by Last Night in Little Rock

The NY Times reports today that the government stated at a hearing for Jose Padilla that he filled out an application form to join al Qaeda.

The "Mujahideen Data Form" bears the signature of Abu Abdallah al Muhajir, which the F.B.I. says is the Muslim name that Mr. Padilla adopted after he converted to Islam. Defense lawyers have questioned the authenticity of the document, potentially a critical piece of evidence for prosecutors trying to prove that Mr. Padilla sought to become a terrorist.

The defense disputes its authenticity. This is the first glimpse of what the government is using to detain Padilla, accused of planning to make a "dirty bomb."

Club kids in England have discovered Nitrous Oxide, also known as laughing gas. Authorites plan a clamp-down.

Although its recreational use is not illegal, those selling it have been warned they face prosecution under the Medicines Act by the Medical and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency. Promising to investigate after the issue was drawn to its attention by The Independent, a spokesman for the Agency said: "Sale of nitrous oxide for medicinal use is strictly regulated and anyone selling the drug for recreational use, whether or not they have a license, faces prosecution.''

I thought the drug went out of favor in the '70's:

The recreational aspect of the gas was highlighted by the late Hunter S Thompson in his tale of drug consumptionFear and Loathing in Las Vegas; and in the David Lynch film Blue Velvet, the nitrous oxide-addicted villain, played by Dennis Hopper, carries a tank with him. It was also used as a disabling weapon by the Joker, played by Jack Nicholson, in the first Batman film.

Guess not. While the article talks about the relative safety of the gas, I did attend a client's funeral in the late '70's who died of an overdose. But he and his friends weren't doing balloons, they were sharing a tank.

Bump and Update: Update: al-Zawahiri was not killed in the attack on the Pakastani Village. Between 17 and 30 villagers were killed, and Pakistanis are protesting the air strike.

According to U.S. sources,

CIA-operated unmanned drones were believed to have been used in the attack, U.S. sources said. A Pakistani intelligence official said four missiles had been fired.

It looks like the raid has resulted in creating at least one future terrorist:

At another destroyed house, Sami Ullah, a 17-year-old student, said 24 of his family members were killed and vowed he would "seek justice from God."

Senate Judiciary Chair Arlen Specter has announced he will vote to confirm Judge Sam Alito to the Supreme Court. The vote could come as early as Tuesday.

Democrats sound increasingly pessimistic about stopping Bush's drive to pack the court with conservative ideologues.

"To stop a president on judicial nominations, you either need a Democratic president, a Democratic Senate or moderate Republicans who will break ranks when it's a conservative nominee," Mr. Schumer said. "We don't have any of those three. The only tool we have is the filibuster, which is a very difficult tool to use, and with only 45 Democrats, it's harder than it was last term."

He's right. That's why we must begin focusing now on the 2006 elections and 2008.

An attorney in Waco, Texas has been arrested for kidnapping her client on his wedding day.

What was she thinking? Attorney Paula Allen bonded a client out of jail, he failed to appear and she was held liable for $5,000.

In an attempt to collect, she and some associates allegedly showed up at the client's wedding and kidnapped him. The client was handcuffed, which is against the law in Texas, even for bounty hunters.

They drove to the police station, but didn't turn the client in. Instead, they allegedly drove around for four hours while they had the client call family members on a cell phone trying to raise $20,000 the client owed Allen for the bail bond forfeiture and attorneys' fees.

The client escaped. The lawyer got no money, but a felony charge.

[Via How Appealing.]

by Last Night in Little Rock

"Brokeback Mountain," the movie of a love affair between two cowboys who later marry women and must deal with their love for each other, was voluntarily banned in Utah, which is not surprising since even renting an R rated movie at Blockbuster is impossible (you get the sanitized made for airplanes or TV versions there).

It opened in Little Rock last night to a sold out crowd, with the theater manager saying, essentially, "if there is a market, we'll show it."

by TChris

Former Attorney General John Ashcroft implemented the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS), which required thousands of Arab and Muslim men "to report to local immigration offices across the United States to be registered, fingerprinted, photographed and interrogated."

NSEERS was so poorly conceived and badly managed that it created chaos and fear. Trust between the immigrant community and law enforcement was severely strained, and in the end, there was no evidence that any terrorists were apprehended as a result of the effort.

Although parts of the program have been suspended, it continues to cause harm.

VA Governor Mark Warner leaves office today. Some are criticizing his attempts to make our criminal justice system a fairer place. They are off-base. He is not a "soft on crime" politician.

But in four years as governor, Mr. Warner has incrementally and with little fanfare established groundbreaking policies on the use of DNA testing to confirm, or challenge, criminal convictions, many of them in death penalty cases. Last week, he became the first governor to order a DNA test involving a man who had already been executed.

The actions of Mr. Warner, who leaves office on Saturday, have established new middle ground in the polarized world of death penalty politics. Unlike former Gov. George Ryan of Illinois, who ordered a moratorium on executions in 2003, Mr. Warner has not called for halting executions, and he still supports capital punishment. His goal, he has said, has not been to undermine the system but to make sure it works.

by TChris

In 1982, Alan Crotzer was sentenced to 130 years in prison for armed robbery and rape. A victim picked him out of a lineup. He's been serving that sentence for more than half his life.

One of the actual perpetrators admits that Crotzer is innocent, and Florida prosecutors, to their credit, acknowledge that new DNA testing casts "significant doubt'' on his guilt. They've agreed not to oppose a motion to vacate Crotzer's sentence.

Congratulations to the Florida Innocence Initiative for its work on Crotzer's behalf.

Cingular has issued a press release saying it has obtained temporary restraining orders against two internet sites that have been selling customer phone records online.

Cingular today obtained a Temporary Restraining Order from the U.S. District Court in Atlanta, GA, against two companies, Data Find Solutions, Inc. and 1st Source Information Specialists, Inc. Several weeks ago, Cingular filed a civil lawsuit alleging that these companies unlawfully obtained and disseminated Cingular customer records. The court has now granted Cingular's request for a Temporary Restraining Order in order to halt these companies' ability to obtain and sell Cingular customer records.

Cingular believes that 1st Source now owns Locate Cell and Cell Tolls, and that the two sites formerly were owned by Data Find.

AmericaBlog was able to obtain Wesley Clark's Sprint cell phone records for $89 from Locate Cell. CNN reported tonight it was able to buy a producer's Sprint cell phone recrods for the same price. John of AmericaBlog reports that he was able to buy his own Cingular calls from Locate Cell.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger denied clemency today for 76 year old Clarence Ray Allen who at 76, is blind, wheelchair bound, suffering from severe diabetes and heart disease. Unless the federal courts or Supreme Court intervene, he will be executed on January 17.

"The spectacle of Mr. Allen being wheeled into the death chamber, unable to walk and unable to see those who have come to witness his execution, violates all standards of decency and would amount to nothing more than the purposeless and needless imposition of pain and suffering prohibited by the Eighth Amendment," said Annette Carnegie, one of Allen's attorneys.

....California's death row houses five men older than 70; 34 are ages 60 to 69. Viva Leroy Nash, 90, of Arizona is the nation's oldest death row inmate. No execution date has been set.

TalkLeft background is here.

by TChris

Edward Mueller filed a municipal complaint against Stephen Acropolis, alleging that Acropolis violated a Brick Township, New Jersey ordinance that prohibits the display of political campaign signs more than 30 days before an election. Mueller listed eight addresses where Acropolis’ signs were posted. Why this should be Acropolis’ problem is unclear, since the signs weren’t on his property, but Mueller wants Acropolis to be held responsible because he was “at the top of the ticket.”

Acropolis reasonably points out that the ordinance stifles political speech and is likely unconstitutional. He also wonders why Mueller, a journalist as well as a losing candidate, would want to squelch political expression:

[Acropolis] finds it peculiar that Mueller, who publishes the weekly Brick Township Town News and Sampler, would try to stifle a residents' right to free speech. “If Ed Mueller was a newspaperman who cared about free speech, he wouldn't have signed the complaint," Acropolis said.