I see London, I see France, but you better not let me see your underpants....

That's the message Virginia legislators are sending out by endorsing a bill to ban low-riding pants.

Delegates approved a measure that would allow police to assess a $50 fine on anyone who exposes their below-waist underpants in a "lewd or indecent manner."

[Freshman Norfolk Delegate Algie Howell Jr.] said that since he introduced it last month, he's been deluged with calls and e-mails about the issue, mostly positive. Howell told The Virginian-Pilot that he kept hearing from customers in his barber shop that something needed to be done about young people who wear their pants around their knees, exposing their underwear.

Update: The bill is dead.

Embattled CU ethnic studies professor Ward Churchill received a standing ovation tonight at his speech at the University of Colorado. More than 1,000 people were in attendance. Take that, CU Regents, Colorado Legislature and Governor Owens!

A University of Colorado professor who ignited a firestorm by likening the World Trade Center victims to Nazis received a standing ovation Tuesday from a crowd of more than a thousand who packed a ballroom to hear him speak.

..."I do not work for the taxpayers of the state of Colorado. I do not work for (Gov.) Bill Owens. I work for you," he said to thunderous applause.

Bush has promoted Karl Rove to deputy Chief of Staff.

Blogpac had an hour long conference call with Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) today. I only made the last half hour, so hopefully Markos, Jerome or Chris, Matt, John or Bob will be writing about it and can fill you in on the rest.

My first question to him had to do with crime legislation. It went something like this:

You introduce a lot of bills that you must realize don't have a chance of passing anytime soon - like the bill for a moratorium on the federal death penalty. Which ones do you think can succeed this year, and which will you work hardest for?

His answer went something like this.

The right-wing blogosphere is falling all over itself hoping to bring down CNN's chief news executive, Eason Jordan. The left is ignoring it...with the exception of Jeanne D'Arc at Body and Soul who an excellent account today. Her piece is worth reading. The rest is hype and bunk.

This is just stunning. You don't have to buy any theories about the military deliberately targetting journalists to recognize that there's been a clear pattern throughout this war of indifference to the deaths of reporters, mixed in with a good deal of harrassment. In a truly democratic country, with any interest in freedom of the press, that would call for investigations and a serious look at what could be done to make sure reporters aren't killed by soldiers who are stressed or who haven't been given information they need.

In the country we live in, it invites the vultures to circle around our moribund press.

The right-wingers think they smell blood. Newsflash: Eason is not Trent Lott. Give it up already.

After a lawsuit was filed in federal court today by various groups on behalf of Ward Churchill, CU relented and rescinded its cancellation. He'll be speaking at 7 p.m. at C.U. in the Glenn Miller Ballroom.

CU's decision also came just hours after Churchill, American Indian Movement leader Russell Means and several organizations representing students and faculty filed suit claiming CU had violated Churchill's free speech rights. In an affidavit filed with the U.S. District Court lawsuit, Churchill said it is critical he be able to speak.

Texas panhandle prosecutor Rick Roach was in a heap of trouble last month when he was indicted for drug and gun offenses, including possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and cocaine.

He was arrested while at the courthouse. His secretary provided a sworn affidavit saying he shot meth twice at an apartment and was about to at the office when she walked out of the room.

Today, Roach pleaded guilty to being an addict in possession of a firearm in federal court in Amarillo. As part of the deal, the drug counts were dismissed.

Allen Raymond, President of GOP Marketplace, LLC, has been sentenced to five months in prison after pleading guilty in federal court to jamming Democratic phone lines in New Hampshire during the 2002 election. The lines were in three cities/ They were the designated lines to allow Democrats to call in and get free rides to their polling precincts.

Chuck McGee, former executive director of the New Hampshire Republican Party, also pleaded guilty. He is scheduled to be sentenced next month. James Tobin, 44, regional chairman of Bush's campaign last year, was indicted in December and pleaded innocent. Tobin, of Bangor, Maine, had stepped down from Bush's New England campaign in October after the allegations against him became public. In 2002, he was northeast political director of the party committee working to elect Republican senators.

by TChris

Theodore White spent five years behind bars before he finally heard those two beautiful words: Not Guilty. And then he heard them twelve times.

White was charged with counts that included statutory rape and statutory sodomy for alleged sex acts from 1995 to 1998 with his stepdaughter. ... Six years ago, a jury found White guilty on all 12 counts but was not informed that his estranged wife, the mother of the alleged victim, had had an affair with the lead detective in the case.

White fled before he was sentenced, but was apprehended and returned to court, where the judge imposed a 50 year sentence. The outrageous decision to conceal evidence of the affair resulted in a new trial, where 11 jurors voted to acquit. The lone holdout juror caused a mistrial, prompting prosecutors to try again, rather than accepting reality. The third jury needed only two hours to acquit.

There was no dispute in closing arguments that White's then-estranged wife had a sexual relationship with the lead Lee's Summit detective, and no dispute that the detective did little to explore evidence of innocence.

Some members of the second jury attended the third trial to show support for White. The Kansas businessman now faces the difficult task of rebuilding his life.

I'll be participating in a blogger telephone conference call late today with Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI). I will be able to ask a question or two....If you have one you think would be worthwhile asking, feel free to leave it in the comments. [Note to right wingers here: Don't bother.]

Via Cursor:

"The Republican Party spin machine was bouncing around the like an overloaded washing machine on Sunday," writes Juan Cole, "attempting to obscure from the American public that they had by their actions managed to install a Shiite religious ruling class in Iraq."

Plus: Cole vs. Jonah Goldberg, rounds one and two.

by TChris

LAPD Chief William Bratton is having trouble explaining why the department he heads hasn't changed its policy regarding shooting at moving vehicles, despite his recognition a year ago that the policy requires revision. Had the process moved more swiftly, a 13-year-old might be alive today.

Officer Steven Garcia, a 9-year veteran, fired 10 shots early Sunday at 13-year-old Devin Brown, who was driving a stolen 1990 Toyota Camry. Garcia, standing outside his police car, opened fire when Devin allegedly backed the Toyota toward the patrol unit.

Garcia is less than a model cop, having been disciplined for threatening an ex-girlfried so she wouldn't cooperate with an unrelated investigation of his conduct. Still, the larger issue is the department's failure to address the risks that inhere in shooting at a moving target.

The last high-profile incident in which an LAPD officer shot and killed a motorist occurred nearly a year ago in Santa Monica, where police killed a man who backed his car toward officers at the end of a televised 90-minute pursuit. At the time, Bratton announced that he wanted to place new, more stringent restrictions on officers firing at moving vehicles.

Bratton said the department is considering policies from four agencies — the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, San Francisco Police Department, Boston Police Department and Miami Police Department — that would "potentially prohibit shooting from a moving vehicle or at a moving vehicle unless the officer is threatened by deadly force other than the moving vehicle."

It's time to stop "considering" solutions; it's time to solve the problem.