by TChris

It has frequently been suggested that if English is to be enshrined as the national language, the president should learn to speak it. This editorial opines that President Bush is merely enriching the language with words of his own invention.

"Suicider" is in none of the standard dictionaries, not even the 12-volume Oxford English Dictionary considered the definitive standard. At least the word is not there yet; the president is a determined individual.

He used "suicider" again Tuesday. Four times. In the White House. In the stately East Room. At a serious diplomatic function. In front of a visiting head of government, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. How much more serious can you get?

So there it is. "Suicider" is a for-real word. The Decider has spoken.

Meanwhile, Dan Froomkin argues that the president's obsession with "suiciders" is out of touch with the reality of the violence in Iraq.

A Department of Justice official has denied an ABC News' report that House Leader Denny Hastert is under investigation in the corruption probe connected to Jack Abramoff, as reported by ABC News' Brian Ross yesterday.

Hastert is demanding ABC News retract its story. Hastert's statement is here (pdf).

Raw Story reports ABC News is standing by Ross' story. From ABC:

Patrick Fitzgerald has filed another response (pdf) to Scooter Libby's motion to compel documents. He includes portions of Libby's grand jury testimony from March 4 and March 24 as exhibits (pdf).

An AP report of tonight's filing is here, with a headline that Cheney may be called as a witness in Libby's trial. What Fitzgerald really said is, with respect to the issue of authenticating the copy of Joseph Wilson's July 6 New York Times op-ed with Cheney's hand-written notes on it (discussed here) that there are three ways to authenticate the article, one of which would be by calling Cheney as a witness. Fitz adds:

Contrary to defendant's assertion, the government has not represented that it does not intend to call the Vice President as a witness at trial. To the best of government's counsel's recollection, the government has not commented on whether it intends to call the Vice President as a witness.

Fitzgerald is clearly gung-ho to introduce Cheney's hand-annotated copy of Wilson's column into evidence at trial. Cheney had written on the article:

by TChris

More than 175 people have been exonerated by post-conviction DNA testing. The Justice Project brings you the details of recent DNA exonerations in New York and Pennsylvania, along with the disturbing report of a Tennessee judge who has refused to permit DNA testing that might save an inmate from execution. Just as disturbing:

At this time, no state provides, as an absolute right, access to post-conviction DNA testing.

The Justice Project is trying to change that. Here's how you can help.

Karl Rove is going about business as usual. He met with the Republican rank and file today about immigration. This doesn't sound like a man who fears an imminent indictment, although, even if he did, what choice would he have but to carry on his regular duties?

The media also seems to be letting up on the attacks on Jason Leopold. Keith Olbermann on Countdown last night noted (as I did yesterday morning) that Jason Leopold beat the the New York Daily News by two months in reporting about Robert Grenier's connection to the Scooter Libby case. Jason's article was written March 18, the day after Libby's lawyers revealed it in a pleading.

Keith said:

As Attorney General Alberto Gonzales defends the NSA warrantless surveillance using a 1979 case on pen registers, the ACLU has filed complaints in 20 states today to stop Bush's warrantless surveillance of our phone records.

In nationally-coordinated filings the ACLU and its supporters are demanding action at the FCC in Washington and in the following states: Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia and Washington.

The group also has taken out ads in major newspapers today.

The Herald Sun reports on a new round of attacks on the Duke lacrosse accuser's credibility in the alleged rape case.

For example, three defense sources, who asked not to be identified, said a forensic examination of the alleged victim found no tearing, bleeding or other injury associated with a sexual assault. Instead, the exam detected only swelling in the accuser's vagina and tenderness in her breasts and lower right body, the sources said.

by TChris

Reasonable arguments can be made that laws should require drivers to wear seat belts, or that motorcylists should be required to wear helmets, because society often bears the cost of injuries that exceed insurance coverage. Others reasonably argue that the government should allow individuals to make their own judgments about the costs and benefits of using seat belts or helmets.

Putting that debate aside, states that mandate seat belt use must decide whether the police should be allowed to stop a vehicle solely because the officer suspects that someone in the car hasn't buckled up. The Massachusetts House wisely declined to give the police the power to stop motorists solely to write a seat belt ticket. About half the states permit only "secondary enforcement" of seat belt laws, permitting seat belt enforcement when the police make a traffic stop for some other traffic violation while prohibiting traffic stops just to write a seat belt ticket.

by TChris

The company that manufactures Tasers bases its safety claims on tests conducted on pigs. Pigs aren't people. Although a pig's heart and an adult human heart are similar in size, a thicker layer of fat and muscle protects the pig's heart.

A researcher who stripped away some of that fat and muscle to more closely replicate human anatomy found that Taser shocks kill pigs when the Taser dart delivers a shock within 17 millimeters from the heart. So much for the theory that Tasers are always safe -- a theory that has been debunked by the fatalities that have occurred when humans have been shot by Tasers.

Amnesty International has linked over 150 deaths to Tasers since 2001, according to one of its reports.

TalkLeft's Taser coverage is collected here.

by TChris

After criticizing Haley Barbour for refusing to pardon Clyde Kennard, TalkLeft praised Judge Robert Helfrich for vacating Kennard's conviction. Kennard was wrongly accused of buying stolen chicken feed and sentenced to prison after he tried to enroll in an all-white university in Mississippi.

This happy ending is under attack by Richard Barrett. Sadly, Barrett is a lawyer. He's also the newspaper editor for the white supremacist organization the Nationalist Movement. He filed a petition asking Judge Helfrich to reverse his decision on the ground that Helfrich had no authority to act.

Barrett filed his petition on behalf of five "common folks" from Central Mississippi.

Barrett professes to be concerned that the correction of racial injustice might become a trend that will lead to the renaming of Forrest County, "because its namesake is Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest - founder of the Ku Klux Klan." And that would be a bad thing why?

Lloyd Bentsen, 85, Former Senator, Secretary of the Treasury and Vice Presidential candidate on the 1988 Democratic ticket with Michael Dukakis has died at his home in Texas. He had had two strokes in recent years. His most priceless moment came during his 1988 debate with Dan Quayle:

Quayle: ... I have far more experience than many others that sought the office of vice president this country. I have as much experience in the Congress as Jack Kennedy did when he sought the presidency. I will be prepared to deal with the people in the Bush administration if that unfortunate event would ever occur.

Moderator: Senator Bentsen.

Bentsen: Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy.

R.I.P., Senator Bentson

by Last Night in Little Rock

Over the weekend, the FBI searched the Congressional office of Rep. William Jefferson, and Republicans in the House are crying "foul" and "separation of powers." See House Leaders Question F.B.I. Search on NYTimes.com today.

As readers of this website and FourthAmendment.com have undoubtedly noticed, I tend to lean toward the citizen on Fourth Amendment claims. I also read the cases everyday, and I know the trends and what the courts can do and not do with particular facts. I am also a Fourth Amendment realist seeking to balance individual privacy and government need.