The New York Times has an unilluminating article today on Robert Novak's disclosure yesterday that Valerie Plame's name could have been (but not that it was) obtained from Who's Who.

But, as Tom Maguire and Josh Marshall point out, (and TalkLeft discussed here)AP reporters Phelps and Royce wrote on July 21, 2003,

Novak, in an interview, said his sources had come to him with the information. "I didn't dig it out, it was given to me," he said. "They thought it was significant, they gave me the name and I used it."

Is Novak going to now say they are lying or mistaken - like he claimed yesterday about Bill Harlow? That might be futile since as I noted here, the Chicago Tribune on March 5, 2004, in reporting on the subpoenas issued by Fitgerald's grand jury, included this:

The third subpoena [by Fitzgerald] repeats an informal Justice Department document request to the White House last fall seeking records about staff contacts with Novak and two Newsday reporters, Knut Royce and Timothy Phelps, who reported July 22 that Plame was a covert agent and Novak had blown her cover.

Update: Arianna has an update of blogger coverage here.

by TChris

John Karoly Jr. thinks the Easton, Pennsylvania police department is one of the most abusive in the country. He should know. He's making a nice living representing victims of brutal police tactics, and his efforts have persuaded the city to take control of the problem.

In recent weeks, Mayor Phil Mitman has disbanded the SWAT team and hired Daniel Spang, a retired police chief and state police major, to devise policies on the use of force, high-speed chases and firearms. The goal is to win accreditation from the Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Association, which concluded in one report that the Easton department was "an agency in crisis."

Similar litigation may be warranted in Wellington, Florida, where police used Tasers, pepper spray, and batons to break up a 15 year old girl's birthday party.

by TChris

The feds are rounding up "suspected gang members" by the hundreds. More than a thousand "suspected gang members and associates" have been arrested in the last five months.

Under the ICE anti-gang program, local and state police departments have supplied federal immigration and customs agents with the names of thousands of suspected gang members. Federal agents are comparing those lists with federal immigration databases to target members or associates who are in the country illegally or who have committed serious crimes that make them eligible for deportation, officials said.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement division of Homeland Security began the program in March. Initially targeting one gang, the program "quickly expanded to encompass alleged members of 80 gangs in 25 states, including Latin Kings, Asian Boyz and Jamaican Posse." The government will seek to deport, rather than prosecute, about 90 percent of the arrestees, presumably because ICE can't prove that 90 percent of the "suspected gang members" committed any crimes after entering the country.

by TChris

A New Mexico police sergeant charged with executing the man who killed his partner entered a guilty plea today to voluntary manslaughter. He faces a sentence of one to seven years. In exchange for his guilty plea, the sergeant will not face federal charges.

[Billy] Anders shot Earl Flippen Dec. 18 after Flippen wounded him and killed his partner, Deputy Robert Hedman. The pair had responded to a home where they later learned Flippen killed his pregnant girlfriend.

Prosecutors alleged Flippen had already been wounded and was handcuffed when he was fatally shot.

Some will suggest that Flippen deserved his fate, but District Attorney Scot Key explains why he prosecuted an apparent revenge killing:

"Even though it places our office and me personally in a position of distress in the community, part of our job is if we don't police the police, who does?" Key said.

My internet service is down - it's been intermittent since Saturday. Comcast installed a new modem today but their main server that handles modem registration is down so I can't get online until that goes back up. Dial-up is way too slow to blog with, so here's an open thread for you. I'll be back whenever the gods at Comcast so decree.

by TChris

The more extreme members of the right wing believe that any harm a prisoner experiences is just part of the punishment he or she should endure. But punishments are fixed by courts, not by prisons. When the government takes custody of an individual, it is the government’s obligation to be a responsible custodian. That means protecting prisoners from foreseeable injury.

According to a Justice Department study, our prisons have done a woeful job of protecting inmates from sexual abuse.

The study concluded that there were 8,210 alleged acts of sexual violence reported to officials in the nation's jails and prisons, which hold about 2.1 million inmates. Of those, officials were able to substantiate 2,090 allegations, the study said. Justice Department officials acknowledged that probably many more sexual assaults have taken place.

by TChris

It seems that a week rarely goes by without a new report of an innocent accused being cleared (after conviction) by DNA testing. How many innocent men and women are behind bars with little hope of release because the true criminal left behind no DNA evidence, or because it wasn't collected by the police?

Today's happy ending is about Thomas Doswell, who spent nearly 18 years in prison for a rape he didn't commit:

Doswell, of Homewood, was convicted in the 1986 rape of a 48-year-old woman at a hospital in Pittsburgh. He was 25 and the father of two young children when he was convicted.

Because Doswell truthfully insisted that he was innocent, he was denied parole four times.

Columnist Robert Novak breaks his silence today in a very self-serving column. He claims to be writing it against his lawyers' advice. It seems, Mr. Novak wants to clear his own name - and that is more important than the secrecy wishes of the prosecutor by which he has abided for the past two years.

In the course of a front-page story in last Wednesday's Washington Post, Walter Pincus and Jim VandeHei quoted ex-CIA spokesman Bill Harlow describing his testimony to the grand jury. In response to my question about Valerie Plame Wilson's role in former ambassador Wilson's trip to Niger, Harlow told me she "had not authorized the mission." Harlow was quoted as later saying to me "the story Novak had related to him was wrong."

As expected, President Bush has appointed John Bolton Ambassador to the U.N. using his recess power of appointment. Here's some initial reaction (received by e-mail):

Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid:

(WASHINGTON, DC) “At a time when we need to reassert our diplomatic power in the world, President Bush has decided to send a seriously flawed and weakened candidate to the United Nations. It’s an unnecessary result, and the latest abuse of power by the Bush White House.

“The reason Bolton is being recess appointed is because the President chose to stonewall the Senate. Mr. Bolton could have had his up or down vote had President Bush given Senators the information they needed. Instead, Bolton arrives at the United Nations with a cloud hanging over his head.”

Sen. Russ Feingold:

post by Last Night in Little Rock

Saudi Arabia's King Fahd died during the night, U.S. time.

CNN notes that his "close ties with the United States stirred the passions of Islamic militants"; like the 9/11 hijackers.

Did cuddling up to Crown Prince Abdullah, holding hands, no less, only inflame Islamic militants even more? What clearer message to the world that the U.S. depends on Saudi oil? As Ross Perot would say, "that sucking sound is your cash going overseas to pay for oil which effects the price of everything in the world."

From Monday's New York Times:

As the Pentagon was making its final preparations to begin war crimes trials against four detainees at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, two senior prosecutors complained in confidential messages last year that the trial system had been secretly arranged to improve the chance of conviction and to deprive defendants of material that could prove their innocence.

Defense lawyers, both within the military and private counsel, have been complaining all along about the unfairness of the tribunals. Now that prosecutors have made the same claim, maybe someone will listen. But who, when Bush and the executive branch keep stealing more and more power from the Courts and Congress?

Update: Australian detainee David Hick's lawyer says he's not surprised.

Appearing on CNN today, Iraq's national security adviser said that Saddam Hussein's trial may begin before October 15 - which would coincide with the vote on Iraq's new Constitution.

The trial will be telecast in Arab countries.

In related news, one of Saddam's lawyers is asking that the trial be moved to Sweden for safety purposes. And Saddam has asked to be allowed to meet Ramsey Clark, another of his lawyers, but the request has not been acted upon.

This Reuters article in a South African newspaper calls Saddam's defense team "motley."