Former PFC Lynndie England can't catch a break.

England works in the prison's kitchen, where she suffered second- and possibly third-degree burns from being splattered with grease over her chest as she removed chickens from a tall oven, her mother, Terrie England, said in an interview. "She was in severe pain," she said of the December 14 incident. "Everybody in the prison heard the scream."

Terrie England, who is caring for England's infant during her incarceration, faulted prison officials for not giving better treatment during a visit to the emergency room. "They gave her nothing," she said. "When this happened I was furious. ... To think they give you nothing for pain."

BlairWatch is asking bloggers to publish the memos from Craig Murray, Britain's former ambassador to Uzbekistan, detailing how the Uzbek Secret Forces passed intelligence obtained through torture to the U.K. The documents show complicity in Uzbek torture by both the British and US governments.

Britain has an Official Secrets Act, which bloggers there are concerned may be used to prosecute them for revealing the contents of the memos. The more the memos appear on non-UK sites, the less the likelihood that will happen. As to the documents:

The first document is a series of Telegrams that Craig sent to the Foreign Office, outlining his growing concern and disgust at our use of intelligence passed to the UK by the Uzbek security services.

The second document is a copy of legal advice the Foreign Office sought, to see if they were operating within the Law in accepting torture intelligence, and according to Michael Wood the FCO legal adviser; it is fine, as long as it is not used as evidence.

Blairwatch has published the documents in full here, and ask that anyone who can do the same.

• http://www.blairwatch.co.uk/node/715
  
• http://www.blairwatch.co.uk/node/714
  
  

Daily Kos has posted the documents, as has Politics in the Zeros. As Markos reminds us:

Since Christmas day, the number of detainees at Guantanamo on a hunger strike has increased to 84.

Forty-six detainees at the prison for foreign terrorism suspects at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, joined the protest on the key Christian holiday last Sunday, said Army Lieutenant Colonel Jeremy Martin, a military spokesman.

...Medical personnel were force-feeding 32 of the hunger strikers with plastic tubes inserted into the stomach through the nose, the military said. Asked the purpose of the force-feeding, Martin said: "Because our policy is to preserve life."

If the policy is to preserve life, why is there a death penalty?

Of the approximately 500 inmates at the prison, only 9 have been charged with a crime.

Newsweek has posted an interview with Markos of Daily Kos in which he handicaps the 2006 races. Some tidbits:

• the hottest race will be in Pennsylvania, between Rick Santorum and Bob Casey Jr.
• Races in Rhode Island, Ohio, Missouri and Montana are next up.

On whether Dems will win in 2006:

I think Democrats will make gains, but it's 2008 we need to think about. I'm hoping that as we build our machine and repair the Democratic brand, people will start voting for Democrats because they want to vote for Democrats and not just because they want to vote against Republicans.

by TChris

Loyalty oaths were popular in the 1950’s, when conservatives were certain that anyone who disagreed with their political agenda was a communist. Today, conservatives are certain that those who disagree are terrorist-hugging traitors, but at least they’ve quit pressing the useless idea of loyalty oaths.

Except in Pennsylvania.

[Gerald] Massey, a Marine Corps veteran and retired philosophy professor, won a two-year seat on the Stoneboro council in November after a write-in campaign. He balked when borough officials told him to sign the Pennsylvania Loyalty Oath, signed into law in 1951 in an effort to keep communists out of government positions.

"I'm just a little write-in candidate in a small rural town. You might say, 'What does that (oath) matter?'" Massey said. "I think that's actually more important. Democracy starts with these grass-roots undertakings."

The 71-year-old Massey will be allowed to take office without signing an oath that affirms he isn’t “subversive.” A county solicitor confirmed that the outdated law (which likely violates the First Amendment) is no longer effective. Massey will instead take the standard oath to uphold the state and federal constitutions.

by TChris

Bryn Mawr College student Janet Lee invented an unusual method of stress relief. She filled condoms with flour, then squeezed them. Flying can be stressful, so she brought three flour-filled condoms with her to carry on a flight. This turned out to be an unfortunate idea, as airport screeners searched her luggage and found the condoms, which they assumed to be filled with cocaine -- an assumption Philadelphia police claim was confirmed by field tests. Lee spent three weeks behind bars on drug trafficking charges before the error was discovered.

How did flour test positive for opium, cocaine, and another drug, when later lab tests confirmed that the white powdery substance was exactly what it appeared to be: flour? The city has refused to release records that might reveal what went wrong.

Lee's lawyers, former prosecutors David Oh and Jeremy Ibrahim, say that either the field test was faulty or someone fixed the results.

Lee filed suit this week against the city for her wrongful arrest.

The National Security Agency has admitted keeping persistent cookies on visitors to its website. It will discontinue the illegal practice, and says it was a mistake.

Don Weber, an agency spokesman, said in a statement yesterday that the use of the so-called persistent cookies resulted from a recent software upgrade.

Normally, Mr. Weber said, the site uses temporary cookies that are automatically deleted when users close their Web browsers, which is legally permissible. But he said the software in use was shipped with the persistent cookies turned on. "After being tipped to the issue, we immediately disabled the cookies," Mr. Weber said.

The ACLU has a full page ad in today's New York Times calling for a special counsel to investigate Bush and the NSA warrantless electronic surveillance. This is an abridged version, minus most of the text, but you can view the full ad here.

In a press release, the ACLU says:

Enron defendant Rick Causey pleaded guilty today as expected. His deal is:

• plead to one ten year securities fraud count
• forfeit $1.25 million
• get a 7 year sentence, which can be reduced to 5 if he cooperates and testifies against Lay and Skilling. His cooperation is not mandatory.

The government says it is not sure it will call Causey as a witness. My translation: they aren't buying a pig in a poke. If Causey can't or won't deliver the goods against Lay and Skilling, they won't call him. They aren't going to give him a chance to provide testimony that is favorable to Lay and Skilling. If they don't call Causey, he'll do the seven years. There's no federal parole, you do 85% of your time. Here's TalkLeft's most recent background on the plea deal.

Update: Here is the statement of Causey filed in Court as to what he did wrong and detailing how he defrauded Enron's investors. He doesn't mention any other Enron chiefs by name, but he refers to them in the plural as "senior Enron management." In another instance, he refers to these management chiefs as "those with whom I conspired." It sounds like he is referring to others besides Andrew Fastow.

I've also read the actual plea agreement, which provides he cannot ask for a lesser sentence of 7 years (or 5 if he cooperates); he cannot ask for a lesser forfeiture; he cannot make any money from books or giving speeches about Enron; his restitution and fine will be taken care of by the $1.25 million forfeiture; he waives his right to appeal and to collaterally attack his sentence; the plea agreement does not bind local and state authorities or civil branches of the Government; and he gives up his right to obtain deferred compensation from Enron.

by TChris

In an emergency filing yesterday, the Solicitor General asked the Supreme Court to transfer Jose Padilla to a civilian court despite the Fourth Circuit’s bewilderment at the Justice Department’s flip-flopping claim that Padilla is an enemy combatant. The SG argued that the Fourth Circuit’s decision amounted to “an unwarranted attack on the exercise of executive discretion.”

Firing back today, Padilla’s lawyers seized the chance to embarrass the Bush administration with the recent news that the president used his “executive discretion” to intercept telephone calls of persons who were within the nation’s borders and subject to the protections of the nation’s laws without obtaining a warrant.

Lawyers Donna Newman and Andrew Patel told the high court in papers filed Tuesday that the justices must step in "to preserve the vital checks and balances" on the president.

It's that time of the year to organize and close up files and work on the books. If there's something going on in the world today, here's a place to discuss it. In the meantime,

• Manassas, VA wants to redefine the family for housing limit purposes, a move many call racist and anti-immigrant. [hat tip Patriot Daily]

• Journalism prof Jay Rosen is back on the case of Bill Keller and the New York Times.

• Crooks and Liars is seeking nominations for the best video clips of the year.

• Roger Ailes has an end of the year quiz.

Last week I predicted that defense lawyers would soon start filing motions related to Bush's warrantless NSA surveillance. The New York Times reports lawyers from coast to coast are getting ready to hit the courts, and some will seek to reopen cases in which the defendants have been convicted and are serving their sentences.

Defense lawyers in terrorism cases around the country say they are preparing letters and legal briefs to challenge the N.S.A. program on behalf of their clients, many of them American citizens, and to find out more about how it might have been used. They acknowledge legal hurdles, including the fact that many defendants waived some rights to appeal as part of their plea deals.

Here are a sampling of the lawyers speaking up:

• Gerry Spence, who represents Oregon lawyer Brandon Mayfield in his civil action against the U.S. for arresting and detaining him as a material witness in the Spain bombings. Mayfield was later released with no charges brought.

• Lawyers for the Lackawanna (Buffalo) 6 and Portland 7 are considering challenges, as are those representing Jose Padilla's co-defendants.