A new CBS News poll has Howard Dean pulling away from the pack. That's not surprising. What is unusual is that the poll has Al Sharpton ahead of John Kerry and John Edwards. With 28% undecided, we'd say it's still an open call.
Howard Dean
23%
Wesley Clark
10%
Joe Lieberman
10%
Richard Gephardt
6%
Al Sharpton
5%
John Kerry
4%
John Edwards
2%
Carol Moseley-Braun
1%
Dennis Kucinich
1%
Don't Know
28%
We wonder if Lieberman got his bounce from Gore's endorsement of Dean or his neanderthal comments about Saddam. Either way, we don't expect it to last.
The Chair of the independent 9/11 commission says the attacks were preventable:
"This is a very, very important part of history and we've got to tell it right," said Thomas Kean. "As you read the report, you're going to have a pretty clear idea what wasn't done and what should have been done," he said. "This was not something that had to happen."
Kean is the former Governor of New Jersey and was appointed to the Commission by Bush. Oliver Willis, Daily Kos and Kevin at Lean Left have more.
If you're looking for a holiday gift for a true crime reader, we recommend The Brass Wall by New York Times reporter David Kocieniewski. The Village Voice has this review :
A true story, New York Times reporter David Kocieniewski's The Brass Wall is almost too juicy in its James Ellroy swagger to be believed. At the center is undercover detective #4126, Vinnie Armanti (or Vinnie "Blue Eyes" Penisi, as the local goombahs knew him), the definition of the hard-boiled New York cop. Retired from his undercover career, he's convinced by another detective to take on one last case. Ostensibly an investigation into the arson fire that took the life of a lieutenant in the Fire Department, it develops into a Byzantine trail leading to mobbed-up Bronx mooks, their crime-syndicate bosses, a coke-snorting cop who just happens to be the son of an influential Internal Affairs inspector, and Dad's friends in high and low places.
Rounding out this shady tale is a police-brass cadre willing to protect one of their own, no matter the consequences or charges, an up-and-coming crime-fighting New York mayor (guess who) who made his name fighting police corruption but built his career on police support, and a dedicated but small staff of NYPD and FBI investigators determined to see the case through to the end.
Posted on Wed Dec 17, 2003 at 04:39:48 PM EST
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The Santa Barbara County DA's Office has announced that charges of child molestation will be filed against Michael Jackson Thursday. On a related note, Kobe Byrant's pre-trial motions hearing is Friday.
We wonder how much Saddam coverage will be interrupted for these cases. Probably a lot. Saddam may be becoming yesterday's news. We read an interesting article yesterday regarding foreign interest in Saddam's arrest outside the Middle East. Apparently, it's barely news in China and India:
Outside Europe the media reported Saddam's capture, but with surprisingly little comment. The Chinese press quoted a routine comment from the foreign ministry spokesman, Liu Jianchao. He said China hoped that catching Saddam would be "conducive to the Iraqi people taking their destiny into their own hands, and to realizing peace and stability."
Papers in India, not by nature reticent in expressing their views, seemed on this occasion to take their cue from the puzzling reaction of Indian External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha. As reported in the India Daily, Sinha can hardly be said to have been bursting with suppressed excitement. "We have taken note that (Saddam) Hussein has been arrested in Iraq," he said. But did India welcome the news, he was asked. "It's only a question of taking note of a development," the minister replied carefully. "That's all."
The Australian lawyer for Guantanamo detainee David Hicks is the first civilian to visit one of the prisoners. He was there this week, and describes it as a "physical and moral black hole."
So why did an informant cough up Saddam's whereabouts? According to this article, "torture lite" played a role.
CNN explained: "It is unclear whether anyone will receive the $25 million bounty because the information leading to his capture came under duress." A "senior administration official" confirmed to Newsday that the man "didn't provide any information willingly." Col. Hickey told reporters that the informant first gave false information, and "there was three or four hours of questioning before he blurted Saddam's location."
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Posted on Wed Dec 17, 2003 at 02:43:46 PM EST
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A federal judge today granted John Hinckley's request for unsupervised visits to his parents. He has been at a mental facility since 1982 when he was acquitted by reason of insanity of shooting then President Reagan. Hinckley is 48.
Posted on Wed Dec 17, 2003 at 12:46:44 PM EST
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Bump and Update: A 91 page Indictment was returned against former Governor Ryan today.
The indictment alleges that for more than a decade Ryan let his friends wield great influence in state government and profit from his positions as secretary of state and later, governor. Ryan allowed some of his friends, who were not state employees, to steer state contracts in return for bribes and gave others insider information that they could profit from, while ignoring complaints of wrongdoing from employees and others.
In return, the indictment alleges, Ryan and his family received illegal cash payments, gifts, vacations and personal services from his friends and associates. The indictment did not list a dollar figure for Ryan but said members of his family got cash loans and gifts totaling $167,000.
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Original post 9:46 am
WBEZ Chicago is reporting credible rumors that former Illinois Gov. George Ryan will be indicted by a Federal grand jury today. Here's more from NBC5.com :
Former Gov. George Ryan, R-Ill., could be indicted by a grand jury as early as Wednesday, according to NBC5's Dick Kay and Sun-Times columnist Michael Sneed, who is also an NBC5 contributor.
Justice Department leaks indicate that Ryan will face charges of extortion, racketeering and income tax evasion. You can listen to WBEZ on line here.
Update: Here's why we think former Gov. Ryan still deserves to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
In Iraq war news today,
U.S. troops blasted down the gates of homes, raising cries of women and children inside, and smashed in doors of workshops and junkyards in a massive raid Wednesday to hunt for pro-Saddam Hussein militants and stamp out the increasingly bold anti-U.S. resistance.
Meet your new boss, same as the old boss? (credit to The Who.)
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The federal judge in the trial of the Detroit terror suspects issued a rebuke to Attorney General John Ashcroft Tuesday:
A federal judge publicly admonished Attorney General John Ashcroft for statements that could have compromised defendants' rights to fair trials in a high-profile terrorism case, but denied a defense motion that the attorney general be forced to appear in court to justify his actions.
U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen in Detroit, in an opinion released Tuesday, said Ashcroft had violated a court order regulating public statements in the nation's first major terror trial after Sept. 11.
Actually, Ashcroft suffered a double whammy Tuesday...the Federal Election Commission decided his unsuccessful 2000 Senate election campaign collected $110,000 in illegal contributions. The money was collected during a 1999 exploratory presidential bid. Can you imagine...Ashcroft as President?
Via Liberal Oasis:
From last night's Diane Sawyer interview with Bush, as she pressed him on the Administration's earlier comments that Iraq definitely had WMD:
SAWYER: But stated as a hard fact, that there were weapons of mass destruction, as opposed to the possibility that he could move to acquire those weapons still --
BUSH: So what’s the difference?
Changing course from yesterday, President Bush now says Saddam deserves the "ultimate penalty" --death. We disagree. It's one of the reasons--the others being shortcomings in newly established the Iraqi Governing Council--that we prefer Saddam be tried in an International Criminal Tribunal, such as the one in Sierra Leone which combines local and global justice.
That's what we said on Hannity and Colmes tonight--in addition to panning torture for Saddam. Looks like the New York Times agrees with us, here's their editorial for Wednesday, Trying Saddam Hussein:
The Bush administration rightly endorses openness, Iraqi participation and international legal norms, but it has expressed a preference for a trial conducted by Iraqis. It should instead support an internationally sanctioned tribunal based on the model of the one in Sierra Leone, which uses a mix of local and international jurists.
We said it first! We'll post our comments when the transcript comes out tomorrow. Actually, we can't take all the credit, we got the idea here.
An internationally led tribunal would be a far better option, whether a fully international tribunalor, more likely, an internationally run tribunal with significant domestic participation, such as the special court set up for Sierra Leone. Because its personnel would be selected by the United Nations rather than by Washington's surrogates, an internationally led tribunal is more likely to be seen as legitimate. And because it can draw from a global pool of talent, it would be better able to secure the experienced and fair-minded jurists than a court that must look only to Iraqis. An internationally led tribunal could still conduct trials in Baghdad and involve Iraqis as much as possible, but it would be run by international jurists with proven records of overseeing complex prosecutions and scrupulously respecting international fair-trial standards.
Update: Death penalty for Saddam has critics.
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