In the new issue of The Nation, Christian Parenti investigates the explosion of poppy farming and trafficking in Afghanistan and asks why it took the US so long to crack down on the illicit drug trade which fuels everything from Islamic terrorism to the spread of HIV.

Also in The Nation, Bruce Shapiro explains why the nomination of Alberto Gonzales is a turning point not only for Democrats, but for restraining unchecked presidential power.

Alberto Gonzales suggested today during his confirmation hearing that the U.S. revisit the Geneva Conventions:

Gonzales promised that as attorney general he would abide by the 1949 Geneva treaty but also said the White House was looking at the possibility of seeking revisions. Now I'm not suggesting that the principles, the basic treatment of human beings, should be revisited," Gonzales said. "But there has been some very preliminary discussion: Is this something that we ought to look at?"

The discussions haven't gone far, Gonzales said. "It's not been a systematic project or effort to look at this question," he said. "But some people I deal with, the lawyers, indicate maybe this is something we should look at."

....He refused to back away from his legal opinion to Bush that terrorists don't deserve Geneva Convention treatment if captured by Americans overseas. "My judgment was ... that it would not apply to al-Qaida - they weren't a signatory to the convention," he said.

Thank goodness neither he nor Bush nor all their neo-con law scholars have the power to change them. The international community is not going to pay them any heed. As for what else happened at the hearing:

Does this father-son team look alike or what?

Defense Lawyer Michael Tigar began his closing argument yesterday in the trial of attorney Lynne Stewart, charged with providing material aid to terrorists by disseminating messages from her imprisoned client.

Attorney Michael Tigar suggested Wednesday in a closing argument that the prosecution of a "courageous, brash and feisty" Manhattan defense lawyer on terrorism charges was an insult to the nation's other defense lawyers. "The government of the United States has the arrogance to tell the defense bar how to practice law," Tigar told a federal jury as he underscored a threat felt by defense lawyers that had received little mention in the 6-month-old trial.

The hearings have recessed for lunch. Via Human Rights First which is liveblogging the confirmation hearing:

Durbin: Images of Abu Ghraib are likely to be with us for a lifetime. Scandal to US are likely to be with us for decades. Yesterday we payed tribute to Congressman Matsui – who was sent to a Japanese internment camp. That painful time in US history is still recounted as a shameful chapter – as Abu Ghraib will.

Second area of abuse – interrogation that went too far. You conceded that they might have started at Guantanamo and made it to Iraq. Would you also concede that your decision to call in the definition of torture opened up a permissive environment for torture that had been held as unacceptable for decades?

Where's my lockbox? The Bush Administration once again proves itself to be disingenuous at best, and a liar at worst. Remember Bush saying there were no plans to cut social security benefits for retirees? Now an e-mail from Karl Rove Deputy Peter Wenner surfaces.

Human Rights First has a blogger providing real-time legal analysis on the Alberto Gonzales confirmation hearing scheduled to begin at 9:30am. This is a great resource to understand the subtleties of the hearing. Avi Cover, the blogger, was the author of the Human Rights First report that examined Gonzales’ record and was also a part of the legal team for Rasul, the main plaintiff in the Guanatanamo Bay Supreme Court case decided in June 2004.

Update: The White House refuses to release additional Gonzales documents. Via Raw Story.

The Seattle Times blasts the newly reported plan to hold Guantanamo detainees indefinitely in secret locations, perhaps for life. It calls the plan "a horrifying development."

Torturing prisoners, denying them legal safeguards and essentially refuting their existence is what rogue regimes and lawless nations do. Reading about it in China's Xinhua News Agency is especially disconcerting. The Bush administration is not only doing all this now, but making systematic plans to create an American gulag of prisons and prisoners without names and cells without numbers. From the old Soviet Union to Communist China to the banana republics of Latin America and Castro's Cuba, that's what others do.

It's not like these inmates have money to spare, nonetheless, they are doing their part to help the Tsunami victims.

Some 800 Malaysian prisoners, including those awaiting execution, have dipped into their savings to help victims of the tsunami disaster, officials said. The total of around RM3,000 may be paltry but it was a major sacrifice for the inmates at the Taiping Prison in Perak, said Prison Director Narander Singh.

"The money is what they have saved to help them start a new life after being released. But they decided to donate that money after reading about the plight of the victims," he told AFP.

Democrats will challenge the electoral vote count in the 2004 election. Senator Barbara Boxer of California has told Progressive Democrats of America that she will stand with the members of the Congressional Black Caucus in the challenge.

Call Senator Harry Reid (D., Nevada) this morning, or send him a fax. Ask him to support Senator Boxer and the challenge. It is not a question of making a claim as to who won Ohio, but of acknowledging the undisputed fact that the election there was deeply flawed.

Phone: 202-224-3542
Fax:: 202-224-7327

A Texas appeals court has reversed the conviction of Andrea Yates, convicted of drowning her five children in the bathtub and sentenced to life in prison. The opinion is here.

The reason for the reversal was the false testimony of psychiatrist Park Dietz:

During her March 2002 sentencing, a jury rejected Yates' insanity defense and she was convicted in the deaths of three of her five children. She was sentenced to life in prison. Her attorneys argued that she suffered from postpartum psychosis, and she had a well-documented history of postpartum depression.

The Texas First Court of Appeals ruled that the conviction should be reversed because an expert witness for the state, Dr. Park Dietz, presented false testimony when he said Yates may have been influenced by an episode of the "Law & Order" television program. No such episode had ever aired.

Yates will face a new trial. I would rather the Court had found her insane despite the jury's verdict.

The confirmation hearings for Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General begin today. Alan Berlow, who authored the Atlantic Monthly article on Gonzales' role as clemency advisor to President Bush when he was Governor of Texas recaps Gonzales role as Facilitator in Chief in Salon:

When Alberto Gonzales briefed George W. Bush on the cases of Texas death row inmates up for clemency, his memos were so shabby they seemed intended solely to make it easy for Bush to send prisoners to their deaths.

...Now that conventional wisdom has focused attention on "moral values" as our paramount national concern, it might be worth spending a few minutes considering how President Bush's nominee for attorney general, Alberto Gonzales, dealt with one of those values -- human life -- on 57 occasions.

The Washington Post analyzes Gonzales' record in an editorial today: