The Houston Chronicle reports on a new poll showing a drop in support for Texas Congressman Tom Delay.

In the Chronicle poll, conducted late last week and published Sunday, nearly 40 percent of 501 likely voters in his district said their opinion of DeLay is less favorable than last year, compared with 11 percent who said their view of him has improved.

Delay aides try to spin it, but it seems clear that Delay's self-insertion into the Terri Schiavo case hurt him badly:

Say hello to The Grist, a new and free environmental newsletter with a cool design and very progressive content. Grist has taken out an ad on TalkLeft, so I leafed through it and have to say I'm very impressed. Here's an article advising enviromentalists to take a page from civil liberties activists and suffragettes, and never give up.

by TChris

San Francisco police restrained a man yesterday with a device identified as a "body wrap." Once the officers had him in the device, the man stopped breathing and paramedics were unable to revive him. The connection, if any, between the body wrap and the death isn't yet known.

by TChris

Finally realizing that Taser weapons aren't as safe as their manufacturer claims them to be, the International Association of Chiefs of Police "recommended Sunday that law enforcement agencies closely monitor their use and avoid issuing them to every officer." The organization's decision to study Taser use is reported here.

The strategy also asks agencies to add conditions for use of the weapons to their policies governing the use of force. Those policies generally govern when officers are permitted to use firearms and less-than-lethal options such as batons and pepper spray.

CBS Legal Analyst Andrew Cohen writes in the Denver Post of the madness of the Terri Schiavo case and the blood libel of the radical right in trying to blame judges for her death. He has done an outstanding job in commenting on this case since the beginning.

First, on Christians and Schiavo:

This madness was so palpable, the raw emotion was so high, that we saw and heard Schiavo compared to Jesus Christ. This is not as surprising as it may seem at first. According to a new Newsweek poll, 78 percent of Americans today believe that Christ rose from the dead and no doubt many in that number believed, in spite of the best medical evidence to the contrary, that Terri Schiavo eventually could have and would have actually improved after living 15 years in a persistent vegetative state. This mystical gloss on secular reality shone even more brightly because the apex of the case occurred over Easter weekend, with all it connotes about life, death, miracles and God.

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Who's cashing in on Michael Jackson's legal troubles? Just about everyone, it seems.

Lawyers flying into Santa Maria to comment on tv for free, hoping for fame and a boost to their law practice. Lawyers with offices near the courthouse selling parking spaces and phone lines to the media. The court charging the media excessive access fees. Cops writing extra traffic tickets. Has-been actors. Even the witnesses against him.

Congress returns from its Spring Break this week, and among the hot topics will be the Republican attempt to end filibusters over judicial nominations by instilling the nuclear option. Lots of lobbying money will be spent on both sides. Here's what the Democrats have planned:

The liberal group People for the American Way said it was spending $5 million on television advertisements. On Tuesday, the Alliance for Justice will begin running commercials in which an animated character, Phil A. Buster, asks viewers to help "save checks and balances." MoveOn.org is already running ads, and Mr. Kerry's re-election committee will start a newspaper advertising campaign on Tuesday.

The Iraqi branch of al Qaeda has taken credit for yesterday's attack on Abu Ghraib prison in which 44 U.S. soldiers and a dozen Iraqi prisoners were injured.

Al Qaeda's wing in Iraq said on Sunday seven suicide bombers spearheaded its brazen overnight raid on Abu Ghraib prison that wounded 44 US soldiers, according to an Internet statement.

The web statement claims dozens of American lives were taken.

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's group said its fighters killed "dozens of Americans," destroyed more than 15 vehicles and shot down an Apache helicopter. It said 57 fighters attacked watchtowers from four sides and "silenced them" as seven suicide bombers detonated vehicles laden with explosives around the facility.

by TChris

Two men were driving down I-380 in Iowa when the hood of their car popped open. Undaunted, the men stuck their heads out the side windows and kept driving.

Note to drivers: if you want the police to notice you, drive down the freeway with your hood raised.

Two Linn County deputies on patrol took note, and pulled them over. They arrested the driver, Travis Williams, 25, of Cedar Rapids, on suspicion of driving under suspension, and no proof of insurance. The passenger, Brandon Calmese, 27, of Cedar Rapids, was arrested on a parole violation warrant from Illinois.

by TChris

A woman in Richmond, Virginia returned home after a week's absence to find that her apartment had been burglarized. In addition to taking her computer and television, the burglar ate her food and drank her liquor.

But this was not a thoughtless thief. Police said the rear sliding glass door, which the woman had left open, was closed and locked when she returned. In addition, "clothes and dishes had been washed and dried," according to the police report.

The police theorize that the burglar took up residence while the woman was gone, but didn't want to stay in a dirty apartment.

New York Magazine has an long feature article on Bernie Kerik, much of it in his own words. It covers some new ground, and the details of his conversations with the White House, including Bush, Andrew Card, Alberto Gonzales and others pack a punch. Especially Bush telling him to go out and "break some china" in the job.

The Giuliani details seem somewhat bland, as if Kerik is still trying to protect his buddy, but it's a very interesting read.