Voices, by Harold Pinter, a musical composition by James Clarke with words by Harold Pinter (composed from several of his recent plays), will be performed live on BBC Radio 3, on October 10 in honor of Pinter's 75th birthday.

The plays from which he has culled his lines share a preoccupation with the power relationship between bully and victim, torturer and tortured, master and slave. Against a backdrop of unspecified totalitarian states, Pinter focuses on interrogators, torturers and guards and their violent mistreatment of innocent prisoners.

The broadcast will be accessible on streaming audio live. Here's an interview with Pinter. Metafilter has this description:

by TChris

Former FBI agent Mike German counters the argument that racial profiling is a useful tool to combat terrorism because “everyone knows that the terrorists who are trying to kill us are Muslim men.”

But a quick look at population statistics shows that racial profiling will likely be just as unproductive as random searches. The tragic shooting of a Brazilian electrician who was mistaken for an Arab terrorist by British undercover policemen demonstrates the difficulty of identifying race by merely looking at someone. But even if police here in the United States could be trained to properly identify Arab Americans on sight, only about 1 in 4 would actually turn out to be Muslim. The vast majority -- 63 percent, according to a 2002 Zogby poll, are Christian. So much for the clash of civilizations.

by TChris

Ken Starr was unsuccessful in his effort to persuade the Supreme Court to review the conviction and death sentence imposed on Robin Lovitt (TalkLeft background here). Among other reasons to review the case: initial DNA tests were inconclusive, but a court clerk destroyed all the evidence after Lovitt was sentenced, making additional testing impossible.

Under the circumstances, this editorial sensibly argues that Lovitt should not be executed:

Virginia officials now want to schedule Lovitt's execution for Nov. 30. But after sending Earl Washington Jr. to death row for a rape and murder he did not commit, the commonwealth has an even greater responsibility to make sure its own procedures are flawless before it puts anyone to death. Supreme Court or not, deliberate destruction of evidence falls far short of any reasonable threshhold.

Gov. Mark Warner, who so far has not commuted any of the 11 death sentences carried out on his watch, should sign the clemency order this time.

by TChris

Contending that the Air Force Academy has encouraged evangelical Christians to impose their religious viewpoints on cadets in a coercive fashion, Academy graduate Mikey Weinstein filed suit against the Air Force yesterday to end the school’s tolerance of religious proselytizing.

Over the past decade or more, the suit claims, academy leaders have fostered an environment of religious intolerance at the Colorado school, in violation of the First Amendment.

Among the complaints:

I hate these kind of reports. Two "intellectuals" from the Clinton centrist era have issued a new report saying the only way Democrats can win is to abandon liberalism and take a centrist position like Clinton did in 1992. As an example, they give this:

They suggest that Democratic presidential candidates replicate Clinton's tactics in 1992, when he broke with the party's liberal base by approving the execution of a semi-retarded prisoner, by challenging liberal icon Jesse L. Jackson and by calling for an end to welfare "as we know it."

Who cares whether Democrats win if they are just Republicans in sheep's clothing? Why be a member of a party if its values aren't your values?

The AP reports:

The Rolling Stones' concert at the University of Virginia was interrupted Thursday night while several police officers and three bomb-sniffing dogs searched the stage. The show resumed after about a half-hour intermission. University, state and city police did not immediately return phone calls about the incident, and no announcement was made to the audience about the reason for the break.

I hope the terror threats against the New York subway system turn out to be non-credible. I hope it's another distraction by the Administration. Every time they get really bad press like they are now with possible imminent indictments of top-level officials, the terror threat goes up. But, rather than treat them like the little boy who cried wolf, if you live in New York, give them the benefit of the doubt and stay vigilant and safe.

And don't forget to make sure the cops keep the 4th Amendment in mind. Get a TalkLeft Subway Tote to carry your possessions in and hand the cops when it's time for a search of your bags. Yes, you have to consent to the search but you can without a word let them know what you think of the intrusion. If you've got a college kid in New York, send them one. We can't remind the authorities often enough of our right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures.

Crooks and Liars has a sooper-dooper double secret agent who sent him this audio of Ken Mehlman's RNC blogger conference call on Harriet Miers.

Murray Waas has the latest on Karl Rove's next grand jury appearance - it's tomorrow morning. As I speculated here, he will:

• Try to explain his previous mistatements or as Murray puts it, why his statements have evolved and changed over time
• Try to explain the discrepancies between his and Matthew Cooper's version of the their conversations

And Murray adds a third one:

He will also be questioned regarding contacts with other senior administration officials, such as then-deputy National Security advisor Stephen J. Hadley and I. Lewis Libby, the chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney in the critical week before the publication of columnist Robert Novak's column on July 14, 2003, which outed Plame as a covert CIA operative.

David Corn weighs in here.

Lawrence O'Donnell has updated his Huffpo post to comment on how cagey Rove's lawyer is being when he said today Rove hadn't received a letter informing him he was a target. He's right.

I laid out the terminology of "target letters" earlier. It may be worth noting (as appellate whiz Peter G. pointed out in the comments to the post)that it is not not a legal requirement, only Justice Department policy, that target letters be sent to those whom the Government subpoenas to the grand jury while also intending to indict them.

Rove's lawyer asked for his client to testify again. Rove wasn't subpoenaed. Plus, Fitzgerald could have told him over the phone that if his client testifies again, he can't assure him he won't be indicted. And not sending a target letter doesn't mean Fitz won't advise Rove of his rights orally when he goes before the grand jury again.

by TChris

Children at play:

At one point in the first of the two off-the-record sessions, according to several people in the room, White House adviser Ed Gillespie suggested that some of the unease about Miers "has a whiff of sexism and a whiff of elitism." Irate participants erupted and demanded that he take it back.

The irate conservatives then resorted to the time-honored insult repeller, "I'm rubber and you're glue ..."

Update: The AP reports Karl Rove will testify again in the leaks probe. One last chance to avoid indictment?

Federal prosecutors have accepted an offer from presidential adviser Karl Rove to give 11th hour testimony in the case of a CIA officer's leaked identity but have warned they cannot guarantee he won't be indicted, according to people directly familiar with the investigation.

Update: More details here.

****
Original Post:

Over at HuffPo, Lawrence O'Donnell predicts at least three indictments of high-level White House officials. He says Fitz will tell the defense lawyers they have one more chance to come in, rat out others and make a deal.

Rove's lawyer Robert Luskin won't confirm to O'Donnell whether he's been notified by Fitzgerald that he is soon to be an Indictee. Which means, Rove could already be working out a deal or otherwise trying to resolve the charges pre-Indictment. Or, Rove hasn't decided what to do so he's staying quiet until then.