Former CNN Cross Fire host Bill Press unexpectedly spent Easter weekend in the hospital, emerging with a new pacemaker. He writes about it here.

Blogger Cathy Seipp yesterday wrote about her troubles with Blue Cross Blue Shield --a healthy, non-smoker, she was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer four years ago. Her op-ed about it was in yesterday's LA Times. Kevin Drum wrote about Seipp's article here.

How can we not provide health insurance to everyone? As Press writes:

How can we, the richest nation on the planet, give tax cuts to the ultra-wealthy - while 45 million Americans have no health insurance whatsoever?

If we can afford the war in Iraq...If we can afford $10 trillion in tax cuts for the rich...We can afford basic health care for all Americans. The only reason we don't have universal health care is because - We have our priorities ass-backwards.

My solution: Boot the Republicans from Congress in 2006.

It's not just the absurdity of Texas judge Keith Dean's sentencing a teen to life in prison for smoking pot once while on probation for a $2.00 stickup, it's also the disparity.

First, the story of the teen:

First came the poor man, barely 17 years old - too young to buy beer or vote, but an adult under the Texas penal code. He took part in a $2 stickup in which no one got hurt. He pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery and was put on 10 years of probation. He broke the rules once, by smoking marijuana. A Dallas judge responded in the harshest possible way: He replaced the original sentence with a life term in prison.

There Tyrone Brown sits today, 16 years later, tattooed and angry and pondering self-destruction. "I've tried suicide a few times," he writes. "What am I to make of a life filled with failure, including failing to end my life?"

Now the story of the businessman on probation for murder who smoked crack and failed numerous drug tests. The same judge let him stay on probation.

Many more people are just now learning of the flaws in eyewitness identification procedures used by police around the country due to the Duke Lacrosse case (background here).

A study has just been released in Illinois, touted as the first of its kind, that casts doubt on the efficacy of sequential, double blind lineups, which researchers have determined in recent years are necessary to improve the reliability of eyewitness identifications.

The report is available here. (pdf.)

The problem is, many say the study was flawed. Particularly because the double-blind procedure wasn't uniformly utilized. In the double blind procedure, the person administering the test does not know the identity of the suspect. That way he can't influence the eyewitness' selection.

by TChris

As TalkLeft reported here, James Tobin was indicted for participating in a scheme to jam telephone lines used by Democrats in a "get-out-the-vote" drive on Election Day 2002. He was convicted in December of conspiracy to commit telephone harassment. Suspiciously, the Republican National Committee has been paying Tobin's legal bills. Tobin plans to appeal his conviction, and "Robert Kelner, outside counsel to the Republican National Committee, said he's unsure if the committee will continue to foot Tobin's legal bills."

Why would they? Perhaps to keep Tobin happy. Tobin, after all, could explain why he made about two dozen telephone calls to the White House from the day before the election to the day after. Ken Mehlman, who was then the White House political director, says the calls were routine. Is it routine for the RNC to pay the legal bills of Republicans who try to thwart fair elections?

As courts consider whether execution by lethal injection constitutes cruel and unusual punishment due to pain caused by the chemicals used, Human Rights Watch has released a 65 page report on the practice, titled So Long as They Die. (Text of report is here, html.)

The report focuses on 12 executions where it appeared the inmate suffered pain. Dr. Mark Dershwitz, a professor of anesthesiology at the U. Mass Medical Center told HRW there is a better way -- a single dose of pentobarbitol. The downside, he said, is it could take up to a half-hour for the heart to stop. As to why not a single state has made the switch, Dershwitz said:

by TChris

When the Kennebec County Democratic Committee debated the pros and cons of a resolution endorsing the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney, they "rather quickly ran out of cons," said Chairperson Rita Moran. The resolution passed easily, and the Maine committee isn't alone in its desire for accountability.

In New England, where three of Massachusetts' 10 House members have called for the investigation and possible impeachment of President Bush, and residents in four Vermont towns voted last month at annual town meetings to impeach the president for lying, such an action is becoming far from uncommon.

Illinois State Rep. Karen Yarbrough recently "sponsored a resolution calling on the General Assembly to submit charges to the U.S. House so its lawmakers could begin impeachment proceedings." California Assemblyman Paul Koretz "has submitted amendments to Assembly Joint Resolution No. 39, calling for the impeachment of President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard Cheney."

by TChris

Every U.S. inspection of a detention center in Iraq between November and February yielded evidence of prisoner abuse. Severe abuse was uncovered at two centers. Despite last November's pledge by Gen. Peter Pace that troops would stop inhumane treatment if they saw it -- a pledge that prompted some jousting between Pace and Rumsfeld about the duty to "report" abuse (Rumsfeld's view) versus the duty to "stop" abuse (Pace's view) -- the military hasn't taken consistent action to protect the abused prisoners.

Instead, according to U.S. and Iraqi officials, only a handful of the most severely abused detainees at a single site were removed for medical treatment. Prisoners at two other sites were removed to alleviate overcrowding. U.S. and Iraqi authorities left the rest where they were. This practice of leaving the detainees in place has raised concerns that detainees now face additional threats.

According to Washington Post interviews, one Iraqi official involved in the inspections suspects that the U.S. doesn't want to publicize evidence that Iraq's Interior Ministry is actively involved in the mistreatment of detainees, for fear of further destabilizing a fragile government.

by TChris

Herman Atkins had never been to Lake Elsinore, but he was convicted of robbing and raping a woman he found working in a Lake Elsinore shoe store. His father was in the highway patrol, and he'd heard of wrongful convictions, but he never thought it would happen to him. Two women identified his photo, and his blood type was the same as that of the person whose semen was found on the victim's sweater. He served more than a decade in prison before DNA testing exonerated him.

Eyewitness misidentification is the leading cause of wrongful conviction, said Gerald Uelmen, a law professor and executive director of the state Senate-created Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice.

What's Atkins doing now? After failing to find a job, Atkins went to college, then opened a vending machine business. Now he's working as a social worker and pursuing a graduate degree in psychology. Atkins started the LIFE Foundation, a program that assists the wrongfully convicted with basic necessities after their release. As TalkLeft reported, Atkins recently participated in the Faces of Wrongful Conviction conference.

For those of you up early or with a TIVO, Good Morning America has a live interview with Bruce Springsteen this morning, and a live performance will air Tuesday:

Bruce Springsteen with the Seeger Sessions Band on "Good Morning America."

Bruce Springsteen will debut music from his new DualDisc CD "We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions" for the U.S. television audience when "Good Morning America" broadcasts his first live TV performance with the Seeger Sessions Band on Tuesday morning, April 25, live from his upcoming tour rehearsals at Asbury Park, N.J.'s Convention Hall.

Now, how do I transfer the Tivo recording to my iPod with video player? Or, will iTunes offer it for download?

Update: CBS has a recap of this morning's testimony.

*******
It's Ken Lay's turn on the witness stand today as the Enron trial winds down. His defense will be he's an optimist, not a crook.

He will try to convince jurors that what prosecutors call fraud was really the misdirected power of positive thinking.

...Lay insists that he refused to dwell on problems and focused instead on good news in an honest belief that he could right the ship when it listed in late 2001. That, Lay's defense lawyers argue, is not enough to send a man to prison for what could be the rest of his life.

Where does this optimism come from?

It's time for our Sunday night Soprano's Open Thread. Tonight's episode:

Artie's business is jeopardized by a rival restaurant and staff scandal; Christopher and Little Carmine pursue a new venture out of town.

I hope it's as good as the past two weeks.

Arianna takes a break from Washington politics today to write about gender politics and how women are different when it comes to money. She's in the midst of writing a book, On Becoming Fearless: Advice for Women.

She grabbed my attention with the "bag lady" line.

But fearlessness about money isn't just about having money. Which is to say, having a lot of money doesn't necessarily mean you've conquered your fears surrounding money. Poverty consciousness is the fear that no matter how much wealth you have, it's never enough. Some of the richest women I know are still driven by a fear of ending up as bag ladies.