The New York Times Magazine today has a lengthy article on whether ecstasy, reputedly a mind-altering drug, can help those suffering from cancer or post-traumatic stress disorder. We wrote about the new studies into the subject that the FDA has authorized here and here.

The Independent has an interview with exonerated death row inmate and Scottish citizen Ken Richey.

A Briton who faced the death sentence for 18 years in an American jail has spoken for the first time of his harrowing ordeal, saying he was "treated like an animal" for a crime he did not commit.

In an exclusive interview with The Independent on Sunday, Kenneth Richey, whose sentence was finally quashed last week after a campaign backed by the Pope, Hollywood stars and Tony Blair, revealed he had been shackled and handcuffed for 23 hours a day as he faced death by lethal injection.

Richey is 40 years old and was imprisoned since he was 22. Not only did he not commit the crime, it is likely there was no crime, and that the fire he was accused of setting was accidentally started. When he is released, he plans to return to the Scottish Highlands.

On January 24, Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold introduced a bill to abolish the federal death penalty. He did the same in 2003 and before that in 1999. While the bill is just as unlikely to pass this year, his remarks are well worth reading. Here's a portion.

Mr. President, today I introduce the Federal Death Penalty Abolition Act of 2005. This bill would abolish the death penalty at the Federal level. It would put an immediate halt to executions and forbid the imposition of the death penalty as a sentence for violations of Federal law.

Since 1976, when the death penalty was reinstated by the Supreme Court, there have been almost 1,000 executions across the country, including three at the Federal level. At the same time, over 100 people on death row were later found innocent and released from death row. Exonerated inmates are not only removed from death row, but they are usually released from prison altogether. Apparently, these people never should have been convicted in the first place. While death penalty proponents claim that the death penalty is fair, efficient, and a deterrent, he fact remains that our criminal justice system has failed and has resulted in at least 117 very grave mistakes.

The ACLU wants Alberto Gonzales, if confirmed, to appoint a special counsel to investigate torture abuses:

The American Civil Liberties Union today called upon senators to insist - prior to voting on the nomination of Alberto Gonzales as attorney general - that he commit to immediately appoint an outside special counsel to investigate and prosecute any criminal acts by civilians in the torture or abuse of detainees by the U.S. Government.

The right-wing blogosphere, like President Bush, considers the elections a triumph for democracy. The top liberal bloggers, Daily Kos, Atrios, Josh Marshall, knowing better, are either ignoring the elections or have moved on.

Other liberal bloggers express their criticism: Oliver Willis, Talking Dog; Maxspeak; Jerome Armstrong of MyDD; Armando at Daily Kos; Juan Cole.

For the most part, Iraqi bloggers are jubilant. Raed in the Middle is not. If you're reading news coverage, don't forget to read reports from the Arab world to get both sides.

If you've commented on TalkLeft about the elections, tune into MSNBC between 5:30 and 6:00 pm. I'll be discussing blogger reaction opposite Jeff Jarvis on Ron Reagan and Monica Crowley's new show, and they intend to read a few of your comments on the air.

Journalist Chris Allbritton writes on his blog, Back to Iraq:

9:34:37 AM So far, not as much violence as everybody feared. The question is why? Is the insurgency taking a pass on this one? (It's possible. Our sources in the insurgency say the election will make no difference to them, so why expend a lot of energy?) Is the insurgency much weaker than previously thought? Or is the level of security sufficient to keep it in check? If that's the case, then that is discouraging, too, because the measures that have kept today safe (so far) are truly draconian. No driving, dusk to dawn curfews, states of emergency. If that's what it takes to provide security in Iraq, why erase one police state only to replace it with another?

Here's a Reuters photo from Mosul:

Polls have now been open for three hours. There has been a steady flow of voters in some parts of Baghdad--and a steady round of explosions and gunfire. 14 million Iraqis are eligible to vote. How many will actually vote is still unknown.

This should be contrasted with Ramadi where Jim Maceda, MSNBC's reporter, says the election has been a "total failure." With 600,000 residents, only 150 people have voted. Only one voter showed up at Maceda's polling place. He says the intimidation worked. Ramadi is considered a litmus test because of the large number of moderate Sunnis.

Then there's this: An unscientific poll from the new issue of Time Magazine on Americans' views on the future of Iraq.

[edited to delete graphic, it skewed the site.]

[via Baghdad Dweller.]

Dear Mr. Fantasy. Paper Sun. The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys...

Jim Capaldi, drummer for Traffic, has died of cancer at 60.

Steve Winwood on Capaldi's death:

Via television, Reuters has reported explosions around polling places. A suicide car bomber blew up a car at a security checkpoint. One policeman was killed and two soldiers were wounded. One reporter says the frequency of explosions has increased in the past five to ten minutes. The reporter counted seven to eight explosions in the past 45 minutes. He can't tell if they are mortar shells or car bombs.

In a nutshell, the media, while reporting "loud explosions," is downplaying the significance at this point, saying it was expected.

Update: The cable news channels are taking different approaches. Fox has Geraldo who is absolutely gleeful with the success of the elections. MSNBC is doing news reporting with experts. For the first hour, CNN showed taped videos of past death and destruction. There's been a shortage of live shots so far at polling places. Geraldo said people were turning out in droves, and the reason you didn't see them when they showed the polling places was because they were all inside voting. "An amazing, wonderful, inspiring turnout. The terrorists are going to lose." He did, at least, caution that he was only speaking from his location between Baghdad and Fallujah, not for the whole country.

The polls have been open for an hour. Things are slow, but it's only 8 am in Iraq. What to look for?

• What kind of turnout will there be?
• Will the Sunnis vote?
• Will the anticipated violence be significant enough to disrupt the elections?

The media is speculating that Iraqis are at home watching tv to see whether its safe to go vote.

As to the significance of elections in establishing a democracy, check out Columbia Law Professor Samuel Issacharoff's Washington Post op-ed, Democracy Isn't Built on One Election Alone.

Update: Iraq Voting on Uncertain Future (LA Times.)

Has anyone in the media noted a similarity between the jubilant, Iraqi expats who believe they are creating a democracy with their votes and the Cuban expats in Miami, most of whom turned out to be conservative Republicans?

How bizarre, just after I wrote that CNN began airing a "then and now" profile of Elian Gonzales. Less than one hour before the polls open in Baghdad.

The Rocky Mountain News reports on the expats who can't vote because they don't live near one of these cities:

The closest polls to Colorado are in Chicago and the Los Angeles area, each roughly 1,000 miles away. And voters had to travel twice: to register one week and to vote the next. Other polling places are in Detroit, Washington, D.C., and Nashville, Tenn.

Only 25,946 Iraqis have registered to vote in the United States. An estimated 240,000 were eligible.

Why so few polling places?

Salon reporter Jill Carroll is in Baghdad, and reports on the fear of Iraqis. She also provides a succinct description of how things are supposed to proceed in the election:

David Enders provides this election primer as he reports from Baghdad for Mother Jones: There are 7,471 candidates from 111 parties for 275 slots in the national assembly and most of them have declined to provide their names to the public. Over 50 parties recently have dropped out due to the violence, but they remain on the ballot. There's another election for local councils.

If all goes as expected to plan, the Shi'ites, backed by the U.S., will win handily. It's leader, Allawi, has been dominating the airwaves to the exclusion of many other candidates. The minority Sunnis resent the U.S. occupation and support for the Shi'ites and are expected to stay home and forego voting.