Good news in the federal sentencing department. Guideline changes set to take effect November 1 unless Congress acts to ban them include a provision giving judges greater discretion in granting compassionate release for dying prisoners.

A safety-valve provision for compassionate release for the dying is in the original sentencing law but it hasn't been effective.

But advocates for inmates say the way the statute is actually carried out is anything but compassionate. Few terminally ill inmates are approved for release, and the bureaucracy is such that even when people are approved, they often die before they get out. The advocates also contend that prison officials have misconstrued the original intent of Congress and interpreted the grounds for release much too narrowly.

Now, in a departure from the tough sentencing policies that it has legislated for more than two decades, Congress is poised to allow guidelines to go into effect starting Nov. 1 that would give federal judges much greater power to release federal inmates.

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Due to a recruiting shortfall, President Bush has loosened restrictions on "character waivers" allowing military recruiters to sign up those with drug convictions on their records.

But he doesn't want these same kids to go to college and continues to support the Higher Education Act that since 1998, has prevented 200,000 students with drug convictions, including minor marijuana offenses, from obtaining student aid.

Check out the video at Drug War Draft by Students for a Sensible Drug Policy and send a message to Congress which is reconsidering the law.

If you're one of the many who can't get a scholarship because of a drug conviction, SSDP has a link to alternative available scholarships.

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"Declare victory and get out." - Senator George Aiken (R-VT) on the Vietnam war.

WaPo:

The U.S. military believes it has dealt devastating and perhaps irreversible blows to al-Qaeda in Iraq in recent months, leading some generals to advocate a declaration of victory over the group, which the Bush administration has long described as the most lethal U.S. adversary in Iraq. But as the White House and its military commanders plan the next phase of the war, other officials have cautioned against taking what they see as a premature step that could create strategic and political difficulties for the United States. Such a declaration could fuel criticism that the Iraq conflict has become a civil war in which U.S. combat forces should not be involved.

Umm, I am beginning to suspect these folks do not want us to leave Iraq. . . .

Blogger and Law Prof Eric Muller (Is that Legal?) has a new book out, "American Inquisition: The Hunt for Japanese American Disloyalty in World War II." It's an account of the secret inner mechanisms of racism within the episode we call the Japanese American internment of World War II.

He'll be blogging about the book all week, including a discussion of "how the government went about gathering the information on which it would rely for its loyalty inquests."

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Graeme Frost two weeks ago gave the Democrat's response to the President's radio address. You will remember that his family is middle class, and he had public health insurance that saved his family from financial ruin after he and his sister were grievously injured in a car wreck, both needing physical therapy. But, the Neo-con attack dogs immediately and shamelessly Swiftboated him.

I cannot say it better than Paul Krugman did in Sliming Graeme Frost in the NY Times.  Countdown has video here.

On Monday evening, Master Frost will be on Countdown.

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The ACLU has obtained a new set of documents showing the military's expanded role since the passage of the Patriot Act in obtaining national security letters.

New documents uncovered as a result of an American Civil Liberties Union and New York Civil Liberties Union lawsuit reveal that the Department of Defense secretly issued hundreds of national security letters (NSLs) to obtain private and sensitive records of people within the United States without court approval. A comprehensive analysis of 455 NSLs issued after 9/11 shows that the Defense Department seems to have collaborated with the FBI to circumvent the law, may have overstepped its legal authority to obtain financial and credit records, provided misleading information to Congress, and silenced NSL recipients from speaking out about the records requests, according to the ACLU.

The new documents are available here. Many are blacked out (redacted.) The documents include e-mail correspondence between DOD officials responding to the disclosure of the NSL's in the New York Times. I've extracted one e-mail here (pdf).

Also extracted:

• DOD memo (pdf)on its authority to issue NSL letters apart from the FBI
• DOD Guidance (pdf)on obtaining information from financial institutions

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Joe Klein on FISA circa February 2006:

People like me who favor this program don't yet know enough about it [Bush Domestic Surveillance program] yet," he says, "Those opposed to it know even less- and certainly less than I do." -Joe Klein

WaPo Editorial today:

There is one major area of disagreement between the administration and House Democrats where we think the administration has the better of the argument: the question of whether telecommunications companies that provided information to the government without court orders should be given retroactive immunity from being sued. House Democrats are understandably reluctant to grant that wholesale protection without understanding exactly what conduct they are shielding, and the administration has balked at providing such information. But the telecommunications providers seem to us to have been acting as patriotic corporate citizens in a difficult and uncharted environment.

Fred Hiatt seems to be saying he does not know much about the facts surrounding the telecoms' actions but he knows more about it than the Congress. Which begs the question, how come Fred Hiatt knows more about it than the Congress?

Update [2007-10-14 10:19:28 by Big Tent Democrat]: Glenn Greenwald provides a substantive non-snarky takedown.

Why does Hillary Clinton need to disavow the support of Michael O'Hanlon? Why does his support or non-support matter in the scheme of things? Because of the Iraq Debacle. Because of Hillary's vote in support of granting President Bush the power to go to war against Iraq in 2002. Because Michael O'Hanlon was a cheerleader for the Iraq Debacle. Because O'Hanlon was a cheerleader for the Surge. Because O'Hanlon will fiercely criticize anyone who disagrees with the current Bush Administration policy in Iraq:

Michael E. O’Hanlon, a military analyst at the Brookings Institution, criticized General Sanchez for implying in his speech that the current military strategy of relying on additional troops and on protecting the Iraqi people is little different than the strategy employed when he was in command.

Because if Michael O'Hanlon were an honest man, and he is not, he should not be supporting Hillary Clinton at all. He should be fiercely criticizing her. The support of Michael O'Hanlon, supporter of the Bush policy on Iraq, must be disavowed by the Clinton campaign. She has not earned our trust on Iraq. She can not expect that her acceptance of O'Hanlon's support would not be troubling to any one who cares about ending the Iraq Debacle.

Sully has it big time. Here he is insulting civil rights movement hero John Lewis:

Fading memory has helped some to forget about the Clintons, their political machine and their ruthlessness. A rising black politician in the Democratic party is a threat to them and their power over blacks. So they are doing what they can to crush him, and punish any Democrat who associates with him. . . . I don't know what prompted Lewis to back Clinton; he marched between Obama and Clinton in Selma, but worshipped with Obama afterwards. . . . Again: the way in which Hillary uses her marriage to advance her own power is striking. No real feminist would do this; only someone who postures as a feminist while using her husband as a tool.

(Emphasis supplied.) Um, is he serious? Sully can't even hold a consistent thought in his head. If the threat is Hillary winning, how could Bill be the reason behind Lewis' alleged (no evidence whasoever to support this BTW) "conversion?" Coupled with his nasty attack on Ezra Klein, it seems clear that Sully has gone unhinged, again.

Despite settling with Duke University last year over his forced resignation as coach of the Duke Lacrosse team following the barrage of publicity of the unfounded sexual assault charges against some of the team's players, Mike Pressler is suing Duke and trying to rescind the settlement.

His reason: a Senior VP at Duke disparaged him after the settlement.

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Round the Blogosphere today:

• Avedon Carol at Sideshow on why she's lukewarm to a draft Gore bid for 2008. Me too. I also don't think there's a chance it would happen. If Hillary isn't unstoppable, it goes to Obama (even though I wish it would go to Edwards in that event.)

• Call Your Senators On FISA. I support The "FISA Modernization Bill of 2007 (H.R. 3782)", introduced by Rush Holt, not the Democrats' RESTORE Act. FISA should not ignore the Constitution and in particular, the Fourth Amendment.

The ACLU, while it prefers the FISA Modernization Bill, says it has turned its attention to fixing the RESTORE Act since the Modernization bill has not been scheduled for a hearing.

Please, call your representative right now. Tell him or her to only pass a FISA modernization bill that has individualized warrants for people in the United States and NOT to provide telecom companies with immunity for breaking the law.

• Libby at The NewsHoggers on why the Dutch ban on mushrooms is a bad idea.

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Yesterday, Rudy Giuliani "offered his strongest defense yet" of Bernie Kerik.

"I mean the reality is, if we just look at Bernard Kerik's service as police commissioner, he was an excellent police commissioner," Giuliani said at a campaign stop in this key early primary state.

...."He was there on Sept. 11," Giuliani said. "He was heroic on Sept. 11."

He continues to admit his recommendation of Kerik for Homeland Security Secretary was his fault and a mistake.

Can Rudy overcome the problems with his personal life, his past positions on social issues conservatives find troubling and his lack of judgment in personnel decisions? Digby says Kerik is a disqualifying mistake for Rudy.