Friday we wrote that a bipartisan group of Senators would be sending a letter to the White House asking why it hasn't moved on the 9/11 Commission's recommendation to create a Civil Liberties Oversight Board as a check and balance on its anti-terror policies. The recommendation was specifically included in the terrorism law passed by Congress and signed by the President last December.

The letter, addressed to Andrew Card and signed by Republican Senator Susan Collins and Democratic Senators Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut and Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, is avaiable here.

The New York Times reports on the letter today.

...the four senators asked for a timetable and details on how the panel would be staffed and set up. The letter noted that the White House's proposed budget for the board fell well below the $13 million devoted to a civil rights office within the Department of Homeland Security, the $39 million for the Office of the United States Trade Representative and the $4 million for the Council of Economic Advisers.

Jeanne D'Arc of Body and Soul has a post on Priscilla Owen that exposes her better than any organization's ads ever could. Only Jeanne's post is not an ad, but a true story. It's the story of Wille Searcy - go read. You won't want to hear the name Priscilla Owen ever again, unless it's to learn that her nomination for a seat on the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has been rejected for good.

ABC reports on the current numbers for each side in the filibuster war, and says that 7 Republican Senators are key, because they have not publicly said which way they will vote. They are:

The senators are Susan Collins of Maine, Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, John Warner of Virginia, Mike DeWine of Ohio, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and John Sununu of New Hampshire.

The Republicans need 51 votes to make the change. All 44 Democrats are opposed. So are three Republicans, and Jim Jeffords, an Independent, for a total of 48. Frist has 45 of the 55 Republicans. He needs five of the seven, plus Dick Cheney's tie breaking vote, while the Democrats need three of the seven.

Via Raw Story, 51, count them, 51 members of Congress have signed a letter authored by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) asking Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to apoint a special counsel to investigate U.S. actions in the torture scandals and in maintaining secret detention facilities abroad. The question: Did the U.S. violate the War Crimes Act? The first paragraph:

We are writing to request that you appoint a special counsel to investigate whether high-ranking officials within the Bush Administration violated the War Crimes Act, 18 U.S.C. 2441, or the Anti-Torture Act, 18 U.S.C. 2340 by allowing the use of torture techniques banned by domestic and international law at recognized and secret detention sites in Iraq, Afghanistan Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere.

One of the last paragraphs:

The other night, Washington Times Reporter Charles Hurt thought he could smear Sen. Minority leader Harry Reid. He failed.

Desperate to catch another vote to kill the filibuster, hoping that if Reid is discredited, another Senator or two might join their pro-nuclear option ranks, the Administration is using the Justice Department to try again.

The problem, as Bob Brigham writes, is this:

• For years, reporters have been writing about this file (common knowledge in the public domain).

• This is a politically motivated "leak" by a Justice Department "anonymous source" -- total partisan politics.

• No where does the letter mention Reid, but the "leak" brings Reid into the story, making it clear that the intention is a political smear.

Matt Singer points out once again, this is old news and previously referred to publicly more than a year ago not only by Reporter Charles Hurt, but by Senator Carl Levin and others:

by TChris

A 13-year-old boy died at a state-operated outdoor therapeutic program for troubled children in Georgia after struggling with camp counselors who withheld his dinner. Travis Parker was held down, often face down, for about an hour and a half. Travis was asthmatic. He asked for his inhaler repeatedly, but the counselors refused to give it to him.

The restraint, which involved at least three counselors at a time, ended when the boy stopped breathing and went limp, the reports said. He was hospitalized and died the next day.

The state fired five camp employees and a sixth resigned. Travis' family is demanding a full explanation of the facts surrounding his death. Whether criminal charges will be pursued against any of the counselors will be decided after the state completes its investigation.

by TChris

Nine deputies of the LA Sheriff's Department issued a rare apology for their use of excessive force against an unarmed man in Compton. TalkLeft discussed the shooting spree here.

Sheriff Lee Baca said he could not recall any other law enforcement officers in Los Angeles delivering mea culpas for a controversial police action. "When have you ever had a peace officer come out … and say, 'I'm concerned. I have a sense of feeling about this. I want you to know I don't feel good about this,' " Baca said. "This has never happened in this county and this speaks well for the integrity of these deputies."

Georgetown Law Professor David Cole, whom I consider to be a supreme expert on the Patriot Act and civil liberites, has a new article in the Nation, informing us that the worst parts of the Patriot Act are not scheduled to expire, and thus, those of us who have been expecting some impressive reforms will be disappointed.

But if Patriot Act opponents are expecting great things, they will be disappointed. Many of the worst provisions of the act are not even up for discussion. The disputes regarding the few provisions that are actually in play often concern only marginal details, while skirting more fundamental issues. And the whole debate is largely a diversion, because the worst civil liberties abuses since 9/11 have been achieved without reliance on the Patriot Act, as they are based on executive initiatives that Congress has no will to challenge.

by TChris

The Bush administration doesn't like to quibble about amounts when it writes checks to military contractors. Taking care of soldiers injured in battle, on the other hand, brings out the administration's stinginess.

A soldier found to be 30 percent disabled receives a monthly military retirement check and family health care at military hospitals. A lower disability rating leads to severance from the Army, a taxable $12,000 benefit payment, and personal health care (with no family coverage) from the Dept. of Veterans Affairs. As the number of wounded soldiers has grown, lawyers report that it has become less likely that the soldiers will be assigned a 30 percent disability rating, even when they're incapable of working -- like Cpl. Richard Twohig, profiled in this story.

"I think the Army Physical Evaluation Board is broken," [civilian lawyer Mark] Waple said. "The DoD would rather buy another cruise missile than medically retire someone. Systemically, what we've seen in the last seven years, they just seem to give a zero, 10, 20 percent disability so they are no longer on the DoD payroll. It is almost like a fix is in somewhere."

Update: Guilty. We live blogged the verdict listening to an Australian tv network's webcast and live feed of the two hour reading here.

Bump and Update: Drug Activists in Indonesia are calling for the death penalty for Schapelle Corby...for allegedly importing 9 pounds of pot into Bali. They say the Government should make an example of her. As we explain in the original post below, Schappelle maintains her innocence and is awaiting the judges' verdict. We will be bumping this post frequently as new information becomes available to call attention to her plight.

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Original Post: 5/12/05

Actor Russell Crowe has taken up the cause of an Australian beautician imprisoned on drug charges in Bali, Indonesia.

Crowe said: "The photographs of Schappelle Corby broke my heart. "I don't understand how we can, as a country, stand by and let a young lady rot away in a foreign prison. That is ridiculous. "It is Indonesia, fine and dandy, but we need to find a rational platform to save this girl's life."

The Washington Post reports Frist said Friday he will launch the nuclear option next week by forcing a vote on either Priscilla Owen or Janice Rogers Brown.

Here are the stages:

first, a "test vote" to demonstrate there is majority support for the nominee but not the 60 needed to break a filibuster; second, a vote on a non-debatable motion to table the objections Democrats would raise to a ruling by the presiding officer -- Vice President Cheney -- that a simple majority vote is sufficient for confirmation;
and, if the first two hurdles are cleared, a vote on the nominee herself.

It appears talks are ongoing between Sens. Harry Reid and Bill Frist. In fact, Reid will be having dinner at Frist's house Sunday night. But I'm not liking what I'm reading about possible settlements:

What's on your mind this weekend?