As TalkLeft noted here, the State of Florida agreed to pay $5 million to the family of Martin Anderson, who was beaten to death in a boot camp for juvenile offenders. The family's attorney announced yesterday that Bay County will pay an additional $2.4 million to settle claims against the Sheriff's Office, which operated the boot camp.

When the cat's away . . . I'm gonna play a little. Let's Go Gators! Saturday is just 3 days away, my friends. And Pat Forde throws the Gators' Joakim Noah a little love:

There were times during this challenging season when Noah sought the counsel of his coach . . . Donovan offered a dose of perspective to his power forward.

"He would tell me, 'Would you give all of this up?'" Noah related. "And there's no way. There's no way. Sometimes this year I've taken things for granted. Sometimes you have to sit back and realize how many kids would love to be in this situation, winning an SEC championship for the third time, winning a national championship … getting to talk to all these people . . .

"We get so much love out there. It's overwhelming sometimes in Florida. But this is what it's all about. You've got to enjoy it. This stuff doesn't last forever."

Some reasons to love Jo on the flip.

It’s a bit over the top to blame a single tax cheat for the inadequate funding of D.C.’s school system. Shouldn’t blame be equally apportioned to the “no new taxes” crowd who refuse to raise the money needed for school improvements? Shouldn’t we at least recognize that tax fraud (pdf) is a widespread problem?

Federal prosecutors instead assigned the blame for D.C.’s financial woes to Walter Anderson, who tried to conceal $365 million in personal income and thus avoided paying $40 million in taxes to the District.

"At the Dunbar High School gym, the place is an embarrassment," said prosecutor Karen E. Kelly. "The toilets don't work; soap, paper towels and toilet paper are missing; . . . and students choose to go back to class rather than use the showers. The Cardozo High School pool has been closed for 10 years, and the sports program for the entire D.C. school system is run on $1.9 million." she continued. "Do you dare to imagine the program they could have implemented with $40 million of Anderson's tax money?"

She might have dared ask why the administration has tried, rather unsuccessfully, to privatize tax collection while failing to provide sufficient funds for IRS auditors who are more likely to ferret out wealthy tax cheats like Anderson.

Prosecutors say Anderson also failed to pay an estimated $140 million to $178 million in federal income taxes.

The administration is batting about .000 in making predictions -- Iraqi citizens will welcome the U.S. with open arms; the war might last six days, six weeks, probably not six months; a fearsome supply of WMD's will be seized after the invasion; etc. Why, then, should we credit the president's claim that the American public will "blame Democrats" if he vetos the supplemental funding bill? Memo to the president: if the public believes someone deserves blame for not funding the troops, the blame will fall on the person who vetos funding, not on the Democrats who approved it.

Get over yourself, Mr. President.

It's good to see a prosecutor express concern about police lawlessness. It's even better to see a prosecutor do something about it.

Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota characterizes the police in Ocean Beach, a Long Island resort village, as "thugs in police uniforms" who are "out of control." A grand jury agreed, returning indictments yesterday against the acting chief and three other officers for beating a Manhattan software executive, Samuel Gilberd.

Gilberd was at an Ocean Beach bar on Aug. 28, 2005, when a bouncer accused him of littering. Gilberd was taken immediately by the bouncer across the street to the police department, where he was issued a ticket, said the lawyer, D. Carl Lustig III. The lawyer said police "savagely attacked" Gilberd, kicking him in the gut and dragging him into a room.

The beating may be the proverbial tip of the iceberg. The acting chief fired five officers last year, who in turn sued the village, alleging they were fired for cooperating with Spota's investigation into corruption within the department.

Spota, noting that Ocean Beach has settled a number of lawsuits alleging police brutality, is vowing to conduct a "widespread investigation into criminal activity by police in Ocean Beach." Other accusations against the acting chief include his association with a drug dealer and his cover-up of "bar brawls" that are instigated by off-duty police officers.

Via Cheers and Jeers, Bill Maher hits it good:

Valerie Plame was the CIA's operational officer in charge of counter-proliferation. Which means she tracked loose nukes. So, when Bush said, as he once did, that his absolute, number-one priority was preventing terrorists from getting loose nukes, okay, that's what she worked on. That's what she devoted her life to, staying undercover for 20 years, maintaining two identities every goddamn day. This is extraordinary service to your country.

Update [2007-3-28 11:9:44 by Big Tent Democrat]: BTW, I think Swampland is becoming a great must read blog, for some intentional, but mostly unintentional reasons.

And I am not talking about Casey Stengel, but rather Rick Stengel, Time Managing Editor, who got called out by Ana Marie Cox on his embarrassing performance as a Kewl Kid. But Stengel's reply to Cox is worse:

In reading your reaction to my comments on Chris Matthews, I realize that I've been caught out speaking as a citizen rather than as editor of Time.

I had no idea Citizen Stengel had been invited on to the show. I could have sworn that Matthews introduced him as the Managing Editor of Time, not as Citizen Stengel. But it gets better (worse):

[A]s a citizen, I think it's unfortunate and perhaps short-sighted for Democrats to be perceived as focusing on the past rather than the future. If people see the Democrats as obsessively concerned with settling scores, that's not good for the Democrats or the country.

Perhaps Citizen Stengel can talk to Managing Editor Stengel and make sure this FALSE talking point does not become the new narrative at Time Magazine. Citizen Stengel is a unique "concern troll" in that he can actually do something about his "concern."

Via Atrios, via Yglesias, Karen Tumulty has a question:

What is a "concern troll"?

Atrios and commenters provide the answer. What other questions should be answered on blogging lingo? I imagine you know what a "purity troll" is by now. And you are all aware of the the "pimping" and "whoring" rampant in the blogs. A veritable Sodom, not to mention Gomorrah.

I claim authorship of one term, but I think both the term and the practice really has not caught on - "linky thread." This is an Open Thread that contains links to other posts from other blogs that you feel merit attention. Now a staple at daily kos and other sites.

My favorite insidery blog phrase was "Holden gets a pony." I think everyone knows that story, but if you do not, Google and Wikipedia have it. Just kidding, one of the leading atriots, NTodd, quoting athenae, explained:

I'm off to Connecticut today to hang out with Jane Hamsher of Firedoglake. I'll be staying with her through Monday, as she continues her battle with breast cancer.

We planned the visit while in D.C. at the Scooter Libby trial. I'm really looking forward to it. Jane is an inspiration, a warrior and a total trooper. She's going to win this battle.

Except for Wednesday and Monday which are travel days, I'll be blogging here as usual. Big Tent Democrat, TChris and Last Night in Little Rock will be here in my absence, as their schedules allow.

Let's start the day off with an open thread, where you can all weigh in with what's on your mind. I'll be following along as internet access allows.

When the going gets tough, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales gets going.

A scheduled 15-minute news conference with Atty. Gen. Alberto Gonzales was quickly cut short in Chicago on Tuesday, with Gonzales leaving the room after just three questions about the controversial dismissal of a group of U.S. attorneys.

He answered a few questions about PurgeGate, but when it got to Monica Goodling, the heat must have been too much, and he left.

Gonzales then was asked how that push for cooperation squares with the decision by his senior counselor Monday not to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Monica Goodling invoked her 5th Amendment protection against self-incrimination at the advice of her attorneys.

"I'm not going to comment on the decision by an employee of the department to exercise her constitutional rights," Gonzales said.

How many questions did he answer about the topic before splitting? Three.

Should judges be armed in the courtroom? This reminds me of a scene out of one of my favorite law movies, And Justice for All, starring Al Pacino and Jack Warden.

A Jacksonville, Fla., judge drew his handgun when an accused child molester was attacked by an alleged victim's father in court. "I didn't know if he was going after me or the bailiffs or the defendant," Circuit Judge John Merrett told The (Jacksonville, Fla.) Times-Union.

The father, who had not seen the defendant before the court appearance, hurdled a railing and landed several punches on the handcuffed and shackled man before bailiffs restored order. Merrett said that once he saw the situation was under control, he handed his gun to the court clerk and asked her to lock it in a drawer. Merrett has a concealed weapon permit and said he'd do the same thing again, the newspaper reported.

The public defender is complaining and wants to talk to the Chief Judge about whether judges should be armed in court.

More...

The family of Pat Tillman is not taking yesterday's report on his death quietly.

"The Army continues to deny the family, and the public that pays for the Army with its taxes, access to the original investigation, and the sworn statements from that investigation,” the statement read, adding that eyewitnesses’ statements of Corporal Tillman’s death have been altered. “This is not a misstep. It is evidence tampering.”

The Pentagon report, released on Monday, said officers had suspected early on that Corporal Tillman had been killed by American troops in an accidental fratricide, not hostile fire, as was initially reported. But despite their suspicions, it said, officers did not immediately inform the family of the possibility of such a death, in violation of Army regulations. As a result, four generals, and five other officers, will face disciplinary action.

But the Pentagon found no criminal wrongdoing or evidence of a cover-up in the death...

Pat Tillman's mother was on Countdown tonight, and she said she could not rule out that her son was killed intentionally.