Congrats to the Rocky Mountain Innocence Project, based in Salt Lake. Bruce Dallas Goodman is expected to be released from prison today after serving 19 years for a rape and murder conviction vacated by new DNA evidence.

Live Pentagon press conference. There will be no body-counting. Lt. Gen. Tom Metz said the fight in Fallujah is far from over.

Casualties: Very Few
Friendly casualties: Light
Enemy casualties: Higher than expected
U.S. Casualties: about a dozen, won't state particular number.

Wounded: What we've experienced elsehwere throughout Iraqi Freedom. Won't get pinned down. The DOD will put out notices.

Here's what I would not want my lawyer-client testifying to in a trial accusing her of providing material support to terrorists. Either 7 days of questioning were too much for Lynne Stewart or, and I hope this is the case, the media is quoting her out of context.

Hopefully, her lawyer Michael Tigar will clear this up on redirect.

Here's why the Scott Peterson jury likely will return a verdict today. The jurors arrived at the courthouse well-dressed. On prior days, they were dressed down in sweats and jeans. Just my opinion, of course.

Peterson jurors arrived at the Redwood City courthouse Tuesday well-dressed and several were seen hugging their bus driver as if to say good-bye.

Yasser Arafat may be dead by the time you read this. He suffered a brain hemorrhage last night and has detoriated rapidly. He is expected to be dead within hours.

Update: Palestinian leaders say he is dead. The French say he is not.

by TChris

Almost 80 years have passed since Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan litigated the legality of teaching evolution in the Scopes trial, but those who want public schools to substitute religious dogma for science continue to exert their influence. The latest version of the Scopes trial is ongoing in Cobb County, Georgia, where the school board responded to a petition drive by placing "warning stickers" on science textbooks proclaiming that evolution is "a theory, not a fact." Apparently no warning stickers are required for relativity, although those who object to "moral relativism" may be printing up the stickers as you read this post.

Parents sued the school board, arguing that religious beliefs should not influence public education.

Two questions expected to be raised in the trial are:

• Is "intelligent design" a religious idea? A concept espoused by many opponents of evolution, intelligent design holds that the variety of life on Earth results from purposeful design rather than random mutation and that a higher intelligence guides the process.

• If the concept of intelligent design is found to be religious, do Cobb County's book disclaimers violate the separation between church and state?

The trial is expected to conclude this week.

Demarco McCullum was a star quarterback on one of Houston's high school teams. Now he's awaiting his execution tonight in Texas. His appeals have been exhausted. According to NCADP,

McCullum was sentenced to death based on the notion that he would continue to be a future threat to society in or out of prison. He has been in prison for 10 years and has been a model prisoner. McCullum accepts full responsibility for his actions and is truly remorseful for the crimes he has committed. There is every reason to believe McCullum could continue to live peacefully in a structured environment. McCullum’s attorney was quick to express his concern that the state was executing a reformed law abiding man who is very different today than he was at 19 when the crime was committed.

Tommorrow it will be Frederick McWilliams turn to die.

In Kentucky, Governor Ernie Fletcher just signed his first death warrant, for Clyde Bowling. The Governor is also a doctor. Groups contend he should not have signed the death warrant because he is bound by the Hippocratic oath. In additon,

A major American airline has been authorized by the TSA to arm air marshals with taser guns. The same taser guns that police use on criminal suspects. The same guns that are suspected of causing dozens of deaths.

Tasers are the stun guns that incapacitate their targets with 50,000-volt shocks, turning muscles into jelly. They've been used 45,000 times by police in the last five years. And although the weapons have been fingered in dozens of deaths, there's been no conclusive proof that the tasers were to blame.

In a press release Monday, stun gun maker Taser International announced that, for the first time, "the Transportation Security Administration of the United States Department of Homeland Security has approved a major international airline's application for the onboard use of TASER brand conducted energy weapons by specially trained personnel on flights to/from the United States."

.... Meanwhile, "Oakland police, facing lawsuits over tactics used last year against anti-war demonstrators, have agreed to stop using wooden or rubber bullets, Taser stun guns, pepper spray and motorcycles to break up crowds," says WTVU (via the Sunshine Project).

So if the terrorists don't get you, the Air Marshals may do the job instead. That's one airline I probably won't be flying on anytime soon. Here's the press release.

Crime and Federalism has put together this chart of Supreme Court death penalty cases, by issue, case and year, that shows how each Justice voted - whether for death or against it. The chart was in excel format, and at our suggestion, the author graciously converted it to html.

Not all religious leaders are evangelical pro-lifers. Tuesday morning, there will be a meeting of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice to define moral values over the next four years. It will be at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. The message:

This campaign season showed that the faith community is broad, diverse, vibrant, engaged, and often pro-choice. Never have so many religious and religiously affiliated groups been involved in voter education and registration.

These people of faith will not be defined or confined by narrow ideologies and fear-mongering politicians. As mainstream religious leaders, we urge people of faith to make clear that moral values include compassion, justice, and equality.

As one journalist observed the other day, perhaps it's just a matter of revising the morals debate and coming up with morally correct language--similar to politically correct language. Here's some of his suggested substitutions:

• "Lifting up the Poor" for tax policy
• "Taking care of seniors" for social security, and
• "Preserving a shared space" for environmental concerns.

The Guardian reports on a new poll that shows despite re-electing President Bush, voters disagree with several of his top priorities and positions on issues.

An Associated Press poll showed voters support, by a huge majority, cutting the country's enormous deficit rather than slashing taxes. By a narrow margin, voters also back the nomination of a supreme court judge who will preserve abortion rights.

...Following his victory President Bush said: "I earned capital in the campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it." Yet few of his priorities, namely the privatisation of social security, tax laws and medical malpractice surfaced as being a big concern for voters.

Only one-third of Democrats felt "hopeful" after the election. I'm surprised the number is that high. Everyone I've spoken to is despondent.

A new report by the Rand Institute for Social Justice says that victims of the 9/11 attacks received a total of $31.2 billion in compensation, averaging out to 3.1 million per victim.

Insurers paid 51 percent of the overall total, or about $19.6 billion. The government distributed $15.8 billion, or 42 percent, and charities paid $2.7 billion, or 7 percent.

"Victims" does not refer only to family members of those killed. It also covers businesses, emergency workers, first responders, and

displaced residents, workers who lost their jobs, and those who suffered emotional problems or were exposed to environmental dangers.

Businesses received 61% of the total amount.