Dennis Kucinich has qualified for matching funds. He's raised at least $100,000, with $5,000 coming from people in 20 states, in individual contribution amounts of $250 or less.

The Federal Election Commission has declared Rep. Dennis Kucinich qualified to receive federal matching funds, making the Ohio congressman eligible for up to $18.6 million, the FEC said Wednesday.

We hope this means the press will put reporters back on his campaign. Doesn't this make him a bona fide candidate worthy of media coverage? We think he has the best stand on issues, so we want more people to hear what he has to say.

Meanwhile, John Kerry has taken out a personal mortgage of $6.5 million on his home to finance his campaign. Maybe Kerry is thinking Dean will peak early and that the nomination is Dean's to lose. That's a big risk, but who knows?

Howard Dean is touting his Christianity. We wish he wouldn't.

Presidential contender Howard B. Dean, who has said little about religion while campaigning except to emphasize the separation of church and state, described himself in an interview with the Globe as a committed believer in Jesus Christ and said he expects to increasingly include references to Jesus and God in his speeches as he stumps in the South.

Eric Alterman's new Nation column is up--read why Howard Dean is a true threat to Washington.

Check out Jeb Bush's comments as he spoke to the inmates Wednesday at the inauguration of Florida's first faith-based prison:

During the dedication ceremony, many of the prisoners jumped to their feet, smiled brightly and clapped in rhythm as a gospel singer performed "His Eye is on the Sparrow." Some shouted "Sing it!" and "Amen!"

Bush told the inmates, "I can't think of a better place to reflect on the awesome love of our lord Jesus than to be here at Lawtey Correctional. God bless you."

While many prisoners loudly applauded Bush, some remained seated throughout the ceremony, staring straight ahead with no expression.

We're surprised no one booed. Oh, right, those who didn't want to participate were given the option of transferring out before inaugural day. Where's the ACLU on this? Right here:

Howard Simon, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, called the prison program part of "a major constitutional showdown on the legality of his preference to replace government programs with religious programs." He said the ACLU is waiting for the results of a test case challenging a state law authorizing school vouchers, which 85 percent of recipients use to enroll in religious schools.

So how is a faith-based prison different from all other prisons? Here's the revised daily schedule at the prison according to Palm Beach Post columnist Frank Cerabino.

Politics in the Zeros has the latest Ashcroft memo--

From: John Ashcroft, US Attorney General

To: Tom Ridge: Department of Homeland Security

Subject: Santa Claus: Threat to the nation

This Santa character. We need to keep an eye on him. He dresses in red and appears to be a ringleader for wealth distribution across the planet, with this giving-away-toys-for-free ploy of his. Seems like a damn Socialist to me. And I find those talking reindeer flying through the sky to be highly suspect. Witchcraft, that's what it is!

However Santa does have a potentially highly useful list of who's been good and who's been naughty. If we could gain control of this list, it could prove useful in our fight against terrorism - and against our political enemies too!

I propose we preemptively arrest this Santa character on some pretext, cruelty to reindeer or violating labor laws by making the elves work without overtime pay. Yes, we will have to arrest him based on those noxious liberal animal cruelty and labor laws, painful as this may be to us - however, hear me out.

We arrest Santa, then lean on him. Sleep deprivation, etc. Let's get that naughty/nice list! Feed it into Department of Homeland Security computers, and I'll bet we'll be able to indict, prosecute and jail tens of thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands!

Have a blessed Christmas!

John Ashcroft

There's more about the Santa Conspiracy, go read. Also, Hessiod at Counterspin has some news of investigations related to Ashcroft.

A mentally retarded teenager from Guinea has been freed after 3 years in detention.

Mr. Jarno, described by his lawyers as mentally retarded, had been held in an adult correctional facility in York, Pa., that also houses other illegal immigrants. He and his case became a symbol for the thousands of child immigrants who arrive alone in the United States and are then detained by immigration services.

Asa Hutchinson, under secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, signed the order--after pressure from Congress:

In a letter to Mr. Hutchinson in August, members of Congress contended that Mr. Jarno was a victim of "reprehensible mistreatment" by federal immigration officials.

Susan Benesch, a spokeswoman for Amnesty International U.S.A. in Washington, said: "We are delighted that Malik is finally out of detention, but of course remain concerned about any juveniles who are needlessly spending months and even years in detention. I hope that people will remember that while his case is especially heart-rending, there are so many others."

There are 500 detained immigrant children in the U.S. They are treated as detainees first, and children second. Among those who weren't so lucky: a 13 year old from Ghana, also detained three years, who lost his bid to stay in the U.S. this month and will be deported:

The 9th Circuit has ruled that it's legal, although deplorable, for prosecutors to convict two persons for the same crime when they know only one can be guilty.

In a 2-1 ruling Monday, the court upheld a 16-month increase in Jonathan Shaw's prison sentence for a 1995 restaurant robbery in Fairfield, based on the jury's conclusion that he held a gun to the restaurant manager's head.

In a separate trial more than two years later, prosecuted by the same Solano County district attorney's office, another jury found that a second participant in the robbery, Mango Watts, was the one who held the gun to the manager's head, a finding that added 10 years to Watts' sentence. That jury was unaware of Shaw's verdict.

Like other courts that have reviewed the case, the appeals court said only one of the two men could have wielded the gun, but no law prohibits prosecutors from making inconsistent arguments to different juries, as long as they don't falsify the evidence. "There is little doubt that the actions of the prosecutors in the case before us may be characterized as something between stunningly dishonorable and outright deplorable,'' said Judge Cynthia Holcomb Hall in the majority opinion.

We agree with the dissenting judge who said:

We finally found our Christmas story. Darryl Hunt was released from prison today after serving 18 years of a life sentence for a murder he did not commit. Hunt is 38 years old.

Through two trials and several hearings over nearly two decades, his supporters had accused police and prosecutors of railroading Hunt with questionable witnesses despite the lack of physical evidence tying him to the crime. Then, last week, investigators looking into the case came up with a new DNA match - tying the crime to another man, Willard E. Brown, 43.

Police suspected Brown in the Sykes case early on after he was identified by the victim in another downtown rape. But investigators ruled him out because they believed he was in prison the day Sykes was killed as she walked to work at the now-closed Winston-Salem Sentinel. Investigators learned last week, after a database search of DNA samples turned up Brown's name, that he had been released on parole two months before Sykes died.

....Hunt was first convicted in Sykes death in 1985, but he won a new trial after a city manager's report blasted the police department for shoddy work in the investigation and the State Bureau of Investigation began its own investigation. At the second trial, in 1990, he was convicted again.

Even though DNA testing four years later excluded Hunt as the source of the semen collected from the crime scene, a judge denied Hunt's motion for a third trial, saying the DNA results didn't necessarily clear him of involvement. Hunt continued to fight the conviction, and earlier this year, at the request of his attorneys, a new round of DNA testing was ordered to compare the Sykes sample against state and federal databases of DNA profiles taken from convicted felons. That testing turned up the match with Brown.

Brown, already jailed for a probation violation, is now is now charged with murder, rape, kidnapping and armed robbery. He could face the death penalty if convicted.

Mr. Hunt, in a telephone call from jail on Tuesday, had this to say:

"Basically I was trying not to get overexcited because we had been close before and let down," Hunt said. "Everyone was basically wishing me luck, telling me this was finally it. They were praying for me, the guards and the inmates."

Here's an update on Jeb Bush's attempt to install 'faith-based' prisons in Florida. Our background post on the issue from Dec. 3, when Ashcroft went to Florida to push the program, is here, .

It's not just Jeb. GW wants to institutionalize religious bias as well, as we reported here.

Bush is trying to get Congress to exempt religious groups from adhering to anti-discrimination laws on hiring policies. He wants the groups to be able to discriminate based on religion and sexual orientation.

Ridiculous Congressional comment of the day comes from Tom Tancredo (R-CO) from an interview in a conservative publication:

I talked to a man who headed up a gang unit out of Los Angeles. He told me that there were five cities -- Compton, California, near Los Angeles, was one -- that were completely taken over by the Mexican Mafia. He said they had taken over the city council, the mayor’s office, the police chief…it has become simply another place for illegal drug activity in an institutionalized fashion. He said they couldn’t bust anybody in town. They can't talk to the police in these towns.

LAPD Chief Bill Bratton must be laughing out loud.

More from Tancredo--he's against legal immigration too.

So what we are seeing is a phenomenon that is really disturbing and it’s all about numbers. People talk about illegal immigration being a problem. It’s not just illegal immigration: it is immigration both legal and illegal, on a massive scale.

[link via Walter in Denver]

Attorney Dick Atkins provides a free initial consultation (+1 215 977 9982; Dickatkins@aol.com). He has helped thousands of Americans obtain release after being arrested in other countries. In this month's National Geographic Adventurer, he provides some tips in The Atkins Zone--The Houdini of fast escapes from international prisons advises on how to get out—and stay out—of jail while traveling abroad. Plus, some good reasons to avoid getting slammed in these six notorious tourist traps.

First, the numbers. 10,000 Americans are arrested overseas every year. The State Departments numbers are less because they don't count the ones that bribe themselves out of all but a few days in the pokey.

"Families are almost always shocked when they hear about the condition of a loved one who has been incarcerated overseas," says Atkins.

He should know. Having spent the past 23 years helping Americans get out of legal trouble abroad, Atkins approximates that he has helped win freedom for more than a thousand Americans being held in foreign custody. His services are sought by congressmen seeking help for detained constituents, travel insurance agents looking into high-stakes claims, and people who call his hotline, which offers around-the-clock legal advice.

Atkins is well-regarded in the international legal community.

Atkins's success in freeing incarcerated Americans abroad hasn't gone unnoticed. He has testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on international prisoner transfer agreements and wrote a guide to prisoner transfer treaties for the UN. For years, human rights organizations like Amnesty International have referred clients seeking help for friends or loved ones in trouble abroad, and his expertise as the Houdini of hard times has been documented by newspapers like the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.

Here's some of his latest free tips -- we hope you never need to use them:

President Bush is expected to announce a new immigration plan in January--as a kick-off to his reelection campaign:

Lobbyists working with the White House said Bush is developing a plan that would allow immigrants to cross the border legally if jobs are waiting for them. The sources said the administration also wants to provide a way for some undocumented workers in the United States to move toward legal status.

Bush will try to make the plan more palatable to conservatives by including stricter entry controls, including increased use of technology at the border and steps toward better enforcement of current visa restrictions and reporting requirements, sources said.

Bush said at his year-end news conference last week that he was preparing to send Congress recommendations for an "immigration policy that helps match any willing employer with any willing employee." He said he is "firmly against blanket amnesty," or a mass legalization. An estimated 8 million undocumented people live in the United States. At least half of them are Mexican, authorities said.

Of course, this is geared towards getting the 2004 hispanic vote.

A leading Bush adviser said that, given the crucial swing vote Hispanics could provide next November, "the White House feels it's got to get its irons in the fire now."

MaxSpeak has moved to MT and a new home, update your bookmarks!

Say hello to Lotus...Surviving a Dark Time and Donkey Rising.

Blogrunner tracks weblog conversations and has the most frequently referenced weblog posts published in the previous 24 Hours.

Skippy has the link to Michael Moore's letters from the troops.

Walter in Denver will be blogging through the holidays. If you will be too, let us know in the comments section.

Dave at Seeing the Forest says the news of mad cow disease in the U.S. will kill the beef industry

Things are going to happen fast now. By the time we wake up tomorrow there will be no beef industry in the US. This is because we have no real inspection system -- the corporations have bought off the government -- and our Agriculture Secretary is corporate lobbyist Ann Veneman.

Greg at Soundbitten points out some inconsistencies in Rush's various statements over the past few months, concluding:

Supposedly cured after 30 days of self-examination and hard reckoning, Limbaugh seems like he's still pretty much thinking like a junkie: he didn't do anything wrong, except for all the wrong stuff that he did, but that stuff wasn't really his fault…