Major Kudos to Markos and Jerome--check out the New York Times' great review of their book, Crashing the Gates:

Much of the authors' criticism of the party establishment is dead-on. They rail against political consultants who take 15 percent commissions on media buys while giving bad advice. They are especially incensed by what they see as the self-defeating role of special interests, notably Naral Pro-Choice America's decision to endorse Senator Lincoln Chafee, a Rhode Island Republican, over two pro-abortion-rights Democrats. If Mr. Chafee wins, he could ensure that the Republican Party, which has an aggressive anti-abortion agenda, keeps control of the Senate.

This would be just laughable if it weren't so serious. The CIA is not very good at keeping its own secrets, according to a new investigation by The Chicago Tribune. The paper was able to track covert and other CIA employees using commercially available databases.

When the Tribune searched a commercial online data service, the result was a virtual directory of more than 2,600 CIA employees, 50 internal agency telephone numbers and the locations of some two dozen secret CIA facilities around the United States.

Even though not all of the employees are covert, there is ample concern that those who are could become the targets of terrorists. Not only that:

Denver blogger, journalist, author and TalkLeft pal Dave Cullen of Conclusive Evidence has taken netroots activism to another dimension. First, he started a Brokeback Mountain forum on his blog which spiraled into the largest Brokeback site on the web.

Then, when Brokeback didn't win for best picture, he spearheaded a collection drive to take out a full page ad in Daily Variety thanking those who supported the film. The ad ran yesterday and you can view it here. From the forum's press release:

A 330 page report (pdf version here) by the Inspector General for the Department of Justice was released yesterday on the FBI's erroneous fingerprint analysis in the Brandon Mayfield case. Mayfield is the Oregon attorney who was detained pursuant to a material witness warrant after the Madrid, Spain train bombings.

In addition to criticizing the FBI for its errors in fingerprint analysis, the report examines the role of the Patriot Act in the investigation. The enhancement of Government power in the Patriot Act did contribute to the unjust treatment of Mayfield....and but for some of its provisions, a different result might have been obtained. While finding that the Patriot Act changes to FISA did not contribute to the errors, other provisions did, specifically those that (1) allow information sharing between intelligence and law enforcement agencies and (2) provide for relaxed standards for the issuance of National Security letters. (See page 14.)

[larger version]

Ali Shalal Qaissi is the former Abu Ghraib prisoner in the photo of the hooded prisoner standing on a box connected to electrodes. He's still angry and doing something about it.

There is the mangled hand, an old injury that became infected by the shackles chafing his skin. There is the slight limp, made worse by days tied in uncomfortable positions. And most of all, there are the nightmares of his nearly six-month ordeal at Abu Ghraib prison in 2003 and 2004.

Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic has been found dead in the detention centre at The Hague tribunal. An investigation has been ordered, but authorities do not believe it was suicide. He had heart problems, and while his lawyers had asked for him to be transferred to Russia to obtain treatment, that request was denied.

Mr Milosevic faced charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his alleged central role in the wars in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo during the 1990s. He also faced genocide charges over the 1992-95 Bosnia war, in which 100,000 people died.

His lawyer comments in this article.

Candide's Notebook reports on the letter retired Florida Public Defender Joseph DuRocher, now a law professor, sent President Bush on Monday. The letter was accompanied by his shoulder bars and navy wings.

....to remain silent is to let you think I approve or support your actions. I do not. So, I am saddened to give up my wings and bars. They were hard won and my parents and wife were as proud as I was when I earned them over forty years ago. But I hate the torture and death you have caused more than I value their symbolism. Giving them up makes me cry for my beloved country.

by TChris

The company that makes the Intoxylizer -- a breath testing device that's popular with law enforcement agencies -- refuses to release the source code to lawyers who want to verify the machine's accuracy. The company's unwillingness to give lawyers a behind-the-scenes look at the machine's workings may imperil DUI prosecutions that depend on a breath test.

The company that makes the Intoxilyzer refused to reveal the computer source code for its machine because it was a trade secret. A county judge [in Florida] tossed out [an] alcohol breath test - a crucial piece of evidence in a DUI case - and the ruling was upheld by an appeals court in 2004.

Since then, DUI suspects in Florida, New York, Nebraska and elsewhere have mounted similar challenges. Many have won or have had their DUI charges reduced to lesser offenses. The strategy could affect thousands of the roughly 1.5 million DUI arrests made each year in the United States, defense lawyers say.

I wrote in January about Albany defense lawyer Terry Kindlon and his challenge to the NSA warrantless surveillance program. Details of the motion and Terry's case were outlined by the Albany Times.

On Friday, the Government submitted an ex parte (secret) response to the Judge. Later in the day, the Judge issued a one page order denying Terry's motion but refusing to share his reasons. He designated his order as classified.

Update: Don't miss Reddhedd's excellent take on the Judge's order, down to the footnotes.

*********
The trial judge in the Scooter Libby trial Friday partially granted Libby's request for Presidential Daily Briefings to assist him in preparing his defense that he was too preoccupied with important national security matters to remember the details of his conversations with FBI investigators, the grand jury and reporters about Valerie Plame Wilson.

The Court's memorandum of reasons is here. The Order is here.

Essentially, the Court said the Government could produce redacted PDB's that were viewed both by Cheney and Libby. The Goverment can, at its option, disclose topical overviews instead of the actual PDB's. The Government also has to provide a topic index of the inquiries for additional information Libby made during the briefings. The dates are: June 7 to July 14, 2003; October12 - 16, 2003 November 24 to 28, 2003; March 3 to 7, 2004 and March 22 to 26, 2004.

These documents most likely will never be seen by us or the jury. They are to assist Libby with refreshing his memory. The Court also set a deadline for the Government to challenge his order on the grounds of executive privilege.

by TChris

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that Washington County District Attorney John Pettit is being investigated by the FBI.

The FBI's questioning appears to be centered on allegations that Mr. Pettit has, as one source put it, provided "special treatment for special people," and that he has given preferential legal treatment to a 30-year-old woman with a record of drugs and prostitution. The FBI is trying to determine if they had a personal relationship.

Unless that sort of evidence exists, it would usually be difficult to establish that a prosecutor didn't have a legitimate reason for giving a defendant a break. The article raises more serious questions about Pettit that are unrelated to the FBI's interest in him.

Bush's former domestic policy advisor, Claude Allen, whom Bush nominated for a seat on the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in April, 2003, has been charged with felony shoplifting. Who is Claude Allen? Mr. Allen is no low-level staffer.

Allen was the No. 2 official in the Health and Human Services Department when Bush nominated him in April 2003 to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va. Bush nominated Allen to the court again a year later, but he never received a Senate vote.

Bush then made him his domestic policy advisor. From the first link above: