by TChris

The administration complains that news reports from Iraq enhance the negative and omit the positive. What "positive" event could be more newsworthy than this?

More Iraqi civilians were killed in Baghdad during the first three months of this year than at any time since the toppling of Saddam Hussein's regime -- at least 3,800, most of them found hog-tied and shot execution-style.

Others were strangled, electrocuted, stabbed, garroted or hanged. Some died in bombings. Many bore signs of torture such as bruises, drill holes, burn marks, gouged eyes or severed limbs.

by TChris

First they attacked Roe v. Wade, now they're going after Griswold v. Connecticut. The next culture war (as if we need another one) will be waged over contraception, according to this article in the NY Times Magazine.

"We see a direct connection between the practice of contraception and the practice of abortion," says Judie Brown, president of the American Life League, an organization that has battled abortion for 27 years but that, like others, now has a larger mission. "The mind-set that invites a couple to use contraception is an antichild mind-set," she told me. "So when a baby is conceived accidentally, the couple already have this negative attitude toward the child. Therefore seeking an abortion is a natural outcome. We oppose all forms of contraception."

Contraception prevents abortion, an obvious reality that doesn't deter this crowd from arguing that sex without procreative intent is "anti-child." Sex without procreative intent is fun, and it seems a hard sell to convince people otherwise. The article informs us that a growing number of evangelicals are trying to do just that.

by Last Night in Little Rock

From Crooks and Liars is a video clip, posted today and reprised from January from Keith Olberman's Countdown on MSNBC where a General with the NSA doesn't even know what the Fourth Amendment says. And to think that these bozos are determining what is right or wrong when the NSA decides to seize our communications.

Read the transcript on Crooks and Liars or Countdown. It is pathetic. Olberman's final observation:

by TChris

For the reasons TalkLeft discussed here and here and here and here and in many other posts, the Real ID Act is a bad law. TalkLeft's take:

This is a quick fix that won't do anything to stop terrorists or enhance our safety. It will only further diminish our privacy rights. Can anyone say, "Your Papers Please?"

As TalkLeft predicted here, states are starting to balk at implementing the law.

They say the law -- which requires states to use sources like birth certificates and national immigration databases to verify that people applying for or renewing driver's licenses are American citizens or legal residents -- will be too expensive and difficult to put in place by the May 2008 deadline. Another issue is the privacy impact of the requirement that states share, through databases, the personal information needed for a driver's license.

The Earl Washington case stands out in my mind as one of the most egregious wrongful conviction cases. Washington is retarded, and his confession to rape and murder consisted of details supplied by the interrogating officer. While ultimately DNA cleared Washington of involvement in the rape and murder, as Richard Cohen pointed out in this 2001 Washington Post article, the case is less about how he was saved by DNA than how he was almost murdered by police.

Yesterday, a jury awarded Washington $2.25 million in damages from the interrogating cop's estate, finding he had fabricated Washington's confession.

Earl Washington Jr., who came within nine days of being executed, had sued the estate of the state police investigator, Curtis Reese Wilmore, who died in 1994. Jurors awarded Washington damages upon finding that Wilmore deliberately fabricated evidence that led to his conviction and death sentence.

How popular is Ambien? I took this photo at baggage claim last year while picking up the TL kid. It was a large indoor billboard right by the carousels. More on that here.

The Washington Post has a funny article about Ambien users today.

After all these beautiful nights together, according to recent news reports, the Ambien zombies are arising against their will to gorge themselves at the fridge, or take the wheel, or do something illegal. It wasn't me, officer; it was Ambien.

...We are lagged-out, pajama-wearing drifters -- lost in the gap between slumber and wakey-wakey, even though Ambien's manufacturer, Sanofi-Aventis, implores users to follow the directions, as always: Take the drug only when you're on your way to (or already in) bed, and only when you have seven or eight uninterrupted hours to devote to sleep; don't take it with booze; make sure your doctor knows if you're taking anything else. Which is good advice, but is often met with "blah blah blah."

In February, TChris wrote about the death of 14 year old Martin Anderson at a Florida boot camp. The first autopsy said Anderson died of causes related to sickle-cell anemia, rather than the beating he sustained by guards.

A second autopsy has been performed. It concludes guards suffocated Anderson while trying to restrain him.

A female, lesbian Duke student alleges she was raped by a male student following a dorm pot-smoking, drinking party on the last day of classes. The male denies they had sex.

DA Mike Nifong says it's not his job to be involved unless police ask for his help.

"The Duke lacrosse case was very different from the way we normally get rape cases," Nifong said. "The District Attorney's Office is normally not contacted during the course of an investigation unless the law enforcement agency needs some special kind of assistance," such as obtaining a court order, he said. "That has not been the case in [the latest] investigation."

Duke police did get a search warrant and order for DNA testing. Nifong's explanation:

by TChris

This question has occurred to many:

"They say a grand jury will indict a ham sandwich. I'm beginning to wonder if a regular jury will convict it," the 49-year-old Queens man said.

The question was posed by David Lipshultz, a juror in the trial of Osama Awadallah. The perjury trial ended with a hung jury yesterday. Lipschultz was the only juror who refused to convict. Today he explains his reasoning:

by TChris

The Bush administration wants to make it easier for law enforcement agencies to wiretap calls made over the internet. The FCC made its pitch to a panel of federal judges today, and the response is priceless:

A judge said the government's courtroom arguments were "gobbledygook."

The judge also characterized the arguments as "nonsense." It gets even better:

"Your argument makes no sense," U.S. Circuit Judge Harry T. Edwards told the lawyer for the Federal Communications Commission, Jacob Lewis. "When you go back to the office, have a big chuckle. I'm not missing this. This is ridiculous. Counsel!"

Bump and Update: Patrick Kennedy announced today he will be entering rehab due to a prescription drug problem.

Kudos to him for acknowledging a difficult personal issue and dealing with it.

*********
Original Post 5/4/06

Rep. Patrick Kennedy, son of Ted Kennedy, drove to the capitol last night around 2:30 am believing he had to vote. He had taken Ambien and Phenergan for gastroenteritis.

He crashed his car into a security guard rail and was not hurt. He also got in a car accident three weeks ago at 10:00 a.m. He is adamant no alchohol was involved. He says the drugs made him disoriented.

by TChris

Breaking news:

CIA Director Porter Goss has resigned, President Bush said Friday.

Wonkette asks whether this abrupt announcement precedes new news of a scandal.

Update: Here's "a primer on the connection between Goss and the Cunningham scandal," courtesy of Think Progress.