by TChris

A lengthy report entitled America for Sale: The Cost of Republican Corruption (pdf), prepared by House Rules Committee member Louise Slaughter and the Committee's Democratic staff, assesses the consequences of the cozy relationships that Republicans have formed with lobbyists.

Raw Story fills in the blanks:

The report delivers a smackdown on major Democratic campaign themes while delicately omitting names: "a corrupt politician who lives on a yacht" (Duke Cunningham, (R-CA), who resigned), "three mysterious Russian industrialists who laundered $1 million to a prominent political leader" (Tom DeLay (R-TX) and "a radical religious anti-gambling activist on the take from the gaming industry" (Ralph Reed).

by TChris

This shouldn't be surprising, given the president's refusal to pick up a newspaper:

President Bush was unaware of the pending sale of shipping operations at six major U.S. seaports to a state-owned business in the United Arab Emirates until the deal already had been approved by his administration, the White House said Wednesday. ...

While Bush has adamantly defended the deal, the White House acknowledged that he did not know about it until recently. "He became aware of it over the last several days," McClellan said.

by TChris

After the president inspected swithgrass samples at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory yesterday, he "picked up a bottle of clear-colored ethanol and smelled it." No word on whether the president then downed it like a shot of Jagermeister, but ethanol ingestion might explain the "mixed signals" that his administration was sending prior to his visit.

Two weeks ago, 32 workers, including eight researchers, were laid off at the lab. Then, over the weekend, just before Bush's planned visit, the government restored the jobs.

by TChris

The South Dakota legislature is poised to pass "the most sweeping [abortion] ban approved by any state in more than a decade." The law would plainly be unconstitutional in light of Roe v. Wade, but the law's supporters hope to provoke a court fight that would give the Supreme Court an opportunity to overturn Roe.

State Rep. Roger Hunt is already counting Justice Alito as a vote against the right to choose abortion, and he seems hopeful that Justice Stevens, now 85, will soon be off the bench, giving the president another appointment opportunity.

Drink a toast tonight to the good health of Justice Stevens.

by TChris

UPDATE: This article suggests that prison personnel who have been administering lethal injections are dispensing controlled substances without being licensed to do so. The Justice Department complained about licensed physicians in Oregon dispensing drugs (pursuant to state law) to help terminally ill patients who want to end their lives. Why isn't Justice even more outraged about prison employees administering controlled substances who aren't licensed to dispense drugs?
...
original post:

The court order requiring a medical professional to help in the execution of Michael Morales sparked a debate, noted here, about the appropriate role of physicians in bringing about the death of a person who doesn't want to die. The California Medical Association doesn't want doctors to be put in that position. It will ask the state legislature to prohibit the Department of Corrections from asking doctors to participate in executions.

by TChris

In this 2003 post, TalkLeft described the Houston Crime Lab as being "in shambles." Houston's mayor and police chief called for a moratorium on executions where guilt was supported by the crime lab's evidence. This post and this one, both from 2003, explored the scandal in more detail.

So what's been done to review convictions that have been called into question by the crime lab's malfeasance? Not enough.

A series of investigations of the Houston police crime lab has uncovered dozens of faulty tests, but the findings have freed just two wrongly convicted men in three years. ... "There needs to be some mechanism to giving those individuals the proper legal representation they deserve," said state Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, board chairman for the New York-based Innocence Project and a member of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee.

by TChris

When Donald Rumsfeld said the Pentagon had stopped paying to plant favorable news stories in the Iraqi press, he meant to say that the Pentagon was thinking about stopping. His earlier statement was a lie mistaken and has been withdrawn.

by TChris

The execution of Michael Morales has been indefinitely postponed. As TalkLeft noted here, a judge insisted that an anesthesiologist attend the execution to assure that Morales was not subjected to extreme pain when three drugs were administered to end his life. As reported earlier today, the anesthesiologists concluded that it would be unethical to assist California's goal of taking Morales' life against his will. Authorities postponed the execution to this evening, hoping to kill Morales with a lethal dose of a sedative, but the judge required the sedative to be administered by a medical professional, and the state acknowledged that it could not comply with that order.

Because the death warrant expires at midnight, authorites will need to obtain a new one from the trial judge. The judge, however, "joined Morales this month in asking Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for clemency." Even if the judge is willing to sign a new death warrant, it will likely take months to resolve the legal challenges to executing Morales by lethal injection.

by TChris

Via RawStory, a BBC News report tells us that nearly a hundred prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan have died in U.S. custody.

Of the 98 deaths, at least 34 were suspected or confirmed homicides, the programme said.

The Pentagon promised to take the report seriously.

Accountability? Not likely. Not likely at all.

by TChris

Arianna amuses with this post about her encounter with the She Pundit With Long Blonde Hair on Hannity and Colmes.

Coulter is the right wing punditry's equivalent of crack or crystal meth. She's highly addictive -- giving users the delirious, giddy high of outrageousness. But then the buzz wears off and they come crashing down, their spirits shriveled, their souls poisoned. Her brand of way, way over-the-top rhetoric, trading on hatred, demonizing, and caricature is doing to the American body politic what a three-month meth bender does to crank junkies.

For extra fun, check out the photo in the linked post.

These are the final photos from Amsterdam, taken at a dance club called the Sugar Factory. I lasted until 2am, the kool kids stayed till 4.

Lindsay, the TL kid, Amanda and Ezra

larger version

Proof I was there at one point.

This made the rounds of legal message boards today -- the Scooter Libby Defense Trust website. Check out the folks on his advisory committee. And the introductory message:

Since September 11, 2001, Lewis "Scooter" Libby has been one of the unsung heroes in fighting the war on terror, working diligently and making countless contributions on some of the most critical life and death issues that our country has faced. For the past five years, Scooter Libby served selflessly as an Assistant to President Bush and as the Chief of Staff and National Security Adviser to Vice President Cheney.

But Scooter's great service to our country has now been cut short, and his good name attacked. A distinguished group of friends, business leaders and former government officials have joined The Libby Legal Defense Trust to help Scooter defray his legal costs from the recent charges. We hope you will join us in supporting this effort.

If you find that moving, there's also a link where you can sign up to donate money.

Update (by TChris): Raw Story has the goods on the site's origins.