by TChris

As TalkLeft reported here, after 14 year old Martin Anderson died in a Florida boot camp, a medical examiner opined that "sickle cell trait" caused Anderson's death. Martin's parents believe that Martin died as the result of a beating inflicted by boot camp guards -- a beating that was captured on videotape.

A new autopsy supports the parents.

[Dr. Michael Baden, a noted pathologist hired by Anderson's family who observed the second autopsy that was conducted on the teenager's body, said] Monday that the teen probably died from a beating by guards, not sickle cell trait, a usually benign blood disorder, as the medical examiner in the county where the camp was located initially ruled.

"My opinion is that he died because of what you see in the videotape," said Dr. Michael Baden, referring to a surveillance tape showing guards kicking and punching Martin Lee Anderson's limp body the day before he died.

by TChris

The news from Iraq continues to be gruesome:

Police in the past 24 hours have found the bodies of at least 85 people killed by execution-style shootings -- a gruesome wave of apparent sectarian reprisal slayings, officials said today.

The dead included at least 27 bodies stacked in a mass grave in an eastern Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad.

Yesterday belonged to Moussaoui and the Feingold censure resolution. What will it be today? Here's a start, feel free to add on:

• Arianna rips Marie Brenner's Vanity Fair article on PlameGate
• Atrios on Religion and Politics
• Josh Marshall says former Bush Aide Claude Allen may use the "evil twin defense" in his shoplifting case
• Raw Story gets an awesome bloglift (y.w.c.t.p.)
• Skippy says the "wartime president defense" (meaning don't attack the President during war time) is lame.
• Patriot Daily, whose proprietors spend all day combing the news and have been extremely helpful to TalkLeft in e-mailing me with headlines I might otherwise miss, is in danger of shutting down due to financial difficulties. If you can send them a few dollars, via their tip jar on the left side of their site, they would greatly appreciate it.
• The ladies at Firedoglake rake Joe Lieberman over the coals for his position on emergency contraception. Any time you hear somone mention Joltin Joe, make sure you also mention his new challenger, Ned Lamont, a man with true Democratic, American values.

TalkLeft readers know I think the death penalty case against Moussaoui is bunk, but I have been transfixed all day by why Transportation Safety Administration (and former Federal Aviation Administration) lawyer Carla Martin would send witnesses transcripts and try to coach their testimony. It was all the more puzzling to me that she sent them to both government and defense witnesses. Why coach the defense witnesses? I wrote earlier, it's shocking and makes no sense.

Like many others, I just assumed she was doing it to help the Government get a conviction against Moussaoui. Now I think otherwise. I have to swallow real hard to say this, but the prosecutors may not be at fault. Carla Martin may have had another agenda.

Bump and Update: Check out the description of the e-mails contained on pages 12 to 14 of the Motion to Dismiss (pdf) filed by the defense today. It is absolutely shocking.

Update: CBS provides the actual emails (pdf) which were released by the Judge today.

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The New York Times identifies the Government lawyer in the Zacarias Moussaoui trial who violated the Court's sequestration order as Carla J. Martin, Senior Trial Attorney for the Transportation Security Administration. A hearing will be held tomorrow on the improper sharing of information with seven trial witnesses, as disclosed by prosectors in the trial earlier today.

Who is Carla J. Martin? She has appeared in Moussaoui pleadings before, such as this one (pdf), ironically seeking to prevent document disclosure to the defense. During the Pan Am flight 103 trial, she sought to close the courtroom during testimony of security procedures. (The Post-Standard (Syracuse, NY), 4/28/92, available on Lexis.com.) She sure doesn't seem like a stranger to the issues at hand.

Crooks and Liars has the video of Senator Feingold introducing the motion to censure President Bush over his NSA warrantless surveillance program.

Josh Marshall reports on Sen. Specter's followup:

It was coming to this. Responding to Sen. Feingold, Sen. Specter is now arguing on the floor of the senate that FISA is unconstitutional. Ergo, President Bush couldn't have been violating the law becuase it's not valid law. Quite a way for Specter to end his career.

A new CNN-Gallup poll was released this afternoon.

The latest results show only 36% of those polled saying they "approve" of the way Bush is handling his job. Bush's previous low was 37%, set last November.

Sixty percent of those polled said they "disapprove" of Bush's performance. That matches an all-time worst rating hit last November and again two weeks ago.

Democrats now have their larges advantage since 1992. By 55% to 39%, the respondents favored Democrats over Republicans. Let's hope this time the Dems can take advantage of it.

From Drudge, via Vanity Fair: Former Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee names Richard Armitage as Bob Woodward's source for the Valerie Plame leak. Question: Does this also make him Bob Novak's source?

THE WASHINGTON POST's famous Watergate editor Ben Bradlee claims that it was former State Department Deputy Secretary Richard Armitage who was the individual who leaked the identity of CIA official Valerie Plame.

by TChris

Dan Froomkin points to an interesting contrast between the president's response to Claude Allen's arrest (he's "disappointed, shocked and outraged" if the theft allegations are true) and his response to Scooter Libby's indictment (sorrow that poor Scooter had to resign).

The Dallas Morning News takes Sen. John Cornyn and the Senate Judiciary Committee to task for dragging their feet in this rather remarkable investigation. You have to read the details -- it's up there in the "you can't make this stuff up" department.

It's been two years since Dallas Morning News reporter Alfredo Corchado first reported that officials in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in El Paso knew their paid informant was doing more than helping them crack a Mexican drug cartel. While on ICE's payroll, Guillermo Eduardo Ramírez Peyro, a.k.a. Lalo, was also orchestrating cartel-ordered assassinations, which he referred to as carne asadas, or barbecues. One of those victims was a U.S. citizen.

Last week I wrote about a new effort by the Marines to arrest Vietnam War deserters. On Thursday, former Marine Allen Abney, 56, who moved to Canada in 1968 and holds dual citizenship, was arrested by U.S. Border Agents at the Vancouver-Idaho border. He's being transferred to Camp Pendleton to face desertion charges.

Abney, 56, lives in Kingsgate, BC, close to the Canada/US border, which he crossed often to go shopping, to do errands, and for other purposes. He is retired. Originally from Louisville, Kentucky, Abney came to Canada with his family in 1959. In 1968 he enlisted in the US Marines. Later that year, he joined thousands of others who fled to Canada because of their opposition to the Vietnam War. He has lived here ever since.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has launched Very Fancy Frist, a very creative site. It's categories include: "Fly Like Frist", "Live Like Frist", "Invest Like Frist" and "Lead Like Frist."