I was distracted yesterday and didn't write about last night's Sweet 16 games. And what games they were. Ohio State produced another miracle to stay alive. For the record, I picked Ohio State to win but the fact is Tennessee should have won so no glory there. Texas A&M lost a heartbreaker to Memphis, I had A&M in my Final Four. I think this is a break for Ohio State. They will beat Memphis and go tothe Final Four. Kansas survived a scare from SIU. They face UCLA, who beat Pitt, on Saturday. I like UCLA in that game.

Tonight the Gators play Butler. There is some history as those who follow this will have heard already. I am probably going to jinx my Gators but they should win this game easily. UNC faces USC in what should be the game of the night. I have picked UNC to win this game before. But I think USC can and will pull the upset tonight. In the other game, Georgetown will easily handle Vandy, which has had a great tourney. The matchup is terrible for Vandy imo. A hardnosed defensive team which is very patient offensively.

Add your March Madness thoughts here.

Rumors have been rampant this week that the North Carolina's Attorney General's office would be announcing the dismissal of all charges against the three accused former Duke Lacrosse players.

The Attorney General's office now says, "Not so fast." It's not true...at least not this week.

Our review of the case, including reviewing documents and conducting interviews, is continuing," Talley said. "[A] decision hasn't been made. ... We expect our review of the case to wrap up within the next few weeks and ... no announcements about the case by our office have been scheduled."

As I always I speak only for me

Atrios is as smart as a whip and much more progressive than me, a dirty corporation defending lawyer. He, along with the other 800 pound Left Blog gorilla, Markos, has not an ounce of corruption in them. Indeed, I have been an arse in defending them from scurrilous charges in the past. But he is missing the point in this piece:

[W]e're having another round of "my opinions are pure yours are somehow corrupted" in the blogosphere. I don't claim to be right about everything, but the fact that I disagree with you doesn't necessarily involve some grand conspiracy.

This is about the Iraq supplemental. I strongly disagreed with the position taken by Atrios, MYDD, Sirota and others because I believe they are wrong. But also because, for the most part, their arguments (excepting Sirota's) were largely based on hometeamism, support the Dem leadership rationales. This is a form of cooptation. Not corruption.

This sounds not good; a more detailed story here:

Iranian naval vessels on Friday seized 15 British sailors and marines who had boarded a merchant ship in Iraqi waters of the Persian Gulf, British and U.S. officials said. Britain immediately protested the detentions, which come at a time of high tension between the West and Iran.

In London, the British government summoned the Iranian ambassador to the Foreign Office and demanded "the immediate and safe return of our people and equipment." Iran had no immediate comment.

Britain's Defense Ministry said the British Navy personnel were "engaged in routine boarding operations of merchant shipping in Iraqi territorial waters," and had completed a ship inspection when they were accosted by the Iranian vessels.

Routine boarding? Sounds like a recipe for disaster.

Even as Jack Abramoff hopes to be rewarded for helping the government prosecute his cohorts, the Justice Department announced that Steven Griles, the former Deputy Secretary of the Interior Department, will plead guilty to a single count of obstructing justice in connection with the Abramoff investigation.

The former No. 2 official at the Interior Department has agreed to a felony plea admitting that he lied five times to the Senate Indian Affairs Committee and its investigators about his relationship with Abramoff, people involved in the case told the AP. Griles will admit in federal court Friday that he concealed that he had a unique relationship with Abramoff, people involved in the case said on condition of anonymity, because a federal judge had not yet approved the plea deal.

The government will ask for no more than the minimum guideline sentence of 10 months, half of which can be served at home. This seems a sweet deal for Griles, considering that prosecutors are dropping allegations that Griles used his position to help Abramoff

Prosecutors in January had outlined other possible charges against Griles. They included "honest services" fraud, based on his meetings with Abramoff; lying to Congress about information favorable to Abramoff that Griles had passed on to other Interior officials; and lying to Congress and criminal conflict of interest over a job that Abramoff had offered to Griles.

The new Netroots CW on the Iraq supplemental funding bill has been set by Markos and I will give it this, it is a much more honest and realistic position than the previous argument that this bill actually was worth a darn. No more "first concrete step" nonsense. Now the point is the House Dems' proposal will never become law. I guess I should be happy, there seems to be a new consensus for my no funding proposal. But I am not. Because I disagree with the analysis. I will explain why on the flip.

The Government has asked the Judge presiding over the Jose Padilla trial to allow a CIA agent to testify in disguise, complete with wig, glasses and facial hair.

The agent's testimony will be about Padilla's application to participate in mujahadeen training, described as al-Qaeda's holy warrior program.

Authentication of the document will come from a cooperating witness.

After the U.S. military invaded Afghanistan to oust its Taliban rulers in late 2001, authorities found a locker full of applications to join al Qaeda's holy war overseas.

At Padilla's bond hearing in January 2006, [Prosecutor] Pell said [Padilla's application] was found among 80 to 100 other mujahadeen (holy warrior) applications found in the country, which harbored al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden before he masterminded the Sept. 11, 2001, U.S. terrorist attacks.

Pell said Padilla's application was authenticated by a ''cooperating government witness'' convicted in an unrelated case who had once filled out the same Arabic ''mujahadeen data form.'' She said Padilla's date of birth, Oct. 18, 1970, was on his application along with his adopted Muslim name, Abu Abdullah Al Mujahir.

It's not an unprecedented motion.

More...

Last Night's Hardball with Chris Matthews debated the U.S. Attorney purge, and he had fired New Mexico U.S. Attorney David Iglesias (video; transcript will be here, when it is posted) explaining how he was shaken and stunned that a U.S. Senator would call him about whether charges would be filed against some Democratic office holders before last election day.  He was fired by AG Gonzalez less than six weeks later.

Before Iglesias came on the air, the three participants with Matthews said that Sen. Domenici should be subpoenaed as well, and one commented that "he has already lawyered up."

Jared Stern, the fired and federally investigated gossip writer for the New York Post's Page Six has sued Bill and Hillary Clinton.

Give me a break. I refrained from criticizing Stern when he was represented by my pal Joe Tacopina. But who's representing him in this suit? Clinton-hater Larry Klayman.

In my opinion, this suit isn't worth the toilet paper it was printed on.

Gawker says:

While Stern's primary beef deals with Burkle and the Daily News, he spares no one in his lawsuit. The lawsuit names another Burkle spokesman, his head of security, even former President Clinton and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. The Clintons are friends with Burkle, and Stern says they were all part of a vast conspiracy against him and the paper.

Is Immigration reform on the horizon?

A bipartisan proposal for comprehensive immigration reform that would allow millions of illegal immigrants to participate in a guest-worker program and possibly gain citizenship was introduced in the House yesterday, the first to be submitted since Democrats took control of Congress this year.

The proposal from Reps. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Luis V. Gutierrez (D-Ill.) is a far cry from a measure passed by the Republican-controlled House in 2005 that focused on tough enforcement actions to reduce illegal immigration. The House bill died in a conference committee along with a competing Senate bill that was similar to the Flake-Gutierrez proposal.

Of course, Tom Tancredo calls it an amnesty bill. It's anything but. My question is, is it enough? I haven't seen a copy of the bill, but I'll update when it becomes available.

I'm not sure why this is news since it was all but assured in Jack Abramoff's plea agreement, but the U.S. Attorney in Florida has signaled he will be requesting a reduction in Jack Abramoff's 5 year 10 month sentence.

Abramoff's plea agreement is here. As I wrote at the time of his sentencing,

I don't think Abramoff will do more than three to four years. But, with a $21 million restitution order hanging over his head, he may never be a fat cat again.

....I ...think he will get a 50% reduction in the Washington case, and a further Rule 35 reduction in the Florida case so both come out to about or just under four years.

Abramoff has continued cooperating since his sentence and incarceration. He will get credit for everyone who he cooperated against who has since pleaded guilty or been found guilty. That's the way our system works. It's called moral bankruptcy.

The number of deserters from the U.S. Army is higher than the military has reported.

A total of 3,196 active-duty soldiers deserted the Army last year, or 853 more than previously reported, according to revised figures from the Army.

The new calculations by the Army, which had about 500,000 active-duty troops at the end of 2006, significantly alter the annual desertion totals since the 2000 fiscal year.

Who is considered to be a deserter?

More....