What kind of military "medical test" confirms one is telling the truth? Did they inject the bomber with scopolamine? Or is a lie dector now a "medical test?" If the military used scopolamine, did the bomber consent or was he given a choice?

A suicide bomber captured before he could blow himself up in a Shiite mosque claimed he was kidnapped, beaten and drugged by insurgents who forced him to take on the mission. The U.S. military said its medical tests indicated the man was telling the truth.

Eric Alterman: "Nope, Nothing at all like Vietnam."

Using enemy body counts as a benchmark, the U.S. military claimed gains against Abu Musab Zarqawi's foreign-led fighters last week even as they mounted their deadliest attacks on Iraq's capital.

But by many standards, including increasingly high death tolls in insurgent strikes, Zarqawi's group, al Qaeda in Iraq, could claim to be the side that's gaining after 2 1/2 years of war. August was the third-deadliest month of the war for U.S. troops.

Bump and Update: Jury selection is underway. Six jurors have been dismissed and opening arguments likely will begin Thursday.

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Original Post (9/18)

Former Illinois Governor George Ryan's federal corruption trial begins Monday.

Accused of doling out big-money state contracts and leases to political insiders, the 71-year-old veteran politician is scheduled to go to trial Monday, charged in a 22-count indictment with racketeering conspiracy, mail fraud, lying to the FBI and tax fraud.

It's another case of purchased testimony, testimony bought with promises of leniency. Freedom is a far more precious commodity than money. How's it looking for Gov. Ryan?

by TChris

Conservative critics of the Supreme Court have derided its occasional citation of cases from foreign courts to make a point about the law of the United States. "Who cares what the rest of the world thinks?" they ask mockingly. "Our law is ours alone."

Law Prof. Ann Althouse points out in a NY Times op-ed piece that the dispute is much ado about nothing. Careful thinking can be guided by a variety of sources, not all of which are precedents from American courts:

by Last Night in Little Rock

In what was described by Iraqi officials as the largest theft in history, the UK Independent reports that $1B has disappeared from the Iraq Defense Ministry, compromising Iraq's ability to defend itself against insurgents.

One billion dollars has been plundered from Iraq's defence ministry in one of the largest thefts in history, The Independent can reveal, leaving the country's army to fight a savage insurgency with museum-piece weapons.

The money, intended to train and equip an Iraqi army capable of bringing security to a country shattered by the US-led invasion and prolonged rebellion, was instead siphoned abroad in cash and has disappeared.

by TChris

This proposition is so sensible that we can expect the right wing to ridicule it:

"We should have an electoral system," the [Commission on Federal Election Reform] declared, "where registering to vote is convenient, voting is efficient and pleasant, voting machines work properly, fraud is deterred and disputes are handled fairly and expeditiously."

In a report that will be delivered to Congress today, a commission chaired by Jimmy Carter and James A. Baker III recommends a number of election reforms. The most important recommendation is this:

by TChris

No level of government did an adequate job of helping hospitals and nursing homes that failed to carry out their responsibility to evacuate patients from New Orleans. The consequences of those failures were often fatal.

Of the dead collected so far in the New Orleans area, more than a quarter of them, or at least 154, were patients, mostly elderly, who died in hospitals or nursing homes, according to interviews with officials from 8 area hospitals and 26 nursing homes. By the scores, people without choice of whether to leave or stay perished in New Orleans, trapped in health care facilities and in many cases abandoned by their would-be government rescuers.

The Minnesota Daily has an editorial today on the hunger strike at Guantanamo:

About a quarter of the detainees in Guantanamo Bay are engaged in a hunger strike, and 18 prisoners are being force-fed through tubes or intravenously after about a month of not eating. The prisoners are protesting the frightening reality that detainees have gone three years without trials.

....While morality and ethics are abstract ideas, justice is more concrete, hence why there are laws. Guantanamo and the actions that have been taken by our government against the detainees violate the Geneva convention, the Bill of Rights, and our Constitution. Justice is not merely a conditional idea.

The conclusion, which undoubtedly will fall on deaf ears:

The Toronto Film Festival is considered one of the best anywhere. I'd really like to go next year. One of the many films that caught my attention from media reviws is this one, starring Robin Wright Penn, as described by a reviewer:

One of the local papers said that this movie was one of the worst in the festival, so I wasn’t expecting much from it. After seeing it, I must strongly disagree. This is an incendiary film that I am still thinking about. Abdel Kechiche plays Ashade, an Arabian New York City taxi driver. His brother has been locked up in Guantanamo Bay and Ashade is raising money to pay for a lawyer and help support his sister-in-law.

Late one night, he picks up Phoebe (Robin Wright Penn) outside an ATM. She has him drive her to New Jersey , where they sit outside a suburban home for a while before she keys a new SUV that sits in the driveway. Phoebe, who from early on is clearly unstable, works for an MTV-type network and produces a show that’s similar to Cribs. She is also enraged about 9/11 and lets racist comments fly at will.

by Last Night in Little Rock

As reported on Law.com in an article from AP, President Bush is meeting Wednesday with "key Senators," from both sides of the aisle, about Justice O'Connor's replacement.

by Last Night in Little Rock

Cindi Sheehan, another person who was almost lost in the aftermath of Katrina, who camped out at Crawford, TX during the last interminable Presidential vacation, was in Brooklyn yesterday saying the Sen. Hillary Clinton "knows that the war is a lie but she is waiting for the right time to say it."

If you missed the Emmys tonight, you missed a truly moving segment with a video tribute to Tom Brokaw, Dan Rather and Peter Jennings. At the end, Tom Brokaw and Dan Rather came out - to a standing ovation and talked about Peter Jennings and "their unique brotherhood." They were reporters first, but also friends. Brokaw said Peter has a place in the brotherhood forever.