ACLU interns this summer have been counting the proliferation of cameras taking photos - many by businesses who do so with the approval of law enforcment.

At last count in 1998, the New York Civil Liberties Union found 2,397 cameras used by a wide variety of private businesses and government agencies throughout Manhattan. This time, after canvassing less than a quarter of the borough, the interns so far have spotted more than 4,000. The preliminary total "only provides a glimpse of the magnitude of the problem," said NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman. "Nobody has a clue how many there really are."

But aside from sheer numbers, the NYCLU says it's concerned about the increasing use of newer, more powerful digital cameras that - unlike boxy older models - can be controlled remotely and store more images.

Crooks and Liars has an audio interview up with Tracy of Booman Tribune who is on the scene in Crawford, Texas.

Jesus' General has these hilarious photos.

Let's hope this isn't true. Human Rights Watch as of yet has not reported this.

Background here.

More on the prospective hangings from DC Democrat at Daily Kos.

Head-shaker of the day: Bali is going to cut the sentences of the Bali Bombers and tens of thousands of other prisoners.

Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, who is serving a 30-month jail term for his role in instigating the Bali bombings, will have his sentence cut as prisoners across Indonesia are granted leniency to mark independence day, the local media has reported. Justice Minister Hamid Awaluddin said Bashir and some of the 24 other people jailed for their roles the 2002 Bali attacks would receive sentence remissions in conjunction with Wednesday's independence day celebrations, according to the Jakarta Post.

A Jakarta court in March sentenced Bashir to 30 months in jail for taking part in a conspiracy that led to the Bali bombings, which killed 202 people including 88 Australians.

...The office of the Justice Ministry in Bali has proposed remissions for 19 of 24 Bali bombers in the Kerobokan prison on the resort island, Antara quoted ministry official Mayun Mataram as saying.

Also receiving a sentence reduction will by Tommy Suharto:

Tommy Suharto, the youngest son of former dictator Suharto who is serving a 10-year jail sentence for killing a judge, is also eligible for leniency, the Post said.

And Schappelle Corby? Serving 20 years in an Indonesian prison for 4 kilos of pot that probably wasn't hers? Nothing.

by TChris

Harry Knox, director of the religion and faith program at the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, on tomorrow's broadcast of Justice Sunday II, starring Tom DeLay and James Dobson:

"There is always a great sadness whenever faith leaders call for a theocracy," Knox said during a telephone interview. "They want to impose their particular brand of religion on the country. It is so limiting that it is very disappointing to all of us, and dangerous because what they are calling for is a limitation on the right of GLBT people and the rights of women to control their own bodies and approaches to international relationships tending toward war and not peace."

Knox's op-ed "Injustice Sunday" is here.

Today's New York Times profiles Marc Emery in This Johnny Appleseed Is Wanted by the Law.

Emery Seeds website is out of business now, following the DEA raid. Here's another interview with Marc Emery.

Yesterday's Cindy Sheehan open thread is full. Time for another, I'll start with this letter to the editor of the Cape Cod Times [hat tip Terry Kindlon]:

Cindy Sheehan is the Rosa Parks of military mothers - one determined voice from one extraordinary, ordinary person. I was fortunate to serve on a panel of speakers with Cindy on July 28 when she appeared at Cape Cod Community College. (I represented Military Families Speak Out). I am the mother of a U.S. Marine who is being deployed to Iraq within a few weeks. He is coming to visit me to say goodbye and enjoy one more Red Sox game this weekend. On Tuesday I am getting on a plane and going to sit with Cindy outside the Bush ranch in Crawford, Texas.

I hope all military mothers around the country are paying attention to Cindy's vigil. As mothers, we might be the ones who can finally get the country's attention and stop this ridiculous excuse for a ''noble cause.''

If it's so noble, why aren't any of the 17 Bush grandchildren in the military?

Mimi Evans,West Barnstable

by TChris

Tom Sneddon, whose vendetta against Michael Jackson led to a questionable prosecution and a well deserved acquittal, has been sued by a criminal defense lawyer who contends that Sneddon and other Santa Barbara prosecutors violated his civil rights.

[Gary] Dunlap maintains that prosecutors went to extraordinary and unconstitutional lengths to gather evidence against him.

"An injustice was done and the district attorney's office refuses to acknowledge, investigate, or refer it for investigation because their employees were involved in committing it," Dunlap said.

A jury found Dunlap not guilty of six felonies, including suborning perjury and intimidating a witness. Lawsuits stemming from failed prosecutions often get booted out of court before trial, but judicial criticism of Sneddon's office provides strong support for Dunlap's belief that his rights were violated by the government's outrageous behavior.

With James Comey's departure today from the Justice Department, some wondered who would inherit his oversight of Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald. Comey himself made the designation today before he left...it will be David Margolis, who has been a Justice Department lawyer for 40 years.

Margolis, whose title is associate deputy attorney general, is taking the place of Deputy Attorney General James Comey, whose last day of work was Friday. Comey will be Lockheed Martin's new general counsel.

Comey made the designation of Margolis. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has stepped aside from the probe because he was White House counsel when Valerie Plame's name was leaked in 2003 and he has testified to the grand jury investigating the unauthorized disclosure.

Comey gave broad discretion to U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald of Chicago when he was appointed to investigate the leak in December 2003. Margolis is not expected to alter Fitzgerald's mandate in what are likely to be the final months of his investigation. The grand jury ends its term in October.

Gonna stand my ground and I won’t back down ....Tom Petty

Judith Miller is staying put. Five weeks and counting. She misses the Internet. For a different take on her confinement, read this article on the information withheld from her and her lawyers.

Testimonial privileges require a court to weigh the government's evidence as to why they need her testimony. Yet Judith Miller was tried, convicted and sentenced to prison based exclusively upon written evidence from witnesses whose identities and testimony were kept secret from her and her lawyers. They were given no opportunity to defend her against, question, or rebut the secret evidence the courts relied upon exclusively in convicting her. Indeed, a full eight pages of the D.C. Court of Appeals decision discussing and analyzing this secret evidence was redacted from the published opinion.

Update: One other condition that was ordered by the Judge: Abramoff must keep up his "course of mental health treatment."

That I don't hold against him. Who wouldn't need mental health treatment after being investigated for so many years?

***************
Lobbyist Jack Abramoff appeared in federal court in L.A. today and was released.

He was told he could post $250,000 of a $2.25 million bond on Tuesday in Florida only if federal prosecutors there determine that the money came from legitimate sources, said U.S. Attorney's spokesman Thom Mrozek. Family members would be liable for the balance of the bond if Abramoff fails to appear at any subsequent hearing.

A defense attorney said Abramoff was in contact with law enforcement immediately after hearing about the charges. "He does look forward to returning to Miami where he will vigorously defend against the charges," Anthony Pacheco said after the court appearance.

Good lawyering by Pacheco, Neal Sonnett, Abbe Lowell and whoever else was involved. He doesn't have to post the money until he gets back to Florida.

MADD must be having seizures. A judge in Virginia ruled the state's DUI law unconsitutional because it presumes anyone with an 0.8 blood alchohol level or higher is intoxicated.

The state law presumes that someone with a blood alcohol content of 0.08 or higher is intoxicated, denying their right to a presumption of innocence, Judge Ian O'Flaherty ruled in dismissing charges against at least two alleged drunken drivers last month.