The Wall Street Journal has this free article today on how Time Magazine's Matthew Cooper decided his interests were not the same as those of New York Times reporter Judith Miller. It's true that Cooper cooperated about Libby early on, as did Russert, Walter Pincus and Glenn Kessler, and then balked at getting a second subpoena for other sources. I've reported Judith Miller's take on that several times, most recently here.

The Wall St. Journal article mostly focuses on Cooper's lawyer's point of view, but this quote from Floyd Abrams, who originally represented both Cooper and Miller, is key:

But the deposition, held in the Washington office of Mr. Abrams's law firm, only whetted Mr. Fitzgerald's appetite. "Matt's testimony about Libby led Pat Fitzgerald to decide he wanted more information about others," Mr. Abrams explains. Specifically, the prosecutor wanted Mr. Cooper to confirm that Mr. Rove was a source of information about Ms. Plame. Within weeks, Mr. Cooper had a second subpoena in hand.

So, Fitzgerald knew it was Rove. He wasn't fishing.

5280, Denver's sole glossy monthly and nationally acclaimed magazine, for which I and several others blog daily on Colorado issues from politics and crime, particularly Tom Tancredo and Ken Salazar, to restaurants and cool events, got a great bloglift (yes, I coined that phrase, as Skippy would say) today -- if you get a minute, or if you are interested in Colorado goings-ons, check it out.

[Disclosure: I do get paid by 5280 for blogging. But I've been carping for months about their need to get a new look, and they more than exceeded my expectations.]

Scott Peterson, who is on death row at San Quentin after being convicted of killing his wife Laci, just got a website courtesy of Canadians Against the Death Penalty, which provides free sites to more than 500 death row prisoners.

The Website has Peterson's first public statement since arriving on death row. He says keep those letters coming.

His lawyer, Mark Geragos, maintains an investigative website for him here.

U.Sn Ambassador nominee John Bolton omitted being questioned by the State Department inspector general's office on his application form for the appointment. The investigation concerned intelligence lapses surrinding Iraq, Niger and uranium.

The acknowledgment came after the State Department had earlier insisted nominee John Bolton's "answer was truthful" when he said he had not been questioned or provided information to jury or government investigations in the past five years.

"When Mr. Bolton completed his form during the Senate confirmation process he did not recall being interviewed by the State Department inspector general. Therefore his form as submitted was inaccurate in this regard and he will correct the form," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

It's unlikely it will matter as the White House says it doesn't find the omission significant. Bush will probably give Bolton a recess appointment after Congress recesses the first week in August.

The State Department source says Bolton was not questioned by Fitzgerald or the grand jury investigating the Plame leak.

Tom Maguire of Just One Minute writes:

The NY Times finally discovers Walter Pincus of the WaPo, a mere three weeks after we were hollering
about him. And eventually, the Times will discover Google, or Lexis Nexis....

I feel the same way.

Sgt. Kevin Benderman was acquitted of desertion by a military jury today. He was convicted of a lesser "missing movement" charge and sentenced to 15 months.

Benderman failed to deploy with his 3rd Infantry Division unit in January, 10 days after he told Fort Stewart commanders he was seeking a discharge as a conscientious objector. He has previously said he refused to deploy to Iraq after his first combat tour during the 2003 invasion made him opposed to war.

Benderman's company commander and direct supervisor in the division's 3rd Forward Support Battalion flew to Fort Stewart from Iraq to testify Thursday that the soldier disobeyed orders to deploy and demoralized his fellow troops after they left without him.

Benderman's company commander said he got what he deserved: 15 months in jail for missing 12 months in Iraq.

While I think the sentence is too harsh, I'd say Benderman came out ahead: At least he knows he's not getting a death sentence, which is how a tour in Iraq might have turned out.

Background on the case is here.

TChris usually has this category, but I couldn't resist. And who knows, maybe he can top this one: In Massachussetts, a woman reported her marijuana stolen.

A 51-year-old Boylston Street resident reported on July 21 that her residence was broken into sometime between 3:15 and 6 p.m. When asked if anything was missing, the woman reportedly told police "nothing except for her marijuana."

[Via Crim Prof Blog.]

Miami Herald reporter Jim DeFede has been fired for taping his last phone call with indicted Miami politician Art Teele. After the call, Teele went to the Herald's offices and killed himself. Sad story. The Southern District of Florida blog has a good wrap-up and these thoughts, by David Oscar Markus.

On a personal note, I'm just sickened by this. It's an eye-opening reminder that targeting someone (either by the press or by the state or by the feds) has real consequences. I am not suggesting that anyone is to blame for Teele's actions. That said, I have wondered why the feds needed to prosecute Teele after he had been convicted in state court and after he had lost his job and his life. In the end, was it necessary? Even assuming that he committed a crime, there are times when our prosecutors should use discretion. It's easy, of course, to say now that this was one of those cases, but I still wonder why this man (after what he had already gone through) needed to be prosecuted.

by TChris

As TalkLeft discussed here, some states are making it more difficult for cold sufferers to buy over-the-counter medications containing pseudoephedrine, because the drug can be used (albeit not easily) to manufacture methamphetamine. Now the federal government wants to get into the act (doesn't it always?), by requiring stores that sell Sudafed, Nyquil and other medicines containing pseudoephedrine to keep them behind the pharmacy counter.

Consumers would have to show a photo ID, sign a log, and be limited to 7.5 grams - or about 250 30-milligram pills - in a 30-day period. Computer tracking would prevent customers from exceeding the limit at other stores, according to the bipartisan bill co-sponsored by Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Jim Talent, R-Mo.

In its present form, the bill is even more silly, as it exempts stores that don't have a pharmacy.

U.S. District Judge Sterling Johnson in New York sentenced Yemeni cleric Sheik Mohammed Ali Hassan al-Moayad to 75 years today, saying "We must all remember September 11."

What did the cleric have to do with 9/11? Nothing.

While the trial was not about the Sept. 11 attacks, he said, the evidence of al-Moayad's ties to bin Laden and Hamas required a stiff sentence.

Background on the trial is here.

I've heard some good buzz about The Aristocrats. It's opening tomorrow in L.A. and New York, and then going national during August. The AMC movie chain has banned the film.

If you want to hear the dirtiest joke ever told ... don't bother heading for your local AMC megaplex. The theater chain has decided not to show the buzzed-about documentary "The Aristocrats" on any of its 3,500-plus screens, and the filmmakers aren't laughing. The $20,000 unrated film features 102 comedians, each telling the same infamous joke—involving a XXX stage act—passed down from comic to comic since vaudeville. (The punch line is the film's title.) Despite great test screenings—and a cast with figures ranging from Jon Stewart to Phyllis Diller—AMC's film group chairman, Dick Walsh, decided, according to a company spokeswoman, the film "would have very narrow appeal."

by TChris

States that offer personalized license plates often want to control the message that plate buyers can convey. There's little doubt that states can prevent the issuance of plates that use offensive words (of the George Carlin variety), but it's less clear that states can censor political messages that state bureaucrats find offensive.

The state of Utah can't block a woman from using her license plate to tell the world "GAYSROK," a judge has ruled. The state has no good reason to prevent Elizabeth Solomon from having that plate -- which can be read "Gays are OK" or "Gays Rock" -- or another one saying "GAYRYTS," according to Jane Phan, an administrative law judge with the Utah State Tax Commission.

The judge ruled that a reasonable person wouldn't find the plates "offensive to good taste and decency," not that motorists have a First Amendment right to convey political messages. But state censorship of political messages raises First Amendment concerns, a fact not recognized by Barry Conover, deputy director of the commission, which oversees Utah's Department of Motor Vehicles: