by Last Night in Little Rock

USA Today reports on the chaos in the criminal justice system in New Orleans that is just starting to rear its ugly head, at least as far as the public is concerned: defendants, victims, and witnesses are missing or scattered, courts and lawyers are out of business, the police force lost hundreds who went AWOL and have their jobs in jeopardy. It is a long and compelling article. The criminal defense list servs have been on this since the flood.

Just the first three paragraphs are here:

by Last Night in Little Rock

FEMA Spokesperson and former Director Michael Brown is presently before a House Committee, reading from a script about what a great job FEMA did and that the local officials simply bickered and couldn't get their act together.

The first questioner, however, is Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA). It is getting interesting. It is on CNN, MSNBC, and C-Span. FoxNews, however, isn't covering it.

Even the CNN talking heads aren't buying this dissembling and blame shifting.

Update: CNN reports that all but two Democrats are boycotting the hearing, thereby, in their estimation, depriving the Committee hearing of some counterpoint, apparently expecting the Republicans to throw softballs. One Representative from Mississippi who lost his house was working Brown over, and Brown wasn't answering questions very well. The NY Times has posted a story with a link to live video.

If this were a trial, the jury wouldn't be believing any of it. My opinion is that he wasn't well prepped, if it was possible in the first place.

by Last Night in Little Rock

On July 10th, the LAPD SWAT team shot and killed a toddler in the arms of an armed man as noted here.

CNN.com reports today that the family of the toddler has filed a notice of claim against the LAPD. A notice of claim is a prelude to filing suit.

by TChris

Fred Black, the acting U.S. Attorney in Guam, advised the public integrity section of the Justice Department in November 2002 that he had opened an investigation of Jack Abramoff. Days later, Black was demoted. His new boss then prohibited him from pursuing public corruption cases. Coincidence?

Colleagues of Mr. Black, who had run the federal prosecutor's office in Guam for 12 years, ... said F.B.I. agents questioned several people in Guam and Washington this summer about whether Mr. Abramoff or his friends in the Bush administration had pushed for Mr. Black's removal. Mr. Abramoff's internal e-mail messages show that he boasted to clients about what he described as his close ties to John Ashcroft, then the attorney general, and others at the department.

The French newspaper Le Monde excoricates the Bush Administration for Abu Ghraib in today's editorial.

“...the use of torture is one less chance for Washington to win its wars, because for each martyred prisoner, for each image of Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo, ten fighters rise against the United States.”

And it reminds the anti-war movement that it shouldn't just be about saving American lives.

CNN reports that President Bush may announce his nominee to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on Friday - the day after the Senate votes to confirm John Roberts as Chief Justice.

Reading between the lines of what sources tell CNN:

• It will be a woman or a minority
• It will not be an extremist like Priscilla Owen, or Janice Rogers Brown or even conservative Edith Clement
• It could be former Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson

I would add to the list of possible nominees: 9th Circuit Judge Consuelo Callahan. Like 5th Circuit Judge Ed Prado, she was put on the Court by Bush - and overwhelmingly supported by Democrats on the Judicary Committee.

Can you believe this? Raw Story reports that according to CBS News, FEMA has rehired the recently resigned Mike Brown..."as a consultant to evaluate the agency's response to the disaster!"

CBS's Katrina Blog reports:

6:44 p.m. (CBS) — CBS News correspondent Gloria Borger reports that Michael Brown, who recently resigned as the head of the FEMA, has been rehired by the agency as a consultant to evaluate it's response following Hurricane Katrina.

Update (TL):

Caption from Jane at Firedoglake: DC Police Study for Gyno Exams.

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Original Post by TChris

Cindy Sheehan was arrested today while protesting outside the White House.

Others who were arrested also cooperated with police. Sgt. Scott Fear, spokesman for the U.S. Park Police, said they would be charged with demonstrating without a permit, which is a misdemeanor.

So much for free speech, and the right to assemble, and the right to petition the government for redress of grievances.

by TChris

This is Sen. Bill Frist, explaining why he had no conflict of interest in voting for or against health care legislation despite his ownership of stock in the hospital chain, HCA Inc., that his family founded:

Asked in a television interview in January 2003 whether he should sell his HCA stock, [Frist] responded, "Well, I think really for our viewers it should be understood that I put this into a blind trust. So as far as I know, I own no HCA stock"

Frist, referring to his trust and those of his family, also said in the interview, "I have no control. It is illegal right now for me to know what the composition of those trusts are. So I have no idea."

Recently disclosed facts are inconsistent with Frist's insistence that he had no idea whether he owned HCA stock:

Readers Digest, a predictably conservative publication for decades, may be changing its stripes on at least one issue: Three Strikes Laws. This article, Why Three Strikes Laws Don't Work, appears at page 152 of the October issue.

Convinced that too many judges were going easy on violent recidivists, Congress enacted federal "mandatory minimum" sentences two decades ago, mainly targeting drug crimes. Throughout the 1990s, state legislatures and Congress kept upping the ante, passing new mandatory minimums, including "three strikes and you're out" laws. The upshot was a mosaic of sentencing statues that all but eliminated judicial discretion, mercy, or even common sense.

Now we are living with the fallout.

The magazine also has reader comments on the article, asking the question:

• Jesus' General writes a letter.
• The Poor Man creates a cartoon.
• Arianna's Russert Watch
• Jane Hamsher on Daniel Schorr and Judith Miller
• Heretik on the Saint Patrick Four war protesters being found guilty only of lesser charges in Binghamton.
• TBogg on Ralph Nader

When a Senator decides to run for President, like Joe Biden, it's only fair that we examine what he has done as Senator for those in his home state. Read this article on the AIDS epidemic that is rampant in Delaware prisons - it is the cause of death of one of every four inmates who die there. Where is Biden? Has he introduced federal legislation to help them?

There's another reason to read this article. This isn't only happening in Delaware, although for the past two years Delaware has the worst record in the country.