Time for an open thread, you take the reins and pick the topics. There's war news, economy news, crime and justice news, politics, take your pick.

The Georgia Supreme Court today in a 4-3 opinion denied death row inmate Troy Davis an evidentiary hearing allow him to present evidence of his innocence. You can read the opinion here (pdf.) Some background here:

Troy Davis was sentenced to death for the murder of Police Officer Mark Allen McPhail at a Burger King in Savannah, Georgia; a murder he maintains he did not commit. There was no physical evidence against him and the weapon used in the crime was never found. The case against him consisted entirely of witness testimony which contained inconsistencies even at the time of the trial. Since then, all but two of the state's non-police witnesses from the trial have recanted or contradicted their testimony. Many of these witnesses have stated in sworn affidavits that they were pressured or coerced by police into testifying or signing statements against Troy Davis.

One of the two witnesses who has not recanted his testimony is Sylvester "Red" Coles – the principle alternative suspect, according to the defense, against whom there is new evidence implicating him as the gunman. Nine individuals have signed affidavits implicating Sylvester Coles.

Amnesty International responds to today's decision:

From the MTV Inaugural Ball, January 1993. I've had it on VHS all these years and just put it on You Tube. Henley's opening line: "This song is for President and Mrs. Clinton."

Kick 'em when they're up
Kick 'em when they're down

...We all know that crap is king

Give us dirty laundry

We love Dirty Laundry

By Big Tent Democrat

The American economy is spiralling downward. The latest convulsions on Wall Street are the big stories driving the news cycle. One consistent finding in the polling is that Hillary Clinton, no doubt benefitting from the economic performance of the country during her husband's Presidency, is favored on the issue of the economy.

In Pennsylvania, her advantage over Barack Obama is a whopping 26 points (60-34) on the economy. Besides other concerns in the Obama campaign, the reemergence of the economy at the top of the news becomes the latest concern, politically speaking. Of course I do not doubt both candidates are greatly concerned about the American economy. But there is no doubt that Clinton currently holds the public's confidence on that issue, while Obama has yet to gain it. The next five weeks could be bumpy for the Obama campaign, especially if the economy continues its tumble.

A few days ago, when writing about Barack Obama's recent interviews with staff members of the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun Times about his involvement with Tony Rezko, I quoted this segment of the Chicago Sun Times interview:

Is Rezko still a friend? "Yes,'' Obama said, "with the caveat if it turns out the allegations are true, then he's not who I thought he was, and I'd be very disappointed with that.''

And it's that friendship, Obama said, that probably kept him from realizing it was a mistake to enter into a real estate deal with Rezko.

"Probably because I'd known him for a long time, and he'd acted in an aboveboard manner with me," he said. "And I considered him a friend. ... It's further evidence that I'm not perfect.''

Obama had a 17 year friendship with Rezko but never saw any signals or flags that Rezko might be unsavory, to put it politely.

Now we have Jeremiah Wright, Obama's pastor of 20 years, the man who married him, baptized his children and whose sermons he attended as a member of the Church. Obama was so taken with one of Wright's sermons he titled his book "Audacity of Hope" after it. But Obama now says he had no idea about the inflammatory nature of Wright's sermons that came to light this week and he never attended any. [More...]

Eliot Spitzer’s downfall spotlights a recurring question of crime policy: whether prostitution, the simple agreement to exchange compensation for sex, is a victimless crime that does not merit prosecution. In two columns this week, Nicholas Kristof assures us that Spitzer’s date, Kristen, is “dangerously unrepresentative” of American prostitutes. Surely at $1,000 per hour, Kristen is in the elite company of high end sex providers, but she is not alone in that league, as an article in today’s local section of Kristof’s newspaper demonstrates. Perhaps it would be dangerous to think of Kristen as “representing” any other prostitute, but it equally dangerous to logic to dismiss Kristen and other sex workers who freely choose their work, simply because they belie the belief that an act of prostitution always has a victim.

A provider quoted in the Times article provides a counterpoint to Kristof’s concern about viewing prostitution as a victimless crime:

Ms. Anderson complained that news coverage of the Spitzer scandal had made prostitutes seem like damaged, depraved rag dolls. “Sex workers are people like you and me,” she said. “I’m against trafficking, but in all the years I’ve worked in the business, I’ve never met a woman who was coerced.”

Kristof’s focus on the trading of women as sexual servants highlights a crime that clearly victimizes women. So does his discussion of pimps who abuse women. Kidnapping, physical coercion and abuse are never acceptable, and society has a genuine interest in protecting potential victims from those crimes. That does not mean society should pretend that an uncoerced sex act between two consenting adults, if criminalized simply because something of tangible value is exchanged for the sex, is anything other than a victimless crime. [more...]

Cleveland's United Church of Christ is under investigation by the I.R.S. and could lose its tax exempt status because of a speech Barack Obama gave there last year.

But the stakes in mixing religion and politics can be steep for religious institutions, which risk their tax-exempt status if they become too partisan.

Ask the United Church of Christ. The Internal Revenue Service is investigating whether the Cleveland-based UCC engaged in political activity by sponsoring a 2007 speech by Obama on faith and politics.

Tax-exempt organizations like churches cannot participate in campaigns. [More...]

Who is doing the negative campaigning? Peter Daou, Hillary's internet communications director, points out in an e-mail to bloggers, it's Obama, not Hillary:

Senator Obama and his senior campaign officials have engaged in a systematic effort to question Hillary's integrity, credibility, and character. They have portrayed her as someone who would put her personal gain ahead of the lives of our troops, someone who would say or do anything to win an election, someone who is dishonest, divisive and disingenuous. They have adopted shop-worn anti-Clinton talking points, dusted them off and unleashed a torrent of unfounded character attacks against her.

Peter provides these illustrative examples:

• "Disingenuous"
• "Too polarizing to win"
  
• 'Divisive'
• "Untruthful"
• "Dishonest"
• 'Calculating'
• "Saying and doing whatever it takes to win"
• "Attempting to deceive the American people"
• "One of the most secretive politicians in America"
• "Literally willing to do anything to win"

More...

By Big Tent Democrat

Speaking for me only

NOTE - Comments closed.

In a very long article, Evan Thomas examines the life and background of Eliot Spitzer, trying to understand why he engaged in such reckless conduct. Shorter version: He was trying to please Daddy.

He describes Spitzer's family:

Brought up in a cold-water flat in a New York slum, Eliot's father, Bernard, the son of Jewish immigrants, made a half-billion dollars in the cutthroat world of New York real estate. He and his wife, Anne, a former college literature teacher, are regarded as refined and cultivated, not domineering. But expectations in the Spitzer household in Fieldston, a wealthy enclave of the Bronx, were extremely high.

A series of Eliot's childhood and college friends have reported the intimidation they felt just sitting at the Spitzer dinner table. Each of the three Spitzer children was required to hold forth and debate on worthy topics (social chitchat was frowned upon). Jason Brown, who went to Horace Mann School, Princeton and Harvard Law with Eliot, compares the dinners to "a college class where the professor grills you." Afterward came games of Monopoly that qualified as play only in the loosest sense. "I play to kill," Bernard liked to joke.

More...

By Big Tent Democrat

Speaking for me only

Via Ambinder, the Trinity UCC (the Wright church in Chicago) issues this statement:

[T]he Reverend Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr.’s character is being assassinated in the public sphere because he has preached a social gospel on behalf of oppressed women, children, and men in America and around the globe.”

(Emphasis supplied.) In my view, this is the wrong approach for the church to take, as it is false and fails to condemn Wright's offensive remarks. I defer to Barack Obama:

By Big Tent Democrat

While we are being told by the usual suspects that Obama is a shoo in for the nomination, this article tells a different story:

Sen. Barack Obama is trying to air his dirty laundry -- even some items that might appear just a little wrinkled -- as he prepares a full assault on Sen. Hillary Clinton over ethics and transparency.

Hardly the approach of someone who has wrapped up the nomination. Perhaps this explains it?