by TChris

Cindy Sheehan's protest is taking on its own life as her supporters held more than 1,500 candlelight vigils across the country last night.

Some 250 supporters gathered for a vigil in Somerville, Mass., north of Boston, while 150 people turned out in White Plains and 200 people assembled in a field next to the expressway west of downtown Chicago. In New York, people gathered at 106th Street and Broadway, and in Riverside Park.

Disgust with the president's war will continue to spread as soldiers continue to die. Four soldiers were killed today by a roadside bomb.

by TChris

In 2003, after serving 21 years in a North Carolina prison for a rape he didn't commit, Leo Waters was released. New DNA testing proved his innocence. Yesterday, Gov. Mike Easley granted Waters a pardon on the ground of actual innocence.

The pardon came as authorities charged another man with the rape. The new suspect has been identified as a serial rapist, leading one to wonder whether his other victims would have been spared if the police had conducted a thorough investigation rather than focusing on building a case against the first suspect to cross their path.

Anonymous Liberal lays out a case for charging Karl Rove with obstruction of justice (second paragraph) instead of perjury. Personally, I think a false statement charge under 18 U.S.C. 1001 would be easier to prove, but AL makes a good argument.

Also, if the Government charged and proved a false statement charge, it could get a bump under the guidelines for obstruction of justice, without ever having to charge or convict Rove of the actual crime of obstruction.

In any event, Anonymous Liberal's post is well worth a read.

It's definitely the dog days of summer. Ad revenues are down, probably due to Congress being on hiatus, but blogging continues. There's RoveGate, Judge John Roberts, Cindy Sheehan and Republican fundraiser scandals to attend to - no vacation for us. There's also site hosting and outside subscription fees to pay. If you're in a position to contribute a few dollars, now would be a very good time. If you're not, no problem, no excuses are necessary.

• PayPal

• Amazon (Anonymous)

Update: Thanks to all who gave so generously. I'll be sending out thank you e-mails over the next several days. You really helped me and Talkleft out a lot and I greatly appreciate it.

For criminal defense lawyers....Post-conviction and sentencing expert Alan Ellis has released his latest newsletter filled with post-Booker sentencing tips. If you're a federal practitioner, this is for you. You can download it free here (pdf).

by TChris

New details are emerging regarding the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes, the Brazilian who British police misidentified as a terrorist.

Leaked documents, believed to be from the IPCC inquiry suggest Mr de Menezes was sitting calmly in the Tube carriage, surrounded by surveillance officers, moments before police stormed in and fired eight bullets into him.

The Police Commissioner reportedly tried to subvert an independent inquiry into the shooting, arguing that the law requiring the inquiry should give way to the interests of national security. The Brazilian's family wants answers that the inquiry could reveal, including "who issued the shoot-to-kill order and who incorrectly identified him as one of the suspected would-be bombers from the failed attacks on July 21."

Ohio Governor Taft is the first sitting Ohio Governor to be charged with a crime while holding the office. He was charged today with four misdemeanors for failing to report rounds of golf he received as gifts.

The charges were outlined at a press conference this afternoon with Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien and Columbus City Attorney Richard C. Pfeiffer Jr. If convicted on the first-degree misdemeanor charges, Taft faces a maximum fine of $1,000 and up to six months in jail on each count.

Taft's lawyer says the omissions and errors were inadvertant. Following the story: Grow Ohio and Hypothetically Speaking. The latter has been on this for weeks and has been doing a great job.

Elizabeth Edwards, wife of former Senator and VP nominee John Edwards, has written a letter of support to Cindy Sheehan. It's beautifully written and quite moving, please read the whole thing.

[Via Crooks and Liars]

Elaine Cassel examines Judge John Roberts and what his confirmation might mean for death penalty jurisprudence. It's not a pretty picture.

Maureen Dowd reminisces about covering former President Bush's vacation in Kennebunkport just after he sent troops to the Persian Gulf:

How could President Bush be cavorting around on a long vacation with American troops struggling with a spiraling crisis in Iraq? Wasn't he worried that his vacation activities might send a frivolous signal at a time when he had put so many young Americans in harm's way? "I'm determined that life goes on," Mr. Bush said stubbornly.

That wasn't the son, believe it or not. It was the father - 15 years ago. I was in Kennebunkport then to cover the first President Bush's frenetic attempts to relax while reporters were pressing him about how he could be taking a month to play around when he had started sending American troops to the Persian Gulf only three days before.

Don't miss the current issue of Seattle Weekly, focusing on the drug war:

THE DRUG ISSUE

• Jimi's First Experience: A book excerpt by Charles R. Cross MORE
• A Drug War Peace Plan MORE
• The Pot Granny and Sea-Tac Airport MORE
• When In Prison, Just Say Om ... MORE

[hat tip to NORML.}

Green Day, Barbra Stresand and the Rolling Stones...all with new videos and songs highlighting the War in Iraq.

Veteran songstress Streisand and spiky-haired punk trio Green Day have surprisingly synchronized videos that tug at the heartstrings by showing troops in harm's way with lyrics about the lovers left behind on the home front. The Stones, meanwhile, veer into perhaps the band's most specifically political song ever.

...Politics is something the Stones typically haven't done at all. "Street Fighting Man," "Sympathy for the Devil" and "Undercover of the Night" had varying degrees of social or political imagery, but nothing like the new "Sweet Neo Con," a song from their upcoming album "A Bigger Bang," also due in September. The lyrics are pointed clearly at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., with its references to Halliburton and gasoline patriots. Among the lines: "It's liberty for all / Democracy's our style / Unless you are against us / Then it's prison without trial."

Keep 'em coming.

Update: You can listen to Sweet Neocon here, from Bartcop.