While the New York Times Magazine touts the effectiveness of conservative blogs, the LA Times Magazine writes about the liberal blogs "truth squad" and profiles John Amato of Crooks and Liars.

For political junkies, must-see TV once meant sitting through hours of "Crossfire," "Hannity & Colmes" and "Meet the Press," hoping for the occasional gem. Nowadays, to catch Robert Novak turning the air blue on "Inside Politics" or work yourself into an apoplectic lather over our politicians' latest truth-challenged utterances, you can point your browser to Crooks and Liars , the brainchild of 47-year-old West L.A. musician and liberal-Democrat John Amato. Since last fall, he has been serving up political dish from a decidedly blue-state perspective with daily posts of video and audio streams. Amato, who turned to blogging after an injury scotched his saxophone career during a hiatus from a reunion tour with Duran Duran, currently is receiving between 100,000 and 200,000 hits on the site per day and has even done a few original interviews. We pried him away from his computer for questions from the mainstream media.

Condi Rice was not a hit on her European vacation. From Hungary's The Index, which calls the CIA's secret prisons concentration camps:

For weeks I've been wondering what the difference is between a Soviet and an American gulag. What's to like about an American concentration camp, or even accept, pardon or explain? Why do they hold terrorists there? How do we know who's a real terrorist if a confession can be beaten out of anyone. And they complied with the law; they just took their subject on a little Egyptian study tour.

by TChris

The NY Times examines the military’s propaganda effort:

The 1,200-strong psychological operations unit based at Fort Bragg turns out what its officers call "truthful messages" to support the United States government's objectives, though its commander acknowledges that those stories are one-sided and their American sponsorship is hidden.

Another sad death to report. Former Senator Eugene McCarthy has died at 89.

Former Minnesota Sen. Eugene J. McCarthy, whose insurgent campaign toppled a sitting president in 1968 and forced the Democratic Party to take seriously his message against the Vietnam War, died Saturday. He was 89.

McCarthy died in his sleep at assisted living home in the Georgetown neighborhood where he had lived for the past few years, said his son, Michael.

Actor comedian Richard Pryor has died. He was 65. May he rest in peace, his comedy will be remembered forever.

by TChris

A federal judge presiding over a criminal trial may "vacate any judgment and grant a new trial if the interest of justice so requires." Northern District of New York Judge Lawrence Kahn exercised that power to assure that a second jury would review the dubious evidence of Steven Robinson's guilt.

Robinson is accused of committing a drive-by killing in connection with a dispute among drug dealers. A wounded victim, Aukland Dubery, "identified Robinson as being present on the scene, and Dubery only did so after telling police at the crime scene and two days later at the hospital that he did not know who had shot him."

Via Wonkette:

Executions are planned, down to the smallest detail. Barring a clemency grant or last-minute stay, Stanley "Tookie" Williams will be executed Monday night (12:01 am Tuesday, Pacific time.)

The LA Times today recaps the major major provisions of San Quentin Operational Procedure No. 770, which is 43 pages in length.

The death chamber will be equipped with 12 rolls of adhesive tape, 20 syringes, 10 needles, 15 tubes of varying sizes, four bags of saline solution, scissors, six tourniquets, two boxes of surgical gloves and one box each of surgical masks and alcohol wipes. There will be handcuffs and leg irons. Nothing is left to chance.

As for Tookie:

by TChris

After fighting so vigorously to keep Jose Padilla from having his day in court (TalkLeft background collected here), the Justice Department now finds itself fighting to convince the Fourth Circuit to disregard its earlier claim that Padilla is actually an enemy combatant who should be denied the protections of the Constitution. In the words of Emily Litella, "Never mind."

In papers Friday, lawyers for the Justice Department said that the president had the authority to choose to prosecute Mr. Padilla on charges of participating in a terrorist cell in North America. As a consequence, the issues raised in the case before the appeals court as to whether he could be held as an enemy combatant were now moot. The court should even withdraw its opinion on the matter, the department said.

Accusations that Padilla intended to detonate a “dirty bomb” somewhere on U.S. soil have quietly slipped away, leaving the Fourth Circuit to wonder what all the fuss was about. The Justice Department likely fears that the Supreme Court would reject its authority to declare an American citizen arrested within U.S. borders an “enemy combatant.” But the Fourth Circuit may be unwilling to treat the question as moot, given the government’s ability to flip-flop once more if its criminal case against Padilla unravels (as did its heralded terrorism prosecution of Sami al-Arian).

by Last Night in Little Rock

You've seen it on CSI: NY: police use cellphones as tracking devices by a mere call to the cellphone provider. It's not that easy, at least not anymore.

Three recent cases have been reported on www.FourthAmendment.com where the government's request to use cellphones to track them real time have been denied. The NY Times has a comprehensive article about it today by Matt Richtel: Live Tracking of Mobile Phones Prompts Court Fights on Privacy.

It is quite real and tells us that, while Big Brother is not watching, Big Brother can try to get the information from your cellphone provider via the USA PATRIOT Act. An allegation of terrorism, however, is not required. Yet another abuse of the PATRIOT Act.

Judges, however, have stopped buying into it without a showing of probable cause or exigent circumstances. But, under the PATRIOT Act, a terrorism allegation is not required.

What a frightening story. A man and his 14 year old son disembark from public transit, the DART police arrest the father for jaywalking, rough him and his son up, take the father into custody, leave the kid alone to find his way wherever, and the father can't make bond and does 11 days in jail.

What's wrong with this picture? Everything it seems.

Joe Lieberman has been Republican lite for years. Now he's a Bushite. It's great to see that Democrats are finally acknowledging it.

At the same time, Republicans are embracing him, including Dick Cheney.

Although some Democrats are upset with Mr. Lieberman, Republicans are embracing him, with President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld singling him out, and his support for the war, for praise in speeches this week.

Does anyone remember when Lieberman backed Jeb Bush's law that called for the reinsertion of Teri Schiavo's feeding tube? Or that he supported the death penalty for offenders under 18 at the time of their crimes? That he was willing to work with Bush on social security?

Memo to Republicans: Take him, he's your's.