Jules Siegal at Alternet examines Bush v. Kerry on drug war issues. He points out correctly that the conservatives and libertarians have been calling for reform of drug laws more loudly than leftist democrats.

First, a suggestion for Kerry, which of course, he won't follow:

Many anti-drug war activists in forums such as DrugWar.com plan either to vote for Nader or abstain because Kerry is just another cop, even though he's softened his positions on drug enforcement since the campaign began. These are outspoken opinion leaders with very effective media information programs. Any convincing statement of sympathy would instantly move them.

Kerry could come out for a complete review of all drug policy issues by a blue ribbon panel of renowned experts. He needn't demand legalization, decriminalization or any other specific action. If asked, he would answer that he wants to know the facts before offering any positions.

But, in the final analysis, that shouldn't matter. Here's what does matter:

The Washington Post reports on the lack of evidence to support an earlier Administation claim of a pre-Election day attack in the U.S. :

U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials say they have found no direct evidence of an election-related terrorist plot. Authorities also say that a key CIA source who had claimed knowledge of such plans has been discredited, casting doubt on one of the earliest pieces of evidence pointing to a possible attack.

Why are we not surprised?

Why isn't this receiving more attention? Jim Lehman, a member of the 9/11 Commission and former Navy Secretary under Ronald Regan - as well as Colin Powell - say the U.S. knows exactly where Osama is hiding in Pakistan.

Bin Laden is living in South Waziristan in the Baluchistan Mountains of the Baluchistan region, Lehman told The San Bernardino Sun after delivering a keynote speech on terrorism at Pitzer College in Claremont....

So what are we waiting for? Why don't we go in and get him? Check out this lame excuse:

If we did, we could have another Vietnam, and the United States cannot afford that right now.

Excuse me? We could invade Iraq to take out Saddam who wasn't a threat to us but we won't go in and get bin Laden?

There's more to the absurdity. We know how he's getting his money. In addition to funds from other countries, he's getting a million a year from his family.

This interview with Yaser Hamdi judge Robert Doumar is very well-worth reading, particularly for his thoughts on the Government's actions in the case.

Doumar still wonders whether Hamdi is telling the whole story. “There’s no question that Hamdi was accompanying the Taliban, nor did he deny accompanying the Taliban,” he said. Still, he bristles at the thought of the government stripping citizens of their basic constitutional right to access the courts. “We would be destroying the very foundation of our society,” Doumar said.

“They were trying to set a precedent that would have given them unlimited power,” he added. “And that’s a scary prospect.”

[link via Steve at the SW Virginia Law Blog. ]

Apropos of nothing, this has to be the most bizarre story of the day.

A woman came home from vacation to find a stranger living there, wearing her clothes, changing utilities into her name and even ripping out carpet and repainting a room she didn't like, authorities said.

Douglas County authorities say they can't explain why Beverly Valentine, 54, broke into an empty home and started acting like it was her own.

Markos of Daily Kos has a BlogPAC update. Kick in a few bucks if you can:

BlogPAC is making one last final push in the last 10 days of the election. (Click here to contribute.)

....Yesterday we launched our Draft campaign. The campaign has two components. First is the online advertising effort, which is running across Ohio on Yahoo sports. We'll expand that effort into sites targetting college students and mothers if we can raise another $10,000 in the next week.

We have also launched EnjoyTheDraft.com, a parody site that has been getting a great deal of viral distribution already. ...Enjoy the Draft is our first foray outside of simple online advertising. There'll be more efforts of those sorts in the coming years as we seek to find ways to use the web and technology to support our candidates.

BlogPAC continues to run online ads in the Dallas market targetting Republican Pete Session's "flippant and callous" attitude toward the Iraq War. And, it has matched an ad buy for Oklahoma's Tom Coburn on NewsOK.com. You can view the ad on Yahoo in both the Tulsa and Oklahoma City markets.

Boston Police have accepted 'full responsibility' in the death of a Red Sox fan who was killed by a pepper spray projectile used to control the crowd.

Preliminary findings indicate that Victoria Snelgrove, a journalism student at Emerson College, was hit in the eye by a projectile that disperses pepper spray on impact, Boston Police Commissioner Kathleen O'Toole said Thursday. Snelgrove died at 12:50 p.m. at Brigham and Women's Hospital, hours after the overnight melee.

"The Boston Police Department is devastated by this tragedy. This terrible event should never have happened," O'Toole told reporters. "The Boston Police Department accepts full responsibility for the death of Victoria Snelgrove."

The FBI has been interviewing Arabs and Muslims as part of a plan to thwart anticipated pre-election day terror attacks. The ACLU filed suit this week to stop the interviews.

The ACLU suit, filed Thursday, is seeking internal documents under the Freedom of Information Act to find out whether the government is protecting the constitutional rights of the subjects of its unannounced interviews at homes, workplaces and mosques. "We are trying to get much greater sunshine over these activities," said ACLU attorney John Crew.

The F.B.I. says the interviews are voluntary, but how many people feel free to say "no comment" when the F.B.I. shows up at your door unannounced?

The ACLU wants to know how the FBI selects these interviewees.

Attorney General John Ashcroft and his prosecutors are once again trying to trample on the rights of the defendants. In their latest move, in the Albany terrorism case, they have asked the judge to have a monitor present during attorney client conferences where documents are being reviewed:

Federal prosecutors handling an alleged terrorism money laundering case in Albany are demanding extraordinary security protections, including direct oversight by a Justice Department employee, whenever defense counsel and their clients view sensitive materials.

The government wants a Justice Department security specialist in a secured room where attorneys and the defendants will examine and discuss confidential, secret, top secret or "sensitive compartmentalized information," according to documents filed late last week in U.S. v. Aref and Hossain, 04-CR-402.

We asked Terry Kindlon, a defense lawyer on the case, for his reaction to the unprecedented request, and here's what he said:

British-Iraqi aid worker and kidnapping hostage Margaret Hassan may be the next victim.

Former Abu Ghraib prison guard Charles Graner has been ordered to stand trial on abuse charges on January 7. Graner makes the rest of them look like mild. This will be the trial to watch. According to Lynndie England, :

Graner, with whom she is now pregnant, applied needle and thread to prisoners after beating them. "Cpl. Graner would personally stitch up detainees if the wound weren't too bad," she said. "He would take pictures of his work. One particular incident Cpl. Graner ran a former Iraqi general into a wall and split his lip. Cpl. Graner stitched up his lip."

He sounds like one, sadistic creep.

Graner, of Uniontown, Pa., has been accused of jumping on several detainees as they were piled on the floor. He is also charged with stomping the hands and bare feet of several prisoners and punching one inmate in the temple so hard that he lost consciousness. He also faces adultery charges for having sex with [PFC Lynndie] England last October. He could receive 24 1/2 years in jail, forfeiture of pay, reduction in rank, and a dishonorable discharge.

How did he even get the job with this past record of abuse allegations? And these allegations?

One of Martha Stewart's appellate lawyers was on the Today show this morning and provided this update on Martha's jail stay:

"She's got a group that's cooking," he said. "She's trying to figure out innovative ways to do microwave cooking, which is all they have in the evening to do their own cooking."

There must be a magazine devoted to microwave cooking. If you find one, you can get Martha and the gang a subscription and have it sent to:

Ms. Martha Stewart,
Reg. No. 55170-054
FPC Alderson
Glen Ray Road, Box B
Alderson, West Virginia 24910

Don't forget the Reg. No.