Kinky Friedman is interviewed in Guess Who Wants to Be Governor--he's thinking about a 2006 challenge to Texas Governor Rick Perry.

His campaign slogan? "Why the Hell Not?"

Kinky says it's a no-lose proposition. ""I'll either come out of it with a book, a wife or be governor."

Politically and friendship-wise, he sounds a little too close to the Bushes (GW and Laura) for our taste, so from here on out you'll probably have to read about him elsewhere.

Rumors are re-surfacing that Ret. General Wesley Clark played a direct or indirect role in the Waco disaster because his army division supplied some military equipment to the siege effort and his deputy attended a high-level meeting five days prior to the fiery end. Response has been swift that the allegations of his playing a role are not true:

Federal law restricts the role of the military in civilian law enforcement operations and "we weren't involved in the planning or execution of the Waco operation in any way, shape, form or fashion," says retired Army Lt. Gen. Horace Grady "Pete" Taylor, who ran the Fort Hood military base 60 miles from the site of the Waco siege. Waco "was a civilian operation that the military provided some support to" and "any decisions about where the support came from were my decisions, not General Clark's," Taylor said this week.

"Clark's totally innocent in this regardless of what anybody thinks about him," says Taylor, Clark's former commander. "He played no direct role in this activity nor did any of us." Regarding Taylor's comments, Clark campaign spokeswoman Mary Jacoby said "this is exactly what we've said all along; Gen. Clark had no involvement."

Between August 1992 and April 1994, Clark was commander of the 1st Cavalry Division of the Army's III Corps at Fort Hood, Texas. We don't think Clark played a direct role. We say this even though, contrary to the Justice Department's conclusions from its official investigation headed by John Danforth (R-Mo), we don't believe the evidence shows the Branch Davidians started the fire, and we do think it shows the government shot weapons, used pyrotechnics and bad judgment and was otherwise at fault.

We agree with filmmaker Michael McNulty who says there are many unanswered questions about the deaths at Waco. We were fortunate to have worked with him some around that time (1997), and we've seen his award-winning movie, "Waco: The Rules of Engagement." It was very persuasive to us. The film earned an Emmy award for investigative journalism and an Academy Award nomination for best documentary.

In "Waco: A New Revelation", a 1999 film about Waco, McNulty presented evidence that federal agents used an explosive device to blast a huge hole in the roof of a bunker occupied by women and children. McNulty also alleged that on the final day of the siege, government agents fired bullets at the back of Mount Carmel as it burned, making it impossible for the residents to escape. As a result of McNulty finding a spent incendiary device in the Waco evidence room, the FBI and Justice eventually recanted their long-standing claim that only nonincendiary tear gas was used.

Regulation is on its way to Oakland through zoning laws:

Only in "Oaksterdam." Here, cafes sell marijuana for medicinal use with the studied casualness of a Starbucks offering double-shot, soy milk, no-foam lattes. The model, as the nickname indicates, is free-wheeling Amsterdam, where cafe patrons openly enjoy joints with their espressos or beers. But there is one big difference: Oakland doesn't have Amsterdam's clear-cut laws, which make such sales unquestionably legal.

...The City Council president has raised concerns over the clubs' proliferation and the lack of city enforcement powers over them. The council is considering new zoning or requiring permits for the cafes, which currently need only a general business license to open.

New crime statistics undercut support for the rash of Meagan's Laws enacted by states in recent years. The laws force sex offenders to register with the state and then provides their names and addresses to the public.

A recent Justice Department report suggests that state sex-offender laws may need revisiting. The study finds former sex offenders are much less likely to be rearrested than other former criminals after their release from prison.

The Justice report raises the question of whether these laws were overreactions to a few high-profile events, rather than reasoned legislation. At the least, the laws isolate and stigmatize those who have served time for a sex crime - a sort of excess punishment that may unfairly assume all sex offenders will tend toward the same behavior for life.

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.