by Last Night in Little Rock

UK citizens sent hundreds of tons of food to Katrina victims, but it languished in a warehouse, became unusable or was quarantined because it was from overseas, and was being transported to an FDA warehouse to be incinerated as reported here, written by a UK free lance writer.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid says he will vote against the nomination of John Roberts for Chief Justice of the United States.

Reid scheduled a speech on the Senate floor for mid-afternoon, at which he was expected to make his announcement public.

I suspect several other Democrats will also vote against Roberts. He didn't answer their direct questions about his views on abortion, civil rights and other important issues, sticking to his script about respecting precedent. His hearings were more like a law school class at which he was lecturer-in-chief.

As big as the abortion issue is to many folks, civil liberties in the broader context (Patriot Act, increased governmental snooping, etc.) the death penalty and criminal justice are my primary areas of concern. Roberts just about got a pass on all those issues from the Senators, and I'm not happy about that. Still, Roberts will be confirmed, and the real fight is yet to come - over Justice O'Connor's replacement. I'm holding my big guns for that one.

Say Hello to the first official Daily Kos spin-off site, Street Prophets, about faith and politics. Markos of Daily Kos explains more about the site.

Legendary Nazi-hunter and fighter of anti-Semitism Simon Wiesenthal has passed away in Austria. He was 96.

From Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean and founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles:

"I think he'll be remembered as the conscience of the Holocaust. In a way he became the permanent representative of the victims of the Holocaust, determined to bring the perpetrators of the greatest crime to justice," Hier told The Associated Press. A survivor of five Nazi death camps, Wiesenthal changed his life's mission after the war, dedicating himself to tracking down Nazi war criminals and to being a voice for the 6 million Jews who died during the onslaught. He himself lost 89 relatives in the Holocaust.

by TChris

As TalkLeft reported here, the Commission on Federal Election Reform presented Congress yesterday with a series of proposals, including the sensible idea that voting machines should produce paper copies of votes to permit an audit that would assure a machine is recording votes accurately. A NY Times editorial today addresses a more troubling proposal: "a voter identification requirement that would prevent large numbers of poor, black and elderly people from voting."

by TChris

The nation's largest retailer is facing about 40 lawsuits alleging workplace violations. The first of those to go to trial alleges that Wal-Mart systematically denied its California workers the right to take a lunch break.

The case concerns a 2001 state law, which is among the nation's most worker friendly. Employees who work at least six hours must have a 30-minute, unpaid lunch break. If they do not get that, the law requires they are paid for an additional hour of pay.

Wal-Mart settled a similar suit in Colorado for $50 million.

by TChris

Chicago police claimed that two boys, ages 7 and 8, confessed to the murder and sexual abuse of Ryan Harris in 1998. A month after they were arrested, DNA testing established that the kids didn't commit the crime. One of the Chicago detectives who extracted the confessions has a history of persuading children to confess to crimes they didn't commit.

As TalkLeft reported here, one of the kids settled his wrongful arrest lawsuit in January for $2 million. On Monday, several weeks after the start of a trial that wasn't going well for the City, the other boy settled for $6.2 million. Some of the settlement proceeds will be used to pay for the boy's therapy.

Update (TL): Crooks and Liars has the video. More from the Village Voice and New York Times.

by TChris

New York City police prevented Cindy Sheehan from finishing a speech she was delivering at Union Square yesterday. They also arrested a rally organizer for failing to obtain a permit before allowing Cindy to use a "sound device" to criticize the president.

"This is what's been happening for the last couple of years," said the co-chairman of the Green Party's Manhattan chapter, Daniel Starling, who attended the rally. "Every time we try to hold a demonstration, they arrest us."

Free speech in New York: you're free to speak when, where, and how the City permits you to speak.

Update: Cindy describes what happened:

Bump and Update (TL): Law Prof Ellen Podgor of White Collar Crime Blog weighs in:

Unlike Bernard Ebbers, but like Jamie Olis, the defendants were sent off to jail immediately. They were not released pending the appeal. .... Unlike those sentenced in the federal system (e.g. Rigas, Ebbers, and Olis), both Kozlowski and Swartz have the opportunity to present their case and circumstances for parole after they have served 8 1/3 years. But some will argue that the prisons awaiting Kozlowski and Swartz will be harsher than those facing the federal offenders (although it should be noted that Jamie Olis does not exactly have luxury quarters).

Is this sentence necessary? No. The minimum would have been 1-3 years and perhaps the sentence should have been closer to that time frame. Closer not because the crime was not wrong and should be punished, but closer because these individuals are first offenders who are unlikely to commit a crime again in the future. Their positions of power have been stripped from them and they are unlikely to have the ability or power to ever be a menace to society again. Are the fines and restitution appropriate? Yes. Make them pay back every dime that was taken and more.

My friend in the Keys provides this link. He's right near Marathon, but obviously hasn't evacuated yet. I last saw him a few weeks ago when he had a few hours lay-over before his flight to Aspen for Hunter's memorial...he said he had been through so many warnings that didnt' pan out, he wasn't leaving. I hope he's out now.

Update: Just received a long email from my friend, he's staying put. Here's a piece: "They should ban those pushy news b**ches that alarm the crap out of everybody. It just went from a tropical storm to a Cat 1 hurricane which is not that big a deal....it will get worse in the next few hours but not much....we are ok...[his cat] does not like hurricanes but she's on cat meds....later."

by TChris

Why is Attorney General Alberto Gonzales making the FBI's new "anti-obscenity squad" a top priority?

The new squad will divert eight agents, a supervisor and assorted support staff to gather evidence against "manufacturers and purveyors" of pornography -- not the kind exploiting children, but the kind that depicts, and is marketed to, consenting adults.

"I guess this means we've won the war on terror," said one exasperated FBI agent, speaking on the condition of anonymity because poking fun at headquarters is not regarded as career-enhancing. "We must not need any more resources for espionage."

The war on corporate crime must also have ended in victory. Is there nothing left to vex the Justice Department but dirty movies?

The LA Times reports:

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) conceded that he could not overcome Democratic opposition to a joint investigation.

Markos at Daily Kos says credit where credit is due: