Cingular and Apple have teamed up - a new motorola cell phone with iTunes is coming. I really want one. I never cared about having a blackberry or a Treo, but a phone with built in iTunes....definitely.

It was detailed in this Motoroloa user manual. [via Gizmodo]

Due to the problems with Typekey, comment registration is turned off. Anyone can comment. I'm rebuilding all the individual entries now so it works on older entries. I have to leave for court soon, so here's an open thread for you.

Great reads: Digby on "judy in da skies" and Actor Tim Russert . Arianna's latest on The Judy Tsunami.

The ACLU reports:

The American Civil Liberties Union and the New York Civil Liberties Union will again appear before a federal judge Tuesday, August 30, to seek the release of Defense Department photographs and videotapes depicting the abuse of prisoners held by the United States at Abu Ghraib.

The ACLU today also released previously redacted government documents, including declarations by General Richard Myers, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Ronald Schlicher, former Deputy Assistant Secretary and Coordinator for Iraq in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs of the Department of State, in which they argue that the photographs and videos should not be made public. General Myers also argues that "the democratic idea of public accountability... is misunderstood in other parts of the world."

Released documents are available here.

Several people e-mailed today to let me know they are having problems logging in to post comments. If you are also having problems, please let me know here or by e-mail. We're trying to fix it.

Update: I have no idea what is wrong with the TypeKey - everyone is getting "validation" errors - I just turned off the registration requirement. Hopefully, we won't get a flood of trolls and it will be fixed soon.

The New York Times today endorsed Leslie Crocker-Snyder for District Attorney over Robert Morganthau.

There are some aspects of Ms. Snyder's record that give us pause. Unlike Mr. Morgenthau, she supports the death penalty.

Robert Morganthau, now 85, has been the District Attorney in Manhattan since 1975. In May, former state supreme court justice and current NBC legal analyst Leslie Crocker Snyder announced she would run against Morganthau in the Democratic Primary this November.

Excellent news for medical marijuana patients in California:

The new policy, by the California Highway Patrol, states that an "individual is to be released and the marijuana is not to be seized" if the person qualifies under state law to possess marijuana for medicinal purposes. It also says that officers "shall not conduct traffic enforcement stops for the primary purpose of drug interdiction" involving the authorized use of medical marijuana.

A similar policy seems to be underway in Denver where police have agreed not to charge a medical pot patient on whom marijuana was found - and to return the pot to him.

GOP uber-lobbyist Jack Abramoff, through his Miami lawyer Neal Sonnett, pleaded not guilty on Monday to fraud charges in federal court in Miami:

"I'm not going to summarize my defense strategy now," Sonnett told reporters outside the courtroom. "I can't summarize it. He committed no fraud. His case has been fairly stated in the civil cases, and that position is not going to change. Any defense theories or motions will be made in court."

In previous civil cases arising out of the SunCruz purchase, Abramoff has placed the blame for the phony wire transfer on his partner, Kidan. He has said in court filings that he believed Kidan had provided funds to the seller, Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis, who was later killed in a gangland-style shooting.

Since Kidan also is indicted, it appears that the Government isn't buying Abramoff's defense. Otherwise, one would think, they would offer him a deal to testify against Kidan, which it appears from the above statement, he is more than willing to do.

Background on the case is here.

The Arizona Star today announced:

...we've decided that syndicated columnist Ann Coulter has worn out her welcome. Many readers find her shrill, bombastic and mean-spirited. And those are the words used by readers who identified themselves as conservatives.

Taking her place on Saturdays will be Tony Snow, host of "The Tony Snow Show," syndicated nationally on Fox News Radio, and "Weekend Live with Tony Snow" on Fox News Channel. He has worked at a number of daily newspapers and is a former speechwriter for former President George H.W. Bush.

by TChris

Violating the law is virtually stress-free when your buddy is the governor. No need to hire a lawyer or confront charges or contend with a trial that might expose messy facts to public scrutiny. Just ask your pal for a pardon.

Claiming that criminal charges against his appointees were "paralyzing their ability to serve," Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher declared an "amnesty" for appointees accused of illegally replacing state employees with Republican loyalists. At this point, at least, the governor hasn't pardoned himself, but he proudly announced that he'll take the Fifth when he's called before a grand jury on Tuesday.

by TChris

Twenty years of experience with government procurement taught Bunnatine Greenhouse to recognize a bad deal. Her experience didn't prepare her for the consequences of asking questions that the Bush adminsitration expected to remain unvoiced.

A top Army contracting official who criticized a large, noncompetitive contract with the Halliburton Company for work in Iraq was demoted Saturday for what the Army called poor job performance.

Greenhouse rejected a pointed suggestion to take early retirement, and her lawyer says the Army secretary's approval of her demotion violates a commitment to wait until the inspector general had finished his investigation.

Mr. Kohn said that when he telephoned Dan Meyer, director of civilian reprisal investigations in the inspector general's office, on Aug. 24, Mr. Meyer was "shocked" to learn that the corps had proceeded against Ms. Greenhouse. Mr. Meyer said that he was immediately opening a "civilian reprisal" investigation and faxed forms to Mr. Kohn to initiate the process, Mr. Kohn said.

posted by Last Night in Little Rock

Thirty-five years ago this week, the song "War" by Edwin Starr first topped the charts. It stayed Number 1 for three weeks.

Coincidentally, during that same three weeks in 1970, I was preparing for my conscientious objector status hearing before my local Draft Board. I was in my first week of law school. That song helped steel my nerve to go before what was believed to be the most hostile in the state. In early September, I persuaded the Draft Board that a war of U.S. aggression in another country that involved no safety interest of the U.S. was morally objectionable and worthy of conscientious objector status.

It was the first "case" I ever won. When I left the hearing, "War" was playing on the car radio. I was physically and emotionally drained, and, to this day, I never uttered a bad word about those who served because they had no choice. One of those remarkable coincidences in life....

The more things change, the more they remain the same:

by TChris

John Schweer, a security guard and former police officer in Council Bluffs, Iowa, was killed with a shotgun in 1977. Two black teenagers were charged with his murder. Prosecutors failed to provide the defense with reports concerning a 47-year-old white man who carried a shotgun while walking his dogs in the area. The man seems like a good suspect:

The man had been a suspect in a 1963 slaying and had faced gun charges. The man failed a lie detector test when asked if he had shot John Schweer, a police report concluded.

Despite having alibis, the teens, Terry Harrington and Curtis McGhee, were convicted on the testimony of individuals who have since recanted. Harrington and McGhee have sued Pottawattamie County Attorney Dave Richter, his assistant Joseph Hrvol, and Council Bluffs police detectives Daniel C. Larsen and Lyle W. Brown, alleging that the police and prosecutors framed them in a racially motivated conspiracy.