by TChris

TalkLeft has repeatedly told the story of Maher Arar, beginning with his arrest in October 2002 (coverage collected here). This post, praising Time Magazine in Canada for naming Arar Canada's Person of the Year, summarizes the story of Arar's secret deportation to a prison in Syria, where torture induced him to give a false confession that linked him to al Qaeda. Arar is walking proof that torture produces unreliable information. If the president were inclined to let facts influence his judgment, a meeting with Arar might convince him to back off on his petulent insistence that it's not worth interrogating suspected terrorists unless torture and abuse are available tools in the interrogation protocol.

Reuters reports the conclusions drawn at the end of Canada's official inquiry -- conclusions that have been obvious for some time:

Judge Dennis O'Connor, asked in 2004 to examine what had happened, said the Royal Canadian Mounted Police wrongly told U.S. authorities that Arar was an Islamic extremist. "The provision of this inaccurate information ...[is] totally unacceptable'' and guaranteed the United States would treat Arar as a serious threat, O'Connor said. "I am able to say categorically that there is no evidence to indicate that Mr Arar has committed any offense or that his activities constitute a threat to the security of Canada.''

While Judge O'Connor blamed the RCMP for getting the facts wrong, he found no evidence that Canada played a role in the American decision to deport Arar. The American authorities, of course, declined to respond to O'Connor's questions. The administration refuses to be accountable to Congress; it's no surprise that it has no interest in furthering a Canadian investigation into the mistreatment of Arar.

For all you supporters of Duane Chapman, aka Dog the Bounty Hunter, you can view exclusive video and photos of his arrest and bail posting here.

Tuesday night on A&E, there will be a special episode of "DOG: The Family Speaks" at 10 pm ET. You can watch the trailer here.

From A&E's press release today, in case you haven't been following along:

by TChris

Every police officer in the country must have known that pulling over Willie Nelson's bus would be an easy way to make a pot bust. It happened today in Louisiana, after the bus was stopped for "a commercial vehicle inspection."

A search of the bus produced 11/2 pounds of marijuana and 0.2 pounds of narcotic mushrooms, according to state police.

Nelson needs to find a new driver, as Louisiana apparently suspends commercial driving privileges on the spot when a driver is arrested for pot possession.

by TChris

The Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit today invalidated an Illinois law -- on the books since 1980 -- that has effectively prevented independent candidates from running for the state legislature. To qualify for a listing on the ballot, independent candidates in Illinois must obtain signatures that equal 10 percent of the votes cast in the last general election, and they must do so at least 323 days before that election. These requirements, said the court (pdf), are too onerous.

In combination, the ballot access requirements for independent legislative candidates in Illinois--the early filing deadline, the 10% signature requirement, and the additional statutory restriction that disqualifies anyone who signs an independent candidate's nominating petition from voting in the primary--operate to unconstitutionally burden the freedom of political association guaranteed by the First and Fourteenth Amendments. Ballot access barriers this high--they are the most restrictive in the nation and have effectively eliminated independent legislative candidacies from the Illinois political scene for a quarter of a century--are not sustainable based on the state's asserted interest in deterring party splintering, factionalism, and frivolous candidacies.

by TChris

According to this Raw Story piece, terrorists really can't mix chemicals together on board an airplane to blow it up. Homeland Security, take note. Can we please start bringing our toothpaste, concealer, and bottled water with us again when we fly?

by TChris

Indiana bans automated telephone calls that play prerecorded messages unless a live person first obtains permission from the called party. That law didn't stop Republicans from using automated telephone calls to target Democratic congressional candidate Baron Hill, who is running for the seat he once held, now occupied by Rep. Mike Sodrel. Indiana's Republican Attorney General Steve Carter filed a lawsuit today against the Republicans who are responsible for the calls -- Republicans who have a history of nasty election practices.

Carter also is seeking a preliminary injunction against the California-based group, Economic Freedom Fund, which is financed by Bob J. Perry, a Texas homebuilder with close ties to White House adviser Karl Rove. Perry also bankrolled the Swift Boat attack ads against the war record of Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry in 2004.

The calls (discussed here) make false claims about Hill. While Sodrel pledged to run a clean campaign, Hill points to dishonest statements in Sodrel's advertising as evidence that Hill hasn't kept his word. The dirty tricks may be a sign of desparation as polling shows Hill with a lead over Sodrel.

(Guest Post by Big Tent Democrat)

SusanG at dailykos takes apart Barack Obama's Latest quite nicely. As I wrote before, Obama is not helping Democrats in this cycle because he has bought into the Lakoffian 'appeal to Conservatives' approach. But it is worse than that now. 60 days from an election, he is lecturing Dems that they 'need an agenda.' I can tell you the agenda we don't need - this one:

What Democrats have to do is to close the deal. We have got to show we have a serious agenda for change.

Show the agenda Obama. Don't tell people Dems do not have the agenda! Honest to Gawd. 60 days from the election and he says stuff like this? Just incredibly stupid.

More on the other side.

I'm moving my house Monday and Tuesday. I'm only going 1/2 block but it's still a huge ordeal, not to mention I'll be without high speed internet, cable tv and telephone service for a few days.

I do have a laptop with WWAN that allows me to connect without a hotspot, so I'll be logging on to push any stuck comments through, but my content may be light. TChris and Big Tent Democrat may stop in, so check back.

Have I mentioned how much I hate moving?

by Last Night in Little Rock

Overnight I received an e-mail from the Youth Policy Action Center: Say "No" to More Student Searches /
Posted by: Students for Sensible Drug Policy.

Students for Sensible Drug Policy is asking for your help to stop a bill that would further curtail the rights of students in public schools all across the country. The so-called "Student and Teacher Safety Act of 2006" (H.R. 5295) would make it easier for teachers and school administrators to search students' lockers and bags for drugs and other contraband. SSDP needs your help to make sure that this bill never becomes law.

H.R. 5295 would allow school officials to search dozens or even hundreds of students based on the mere suspicion that just one student brought drugs to school. This kind of justification allowed police officers to storm a high school in Goose Creek, SC, in 2003, forcing dozens of students to the ground and pointing guns directly at their faces during a misguided raid in which no drugs were found.

This bill is nothing more than another attack on the constitutional rights of young people by the federal government. Students should never have to check their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse door.

by TChris

The favorable coverage that the president expects from AP may disappear now that AP has skin in the game. The administration hasn't endeared itself to AP by detaining one of its photographers for the last five months.

"We want the rule of law to prevail. He either needs to be charged or released. Indefinite detention is not acceptable," said Tom Curley, AP's president and chief executive officer. "We've come to the conclusion that this is unacceptable under Iraqi law, or Geneva Conventions, or any military procedure."

Well, yes, but that's true of all the 14,000 detainees, not just the one AP happens to employ. Still, the detention of journalists suppresses a free press and is therefore particularly offensive. What better way to stem the flow of information than to arrest the messenger?

by TChris

Thousands of people would like to see Nancy Grace fired. It is not solely in response to this incident that people are starting to say what they think about Nancy Grace. The reviews aren't pretty.

From the executive editor of the Ocala Star-Banner:

Her insistence that the world is black and white - filled with saints and sinners, and nothing in between - is childish and irresponsible. And her condescending, holier-than-thou attitude makes the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. ... Big hair and a small mind just don't work for me.

by TChris

If George "the brat" Bush has to play by the rules, he doesn't want to play at all. On Friday, the president announced that his administration would stop interrogating terrorism suspects if interrogators must follow the Geneva Conventions, prompting this editorial response from the NY Times:

To some degree, he is following a script for the elections: terrify Americans into voting Republican. But behind that seems to be a deeply seated conviction that under his leadership, America is right and does not need the discipline of rules. He does not seem to understand that the rules are what makes this nation as good as it can be.

The president's threats failed to impress the three Republican senators (McCain, Graham, and Warner) who argue that tortured confessions and trials based on secret evidence do not serve American interests. Perhaps someone in the White House noticed that the weekend headlines were about Republicans fighting Republicans, not the kind of reading that encourages GOP prospects in the upcoming elections. Suddenly the White House is making noise about a possible compromise.