Today is a bad day for history. It is the anniversary of the tragic deaths of the Branch Davidians at Waco in 1993.

It is also the 12th anniversary of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. (Disclosure: I was one of Timothy McVeigh's trial lawyers, so don't bother ranting about him in the comments, it will be deleted.)

Tomorrow, April 20, is the anniversary of the Columbine killings.

One of the lasting legal effects of the OKC bombing was President Bill Clinton's Anti-Terrorism and Death Penalty Enforcement Act (pdf), which restricted habeas corpus rights and added many new death penalty eligible offenses.

Like I said the other day about why we shouldn't rush to enact gun control laws in the aftermath of Virginia Tech, we should never enact laws as an emotional response to a single tragedy, no matter how horrific. Cooler heads are needed.

Update (4/20): A suspect, a homeless ex-offender, has been arrested.

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A torturer-rapist is at large in New York City. If you're a woman near Columbia, don't be walking around alone until he's caught.

It was an ordeal that lasted 19 hours. In that span, a man bound a Columbia University graduate student in her apartment, raped her, doused her with hot water and bleach, slit her eyelids and finally set a fire before fleeing, police said.

How he got into her apartment:

More....

Howard Dean's 2004 campaign manager Joe Trippi has signed onto John Edwards' presidential campaign:

I really thought that the 2004 presidential campaign would be the last I would be involved in. I have always wanted to make a difference, but for me I thought those days were over.

A few weeks ago, John and Elizabeth Edwards made their decision to continue, not just John Edwards' campaign for President, but their work together to make a difference for their country.

And that made me realize that I wasn't done trying to make a difference either. Not by a long shot. So today I am joining the John Edwards campaign.

Good move by John Edwards. I like Joe Trippi a lot and think he will be an asset to the campaign, particularly with respect to netroots support.

President Bush was pleased with the performance of his Attorney General:

President Bush was pleased with the Attorney General's testimony today. After hours of testimony in which he answered all of the Senators' questions and provided thousands of pages of documents, he again showed that nothing improper occurred. He admitted the matter could have been handled much better, and he apologized for the disruption to the lives of the U.S. Attorneys involved, as well as for the lack of clarity in his initial responses. The Attorney General has the full confidence of the President, and he appreciates the work he is doing at the Department of Justice to help keep our citizens safe from terrorists, our children safe from predators, our government safe from corruption, and our streets free from gang violence.

I have a theory Bush figures Gonzo is the one guy who can make Bush look less incompetent. For example, 'you think Bush is incompetent, you should see Gonzales.' My alternate theory is Bush enjoys seeing baby seals get clubbed.

h/t Meteor Blades

CNN's Suzanne Malveaux talking to folks in the White House and DC Republicans and they have panned AG Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' performance today.

Malveaux says that Republicans described the hearing as being akin to "clubbing a baby seal."

Senator Feinstein was the final nail. Part of me wishes Gonzales would tell the GOP Senators now grandstanding to go stuff it, they know what he did and why - the WH told him to do it and he always does what the WH says to do. We all know this is true.

Update [2007-4-19 16:50:58 by Big Tent Democrat]: Schumer passes on second round. Sees no point to continuing given Gonzales' performance. He urges Gonzales to resign. I'm done too.

Gonzales provided one of the most pathetic displays I've ever seen. I am embarrassed for him.

Update [2007-4-19 16:54:46 by Big Tent Democrat]: Specter's stemwinder will lead to calling for his resignation I think. Let's see.

MSNBC anchor Chris Janning just said it is for the President to consider the competency of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, not the Congress. It never astounds just how ignorant television newsreaders are. But we should never let this ignorance go unchallenged. The Democratic guest on MSNBC, Debbie Dingell, did a decent job in her appearance but did not take on Janning's flatly false statement. She should have. She could have quoted Republican Senator Charles Grassley:

Prepared Statement of Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa

Senate Committee on the Judiciary

Oversight of the U.S. Department of Justice

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Chairman Leahy, thank you for holding this Justice Department Oversight hearing today. As the new Congress begins its work, there is lots of talk about renewed interest in Congressional oversight because of the new Majority. But, oversight shouldn’t be a partisan issue. Oversight should be about good government, accountability, and transparency — things both parties ought to agree on. I have been a long-time advocate of more vigorous Congressional oversight of the Executive Branch throughout my time in the Senate, regardless of whether the Administration is Republican or Democrat and regardless of whether the Congress is Republican or Democrat.

Whether Grassley fairly describes his efforts or not, is not the point. The point is it is unquestioned by anyone that Congress has a DUTY to oversee the competency of the Justice Department and the Attorney General. It is inexcusable that Chris Janning does not know this but entirely predictable.

Update [2007-4-19 14:48:44 by Big Tent Democrat]: And Grassley leads off the afternoon questioning of Gonzales. Lt's make this the afternoon Open Thread on the Gonzales Hearings.

Update [2007-4-19 16:4:30 by Big Tent Democrat]: I believe that Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA) is putting the final nails in Gonzalez' coffin. She has exposed him as an incompetent and and not faithful to the truth. Devastating. At the end of Feinstein's questioning, Senator Leahy asked him if he wanted to answer Sen. Feinstein's last question. Gonzales said no. In fact, one imagines Gonzo was ready to go home and cry. He must know his career will be over soon. This is now a painful exercise.

Via Raw Story: As part of his "Straight Talk" tour, John McCain visited Murrells Inlet. Asked a question about Iran, he launched into an impromptu version of the Beach Boys "Barbara Ann," changing the words to "Bomb, Bomb, Bomb, Bomb Iran."

He says he was just trying to add a touch of levity.

The Senate Judiciary Committee hearing "starring" beleaguered Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, begins this morning. Watch it on C-Span3 and CNN (for now), or, on line here.

Give us your thoughts on the hearings.

Via Kevin Drum, "Liberal" intern applicants summarily rejected by Gonzo Justice Dept.:

After choosing potential candidates to interview, the division personnel forwarded their lists to the Office of Attorney Recruitment Management for what was traditionally final approval. This is no longer a final step, however, because the list had to go higher — to the Office of the Deputy Attorney General. When the list of potential interviewees was returned this year, it had been cut dramatically. ....When division personnel staff later compared the remaining interviewees with the candidates struck from the list, one common denominator appeared repeatedly: most of those struck from the list had interned for a Hill Democrat, clerked for a Democratic judge, worked for a "liberal" cause, or otherwise appeared to have "liberal" leanings. Summa cum laude graduates of both Yale and Harvard were rejected for interviews.

But Gonzales tells us that the Justice Department does not make decisions based on political considerations. As usual with Gonzo, the exact opposite of what he says appears to be the truth.

Via Josh Marshall, McClatchy reports:

For six years, the Bush administration, aided by Justice Department political appointees, has pursued an aggressive legal effort to restrict voter turnout in key battleground states in ways that favor Republican political candidates.

The administration intensified its efforts last year as President Bush's popularity and Republican support eroded heading into a midterm battle for control of Congress, which the Democrats won.

And Attorney General Gonzales says his department does not based policies on politics. Riiiiight.

Greg Sargent pointed us to John Solomon doing his thing, spewing GOP talking points, in a WaPo chat, but he missed the "best" one:

Woonsocket, R.I.: Am I mistaken, or is the White House's claim of an overriding "executive interest" in the RNC e-mails a huge step towards a constitutional crisis? . . .
John Solomon: I think it is too early to say where this will end up. Dan Eggen and I at the Post were the first to notice the RNC email accounts and to write about them. It turns out both Democrats and Republicans since the 1990s have set up separate accounts for their political staffs at the White House to avoid Hatch Act violations. So this issue isn't unique to the Bush administration. . . . If the emails that weren't archived are simply lost, there won't be any constitutional issues. You can't fight over emails that can't be retrieved. For the emails that do exist, or can be retrieved, the White House will have to decide whether to invoke executive privilege or turn them over. That decision will be the tipping point, and we don't know yet how that will shake out. There are also some middle ground solutions that could emerge ... like allowing Congress to read or review the emails in private but not keep copies and make them public.

Wow! So much just, WRONG! Not just wrong, so Roland Hedley, Jr. (See Doonesbury).

Bumped and Updated with new information, scroll down.

AmericaBlog picks up on this ABC News report on the Virginia Tech shooter that says there may have been a gap in the federal database regarding his medications:

Some news accounts have suggested that Cho had a history of antidepressant use, but senior federal officials tell ABC News that they can find no record of such medication in the government's files. This does not completely rule out prescription drug use, including samples from a physician, drugs obtained through illegal Internet sources, or a gap in the federal database, but the sources say theirs is a reasonably complete search.

John asks, what database? Does the Government keep a list of all of our prescriptions?

The answer is yes. I reported on it in 2005 when Bush signed the bill creating the electronic database:

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