This just in from the folks at NIRR.org:

Free Danny Sigui – Stop Sigui’s Deportation

Danny Sigui was a key witness in a murder trial who helped win a conviction. He was turned over by the prosecutor’s office to the Department of Homeland Security one year before the trial ended for being undocumented.

For doing his civic duty, Danny Sigui is now being held in a maximum-security prison awaiting deportation. Please call the Department of Homeland Security and Rhode Island’s Congressional Delegation demanding Danny Sigui’s release. Why?

Today is the 101st day since Danny Sigui was put into immigration detention and deportation proceedings for the “crime” of doing his civic duty: providing key testimony that led to a conviction in a murder trial.

Danny Sigui is a Guatemalan who has worked as a mechanic and lived in Rhode Island for many years. He is a father of three children and was set to get married to his fiancée Mary Cordero, in August.

Law Professor and Political Analyst Susan Estrich writes in her LA Times column today that the groping allegations against Arnold are (1) no big deal (2) come too late to make a difference (3) amount to a dirty tricks campaign and (4) should not have been published by the LA Times.

As a professor of sex discrimination law for two decades and an expert on sexual harassment, I certainly don't condone the unwanted touching of women that was apparently involved here. But these acts do not appear to constitute any crime, such as rape or sodomy or even assault or battery. As for civil law, sexual harassment requires more than a single case of unwelcome touching; there must be either a threat or promise of sex in exchange for a job benefit or demotion, or the hostile environment must be severe and pervasive.

But none of these women, as The Times emphasizes, ever came forward to complain. The newspaper went looking for them, and then waited until five days before the election to tell the fragments of the story. What this story accomplishes is less an attack on Schwarzenegger than a smear on the press. It reaffirms everything that's wrong with the political process. Anonymous charges from years ago made in the closing days of a campaign undermine fair politics.

...Is this the worst they could come up with? Ho-hum.

We agree with her on the first three. We have no problem though with the Times reporting it - let the people decide. For the other side, go over and read one of our favorite writers, Jeanne D'Arc at Body and Soul.

Say Hello to U.S. Politics Today, a non-partisan service for political professionals. Great news headlines with links to the actual articles, and it's free.

In the ridiculous court decision of the day department,

A federal judge said this week that it was "foolish" for Metro Transit Police to handcuff a 12-year-old girl for eating a french fry on a subway platform, but he ruled that the transit system did not violate her constitutional rights.

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan dismissed claims by Tracy Hedgepeth that Metro Transit Police Officer Jason Fazenbaker illegally searched her daughter's backpack and treated her unfairly when he arrested her Oct. 23, 2000, after watching her enter the Tenleytown-AU Station and pop a single french fry into her mouth.

Fazenbaker and other Transit Police officers were posted at the station as part of a week-long sting to catch students snacking and breaking other Metro rules. At the time of the arrest, Metro police maintained that D.C. law allowed them to issue citations of up to $300 to adults caught eating in the Metro but required that minors be arrested and taken into custody. Police seized Ansche's jacket and backpack, removed her shoelaces and transported her to the District's juvenile processing center, where the crying girl was fingerprinted and held for three hours.

Lawyer Terry Kindlon, who sent us the article, says, "This story should be entered in the "Kenneth Lay is Still Not Charged With Anything" file.

The rumors were correct--Rush Limbaugh has retained famed Miami criminal defense lawyer Roy Black to represent him in connection with the Palm Beach drug investigation into his alleged purchases of painkillers.

The Palm Beach Post confirms our suspicion that Rush Limbaugh's housekeeper was granted immunity from prosecution for her role in selling narcotic painkillers to him.

Here's what the Palm Beach Post reports today:

The Drudge Report has this developing exclusive report:

President Bush expressed support of radio star Rush Limbaugh in conversations with top staff on Thursday, a senior administration source told the DRUDGE REPORT.

"Rush is a great American," the president said of the beleaguered host, who has championed the conservative movement for decades. "I am confident he can overcome any obstacles he faces right now."

Update: ABC News has confirmed that Rush Limbaugh is being investigated for allegedly buying illegal prescription drugs in the Palm Beach area.

Buzzflash interviews David Corn, Washington editor of the Nation, on CIA leaks in the Wilson-Plame affair--a story Corn broke. Here's a snippet of the interview about what Buzzflash calls "Treason Gate."

DAVID CORN: So say the reporters who have covered him over the years. Let's be fair to Karl Rove -- even if he isn't to his opponents. (Just ask John McCain!). He may or may not be involved in the leak, but he has a past record of engaging in below-the-belt politics. So if now he is a chief suspect, well, he brought that on himself. What goes around comes around. But the attacks on Wilson have been shameful. What a surprise, he's a Democrat! He also was widely praised -- by Bush the First, by Evans and Novak -- for his courageous stint as the last acting ambassador in Iraq before the first Gulf War. This is, as you know, not about Wilson. The only relevant issue is whether Bushies leaked sensitive information as part of a political hit job.

Of course, Wilson is mad. Wouldn't you be? Of course, he wants to raise a stink. But this is a campaign of blaming the victim. The strategic point here -- and there is one -- is for the GOP'ers to make this scandal look like another one of those nasty partisan mud-wrestles that the public never likes. Turn it into a political controversy, not a criminal one. Then it all comes out blurry and muddy in the wash. (Bad metaphor, I know.) But that is the intent: to fuzzy up the picture and cause people to shrug their shoulders and say, "it's just politics."

Little has been written in the press about the substance of the Prison Rape Elimination Act. We may have been too hasty in endorsing those who criticize the Act. Sometimes reform has to begin with small steps. Here are some of the beneficial provisions, according to information we have received:

The bill authorizes $40 million in rape prevention grants, establishes at DOJ a review panel with subpoena power to call to Washington prison and jail officials who run facilities with high incidences of prison rape, and establishes an independent national commission (not a Justice Department Commission) with the power to promulgate standards on prison rape that will apply to the overwhelming majority of prisons and jails in the country.

Smoking Gun has the search warrant that outlines the drug investigation that has embroiled Rush Limbaugh:

OCTOBER 3--Meet Louis Beshara and his wife, Gloria Rodriguez. The Florida couple are at the heart of the drug scandal now enveloping radio superstar Rush Limbaugh. Investigators allege that the duo illegally sold hundreds of thousands of prescription painkillers from a Palm Beach-area pharmacy they owned. According to a Palm Beach County Sheriff's search warrant affidavit, Beshara provided Hydrocodone, the powerful and addictive painkiller, to middlemen drug dealers like Joseph Coppola who then resold the pills to users. It has been reported that Limbaugh scored some of the Beshara pills via Wilma Cline, a former maid at the radio star's West Palm Beach mansion. Beshara and Rodriguez, who each face two felony drug trafficking charges, are free on bail, though Beshara is under house arrest. (8 pages)

WPTV, a TV station in West Palm Beach, has reported Rush has retained Roy Black, Miami's justly famed criminal defense attorney. Great choice.

As we said yesterday, you won't find much Rush-bashing here, although commenters are free to post their thoughts on him, his hypocrisy and his politics. We'll try to stick to details about the criminal investigation. Now that Rush is a subject of a criminal probe and may have some criminal liability, the issue to us becomes the misguided drug war that jails people for addiction and dependency problems.

If Limbaugh was overusing painkillers, we think it's a medical issue and we're not going to trash him for it. Drug dependency is a medical condition. It should not be a crime. If he is in legal trouble for it, we hope he gets the best legal help possible.

Yesterday we reported on Judge Lonnie Brinkema's order preventing the Government from seeking the death penalty against Zacarias Moussaoui as a sanction for the Government's refusal to comply with her prior order directing it to make 3 captured al Qaeda members available to Moussaoui to interview.

Actually, her order goes much further and bars all 9/11 evidence:

Exacting punishment for disobeying her orders, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema on Thursday barred the government from introducing any "evidence or argument that the defendant was involved in, or had knowledge of" the suicide hijackings.

The Government's options are now:

Ask the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., to restore the prosecution's full case.

Move the trial from a civilian court to a military tribunal, where rules might help the prosecution.

Proceed in Brinkema's court without the Sept. 11 evidence.

You can read the Judge's order here.

We received this from Dan at 5280, Denver's excellent glossy monthly magazine:

Bruce has been making similar statements for some time now, including at his recent show here in Denver.

The first comment (about impeaching the president) is a joke that he makes during the band introductions -- he offers up sax player Clarence Clemons as Bush's replacement, as well as "Emperor of Colorado" (or wherever they're playing that night). He's done similar schtick for years, during administrations of both parties. So, while I'm sure Bruce is no Bush fan, I don't think it's entirely accurate to say that Springsteen is calling for the president's impeachment.

The comments about holding our leaders accountable, however, are obviously made in all seriousness. At other shows (yes, I'm a bit of a fan), he has introduced the oft-understood "Born in the USA" as a "prayer for peace." Prior to the invasion, he opened a number of shows with Edwin Star's "War" ("what the hell's it good for? absolutely nothing").

What was new at the Shea gig were the pre-recorded soundbites of Bush
talking about WMDs. They preceded the show's opening number, a song called "Souls of the Departed," that was written after the first Iraqi war:

On the road to Basra stood young Lieutenant Jimmy Bly
Detailed to go through the clothes of the soldiers who died
At night in dreams he sees their souls rise
Like dark geese into the Oklahoma skies

Well this is a prayer for the souls of the departed
Those who've gone and left their babies brokenhearted
This is a prayer for the souls of the departed

That, I think, is a perfect demonstration of where Bruce's heart and art have always been focused: On the regular folks who are left to clean up the messes created by those in power.