Verdict Watch, Day 6
Friday, June 9, 2005

The jury has recessed for the weekend without a verdict. There are 2,200 journalists on site.

This is not a surprise. 28 hours of deliberations is not excessive by any stretch, given the 100 pages of jury instructions, 130 witnesses, 14 weeks of testimony and the complex verdict form.

Update: Sensenbrenner storms out of hearing, gavel in hand. Crooks and Liars has the video.

[Rep. Jerome] Nadler said Sensenbrenner, one of the authors of the Patriot Act, was "rather rude, cutting everybody off in mid-sentence with an attitude of total hostility."

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Original Post:

Raw Story has the details:

A furor erupted after Republican House Judiciary Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner shut off the microphones during a hearing on the Patriot Act Friday, accusing Democrats of raising issues unrelated to the Act such as treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, RAW STORY has learned.

The entire telephone conference call bloggers had Monday with Sir Bob Geldof about Live 8 is now available here. You really should listen, particularly to Geldof's talk at the beginning. He has an amazing amount of knowledge about Africa and its problems and what we can do to help.

Happy birthday to Joe Trippi. For his birthday, he'd like you to go over to One.Org and learn more about Live 8. Remember, they don't want your money, only your voice. Sign the One Declaration.

Let's help Make Poverty History. Live 8. July 2.

According to Marijuana Policy Project, a critical vote in the House on medical marijuana will take place Tuesday. Take a moment to visit MPP or NORML and urge your Representatives to support the Hinchey-Rohrabacher medical marijuana amendment to the Justice and other departments' appropriations bill when it comes to the House floor on Tuesday, June 14. The Amendment would:

....prohibit the DOJ and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) from spending taxpayers' dollars for the purpose of pursuing "any criminal or civil penalty or remedy against any person for the production, distribution, or use of marijuana for medicinal purposes in a state that authorizes that production, distribution, or use."

Background here. Marijuana Policy Project's action page is here.

Think Progress reports that the person that Bush wants to put in charge of human resources at the State Department has had offensive, bigoted things to say about every major ethnic group.

On May 10, 2005, the current director of the U.S. Mint, Henrietta Holsman Fore, was nominated by President Bush to be the next Under Secretary of State for Management.

....The position of Under Secretary of Management is a vital one, as described by the State Department’s website. It is responsible for leading the offices of administration and human resources, which deal with the hiring and firing of personnel. Fore’s nomination to this post has raised many concerns due to her record of making racially-insensitive remarks.

More over at Peek, Alternet's blog.

According to this DOJ press release, President Bush granted seven pardons this week. Law Professor Ellen Podgor of White Collar Crime Blog has the breakdown and analysis.

The pardons are mostly for "white collar" offenses, but one marijuana defendant from Texas is in the group. I wonder if an enterprising reporter or blogger will uncover a connection between Bush and this pardonee:

James Edward Reed
Kaufman, Texas
Offense: Conspiracy to possess
with intent to distribute marijuana; 21 U.S.C. § 846.
Sentence: January 10, 1975; Northern District of Texas;
18 months imprisonment; two years special parole.

Update: Could he have any connection to Bush White House political director Ron Kaufman? Never mind, Kaufman is the city in Texas, not the pardoned man's name. Thanks to the commenter who pointed this out.

The most sensationalized details in the charges against the Lodi, CA terror defendants have been deleted from the final Affidavit filed with the court.

The first version of the affidavit released to media organizations Tuesday by the Department of Justice in Washington said potential terrorist targets included hospitals and stores and contained names of key individuals and statements about the international origins of "hundreds" of participants in alleged Al Qaeda terrorist training camps inside Pakistan.

TalkLeft has never been a "Deaniac." He was not my choice for the Democratic Presidential nomination in 2004. But I agree with Kos and Atrios, we need to support him, and the Democratic party, now. Give generously.

Update: Jann Wenner weighs in on the Dean flap at the Huffington Post - and he's right.

Karl Rove, Ken Mehlman, and Tom DeLay don't even have to bother attacking Howard Dean anymore; their work is being done for them by the stalwarts of what's left of the Democratic Party establishment.

....the bottom line effect of all this sniping is to marginalize and shame Dean for speaking a truth that the Republicans do not wish spoken or given credence. Our guys are doing the work of the so-called GOP Echo Machine.

Raw Story has an exclusive interview with House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi. She praises blogs, and says of the MSM:

The House Democratic leader made striking comments about the mainstream media, even asserting that reporters had told her journalists couldn’t tell the Democrats’ story because they feared losing access.

“I’ve had reporters say to me, I have orthodontia, I have tuition, I have mortgage, I need access, I’m not writing your story,” Pelosi remarked.

After a five-week high profile trial, a jury has returned a verdict of "not guilty" against former Bank of America Corp. broker Theodore Sihpol ... The Wall Street Journal reports (subscription only):

Former Bank of America Corp. broker Theodore Sihpol was found not guilty of improperly trading mutual funds, in the first real courtroom test of New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's campaign against financial fraud.

.... The acquittal is a high-profile setback for Mr. Spitzer, who has made a name for himself while largely avoiding the courtroom. He has extracted multimillion-dollar settlements from corporate defendants, forced executives to resign and launched sweeping changes of practices on Wall Street and in the mutual-fund and insurance industries. Buoyed by his victories and the cheers of supporters, Mr. Spitzer has announced plans to run for governor in 2006.

The Ho Chi Minh City People's Court yesterday sentenced 46 year old Australian Mai Cong Thanh, a native of Vietnam, to death for smuggling approximately 2 kilograms of heroin into Vietnam in loudspeakers. He is the second Austrailian to be sentenced to death in a year.

Vietnam, which has vowed to get tougher on drugs, launched a nationwide police crackdown this month on social vices such as prostitution and drugs abuse.

Meanwhile, in Bali, the Bali Nine were taken back to the airport and made to reenact the crime for police. It's a peculiarity of Indonesian law, that in deciding which charges to bring against a suspect, the police can force him or her to reenact the crime.

The Colombian Government says is considering a newly proposed plan to eradicate the country's coca fields:

A group of Colombian scientists believe they've found a way to wipe out cocaine production: unleash an army of hungry moth caterpillars. But critics of the proposal say the chance for "ecological mischief" is high.

The plan envisions breeding thousands of beige-colored Eloria Noyesi moths in laboratories, packing them into boxes and releasing them into steamy coca-growing regions of Colombia, the world's main supplier of the drug. The moths, about twice the size of a fly, are native only to the Andean region of South America.

The moths would be better than infecting the plants with a fungus (tried in the past):

.... moths would better counter the replanting problem because they would continue to reproduce and attack the plants.

I can't wait to see the movie version.

[link via Huffington Post.]