by TChris

San Francisco cartoonist Mark Fiore pokes animated fun at Alberto Gonzalez, Dick Cheney, and domestic spying with Gonzalez, Watchu and Howe (Flash required).

by TChris

When Bibaldo Rueda discovered his house was ablaze, he thought the firefighters who responded would put out the fire. Only then did he learn that the Monett, MO fire department only serves individuals who paid membership dues. Rueda offered to pay, but he was told that the department has no policy for "on-the-spot billing." State law permits rural membership fire departments to put out fires and then bill the occupant after the fact, but nobody mentioned that to Rueda. Instead, the firefighters stood around and watched as Rueda was burned while he tried to fight the fire himself with a garden hose.

Responding to Rueda's complaint that he should have been notified that his taxes don't pay for fire protection, Monett Rural Fire Department Chief Ronnie Myers "said he would make an effort to explain the membership policy to the area's new Hispanic residents." You're doing a heck of a job there, Ronnie.

by TChris

Chicago police received a tip that an inmate had a knife and was plotting an escape from the Cook County Jail. They forwarded that information to a sheriff's captain, who gave it to the jail sergeant assigned to that tier.

But Charles Fasano, an official with the John Howard Association, which monitors the jail, said that guards in the unit should have then searched the inmate's cell.

Fasano said the captain should have checked in later with the sergeant to learn the results of the search. "You'd want to call back and say what did you find?" Fasano said. "Did you find a knife?"

The lack of a follow-up raises questions about whether the escape could have been prevented even though the inmates allegedly had help from a correctional officer who since has been criminally charged.

The sergeant and five other guards have been suspended with pay pending an investigation. Investigators want to know if the guards were negligent or if they assisted other guards who are charged with facilitating the escape.

by TChris

Three journalists who tried to cover the FBI's raid of a group seeking independence for Puerto Rico were hospitalized when the FBI reacted with violence to their presence at the scene of the raid. At least ten journalists were sprayed with pepper spray, prompting three congressmen -- Reps. Jose Serrano, Luis Gutierrez, and Nydia Velazquez -- to ask FBI Director Robert Mueller to investigate whether the FBI's actions were "excessive or unwarranted."

Puerto Rico Police Chief Pedro Toledo criticized the FBI's use of pepper spray as "completely outside of the norm," Serrano and his colleagues wrote.

"In our democracy, the most fundamental obligations is law enforcement agencies in to uphold the constitutional rights of citizens as well as to protect the freedom of the press," the letter continued. "Even in Puerto Rico, where the Bureau and its agents have a reputation for behaving as if they are above the law, the FBI is not exempt from these duties."

by TChris

Kenneth Honeycutt and Scott Brewer should have been disbarred. Some argue that they should be in prison.

The N.C. State Bar accused both of prosecutorial misconduct, but they narrowly escaped possible disbarment on technicalities.

The two committed felonies that put a man on death row in a 1996 murder case in Union County, according to the State Bar. Honeycutt and Brewer hid evidence, and encouraged a witness to commit perjury during the murder trial of Jonathan Hoffman, the bar said. Hoffman was convicted, and sentenced to death.

Hoffman was released after spending seven years on death row. Honeycutt and Brewer weren't disbarred because their wrongdoing wasn't revealed until after the time for making disciplinary complaints against them had expired. Shockingly, Brewer went on to become a judge.

by TChris

Allegations that Iraq's Interior Ministry is operating death squads that target Sunni Arabs have prompted the Ministry to "open an investigation." How comforting.

There have been previous investigations of alleged abuses by the Interior Ministry. But none led to significant changes, prompting accusations that the ministry is shielding killers within its ranks and fueling distrust in a public already reeling from the rise in sectarian killings.

by TChris

Six clients of lobbyist Michael Herson received $50 million over four years after Sen. Arlen Specter inserted "earmarks" into military appropriations bills that benefited those clients. Herson, it turns out, is married to Vicki Siegel Herson, who served until recently as Specter's legislative assistant on the Appropriations Committee. Coincidence?

by TChris

Physicians aren't supposed to harm their patients. Is it ethical for a physician to help the government kill a prisoner?

A plan for California to use an anesthesiologist to monitor the chemically induced demise of a condemned killer has ignited concerns that doctors have no business assisting executions. ... "Physicians are healers, not executioners," the national anesthesiology group said in a statement Wednesday. "The doctor-patient relationship depends upon the inviolate principle that a doctor uses his or her medical expertise only for the benefit of patients."

Drugs used in California executions "can cause excruciating pain, in violation of the Eighth Amendment ban against cruel and unusual punishment." A federal judge reviewing evidence of prior executions isn't convinced that inmates are rendered unconscious before they experience any pain. During the scheduled execution of Michael Morales on Tuesday, the judge wants California "to allow an anesthesiologist to observe and examine the inmate during the execution." That ruling has triggered a debate about using a doctor to assist the death of a healthy man.

by TChris

Rather than investigating the scope and targets of the NSA's domestic surveillance program, Senate Republicans seem inclined to amend the law to give the president broader power to spy on Americans.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., said the committee decided not to vote on whether to open an investigation after the White House agreed to give lawmakers more information on the program and agreed to changes to the current law, according to Roberts and White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino.

In December, two Intelligence Committee Republicans -- Olympia Snowe of Maine and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska -- joined Democrats in calling for a congressional investigation of the NSA program. Thursday, they voted to forestall hearings in favor of developing White House-backed legislation establishing clearer rules for the controversial program. Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, is drafting legislation that would exempt the NSA program from the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act but limit eavesdropping to international calls.

The NY Times asks: "Is there any aspect of President Bush's miserable record on intelligence that Senator Pat Roberts, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, is not willing to excuse and help to cover up?"

by TChris

Russ Feingold and two other senators had the courage to stand up for your right to privacy. It's pathetic that other senators didn't join them.

The Senate brushed aside an attempt to block renewal of the antiterrorism law known as the USA Patriot Act today, voting 96 to 3 against changes urged by Senator Russell D. Feingold, the act's most persistent critic. Mr. Feingold, Democrat of Wisconsin, said he wants to make the Senate debate several more days on the bill, and under the Senate's rules he can do so. But today's vote signaled that, once Mr. Feingold has exhausted his moves, the act will indeed be renewed by the Senate before its scheduled expiration on March 10.

Feingold is a national treasure. A heartfelt thanks to Senators Feingold, Byrd, and Jeffords for putting up resistance to the administration's unquenchable thirst for unreviewable discretion to pry into our personal information and private communications.

by TChris

Will George and Dick soon be swapping hunting stories over a beer?

When George W. Bush, then a gubernatorial candidate, accidentally killed a protected [killdeer] during a dove shoot in 1994, he and his press aide swiftly decided on a strategy: confess fast.

"People watch the way you handle things. They get a feeling they like and trust you or they don't," said a biography of Mr Bush.

Dick should have called George for expert advice on hunting mishaps.

Dick Cheney: the rare politician who can make George Bush look good by comparison.

by TChris

In a speech at Wendy's corporate headquarters yesterday, the president "took on critics" of his plan to expand health savings accounts. Countering charges that the plan benefits the wealthy while giving no relief to 45 million uninsured Americans, the president said "It's kind of like saying, 'If you're not making a lot of money, you can't make decisions for yourself'."

No, it's more like saying, "If you have a low-paying job at a fast food chain like Wendy's that doesn't provide you with a comprehensive health insurance benefit, you're screwed because you can't save enough in a health savings account to cover your medical bills."