by TChris

The founder of Amnesty International, one of the world's great organizations devoted to human rights, died at the age of 83.

[Peter] Benenson founded the organisation after reading an article about the arrest and imprisonment of two students in a cafe in Lisbon, Portugal who had drunk a toast to liberty.

Irene Khan, secretary general of AI, summed up Benenson's life with eloquence.

"He brought light into the darkness of prisons, the horror of torture chambers and tragedy of death camps around the world. This was a man whose conscience shone in a cruel and terrifying world, who believed in the power of ordinary people to bring about extraordinary change and, by creating Amnesty International, he gave each of us the opportunity to make a difference."

Rest in peace, Peter Benenson. You were a true champion of liberty.

by TChris

Will Scott Peterson be given a second chance to convince a jury that he didn't murder his wife? His defense team, headed by Mark Geragos, may have uncovered new evidence of Peterson's innocence.

Michael Cardoza, a local lawyer who has been helping the defense, said ... a prison inmate had been caught on tape talking to his brother about a burglary at the Petersons' house in which Laci Peterson confronted the robbers. Geragos may argue that authorities withheld evidence that could have been helpful in proving that Scott Peterson was not the killer.

Peterson's sentencing has been postponed to give both parties more time to prepare.

by TChris

The Attorney General of Kansas, Phill Kline, is acting as an anti-abortion activist rather than the state's chief law enforcement officer. (TalkLeft background here.) And he's willing to undermine the Constitution and the privacy rights of patients to get what he wants.

What he wants: records of abortions performed on more than 90 patients in two Kansas clinics. Kline claims the records may reveal evidence of a crime, although the nature of his investigation is elusive. He couches the effort in appealing terms: a search for evidence of child molestation. The records, he claims, may show that girls too young to give legal consent to sex were victimized by older men. But the records are more likely to show that the underage girls themselves committed crimes by having sex with underage boys. And the physician-patient privilege that Kline wants to thwart is designed to encourage patients to share just that kind of personal information with doctors, free from fear that a crusading prosecutor will obtain and use that information against the patient.

That Kline isn't out to protect kids is clear from two facts.

Hearings were held in Nevada yesterday on a bill to ban the death penalty for those who were 16 or 17 at the time of their crimes.

That means they will spend an eternity in prison, and not be relieved from their actions until death," said Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas. "The death penalty is not a deterrent, especially with youthful offenders who don't think further than today, let alone think about the consequences."

Giunchigliani said young teens are not as mentally developed as adults and so should not be subjected to the ultimate penalty. "There is now clear biological evidence that adolescents do not have the same ability as adults to make sound decisions and to prevent impulsive behavior," she said.

A bipartisan group of Illinois legislators have introduced a bill to raise the burden of proof in capital cases to "beyond all doubt."

House Minority Leader Tom Cross (R-Oswego) and Rep. Jay Hoffman (D-Collinsville) are among a group of tough-on-crime legislators who introduced the legislation that underscores a commitment to prevent any executions unless there is absolute certainty of a person's guilt.

"It ensures, we believe, that innocent people are not sentenced to death," Cross said. "Just because I'm for the death penalty doesn't mean we should sentence people that are innocent to Death Row." ....If there remained what the legislation calls "residual doubt" during the sentencing phase of a capital trial, the defendant would be sentenced to life in prison instead of lethal injection.

Some legislators who oppose the death penalty fear this will lead to a lifting of the moratorium on the death penalty instituted in 2000 by foromer Ill. Governor George Ryan. Others believe the change would not survive court challenges because of dual standards of proof--beyond a reasonable doubt for the guilt phase and beyond all doubt for the penalty phase.

U-2 lead singer and rock star Bono has been nominated for a Nobel Prize. But the LA Times, in an editorial, says that's not his calling, and makes a convincing case for arguing that Bono should be appointed President of the World Bank.

Bono may not have a PhD in economics, but he'd have plenty of real economists around the bank to consult. Bono is the most eloquent and passionate spokesman for African aid in the Western world. And given that both ex-President Bill Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair have in recent years made Africa one of their focuses, that's saying something.

Martha Stewart gets out of prison next weekend. She's ready for her comeback:

When Stewart, 63, leaves Alderson Prison Camp next weekend, she will become the star of two new TV shows on NBC produced by Mark Burnett, of "Survivor" and "Apprentice" fame. In one, she revives her daily homemaking show with guests and a live audience, and in the other she will test and ultimately select a new employee a la Donald Trump on "The Apprentice."

This week her company's stock reached its highest price in five years. It's a remarkable turnaround, according to crisis management specialists. And, one that was orchestrated a cross-section of experts, including Martha herself.

A new witness has emerged for the defense in the Michael Jackson trial. A paralegal for the attorney who represented the mother of Michael Jackson's accuser is going to be deposed Saturday...

....sources say the paralegal has claimed to the Jackson defense team that Jane Doe, as the accuser's mother is known in court papers to protect her son's anonymity, lied under oath and fabricated the charges against JC Penney security guards.

According to these sources, the paralegal has alleged to the defense team that the bruises Jane Doe said were inflicted by the guards were actually perpetrated by someone else. And, they say, the paralegal claimed to the defense team that Jane Doe told her she coached her son to lie during his deposition against JC Penney.

Civil and domestic lawyers frequently complain about the rudeness and lack of civility among their peers. I've even heard Judges remark on it. In South Carolina, things have gotten so bad that lawyers have to take a one-hour civility class and re-take their oath, with the added passage:

"To opposing parties and their counsel, I pledge fairness, integrity, and civility, not only in court, but also in all written and oral communications."

If this is representative of how lawyers treat witnesses in South Carolina, a career change rather than an oath might be in order:

A witness complained that a lawyer told her before a deposition, "You are a mean-spirited, vicious witch and I don't like your face and I don't like your voice."

Apparently, the tradition of rudeness and worse has a long history in South Carolina:

In 1856, a cane-wielding South Carolina lawyer who was a member of Congress beat an anti-slavery senator from Massachusetts unconscious on the Senate floor. In 1897, Will Thurmond, a prosecutor and father of the late Senator Strom Thurmond, shot and killed a political enemy who had insulted him on the street.

by TChris

Arlen Specter, walking a tightrope between voters who didn't think they were electing an extremist and the extremists in his party who expect blind obedience to their commands, isn't ruling out the "nuclear option": a vote to do away with the filibuster. Jason Miller writes that Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas doesn't want to hear what voters think of this arrogant plan to thwart a venerable Senate tradition.

As we presented a petition signed by 314 Kansans and stated our position that Sen. Roberts needed to fight to save the filibuster, it became readily apparent that our effort would bear little fruit. The aide we met quickly informed us that Sen. Roberts was supporting Bill Frist, the Senate majority leader who is the driving force behind the threat to employ the “nuclear option.” Sen. Roberts had already made up his mind, and our 600,000 member organization, our message and our petition were not likely to change it.

Demand for medical marijuana has increased substantially in San Francisco since the Health Department began issuing ID cards four years ago. The San Francisco Examiner reports that the city, wanting a piece of the action, may begin regulating pot clubs.

The City has seen "an explosion of new medical marijuana clubs," according to Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, a Green Party member who plans a public hearing on an estimated 34 clubs. Health Department records show that from 2003 to 2004, the number of patients requesting medical marijuana ID cards doubled to more than 7,000.

"After seeing the rise of this cottage industry in San Francisco, questions abound as to what The City might do to benefit from this commerce," Mirkarimi said. "I'm not looking in order to infringe on their business, but I want to bring them into the sunshine."

Fox News Anchor Sean Hannity has added a dating service to his website.

Welcome to Hannidate 2005, where you may find your perfect match through Hannity style romance. Be sure to click on each icon to see a full size picture and full description:

Think Progress has some clips from it, and wants you to know they are not parodies.

I think the idea is a winner. In fact, after reading about it, I went and bought the domain name DateLeft.com . I'm willing to sell it, any takers?