Outrageous. A state appeals court has told a gay man he must stay in the closet.

A state appeals court says a gay father must
keep his homosexuality in the closet when his son is around.

[link via e-mail from Pontificator.]

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Via Cursor:

The Carnegie Endowment of International Peace's "WMD In Iraq: Evidence and Implications," concludes that "Iraq was not an imminent threat, that UN inspections were working far better than realized, that our intelligence process failed, that officials misrepresented the threat, and, importantly, that war was not the best-or only-option."

Two Iowa aides of Howard Dean have been fired for trying to infiltrate John Kerry's campaign.

In a letter to the Kerry camp, Jeani Murray, Dean’s Iowa campaign manager, said the two were terminated after an investigation prompted by complaints by John Norris, who is running Kerry’s Iowa effort.

Norris complained in a letter to Murray earlier in the day that the two men claimed to work for Dean and approached the Massachusetts senator’s Creston, Iowa, office, earlier in the week asking about the operation. Norris said one of the men, Mitch Lawson, admitted Thursday to being employed by Dean and said they were trying to get their hands on “calling scripts.”

Also, Thursday, Gephardt made accusations against Dean alleging that he intended to have out of state workers come in to vote in the Iowa primary, a charge Dean flatly denied.

It's likely to get nastier as the primary gets closer. We don't think anyone benefits from dirty laundry.

Update: The NY Times reports voters in Iowa are having second thoughts about Dean, but not enough to throw the primary into disarray.

From the BBC (available at lexis.com)--also reported here:

Ousted leader Saddam Husayn has two years left to live as he is suffering from cancer in its advanced stage, the Kuwaiti news agency Kuna reported on 7 January, citing the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Anba.

"Doctors confirm that Saddam will die in two years' time," the paper said, quoting "a high-ranking Iraqi source". "During his visit to the country, a high-ranking Iraqi source disclosed to Al-Anba that Saddam Husayn, who is currently being held captive, is suffering from lymphoma, adding that the ailment has reached an advanced stage," the agency said.

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As we wrote here, the principal has resigned. Now it's time for the lawsuits to proceed over the ill-advised high school drug raids. Law Prof Glenn Reynolds (aka Instapundit) writes over at his MSNBC blog:

.... the law enforcement authorities who conducted the raid shouldn't escape responsibility for their misconduct as a result. Raiding schools with drawn guns is the sort of thing that should be limited to terrorist emergencies and hostage situations. It's not the proper way to look for a few bags of pot.

The question is whether other principals -- and law enforcement officials -- will take the lesson. I'm not sure they will, which is why I'd like to see the lawsuits go forward, and see the law enforcement officials who conducted the raid lose their jobs, too. Responsibility demands consequences.

The Supreme Court has reversed the stay of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals and federal court in North Carolina, thereby allowing an execution to proceed, despite defense arguments that one of the lethal injection drugs is so painful the execution would amount to cruel and unusual punishment.

The execution is set for 2am Friday. Background on the issue is here.

Bump and update:Judge now accepts the plea bargain, with some modification. Lea's lawyer says they are deciding whether to accept it.

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original post 1/7 6:25 pm

Bad news for Enron spouse Lea Fastow today. A judge rejected her plea deal.

The judge reportedly rejected it because it called for a five month sentence and did not give him the opportunity to give her a longer sentence if he thought one was warranted.

Her trial is set for Feb. 10. We suspect a revised plea deal will be submitted. The count to which she has agreed to plead guilty calls for a sentence of up to 16 months.

Lea's husband, Andrew Fastow, Enron's former financial chief, is negotiating before a different judge for a ten year sentence.

The Fastows' goal, as we reported here, was to have Mrs. Fastow out before Mr. Fastow went in, so one of them would be with the children.

Here's a look at the Enron cases scheduled for trial in 2004.

A sixteen year old's murder conviction has been overturned in Nevada after he has served fifteen years. He pleaded guilty upon advice of his lawyer who had told him that if he did not, a jury would sentence him to death because he was black and the victim was white.

Jimmie Davis was 16 when he was sentenced to life in prison without parole in 1988. In its ruling Wednesday, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said there was "almost no possibility" that a jury would have imposed a death sentence, given his age and the background of the case.

The court said Davis' counsel "failed to conduct a meaningful investigation" before recommending the guilty plea. "Perhaps most egregiously, it appears from the record that defense counsel may not have been aware that Davis was only 16 years old at the time of the offense," the court said.

Davis, 31, of North Las Vegas, has said he accidentally shot Brittain Gelabert with the stolen .38-caliber revolver she was trying to sell him for $100.....The attorney general's office had argued against his appeal and in support of the conviction, saying that even if the shooting was accidental it could be considered murder under state law.

Now the D.A. will decide whether to retry Davis. We think 15 years is enough and hopes the DA decides against it.

No, you didn't misread the title of this post. We are praising newly elected San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris who was sworn in today. From her remarks to the people of San Francisco:

We also need to reject simplistic, reactive public policies. It takes more than building prisons and locking away prisoners to keep our city safe. As district attorney, I will not use three-strikes enhancements unless the third strike is a violent or serious felony; nor will I ever ask for the death penalty. (emphasis our's.)

Don't forget to vote in the Moveon.org anti-Bush ad campaign, Bush in 30 Seconds. Here's our votes:

"If Parents Acted Like Bush" (Funniest)
"Al Keyda" (Best Youth)
"Brother, Can You Spare A Job?" (Best Animated)

Nice job by all involved.

The Judge in the Scott Peterson case gave a big victory to the defense today when he ordered a change in venue for the Scott Peterson murder case.

Defense lawyer Mark Geragos said in court papers that Peterson has been demonized and that the prosecution's argument ''can be boiled down to the old adage, 'Sure we can give him a fair trial, then we will take him out and hang him.'''

Geragos said surveys showed there was less bias against Peterson in Los Angeles, Sacramento, Alameda and Santa Clara counties.

The perp walk effect was also a factor, will prosecutors never learn?

When Peterson was brought in for booking, a crowd of more than 100 people waited outside the jail, some shouting ''murderer.''

Shades of Timothy McVeigh at the Noble County Courthouse in Oklahoma, being marched through the angry throngs shouting "baby killer."

Maybe this will be a lesson to prosecutors that they allow defendants to be demonized in the media at their peril.

We'll be discussing the change of venue and the prosecution request for a gag order in the Michael Jackson case with Lester Holt on MSNBC today.

Will someone please tell this former Judge that his 15 minutes are over?