Absolutely disgusting.

Angel Nieves Diaz, 55, was pronounced dead at 6:36 p.m., despite his protests of innocence and requests for clemency made by the governor of his native Puerto Rico. He appeared to move for 24 minutes after the first injection. His eyes were open, his mouth opened and closed and his chest rose and fell. He was pronounced dead 10 minutes after his last movement.

Reaction from Florida Department of Corrections spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger:

"It was not unanticipated. The metabolism of the drugs to the liver is slowed," Plessinger said.

Not only was the execution botched, it was barbaric. As are they all.

Federal Judge James Robertson has ruled in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld that Salim Ahmed Hamdan cannot challenge his confinement at Guantanamo because of the Military Commissions Act passed in September, which prevents the detainees from bringing habeas challenges.

It was Judge Robertson who granted Mr. Hamdan’s habeas petition in November 2004, abruptly halting his war crimes trial in the middle of proceedings at Guantánamo by ruling that the process was fatally flawed.

But in his decision Wednesday, the judge said circumstances had changed fundamentally with enactment of the new law. And not only is Mr. Hamdan barred from a challenge under the habeas statute, the judge said, he cannot follow the usual second avenue to bring a habeas challenge — invoking the Constitution — because it is unclear that noncitizens at Guantánamo have that right.

The opinion is here (pdf). TalkLeft reader Scribe addresses the decision in this diary.

"What Should Dems Do About Iraq?" is a question that the Media LOVES to ask. I like Charlie Rangel's retort:

“I never understand that question,” answered Charlie Rangel, the incoming chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. “You have a President that’s in deep shit. He got us into the war, and all the reasons he gave have been proven invalid, and the whole electorate was so pissed off that they got rid of anyone they could have, and then they ask, ‘What is the Democrats’ solution?’”

but what about the question? And more importantly, what CAN a Democratic Congress do? Marty Lederman says:

How about Congress "getting him the message," Senator Reid, by actually requiring him to act? I fully realize that deciding which course of action we should take in Iraq, and when, are extremely difficult questions. It may be that coming to a consensus on particular statutory langauge would be very difficult under the circumstances. And there may not be a consensus, even among congressional Democrats, about many particulars of the ISG Report. But to the extent the Democrats can agree amongst themselves on at least some of the ISG recommendations, and/or on other proposals, they ought to put those directives in a bill, and have both Houses of Congress pass it.

But would that, assuming it could become law over a Presidential veto, be a de facto UNdeclaration of war? Could Congress tell the President that he must withdraw from Iraq? What this leads to is really the most basic argument - the power of the purse, argued here by Dennis Kucinich:

From Gregg Gladden at the Texas ACLU:

An Overdue Visit

'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the nation
Friends of Freedom knew it was a special occasion.
Lady Liberty stood taller just off the shore
Her torch shining brighter than a few weeks before

But it wasn't the flame turning her cheeks all rosy
It was thoughts of Snowe, Feingold and Nancy Pelosi
And leaders from every side of the aisle
Who would soon bring the Bill of Rights back into style.

The Amendments had all hurried out of their beds -
Which was no easy task, they were nearly in shreds
And they rushed to the window on papery feet
As a jolly old man flew right over their street.

In the "you can't make this stuff up" department: A four year old Texas pre-kindergartner hugged his teacher and then rubbed his face against her chest.

He was suspended for ""inappropriate physical behavior interpreted as sexual contact and/or sexual harassment."

The kid's father filed a complaint with the school district. Their response?

...a subsequent letter from the district said the offense had been changed to "inappropriate physical contact" and removed references of sexual contact or sexual harassment from the boy's file.

Memo to school district: Give it up now, apologize, reinstate the kid and save yourselves a boatload of money.

Sen. John McCain doesn't know how to quit while he is ahead. He has just introduced a really dumb bill that ought to have those with interactive websites up in arms.

Millions of commercial Web sites and personal blogs would be required to report illegal images or videos posted by their users or pay fines of up to $300,000, if a new proposal in the U.S. Senate came into law.

The legislation, drafted by Sen. John McCain and obtained by CNET News.com, would also require Web sites that offer user profiles to delete pages posted by sex offenders.

Current law already mandates reporting by internet service providers. This legislation would extend the requirement to others, including bloggers.

For months, the Duke lacrosse players alleged rape case has been a train wreck waiting to happen. I hope with this news, it finally derails for good.

A private laboratory hired by the prosecution in the Duke lacrosse case failed to report that it found DNA from multiple males in the accuser's body and underwear, according to a defense motion filed today.

The lab, DNA Security of Burlington, found that the DNA did not match the three defendants, their lacrosse teammates or anyone else who submitted their DNA to police, including the accuser's boyfriend.

You can read the motion filed by the defense today here.

Bump and Update: A right wing site named Stop the ACLU is catching up to TalkLeft. Please vote again today.

If you haven't voted yet today in the 2006 Weblog Awards, here's the link. All votes are very much appreciated.

You can vote once a day until December 15.

Actor Peter Boyle has died at age 71.

I will remember him most for the 1970 movie Joe, in which he plays an Archie Bunker type workingman who hates the counterculture.

It was Susan Sarandon's first movie role.

RIP Mr. Boyle.

That is my prediction - Bush will increase troop levels in Iraq. This story buttresses my belief:

As President Bush weighs new policy options for Iraq, strong support has coalesced in the Pentagon behind a military plan to "double down" in the country with a substantial buildup in American troops, an increase in industrial aid and a major combat offensive against Muqtada Sadr, the radical Shiite leader impeding development of the Iraqi government. The Joint Chiefs of Staff will present their assessment and recommendations to Bush at the Pentagon today. Military officials, including some advising the chiefs, have argued that an intensified effort may be the only way to get the counterinsurgency strategy right and provide a chance for victory. The approach overlaps somewhat a course promoted by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz). But the Pentagon proposals add several features, including the confrontation with Sadr, a possible renewed offensive in the Sunni stronghold of Al Anbar province, a large Iraqi jobs program and a proposal for a long-term increase in the size of the military. Such an option would appear to satisfy Bush's demand for a strategy focused on victory rather than disengagement. . .

The Bush/McCain/Lieberman Iraq Debacle. Sad.

Richard Cohen on Iraq:

[T]he ending is inevitable. We will get out, and the only question that remains is whether we get out with 3,000 dead or 4,000 or 5,000. At some point the American people will not countenance, and Congress will not support, a war that cannot be won. Just how many lives will be wasted in what we all know is a wasted effort is about the only question still left on the table.

The threat of a lawsuit has been removed and the Christmas trees have been restored to the Sea-Tac airport.

At Chabad-Lubavitch in Seattle, the Jewish Orthodox educational group that had asked the airport to add the menorah, hate messages soon flooded e-mail inboxes. The group, which had never asked for the trees to be removed, was accused by some of trying to steal Christmas. It quickly dropped its talk of a lawsuit and joined those asking the airport to bring back the trees. That, the airport said, freed it to put them back up.

“By no means did we want to take away any religious symbols or trees from any other culture,” said Elazar Bogomilsky, the Chabad rabbi who is listed as the lead plaintiff on a draft lawsuit that has not been filed....Mr. Reis said, “The rabbi never said, ‘We want to take the trees down.’ That was purely our reaction when we felt we’d been put in an untenable position.”

Don't blame the rabbi. Blame the Port of Seattle for the fiasco.