The Bush administration is gamely proceeding with another military tribunal hearing for a Guantanamo detainee. The first trial resulted in an acquittal of the most serious charge and a sentence that amounted to "we're sorry, you can go home now." Unafraid of a second colossal embarrassment, the administration is bringing a second detainee to trial. This one should be an easier win since the defense isn't participating.

Ali Hamza al-Bahlul does not want to be represented by an American military officer. He wants to represent himself. The judge rejected that request and rejected his lawyer's motion to withdraw. The trial was moving forward. Bahlul announced his intent to boycott the proceedings. The judge said Bahlul's interests would be represented by his counsel even if Bahlul chose not to participate. And then Bahlul's lawyer made a gutsy move:

"I will be joining Mr. Al Bahlul's boycott, sitting silently at the table," said Maj. Frakt, who then refused to respond to several questions from the judge.

[more ...]

Via Sentencing Law and Policy where law prof Doug Berman provides his own thoughts, Sen. John McCain has an op-ed today in the National Law Journal outlining his views of criminal justice and the role of judges.

Terrorists are not the only threat to public safety. Lax enforcement policies, judges who legislate from the bench and lack of support for law enforcement personnel all continue to force our innocent citizens behind the barred windows of their homes and allow criminals to roam free.

And now drugs are bringing waves of crime and organized gang activity to rural areas thought to be nearly immune from such problems. The federal government must both support state and local law enforcement and effectively enforce federal laws designed to root out violent crime, organized gangs and other interstate criminal activity.

[More...]

Here are more details of the arrests in Tennessee today.

Agents seized a rifle, a sawed-off shotgun and three pistols from the men when they were arrested. Authorities alleged the two men were preparing to break into a gun shop to steal more.

Here is the Affidavit in support of the Complaint against Daniel Cowart and Paul Schesselman which has been unsealed.

The Affidavit says both Cowart and his alleged partner Schlesselman have confessed their plan and provided details.

Another person mentioned is Cowart's friend, a woman named Danni Stafford. Since she wasn't charged, I'm assuming she's the one who dropped the dime on the two guys. According to the complaint, she agreed to assist them in a home robbery by driving the car. She drove them to the house the pair were going to rob and then drove to a waiting area. A dog and two cars scared the guys off and they called her to come back and get them. She did, they all left, and she went home.

ATF claims to have foiled a plot by two neo-Nazi skinheads "to assassinate Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and shoot or decapitate 102 black people in a Tennessee murder spree."

Jim Cavanaugh, special agent in charge of the Nashville field office for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said the two men planned to shoot 88 black people and decapitate another 14. The numbers 88 and 14 are symbolic in the white supremacist community.

ATF says the alleged conspirators intended to rob a gun store, then target an unnamed high school with a predominately African-American student body, and then go on a nationwide killing spree culminating in Obama's assassination. As disturbing as this news is, it doesn't appear that the two men even took the first step of obtaining guns.

Update (TChris): Will President Bush pardon Senator Stevens? Will that decision depend upon whether Stevens is reelected?

Mr. Stevens is certain to appeal the conviction, and his supporters are also likely to explore the possibility of obtaining a pardon from a fellow Republican, President George W. Bush, before Mr. Bush leaves office in January.

original post:

Ted Stevens guilty:

Sen. Ted Stevens was found guilty on all counts at his corruption trial Monday. Stevens was charged with lying on Senate financial forms about $250,000 in home renovations and other gifts he received from an oil contractor.

In any individual case, it's difficult to prove that racial profiling motivated a traffic stop. Law enforcement agencies seize upon that difficulty to argue that racial profiling doesn't occur. That was the response of the Los Angeles Police Department to a report (pdf) by Ian Ayres and Jonathan Borowsky for the ACLU of Southern California. Among the report's significant findings:

Per 10,000 residents, the black stop rate is 3,400 stops higher than the white stop rate, and the Hispanic stop rate is almost 360 stops higher. Relative to stopped whites, stopped blacks are 127% more likely and stopped Hispanics are 43% more likely to be frisked.

Despite the absence of empirical evidence that black or Hispanic drivers are more likely to violate traffic laws than white drivers, the LAPD refuses to acknowledge that the statistics reveal an underlying problem of racial profiling. [more ...]

Let's suppose for a moment John McCain was actually a serious person whose policy pronouncements merited attention. Today he said:

“The difference is that he thinks taxes have been too low, and I think that spending has been too high.” . . . “This election comes down to how you want your hard-earned money spent,” Mr. McCain said. Only Republicans, he said, favor policies that can “restore confidence and create economic growth.”

(Emphasis supplied.) Those are two pretty remarkable statements. First, on spending, what would McCain cut? Even if he eliminated all earmarks, that only amounts to 18 billion dollars per year (assuming it is all bad anyway), less than we spend in two months in Iraq. So McCain is clowning on this issue. He does not believe a word of it. As for the second statement, it is nice that McCain admits he is for more of the same Republican rule we have seen for 8 years, but surely he does not think that will "restore confidence" does he?

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

Your turn.

This is an Open Thread.

SUSA's Virginia poll gives us a perfect opportunity to do the type of demographic analysis we used to good effect during the primaries.

SUSA has Obama winning Virginia by 9 points. In the poll, Obama leads among A-As (18% of the electorate) by 86-13 and trails among whites (74% of the electorate) 42-53. The other 8% of the electorate is divided among Latinos (4% of the electorate) and Other (4%.) Compare this potential result with the 2004 race in Virginia -- Kerry won A-As by 87-12 and they were 21% of the Virginia electorate. SUSA predicts Obama will do worse with A-As than Kerry did and turn out in lesser numbers. Not happening. As in the primaries, SUSA simply does not poll A-As well. Obama will win 95% of the A-A vote in Virginia and it may reach 25% of the vote. Thus, even if SUSA is overreporting Obama's white support, and that seems unlikely as it never did so during the primaries, Obama seems a shoo-in in Virginia. More . . .

One thing we probably should have learned from this campaign season is the importance of demographics in gauging this political campaign. I have not engaged in much poll analysis because, frankly, I do not think the Presidential election is in doubt. But Salon runs a silly and truly useless pseudo analysis from a GOP operative trying to convince (perhaps himself as well) that McCain has a real shot. the GOP operative relies on supposed examples of the Bradley Effect in 2006. Poblano debunks the pseudo analysis but it is worthwhile to review the demographics. More . . .

DKos/R2000 has Obama up 8, 50-42. This is down from Obama's 12 point lead in this poll 2 days ago. ABC/WaPo has Obama up 7, 52-45. Obama was up 11 in this poll 3 days ago. Ras has Obama by 8, 52-44 (Update - Now 5, 51-46.) Hotline has Obama up 8, 50-42. Gallup Expanded has Obama up 9, 51-42 (Update - now 10, 53-43.

Is the race tightening from a blowout to a big Obama lead? Not precisely. In essence, the polls are coalescing around an Obama lead of 7-9 points. At this point, no tracking poll has Obama with less than a 4 point lead or more than a 9 point lead. Most are between 7 and 9.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

The latest Washington Post Virginia poll has Barack Obama up by 8.

As an example of the gains he has made since [the last] poll, Obama is now tied with McCain among college-educated white men, overcoming what had been an almost 30-point deficit for the Democrat.

...Part of Obama's late advantage can be traced to widespread voter unease about the economy, record low approval ratings for President Bush and a growing number of voters who have strongly negative perceptions of GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.

It appears Obama is unstoppable at this point -- so long as all his supporters remember to vote.