Scooter Libby's lawyer has announced they will drop the appeal of Libby's felony convictions.

It's too expensive and draining on his "young family."

I suspect this means Scooter has lined up another job and doesn't need his law license back.

Update: Joe Wilson thinks it means Libby's getting a pardon from Bush (received by e-mail, no link yet): [more]

Last week I predicted at the end of this post that Wayne Dumond would be only one of former Governor Mike Huckabee's pardon decisions to come back and bite him. The AP today reports on some of the others:

Huckabee granted 1,033 pardons and commutations in his 10 1/2 years as governor of Arkansas. The acts of clemency benefited the stepson of a staff member, murderers who worked at the governor's mansion, a rock star and inmates who received good words from their pastors.

As one Arkansas prosecutor put it, "It seems to be true at least anecdotally that if a minister is involved, (Huckabee) seems likely to grant clemency." Others say the key was either having "direct contact" with him or a strong lobbying effort by those close to the inmate.

The rock star, of course, was Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones. No big deal there. As to the others: [More....]

Maybe it's something in the water down in Phoenix. Now in addition to their off-the-wall Sheriff, Joe Arpaio, they have a County Attorney, Andrew Thomas, who's spending $700k on a DUI program that includes posting the mug shots of those arrested for driving under the influence on the web. Even MADD doesn't like it, and that's saying something.

The hall of shame is even worse for drunken drivers convicted of a felony. A select few will find their faces plastered on billboards around Phoenix with the banner headline: Drive drunk, see your mug shot here.

The Web site and billboards, which began last month, are the brainchildren of Andrew P. Thomas, the county attorney here who has served as the prosecutorial counterpart to the county’s hard-edged sheriff, Joe Arpaio, who has been known to force inmates into pink underwear.

Thomas is not without his critics. He's sometimes called "Little Joe" because of his closeness to Arpaio.

When he took office in January 2005, Thomas made it clear he was following Arpaio's playbook. Politics and retribution would be the order of the day.

Here's the first of 70 pages of misdemeanor mugs in Scottsdale.

More...

Between Huckabee and Romney taking center stage with their faith this week and today's church-related shootings in Colorado, it's time for REM and Losing my Religion.

29,000 turned out to hear Oprah stump for Barack Obama in South Carolina today. Here's what the pair had to say:

Obama:

``It's not good enough to tell the people what you think they want to hear, instead of what they need to hear. That just won't do. Not this time,'' he said. ``We can't spend all our time triangulating and poll-testing our positions because we're worried about what Mitt or Rudy or Fred or the other Republican nominees are going to say about us.''

[Note: Read Eriposte's analysis of research showing who is triangulating more.]

Oprah:

``South Carolina - January 26th is your moment,'' .... ``It's your time to seize the opportunity to support a man who, as the Bible says, loves mercy and does justly.''

An attendee: [More....]

Bump and Reminder:

Sunday night at 9pm ET, the History Channel will air "1968" hosted by Tom Brokaw. Watch or set your Tivo, it's really good. I received a screening copy which I watched on an airplane flight last week. I don't think I looked up once.

The topics: Vietnam, hippies, music and civil rights.

More...

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama has been very clear about what his message is -- hope, change and optimism. That's all very nice, but for a lot of us, it doesn't tell us what we want to know: where does he stand on issues and what does he propose to do about them if elected President? What's his voting record?

Enter Eriposte at Left Coaster. He's done an incredible analysis by assembling Obama's past statements and voting records on 13 issues.

His objective was to find out if Obama is a triangulator (and, he finds, he is) but it's also very revealing about where he stands on issues and whether he will follow through.

First, what's a triangulator? Wikipedia says:

Triangulation is the act of a candidate presenting his or her ideology as being "above" and "between" the left and right sides of the political spectrum. It involves adopting for oneself some of the ideas of one's political opponent. The logic behind it is that it not only takes good ideas away from your opponent, but that it insulates you from attacks on that particular issue. It is a tactic commonly used in third way politics.

While Eriposte was out to see if Obama was a bigger triangulator than Hillary (turns out, he is) his findings are very instructive on where Obama stands on issues, and whether he's been forthright in the campaign about his stances.

More...

Newsweek has a feature article on Mike Huckabee's wife, Janet. If he gets the Republican nomination, she may add some spice to the race. Two snippets, the first is how she's remembered in Arkansas:

There, Janet Huckabee, 52, has long been known as a straight-talking, independent-minded good ole gal with a daredevil streak and a passion for the outdoors. Dubbed the "First Tomboy" when her husband was governor, she tracked bears, hunted rattlesnakes, fired a grenade launcher and jumped out of an airplane. To promote a conservation sales tax, she jet-skied down the length of the Arkansas River— a stunt that helped earn her a spot in the state's Outdoor Hall of Fame. She often charmed local residents with her exploits, though she could also alienate them when her plain-spoken style veered into irascibility and crassness. "Janet is going to tell you what she thinks," says longtime friend Anita McCauley Murrell. "She is a what-you-see-is-what-you-get kind of person."

The second is less favorable, concerning her 2002 failed run for Arkansas Secretary of State: [More...]

The Washington Post has a disturbing revelation:

In September 2002, four members of Congress met in secret for a first look at a unique CIA program designed to wring vital information from reticent terrorism suspects in U.S. custody. For more than an hour, the bipartisan group, which included current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), was given a virtual tour of the CIA's overseas detention sites and the harsh techniques interrogators had devised to try to make their prisoners talk.

Among the techniques described, said two officials present, was waterboarding, a practice that years later would be condemned as torture by Democrats and some Republicans on Capitol Hill. But on that day, no objections were raised. Instead, at least two lawmakers in the room asked the CIA to push harder, two U.S. officials said.

Who were they? [More...]

Mississippi has an interesting judicial institution known as a justice court:

The mission of the Justice Court Clerk's office is to effectively serve the public by processing civil actions not to exceed $2,500.00 and misdemeanor criminal charges in accordance with section 9-11-11 of the Mississippi Code.

An individual appearing before a justice court may file either a criminal charge or a civil suit. A plaintiff who seeks only money can start what amounts to a small claims action. If the complaint "involves the violation of a criminal statute," the complaining party can prepare "an affidavit charging criminal activity as defined by Mississippi law."

Where probable cause is shown in the affidavit to believe that the person charged committed the crime, the accused will be arrested, tried, and if found guilty, punished as prescribed by law. The punishment may include fines and/or confinement. Some form of restitution to the victim may or may not be forthcoming if the accused is found guilty.

These are serious consequences, and those unfortunate persons who find themselves charged in a Mississippi justice court must be shocked to learn that the only qualification to be a judge in a justice court is a high school diploma. A task force has suggested "reforms" that fail to address the kind of legal training required to assure that criminal defendants receive a fair trial. The task force recommends that future justice court judges have:

The Times Online has a feature article on how wealthy Al Gore has become in the past seven years. When he lost the 2000 election, his net worth was about $2 million, consisting of his two homes and an investment in an oil company.

Now, he's worth $100 million, earned through stock options in Google and Apple to book advances and speeches to investment firm holdings and investments in green and other tech ventures.

No wonder he doesn't want to be President.

There are more and more articles these days questioning the wisdom of life without parole for juvenile offenders who commit violent crimes.

A recent sampling from this weekend:

• Juveniles Do Hard Time for Harsh Crimes
• Mom Hopes Incarcerated Son Will Be Freed
• 9 Year Old's Murder Changed Law in New Hampshire and Fit for Society?
• Kentucky Court Faces Challenges to Life Without Parole for Juveniles

And from last week,

• States Rethinking Charging Kids as Adults