The judge in the Tony Rezko trial has released a two page letter Rezko wrote her while seeking to have his bail reinstated in April. In it, he defends Sen. Barack Obama, saying the Government was overzealous in its pursuit of "a crime that never happened" and sought information from him about Obama but he had none to give. The actual letter is here.

Two months before he was convicted of federal corruption charges, political fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko told his trial judge that "overzealous" prosecutors were pressuring him to tell them about any wrongdoing involving Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama or Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

But in a two-page typed letter, Rezko said he was never involved in any wrongdoing with either of the Democrats and wouldn't make up stories about them in an attempt to benefit himself.

[More...]

A new U.S. study finds that marijuana potency has increased in recent years. The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy responds like Henny Penny claiming the sky is falling. :

[Drug Czar John Walters] cited the risk of psychological, cognitive and respiratory problems, and the potential for users to become dependent on drugs such as cocaine and heroin.

A more rational view: [More...]

Karl Chamberlain was executed in Texas tonight, the first texecution since the Supreme Court ruled the three drug lethal injection cocktail does not violate the Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

It took 9 minutes to kill Chamberlain. He made a last statement which included:

"I am so terribly sorry. I wish I could die more than once."

Chamberlain ordered the largest last meal of any death row inmate in Texas history. [More...]

The New York Times, Washington Post and 60 Minutes have published results of investigations into America's immigrant jails, all of which show "alarming evidence of shoddy care, inadequate staffing, lax standards, secrecy and chronic ineptitude." Background here.

The New York Times has an editorial in tomorrow's paper urging passage of the Detainee Basic Medical Care Act, introduced by Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ.) The House version of the bill, H.R. 5950 is here and the Senate version. S. 3005, is here.

The bill would impose more rigorous standards on the network of more than 300 publicly and privately run prisons that make up the federal system — current rules are voluntary, not legally enforceable and not uniformly followed. And it would require that all deaths be reported to the Justice Department and Congress.

Congress should swiftly pass the bill, putting aside the poisoned debate over illegal immigration, which has no relevance here. Whether immigrants are legal or illegal has nothing to do with their right to humane care. As Ms. Lofgren bluntly put it: “You are not supposed to kill people who are in custody.”

There is no excuse for another life being lost.[More...]

Also via the Hill today:

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) must commit to helping illegal immigrants achieve citizenship or else risk losing the vital Latino vote in the general election, Hispanic Democratic lawmakers are warning.

If he does not promise so-called comprehensive immigration reform, the lawmakers say, the only other way to win over Hispanic supporters of his erstwhile rival, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), may be to pick her as his running mate.

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus is meeting with Obama's campaign this week. One member says:[ More....]

The Hill reports that 14 Congressional Republicans are not endorsing John McCain. They are:

Republican members who have not endorsed or publicly backed McCain include Sens. Chuck Hagel (Neb.) and Jeff Sessions (Ala.) and Reps. Jones, Peterson, John Doolittle (Calif.), Randy Forbes (Va.), Wayne Gilchrest (Md.), Virgil Goode (Va.), Tim Murphy (Pa.), Ron Paul (Texas), Ted Poe (Texas), Todd Tiahrt (Kan.), Dave Weldon (Fla.) and Frank Wolf (Va.).

Their reasons are varied. Some say they will vote for McCain, they just won't endorse or publicly endorse him. Here's the chart (pdf).

A bit embarrassing, this:

One of the highest-ranking federal judges in the United States, who is currently presiding over an obscenity trial in Los Angeles, has maintained his own publicly accessible website featuring sexually explicit photos and videos.

Goes to show how obscene it is that the Justice Department wastes public resources on adult "obscenity" trials. As to whether his own choice of viewing materials was obscene:

[Judge] Kozinski said he didn't think any of the material he posted on his website would qualify as obscene. "Is it prurient? I don't know what to tell you," he said. "I think it's odd and interesting. It's part of life."

The well-regarded judge clearly did not intend the website to be accessible by the public.

Before the site was taken down, visitors to http://alex.kozinski.com were greeted with the message: "Ain't nothin' here. Y'all best be movin' on, compadre."

Which is exactly what the Justice Department should do: move on to serious crime and stop sucking up to the right wingers who want to censor adult entertainment.

UPDATE: The trial has been suspended until Monday.

Whether or not someone in China has hacked into computers used by Rep. Frank Wolf and other members or staffers in the House of Representatives, doesn't this seem pointless?

Wolf said that he was planning to introduce a resolution in the House aimed at protecting congressional computers from future cyber-attacks ....

Can a Congressional Resolution stop hackers? Wouldn't his time be spent more productively by talking to the congressional IT people and asking them to make the computer network more secure?

There is irony in this from Josh Marshall on John McCain's Iraq gaffe today:

This highly strained argument seems premised on the assumption that journalists should report not what you say but your own highly generous after-the-fact interpretation of what you said.

Talk Left readers know what I am talking about.

Speaking for me only

Good move by the Obama camp. Obama's statement:

Jim did not want to distract in any way from the very important task of gathering information about my vice presidential nominee, so he has made a decision to step aside that I accept. We have a very good selection process underway, and I am confident that it will produce a number of highly qualified candidates for me to choose from in the weeks ahead. I remain grateful to Jim for his service and his efforts in this process."

Next time, let's be careful BEFORE we name folks like Johnson, who clearly epitomized everything Obama was said to be running against. Politics is phony theatre, but this was a bit too much.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

Comments closed.

As TalkLeft noted here, the Bush administration is encouraging a sudden rush of trials at Guantanamo to put on a nice show for voters before the November elections. Some of those trials may seek the death penalty, much to the dismay of the international community.

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour said on Tuesday planned Guantánamo war crimes trials fell short of international standards and handing down death penalties would be "just not acceptable".

[more ...]

There's not much catching my eye this afternoon other than the new iPhone. I'm going to switch from the Treo when it comes out. How about you?

Update: Maybe not.

This is an open thread.