Here's an interview with Spc. Aidan Delgado, a conscientious objector and Reservist who spent six months of a one-year tour of Iraq at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. [via Tena at First Draft.]

This doesn't sound good: Shots were fired during the kidnapping of Italian journalist Giulaina Sgrena.

Giuliana Sgrena, a journalist for the newspaper Il Manifesto, was seized shortly before 2 p.m. by gunmen who blocked her car near the Baghdad University compound at the Jadriyah bridge, located across the Tigris river from the Green Zone, police said.

The woman had gone to the neighborhood to interview refugees from Fallujah and then went on to Friday prayer services at a nearby mosque, colleague Barbara Schiavulli, an Italian radio journalist, told The Associated Press. Schiavulli said she received a call from Sgrena’s cell phone when the kidnapping was apparently under way.

“I couldn’t hear anyone talking ... I heard people shooting” and the sound of people splashing through the puddles left by a heavy overnight rain, Schiavulli said. “I kept saying, ’Giuliana, Giuliana,” and no answer,” Schiavulli said.

Italy is working on finding her.

Bump and Update: Simon Rosenberg posted the following statement to "fellow Kossaks" at DailyKos:

Today I endorsed Howard Dean to be the next chair of the DNC. While I am disappointed that I did not win, I believe Governor Dean - with help from all of us - will be a good Chairman and will help write a new and better chapter to the already remarkable story of our Party. My full statement is below in the extended entry.
As for you all, thank you. Thank you for your kind words. Thank you for your concern about our Party. Thank you for the money you've raised, the people you've touched, the passion you bring and your fighting spirit that has inspired me every day for so long now. You are doing good my friends. Keep it up. We still have a lot of work to do.

Russ Feingold is considering a run for President in 2008. He says he might if there's enough support. How's his record? Close to perfect--his one error was voting to confirm Ashcroft, but that pales in comparision to these positions:

• Voted against Homeland Security Bill
• Consistently introduces Anti-Death Penalty Legislation
• Introduced a bill to Stop TIA (Total Information Awareness)
• Called on Ashcroft to explain the process by which he decides to seek the death penalty
• Joined in bill to repeal Feeney Amendment
• Opposed Diane Feinstein and John Kyl's Victims Rights Amendment
• Criticized the Government's "abuse of power" in treatment of detainees in June, 2003
• Was the sole senator to vote against the Patriot Act.
• Joined sponsoring bill in opposition to Feinstein's fear-mongering anti-gang legislation

Feel free to leave your support here. I'll be part of a conference call with Sen. Feingold next week, and I'm sure his staff will see and relay your support.

A New York Judge has ruled that lesbian and gay couples have a right to marry in New York. If upheld on appeal, gay marriage will be lawful throughout the state.

The opinion is available here.

Amy Goodman talks to Danny Schecter about WMD: The Movie--"his new documentary exploring the U.S. media's inadequate coverage of the war in Iraq from the lead-up to the fishy deaths of unembedded"

The film is now open in New York City and Buffalo. More info. available here.

John Niland and Kathryn Kase at Texas Defender Services will be representing Max Soffar pro bono at his new trial. They are outstanding lawyers and it will be great to see some justice for Max this time around.

Background at Kinky Friedman, Max Soffar and a Jew on Death Row.

by TChris

Six human rights investigators for the United Nations released a joint statement today criticizing the United States for failing to take more effective action to curb prisoner abuses at Guantanamo. The investigators "voiced fresh concern at reports of inhuman and degrading treatment of inmates at Guantanamo, saying the global fight against terrorism would be weakened if countries failed to uphold basic legal protections."

Recent moves, including the "Combatant Status Review Tribunals" created by the Pentagon last year following a Supreme Court rebuke and the release of four Britons and an Australian held as terrorism suspects, were "insufficient to dispel the serious concerns" over conditions, the inspectors added.

by TChris

John Hatfield, an LA police officer who beat a suspect with a flashlight -- TalkLeft wrote about the case here and here -- will not be prosecuted. Despite a videotape showing the beating, the DA's office claims the evidence is insufficient to warrant a prosecution.

The tape showed Hatfield, who is Latino, repeatedly striking and kicking at Miller, who is black, after the suspect raised his arms in apparent surrender and was brought to the ground by other officers.

The DA's office says that Hatfield believed that Miller had a gun. If so, it would have been prudent for Hatfield to look for the gun rather than beating the man. Had he done so, he would have discovered that there was, in fact, no gun.

by TChris

If and when Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis returns to the United States, you'd better hope he doesn't move next door. If he does, mind your manners. Mattis has a serious attitude problem.

According to an audio recording of General Mattis's remarks obtained by The Associated Press, he said: "Actually, it's a lot of fun to fight. You know, it's a hell of a hoot. It's fun to shoot some people. I'll be right upfront with you, I like brawling."

He added, "You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil."

General Mattis continued: "You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them."

Mattis has been "counseled" to be less honest about the delight he takes in killing people who don't pass his "manhood" test.

A scuffle by protesters at the C.U. Regents meeting over Professor Ward Churchill resulted in two arrests Thursday. The Regents apologized to the nation over Churchill's writings. Was this necessary?

In what may be an unprecedented action by any major university, the regents also apologized "to all Americans, especially those targeted in the 9/11 attacks and those serving in our armed forces, for the disgraceful comments of professor Churchill."

The Colorado Senate has condemned Churchill, as has the Colorado House.

Is Colorado getting carried away with the Ward Churchill matter? I think so, and said so yesterday over at 5280. The magazine's publisher, Dan Brogan, disagrees with me.

University of Colorado professors are backing Churchill. The Regents sound like they are about to fire him, although they took it under advisement for investigation.

The regents' review, which will be conducted by interim chancellor Phil DiStefano, will determine whether Churchill overstepped his bounds as a faculty member and whether his actions are cause for dismissal. DiStefano will explore two questions: Do Churchill's comments provide grounds for dismissal? And is this conduct or speech protected by the First Amendment against university action?

You can read his controversial essay here.

[comments now closed, 120 posted.]

Human Rights Watch has issued a report slamming states that jail juvenile murderers for life without parole, among them, Colorado.

Forty-six people sentenced as juveniles in Colorado will spend the rest of their lives in prison without the possibility of parole, a sentence that is cruel, unfair and unnecessary, a report says. Human Rights Watch, a New York-based group, will release a highly critical study today called "Thrown Away: Children Sentenced to Life Without Parole in Colorado."

Colorado law requires judges to impose life without parole on children as young as 12 if they commit first-degree murder. International human rights law bars that practice, as well as the death penalty, and recognizes that the purpose of punishment is deterrence, retribution and rehabilitation, the report says.