Too funny. Talk about the politics of crime, via Wonkette who got it from Roll Call: A legislative staffer for Barney Frank caught a Republican staffer stealing a plasma TV from a hearing room in the Rayburn building. An update via e-mail to Wonkette suggests it's not a lowly staffer:

just found out this guy is NOT some lowpaid staff a**...he's the f**king republican chief economist on the small bidness committee!!!!

Martha Stewart is halfway through her five month prison term. As a Christmas message on her website to her fans , she is advocating sentencing reform:

She suggested Americans should push for reforms in federal sentencing guidelines for nonviolent first-time offenders and particularly for drug offenders, who she said would be better served by rehabilitation than prison.

Martha's job in prison has been cleaning, sweeping and vacuuming - which, she says, she'd rather be doing in her own home. More from Martha's Xmas message:

I beseech you all to think about these women -- to encourage the American people to ask for reforms, both in sentencing guidelines, in length of incarceration for nonviolent first-time offenders, and for those involved in drug-taking. They would be much better served in a true rehabilitation center than in prison where there is no real help, no real programs to rehabilitate, no programs to educate, no way to be prepared for life "out there" where each person will ultimately find herself, many with no skills and no preparation for living.

Martha's lawyers filed this brief (pdf) today in her appeal.

Bernie Kerik announced today he is leaving Giuliani Partners in order to "clear his good name."

Much more likely, in my opinion, he was forced out by Rudy who finally realized he couldn't control the damage--to himself or his firm.

Let's hope this takes care of Rudy's further political ambitions. Between ex-wife Donna Hanover and Kerik, Rudy won't withstand the heat any better than Kerik.

AmericaBlog says Bush was wired during his last press conference--and has the link to the video so you can decide for yourselves.

Say hello to CrimProf blog by criminal law professors Jack Chin and Mark Godsey who do a remarkably good job.

Skippy is back from Belize and blogging away, celebrating his 700,000th visitor.

Beautiful Horizons, the best blog on Latin American affairs, turns two years old, Happy blogiversary!

The Drug War Rant is going on vacation and leaves a list of some of the best bloggers around on the drug war, including Libby at Last One Speaks, Loretta at the U.S. Marijuana Party and Scott at Grits for Breakfast.

Jeanne D'Arc of Body and Soul has a Christmas story.

Avedon Carol of Sideshow has the latest on the election returns. Was it a stolen election?

Markos of Daily Kos criticizes John Kerry and points out the opportunities in being in the minority for the next four years.

Chicago Sun Times columnist Carol Marin tells you why you should visit a prison. That's where I'm headed for the rest of the day, but her reasons are non-legal and very sound. Educate yourselves. See where your money goes. Learn why you should care:

Yesterday we criticized New York Governor George Pataki for his grinch-link approach to pardons. Today, Law Prof Doug Berman of Sentencing Law and Policy and Orin Kerr of Volokh Conspiracy take Bush to task for his meager handouts.

Update: Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit says:

I can understand being gun-shy after the Clinton debacle, but using the pardon power to mitigate injustices in the system is part of the job. Being careful is one thing; shirking is another.

Update: We wrote about Bush's stingy pardon record back in March, 2004 after reading an enlightening LA Weekly article about Bush's grant of a pardon to a wealthy, dying man who just happened to be a top contributor to his campaign and who had been convicted in a $25 million fraud scheme--see also, here and here . From the LA Weekly Article:

Jack Newfield has died at 66 of cancer. He was an inspiration to journalists and he relentlessly exposed injustices.

A veteran of the Daily News, Post, and Sun, Newfield's reputation is anchored in the 24 years he spent here at The Village Voice, chronicling the sins of New York's powerful—judges, elected officials, landlords, boxing promoters, party hacks, developers—and the valor of some of the city's lesser-known residents.

Diane Monson hasn't had a ticket in 15 years--her driving record has been spotless since then. So why is the California Department of Motor Vehicles going after her? Her lawyer says it's because she's a medical pot user with a case before the Supreme Court. He's served a "cease and desist" notice on the DMV.

Bump and Update:

by TChris

Sixteen years into a 75 year sentence, Brandon Lee regained his freedom. DNA tests persuaded El Paso County District Attorney Jaime Esparza to join the Innocence Project in a request to vacate Lee's sentence.

In 1988, Moon was convicted of the aggravated sexual assault of an El Paso women. Both she and another sexual assault victim identified Moon as their attacker during the trial. However, recent DNA tests performed on semen evidence found at the scene cleared Moon of the crime. The tests also show that the real rapist was never apprehended.

Moon's lawyers blame the Texas Department of Public Safety's poor blood analysis for Moon's ordeal.

Nominations close today for the 3rd annual Koufax blogging excellence awards. If you haven't submitted the names of your favorite blogs in at least some of the 12 categories, you have till 5:00 pm today.

There is tough competition this year in the "best single issues" category with all the great blogs being nominated. It's probably too much to ask to win three years in a row, but TalkLeft would like to be nominated. So if you have a few moments, and you think we qualify, head on over and drop our name. And put a few bucks in the Wampum till for the the hard work that Dwight and Mary Beth do every year on these awards.

Here is the list of 2002 and 2003 winners.

Update: Kevin Hayden has started the Perranoski Prizes.

How is Bush going to deal with the deficit? By cutting food aid to the world's poor--breaking our prior agreements and leaving 5 to 7 million people in dire straits.

In the past two months the Bush administration has reduced its contributions to global food aid programs aimed at helping millions of people climb out of poverty. With the budget deficit growing and President Bush promising to reduce spending, the administration has told representatives of several charities that it was unable to honor some earlier promises and would have money to pay for food only in emergency crises like that in Darfur, in western Sudan. The cutbacks, estimated by some charities at up to $100 million, come at a time when the number of hungry in the world is rising for the first time in years and all food programs are being stretched.

The Bush cutbacks are having an immediate negative impact:

Two new polls show that for the first time a majority of Americans think the War in Iraq was a mistake. Bush's approval rating is under 50%. And 52% of Americans think Rumsfeld should lose his job.

Two new polls show that for the first time a majority of Americans believe the Iraq war to be a mistake. They also showed the president's job approval rating had dropped below 50 per cent only a little over a month after his re-election.

According to a Washington Post/ABC News poll, 56 per cent of Americans a new high said the conflict in Iraq was “not worth fighting”, given the costs. Fifty-seven per cent said they disapproved of the way Mr Bush was managing the war, although 53 per cent did approve of his efforts on terrorism.

A CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll also showed a majority of Americans disapproved of how the war was being handled and that 52 per cent believed that Donald Rumsfeld, the defence secretary, should resign. His job approval rating fell from 71 per cent in April 2003 at the height of Iraq invasion to 41 per cent, according to the poll.

Too little, too late.