by TChris

As TalkLeft noted here, Ohio Gov. Bob Taft was convicted of four misdemeanors for failing to report gifts (primarily golf outings) on his financial disclosure statements. The Ohio Supreme Court's disciplinary counsel today filed a disciplinary complaint that could affect Taft's license to practice law.

In today's complaint, Disciplinary Counsel Jonathan E. Coughlan wrote, "Improper conduct on the part of an attorney in government service is more likely to harm the entire system of government in terms of public trust.'' Coughlan said Taft was aware of Ohio disclosure laws and their requirements

Update: Skilling is on the stand. He says he's "absolutely innocent."

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The Enron trial is going into its last phases. Monday, Jeff Skilling takes the stand, hoping to exonerate himself. Later, Ken Lay will do the same.

Skilling says he's ready, and it's time.

The former chief executive's testimony will probably cover familiar ground, namely statements he made during two congressional hearings in February 2002. But with his attorneys asking the questions, he will be allowed to tell uninterrupted his version of the Enron saga.

What will Skilling say?

by TChris

Vice President Cheney, who shot Harry Whittington after mistaking him for a quail, should have learned the consequences of careless hunting when he was "pelted" with a shotgun blast while hunting in the late 1990's.

Cheney wasn't hurt but he was miffed, [Bob] Forrest told the [Albuquerque] Journal.

''He said, 'You guys watch where you're shooting!' He was very offended,'' Forrest said.

A good safety tip from the "offended" Cheney: "Watch where you're shooting!"

An Administration official has been dispatched by Bush (or was it Karl Rove?) to distance Bush from Libby's leak to select reporters of portions of the NIE report about whether Saddam was in the process of acquiring uranium to build WMD's. The New York Times reports:

A senior administration official confirmed for the first time on Sunday that President Bush had ordered the declassification of parts of a prewar intelligence report on Iraq in an effort to rebut critics who said the administration had exaggerated the nuclear threat posed by Saddam Hussein. But the official said that Mr. Bush did not designate Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby Jr., or anyone else, to release the information to reporters

.....The official responded briefly via e-mail on Sunday to questions from The New York Times.....the [official's] disclosure seemed intended to suggest that Mr. Bush might have played only a peripheral role in the release of the classified material and was uninformed about the specifics -- like the effort to dispatch Mr. Libby to discuss the estimate with reporters.

The Sopranos starts now. It looks like tonight is going to feature Meadow and her fiancee, but the actual description says. "Johnny files a petition to attend his daughter's wedding and Tony hires a new bodyguard." It's called "Mr. & Mrs. John Sacrimoni Request."

I think last week's was the best of the season so far -- so did several commenters. Let us all know what you think of tonight's show. And if you're not into the Sopranos, please just scroll on by.

Raw Story has a scoop on an article to appear in tomorrow's New York Times:

"Just months ago there was cause for optimism about the spread of democracy in the Arab world, with elections held in Iraq, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian areas," the New York Times plans to report in Monday editions, RAW STORY has learned. "But the momentum is fast ebbing, with delays in reform efforts, legal maneuvers and official changes of heart throughout the Middle East."

"The unexpected rise of Islamists, the newfound power of Shiites in Iraq with the implication of growing Iranian influence, and the sense among some rulers that they can wait out the end of the Bush administration -- which has begun facing domestic and Republican criticism for its focus on forcing democracy -- have all put the brakes on democratization, analysts and officials say."

The official British report on the July bombings in London is about to be released. The four suicide bombers were not acting for al Qaeda. They were home grown terrorists who hatched a cheap plan via the Internet.

In an interview with the Observer, Labor MP Ayn Clwyd, who is Tony Blair's personal envoy on human rights, levels some harsh criticism at the U.S. for its prison policies in Iraq, which she says has resulted in missing and abused Iraqi prisoners.

Iraqis arrested by coalition forces have disappeared into a 'black hole' with no records of where they are being held, Tony Blair's personal envoy on human rights has warned. Ann Clwyd said if the scandal of the missing prisoners had been taken more seriously from the start by the US, it could have helped prevent the abuse of detainees in their jails.

Clwyd rarely speaks publicly on the issue. She highlighted two cases in the interview, and told of her attempts to get responses from Stephen Hadley, Paul Bremer and Paul Wolfowitz:

Seymour Hersh, whose new article on Bush formulating a plan to attack Iran I wrote about yesterday, was on CNN's Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer this morning.

Crooks and Liars has the video.

Check out these transcript highlights (received by e-mail from the show):

Why Hersh believes Bush feels compelled to attack Iran

HERSH: The word I hear is messianic. He thinks, as I wrote, that he's the only one now who will have the courage to do it. He's politically free. I don't think he's overwhelmingly concerned about the '06 elections, congressional elections. I think he really thinks he has a chance, and this is going to be his mission.

Is the U.S. capable of attacking Iran now?

by Last Night in Little Rock

In an astonding performance, Rep. J. D. Hayworth, R-AZ, declared on Meet the Press that "Immigration Reform" is the most significant issue facing America today. (Streaming video of "Meet the Press" is posted at Noon ET on MSNBC.com).

In a sound bite laden appearance, Rep. Hayworth, representing a border state, and a Republican up for re-election, apparently feels that the wasteful and distasteful War in Iraq, our fostering civil war in Iraq, and the President's treason by security leak, can all be swept under the rug until after the election.

At UCLA this weekend, attendees at the Faces of Wrongful Conviction Conference, got to hear first hand from those whom the system in California failed.

One by one they ascended the stage and introduced themselves, each an embodiment of the legal system's fallibility in California. My name is Herman Atkins," a tall ponytailed man said. "The state of California stole 12 years of my life for a rape and robbery I did not commit in Riverside."

"Good morning, my name is Gloria Killian," a well-spoken middle-aged woman said. "The state stole 22 years of my life for a robbery and murder I did not commit in Sacramento." "Good morning. My name is Ken Marsh," a third speaker said. "The state took 21 years of my life for a murder I did not commit in San Diego in 1983."

Seventeen people in all reiterated the point to a packed ballroom at UCLA on Saturday: that although they now were free, countless other innocent people are imprisoned in the state. ...They took part in the event, called "The Faces of Wrongful Conviction," to dramatize the flaws in the state's criminal justice system.

Monday there will be another national round of pro-immigrant rallies. This time, it is expected that other ethnic groups will join in what up to now has mostly been Latinos.

Koreans said they will march in Philadelphia and Los Angeles, banging traditional protest drums. Chinese said they will parade out of Chinatowns in San Francisco, New York, Chicago and Philadelphia, led by marchers wearing colorful dragon costumes. Haitians said they will be heard in Miami and New York, and Africans said they will be among the tens of thousands who will gather at the Washington Monument.

While the majority of the undocumented in the U.S. are Latino, other groups have a vested interest in immigration reform.