Authorities in Florida are looking into whether Rush Limbaugh violated state money laundering laws by repeatedly withdrawing amounts of $9,900.00 from his bank account, presumably to pay to his pill dealer.

His lawyers say Rush was acting on the advice of his bank, which has since paid millions in fines for its erroneous advice to Rush and others to withdraw sums in that amount. Amounts over $10,000.00 trigger a reporting requirement and Rush didn't file the reports.

Amounts close to $10,000.00 are viewed as suspicious because authorites surmise that the person engaging in the transaction is structuring it to avoid the reporting requirement. Under Florida state law, knowingly structuring transactions can amount to money laundering.

Wesley Clark is drawing some major celebrities at his fundraisers:

Democratic Presidential hopeful Wesley Clark may have lured Boston's own Ben Affleck away from Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry. Affleck and his fiancee, Jennifer Lopez, turned out to listen to Clark make his pitch Sunday night at a Hollywood fund-raiser. "Ben thinks very highly of Clark," a pal tells us. "He's not ready to endorse anyone, but he's leaning toward him."

Hosts of the evening were Norman Lear, Irving Azoff, Jordan Kerner and Peter Morton, who opened his restaurant, Morton's, for a performance by the Eagles.

The event, which raised $350,000, also drew Kelly Lynch, Larry David, Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen (Steenburgen's and Clark's moms were best friends in Arkansas). Clark didn't stay to eat. Ever campaigning, he headed to Madonna's house for dinner with her Madgesty and about 10 other potential contributors.

[thanks to Hamster for the link]

Via TomPaine blog:

Shoot to kill. The White House asked British authorities to give U.S. special agents and snipers immunity if they shot protestors or other civilians during the president's visit to Great Britain. That was one of the many demands the White House made in preparation for the president's visit. Others were permission to close the Tube network, the use of U.S. air force planes and helicopters and the shipping in of battlefield weaponry to use against rioters. In the case of the accidental shooting of a protester, the Brits said no--the Americans in President Bush's protection squad will face justice in a British court as would any other visitor.

At least the Brits have some sanity left.

This comes as a surprise....police executed a search warrant today at Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch in California.

Police won't disclose the reasons for the search or what they are searching for, but there is speculation it could be connected to the investigation into the alleged illegal wiretapping activities of private investigator Anthony Pellicano. Pellicano worked for Jackson during Jackson's past abuse investigation. He began serving a jail sentence on unrelated charges yesterday.

Update: Court TV now reports that the search is related to a new sexual abuse investigation recently lodged by a 13 year old boy. Fox says the boy is 12 and there is an ambulance at the scene.

Update: Court TV's Diane Dimond is reporting on the scene. The ranch isn't in midtown Manhattan--or downtown LA. It's outside Santa Barbara. How did she get there so fast? She must have known the raid was going to happen. Court TV is billing her reports as "exlcusive." Here's another connection: Diane disclosed last week that she had told federal investigators about Pellicano's illegal taping of her calls when she was covering the 1993 Michael Jackson sex abuse investigation for Hard Copy.

Update: This article says that Jackson and his kids have been in Las Vegas for the past three weeks.

Update: Jackson's attorney Brian Oxman confirms the search involves molestation accusations by a 12 year old boy and that the investigation has been ongoing for months:

"The investigation is about a 12-year-old boy. This involves a molestation allegation," Oxman said in a statement. "Sheriff's deputies have been investigating this case for months. There's been an ambulance that has already come and gone. And there is a forensics van, on the scene. Here we go again. This is insane."

For our latest update on Pellicano, go here.

Update: We'll be discussing the Michael Jackson search on Hannity and Colmes tonight, following the discussion on the Scott Peterson case.

The four week long preliminary hearing of Scott Peterson ended today with a Judge ruling Peterson must stand trial for the murder of his wife Laci and the couple's unborn child.

We're not impressed with the State's case. The forensic evidence consists of a single hair of Laci's found in a pair of pliers on Scott's boat. There's no evidence as to when or how the hair got there or as to whether Laci was ever in the boat.

The police failed to follow up on leads of people sighting Laci after the time police say she disappeared. There's been no evidence that anything untoward happened in the home, as the prosecution contends.

We see a cheating husband whom police immediately tagged as a suspect and then followed and focused on relentlessly, until he became so uncomfortable with the scrutiny he moved back to his parents home in San Diego and changed his appearance to stop being recognized by the public.

We find no evidentiary value in his telling Amber Frey he was unmarried and a widower. There's no evidence to suggest he would intentionally harm his wife or unborn child.

It's not surprising the case was bound over for trial. Most cases are because the burden of proof is so low and the rules of evidence are so relaxed that untested hearsay is routinely admitted and considered by the Court.

We're scheduled to debate the evidence with former OJ cop Mark Fuhrman and Westchester DA Jeannine Pirro tonight on Hannity and Colmes.

This is very funny....from Big Channel News....the war on terror has ended with the capture of a famous suspect.

"Massachusetts' highest court ruled 4-3 today that same-sex couples are legally entitled to wed under the state constitution, but stopped short of allowing marriage licenses to be issued to the seven couples who challenged the law. The court ordered the Legislature to come up with a solution within 180 days."

The text of the opinion is here, courtesy of Grumpy Old Bear.

Update: Trish Wilson sat in on the legislative hearings in Mass., including those on
gay marriage and civil unions. (She had provided written testimony opposing the partial birth abortion ban which was being heard the same day.) Her observations about that day are here.

The Alaska Court of Appeals last week refused to overturn a decision allowing possession of marijuana for personal use:

The Alaska Court of Appeals has rejected a request by the state to reconsider a decision allowing adults to possess small amounts of marijuana for personal use.

In a ruling Friday, the court denied Alaska Attorney General Gregg Renkes' petition for a rehearing in the case of David Noy, a North Pole man who was arrested in 2001 after he was found with marijuana in his home.

The state now will seek review by the Alaska Supreme Court. Among the grounds: pot is more potent today than it was when the law was enacted.

The ultimate goal, Guaneli said, is for the state to be able to prove to a court that marijuana is stronger and is causing more harm in Alaska than back when the 1975 Ravin decision came out. Then the state might be able to show it has a strong enough interest in making it illegal to override the constitutional questions.

For background on this legal fight, go here. [hat tip: Jacob Sullum at Reason]

The National Security Archive of George Washington University has released the second of a two part report on Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. It's called Justice Delayed is Justice Denied and is available here. Beginning on page 5, it lists the ten oldest unfulfilled FOIA requests, some of which were filed more than ten years ago.

Democratic Underground reports:

Read this official budget carefully and you will see that Bush is gearing up the draft--there is no longer any doubt about it. Selective Service must report to Bush on March 31, 2005, that the system is ready for activation within 75 days. So on June 15, 2005, expect the announcement that the first draft lottery since Vietnam will be held for 20 year-olds.

Here is where the DU rubber hits the road, my friends. This is a DU EXCLUSIVE as far as I know, so please read this one carefully and let me know what we are going to do about it. To put this all into context, the SSS has lain basically dormant for decades and now in the 2004 budget, Bush has added $28 million to get the whole thing ready to fly in 2005. The 4 performance goals below basically make the system ready for activation.

Their source? The Selective Service itself.

D.U. says, "VOTE FOR BUSH IN 2004, BE DRAFTED IN 2005!!

President Bush's trip to Great Britain promises to be anything but smooth. The Mayor of London calls him "the biggest threat to life on this planet that we've ever seen."

More on the Mayor, Ken Livingstone:

Mr Livingstone, who is holding a "peace party" for anti-war groups in City Hall tomorrow, added: "I don't formally recognise George Bush because he was not officially elected. So we are organising an alternative reception for everybody who is not George Bush."

There will be 16,000 police officers guarding him. Thats one of every nine police officers in England and Wales. The tab: at least £7m, paid for by the British taxpayers.

100.000 demonstrators are expected at a demonstration in Central London Thursday.

Here is Bush's schedule.

The death penalty phase is underway in the trial of convicted sniper John Muhammad. Trying to convince jurors to vote for life after a conviction for a heinous crime is always difficult. It is even more so when the defense does not acknowledge committing the crime during the guilt phase. Here's how Muhammad's lawyers plan to proceed:

Jonathan Shapiro, one of Muhammad's attorneys, pleaded for his client's life with a short, somber statement to jurors. Shapiro said that nothing the attorneys say can excuse the crimes, that the defense will explain how Muhammad's life experiences affected him.

Shapiro said evidence will show that Muhammad took the loss of his children "extremely hard" and that he used to live a productive life as a "solid, hard-working guy" who was very attentive to his children. He asked jurors to find something in Muhammad worth saving. "You will put him in a box of one sort or the other," Shapiro said. "One is made of concrete, and one is made of pine."

On one capital count, Muhammad was convicted under Virginia's new terrorism statute. Years of appeals will follow, first in the state and then in the federal courts, over whether this law is unconstitutionally vague and whether it was intended to apply to the kind of crime spree Muhammad and Malvo engaged in. Also, under the terrorism statute, the community at large is the victim. We think that makes everyone in Virginia ineligible to sit on the jury. Another grounds for appeal.