Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) is hosting its 6th Annual National Conference at the University of Maryland at College Park on November 18-20. The conference includes a lobby day on Capitol Hill on Thursday and a DARE Generation Dance Party on Saturday night.

SSDP represents the young men and women whose names the government uses to justify a war that destroys lives, a war that attempts to attain the unattainable objective of an America free of drugs. We want answers from those that wage war in our name.

Details here.

Congress did not pass a federal courts budget before it recessed. A continuing resolution provides funding only until November 20. A crisis looms.

...what is particularly worrisome this year is that Congress is considering a hard freeze: appropriations for all nondefense, nonhomeland security operations would be frozen at fiscal year 2004 levels. If that happens, wrote Chief Judge John W. Sedwick of the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska in a letter to the Senate's Appropriation Committee chairman, the courts, which already stand "on the brink of a fiscal abyss" will "plunge over the precipice."

Under a hard freeze, the judiciary estimates it would have to fire or furlough 2,200 to 5,000 full-time employees-almost 20 percent of probation officers and clerks' office staff-and make a 50 percent cut in court operations costs. Money to pay attorneys who represent indigent criminal defendants under the Criminal Justice Act would run out next June, and money for jury fees would be exhausted in July.

Caseloads are increasing. There is a shortage of judges. Staff reductions will morph into salary cuts and reduced hours. Not a pretty picture, and there is no relief on the horizen.

Many people think the role of Attorney General is simply to be the nation's "top cop," the chief criminal law enforcer. But it is much more. The role of the Attorney General is to serve as America's lawyer, in civil as well as criminal matters. He is not the President's lawyer. He is our lawyer.

It is critical that the Senate evaluate the past record of a nominee for Attorney General in its "advise and consent" role. While Senators prefer to give deference to a President's choice in cabinet positions, they cannot merely serve as a rubber stamp.

John Ashcroft was the most controversial nominee for Attorney General ever. All but one Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee (Russ Feingold, of all people) voted against Ashcroft. Their arguments are worth re-reading for a sense of to expect when Alberto Gonzales faces the same test.

Here are some selected quotes I've put together from the 59-page FDCH transcript of the Senate Judiciary committee hearing held on January 30, 2001, at which the vote was 10 to 8 to send Ashcroft's nomination on to the full Senate (transcript available at Lexis.com,) followed by some thoughts as to what likely will happen with Alberto Gonzales:

Encouraging news...New York defense lawyer Lynne Stewart, on trial for providing material support to terrorists by passing along messages from her imprisoned client, Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, finished nine days on the witness stand, and earns high marks.

Throughout her time on the witness stand, Stewart largely kept her composure, becoming emotional on only one occasion. Her final day of cross-examination was similar to previous days. Stewart appeared largely unruffled and answered the prosecutor's questions directly, although she made a point of interjecting comments to score points along the way.

Overall, Stewart was a strong witness who came across as fairly direct and open, despite the prosecution's continued implication that she was being disingenuous and stretching her interpretation of the law to cover damaging facts.

Stewart's lawyer, Michael Tigar, on redirect, diffused much of the prosecution's argument:

The Ohio House has passed a bill, sponsored by both Republicans and Democrats, to conduct an in-depth review of the state's death penalty system. Law Prof Doug Berman of Sentencing Law and Policy has the details, including links to a Cincinnati Inquirer article and one in the Toledo Blade discussing the bill.

The governor and legislature would appoint an 18-member commission to look at whether those on death row received adequate legal counsel, whether capital cases are resolved fairly, and how delays in the system can be overcome.

TalkLeft has noted a few times the hypocrisy of pro-lifers who don't oppose the death penalty. So this comment by the Republican sponsor was particlularly heartening to read:

"I am 100 percent pro-life," Brinkman said, noting that applies to abortion and the death penalty. "I told my wife that the first time I get a sentencing bill, I'm going to move this. I'd like to abolish (the death penalty) or have a moratorium, but you've got to start somewhere."

Maybe soon we'll finally see a license plate that says, "Choose Life. End the Death Penalty."

The text of the Ohio bill is here. It now moves to the Ohio Senate. From there, let's hope it goes to Texas, California, Florida, Pennyslvania, North Carolina, Arizona, Alabama, Georgia and Oklahoma, to name a few.

For up to date death penalty news, check out the blog Abolish the Death Penalty by David Elliott. It is the official blog of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (NCADP) .

The U.S. is sending Assistant Secretary of State William Burns to Cairo to attend Arafat's funeral. Here's a list by country of who's attending on behalf of their government. It's interesting to see who is sending "foreign ministers" and who is sending Prime Ministers and Presidents.

The Pentagon announced that 18 U.S. troops have been killed and 69 wounded in the battle for Fallujah.

A spokeswoman at the U.S. military's Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, the usual destination for seriously wounded U.S. troops stationed in Iraq or Afghanistan, said 102 Americans arrived from Iraq in two plane loads on Thursday. They joined 125 wounded troops who arrived there from Monday to Wednesday.

The U.S. also said today that winning at Fallujah won't end the war against insurgents.

Check out this congratulatory letter from Bob Jones, the head of Bob Jones University to President Bush on winning re-election. It's absolutely scary.

Between Jones, Dobson and Jerry Falwell, we have our work cut out for us the next four years.

Many are opposed to Bush's nomination of Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General. Some are skeptical. I'm on the fence, only because I fear that the alternatives would be worse.

• Center for Constitutional Rights

• People for the American Way

• Human Rights First

• Boston Globe Editorial

• New York Times (90% is about Ashcroft, Gonzales seems to get the benefit of any doubts.)

Here is Alberto Gonzales' much critized memo to President Bush (pdf)

Here is Colin Powell's response to the memo. (pdf)

And some news articles:

Yasser Arafat has died. (Fox News Television)

Focus on the Family, a radical right group from Colorado Springs founded by uber-evangelical James Dobson, is already making demands on Alberto Gonzales. In a press release issued today, the Group stated:

"It will now be Mr. Gonzalez's duty to defend the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act against the federal court challenges that have blocked its implementation -- a duty handled admirably by Attorney General Ashcroft. American families will also look to Mr. Gonzalez to aggressively prosecute obscenity cases against pornographers who continue to flout federal law.

"We expect these issues and other policy priorities of the president will be carried out by Mr. Gonzalez with excellence."

Dobson was one of those pushing out the evangelical vote for Bush.

Just days before one of the closest and most contentious presidential elections in history, Dr. James Dobson will call on every pro-family American to cast his or her vote on Nov. 2. This call to Christian duty will air in two special broadcasts on his nationally-syndicated "Focus on the Family" radio program on Oct. 25 and 26..... "Do you know that in the year 2000," he said, "four million evangelicals did not go to the polls? Do you know that more than 25 million Christians of various stripes – Catholics, mainline, other perspectives – did not register and did not vote? That is an outrage. And it must not happen again."

If you really want to lose your lunch, check out his "must read election message."

Welcome to the theocracy.

Ohio is still counting provisional ballots. It would be virtually impossible, experts say, for their tally to make a difference.

But what about the absentee ballots that never arrived? The TL kid's roomate received his Ohio absentee ballot in New York today...November 10....it was postmarked Columbus October 3.

The TL kid received his absentee ballot November 3. As John Kerry was conceding on tv. So he didn't get to vote either. He had called Colorado's election office for weeks complaining his ballot hadn't arrived. They just kept telling him it had been mailed.

They have many friends who also didn't receive absentee ballots in time to vote. Is there any counting being done of the number of these disenfranchised absentee voters (as opposed to provisional voters)?

Maybe it wouldn't make a difference, but whatever happened to everyone gets a vote and every vote counts?