by TChris

Chicago police tortured black suspects in the 1970's and 1980's. This was no secret at the time, but now that a belated investigation confirms the outrageous misconduct, it's too late to prosecute.

''It is our judgment that the evidence in those cases would be sufficient to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt,'' Robert D. Boyle and Edward J. Egan wrote in a long-awaited report.

Their four-year investigation focused on allegations that detectives under the command of Lt. Jon Burge beat suspects, used electric shock on them, played mock Russian roulette and started to smother at least one man to elicit confessions. ...

Boyle and Egan's report said they found three cases with enough evidence to seek an indictment, including the suspect whose abuse allegations led to Burge's firing. That suspect, who was convicted of killing two police officers in 1982, claimed Burge and two detectives beat and tortured him with electric shocks. The special prosecutors also said they believe there was abuse in other cases that they reviewed but that the evidence wasn't as strong.

by TChris

Ralph Reed, darling of the Christian extremists, was unable to overcome the stink of his cozy relationship with Jack Abramoff in his first bid for public office. Reed conceded defeat in yesterday's Republican primary, ending his quest to become Georgia's lieutenant governor. More on Reed's failed candidacy here, here, and here.

by TChris

After finding excuses for five straight years to skip the NAACP's annual meeting, President Bush decided to attend this year's event, already underway. He'll speak to the gathering on Thursday.

Every president for the past several decades has spoken to the group. Until now, Bush had been the exception.

"The Decider" decided to miss Julian Bond's speech. It would have been harder for him to endure than Stephen Colbert's roast (Google video).

Bond recounted a recent meeting with Bush, during which he invited him to make the mile trip from the White House to the convention.

He then harshly criticized the administration, slamming it for the war in Iraq, for abusing civil liberties, using the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks as an excuse, and implementing an economic policy that gives to the rich and takes from the poor.

"They have continued an assault on our civil liberties and civil rights, orchestrated a mass transfer of wealth from the bottom to the top, increased poverty every year they've been in office, created dangerous deficits, substituted religion for science, ignored global warming and wrecked environmental protections," he said of the current administration.

Think Progress reports the New York Times has retracted its news article that misrepresented comments by Hillary Clinton. Good work by the liberal blogosphere that reported the falsehoods.

This is a victory for the progressive blogosphere, particularly Atrios, who first discovered the error, and Media Matters, which kept the story going. Some questions to consider:

Why did it take the New York Times more than 48 hours to correct the record? Will right-wing news sites that picked up the story like Drudge Report and Newsmax correct the record for their readers?

Here is the retraction, here's the original article.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales testfied before a Senate Committee today about the NSA warrantless electronic surveillance program. He made a startling admission: It was Bush himself who blocked Justice Department lawyers in the Office of Professional Responsibility from obtaining security clearances to conduct the investigation of the program that members of Congress had requested.

President Bush personally blocked a Justice Department investigation of the anti-terror eavesdropping program that intercepts Americans' international calls and e-mails, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Tuesday.

Bush refused to grant security clearances for department investigators who were looking into the role Justice lawyers played in crafting the program, under which the National Security Agency listens in on telephone calls and reads e-mail without court approval, Gonzales told the Senate Judiciary Committee. Without access to the sensitive program, the department's Office of Professional Responsibility closed its investigation in April.

I wrote about Congressman Hinchey's request at length back in May, linking to several of the letters exchanged between the OPR and Hinchey, it's a pretty good backgrounder if you want some history.

Note that the May 11 letter from Hinchey to the OPR directly asks, "Who made the decision not to give you clearance?"

Murray Waas has an excellent article that just came out about today's disclosure by Gonzales.

by TChris

In this Daily Kos diary, Sen. Russ Feingold explains why the Hamdan decision "undercuts the Administration's already weak legal argument in defense of its warrantless wiretapping program."

by TChris

Why isn't the public entitled to learn about the misconduct of a public employee whose salary is paid with public dollars? A Journal News editorial poses that legitimate question after the newspaper was denied access to information about officers in the Yonkers Police Department who were disciplined for unknown infractions.

How many officers? Which ones? Any repeat offenders? What were their offenses -- egregious dereliction of duty? Violation of citizens' rights? Violent behavior? Relatively harmless, technical fouls?

The public doesn't know -- and can't find out -- thanks to the secrecy permitted by a state law that should be changed. ...

"Those who have the greatest power and authority over the public should not be the least accountable to the public," the commission [on open government] has written in support of amending the law. "In terms of accountability, when the public cannot know which officers engaged in misconduct and which others are guiltless, the public is unable to know which officers can be trusted or are credible."

by TChris

Barring a successful appeal, Tom DeLay's name must stay on the ballot as the GOP candidate for the congressional seat he abandoned. It's widely assumed that DeLay, despite the distraction of a pending indictment, will campaign for the seat if that decision isn't overturned, but Roll Call (by way of Raw Story) reports that DeLay has been spending his campaign funds on lawyers, leaving him with little cash on hand to mount a campaign.

DeLay has only $641,000 in his campaign account, compared to $2.2 million available to the Democratic candidate, Nick Lampson. And DeLay's need for money to solve his legal woes won't end soon.

With legal bills still mounting -- DeLay faces a local trial later this year on campaign finance charges and the probe of ex-lobbyist Jack Abramoff continues -- he was originally expected to use all his leftover funds to pay a legal team that now includes lawyers from nine different firms.

by TChris

Senator Lindsey Graham wants to use the military court-martial model to try detainees, but other Republicans "say it could cripple the government's ability to protect the nation by giving detainees too many rights." Too many rights? Which ones are superfluous? The right to know what you're accused of doing? The right to see the evidence? The right to attend the trial and to confront the accuser?

While "some other Republicans argue that terrorists do not deserve legal or human rights," those Republicans apparently lack an understanding of the difference between a terrorist and an accused terrorist. Putting aside the rights that may apply to someone convicted of an act of terrorism in a fair and meaningful trial, can these Republicans explain why the presumption of innocence shouldn't apply to alleged terrorists? Even if the administration were competent, why would we trust the government to make error-free accusations without insisting that those accusations be proved?

As Graham points out, fair trials benefit the country, not just alleged terrorists.

I can't remember the last time I went to bed at 11:00 pm, but I'm headed there now because I have to get up at 4:30 a.m. to make an early flight for court in another city. Since that's the way it is, here's an open thread. All topics are welcome, except Duke which has it's own thread going as well as the TalkLeft Duke forums.

If I get any free time waiting around the airport, I'll check in, otherwise it may be Wednesday before I'm back to blogging. I'm also pretty bummed because tonight is Hunter Thompson's birthday party in Aspen, and even though I've been invited, I can't go because I won't be back from court in time to get there.

Distance: 540 miles

There's no relief yet from the heat wave gripping the country. At least Denver has little humidity which makes it slightly more bearable. Except I'll be in court in Omaha tomorrow where I'm not likely to be so lucky.

For all who are suffering, here's a little musical relief -- a double header-- Martha and the Vandellas singing "Heat Wave" and The Lovin' Spoonful doing "Summer in the City."

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has laid out conditions to end the fighting in Lebanon:

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the fighting in Lebanon would end when two soldiers captured by Hezbollah guerrillas are freed, rocket attacks on Israel have stopped, and the Lebanese army is deployed along the border. This appeared to be a concession by Israel, which had previously demanded the full dismantling of Hezbollah as a condition for ending hostilities

The Iranian Foreign Minister has arrived in Syria for talks and says a cease-fire and prisoner exchange is probably do-able.

As for Bush's recorded private conversation with Blair in which he used an expletive to describe Hezbollah, Crooks and Liars has the video and here's Bush's comment: