by TChris

The president of the San Francisco Police Officers Association explains that videos made for a police Christmas party were intended as “comic relief.”

The videos include scenes of uniformed and plainclothes officers mocking the homeless, women, Asians, African-Americans and gay men. In one segment, a mock scene has a black woman yelling after apparently having been hit by a patrol car.

The association president is “absolutely certain that none of the officers involved participated in the making of these comic parodies with the intent to disparage any individual or group.” Huh?

I'm told that Gov. Schwarzenegger will release his decision on clemency for Stanley "Tookie" Williams tomorrow between 6:30 and 7:30 pm, Pacific Time. I'll be discussing it on KABC Los Angeles radio, with host Al Rankel at 7:00pm PT. You can listen online here.

The LA Times reports:

His attorneys are expected to file a motion with the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, perhaps today, seeking permission to file a new habeas corpus petition in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.

At San Quentin on Thursday, officials began altering Williams' conditions in preparation for the possible execution, exchanging his clothes for sweats and shackling him and bolting him to a chair during his visits. Guards also removed most personal possessions from his cell, and will allow him only one item at a time — whether it's a toothbrush, a book or anything else — until the execution, corrections officials said.

Prison officials say this is their standard procedure for the period beginning five days before an execution.

The Judge in the Tom DeLay case dealt another setback to DeLay's attempt to get an early trial date, making it more and more unlikely he will be able to reclaim his House leadership position.

In a letter to DeLay's attorneys Wednesday, Senior Judge Pat Priest said he'll be working on other cases and won't be available until Dec. 27 to take up pending motions in DeLay's case stemming from a 2002 campaign finance scheme.

Australian Mamdouh Habib was seized in Pakistan in 2001 and during the next four years, shuttled between Egypt, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay. He was released in January, 2005. He claimed then he was tortured while in Egypt, and sued the U.S. in federal court to block it from sending him back to Egypt. He reiterated his claims of torture to the BBC today.

Mr Habib told the BBC's World Service that, after his "kidnap" in Pakistan in 2001, he was moved between Egypt, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay until his release at the beginning of 2005. He says he does not know who was holding him, but "I saw Americans.. Australians.. Pakistanis.. and Egyptians.... I was beaten, electric shock... no sleep, injections, brainwashed - unbelievable stuff," he said."

The New York Times reported in February:

The 14th Amendment says:

"all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States."

Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo now wants Congress to pass a bill denying citizenship to children of undocumented residents. He and like-minded Republicans want to tack the ban on to an immigration bill scheduled to be considered by the House next week.

Apparently, Tancredo believes that the Amendment doesn't apply to children with undocumented parents because although they are born in the U.S., they are not subject to its jurisdictions. Complete nonsense.

Democratic Congressman Charlie Gonzales has this appropriate response:

To change the way we establish citizenship is such an extreme measure, and it makes you really question what is motivating people to come up with those ideas.

Defense lawyers and prosecutors in Stanley Tookie Williams' case got 30 minutes to argue their case for and against clemency to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today. He is not expected to decide today.

Clemency is an act of grace and mercy, provided to the executive branch. It is a process by which the Governor can consider information not available to the court or jury at the time it determined guilt and sentence.

Newsweek today examines the Governor's dilemna. TalkLeft's position is here and here.

Check out the holiday gift guide from Saturday Night Magazine. If you scroll down, you will see they feature the TalkLeft 4th Amendment Subway Tote and Wonkette's tee-shirt.

You can get your tote here. (Click here for larger version). Let the 4th Amendment speak for you as you hand your bag over for a search by a subway or airline security guard. It's a silent protest and reminder to authorities that you consider searches without reasonable suspicion or probable cause to be an infringement of your privacy rights. They make great gifts.

Crashing the Gate by bloggers Markos Moulitsas Zuniga of Daily Kos and Jerome Armstrong of My DD is now available to pre-order.

Crashing the Gate is a shot across the bow at the political establishment in Washington DC and a call to re-democratize politics in America.

This book lays bare, with passion and precision, how ineffective, incompetent, and antiquated the Democratic Party establishment has become, and how it has failed to adapt and respond to new realities and challenges. The authors save their sharpest knives to go for the jugular in their critique of Republican ideologues who are now running—and ruining—our country.

Only 10,000 copies are being printed, so get your's now. Markos reports that as of 10 am this morning, 1472 copies have already been sold. Why order now? So the book can debut on the bestseller list, which in turn will help it reach more people.

Via Atrios, Adam Kidan, currently charged with lobbyist Jack Abramoff in federal court in Miami, has made a deal to flip on Abramoff:

If the deal goes through, Kidan, who was looking at up to 30 years in prison, could now face a maximum of 10 years. That sentence could be reduced depending upon the extent of his cooperation as a witness, not only against his co-defendant -- embattled super lobbyist Jack Abramoff -- but also in the prosecution of three men charged in the Feb. 6, 2001, slaying of Boulis, the sources said.

Kidan would plead to two five year counts, and get a sentencing reduction for his cooperation. As Atrios says, now it's Jack's turn.

Bump and Update: AP article on the compromise is here.

A bipartisan group of Senators is also slamming the compromise. From Senators Durbin, Feingold, Salazar, Sununu, Craig and Murkowski (via e-mail):

“We are gravely disappointed that the conference committee made so few changes to the Patriot Act reauthorization package that was circulated before the Thanksgiving recess. As we said then, we cannot support a conference report that does not contain modest but critical improvements, similar to those in the Senate-passed bill, to the most controversial provisions of the Patriot Act. We indicated before Thanksgiving that we would oppose a conference report like the one filed in the House today, and we believe many of our colleagues will join us.

Original Post:

From the ACLU this morning (received by e-mail):

by TChris

Terri Schiavo's husband, vilified and demonized by members of the extreme right, is using the political process to fight back. He’s created TerriPAC to raise funds to defeat the politicians who exploited his family’s personal tragedy for their own political purposes.

Among Republicans it is targeting are Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee, Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and Rep. Tom DeLay of Texas.

Michael Schiavo’s experience made him realize that his party has been hijacked by extremists.

"I was a lifelong Republican before Republicans pushed the power of government into my private family decisions," Schiavo said in a statement. "And it is not so simple to forget those politicians who shamelessly sought to squeeze political leverage out of my family's most emotional hour."

Say hello to Alito's America, a youth-oriented campaign to stop the nomination of Sam Alito. It's a project of Campus Progress and Center for American Progress. Sample Messages:

President Bush has nominated Samuel Alito, a judge with a long record of judicial extremism, to replace Sandra Day O'Connor, who has been the crucial moderate voice and swing vote on the Supreme Court. If Judge Alito is confirmed, his extreme right-wing ideology would endanger our basic freedoms.

and a sample letter to send to your Senators:

Samuel Alito's America is not my America. I'm opposed to the confirmation of Judge Alito to the Supreme Court. I believe that President Bush should appoint a mainstream judge in the mold of Sandra Day O'Connor.

Watch the video.