Verdict Watch, Day 3
Tuesday, June 7, 2005

No verdict. No questions from the jurors.

Who watches Nancy Grace? Some idiot who googled Nancy Grace and thought TalkLeft is her site, emailed this to me earlier:

Nancy,

I love your show. I love the way you voice out your views. I have to say, not once have I disagreed with you. Keep up the good work. You are right Michael Jackson is a sexual freak, and Scott Peterson is a murderer, and I hope his a** is being worked over everynight by some big "ole" Willy..He deserves it actually he deserves to be dead in the bottom of that lake but in America we get to babysit him and spend several thousands of dollars taking care of him to live awhile longer...One of your biggest fans from Metter Ga

Crooks and Liars reports this was in an email sent by James Dobson's group to its "Citizen Link" subscribers.

Albertsons Agrees to Respect Pharmacists' Right of Conscience

Albertsons Corporation agreed to accommodate its pharmacists' right to refuse to fill prescriptions that violate their religious or moral beliefs. The accommodation came on the heels of a lawsuit filed by
attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) and the Christian Legal Society (CLS) against Albertsons and Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich on behalf of pharmacist David Scimio.

Actress Anne Bancroft, best known to the world for her role as Mrs. Robinson in the 1967 classic film, The Graduate, has died at 73 of uterine cancer.

While her career included many other cinematic achievements, such as her portrayal of Helen Keller Annie Sullivan in The Miracle Worker, it is the Graduate that made her a legend. She is survived by her husband, Mel Brooks.

Rest in Peace, Anne Bancroft.

We wrote about this in April, it's big in MSM today. First, from our post:

taking reality tv to new heights or lows, depending on your viewpoint, an Iraqi television station is broadcasting confessions of alleged terrorists obtained during interrogations.

"A man, appearing disheveled and uncomfortable, sits on a wooden chair in a dim room of what appears to be a police station. As an interrogator peppers him with questions, the man says he was part of a gang that kidnapped and murdered Iraqis during the past two years in order to create a split between Shi'ite and Sunni Iraqis. But he says his acts were not holy war. They were blasphemous."

China has declared war on bloggers. It will shut down all weblogs that fail to register with the Government.

The new initiative was announced in a decree issued by the ministry for the information industry (MII) on 20 March, which said all China-based websites - commercial or otherwise - would have to register by 30 June, giving the complete identity of the persons responsible for the sites. According to the authorities, the aim is to control information that "endanger the country."

Reporters Without Borders responds:

The Washington Post reports that while Bush's approval rating this month remains at 48% (disapproval is at 52%):

A clear majority of Americans say President Bush is ignoring the public's concerns and instead has become distracted by issues that most people say they care little about, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

The survey found that 58 percent of those interviewed said Bush is mainly concentrating in his second term on problems and partisan squabbles that these respondents said were unimportant to them. Four in 10--41 percent--said the president was focused on important problems--a double-digit drop from three years ago.

In a bad sign for Republicans,

... a strong majority of self-described political independents--68 percent--say they disagreed with the president's priorities.

Your Senate Compromise at work. The Dems caved today and agreed to allow an up or down vote on California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown. Score one for the oligarchy, led by John McCain with an assist from Colorado freshman Senator Ken Salazar, among others.

Brown is headed to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, considered a stepping stone to the Supreme Court. As to why she's opposed by Democrats:

I'm in court most of the day, so feel free to choose the topics and take over. The latest version of the potential bloglift is here, but it's only working in Firefox and Safari right now. The newsfeed will return Wednesday.

[link fixed]

[Comments now closed, there's a new open thread for Wednesday where you can continue the discussion. Thanks.]

Say Hello to the Supreme Court Nomination Blog, a sister blog to Scotus Blog. Also check out Scotus' roundup of expert opinions on Monday's medical marijuana opinion in Gonzales v. Raich - keep scrolling.

Is there anyone who hasn't been tagged yet? Melanie of Just a Bump in the Beltway got me. I put it off for a week, but now that I see everyone from Avedon Carol to Patrick Nielsen Hayden to Digby (I can't find the permalink, I just remember reading it) and Suburban Guerilla have responded, here's mine:

The U.S. now has more people suffering from mental illness than any other country.

One-quarter of all Americans met the criteria for having a mental illness within the past year, and fully a quarter of those had a "serious" disorder that significantly disrupted their ability to function day to day, according to the largest and most detailed survey of the nation's mental health, published yesterday.

While mental illness rates have not increased in recent years, the numbers remain quite troubling: