by TChris

Tom DeLay may not be off the hook on a charge that he conspired to violate the Texas election code. The charge was dismissed last year, leaving DeLay to face a money laundering charge. An intermediate appellate court affirmed the dismissal, but the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has agreed to review that decision.

[B]y accepting the case for review, the high court likely pushed any trial in DeLay's case off until next year. No date for oral arguments has been set.

by TChris

Colin Powell is the latest Republican to stand up to President Bush's plan to reinterpret the Geneva Conventions to permit the abusive interrogation of detainees.

"The world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight against terrorism," Powell said. "To redefine [a portion of the Geneva Convention] would add to those doubts."

Powell also agrees with the argument that Americans captured in foreign countries are at greater risk of abuse if the U.S. unilaterally rewrites the Geneva Conventions.

Update: Here's the letter.

I have a brief due and other work-related stuff. Here's an open thread for you today.

West Virginia will become the first state in the country to bust drug users using the new EyeTech technology.

It is being made possible by a $2 million grant from Congressman Alan Mollohan, and will allow local law enforcement officials to receive training. The training will help them bust drug users, by learning the physiological signs, and through scanning the individual's eyes with the EyeCheck device.

The device looks like binoculars, and in seconds it scans an individuals pupils to detect a problem. "They'll be able to tell if they're on drugs, and what kind, whether marijuana, cocaine, or alcohol. Or even in the case of a tractor trailer driver, is he too tired to drive his rig?" said Ohio County Sheriff Tom Burgoyne.

The device can also detect abnormalities from chemical and biological effects, as well as natural disasters.

Can it also pick up the dry cleaning? Sounds like a hype and junk science to me.

by TChris

The White House wants to "reinterpret" the Geneva Conventions to permit a more aggressive approach to the interrogation of prisoners. John Negroponte told recalcitrant Republican senators that the Conventions "impose intolerable limits on any interrogation methods American intelligence officers might use against future terror suspects held by the Central Intelligence Agency in secret overseas prisons."

Those limits protect American soldiers from abuse and torture. It is intolerable that an administration official would advocate the weakening of an international agreement that safeguards captured Americans.

According to the NY Times, President Bush is "trying to put Democrats in a box by forcing them to take a stand and vote on Mr. Bush's authority to run two of his most controversial antiterror programs." Do Democrats need to be "forced" to take a stand against torture? Shouldn't we expect Democrats to stand in favor of long-standing agreements that assure humane treatment of American prisoners?

Talk show producers are relentless when trying to get guests with first-hand knowledge of a tragedy. They circle like wolves, cajoling and promising fair treatment.

That's not what Melissa Duckett got from Nancy Grace's show this week when she agreed to an on-air telephone interview with Nancy. She got cross-examined and practically accused of being responsible for her son's disappearance.

The interview was taped on September 7 and scheduled to air September 8. Hours before it aired, Ms. Duckett went to her grandparents' home, took a shotgun and killed herself.

Police have not named Ms. Duckett as a suspect in her son's disappearance, although she appears to be a person of interest to them (as are all parents in such cases.)

Duckett's family members disputed any suggestion that she hurt her son. They said that the strain of her son's disappearance pushed her to the brink, and the media sent her over the edge.

David Brock of Media Matters writes a great letter to ABC and Disney. First, he lists the film's major errors:

In fact, the miniseries was so rife with errors that even some conservatives spoke out against it. The first part of the film not only misrepresents some Clinton administration officials but also provides false depictions of others, including, reportedly, former FBI counterterrorism expert John O'Neill, who died on September 11, 2001, in the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, where he was head of security.

The second half of the miniseries, which aired on September 11, also contained scenes that were factually inaccurate, this time showing President Bush taking aggressive action there is no indication he ever took. For example, in the film, Vice President Dick Cheney, after conversing with Bush over the phone immediately following the crash of American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon, announced: "The president has just given the shoot-down order." Vanity Fair published an analysis of the recordings from the control room at NORAD's Northeast headquarters from September 11, 2001, indicating that Bush did not actually give the order to shoot down the hijacked airplanes; he authorized military commanders to make the decision themselves, and he did not grant that authorization until 41 minutes after Flight 77 had struck the Pentagon.

Catholics for a Free Choice (CFFC) reports that the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue has lost its tax-exempt status.

Bob Novak has a new column today disputing Richard Armitage's version of the Valerie Plame leak.

First, Armitage did not, as he now indicates, merely pass on something he had heard and that he ''thought'' might be so. Rather, he identified to me the CIA division where Mrs. Wilson worked, and said flatly that she recommended the mission to Niger by her husband, former Amb. Joseph Wilson. Second, Armitage did not slip me this information as idle chitchat, as he now suggests. He made clear he considered it especially suited for my column.

Novak writes that June, 2003 was the first time Armitage had sought him out. Before this, Armitage had rebuffed him:

First, the bad news. MSNBC has terminated its relationship with Eric Alterman, writer of its best blog, Altercation.

The good news: Altercation will be moving to Media Matters, where Eric will be a senior fellow.

Update your bookmarks, the new Altercation will be here, starting Sept. 18.

When I started TalkLeft in 2002, Altercation was one of my favorite blogs. Eric was gracious enough to link to it early on. After that, he let me help select and update the list of bloggers on his blogroll and guest write Altercation numerous times when he was out of town, which I continued to do through this summer.

I suspect the higher-ups at MSNBC want to limit themselves to blogs by their tv anchors, reporters and political analysts, in hopes that they can internally feed viewers and readers to each other. There's nothing wrong with that, but still, MSNBC is losing its most independent and provacative voice, and for that I'm sad.

On the other hand, kudos to Media Matters for having the foresight and wisdom to add Eric to their ever-growing team.

(Guest Post by Big Tent Democrat)

So the question is will Iran stand up so the U.S. can stand down?:

In his first state visit to Iran, Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki today discussed the security situation in Iraq with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran and asked for Mr. Ahmadinejad's support in quelling the violence that threatens to fracture this country.

"We had a good discussion with Mr. Ahmadinejad," Mr. Maliki said at a news conference in Tehran, the Iranian capital, after the two met. "Even in security issues, there is no barrier in the way of cooperation." Mr. Ahmadinejad said that "Iran will give its assistance to establish complete security in Iraq because Iraq's security is Iran's security."

For Mr. Maliki, the visit was a kind of homecoming, since he had spent a part of his exile years during Saddam Hussein's rule living in Tehran. Many members of Mr. Maliki's Shiite political group, the Islamic Dawa Party, fled to Iran to escape the wrath of Mr. Hussein's security forces. Iranian leaders are close to Dawa and other religious Iraqi Shiite parties, because Iran is governed by Shiite Persians.

Iran wins. So what about that Axis of Evil?

by TChris

This TalkLeft post criticized President Bush (and the media) for promoting the nonsensical phrase "Islamic fascist." Senator Feingold yesterday echoed that criticism.

"We must avoid using misleading and offensive terms that link Islam with those who subvert this great religion or who distort its teachings to justify terrorist activities," Feingold said Tuesday in a speech to the Arab American Institute on Capitol Hill. ...

"Fascist ideology doesn't have anything to do with the way global terrorist networks think or operate and it doesn't have anything to do with the overwhelming majority of Muslims around the world who practice the peaceful teachings of Islam," Feingold said.

Predictably, the spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee dismissed Feingold's call for the president to stop slandering a religion, accusing Feingold of "overreaching political correctness."