How refreshing this is to read:

Presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye on Thursday said the result of President Arroyo’s consultation with members of the Senate and the House of Representatives on the issue showed that eight senators and 125 congressmen favor repealing Republic Act 7659, or the Death Penalty Law.

...During President Arroyo’s term, no convict has even been executed, notwithstanding that the President lifted the moratorium in October of 2001 and restored it again after six months.

On Tuesday President Arroyo closed the book on the possibility of lifting the moratorium on the death penalty, saying executions do not guarantee a reduction in crime rates. She said the solution to reducing crime incidents is to overhaul the criminal justice system.

“The President already made a policy statement that capital punishment is not the answer; the better alternative is to strengthen the justice system,” Bunye said.

Two welcome new court rulings, one in Michigan and one in Pennsylvania, show juveniles aren't always second class citizens.

In Pennsylvania, the state Supreme Court struck down "suspicionless" school drug testing, saying the goal of stopping drug use does not justify them.

The theory apparently is that, even in the absence of any suspicion of drug or alcohol abuse, it is appropriate to single these students out and say, in effect: 'Choose one: your Pennsylvania constitutional right to privacy or the chess club,' " Justice Ronald D. Castille wrote in a 32-page opinion.

"What lesson does a program targeting the personal privacy of some but not all students and lacking both individualized suspicion or any reasoned basis for a suspicionless search teach our young?" Castille wrote.

In Michigan, the court ruled police cannot ask juveniles to submit to breath tests without a search warrant. The First Amendment trumps any state interest in preventing underage drinking.

The right to be left alone in public places ranks high on the hierarchy of entitlements that citizens in a free society have come to expect, at least in the context of citizen-police encounters," wrote [Judge] Lawson, who presides over the Eastern District's court located in Bay City.

Lawson said the city's ordinance is designed to gather evidence of crime, and concludes that "the ordinance's blanket authorization of warrantless searches is repugnant to the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution."

[links via How Appealing]

Somethings rotten in the Pennsylvania State Police department--in the past 8 years, 107 troopers have been arrested and 82 have been charged with crimes. The disclosure was made after reporters requested the information.

Of the troopers involved, 82 were charged with criminal offenses - such as rape, assault and driving under the influence - according to the list compiled by the Bureau of Professional Responsibility and the Department Disciplinary Office.

Of 89 criminal cases prosecuted by local authorities, 36 charges resulted in convictions or troopers pleading guilty. In 33 charges, troopers were acquitted. Twelve troopers had their records expunged by the courts; eight have cases pending.

Twenty-five troopers faced charges stemming from summary violations, such as harassment and disorderly conduct, officials said. Of those, nine troopers were convicted or pleaded guilty, and 16 were acquitted.

The police department puts some creative spin on the high numbers.

The release "illustrates clearly that state police aggressively investigates and prosecutes alleged wrongdoing by its members," he said.

Last April we wrote about the Feds Purchasing Commercial Data to Track Foreign Citizens. The company buying the information is an Atlanta company named ChoicePoint, Inc.

Last week, three Mexican officials were arrested and may be charged with treason for their part in providing the information to ChoicePoint without the approval of the Mexican Government.

Mexican authorities have placed three officials of a data base company under house arrest and are considering charging them with treason for allegedly providing information on 65 million Mexican voters to a U.S. company that resold the information to the U.S. government.

The U.S. sought the list, which reportedly contained addresses, passport numbers and even unlisted phone numbers, to conduct investigations involving Mexican citizens without having to contact Mexican law enforcement.

Counterterrorism experts are criticizing Bush and the war in Iraq, saying that it is diverting resources from the fight against Al Qaeda and terrorism:

Experts who have served in top positions in both Republican and Democratic administrations are increasingly suggesting that the Iraq war has diverted momentum, troops and intelligence resources from the worldwide campaign to destroy the remnants of al-Qaeda.

They note that the presence of U.S. troops in an Arab homeland is serving as a major recruiting tool for signing up and motivating new jihadis, or Islamic holy warriors.

"Fighting Iraq had little to do with fighting the war on terrorism, until we made it [so]," said Richard Clarke, who was a senior White House counterterrorism official under Bush and President Bill Clinton.

And we thought we were the only ones who have, every Thanksgiving at noon for the past three decades, turned on our local radio station knowing that it would be playing our favorite 25 minute version of Arlo Guthrie's version of Alice's Restaurant.

Today it was on at 1pm and the station said demand was so great from people that no longer had the record, that they would replay it at 7 pm. We sang along with every word.

Now we read a Common Dreams op-ed by Ira Chernus saying that the playing of the song is A Thanksgiving Ritual for '60s-Style Activists:

Out here on the left fringe of '60s-style activism, we don't go in much for ritual. We lefties are about freedom, innovation, always finding a new and better way to do things.

Still, there is something to be said for ritual. It creates an illusion that things never change, that we can turn back the clock for a moment and pretend things are still the way they used to be. Maybe it's having dinner with the same folks every Thanksgiving, or fixing the trimmings in the same way each year. In my house, it's turning on our local public radio station and waiting for that magic moment when we can start singing along with Arlo.

Ira, it's a ritual in our house too. Ira continues:

Democratic Presidential contender Wesley Clark announced at a New Hampshire campaign stop Wednesday that he would suspend portions of the Patriot Act.

Democratic presidential candidate Wesley Clark said Wednesday that he would suspend all provisions of the USA Patriot Act dealing with “sneak-and-peek” searches and wiretaps without court orders against suspected terrorists.

“We’re going to suspend that right away. If you want to go do a ‘sneak-and-peak’ search or do a wiretap, go back to the judge and do it the right way, none of this other stuff,” he said.

Clark also said Ashcroft would not get expanded powers if he were President:

Clark said he would oppose the tighter restrictions that Ashcroft has asked Congress to approve. “Number one, no new Patriot Act, forget it, we’re not going to do that,” Clark said to applause.

Where are the other candidates on the Patriot Act?

Among the Democratic candidates, North Carolina Sen. John Edwards has offered his support for proposals that would require law enforcement to provide more rationale before doing “sneak-and-peek” searches, which can range from personal financial records to books borrowed from public libraries.

Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry supports legislation that would limit “sneak and peek” warrants only to when a life is at stake, evidence may be destroyed or there is a risk of flight, a Kerry spokesman said.

Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich has called for the repeal of the entire act. Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean and Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman have criticized the act, but have yet to endorse any plan to change it. Edwards, Kerry and Lieberman all voted to put the Patriot Act on the books two years ago.

We've written a few times about the bill passed by Congress last week that now awaits Bush's sure signature--the bill expanding the power of the FBI to seize business records through submission of 'national security letters' without every having to approach a judge.

Warblogging has a long and scary analysis of what it means for non-terrorist Americans.

A British Judge joins the fray over the indefinite detention of prisoners at Guantanamo, calling the U.S. policy a " monstrous injustice."

Lord Steyn, a serving law lord, said the United States was acting illegally by holding the men without trial since their transfer from Afghanistan early last year.

"By denying the prisoners the right to raise challenges in a court about their alleged status and treatment, the United States government is in breach of the minimum standards of customary international law," he said.

As to the military tribunals, Lord Steyn said:

"The term 'kangaroo court' springs to mind. It derives from the jumps of the kangaroo, and conveys the idea of a pre-ordained arbitrary rush to judgment by an irregular tribunal which makes a mockery of justice.

The law lord left his audience in no doubt where his own feelings lay by quoting the famous meditation of John Donne, the 17th century poet and preacher: "No man is an island, entire of itself . . . Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee."

Lord Steyn, 71, the third most senior law lord, said that under English law the writ of habeas corpus would protect citizens and foreigners. That was consistent with human rights law, which Lord Steyn concluded, the US had broken.

[comments now closed]

The troops celebrated Thanksgiving at Guantanamo:

Yesterday, it was the end of the Muslim holdiay Ramadan. Today, it's Thanksgiving. The prison at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba has marked the holidays with traditional cuisines.

The prisoners got lentils, baklava, dates and chicken stew yesterday. Their captors are eating turkey, stuffing, cranberries and pumpkin pie today.

The base holds some 660 prisoners from 44 countries captured in the war with al-Qaida and other militant groups. International human rights groups accuse the U-S of denying the prisoners justice. More than 20 of the men have attempted suicide.

Update: Red Cross Slams U.S. over detainees at Guantanamo [link via Counterspin]

Update: Guantanamo guards celebrate in new facility.

Gov. Arnold has paroled a second killer--this time a woman who killed her husband's mistress.

What a welcome change from Gray Davis on this issue.

Now the U.S. is taking hostages....

U.S. soldiers have arrested the wife and daughter of Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, a former Iraqi general who is believed to have been helping Hussein loyalists regroup and coordinating attacks against the coalition, Maj. Gen. Ray Odierno said Wednesday.

In the arrests, the two women, along with the son of al-Douri's doctor, were found by soldiers from the Army's 4th Infantry Division in a raid on a house near Samarra late Tuesday. They were being held for interrogation.

"We believe that they might have some information on where [al-Douri] is traveling, how he is moving," Odierno said.

Billmon explains how this is in violation of the Geneva Convention.