At least one sector of the economy is booming - the private prison industry:

Since 2000, the number of federal inmates in private facilities — prisons and halfway houses — has increased by two-thirds to more than 24,000. Thousands more detainees not convicted of crimes are confined in for-profit facilities, which now hold roughly 14 percent of all federal prisoners, compared to less than 6 percent of state inmates.

The war against drug offenders and immigrants has fueled the boom which is expected to continue to grow. Stories of abuses abound. Here's an excellent article by Alan Pendergast of Westword on how private prisons have turned out in Colorado. Another good read is this article by Christian Parenti.

Time Magazine has more support for the theory that Karl Rove learned about Valerie Plame's identity from White House officials rather than reporters.

The previously undisclosed fact gathering began in the first week of June 2003 at the CIA, when its public-affairs office received an inquiry about Wilson's trip to Africa from veteran Washington Post reporter Walter Pincus. That office then contacted Plame's unit, which had sent Wilson to Niger, but stopped short of drafting an internal report. The same week, Under Secretary of State Marc Grossman asked for and received a memo on the Wilson trip from Carl Ford, head of the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research. Sources familiar with the memo, which disclosed Plame's relationship to Wilson, say Secretary of State Colin Powell read it in mid-June. Deputy Secretary Richard Armitage may have received a copy then too.

A supervisory FBI agent assigned to Guantanamo wrote a memo to his superiors warning of the illegality of its rendition plans, writes Michael Isikoff of Newsweek in an exclusive.

This memo appears to be the first that directly questions the legal premises of the Bush administration policy of "extraordinary rendition"—a secret program under which terror suspects are transferred to foreign countries that have been widely criticized for practicing torture.

Arianna has some more info on Judith Miller, accumulated through a variety of sources. Most interesting is the details of her accomodations while on assignment - as compared to those of her fellow journalists.

A recurring theme in many of the conversations and e-mails is how Judy, to the dismay of many of her colleagues, never played by the same rules and standards as other reporters. One source e-mailed to give me some examples of this pattern: "In Feb 2003, Judy was in Salahuddin covering the Iraqi opposition conclave. Iraqi National Congress spokesperson Zaab Sethna told a reporter who was also there that Judy was staying with Chalabi's group in Salahuddin (the rest of the reporters had to stay 30 minutes away in crappy hotels in Irbil), and that the I.N.C. had provided her with a car and a translator (Did the New York Times reimburse them?). The I.N.C. offered another reporter the same, but he turned it down. Judy had just arrived in a bus convoy from Turkey, big footing C.J. Chivers, who was also there covering the story for the Times. While everyone else on the buses had to scramble for accommodations, she was staying in a luxurious villa loaned to the I.N.C. by the Kurdish Democratic Party...

by TChris

Random searches of New York subway passengers have been unproductive, leading some to advocate for racial or ethnic profiling:

If "looks like a young Muslim" or "looks Middle Eastern" is an easily visible characteristic that terrorists are likely to have, it belongs in the profile.

Apart from the legal and ethical issues that surround profiling, its advocates build their case on a false premise: that terrorists are visually identifiable.

• Loretta Nall is all over the recent arrest of marijuana activist Marc Emery in Vancouver--and the U.S. attempt to make Canada the 51st state so that it can enforce its drug policy there. Here's the video of the DEA announcement of Emery's arrest.

• Flex Your Rights has the citizen's guide to refusing subway searches. (Also check out TalkLeft's new subway tote with the Fourth Amendment printed out on both sides to keep the searchers mindful of how they are violating the Constitution.)

• Grits for Breakfast on the increased use of pretext traffic stops to bring out the dogs and search for drugs

• Amnesty International now has a death penalty blog. One of the best death penalty blogs is Abolish the Death Penalty, written by David Elliot of NCADP.

USA Today reports that President Bush will be going to his Crawford, Texas ranch for "several weeks" when Congress recesses this week. It will be his 50th trip in 5 years to the ranch.

by TChris

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema was able to reduce sentences she imposed on three Muslims, but mandatory minimum sentencing laws required her to impose sentences she still considers unjust. The men were guilty of playing paintball to train for a holy war.

As a result, Khan's sentence was reduced only to life plus 45 years. Chapman, 32, had his sentence reduced from 85 years to 65 years. There is no parole in the federal system, so both will have to serve the vast majority of their terms.

"I have a limited ability to impose what I consider to be an appropriate sentence," Brinkema said. "These statutes are really draconian. I've said it before and I'll say it again."

The sentence reductions could be useful to Khan and Chapman only if the firearms convictions are overturned on appeal. If that occurs, each would serve only a 10-year sentence, which Brinkema said she considered appropriate.

From a TalkLeft Reader this morning:

I watched a good part of Hardball last night. I saw [blog]coverage [of it]on Atrios and Crooks and Liars regarding the segment with Jean Schmidt, which I thought deserved their focus. They were right in praising David Gregory for going after her as hard as he did.

However, they ignored something even more important where he did not do as good a job. During his interview with Dan Bartlett, Bartlett asserted that the White House would not be releasing all of Robert's writing while in the Solicitor General's office as they were covered by attorney-client privilege and the president needed to be able to rely on that advice. I shouted at Gregory to follow up, but sadly, he did not challenge Bartlett.

by TChris

Jim Sensenbrenner is one of the most arrogant members of Congress, as demonstrated by his continuing belief that he knows more about the appropriate sentence to impose in drug cases than the judges who make those decisions. His attempts to impose mandatory minimum sentences on judges are bad enough, but when can't get his way legislatively, he tries to interfere with judicial decisions. Sensenbrenner must have been absent from his Constitutional Law class they day his professor explained the concept of separation of powers.

Sensenbrenner sent a letter to the U.S. Court of Appeals "demanding the court overturn a decision affirming a 97-month prison term for Lissett Rivera and impose a 120-month term." His antics provoked a complaint to the Office of Lawyer Regulation. The complaint alleges that Sensenbrenner communicated with a judge about a pending case without sharing the communication with all parties in the case.

Sensenbrenner's letter was sent to the U.S. Department of Justice, which prosecuted the case, but was not sent to Steve Shobat, the drug courier's attorney.

Sensenbrenner's Wisconsin law license is in "inactive" status -- a designation that allows him to avoid continuing legal education requirements so long as he doesn't practice law. It's doubtful that the Office of Lawyer Regulation will do more than issue a private caution to Sensenbrenner, and just as unlikely that the House ethics committee will take serious action on a similar complaint. Still, it's good to see that Sensenbrenner's arrogant stunt hasn't escaped notice.

by TChris

The first death officially attributed to police use of a Taser occurred in Chicago.

[Ronald] Hasse was shot with the Taser as police tried to subdue him in a 26th-floor Lakeview apartment after they arrived to help Fire Department personnel and Hasse allegedly tried to bite an officer. Denton said Hasse received the electrical shock produced by the Taser for 57 seconds, more than 10 times the usual amount.

Taser International predictably denied that the medical examiner's conclusion is accurate. TI inevitably argues that people who die after being shocked by Tasers were killed by their own drug abuse. Hasse had methamphetamine in his blood, a factor the medical examiner viewed as a contributing cuase of his death. Unlike other cases, the medical examiner carefully reviewed the evidence and concluded that the Taser was "the principal cause of Hasse's death."

Even if Tasers are most likely to kill drug users, it's forseeable that some individuals who disobey a police officer (and who are Tasered as a result) will have taken drugs. Their drug use shouldn't condemn them to a death sentence. Perhaps this medical examiner's courageous conclusion will finally convince policy makers that Tasers should not be part of law enforcement's arsenal.

Among the documents released from Judge John Roberts' tenure as Associate White House Counsel during the Reagan era are memos criticizing the Supreme Court Justices for accepting too many death penalty appeals and prisoners-rights cases:

Mr. Roberts wrote in a memorandum to his boss, Fred F. Fielding, the White House counsel, that ...the court had only itself to blame for its burden of cases.

"If the justices truly think they are overworked, the cure lies close at hand," Mr. Roberts wrote. "The fault lies with the justices themselves....He wrote that if the court took fewer death penalty and prisoner-rights cases, the docket would be cut by at least a half-dozen cases a year. He added a comment that may signal his view of the Supreme Court's proper role.