Musician Yusuf Islam, formerly Cat Stevens, has settled lawsuits with two British newspapers that alleged he had terrorist ties. He will donate the proceeds to charties helping the Tsunami orphans.

The singer, who changed his name after converting to Islam in the 1970's, was traveling last September on a flight from London to Washington when it was diverted to Bangor, Me. He was then deported from the United States.

The Department of Homeland Security said he was deported after his name turned up on lists of individuals prohibited from entering the United States because of activities the department said could be linked to terrorism.

The two newspapers suggested that the American authorities had been right to refuse Mr. Islam entry.

Please donate to Wampum who has done the extraordinary work of hosting the Koufax liberal blogging awards for three years. Their ISP shut them down today for excess use of bandwidth - voting was that heavy-- and Mary Beth and Dwight who run the site don't have the money to reinstate it and keep going. Nor should they have to foot the bill for the rest of us.

Julia at Sisyphus Shrugged has their paypal contribution page. Go, give.

[hat tip Digby.]

Bump and Update: Here are some issues that appear to remain despite the Court's ruling. Does anyone have answers or know if these are even valid questions?

• Why did Judith Miller tonight make a big deal out her lawyer's lack of ability to get grand jury reports that could establish whether Valerie Plame fit the definition of a CIA undercover officer? That's what she appeared to say on Greta's On the Record, although she didn't mention Plame's name. Is it because (1) If Plame didn't fit the legal definition, then no crime was committed by the white house official when he disclosed her identity, and (2) since the grand jury investigates crime, if no crime was committed by the leak of her identity, then there is no justification for the grand jury to seek the information from Miller?

• Did Novak get a subpoena? Did he take the 5th? Was he immunized and did he sing? Or, has special prosecutor Fitzgerald been dragging his feet in seeking an immunity order for Novak while he exhausts all other avenues? Who does Fitzgerald have in his cross-hairs besides Libby, who has waived all confidentiality privileges?

Former Texas Congressman and DNC Chair contender Martin Frost has signed a deal to comment for Fox News. [link via Suburban Guerilla]

Michael Chertoff was confirmed 96-0 by the Senate today to serve as homeland security chief.

The ACLU response is here.

Ok, this is funny.

... This wouldn't be the first time Rock has gotten into a Drudge match. In March 2003, the comedian blasted the Internet maven for an online report alleging studio bosses at DreamWorks pressured Rock to refrain from making any un-funny remarks against President Bush and the War in Iraq before his comedy Head of State hit theaters.

At the time, Rock said: "I don't know Matt Drudge, I never met Matt Drudge, but if I see Matt Drudge, I'm going to take my red-blooded American foot and put it up his un-American a*s for trying to disrupt the opening of my movie."

Actually, I met Drudge once, during the Clinton impeachmentand Paula Jones days-- he accompanied the she-pundit with long blond hair to a live Leeza show she and I were guests on in L.A. about sex scandals in Congress and the White House. I liked him, he was by far the friendlier of the two.

Law prof Glenn Reynolds makes a good point.

But, see, I'm a libertarian -- I've got no problem with gay male prostitutes. Or even gay female prostitutes (they have those, right?). Heck, I'd legalize prostitution -- gay and straight -- if it was up to me....What I don't quite get is when the Left became such a bunch of obsessively puritanical, curtain-peering Gladys Kravitz types. Lighten up, guys! It's only sex...

I've beem pretty astounded at all the people calling for Jeff Gannon's head because he may have been a prostitute. Go after him because he is a faux-journalist. Investigate whether he had inappropriate access to the White House or to leaked documents. Take him down if he did--and those that assisted him, whether they be gay or straight. But because he may have been a hooker? Sorry, you lose me there. I could care less.

Glenn's a libertarian. I'm a defense lawyer. Enforcing laws against prostitution and recreational drug use are a waste of time. And, I might point out, supported by the Bush administration. Why line up with them just to get Gannon?

There's an interesting debate going on at LegalAffairs:

Sexually transmitted diseases can't be outlawed, but can the law slow their spread? In a forthcoming article in the University of Chicago Law Review, Ian Ayres and Katharine Baker propose adding the crime of "reckless sexual conduct" to the books. Citing data that shows that STDs are transmitted with disproportionate frequency the first time two people have sex, Ayres and Baker argue first-time intercourse without a condom should be punishable by putting the perpetrator in prison for three months.

Former prosecutor Cheryl Hannah argues against the laws. My view: We need to stop looking to the criminal justice system to cure every conceivable social ill. [hat tip Instapundit.]

Now the right is going after Atrios by putting his photo in a gay singles online ad. As if he or Mrs. Atrios care.

But I care. I took the photo. And a user of Dating Tech Network and Gay Singles Online has appropriated my photo of Atrios and uploaded it to the network's server as their own.

I don't see a contact e-mail address for anyone other than members so maybe Dating Tech Network or Gay Singles Online will read this and remove the unauthorized use of my photograph of Atrios. Or they can credit TalkLeft.com for the photo.

Update: That was quick. It's an hour since I sent an emailto an address I found in the comments here and you can no longer access the page with the photo and false comments about Atrios. A registration page comes up instead. Mission accomplished. End of story. They must have banned my IP for overacessing the site. The photo and page on Atrios is still there.

[Also, I did not mean to suggest a conspiracy of right-leaning people were behind this attack on Atrios as opposed to one person with those views. It's just common sense that a liberal would not go after Atrios this way, if at all.]

by TChris

Like many others, Montel Williams is a criminal, but only because his government has presented him with a stark and unfair choice: continue to suffer as a result of his illness, or risk arrest by taking the only effective medicine -- a medicine that our laws make illegal. His story, presented in a letter to the Chicago Tribune, is compelling.

In "Climbing Higher," my book on living with MS, I write in detail about how I became suicidal and twice attempted to end my life. I was in severe mental and physical pain, getting little sleep and feeling completely spent. Someone suggested that I try smoking a little marijuana before going to bed, saying it might help me fall asleep. Skeptical but desperate, I tried it. It was like a miracle. Three puffs and within minutes the excruciating pain in my legs subsided.

Should Montel Williams, and the thousands like him, be branded a criminal simply because he wants to live a life that allows him to manage his pain?

It is time to take politics out of the debate. It is time for government-sanctioned research into the medicinal effects of marijuana and time to heed the research already available. It is time to change marijuana's classification so that physicians can prescribe it.

28 year old Daniel Provencio had five months to go on his sentence to Wasco State Prison for violating parole on a repeat DUI offense. During an uprising, of which his role, if any, is not known, he was shot in the head with a foam projectile from a guard's gun. He was declared brain-dead and put on life support. Consistent with prison policy, he has been guarded 24 hours a day by guards at the hospital.

His family, hoping for a miracle, won't allow him to be taken off life support. Tired of paying the bills, the California Department of Prisons has granted him early release.

Noah at Defense Tech writes:

You'd think that, two years into a war, a secondary, "supplemental" budget for the Pentagon would be for handling last-minute military contingencies. Responding to battlefield emergencies. Coping with unforeseen turns of events.

But you'd be wrong, unfortunately. Because major chunks of the
Pentagon's $82 billion supplemental defense bill are only distantly
related to the fights going on in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Noah also writes about the now admittedly-false claim by the Adminstration that there are plenty of Iraqi troops available to aid in the fight against the insurgents.