind of politician who stays safely in the hills during a battle and then comes down and shoots the wounded.”

More...

You know who I really want to hear on this, John McCain:

President Bush and the Treasury Department signaled on Friday morning that they stood ready to use some of the $700 billion bailout program for financial institutions for the Big Three car makers, after Republican senators refused to support a compromise proposal to rescue the automakers. “Under normal economic conditions we would prefer that markets determine the ultimate fate of private firms,” said Dana Perino, Mr. Bush’s spokeswoman, in a carefully nuanced statement released just minutes before the New York financial markets opened. “However, given the current weakened state of the U.S. economy, we will consider other options if necessary — including use of the TARP program — to prevent a collapse of troubled automakers.”

John McCain had a lot to say about "socialism" during the campaign. I am curious to hear him on the subject now. I think we all know President Bush is trying to avoid being a modern day Herbert Hoover. But will the GOP stick to Hooverism as its competing vision to the Democratic agenda?

Speaking for me only