The military goofs again.....Guantanamo Chaplain Captain James Yee is freed, the espionage charges against him are dropped and now he faces new charges of adultery.

We've got court, conferences and more to tend to the rest of the day....before the grocery store and then the airport to retrieve our home-bound son. So, have at it, talk about what you want to, but please, play nice.

Author Sara Paretsky, who writes the popular V.I. Warshawski series, is afraid of the Patriot Act. So her new novel, Blacklist, has the heroine coming smack up against it. Good for Ms. Paretsky, what a great way to get a message out. Here's an interview with Ms. Paretsky in which she describes how the book came about. [link via Hamster.]

From Amazon:

Privilege, politics, and perfidy jointly propel the circuitous plot of Blacklist, Sara Paretsky's 11th novel featuring tenacious Chicago private-eye V.I. Warshawski. By the time this story runs its course, V.I. will have harbored an alleged Arab terrorist, resurrected the ghosts of America's 1950s anti-Communist hysteria, and questioned the integrity of a man she once admired "to the point of hero worship." In other words, it's a typical case for this hard-headed, sarcastic, and perpetually sleep-deprived sleuth.

James Goodno examines the San Francisco mayor's race between Democrat Gavin Newsom and Green Party candidate Matt Gonzales in At Bay.

So, liberal and progressive Democrats hold the key to what could be a competitive race. Gonzalez needs to get people who supported other left-leaning candidates in November to the polls -- and to capture an overwhelming majority of their votes. Newsom recognizes this, and both candidates are working overtime to corral support from unions, gay and lesbian organizations, liberal elected officials and progressive voters. They've each had some success.

This is the pivotal point to us:

Unlike Gonzalez, a former public defender, Newsom has not been a leader on social-justice issues.

This is another important distinction:

A look at the ballot initiatives the two leaders have supported further illuminates the differences between them. Newsom has ridden a pair of Rudolph Giuliani-esque proposals on homelessness to prominence. One would replace the relatively high cash payments certain homeless people receive with a package of services and much smaller cash disbursements. The second initiative would place tough restrictions on "aggressive panhandling." For his part, Gonzalez authored and campaigned for a ballot measure increasing the minimum wage in San Francisco.

Here's our last update on this race.

Nathan Newman watched an episode of The Practice, which has undergone a shift in cast and tone, and writes, " Dirty Harry for the Defense."

We don't think there is an increase in defense lawyers breaking rules to achieve justice in real life. It's a television show, folks. But Nathan writes a fun op-ed --we're going to tune in next time and watch for ourselves.

In a case of Abner Louima redux, a counselor at the nation's largest residential treatment center for troubled youths is being held on charges of sodomizing a juvenile resident with a broomstick:

Sometime between 9 and 10 p.m., the authorities said, the victim, a resident of Wolfe Cottage, one of 22 residences on campus, was chased and cornered in a shower room by 16-year-old Elliot Perryman, who sodomized him with a broomstick while Jason Brown, 29, an assistant cottage supervisor, held him down. It was unclear what prompted the attack, the police said.

The victim reported the assault to the staff on Friday and was treated at a campus infirmary and at St. Joseph's Hospital in Yonkers. The two suspects were arrested then and charged with first-degree aggravated sexual abuse, a felony carrying prison terms of up to 25 years. They are being held in the Westchester County Jail on $50,000 bail each for a hearing on Dec. 4.

....At Children's Village, a nationally known treatment center whose broad lawns and rolling hills offer sanctuary to hundreds of emotionally scarred children and youths, a small army of social workers, psychiatrists, teachers and counselors have sought in recent days to help the residents deal with the devastating allegations.

But there were no answers to the most troubling questions: How could a case of sodomy have occurred in an institution that prides itself as a sanctuary for troubled children? If true, why had it happened? And how could a counselor have taken part in such a thing? Ms. Stutz said it was useless to speculate, pending a full police investigation.

[comments now closed]

Say hello to Southern Exposure, a new group weblog on latin american affairs. One of the contributors is Randy Paul, author of the excellent blog on the same topic, Beautiful Horizons.[link via Calpundit]

The California Senate today voted to repeal the law allowing undocumented residents to obtain drivers' licenses. The Assembly is expected to vote the same tomorrow.

At least 17 senators who voted for the bill in September voted Monday to repeal it, while six others abstained from voting. The law's prospects collapsed in the face of a threatened initiative to repeal it, and the clout of Schwarzenegger, who called the Legislature into special session to overturn the law within hours of his taking office last week.

Schwarzenegger, who campaigned against the law signed by former Gov. Gray Davis, wants a compromise version that includes more safeguards and background checks on applicants.

We support drivers licenses for undocumented residents. This bill has always been our main point of contention with Gov. Arnold. Hopefully, the compromise version will not just give lip service to the program--but we're skeptical, since we are under the impression that the bill that passed required applicants to pass all driving tests, undergo criminal background checks, be in the process of applying for legal residency and have proof that they were employed and had lived in California for at least 15 months in the last three years. We think that's compromise a plenty and can't figure out what more could be needed.

This is unbelievable. Canada, which at least has appeared to be sympathetic to the plight of Maher Arar, whom the U.S. grabbed at JFK changing planes and deported to Syria where he says he was tortured, is now preparing to do the same thing to a suspect in its custody.

The federal government is moving to deport a suspected terrorist to Syria. Hassan Almrei, who recently ended a 40-day hunger strike at a Toronto-area jail, has admitted to using a false passport and making several visits to Afghanistan as a guerrilla fighter. Almrei, 29, will be deported within 2 1/2 weeks, a government official told a judge at a hearing Monday.

The Syrian refugee has been detained for the last two years on a security certificate, accused of being a part of an international document forgery ring with ties to al Qaeda. Almrei's last chance to stay in Canada now rests with a federal court judge, who could stay the deportation order until a court determines his status. A stay application is set to be heard on Wednesday in Toronto.

Almrei, who fled to Canada from Syria fours years ago and was given refugee status, says he will be tortured and maybe even killed if he is returned to the country of his birth.

How can a civilized country like Canada even contemplate returning a human being, any human being, to a country that practices torture? Its government today said relations with the U.S. have been strained by the Maher Arar case and called upon us not to send any more of its citizens to third countries--it has given lip service to considering an inquiry into the Maher Arar torture allegations.....yet it turns around and commits the same injustice against one of its detainees that the U.S. committed against Maher Arar?

Maher Arar sued Syria and Jordan today, charging he was beaten during his ten month detention there. No charges were filed against him. Arar is seeking "$31 million for kidnapping, false imprisonment and torture." We hope he gets every penny.

District Attorney Nola Foulston of Kansas tells Greta Van Susteren of Fox that she just got off the phone with Michael Jackson DA Tom Sneddon who emphatically said no love letters were seized from Michael Jackson's house. The finding of letters was reported by Diane Dimond on Greta's show last night. We really like Diane, but we think she might be better off flying to Salt Lake to investigate the Osmonds for jaywalking.

Despite the 24/7 media lynching of Michael Jackson the past five days, his new record has soared to number one in the UK. Fox News reporter Trace Gallagher said on tv tonight it's number 9 here, but the new Billboard will come out tomorrow. We're putting it on our wish list.

Fox News reporter Trace Gallagher also reports that hidden cameras recorded Michael Jackson, his make-up artist and Mark Geragos on their plane ride from Las Vegas to Santa Barbara. The plane was rented so it is doubtful the cameras were put there by Jackson. The company that owns the plane says the tape shows Jackson was calm on the ride, conferring with Geragos, and was not freaking out, vomiting, etc. as had previously been reported. The company is trying to sell the videos to the highest bidder.

Update: CNN reports on the accuser's dad.

Update: Article about cameras taping plane ride.

Update: Mother's divorce lawyer said she had only good things to say about Michael as late as April or May.

An attorney who represented the mother of Michael Jackson's accuser in her divorce from the child's father said the family never indicated to him that Jackson had sexually abused the boy. Attorney Michael Manning said Monday he remembers the mother saying positive things about Jackson as recently as April or May. ``'He was really good to us' - that's what she said at the time,'' Manning said. Asked if she had said anything else about Jackson, Manning added, "Nothing bad. ... If it turned sour, I don't know how.''

Update: Mark Geragos fumes over covert taping. He filed for and received a temporary injunction preventing the release of the tapes, which the plane company tried to sell to Fox for a six figure sum.

The city of Chicago has an ordinance that requires contractors with the city to disclose whether they have ever profited from slavery. Among the affidavits filed is one by Lehman Brothers, stating that the founders of the company, three brothers, bought at least one slave and may have owned more individually. The company was founded in Montgomery, Alabama in 1850. Of the 2,000 slavery affidavits filed to date, Lehman Bros. is the first to acknowledge the ties. Such admissions don't jeopardize the contract with the city--only lying on the affidavit will do that.

"I don't think it means that we're the only firm that has that part in our history. It just means that we took it very seriously and we're quick to disclose what we know," said Carole Brown, a senior vice president of the company and chairwoman of the board of the Chicago Transit Authority...."The Lehman Brothers in the 1850s is not the company that it is today," said Brown, who is black.

So, will the disclosure lead to reparations lawsuits?

The disclosure could encourage people to seek reparations from Lehman Brothers, experts said. "All of the efforts of the reparations movement ... have now paid off," Roosevelt University history professor Christopher Reed said.

Theresa Heinz Kerry weighed in on the Guantanamo detainees in Seattle. She said the detainees deserve prisoner of war status:

"They were captured while fighting a war," Teresa Heinz Kerry said at an informal discussion with minority activists in Seattle. "They should have the rights that other prisoners of war have had."

Heinz Kerry, the heir to the Heinz family's food fortune, said denying the detainees the protections of the Geneva Convention is "insulting, ignorant and insensitive" to the rest of the world.

She added that under President Bush, the United States, once known as the standard-bearer for human rights, is now considered a hypocrite. "The arrogance shown by this administration on human rights and in its foreign policy is horrible," she said.

So, does husband John agree? The article says yes, but if you read his position, the answer is no.

A spokeswoman for the Kerry campaign said Sen. Kerry supports his wife's position that the detainees should be given basic protections such as the right to an attorney. "As long as al-Qaida is actively trying to take down America, Sen. Kerry believes that these prisoners should be held as enemy combatants," spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said.

Unless Cutter got her candidate's position wrong, she's saying Kerry agrees with Bush, rather than his wife. Bush has emphatically and continuously insisted that enemy combatants are not prisoners of war and do not receive the protections of the Geneva Convention or our Constitution.

Maybe Theresa should be the candidate from the Kerry family.