Can it really take 1,000 federal agents to arrest undocumented workers at one meat-packing plant? According to the Washington Post, the answer is yes:

About 1,000 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents with search warrants entered plants owned by Swift & Co., of Greeley, Colo., charging that "large numbers" of workers illegally assumed the identities of U.S. citizens or legal residents by using their Social Security numbers to get work, ICE officials said.

Company and union officials said agents, some dressed in riot gear, locked down six beef and pork processing plants early in the morning, segregating workers into groups of citizens and non-citizens after questioning. Some illegal workers were bused to detention facilities hours away, labor officials said.

This was big news in Colorado today. 9News (KUSA) set up a hotline for families of those seized so they could find out if their loved one was among those herded up like cattle and whisked off to detention facilities.

Go directly to jail, do not pass Go, and forget about collecting $200. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals took one day after yesterday's stay order to deliver that message to Enron's Jeffrey Skilling today.

Judge Patrick Higginbotham of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals wrote in his two-page order that "Skilling raises no substantial question that is likely to result in the reversal of his convictions on all of the charged counts."

As a result, Higginbotham denied Skilling's request for bail pending his appeal and vacated an earlier order staying his prison report date.

Skilling must now report to the low security level federal prison at Waseca, MN to begin serving his 24 year sentence. Ouch. But the Judge gave Skilling a glimmer of hope for his appeal:

Buy The Ticket, Take the Ride....tonight at 10pm ET on the Starz channel.

"I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me." These are the immortal words from Hunter Stockton Thompson, a.k.a. Doctor Gonzo and Raoul Duke. Principal photography is nearing completion on Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride: Hunter S. Thompson on Film, Starz Entertainment’s insightful look at the man whose last wish was to have his ashes blown out of a giant cannon. The special is set to air on Starz, December 12 at 10:00 p.m. (et/pt).

Interviewees Include Johnny Depp, Sean Penn, Bill Murray, John Cusack, Benicio Del Toro, Tom Wolfe, George McGovern, Ed Bradley, William F. Buckley and Many Others

Narrated By Nick Nolte
December 12 at 10:00 p.m. on STARZ

You Tube video clips here.

Dennis Kucinich, whom I think has just about the best stand on criminal justice issues of any of the presidential contenders, has announced he will run for President again in 2008.

A long shot? Very. But his voice is an important one and I'm glad it's going to be heard again...provided the national press decides to include him in their coverage.

If President Bush intends to announce a new strategy for Iraq (stay the course a little less?), he won't do so until after he recovers from the White House Christmas and New Years Eve parties.

Mr. Bush had been expected to speak to the American people about Iraq before Christmas. But a spokesman for the National Security Council said today that the talk will now take place after the New Year.

With daily news like this, there may not be much left of Iraq by the time he makes his decision.

Seventy people, most of them Shiite laborers looking for work, were killed Tuesday when a pickup truck packed with explosives was detonated in a crowded square in the city’s center this morning, Iraqi officials and witnesses said. More than 230 people were wounded.

The right to petition the government for a redress of grievances has not, so far, saved Cindy Sheehan from a prosecution for "trying to deliver a petition against the war in Iraq to the U.S. Mission to the United Nations." She was convicted yesterday. Her punishment, assuming she isn't arrested again during the next six months: pay court costs of $95.

Sheehan and her co-defendants were acquitted of more serious charges: resisting arrest and obstructing government administration. She was also acquitted of disorderly conduct.

The verdict will not silence Sheehan:

"We should never have been on trial in the first place," Sheehan said in a statement. "It's George Bush and his cronies who should be on trial, not peaceful women trying to stop this devastating war. This verdict, however, will not stop us from continuing to work tirelessly to bring our troops home."

I'm at the airport about to return to Denver. Telluride is a winter wonderland, but I'm ready to head home. Here's an open thread for you.

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.

Enron's Jeff Skilling caught a last minute break from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals Monday. He won't have to report to his designated prison at Waseca, MN today.

Skilling has a motion for bail pending appeal under consideration and the Court ruled he can stay out until it is decided.

Skilling has been sentenced to 24 years.

While campaigning for an Oscar for "An Inconvenient Truth" Al Gore answered presidential aspiration questions on the Today Show this morning.

"I am not planning to run for president again," Gore said last week, arguing that his focus is raising public awareness about global warming and its dire effects. Then, he added: "I haven't completely ruled it out."

Does he mean it? Is a Gore-Obama ticket in the wings? What would a Gore run mean for Hillary? I continue to believe Obama is going to be a vice-presidential candidate, not the Democrats' nominee for President.

Last month Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo said Miami is like a third world country. Even Jeb Bush took him to task.

But Tancredo will visit Key Biscayne Thursday to give a talk. His topic: the need for immigrants to assimilate.

Why is he going? How about attention:

Tancredo spokesman Carlos Espinosa...said Tancredo wasn't worried about whatever reception he will get in the Miami area.....ny protests or controversy will only draw more attention to the event, he said.

"It's always entertaining. It'll add to the flair of Miami," Espinosa said. "I really do hope we get some protesters. Otherwise, what else are we going for?"

Like many across the blogs, I am a big fan of the HBO show "The Wire." My favorite discussions of the show generally spring from Matt Yglesias' blog, but today I like Ezra's discussion:

It's testament to the overpowering awesomeness of The Wire that despite being a deeply opinionated commentary on social, urban, and economic policy, it's basically beloved by the whole political spectrum. You already know the panoply of lefty bloggers who regularly recommend and rave over the show, but now Cato is recommending it as a stocking stuffer. Meanwhile, my personal Wire-watching group includes lefties, punk rock chefs, and hardcore libertarians. So I think the anecdotal evidence of pan-ideological appeal is ironclad. Which is a bit odd, given that the creators are, as best I can tell, revolutionary socialists. . . . Yet everyone likes the show. That's possibly because it's a masterful story, expertly told, and exquisitely acted. It may also be because it's little kinder to state intervention than personal initiative. While none of the problems would be solved by charter schools, the public schools aren't making progress either. Indeed, it may be the radical apocalypticism of The Wire's vision that makes it so palatable: By offering absolutely no hope, it evades arguments over solutions.

Pessimism is what "The Wire" is all about. For some reason, the drama of futility attracts me. And this is as close to a criminal law post as I will do.

John Solomon, the AP reporter whose jihad agaist Harry Reid has proven to be a deep embarrassment for the AP, falls up:

GOP oppo research push-over John Solomon headed from the AP to Washington Post?!?! Apparently they're going to set him up with his own investigative unit. Presumably in addition to the one he has at the RNC.

What a self indictment by the Washington Post.