We warned months ago that the "Laci and Connor Law" was a ploy by abortion foes. They are coming out of the shadows now. The American Life League has issued a press release on the Scott Peterson murder conviction:

The verdict makes it crystal clear that he, and all those who reside in the womb, are indeed human persons; not possessions. This is a landmark conviction because of its recognition of the preborn child as a human being who deserves equal protection under the law.

"This is the first high-profile case to be decided since the passage of the Unborn Victims of Violence Act. The UVVA correctly recognizes the preborn child as a human being deserving justice under the law when he or she is killed due to a violent act perpetrated against his mother that results in the preborn child's death.

Here's some gall for you--they are still not satisfied. They want more:

The UVVA is flawed; it perpetuates the lie that some preborn babies' rights are worth defending and others are not. If, for example, Laci Peterson had aborted Connor, the abortion would not have been defined as a crime.

So what do they want now? Abortion to be outlawed.

Our Creator endows every innocent human being with the same inalienable rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, and that guarantee should apply equally to each and every preborn individual.

..."American Life League will continue to educate the American people and our legislators to the simple truth that all preborn babies' civil right to life must be defended from all acts of murder, no matter what the method."

Did you catch the slick jargon, the "pre-born child?" Hypocrites, all of them. If they are so pro-life, why don't they come out against capital punishment? Where's their press release asking that prosecutors in the Peterson case drop the request for the death penalty?

Update: James Dobson's Focus on the Family joins the chorus. It lauds the media for referring to the unborn Peterson baby as an "unborn child." Ok, thanks for the heads-up, Mr. Dobson. We're done with that. We're going back to "fetus" whenever we talk about the case.

The Pentagon has announced the U.S. has competed its takeover of Fallujah. Should we cheer? Here are the stats:

• 24 U.S. troops killed
• More than 1,000 Iraqi "insurgents" killed.
• More than 400 U.S. troops injured and flown to Germany hospitals (two planeful loads arrived today.)

Iraqi officials announced that the two most sought-after terrorists, Jordanian terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and Sheik Abdullah al-Janabi, escaped.

On to Mosul Taji?

Good read on the history of Fallujah. [link via What Really Happened.]

Update: Cheney has left the hospital. He feels great, says his wife Lynn.

***********
Bump and Update: What happens if Dick Cheney resigns due to health reasons? According to the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1967:

Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.

Nixon was the first to use the Amendment when Spiro Agnew resigned. He appointed Gerald Ford, who later became President when Nixon resigned.

Wouldn't this be quite the November surprise?

***************
Vice President Dick Cheney has checked himself into a hospital after experiencing shortness of breath.

I've been wanting a GMail e-mail account since July when I blogged at the DNC in Boston next to Ezra at Pandagon who had one. It's in beta-testing still and you can't just sign up for one. Just this week it integrated with Outlook.

Instapundit to the rescue. Glenn graciously provided me with a Gmail account yesterday. With hundreds of e-mails a day coming in, the search feature should be big benefit. I'll let you all know soon on how it compares. My e-mail address there is talkleft@gmail.com.

In New York City today, liberal bloggers have packed the Tank, for a symposium on how liberal energy can remain focused and effective following the 2004 election.

There will be a Drinking Liberally party tonight at The Tank, open to all.

The Tank was home to liberal bloggers for the RNC in New York. Here's a picture of a bunch of us blogging there.

Up until now, the studies that have been conducted of Gulf War Syndrome have focused on stress as the cause. No more. The Department of Veterans Affairs has announced that $15 million will be set aside for studies that examine other causes of the disease.

Gulf War veterans have experienced undiagnosed illnesses with symptoms such as chronic fatigue, loss of muscle control, diarrhea, migraines, dizziness, memory problems and loss of balance.

It is critical to determine whether toxins are the cause of the disease. A new report commissioned by the VA indicates this may be the case.

Evidence supports a probable link between exposure to neurotoxins and the development of Gulf War veterans' illnesses," according to one of the 143-page report's key findings.

"A substantial proportion of Gulf War veterans are ill with multisymptom conditions not explained by wartime stress or psychiatric illness," the report said. Research indicates that the illnesses are "neurological in character" and possibly caused by exposure to certain toxic agents such as sarin gas used by Iraq in its 1980s war against Iran or certain pesticides.

700,000 U.S. soldiers took part in Gulf War I. More than 100,000 have experienced the symptoms described above. The symptoms have been experienced by Australian, British, French and Canadian troops.

The Guardian has more details. The report is available here. The VA's media advisory (pdf) is here.

Michael Crowley at Slate takes an in-depth look at James Dobson of Focus on the Family, whom Josh Marshall calls the Grand Inquisitor and Yuval at Left Coaster calls the Ayatollah Next Door. [links via Dem from CT at Daily Kos and Memorandum]

Yale Law Professor Jack Balkin outlines his opposition to Bush's pick of Alberto Gonazales for Attorney General and speaking points in the event he is confirmed:

It is time for those who think the Bush Administration has gone too far to stand up to the President, to make the legal case against his Administration's policies and appointments. For years conservatives railed against judicial activism. It is time for liberals to start railing against government officials-- including judges-- who show disrespect for basic Rule of Law values, who flout basic protections of American constitutional law and international human rights law, and who seek to concentate ever greater power in an unaccountable executive.

A big thanks to Crooks and Liars, the new liberal video blog, for making this clip of the debate on Hannity and Colmes last night on the Scott Peterson verdict. They edited the show down to highlight my segments. It's best viewed on Windows XP but it looked fine to me on Windows 98.

Alternative viewing: Keith Olbermann interviewing Joe Trippi on the role of the Internet in finding voter irregularities in the election.

Or this most entertaining Daily Show clip of John Stewart discussing John Ashcroft's resignation.

Update: the ACLU slams Ashcroft for his disdain of American law.

He's back....at least today. Ashcroft gave a speech today at the conservative Federalist Society:

Federal judges are jeopardizing national security by issuing rulings contradictory to President Bush's decisions on America's obligations under international treaties and agreements, Attorney General John Ashcroft said Friday.

In his first remarks since his resignation was announced Tuesday, Ashcroft forcefully denounced what he called "a profoundly disturbing trend" among some judges to interfere in the president's constitutional authority to make decisions during war.

"The danger I see here is that intrusive judicial oversight and second-guessing of presidential determinations in these critical areas can put at risk the very security of our nation in a time of war," Ashcroft said in a speech to the Federalist Society, a conservative lawyers group.

Well, we won't have him to kick around any more, thank goodness.

What were they thinking? Police in Miami used a stun gun on a six year old child. Their purpose: to keep the child from cutting himself on a piece of glass.

Understatement of the month:

"I really can't believe they did that," County Commissioner Joe Martinez told the newspaper. "This might be a good opportunity to review our policy."

The transcript of my live coverage of the verdict for the Washington Post is here.

I can't stand watching Amber Frey's lawyer Gloria Allred gloat on television although I like Gloria personally. She is not a prosecutor in the case yet she is now referring to the prosecution's plans for the death phase as "we." Amber Frey is the next Joan of Arc. Have to change the channel.

I do not believe the charges against Scott were proven beyond a reasonable doubt. The evidence was paltry at best. He was tarred by being a liar and a cheat. Scott Peterson was tried and convicted in the media, months before the trial started.

There was no murder weapon, no cause of death, no time of death, no identifiable crime scene, no witnesses. And a reconstituted jury that deliberated less than a full business day.

This jury as much said, "Someone killed her and there is no other explanation so it must have been Scott." Shameful. That is not proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

Let the appeals begin. And may the jury spare his life.

Tune in to Hannity and Colmes tonight, where I will be outnumbered by about 5 to 2. Gloria Allred, former OJ cop Mark Fuhrman, and Lis Wiehl, among others. Lis has done a great job all day today reporting live from the courthouse. We don't agree on the case but she's a friend and a pleasure to watch.

TalkLeft has received 2,500 visitors in the last hour. One hour. It's amazing that so many people are obsessed with this case. It's also amazing that there are still hundreds of strangers outside the courthouse cheering. Shades of Rome and gladiator days. Very sick.