The Albany Times Union has an editorial outlining why John Aschroft should resign as Attorney General.

His departure can't come fast enough. His legacy, after all, will be the Patriot Act. Three years later, it's clearer than ever that this ill-conceived and hastily approved package of anti-terrorism laws made the country no safer. In exchange for an erosion of their civil liberties, Americans got, well, nothing to speak of.

Of course, we agree. But so what? Ashcroft is not the only danger. Bush and his power of appointment are what is to be feared.

The Fourth Amendment continues to decline in popularity in some federal circuits. The Third Circuit has ruled that you can be forced to submit to a taking of your hair so that a drug test for cocaine usage may be performed. Even if it means that police have to shave your head to get it.*

After acknowledging the difference between snipping a few strands of hair and seizing a hair root, which is under the skin, not visible to the public and a living structure, the court found forced shaving to be more akin to a snip:

"The fact that Coddington had very short hair on his head, requiring the police officers and the beautician to shave some of his hair to the skin in order to obtain a sufficient quantity for the drug test, does not alter the fact that the only hair that was taken was above the body surface and on public display, and that hair was taken in a proper manner."

Judge Michael Chertoff, a Bush appointee, concurred in the opinion.

_________________
*The justification for snipping hair for a drug test was established in a prior case which held,

We conclude that there is no greater expectation of privacy with respect to hair which is on public display than with respect to voice, handwriting or fingerprints. In the case of blood samples and fingernail scrapings, the bodily seizure requires production of evidence below the body surface which is not subject to public view."

The election is over and blogads naturally are down on bloggerland's political sites, including TalkLeft. In hope of attracting some new advertisers, we've cut our rates substantially.

Take a look, and if you're interested in having 15,000 distinct daily visitors view your product or service or learn about your organization or its issues, try an ad on TalkLeft. Three spots are available:

• Premium, top right.
• Right Sidebar
• Left Sidebar

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.