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.

by TChris

Old story, new actor. A Bush administration appointee mismanages his agency, refuses to take responsibility, and resigns without being held accountable. The star of today's story: Carl J. Truscott, former director of the mostly useless Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

[Truscott] violated ethics rules by requiring 20 employees to help his teenage nephew prepare a high school video project, part of a wide-ranging pattern of questionable expenditures on a new ATF headquarters, personal security and other items, according to a report issued yesterday. Carl J. Truscott, who previously served as head of President Bush's security detail at the Secret Service, also took several trips with excessive numbers of ATF agents, including a $37,000 journey to London in September 2005 with eight other employees, according to the report.

Truscott demeaned female employees and wasted money on the construction of ATF's new headquarters (he requested a nifty hidden television in the director's office and another TV in the director's private bathroom). Truscott paid for his excesses by cutting back on vehicle maintenance and bullet proof vests.

In true Republican form, on display so regularly these days, Truscott professed to feel wounded by the report, refused to acknowledge fault, and blamed everyone but himself. (To be fair, he hasn't blamed Clinton ... yet.)

Patrick Fitzgerald, true to his modus operandi, has turned some more defendants in the Illiniois corruption probe, and now, three weeks prior to election day, has indicted the top aide to Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.

Businessman Antoin "Tony" Rezko was charged with operating a fraud scheme in which he, millionaire political contributor Stuart Levine and other insiders used Levine's position as a member of two state boards to pressure companies to pay kickbacks in exchange for state business. Levine is among those previously charged in the case.

Rezko's lawyer Joseph Duffy says:

The indictment unsealed Wednesday "appears to be the creation of Stuart Levine, a twice-indicted individual desperate to curry favor with the government to avoid being held accountable for his many years of corruption," Duffy said.

From Big Tent Democrat

Even Professor Reynolds sees this dog wont hunt:

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid collected a $1.1 million windfall on a Las Vegas land sale even though he hadn't personally owned the property for three years, property deeds show.

. . . UPDATE: Reader Anthony Calabrese thinks there's probably less here than the AP story suggests:

I am a long time reader -- also a tax lawyer. While my practice does not involve real estate investments, I think it may be much ado about nothing. Generally, if you transfer property to a company in return for an interest in the company, there is no federal income tax on the transfer. If the company was an LLC (as stated in the media reports), the company was probably a partnership for tax purposes. There would be no LLC level tax as profits and losses would pass through to the partners.

So I can see no real tax issue. The only issue is that Reid might have been hiding his ownership of the property, but holding investment property in an LLC is fairly common in order to protect the owners from torts or bankruptcy. I think this is simply an issue of someone forgetting to file a form.

Good for Professor Reynolds.

A former aide to President Ronald Reagan and veteran Republican advisor was sentenced to 5 to 10 years in state prison.

A veteran GOP consultant was sentenced today to 5 to 10 years in prison for luring two male college students into his home on separate occasions, holding them captive in his spartan apartment and threatening them with Mafia retaliation if they contacted their friends or family.

A jury convicted Leon Abramovitz, of Shadyside, in July on charges of theft, coercion, false imprisonment, unauthorized practice of law, simple assault, indecent assault and making terroristic threats. His victims, 24-year-old and 22-year-old University of Pittsburgh students, were lured into his home with the promise of jobs tailored to their career goals.

by TChris

At this writing, no details are available beyond the basics:

A small aircraft crashed into a high-rise on the Upper East Side, setting off a fire and startling New Yorkers, police said. There were conflicting reports on whether the aircraft was a small plane or a helicopter.

CNN has more. A witness indicates that the aircraft, or parts of it, may have hit the condominium tower while falling from above.

Update: The NY Times reports confusion as to whether the aircraft struck near the 20th floor or the 40th floor. The latest AP story indicates that this was likely a tragic accident, not an act of terrorism.

Second update: The small plane was piloted by Corey Lidle, a major league pitcher who was recently traded to the Yankees. Lidle was apparently a relatively inexperienced pilot, flying a plane he'd recently purchased. News reports on the radio indicate that three others are dead.

Guest Post from Big Tent Democrat

The sight of Christopher Hitchens' head spinning as he discovers Henry Kissinger's influence over our Iraq policy is certainly satisfying in a perverse way. I can not say that I am immune to it myself. But this bit from Hitchens' column is what got my attention:

It might also help explain a lot. During the Bremer period of governance in Baghdad, both the transfer of sovereignty to Iraqis and the calling of elections were fatally postponed (perhaps when it was hastily discovered that a combined Kurdish and Shiite list could win a vote). It has proved difficult, if not impossible, to regain the political ground that was lost in that time. Shall we never be free of the malign effect of this little gargoyle and his ideas?

Hitchens gets it, as he has throughout, exactly backward. It was the rush to create an Iraqi government prior to a political settlement between the sunni, Shia and Kurd which has been a major engine to the chaos. While the Iraq Debacle was destined for failure no matter what, the rush to Iraqi elections was, in my opinion, the biggest post-war blunder of them all. I'll explain in extended.

Notwithstanding the great efforts by defense lawyers, including Terry Kindlon, an Albany federal jury has convicted two Muslims of terrorism charges in a sting case that has come to be known as the "Doogie Howswer" terror case.

Two Muslim immigrants who were targeted in an FBI sting were convicted on Tuesday of charges they supported terrorism by taking part in a fictitious plot to launder money from the sale of a shoulder-fired missile.

The case had galvanized the area's Muslim-American community, many of whom accused the FBI of using a manipulative and underhanded informant to unfairly target two hardworking immigrants who had no criminal history or direct links to any terrorist figures.