Great news. The Illinois Supreme Court has upheld former Governor George Ryan's 2003 commutation of all death row sentences.

The governor may grant reprieves, pardons and commutations on his own terms, and the decisions are "unreviewable," the court said....."The governor's constitutional clemency powers allow him to completely or partially absolve a defendant of the consequences of his crime, and to suspend or commute any sentence imposed by the judiciary," Justice Robert R. Thomas wrote in the opinion.

The full opinion is here (html). Scrivener's Error has this analysis:

This has to be the most depressing column we've read all week--America's Prison Habit :

Since 1980 the U.S. prison and jail population has quadrupled in size to more than 2 million. In the process, prisons have embedded themselves into the nation's economic and social fabric. A powerful lobby has grown up around the prison system that will fight hard to protect the status quo.

....Major companies such as Wackenhut Corrections Corp. and Corrections Corp. of America employ sophisticated lobbyists to protect and expand their market share. The law enforcement technology industry, which produces high-tech items such as the latest stab-proof vests, helmets, stun guns, shields, batons and chemical agents, does more than a billion dollars a year in business.

With 2.2 million people engaged in catching criminals and putting and keeping them behind bars, "corrections" has become one of the largest sectors of the U.S. economy, employing more people than the combined workforces of General Motors, Ford and Wal-Mart, the three biggest corporate employers in the country. Correctional officers have developed powerful labor unions. And most politicians, whether at the local, state or national level, remain acutely aware that allowing themselves to be portrayed as "soft on crime" is the quickest route to electoral defeat.

Then there's the booming "prison town" business-

Via Buzzflash: UPI in Berlin reports that Osama bin Laden has been captured:

BERLIN, Jan. 22 (UPI) -- Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden has been captured, Germany's Die Welt newspaper reported Thursday. The newspaper, on its Web site, cited "unconfirmed reports" as the basis for its report.

Update: Maybe they were referring to the capture of Hassan Ghul:

Hassan Ghul, described as the most senior associate of Osama bin Laden found in Iraq, was picked up last week in the northern part of the country by Kurdish forces, the official said. "He was a senior facilitator who was caught coming into the country," the official said. Speculation was that Ghul, a Pakistani, was scouting out what al Qaeda could do in the future against U.S. forces, the official said.

Update: Thanks to commenter Jer who provides this link to The U.S. Denies It.

To most people he was Mr. Kangaroo. To us, he was also Clarabelle, the clown on the Howdy Doody show. Occasionally, we were lucky enough to be one of the kids in the Howdy Doody Show audience. Once, we even got to cut the cupcake for Buffalo Bob during the Hostess commerical. But what we remember more, is Clarabelle. All the kids, us included, would squeal and scream with delight at his antics. He would run up and down the aisle with a squirt gun. One time he sprayed our brand new dress and we cried and cried. But we still went back.

Skippy and Jeanne D'Arc of Body and Soul share their memories of Captain Kangeroo. And someone who once worked with the Captain has a great obituary at News From Me .

R.I.P. Bob Keeshan

Update: We just read in an update on News From Me that Mr. Keeshan was fired as Clarabelle in 1952. That's way before our time on the show. So the Clarabelle we remember must not have been Mr. Keeshan. Still, Mr. Keeshan was part of an era of children's programming that we remember with great affection and that is gone forever. R.I.P. Captain Kangaroo.

We couldn't have said it better ourselves --from the blog at TomPaine.com:

It looked like President Bush hadn't done his homework when he announced during his State of the Union speech a new $23 million initiative to reduce student drug use by expanding drug testing. But the largest-ever study examining drug testing—funded by the federal government—concluded earlier this year that drug testing has no effect on student drug use. Drug testing can actually do more harm than good, according to the ACLU and The Drug Policy Alliance: it humiliates students, undermines trust between students and adult mentors and discourages participation in extracurriculars—the only thing proven to actually reduce drug use rates. And since 95 percent of schools currently do not drug-test their students, it's unlikely that those declines Bush touted had anything to do with drug testing. The $23 million could be put to much better use—including hiring substance-abuse counselors at high schools and making prevention, rather than punishment, the primary focus.

Drug War Rant has lot's more, including facts, figures and links:

$23 million for children's piss. Sound like some kind of perverse pedophiliac penuniary pursuit? No, it's the President of the United States, putting forth the notion that the world will be a better place if we spend $23 million to force children to pee in a cup. Stupid.

We warned this was coming back in October.

The race issue surfaced today during a pre-trial motions hearing in the Kobe Bryant Case. At issue are notes taken by an employee of the rape crisis center who was present during a police interview with Kobe's accuser.

The rape center opposes the release because it might deter other women from coming forward--the center's attorney used the acquittal of William Kennedy Smith in a 1993 Palm Beach sexual assault trial to support its argument.

Kobe's lawyer, Pamela Mackey, quite correctly in our view, asked the judge not to consider other cases and to decide the issue based on Kobe's case.

Inga Causey, attorney for the Resource Center of Eagle County, said more details about Bryant's accuser would lead to fewer women reporting rapes. She said rape reports dropped in Florida after William Kennedy Smith was acquitted, a case in which his accuser's medical background was targeted by defense attorneys.

At that point, Mackey urged the judge to focus on the Bryant case and avoid the "political agenda of the rape crisis center."

"There is lots of history about black men being falsely accused of this crime by white women," Mackey said. "I don't think we want to get dragged down into this history any more than we want to get into the history brought up by the rape crisis center."

We'll be debating the case tonight on Fox News with Hannity and Colmes around 9:30 p. ET.

Hip Hip Hooray! A federal court in New York has invalidated the recently changed Bureau of Prisons policy refusing to let inmates go to halfway houses until they have completed 90% of their sentences. The Judge ruled the policy runs afoul of the statute and the agency's own legal analysis. The decision will be published on Wednesday. (article by subscription only.)

On the strength of his findings, Southern District Judge Richard J. Holwell on Wednesday ordered the Bureau of Prisons to reconsider its determination not to assign an inmate serving 2 years in prison for involvement in a money laundering scheme to a halfway house prior to May 2.

On that date, Abraham Zucker, an inmate of a minimum security federal prison in Otisville, N.Y., will have served all but 10 percent of his prison term. If assigned to a halfway house, Mr. Zucker would be able to travel to work during the day but be confined in the evenings. In Zucker v. Menifee, 03-10077, Judge Holwell rejected the Bureau of Prisons' legal analysis, which was based on an opinion issued by the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel in December 2002.

....In finding no legal impediment barring the bureau from sending federal inmates to halfway houses for longer than 10 percent of their terms, Judge Holwell reached the same conclusion of at least two of his Southern District colleagues - Judges Denny Chin and Kimba Wood - as well as Eastern District Judge I. Leo Glasser.

Mr. Zucker was represented by Peter Goldberger of Ardmore, Pa., Todd A. Bussert of Naugutuck, Conn. and Richard Willstatter of White Plains. Yes, the same Peter Goldberger that reads and comments on TalkLeft and that won the release of Nick Yarris last week after 22 years spent on death row. Todd Bussert is a regular reader as well. Congrats to both and Mr. Willstatter.

The Miami Herald is reporting that in December, prosecutors declined an offer from Rush Limbaugh's attorney in which he would have undergone drug treatment in lieu of pleading guilty to any crimes. The prosecutors reportedly were seeking a felony plea and probation.

Note that no admissions were made by Rush or his lawyer. They didn't offer to plead guilty to anything. They asked that Rush be treated the same as everyone else and be given the opportunity for treatment instead of a criminal plea.

Black said in a statement Thursday to the Sun-Sentinel that his request "was for the same treatment anyone else in this situation would receive," and called the state's response "preposterous."

The most troubling aspect of this to us is the prosecution's leak of Roy Black's letter. That should be investigated. It certainly sounds like this is a politically motivated prosecution to us.

We may not like Rush Limbaugh's politics, and he may be a hypocrite, but when it comes to the application of criminal laws against him, he should be treated the same as anyone else.

Who else in Palm Beach county has been charged with "doctor shopping."?

[hat tip to Handy Fuse.]

The detective was so cute the Court ruled it was entrapment.

Fort Lauderdale Detective Mike Nahum's handsome appearance lost him a criminal case, but there is a consolation prize. He may be the only guy in the world with a court order declaring he is a "very attractive man."

Nahum is so cute that a Broward Circuit Court judge threw out a criminal charge against a West Palm Beach man charged with selling drugs to Nahum during an undercover sting at a gay nightclub in Fort Lauderdale. Judge Susan Lebow ruled the defendant, Julio Blanco, was lured by the police officer into committing a crime in hopes he would be rewarded with sex.

On Wednesday, an appeals court backed the trial judge's decision and ruled the police officer's actions were so "outrageous" that it was entrapment. Blanco had never been arrested before and was not under any suspicion of criminal activity until he was talked into it by law enforcement, the Fourth District Court of Appeal ruled.

No pictures are available since Det. Nahum is still working undercover. Beware good looking men bearing money in exchange for illicit substances.

[link via Libby at Last One Speaks]

The Rocky Mountain Progressive Network says Karl Rove was on NPR this morning, talking about Colorado:

Karl Rove's laughable mendacity on NPR this morning, citing Colorado as an example of a state with a healthy economy and budget, have generated more spontaneous outburst to RMPN than we've had in a long time....

Here are the real stats.

Why did the U.S. deport Mahar Arar to Syria? Accoring to a new report, it was because he told the FBI he knew two other men under investigation:

The only stated reason the United States deported Maher Arar to Syria is that he admitted he knew two Ontario men who were also under RCMP investigation and later jailed as terrorism suspects in Syria.

According to U.S. documents obtained by The Globe and Mail, an Immigration and Naturalization Service's regional director concluded that Mr. Arar was a member of al-Qaeda because the 33-year-old Ottawa computer engineer admitted to the FBI after his arrest in 2002 that he was acquainted with two men suspected of being terrorists at the time. "I have determined that Arar is a member of the designated foreign terrorist organization known as al-Qaeda," INS Eastern region director J. Scott Blackman wrote in his October, 2002, decision.

Mr. Arar sued the U.S. Government Thursday as planned, alleging it knew he would be tortured if returned to Syria.

For more, see our posts yesterday, here and here.

Los Angeles is the latest city--and the largest one--to reject the Patriot Act:

"This is a huge victory for civil liberties," said Ramona Ripston, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. "Los Angeles is the largest city to pass a resolution in support of civil liberties and critical of the USA-PATRIOT Act. Angelenos should be proud that their City Council stands on the side of those who believe we can be both safe and free. Today’s resolution sends a clear message to those who assume that Americans will tolerate the erosion of our basic Constitutional rights."

The council voted 9 to 2 to adopt the resolution which seeks to “affirm the rights of all people… living within the City.” The resolution was spearheaded by Councilmember Jan Perry (D-District 9) and Assistant President Pro Tempore Eric Garcetti (D- District 13). The Civil Liberties Defense Coalition, a group of more than 50 local and national organizations, including the ACLU, the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and the National Council of LaRaza, had endorsed the resolution.

We think that L.A. choosing the day after Bush called for extending the Patriot Act to oppose it is a good omen. So far, more than 235 US communities representing over 30 million people have resolved to seek Patriot Act reform.

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