Iraq has declared martial law for 60 days. U.S. troops are now attacking Fallujah. U.S. commanders are warning that this will be the most brutal urban fighting since Vietnam.

Under the martial law edict,

... all traffic and men between the ages of 15 and 55 were banned from the streets of Fallujah and surrounding areas 24 hours a day. All members of the Fallujah police and security services were suspended indefinitely and all roads into Fallujah and neighboring Ramadi were closed indefinitely.

Karl Rove has spoken on the re-election of the President. A summary:

• Bush will resume the fight for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.
• Evangelicals were key to the re-election, but national security was a bigger issue.
• Bush won't have a litmus test for Supreme Court nominations, but nominees must be strict constructionists.
• He hopes the election will contribute to a "long-term GOP domination of U.S. politics."

Maybe the term limits that apply to a President should apply to their campaign strategists. Like throwing the bathwater out with the baby.

The Department of Justice has released its 2003 prisoner statistics. The most astonishing figure: One of every 140 U.S. residents is now in prison or in jail.

The bulletin, "Prisoners in 2003 (NCJ-205335)," was written by BJS statisticians Paige M. Harrison and Allen J. Beck. It can be accessed here.

There are now more than 100,000 women in our nation's prisons and jails. The women's prison rate grew 3.6%, almost twice the rate of that for men.

Other findings included in the report:

• The total prison population is now approaching 1.5 million, up 2.1% this year.

• As of December 31, 2003, state prisons were operating at capacity to as much as 16 percent above capacity. Federal prisons were operating at 39 percent above capacity.

• The nation’s prison population is becoming more middle-aged. From 1995 through 2003, inmates between the ages of 40 and 54 accounted for more than 46 percent of the total growth in the U.S. prison population. Although the number of older inmates has been increasing, two-thirds of all prisoners were younger than 40 at the end of 2003.

James Wolcott has an idea for the new Democratic program:

Democrats could campaign to rescind the Martin Luther King holiday, but I fear this would backfire, since everyone likes an excuse to take a day off from work and would resent having to drag themselves that particularly Monday. No, something ballsier is needed for a turnaround in perception. A taboo or two needs to be smashed.

Therefore I am proposing that the official Democratic slogan for 2008 be "Shoot a Fag for Jesus."

It's a simple, catchy slogan that will look good on a bumperstickers, yet carry a multilateral strike: pro-guns, anti-gay, and unashamedly Christian.

Since abortion is so problematic for Democrats, "Shoot a Babykiller for Jesus" might do the trick in some of the battleground states as a supplemental bumpersticker.

Obviously this is all still in the brainstorming stage, and will need to be focus-grouped, but I believe it nudges us further along the path to success gently lit by Kristof's lamp of wisdom.

Digby agrees:

BOP News has this roundup of links with the latest on reports of election theft.

I've received a few e-mails asking why TalkLeft isn't all over this. No reason in particular, but the election is over, Kerry has conceded, and until there is hard evidence, I'd rather be an advocate for reform for the next election.

Here are some things we need to change: The long lines have to disappear. We need more voting booths, paper trails, anti-intimidation tactics and same-day registration or vote by mail (like Oregon.)

Something strange went on in Ohio. And other states. Proving deliberate fraud will be difficult. I'll mention and post links for those of you that are following it. But, for the most part, I'm moving forward to the next election cycle.

You can get the latest at BlackBoxVoting. Steve Soto at Left Coaster always has good analysis.

These are reportedly from a book called Disorder in the American Courts, and are things people actually said in court, taken down and published by court reporters who had the torment of staying calm while the exchanges were actually taking place. If at least one doesn't make you laugh out loud, you are taking life way too seriously.

Q: Are you sexually active?
A: No, I just lie there.
_______________________________
Q: What is your date of birth
A: July 15
Q: What year?
A: Every year.
_____________________________________
Q: How old is your son, the one living with you?
A: Thirty-eight or thirty-five, I can't remember which.
Q: How long has he lived with you?
A: Forty-five years
_____________________________________
Q: What was the first thing your husband said to you when he woke up that
morning?
A: He said, "Where am I, Cathy?"
Q: And why did that upset you?
A: My name is Susan.
______________________________________
Q: Now doctor, isn't it true that when a person dies in his sleep, he
doesn't know about it until the next morning?
A: Did you actually pass the bar exam?
___________________________________
Q: Were you present when your picture was taken?
______________________________________
Q: So the date of conception (of the baby) was August 8th?
A: Yes.
Q: And what were you doing at that time?

by TChris

The dilapidated condition of San Quentin's death row is sparking renewed debate about the death penalty in California.

The current death row consists of 629 inmates housed in three ramshackle brick-and-stone buildings, two of them dating to 1934 and 1927. The 1927 building looks like something out of a Jimmy Cagney movie, with five tiers of cells with open bars, and catwalks that run right up close to the cells, and lots of blind corners.

Prison officials want to build a modern, secure complex at San Quentin, but many local residents "believe the new death row building will be a brightly lit eyesore that some say resembles a concentration camp." Others question the need to spend $220 million to house inmates on death row when the state has executed only ten people since 1977. And some ask whether the death penalty should remain an option in California.

Recently, a coalition of California prosecutors and defense attorneys called for a moratorium on the death penalty while an inquiry is held on whether the system is fair. Prison officials say the politics of capital punishment are outside their scope.

Construction is expected to start next year.

Shopping with credit cards is more likely to land you in a database. Sounds to us like it's time to revert to cash. [link via Kevin Drum}

by TChris

Although the Justice Department contends that it's just too difficult to prove to a jury the facts that govern federal sentencing -- and although it cites the amount of financial loss suffered by victims as its best example of a burdensome fact to prove -- its own experience in the ongoing Enron trial undermines its argument.

The same jury that convicted five men of helping push through Enron Corp.'s late 1999 sham sale of power barges to Merrill Lynch & Co. on Friday began deliberating factors that could lift their prison sentences to a dozen years or more.

It took the government and the defense only a day to put in their sentencing evidence. Not much of a burden, really.

A prosecution expert said Enron shareholders overpaid by $43.8 million for stock purchased in the three months following the company's January 2000 announcement that it met Wall Street earnings expectations, and determined that amount to be the loss stemming from the barge deal.

The New York Times presents its list of winners and losers in the election.

John Zogby is listed in the loser column, for inaccurately predicting John Kerry would win. He responds:

by TChris

Linda Greenhouse provides an update on the workings of the Supreme Court in the absence of the Chief Justice.

Information from official channels has been minimal. The court's press office would not say whether the chief justice was present for the justices' regular Friday morning conference, at which they review new cases and decide which to grant. (He was not.) Nor would the press office say whether, if he did not attend, he sent in his votes. (He did.)

If the Chief Justice decides to retire while the Senate is in recess, Greenhouse suggests that the President might use a recess appointment to bypass Senate confirmation of the appointment.

by TChris

Last month, TalkLeft reported the release of Ernest Willis from death row in Texas, where he spent 17 years for a crime he didn't commit. A sharply written story in San Antonio's Express-News exposes the grim details of this tragic injustice.

The state of Texas had prosecuted him with scant and flawed proof. It had tried him while he was unknowingly drugged — hence the eerie, vacant gaze in court. And, after all that, it wanted him dead.

This compelling report of Willis' wrongful conviction concludes in tomorrow's Express-News.