I'm at a Judges/Journalist conference in Reno. During a break, one of the judges asked me why no one is writing about President Bush's mention of the line item veto in his speech last night. It's another unbridled attempt by him to grab power from the legislative branch.

I was struck by his comment on the equality of the two branches of government, the executive and the legislative. Was his omission of the judicial branch intentional? The three branches are co-equal. So many things Bush has done has been in an effort to reduce the oversight power of the judiciary.

by TChris

Robert J. Stein Jr. was a contracting official for the Coalition Provisional Authority, the U.S.-controlled entity that ran Iraq for more than a year after the president's "mission accomplished" declaration. Stein helped bring a culture of corruption to the CPA. He's scheduled to enter a guilty plea today to charges that he conspired with Philip Bloom and others to steal reconstruction money and to enrich his friends while pocketing more than a million dollars.

Stein, who has an earlier federal fraud conviction, used the money he stole or was paid by Bloom to buy a single-engine Cessna airplane, a top-of-the-line Porsche and other cars, grenade launchers, machine guns, diamond rings and other jewelry, and property in North Carolina, he said in his signed statement. Stein said he helped steer more than $8.6 million in contracts to companies controlled by Bloom, a U.S. citizen who has lived in Romania for many years.

Bloom also faces conspiracy and money laundering charges. Court documents indicate that five "U.S. Army Reserve officers also have been implicated in the theft and kickback scheme."

by TChris

The Electronic Frontier Foundation believes AT&T was too willing to help the NSA eavesdrop on its customers' conversations. It filed suit against AT&T on behalf of three AT&T customers, asserting that the telecommunications company "violated wiretapping and electronic privacy laws, since intercepting communications is prohibited except where authorized by law."

"As best we can tell, the NSA program is apparently the biggest fishing expedition ever devised, scanning millions of ordinary Americans' calls and e-mails for suspicious patterns," said Kevin Bankston, a lawyer for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which filed the suit.

"Based on the published reports and after a reasonable investigation, we think that discovery is going to show that AT&T has opened up its network to direct access by the NSA," Bankston said.

The lawsuit, which seeks class-action status, is based in part on "a Los Angeles Times report that the National Security Agency had access to an AT&T database tracking calling records."

by TChris

UPDATE: The arrest of Cindy Sheehan served its purpose. Cindy was spirited away from cameras to purify the background for the president's speech. Now that she's not a threat to the president's image, Capitol Police have released her and plan to apologize. No charges will be pressed, as the Capitol Police belatedly discovered that no rule prohibits expressive attire. One might have expected the police to have inquired about the law before arresting Cindy for an imaginary crime.

Perhaps to prove that they are bipartisan transgressors of the right to free speech, the Capitol Police also removed Beverly Young, the wife of Rep. C.W. "Bill" Young, from the audience, having spotted her sporting a "Support the Troops" shirt. Rep. Young took to the House floor to admonish the Capitol Police -- "Shame, shame" -- for treating a patriot so poorly. Beverly Young said it best:

"They said I was protesting," she told the St. Petersburg Times. "I said, 'Read my shirt, it is not a protest.' They said, 'We consider that a protest.' I said, 'Then you are an idiot.'"

But Young was only ejected while Cindy was arrested, albeit briefly. Why?

Capitol Police did not explain why Sheehan was arrested and Young was not.

ORIGINAL POST:

What were the biggest lies? The low points? How did Tim Kaine do? Any predictions as to whether there will be a bounce for Bush tomorrow?

Arianna will be on Anderson Cooper 360 discussing the speech right afterwards. Are any liberals live-blogging? Let us know in the comments.

[Graphic created exclusively for TalkLeft by CL.)

by TChris

TalkLeft has frequently written about Wilton Dedge, the wrongfully convicted Florida man who spent 22 years in prison for a rape he didn't commit. While Florida recently compensated Dedge for his unjust imprisonment, his story shouldn't end there. Florida Today continues to call for an investigation of the official misconduct that caused such a miscarriage of justice.

What should come next is an outside investigation of how Brevard County prosecutors in the state attorney's office used jailhouse snitch, murderer and recently convicted child-rapist Clarence Zacke to help keep Dedge behind bars.

by TChris

A report released today by Amnesty International asks whether current constitutional caselaw is adequate to safeguard the mentally ill from execution. If it is categorically wrong to execute children or the severely retarded, is the execution of a mentally ill convict consistent with contemporary standards of decency?

If the diminished culpability associated with youth and mental retardation render the death penalty an excessive punishment when used against offenders from those categories, what about people suffering from serious mental illness or impairment other than retardation, such as serious brain damage, at the time of the crime? Should they not also be ineligible for execution?

The question is made timely by the large percentage of mentally ill offenders on death row and by the criminal justice system's emphasis on punishment, rather than treatment, of the mentally ill. Yet judges too frequently discern no constitutional barrier to killing the mentally ill.

Good news. The 9th Circuit today became the second circuit to declare the partial birth abortion bill unconsitutional.

A federal appeals court declared the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act unconstitutional Tuesday, saying the measure is vague and lacks an exception for cases in which a woman's health is at stake. The three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals became the second federal appeals court in the country to hold the law to be unconstitutional.

The bad news: When it reaches the Supreme Court, Judge Alito will be a sitting Justice.

You've heard of "no-call" lists to keep telemarketers at bay. Now you can sign up for a "no-spy" list, courtesy of ProgressNow Action.

If you have found little to laugh about over President Bush's illegal domestic spying program, turn up your speakers and click here to watch ProgressTV's 2 minute Bush Spy Video. Then take action to protect your privacy.

Over 50 million American citizens in twenty-eight states already are signed on to telephone "No-Call Lists" that protect them from unwanted telemarketing calls. But when it comes to protecting ourselves from being spied on by President Bush and the National Security Agency we have no protections.

Until Now. To ask for protection from unwanted domestic eavesdropping, click this form to sign up for the No-Spy List:

Three cheers for the little guy. In this case, Brandeis University library director Kathy Glick-Weil, who refused to turn over 30 computers to the FBI because they didn't have a warrant. And the mayor, who backed her up.

Federal Bureau of Investigation agents tried to seize 30 of the library's computers without a warrant, saying someone had used the library's Internet connection to send the threat to Brandeis.

After the refusal, the FBI did what they should have done in the first instance: they went to a judge and got a warrant.

[hat tip Patriot Daily.]

The Oscar nominations came out today. Brokeback Mountain got 8 nominations, the most of any film. If you're a fan of the film, check out Dave Cullen's Brokeback Mountain Guide and forums.

Also nominated for best picture were the Truman Capote story "Capote"; the ensemble drama "Crash"; the Edward R. Murrow chronicle "Good Night, and Good Luck"; and the assassination thriller "Munich."

George Clooney got three nominations.

[for] supporting actor for his role as a steadfast CIA undercover agent in "Syriana" and best director and co-writer for "Good Night."

President Bush will give his State of the Union Address tonight. His approval rating hovers at 39%, no change from last month, according to the latest WSJ-NBC poll. The two most important issues to voters are health care and getting out of Iraq.

If you're not by a tv, the State Department will have live audio feeds of the State of the Union address on its Web site in English, Arabic, Farsi, Bahasa Indonesian, Spanish, French and Russian.

That won't help me since I'll be on an airplane, but I'm sure I'll catch the re-run.

[Graphic created exclusively for TalkLeft by CL.]