Arianna does a great job today of recapping the criticism the Administration is under from those in its own party on a myriad of issues, including "NSA wiretaps, Iraq, Katrina, Plamegate leaks, the budget, the Abramoff scandal, and immigration." After a detailed analysis on each one, she concludes with:

Indeed, with so many Republicans trying to distance themselves from the president, it's clear the wheels are coming off the White House wagon. Just in time for 2006. If the GOP barrage keeps up, the president will soon find himself in the political ICU.

Former independent counsel Ken Starr, who is representing a death row inmate seeking clemency from Gov. Schwarzenegger, has withdrawn the allegedly fabricated juror affidavits supporting clemency for the inmate.

....in a letter to Attorney General Bill Lockyer, attorney David Senior said he and Starr were "withdrawing any and all reliance on any exhibits generated" by one of their investigators. The defense said it would withdraw five of the six statements.

A statement purportedly taken from Michael Morales' former roommate and submitted to the California Supreme Court also requires further investigation, Senior wrote. Keith Borjon, a state prosecutor, told the justices that Senior's letter appeared to acknowledge the documents were forged.

The San Francisco Chronicle provides this background on the controversy over the affidavits, which were obtained by a defense investigator.

Starr's co-counsel says that Morales still has a good chance for clemency:

CNN just reported Dick Cheney was in violation of Texas statutes by not having a $7.00 stamp on his license. He has been given a warning. This is small potatoes in the grand scheme of the story.

Much bigger issues: Why did Cheney not give an interview to the Game wardens until Sunday morning? Why did he let Katharine Armstrong notify the press? Why the 24 hour delay? And why did Cheney not speak to the President until today --are they on the outs, as has been reported?

Tonight: Letterman will feature Cheney jokes throughout the show. "We've finally found weapons of mass destruction. They are Dick Cheney." And a top ten list of Dick Cheney excuses.

Leno: Cheney shot a lawyer, his popularity goes up to 92%.

Update: The New York Times has these details from a White House press release:

Smoking Gun has the Texas Warden's report. And a press release from the Kenedy County Sheriff saying there was no alchohol or misconduct involved and that Whittington's and Cheney's statements matched. The Sheriff's office is "fully satisfied" this was an accident.

Did Whittington fall on his sword for Cheney?

And the details about the 24 hour delay in reporting keep getting murkier. From Hardball tonight: Bush knew at 8pm Saturday, after being told by Andrew Card. McClellan not until 6 am Sunday. Bush didn't speak to Cheney until today. Cheney was present at Bush's press conference on Kofi Annan, but left the room before reporters could ask him questions. Former Wyoming senator and Cheney friend Alan Simpson was on doing his best to spin for his buddy. He made no sense. He also blamed Whittington.

Reddhedd at Firedoglake has more on the Texas statutes.

Paul Begala, another hunter with 30 years experience, weighs in at the TPM Cafe and says Cheney's story doesn't hold.

A reader writes in:

Do you find it odd that 2 men are out hunting with 2 women that are not their wives? Maybe this is the reason for the WH cover up?

The four in the hunting party were: Cheney, Whittington, the divorced Katharine Armstrong and as Raw Story wrote earlier, Pamela Willeford, the U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland.

Before you say it's sleazy to ask this, think about what the press would be reporting if it were John Kerry instead of Dick Cheney.

Check out what this lawyer reader who has been a bird hunter of 30 years' experience sent me in an e-mail on the improbability of Ms. Armstrong's version (pdf) of Cheney's shooting accident from a mathematical point of view. A snippet:

I conclude the target was within 10 or 15 yards, at most, of Dick and possibly as close as 5 yards. My reasons for saying this are algebraic.

...So, my best estimate is as follows: Dick nearly blew this guy's head off.

Conclusion: "I don't think I'd hunt anything with Dick."

Ohio coin dealer and Republican money man Tom Noe has been indicted on 53 state felony counts of theft, corruption and money laundering alleging he stole "from a state-run investment fund for injured workers." He pleaded not guilty this morning. The text of the indictment is here.

Noe, already indicted on federal counts, is in jail, trying to make bond on the state case.

Noe, 51, turned himself over to authorities at the Lucas County Courthouse when it opened Monday. Noe's attorney Jon Richardson entered pleas of not guilty on each count on behalf of Noe, who was taken into custody. He was being held at the Lucas County Jail while he tried to meet a $500,000 bond set by Judge Thomas Osowik of Lucas County Common Pleas Court.

Richardson, asking for a lower bond, told Osowik that Noe had already put up a $350,000 bond in federal court, but Osowik rejected the request. If he's convicted, Lucas County Prosecutor Julia Bates says Noe could be sentenced to a total of 172 1/2 years in prison for all the charges.

by Last Night in Little Rock

CNN just reported that two Air Marshals were arrested in Houston for smuggling cocaine on the flights they were protecting. They were delivering to a person who turned out to be a protected government witness.

The full story is not yet on CNN.com, but it has this short summary:

Jon Podhoretz at The Corner gets this right:

It seems beyond question that the vice president is going to have to go before the cameras, explain what happened, and show genuine remorse for his actions, however inadvertent. It's a difficult challenge for someone as reticent as Dick Cheney. But unless he does so, and makes a good showing of it, he will be damaged goods for the remainder of the Bush presidency.

Keep the pressure on. Katharine Armstrong may have been an eye-witness, but she's no substitute for hearing from the man himself, both as to his account of the shooting and his explanation for the delay in notifying the press. The response of Cheney's office so far, that the Veep believed Armstrong should make the announcement because the incident occurred on her ranch strains credulity.

Raw Story has the transcript of this morning's press conference which is not up yet on the White House website. Crooks and Liars has the video.

As to how the report of the shooting became public:

MR. MCCLELLAN: Well, I think you can always look at -- you can always look back at these issues and look at how to do a better job.

Q Well, but let's not -- it's not really a hindsight issue here. I mean, the vice president made a decision about how the public should be notified. It basically is at odds with the standard practice of how the president's own press operation in this White House notifies the public, isn't that right?

MR. MCCLELLAN: Well, again, this was handled by the vice president's office. The vice president thought that Mrs. Armstrong should be the first one to give that information out since she was an eye-witness --

A report due later this week by the U.N. Human Rights Commission is demanding the closure of Guantanamo and the prosecution of officials responsible for torture:

A United Nations inquiry has called for the immediate closure of America's Guantanamo Bay detention centre and the prosecution of officers and politicians "up to the highest level" who are accused of torturing detainees. The UN Human Rights Commission report, due to be published this week, concludes that Washington should put the 520 detainees on trial or release them.

It calls for the United States to halt all "practices amounting to torture", including the force-feeding of inmates who go on hunger strike.

[Hat tip Patriot Daily.]

Update: Think Progress reports:

CBS News White House correspondent Peter Maer reports Texas authorities are complaining that the Secret Service barred them from speaking to Cheney after the incident. Kenedy County Texas Sheriffs Lt. Juan Guzman said deputies first learned of the shooting when an ambulance was called. The Secret Service is looking into how the case was handled at the scene, Maer added.

The Sheriff of Kenedy County, Texas reports that reports of the shooting are being gathered, but investigations are not mandated in absence of a fatality:

The secretary for Kenedy County Sheriff Ramon Salinas the third, Sandra Guzman, said today that reports on the incident are pending. District Attorney Carlos Valdez says the matter hasn't been referred to his office, which prosecutes criminal cases in Kenedy, Klebert and Nueces counties. He says his office would become involved only if an investigative agency finds a hint of criminal wrongdoing or a dispute about the facts.

....Texas Parks and Wildlife spokesman Tom Harvey would not provide specifics on the information gathered. He says hunting parties aren't required to report accidents. The state penal code requires people to report fatalities, and law-enforcement would investigate those.

It sounds like the reports are gathered for statistical purposes only.