Norwegianity and Sideshow have good roundups of topics today, from Murtha and the Republican's transparent stunt of vote on his Iraq pull-out measure, to the immigration raid that busted 125 undocumented workers of a Wal-Mart sub-contractor to Diebold and California. Here's an open thread to discuss these and all other topics of interest to you.

While more cities are using surveillance cameras as a crime-fighting measure, bound to fail in my opinion, some police chiefs actually have a clue...check out LA Police Chief Bill Bratton's latest program, instituted last week:

Police academy graduates hired by the force will begin their careers walking the beat in 8 hour shifts, getting to know the community, the residents, the business owners. This gets the police out of their patrol cars, and away from responding to emergencies 24/7.

Crime is already down in these districts, and the residents are happy to see police who aren't just out to bust.

ABC News has a must-read new report on torture techniques being used on detainees at overseas detention centers. The information comes from current and former CIA officers and supervisors who believe the public should know "the direction" the Agency has taken.

Portions of their accounts are corrobrated by public statements of former CIA officers and by reports recently published that cite a classified CIA Inspector General's report.

Among the tecniques used:

1. The Attention Grab: The interrogator forcefully grabs the shirt front of the prisoner and shakes him.

2. Attention Slap: An open-handed slap aimed at causing pain and triggering fear.

3. The Belly Slap: A hard open-handed slap to the stomach. The aim is to cause pain, but not internal injury. Doctors consulted advised against using a punch, which could cause lasting internal damage.

Saturday's LA Times has an excellent commentary on Woodward, connecting him to the Bush Administration's unprecedented manipulation of the media and, by extension, the rest of us.

Two things have distinguished this Bush administration's efforts at press manipulation from those that have gone before. One is their sweep and consistency. There has been bribery — as in the egregious case of the wretched Williams. There has been deception — as in the planting of phony news videos. There have been alleged violations of federal laws and regulations — as in Tomlinson's and Rove's efforts to subvert public television. There has been stealth — as in the whispering campaign to discredit Plame's husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson.

Bob Woodward tells Time Magazine how and why his source contacted Fitzgerald.

Arianna has a different take.

Digby weighs in here and Kevin Drum here.

by TChris

Like O.J., Robert Blake didn't fare as well before a civil jury as he did in his criminal prosecution.

Eight months after Robert Blake was acquitted at a criminal trial of murdering his wife, a civil jury decided Friday the tough-guy actor was behind the slaying, and ordered him to pay her children $30 million in damages.

by TChris

Some police officers stop motorists for “driving while black,” a practice that caused some jurisdictions to require officers to keep records that justify their decisions to initiate traffic stops. Some officers make unwarranted stops of individuals to satisfy unwritten “quota” systems that reward officers with promotions if they are aggressive in their decisions to stop and frisk individuals in the hope that the encounter will uncover drugs or a gun. Both may be occurring in Baltimore, where (according to police documents reviewed by the Baltimore Sun) tens of thousands of stops occurred last year, frequently accompanied by frisks of the detained individuals.

Patrol officers - whose productivity is measured in large part by how many stops and arrests they make - have told their union representatives that what could be an effective tool for reducing crime is being overused in a daily push to ratchet up statistics. Some call stop-and-frisks a "VCR detail" - for violation of civil rights, according to Lt. Frederick V. Roussey, the president of the police union.

Jack Abramoff's partner, lobbyist Michael Scanlon of Capital Campaign Strategies, has been charged in federal court with a one count information alleging conspiracy to defraud millions of dollars from clients of Indian tribes.

Looks like he made a deal. A hearing is Monday.

Stephen Hadley played coy today about whether he disclosed information about Valerie Plame Wilson to Bob Woodward in June.

First, Raw Story announced Hadley is the source. Then White House officials denied it. Today, Hadley refused to say, invoking the latest White House mantra, "there's a continuing investigation."

Referring to news accounts about the case, Hadley said with a smile, "I've also seen press reports from White House officials saying that I am not one of his sources." He said he would not comment further because the CIA leak case remains under investigation. Leaving the room, Hadley was asked if his answer amounted to a yes or a no. "It is what it is," he said.

Today, Raw Story reconfirms that Hadley is Woodward's source and reports that there is a record of Hadley's meeting with Woodward at the National Security Council.

Patrick Fitzgerald said in a court pleading today that his investigation of the Valerie Plame leaks case is continuing with the grand jury currently sitting in the District. His affidavit was included in a Government motion seeking a modified disclosure order on discovery as a result of the Dow Jones objection to the government's previous version.

Fitzgerald is now requesting that classified information, grand jury transcripts and personal information (residence addresses, calendar items such as doctor's appointments and the like) be kept secret, but the rest, if Libby chooses, may be released. Here are his exact words:

Bump and Update: The New York Times reports that the Washington Post editor has said if one of the other reporters figures out who Bob Woodward's source is, the paper might publish it. Woodward is still pushing the source for a full release.

Update: The Wall St. Journal(free link) says Cheney is not the leak.

Vice President Dick Cheney isn't believed to have talked to Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald since last year, nor has he given a waiver to Mr. Woodward. That removes him as Mr. Woodward's source.

In an interview with British ITV News Network , former CIA Director Stansfield Turner reportedly said the following:

President Bush is not telling the truth when he says that torture is not a method used by the US. Speaking of Bush's claims that the US does not use torture, Admiral Turner, who ran the CIA from 1977 to 1981, said: "I do not believe him".

On Dick Cheney he said "I'm embarrassed the United States has a vice president for torture. "He condones torture, what else is he?".

Turner was the CIA Director from 1977 to 1982 under Jimmy Carter.