There's been another wrongful conviction and exoneration in Texas. Ronald Taylor was released from prison yesterday after serving 12 years for a rape he didn't commit.

Taylor was convicted of rape in 1995 and sentenced to 60 years in prison. The victim picked him out of a lineup but acknowledged she only caught a glimpse of her attacker's face.

During his trial, a crime lab analyst testified that no body fluids were found on the victim's bedsheet. This summer, the Innocence Project paid to have a New Orleans lab retest the bedsheet. Semen that lab found matched the DNA of a man already in prison.

Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal apologized to Taylor in court Tuesday, and several council members echoed his regret.

Taylor is the third person exonerated due to faulty lab work by the Houston Police Department.

A federal judge in Washington, D.C. Gladys Kessler, has granted a preliminary injunction to a Guantanamo detainee. It is believed to be the first time a federal court has said "no" to the Pentagon. The case is RAFIQ BIN BASHIR BIN JALLUL ALHAMI et al., vs. GEORGE W. BUSH, et al.

The opinion, unsealed today, is here.

In a nutshell, the Pentagon wanted to send Gitmo detainee Mohammed Rahman, a Tunisian, back to Tunisia to serve a 20 year sentence for a crime for which he was charged and tried in absentia since his arrival at Guantanamo. He objected, arguing among other grounds, he would be tortured in a Tunesian prison. He filed a habeas action seeking an order preventing his transfer.

From the opinion:

Petitioner Rahman (“Rahman”) is a Tunisian citizen allegedly captured by Pakistani bounty hunters and transferred to the custody of the United States on an undisclosed date. He has been detained in Guantanamo Bay since shortly after his capture. Rahman maintains that Combatant Status Review Tribunal (“CSRT”) proceedings have never resulted in any finding that he is an “unlawful” enemy combatant. On May 15, 2007, the Government provided notice to Petitioners and the Court of its intention to transfer Rahman out of Guantanamo Bay and release him to the Government of Tunisia. A 20-year prison sentence awaits Rahman in Tunisia.

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Hillary Clinton unveiled her retirement plan, American Retirement Accounts, today.

As with her biggest policy plan for universal health insurance, Mrs. Clinton cast her savings proposal in terms of choice: If Americans like their 401(k) plans and other retirement accounts, they can keep those, while those who lack any savings plan will have a chance to start one with government help and save $5,000 a year on a tax-deferred basis.

“Saving in the accounts will be easy — it should not require a Ph.D. to save for retirement,” Mrs. Clinton said.

The Wall St. Journal has more specifics.

As to why it's needed:

Following up on the last post I wrote about Taylor Marsh's response to those who think she's blogging for Hillary, I have a few thoughts of my own on how bloggers, particularly TalkLeft, covers campaigns.

I have long said that Hillary and John Edwards are my two favorite Democratic candidates. I haven't endorsed either yet and like most bloggers, probably won't before the first primaries. Any of the Democratic candidates will have my support if they win and there are none (except perhaps Joe Biden) I would be unhappy with.

All of the candidates' campaigns send out press releases and e-mails on issues, news and events to bloggers daily. I write about those that strike a chord with me on that particular day.

Like Taylor, I'm covering the 2008 election, not a single candidate. I write about Hillary the most because so far she is the most interesting candidate. She also has great campaign outreach through Peter Daou, her Internet communications director. He doesn't flood our e-mail boxes with every possible soundbite, but knows the individual blogs well enough only to send each those items he thinks would be of interest. As to what he sends TalkLeft, he's always on the mark.

No candidate is going to match my positions on issues or focus on those I care most about.

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Taylor Marsh recounts the latest dust-up over Hillary being called a "harpie" after an exchange with Randall Rolph. She's also got the video.

I missed the whole story but Taylor moves on to a discussion of people who criticize bloggers for favorably writing about Hillary, accusing them of somehow being part of her presidential campaign. I've gotten quite of few of those comments myself.

Since Taylor responds so well, I'll just quote her:

Khaled el-Masri, (also spelled al-Masri) the 42 year old German shoe salesman and father of five who was plucked off a street in Macedonia while on holiday, beaten and flown to a secret CIA prison in Afghanistan where he was held for 5 months until the U.S. and Condoleeza Rice admitted he was picked up by mistake (a case of mistaken identity) has had his lawsuit against the U.S. rejected by the Supreme Court today. Reuters reports here and the AP here.

All of TalkLeft's coverage of el-Masri is accessible here. The ACLU filed the lawsuit on his behalf and has this webpage about extraordinary rendition.

Glenn Greenwald has hope on FISA:

But at least thus far, from everything I can tell, the picture is more complicated and less depressing than this NYT article suggests, and the defeat is not yet a fait accompli. To begin with, the bill to be proposed today by the House Democratic leadership actually contains some surprisingly good and important provisions. . .

But that bill will never see the President's desk. As Glenn himself notes:

It is definitely possible that this is all just deceit, that House leaders introduced this bill strictly to placate their Progressive Caucus and their base and that they have no real intention of fighting for these provisions, but instead will give Bush what he wants once Mike McConnell starts accusing them of Helping the Terrorists and they begin negotiating in secret again.

Yes, that is exactly what will happen. We know the cast of characters already. This is a repeat of the Iraq Supplemental fight in March. The House bill will be eviscerated. More.

OnStar service, with 5M subscribers, will be able to stop cars so equipped by slowing the engine starting with the 2009 models. OnStar from General Motors is seeking to sell its service to other manufacturers. The GPS system of OnStar already tracks 800-900 cars a month that are stolen. This is reported in today's New York Times.

Where else can this go? [More...]

The New York Times reports on the sad fact of extreme prejudice against gays in nursing homes.

Elderly gay people... living in nursing homes or assisted-living centers or receiving home care, increasingly report that they have been disrespected, shunned or mistreated in ways that range from hurtful to deadly, even leading some to commit suicide.

Some have seen their partners and friends insulted or isolated. Others live in fear of the day when they are dependent on strangers for the most personal care. That dread alone can be damaging, physically and emotionally, say geriatric doctors, psychiatrists and social workers.

To combat the discrimination, L.G.B.T. Aging Projects are becoming more frequent:

If I were currently raising a teen, the last place I'd live is Texas.

Read this sad tale. While the article breaks it down along racial lines, the truth is that Texas is over-incarcerating its youth with disastrous consequences.

Grits for Breakfast has been following this and other stories of abuse at the Texas Youth Prisons.

The Democrats will introduce their FISA wiretap bill tomorrow.

The Justice Department would have to reveal to Congress the details of all electronic surveillance conducted without court orders since Sept. 11, 2001, including the so-called Terrorist Surveillance Program, if a new Democratic wiretapping bill is approved.

The draft bill, scheduled to be introduced to Congress Tuesday, would also require the Justice Department to maintain a database of all Americans subjected to government eavesdropping without a court order, including whether their names have been revealed to other government agencies.

This is the rewrite bill Dems promised before the August recess:

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Here's a brief synopsis of death penalty issues in North Carolina. The bottom line:

In short, not only does North Carolina need a thoughtful and comprehensive review by state policymakers at how it puts people to death, it is also in desperate need of a closer look at whether it is truly capable of avoiding the ultimate injustice – the wrongful execution of an innocent human being. It will be a serious error if state legislators fail to undertake either of these reviews before another person is put to death in all of our names.