Via Southern District of Florida Blog: Taj Mohammad was a goat shepherd in the mountains between Afghanistan and Pakistan. His tribe, the Gudjers, are nomads. He got in a fight with his cousin and hit him with a stick. His cousin's family, in retaliation, claimed he was a member of the Taliban. Unbeknownst to Taj, his cousin had been working laying pipe for the American military. They came to question Taj, arrested him and took him to the prison at Bagram AFB, and then shipped him to Guantanamo where he was held for four years.

The Defenders began representing Taj about a year ago and, after security clearances were approved, Paul Rashkind began to uncover evidence and develop a strategy to obtain his release. Just 14 days ago, Rashkind and Cone filed a set of classified challenges to Taj's continued detention, explaining why he should be released now. Last night, on the eve of the military hearing, Taj was on a plane back to Afghanistan. He was released to his family earlier today. Rashkind commented, "America was not a safer place while he was detained, but we can certainly feel better about ourselves now that he is home."

Kudos to defenders Paul Rashkind and Tim Cone for their victory.

Ok, it's taken 5 weeks to build a Scoop site for TalkLeft. In case you missed my previous post, here's why in a nutshell: TalkLeft has become too big and cumbersome for Movable Type to process, and the continual rebuilding that goes on in the background has made the site way too slow. I chose Scoop over Wordpress and other systems because I wanted the site to have growing room and to allow more people to post (not just comment). I want the site to load quickly and commenting should be a breeze.

I'm also moving TalkLeft to a new hosting company which specializes in Scoop sites and it will be on it's own dedicated server. If you want to see some other Scoop sites, see Daily Kos or click on those at that link.

The site will look almost exactly like it does now. That's why it took 5 weeks and a few thousand dollars or more (I haven't gotten the final bill yet) to build. It's a modified Scoop site. My hosting costs are going to increase by more than $200 a month. I'm looking at the cost as a long-term investment in the site.

I hope you all like it and find it easier to use.

This coming Sunday, the New York Times will feature a q and a with former Attorney General John Ashcroft. Among the suprising revelations: He makes barbed-wire sculputures in his spare time. Other nuggets:

Ashcroft also suggests the American Civil Liberties Union opposed the Patriot Act partly to make money and add members.

.... Ashcroft, a leading evangelical, admits he is a sinner, explaining, "I'm unkind on occasion, and I am selfish." He's an active Christian "because I am not good, because I need help."

Ask about specific "sins," Ashcroft says he has "never had a mixed drink," never smoked a cigarette, and if tempted by another woman he would immediately call "my wife."

[Hat tip reader Scribe]

From Big Tent Democrat

Gail Collins steps down as Editorial Page Editor of the New York Times. From my perspective, Collins was the best Editorial Page Editor the Times ever had. She fully grasped the extremism, incompetence and danger the Bush Administration has presented and spoke to the issues in terms appropriate to the times (no pun intended.)

I have enjoyed Collins' work since she was a columnist at the New York Daily News. Always a gifted witty writer, Collins stepped up to the role she undertook, and with little fanfare, proved that the first woman Editorial Page Editor of the New York Times was not only up to the role, but was up to the unique challenge of being perhaps the foremost liberal voice in the Media in a time where liberalism and the country were challenged by the worst administration in memory.

[more on the flip]

Oh, to have been a fly on the wall. The Red Cross this week met with the 14 new detainees at Guantanamo, those who reportedly were interrogated under abusive conditions in overseas prisons, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, Abu Zubaydah and Ramzi Binalshibh.

It was the first time anyone but their captors have seen the men since their capture. From my post of October 12, 2004, exactly two years ago:

From Big Tent Democrat

I know it is bad form to laugh at the insane but Hitch is too easy:

Hitchens uses this to brand Dean a "pathological liar," and when some at the table protest, Hitchens turns his shotgun full of crazy on the assembled:

"Fine, now that I know that, to you, medical ethics are nothing, you've told me all I need to know. I'm not trying to persuade you. Do you think I care whether you agree with me? No. I'm telling you why I disagree with you. That I do care about. I have no further interest in any of your opinions. There's nothing you wouldn't make an excuse for. You know what? I wouldn't want you on my side. I was telling you why I knew that Howard Dean was a psycho and a fraud , and you say 'That's O.K.' Fuck off. No, I mean it: fuck off. I'm telling you what I think are standards and you say, 'What standards? It's fine, he's against the Iraq War.' Fuck. Off. You're MoveOn.org. Any liar will do. He's anti-Bush. Fuck off...Save it sweetie, for someone who cares. It will not be me. You love it, you suck on it. I now know what your standards are, and now you know what mine are, and that's all the difference -- I hope -- in the world."

This was at, mind you, a dinner party.

Ezra goes on to psychoanalyze Hitch. I just laugh my head off. To each his own. H/T atrios.

From Big Tent Democrat

Mark Warner is not running for President. Unlike Markos and Jerome, I never saw the window for Warner. Their view appeared to be summed up today by Markos, by implication -- Warner was a Southern Governor. Seemed like a thin reed to me. In any event, does this give space for an Obama run? Markos says:

Obama? Perhaps still too raw, but he's ambitious and the rumors are flying fast and furious. His recent dis of Daily Kos might even be a sign he's burnishing his "centrist" credentials . . .

Um, that centrist credential burnishing has been going on for some time. As those who have read me on the subject know, I am not impressed:

Obama has learned nothing from Lincoln and nothing from Hofstadter. As wonderfully talented a politician he is, until he does, he will not best serve the interests of progressives and the Democratic Party.

And the quote Markos references seems more of the same:

Here's Mark Warner's statement today saying that he will not seek the Democratic nomination for President in 2008.

This past weekend, my family and I went to Connecticut to celebrate my Dad's 81st birthday, and then we took my oldest daughter Madison to start looking at colleges.

I know these moments are never going to come again. This weekend made clear what I'd been thinking about for many weeks--that while politically this appears to be the right time for me to take the plunge--at this point, I want to have a real life.

From Big Tent Democrat

David Broder seeks the title of Dean through the sheer force of his illogic:

The public has shown similar consistency with party support for Congress. In the latest poll, Democrats lead Republicans, 54 percent to 41 percent, among registered voters. In November 2005 the Democrats led 52 percent to 37 percent. The margins are almost identical. . . . What all this suggests is a settled judgment on the part of the majority of Americans that the current leadership of the nation is not doing the job that people expect. This is the government the people chose in 2004, but now they are showing clear signs of buyer's remorse. . . . What is driving public opinion is an overall impression that those in office -- meaning mainly Republicans -- have let things slide out of control and need to be relieved.

. . . Fortunately, the voters have the power -- if they pull the trigger on Election Day -- to create a new plot for the Washington drama. . . . [T]he public is tired of the partisan bickering, tired of the gridlock and eager to elect people who will focus on the real problems and work together to find solutions.

No, Dean Broder, the message is right there in your polls - the country has had enough of Republicans and Bush. And they have had enough of you and the Beltway mentality. You see, the rejection of the Media is part of the story too. Not by Republicans. But by progessive Democrats and Independents. They are tired of your know nothing empty platitudes. And we don't have to wait until November to see if you get voted out - you lost already.

The three Duke Lacrosse players accused of rape will speak out for the first time this Sunday on '60 Minutes.'

Ed Bradley speaks with defendants Collin Finnerty, Reade Seligmann and David Evans, who are free on bail pending their trials in the racially charged case that made national headlines. All three of the accused are white; their accuser is black.

Bradley also speaks to the accuser's dancing partner the night of the alleged rape, Kim Roberts.

There's lots of comments about this over on the TL Duke Forum Boards.

While I doubt Tom Tancredo is doing this to help Dog the Bounty Hunter (Duane Chapman) as opposed to trying to further his xenophobic immigration platform, I'm all for the result:

U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo and 28 other members of Congress recently sent a letter to Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, asking her to deny the extradition of Duane "Dog" Chapman to Mexico.

"Thanks to Mr. Chapman, Luster is now serving a 124-year sentence," said Tancredo. "It seems that Mexican authorities are pressing this case only because they are so stung by the embarrassment of failing where Mr. Chapman succeeded."

I just received this by e-mail and thought it would be of interest:

The Common Sense Foundation today released a ground-breaking study of North Carolina's death row population, titled "Death Row Injustices." Working with Indigent Defense Services and lawyers who represented clients in capital cases prior to the creation of IDS in 2001, Common Sense found that at least 37 people currently on death row did not have counsel that would meet today's standards for capital representation.

Moreover, of those who have been executed since 1976 (when the United States Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment), North Carolina has executed at least 16 people who did not have lawyers with those minimum qualifications necessary today.

The study calls for (1) immediate new trials for the 37 death row inmates identified; (2) a full investigation by the General Assembly to determine how many other death row inmates did not have qualified lawyers; and (3) a two-year moratorium on executions during which time an extensive review of capital punishment in our state should be conducted.

You can read the full report here.