New York Attorney General Elliot Spitzer has closed his office's investigation (WSJ, free link) of possible charity accounting malfeasance at radio host Don Imus's New Mexico ranch, which operates as a charity for sick children.

The Imus Ranch, a 4,000-acre ranch in northern New Mexico, is run by Mr. Imus and his wife, Deirdre, to help sick children by teaching them how to be cowboys and cowgirls. The ranch's expenses totaled $2.6 million last year, although the ranch hosts only about 100 children annually, mostly during the summer. Mr. Imus raises the funds through his radio and television broadcasts.

Mr. Imus's personal use of the ranch has drawn scrutiny from tax and charity officials. He and his wife and son stay at the ranch all summer to oversee the children's programs. He and his family also visit the ranch in the off-season, including during Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, as well as occasional weekends, Mr. Imus said in the Journal article and reconfirmed on his show yesterday.

The last appeal was denied this morning in the Terri Schiavo case. Florida state Judge George Greer denied relief in this latest filing in which the parents presented an affidavit from a member of their lawyers' firm who says on the day the feeding tube was removed, Terri was asked to repeat the words "I want to live" if that's what she wanted, and she responded, "Ahhh" "waaaa".

Doctors have said Schiavo's past utterances were involuntary moans consistent with someone in a vegetative state.

The parents have said they will not go back to the federal courts. It's over.

Her death will now become a spectacle watched by the entire world. Already, there are sites taking bets as to the exact moment she will expire. Some express boredom or indifferrence - saying the story has outlived its newsworthiness.

The story clearly is making a lot of people uncomfortable. Why? I My view is that it a display of American voyeurism at its worst.

On the angle of the radical right's religious hysteria over the case, read Billmon and check out Jesus' General's Republican Jesus feature.

Newly released Army documents show that U.S. troops systemically tortured Iraqi prisoners in Mosul. The documents were obtained by the ACLU pursuant to its Freedom of Information Act request.

An investigation by a U.S. officer after an Iraqi prisoner's jaw was broken at the base in Mosul found that "detainees were being systematically and intentionally mistreated" in late 2003.

The documents show a variety of torture techniques were inflicted on the prisoners:

Randall Terry, anti-abortion activist and now Schindler family spokesman, has an unusual family background. CNN's Anderson Cooper reported tonight: (Transcript available on Lexis.com)

BAKHTIAR: It's been a long road for Randall Terry, who was once imprisoned for sending former President Bill Clinton an aborted fetus....His clinic crusade slowed after he was forced to settle a lawsuit with Planned Parenthood. He moved to Florida and campaigned against infidelity and birth control, gays and unwed mothers.

But a year ago, his expended agenda came under fire from his own devout Christian family, the children who once featured in TV ads.

...His son Jamiel came out as gay in a magazine article.

JAMIEL TERRY, RANDALL TERRY'S SON: In my family, it was you start having sex outside of marriage you get AIDS, you're a whore, your a slut, those are exact words. Yesterday he said to me I'm going to be at your funeral, you're going to die at 42.

BAKHTIAR: His teenage daughter Tila, said her father no longer welcomes her in his home.

It appears that Terri Schiavo's life is winding down quickly. Her father says she only has hours left to live. The court appeals are still alive, but winding down as well.

And the dirt continues to fly. Tonight on Greta's On the Record, a former caretaker for Terri named Trudy said she knew Michael Schiavo very well, she was his "confidente" while she worked at the facility caring for Terri. She was adamant that Michael told her several times he and Terri never discussed what to do in this kind of situation, that she had never expressed an opinion, and that he used to ask her (Trudy) all the time, "What should I do."

A lawyer on Greta's show said there was a telephone hearing today because the state and federal courts were closed. I had a federal court hearing today, so I don't think that's true.

And legal analyst Andrew Cohen explains in the LA Times why Terri's parents didn't have a case.

Actor Tom Sizemore was sentenced to 17 months on a probation violation today. Among the interesting details of the case:

The 43-year-old Sizemore, who has starred in many films including "Black Hawk Down", "Saving Private Ryan", failed seven drug tests while on probation for a 2003 domestic violence conviction with his ex-girlfriend, "Hollywood Madam" Heidi Fleiss.

According to one report, Sizemore tried to pass one of the drug tests by using urine from a prosthetic penis sewn into his underwear.

Sizemore did not react well to the sentence:

President Bush's approval rating has dropped to 45%, its lowest level ever. Is it social security, the deteriorating economy or the Terri Schiavo case?

Most likely, all three:

The new poll found the largest drop for Bush came among men, self-described conservatives and churchgoers. "You have to wonder if people didn't feel that the president and the Congress couldn't be spending their time working on Social Security and other problems," said Charlie Cook, editor of the non-partisan Cook Political Report.

I just received a media advisory that the Supreme Court's ruling in Raich v. Ashcroft on state's rights and medical marijuana is expected on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week. The San Francisco Chronicle provided this concise explanation of the case last November:

The question before the court is whether individual patients -- and, possibly, some of their suppliers -- are immune from federal enforcement. The argument goes like this: The Constitution authorizes Congress to regulate interstate commerce. But no interstate commerce is involved when patients, acting legally under state law, use marijuana that was grown within the state and supplied without charge.

It's been a long week. Your turn.

Federal Judge James Whittemore has rejected the Schindler's latest lawsuit to reinsert Terri Schiavo's feeding tube:

In his 11-page ruling, Whittemore wrote that the Schindlers couldn't establish "a substantial likelihood of success on the merits" of their case. He also noted "the difficulties and heartbreak the parties have endured throughout this lengthy process" and praised the lawyers' civility, saying it was "a credit to their professionalism ... and Terri."

How Appealing has the judge's ruling here.

It looks like Jeb Bush is going to come out of this as the hero of the radical right:

Gov. Jeb Bush has ordered his legal team to scour state laws for a way to reconnect Schiavo's feeding tube. There were calls from a supporter of the parents for him to take further action.

Update: The New York Times has more on Jeb Bush's increased political capital resulting from the Schiavo case.

The hearing is over in federal court. The Judge has taken it under advisement. He told everyone to go home for now. He may rule in a few hours.

Meanwhile, former House Judiciary Committee Chief Counsel Julian Epstein was on Larry King tonight. He said Congress didn't really want to save Terri Schiavo's life. He was faxed a draft of the legislation in advance and said he told Congress staffers that the law wouldn't work, but that there were options that could work. He said Congress could easily have assured the reinsertion of the feeding tube by writing an automatic stay into the law -- or by creating new evidentiary rules. Congress' refusal to do so, Julian says, means it knowingly passed a half-hearted law that wouldn't work.

The inference is that Democrats wouldn't go for a bill that would have resulted in the reinsertion of the feeding tube, so this was the compromise. If true, this makes the Republican Congresspersons and Senators demanding she be allowed to live more than just a little disingenuous. They didn't even go on record for the courage of their convictions but passed a cosmetic bill instead.

Jeb Bush says he can't do any more. Where's his brother, President Bush? Back at the ranch, on vacation.

Update: Think Progress has more --particularly on Sen. Bill Frist.

U.S. paratrooper Jeremy Hinzman has been denied asylum in Canada.

An immigration board ruled that Jeremy Hinzman had not convinced its members he would face persecution or cruel and unusual punishment if returned to the United States.

Seven other American military personnel have applied for refugee status, and Hinzman's lawyer estimated dozens of others are in hiding in Canada waiting to see how the government ruled.

Background on Hinzman's case is here.