by TChris

As memorialized in the book Blind Faith, Robert Marshall was convicted of hiring a hit man to kill his wife. Robert Cumber introduced Marshall to a private detective who allegedly brokered a deal between Marshall and the hit man. Cumber was charged with being an accessory to the murder.

The charges were initially dismissed for lack of evidence. After they were reinstated, Cumber turned down a plea agreement that would have led to his release for "time served," giving him credit for the 18 months he'd spent in jail awaiting trial. In retrospect, Cumber must regret that decision, because he was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

As one of his last official acts, New Jersey Gov. Richard Codey will commute Cumber's life sentence, freeing him after more than 20 years in prison.

"That's just unconscionable that here's the guy who did nothing more than let someone use his phone, and he gets life essentially," Codey told the Star-Ledger of Newark. "That's a terrible injustice — a terrible injustice — that I felt needed to be righted."

by TChris

The IRS recently warned an Episcopal church in Pasadena that its "political activities" -- consisting of anti-war sermons -- placed its tax exempt status in jeopardy. How will the IRS respond to complaints by clergy members about two Ohio churches that have promoted the political campaign of a Republican running for governor?

In their complaint, the clergy members contend that the two Columbus-area churches, Fairfield Christian Church and the World Harvest Church, which were widely credited with getting out the Ohio vote for President Bush in 2004, have allowed their facilities to be used by Republican organizations, promoted the candidate, J. Kenneth Blackwell, among their members and otherwise violated prohibitions on political activity by tax-exempt groups.

The churches say they promote values, not candidates, but candidates benefit directly from the churches' work.

Meet Omar Khadr. He's a Canadian teenager who has been held at Guantanamo for 39 months, since he was 15 and captured in Afghanistan. You can read his story at our earlier posts here and here.

He is one of the 9 detainees at Guantanamo who has been charged with a crime -- murder of an American medic. His military tribunal proceeding began last week. The first issue taken up was the improper comments of the military prosecutor to the press.

The second issue was Omar's request, made through his American lawyer, Muneer Ahmad,for a new military lawyer.

Khadr will be formally represented by Capt. John Merriam, a U.S. army judge advocate with no trial experience, "even on charges of jaywalking," said Ahmad, who is asking that he be replaced by someone with more experience.

"It would be laughable if the stakes weren't so high," he said.

Ralph Reed, former executive director of the Christian Coalition, is feeling the heat. He's running for Lt. Governor of Georgia, but his ties to Abramoff may be his undoing. The Washington Post Monday details Reed's problems.

But the first major dent in Reed's carefully cultivated image came with the disclosure in the summer of 2004 that his public relations and lobbying companies had received at least $4.2 million from Abramoff to mobilize Christian voters to fight Indian casinos competing with Abramoff's casino clients.

Similarly damaging has been a torrent of e-mails revealed during the investigation that shows a side of Reed that some former supporters say cannot be reconciled with his professed Christian values.

Among the more damaging disclosures:

Rep. Bob Ney announced today he will temporarily resign as Chair of the House Administration Committee.

Ney is at the center of the Justice Department's ongoing corruption probe and has been identified as the congressman referenced by Abramoff in his guilty plea earlier this month.....The Administration Committee that Ney headed controls disclosures of lobbying practices and would be a key part of efforts to reform the system.

A GOP leadership aide said Friday that House Speaker Dennis Hastert was pressuring Ney to step aside because he believes it would be inappropriate for him to head the committee with jurisdiction over the Republican reform agenda.

No question, Ney was pressured by Hastert. He's also likely to be indicted. Has he already begun cooperating with the Government?

[Graphic created exclusively for TalkLeft by CL.)

Reuters reports that Tom DeLay is trailing in his Texas race for re-election to the House.

Embattled Republican Tom DeLay trails a Democratic challenger for his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives and is viewed favorably by only 28 percent of people questioned in a poll of his Houston area district, the Houston Chronicle said in its online edition on Saturday. The survey of 560 registered voters conducted Tuesday through Thursday found 30 percent favored former U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson, a Democrat, compared with 22 percent for DeLay, who has represented the district for 22 years.

The Houston Chronicle reports on a poll finding that only half the people who voted for him in 2004 would do so again in 2006.

Overall, about a third blame DeLay's troubles on his own behavior, and a fourth blame "a culture of corruption in Washington."

One more indictment -- such as over the Abramoff embroglio-- and I say he's toast. [graphic created exclusively for TalkLeft by CL.)

by Last Night in Little Rock

A Florida 15 year old 8th grade student is brain dead after being shot by police because he pointed a pellet gun at them.

CNN reports this morning that the police were told by the school officials that the gun was a pellet gun before the shooting occurred, quoting the student's family's lawyer. One of the students friends who had the gun pointed at him at school took the gun away and could tell it was fake, and he told the school who told the police.

Apparently he painted it to look real, and he brandished it in a threatening manner in a classroom, apparently terrorizing other students.

Shoot first, ask questions later.

by Last Night in Little Rock

While some people are, up their sleeve, saying that Jon Stewart should run for President in 2008, most Americans do not know that "The Daily Show, Global Edition" runs on CNN International on Sundays at 11:30 am GMT. It shows the high points of the previous week's shows. It has been on CNN International for over a year.

When CNN International only carries Larry King and the Daily Show, at least an American on the road can find some connection to the farce that is American politics.

The farce of the Saddam Hussein trial just got worse. The trial judge has submitted his resignation.

Many claimed he was being too lenient with Saddam in tolerating his speeches and outbursts. Apparently, the pressure got to him --either from the public or the Government, take your pick.

Saddam should not be tried in Iraq. He should be tried in an international tribunal like the Hague. Of course, since the death penalty would be off the table, that would never happen.

Human Rights Watch explains why Saddam should be tried in an international court.

If you thought Newt Gingrich's 1994 Contract on America died a welcome death, think again. Rep. John Shadegg, who has announced his candidacy to replace Tom DeLay as House Majority Leader, will bring it back from the grave.

You can read about Shadegg in today's Washington Post.

"He's Newt's progeny," said Marshall Wittmann, a Democratic Leadership Council aide who previously worked for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). "A hard-core, true-believing, hard-charging right-winger who believes everything Newt said about dismantling government and transforming the culture. In many ways, he is trying to revive the spirit of the revolution of '94."

The Arizona Republic has called Shadegg a "firebrand" and "equal-opportunity iconoclast." He argued in 2001 that Bush's $1.6 trillion tax cut was not big enough.

There's lots more, but for readers who may not remember Newt's Contract on America, particularly as it pertained to criminal justice and civil liberties issues, I'll provide a refresher course. I wrote numerous published articles about it at the time, and lobbied mightily for its defeat. The worst of the provisions were defeated, but with the wrong leaders in Congress, they will rear their ugly heads again.

The New York Times takes a swipe at President Bush in its Sunday editorial, Our Imperial Presidency at Work. First he gamed McCain over the Torture Amendment with his signing statement. Then he tried divest the Supreme Court of jurisdiction in the detainee cases.

The Times astutely observes:

Both of the offensive theories at work here - that a president's intent in signing a bill trumps the intent of Congress in writing it, and that a president can claim power without restriction or supervision by the courts or Congress - are pet theories of Judge Samuel Alito, the man Mr. Bush chose to tilt the Supreme Court to the right.

The administration's behavior shows how high and immediate the stakes are in the Alito nomination, and how urgent it is for Congress to curtail Mr. Bush's expansion of power. Nothing in the national consensus to combat terrorism after 9/11 envisioned the unilateral rewriting of more than 200 years of tradition and law by one president embarked on an ideological crusade.

[graphic created exclusively for TalkLeft by CL.]

Did Judge Sam Alito tell the truth about CAP at his confirmation hearing? Here are some more details about CAP from Berkely Professor Jerome Karabel, author of The Chosen: The Hidden History of Admission and Exclusion at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton.

Prof. Karabel asks:

Why, then, in late 1989 -- 13 years after CAP was founded -- would the mild-mannered Samuel Alito tout his membership in such an organization as he sought the job of Deputy Assistant Attorney General?

....In all likelihood, Alito -- who was by all accounts a marginal and inactive member of CAP -- highlighted his membership in the organization for the most prosaic of reasons: he thought that it would signal to the movement conservatives who controlled appointments in the Justice Department that he shared their values and was a member of their network. Alito was not wrong, and in late 1985 -- shortly after Prospect published what turned out to be its last issue -- he received the promotion that helped place him on the path to the Supreme Court.

[graphic created exclusively for TalkLeft by CL.]