So, it turns out that while thousands of people languish in our jails for abusing prescription drugs, the late Chief Justice Rehnquist had a habit of his own: Placidyl. I thought they stopped making the drug when they stopped making Quaaludes - they were very similar. I never knew anyone who took it for pain, only to party. Guess I was wrong.

And for the nine years between 1972 and the end of 1981, William Rehnquist consumed great quantities of the potent sedative-hypnotic Placidyl. So great was Rehnquist's Placidyl habit, dependency, or addiction—depending on how you regard long-term drug use—that by the last quarter of 1981 he began slurring his speech in public, became tongue-tied while pronouncing long words, and sometimes had trouble finishing his thoughts.

....The standard dose for adults is 500 milligrams, taken at bedtime. Rehnquist initially took 200 milligrams daily but by 1981 was taking 1,500 milligrams a day.

But he sat on the bench, and affirmed drug sentence after drug sentence. Nice. Here's more on Rehnquist's Placidyl dependency:

Once again, those with a criminal history are treated like second class citizens. Utah is conducting criminal background checks on evacuees.

No one has been expelled yet, and Utah says the evacuees have been exemplary in their conduct. Still, this is troubling.

Update: As Mike Ditto points out in comments below, Colorado also is doing background checks. But I'll give them a bit of a pass for this statment:

"The community does not have to be concerned," said Chief Jones. "We think people are safe because all of these evacuees have served their sentences.

About three weeks ago, we wrote about the 89 detainees on a hunger strike at Guantanamo. The strike continues and has grown to 98 prisoners. The military has begun forced tube-feeding of more than a dozen of them.

Some of the 89 striking detainees at Guantanamo have not eaten for a month, said Guantanamo detention mission spokesman Sgt. Justin Behrens. The others have refused at least nine consecutive meals, he said.

Fifteen have been hospitalized, and 13 of those were being fed through tubes, Behrens said. British lawyer Clive Stafford-Smith, who represents one of the hunger strikers, said some of the inmates were willing to starve themselves to death.

"People are desperate. They have been there three years. They were promised that the Geneva Conventions would be respected and various changes would happen and, unfortunately, the [U.S.] government reneged on that," he said.

by TChris

This is why some were unable to leave New Orleans:

Police agencies to the south of New Orleans were so fearful of the crowds trying to leave the city after Hurricane Katrina that they sealed a crucial bridge over the Mississippi River and turned back hundreds of desperate evacuees, two paramedics who were in the crowd said.

Officers reportedly shot over the heads of people who resisted their command to turn back. According to four witnesses, an officer told 200 evacuees to leave their encampment, then confiscated their food and water.

"The police kept saying, 'We don't want another Superdome,' and 'This isn't New Orleans,' " said Larry Bradshaw, a San Francisco paramedic who was among those fleeing.

by TChris

Newsweek reports that the country's satisfaction with President Bush has reached a record low.

Only 38 percent of Americans approve of the way Bush is doing his job overall, a record-low for this president in the NEWSWEEK poll. (Fifty-five percent of Americans disapprove of his overall job performance.) And only 28 percent of Americans say they are “satisfied with the way things are going” in the country, down from 36 percent in August and 46 percent in December, after the president’s re-election. This is another record low and two points below the satisfaction level recorded immediately after the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal came to light. Fully two-thirds of Americans are not satisfied with the direction of the country.

by TChris

A strange kind of freedom will be celebrated in the nation's capitol tomorrow. If you try to join the celebration, you'll be arrested.

A "Freedom Walk" on Sunday in honor of the military, from the Pentagon to the Washington Mall, is open only to those pre-registered - and the U.S. Park Police has warned that it will arrest anyone who shows up without a pass.

by Last Night in Little Rock

The NY Times reports today that police officers from neighboring states and from around the nation have taken leave at home and come to NOLA with cars and equipment from their departments to aid NOLA Police in restoring order: Duty Binds Officers Who Have Come to Help After Storm.

by TChris

Comment at your leisure.

Update: (TalkLeft) I'm back now. TChris and Last Night in Little Rock did a great job while I was gone, I can't believe how much time they spent updating the site. I am very grateful to them.

I'm also so glad to be back at my desktop with a big monitor and mouse. I made peace with my Powerbook after 2 days, and actually like it now, and used many of your suggestions from the other day. Particularly helpful was Paul in LA's info that the apple key functions like a control key on the PC when it comes to cut, copy and paste. Anyway, it's good to be home.

by TChris

The Bush administration assures us that it hasn't abused the powers conferred by the Patriot Act, including those that allow the government to review library records. At the same time, it's trying to prevent a nonprofit library organization from revealing its identity as the recipient of an FBI request for its patron information. Assisted by the ACLU, the organization won the first round of its battle to tell the public what the FBI is doing.

Judge Janet C. Hall ... found that the government fell short in meeting the heavy burden of proof needed to argue that national security interests warrant ignoring the organization's First Amendment right to free speech.

A footnote to the decision reveals that the FBI has demanded library records many times. The administration's position has always been, "don't worry, we really don't use that Patriot Act power." A Connecticut library organization hopes to tell the country that the FBI is, indeed, poking into the reading habits of its patrons. Judge Hall correctly concluded that the organization has an interest in publicly identifying itself as the recipient of the FBI's demand for records.

by Last Night in Little Rock

Maureen Dowd's op ed piece in the NY Times today is priceless: "Neigh to Cronies." She weighs in, too, on trusting the Federal Emergency Mismanagement Agency, which used to be an important position, to utterly experienceless cronies.

by Last Night in Little Rock

The man who shouted to VP Cheney live on the CNN and MSNBC interviews (Fox follows Cheney's every word. Where were they?) "Go f**k yourself, Mr. Cheney" is an ER physician named Dr. Ben Marble as noted here. He lost his home, too. What was Cheney's security's response to free speech? They found him at his half destroyed home and handcuffed him.

Marble's story is recounted on the above link. A friend videotaped it all, including the damage to Marble's house, and the DVD is for sale on eBay to help Marble rebuild his life. Price at this moment: $1935. The author of the linked article bid on it himself.

by Last Night in Little Rock

Ever the lovable jokester, Rep. Tom ("The Hammer") DeLay (R-TX,22) visited (i.e., made a photo op trip) evacuees in Houston. As noted on Domeblog of the Houston Chronicle and picked on Raw Story he talked with two young boys:

While on the tour with top administration officials from Washington, including U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao and U.S. Treasury Secretary John W. Snow, DeLay stopped to chat with three young boys resting on cots.

The congressman likened their stay to being at camp and asked, "Now tell me the truth boys, is this kind of fun?"

They nodded yes, but looked perplexed.

This is another example of Rep. DeLay's commpassion for his fellow man in time of crisis which proves his leadership.