by TChris

Before President Bush tears down Abu Ghraib to build his promised "modern, maximum-security prison," the Iraqi authorities should visit some U.S. supermax prisons and ask whether that's what they really want.

Prisoners have called them "torture chambers" where they are subjected to flagrant human rights and civil liberties violations and appalling psychological and physical abuses. In a lawsuit filed by Ohio prisoners at the state's supermax prison in Youngstown in 2002, inmate Keith Garner bluntly told a judge that the conditions at the prison were "like being in a tomb."

Reform begins at home. It's one thing to replace an old building with a new one; it's another to treat prisoners humanely. President Bush said that Abu Ghraib doesn't reflect America; but it does reflect America's prisons. The story of Abu Ghraib should lead American reporters back home.

Via Patriot Watch:

SENATOR INTRODUCES BILL TO REMOVE SUNSET PROVISIONS & MAKE PATRIOT ACT PERMANENT!! "S. 2476 was introduced by Senator Jon Kyl (R-AR), and calls for all of the sunset provisions of the Patriot to be lifted, essentially making the entire Act permanent. The bill lacks a companion measure in the House. Sixteen parts of the Patriot Act sunset or expire at the end of 2005, when they will then be subject to Congressional oversight and reauthorization."

The ACLU responds. Get on the horn and call your Senator and tell him or her to oppose this bill. It will not make us safer, only less free.

You can quickly call any of your Senators through the Senate switchboard operator, (202) 224-3121; and any of your Representatives through the House switchboard operator, (202) 225-3121.

by TChris

It's understandable that Sen. Tim Johnson (D-SD) would be upset at "the small but vocal group of national Republicans that attacked [his] patriotism and compared [him] to Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden at the very same time [his] son was defending our nation in Afghanistan." And it's understandable, but not acceptable, that he lashed back in like fashion by referring to "the Taliban wing of the Republican Party."

Name calling has attained the status of an art form in the blogosphere, but it isn't productive in the political arena. It impairs the ability to engage in a rational dialog. It offends gratuitously. Public officials don't serve the public by indulging in it. Nor do they serve their parties by providing ammunition to an opposition trying to arouse its base.

To his credit, Sen. Johnson is capable of admitting error and apologizing, as he did today.

by TChris

Did a Pentagon employee leak sensitive classified information to Chalabi? (Background here.) Bob Dreyfuss examines the available evidence and reasonably concludes:

Certainly, the CIA is a sworn enemy of Chalabi, and it has been for many years. And certainly, Chalabi's enemies would love to use the scandal over Chalabi's Iran connections to tarnish his Pentagon allies. But it seems to me unlikely that they would risk a formal investigation unless they had some concrete evidence to support what otherwise would be a witch hunt.

by TChris

The threat of being busted in Louisiana for unsightly plumber's butt has ended. Background here and here.

State lawmakers refused to make it a crime to wear low-slung pants in public that expose "undergarments or ... any portion of the pubic hair, cleft of the buttocks or genitals."

No word on whether any state lawmakers want to make it illegal to trade beads for a glimpse of a breast during Mardi Gras.

by TChris

As a general rule, the police can't enter your home without your consent or a warrant. But what about your garage?

In a minor victory for the Fourth Amendment and for the right to privacy (a victory fairly characterized as a "no-brainer"), the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that a police officer had no right to stick his foot under a closing garage door, causing the garage door to raise so that he could talk to the driver who had just driven into the garage. The officer hadn't seen the driver engage in any bad driving (and thus couldn't claim he was in "hot pursuit" of the driver), but wanted to talk to the driver about a report that he'd been seen weaving while driving home. The driver closed the garage door without realizing that the officer was standing at the threshhold.

The decision addressed constitutional issues of appropriate search and seizure and determined that a person's right to privacy extends to his garage "because it is not impliedly open to the public."

Sadly, this isn't going to deter the Farmington Police Department from doing the same thing in the future. Chief Dan Siebenaler says he "respects" the court's decision but he doesn't think the officer did anything wrong and he doesn't intend to change the department's policy. Saying "never mind the courts, we'll do what we wanna do" doesn't seem particularly respectful either of the courts or of the Constitution.

Noah at Defense Tech introduces us to University of Buffalo Professor and biotech artist Steve Kurtz. Waking up and finding his wife dead beside him, Kurtz' troubles had only just begun:

The police arrived and, cranked up on the rhetoric of the "War on Terror," decided Kurtz's art supplies were actually bioterrorism weapons. Thus began an Orwellian stream of events in which FBI agents abducted Kurtz without charges, sealed off his entire block, and confiscated his computers, manuscripts, art supplies... and even his wife's body.

Like the case of Brandon Mayfield, the Muslim lawyer from Portland imprisoned for two weeks on the flimsiest of false evidence, Kurtz's case amply demonstrates the dangers posed by the USA PATRIOT Act coupled with government-nurtured terrorism hysteria.

Noah points out:

Kurtz is a University of Buffalo professor and artist specializing in biotechnology-inspired works: subversive remixes of big pharma corporate materials, kits to see if food is genetically modified. Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art, New York's New Museum, and the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, DC displayed his art. The New York Times and Washington Post, among others, have looked on it favorably.

Kurtz is facing a mountain of legal fees. Donations to his legal defense can be made here.

by TChris

Not every harm can be or should be remedied by the criminal justice system. This appears to be a case of a misguided prosecution.

A New Jersey man took his mentally disabled son to the beach. His son suffered a severe case of sunburn. The man had applied sunscreen to his son, but didn't apply enough.

The father was plainly careless, but not every act of negligence should be prosecuted as a crime. The man's decision to put sunscreen on his child suggests that he was trying to protect his son from harm. The father might need to be educated about the protective value of sunscreen, and a family court might want to consider whether this father should be allowed to take his son to the beach in the future, but -- unless there's substantially more to the story -- it is a misuse of the criminal justice system to prosecute a man who not only lacked the intent to harm his child but took affirmative steps to prevent that harm.

Now here's a cushy job. Being retained as a lawyer to attend court proceedings with the defendant's parents and explain to them what's going on. Of course, it's not just any case and any parents. It's the case of Michael Jackson and it is his father who has hired a Beverly Hills lawyer to sit in court with him and his wife and then translate the proceedings for them.

Hey, if anyone knows Kobe's parents, we're available.

Bump and Update: Terry Nichols has been convicted of 161 counts of first degree murder, conspiracy and arson. The jury deliberated only four hours. He will now face a death penalty proceeding before the same jury. We'll be talking about it on MSNBC's Abrams Report today (6 pm ET) . (Correction: Big news in Kobe Bryant case, our Nichols segment is cancelled and we'll be talking about Kobe instead. )

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Original Post

Bump and Update: The defense closed today in the Terry Nichols trial. Defense Attorney Barbara Bergman attacked the Government's case:

"This is a case about manipulation, betrayal and overreaching," Bergman said. "People who are still unknown assisted Timothy McVeigh."....Bergman reminded jurors of dozens of witnesses who testified they saw McVeigh with others, including a stocky, dark-haired man depicted in an FBI sketch and known only as John Doe No. 2, in the weeks before the bombing. Witnesses said the others did not resemble Nichols.

"The state has jumped over a lot of holes in the case. The state has to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt and they haven't." Bergman attacked scientific evidence presented by prosecutors during 29 days of testimony. The evidence included the discovery of ammonium nitrate crystals on a piece of plywood that was part of the Ryder truck that delivered the bomb.

If only Al Gore had been this passionate during his campaign--here's the text of his latest prepared speech -- he says Rice, Rumsfeld, Tenet, Paul Wolfowitz, Douglas Feith and intelligence chief Stephen Cambone should resign. He just trashes President Bush--and says our country is at risk every day that Rumsfeld remains as head of the Defense Department.

He's absolutely eloquent.

Update: You can watch the video at C-Span here.

A Kentucky proseuctor has been suspended following a tape showing him having sex with a defendant in a drug case.

Erica L. French's lawyer, Kenneth Daniels, said they had a camera installed in her bedroom closet last week and taped her having sex with Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Robert W. Stevens.

Daniels said they decided to record her encounter because French, 29, had complained that Stevens had made inappropriate advances toward her during talks involving her cooperation with the prosecution of other defendants. According to Daniels, French said that Stevens told her that if she would have sex with him he would use his influence to withdraw her guilty plea and drop charges prior to her sentencing.

[link via How Appealing]