Ohio bites the bullet and will pay Jimmy Spunk Williams $750k for the ten years he was wrongfully imprisoned:

The state will pay its largest wrongful conviction award ever to a man freed from prison after 10 years when a woman recanted testimony identifying him as the man who raped her when she was 12 years old. Jimmy "Spunk" Williams, 32, agreed Monday to a $750,000 settlement. The state also will pay about $84,600 in fees to two attorneys.

If only there was some way Mr. Williams could click his heels three times and go back to 1990 and get his ten years back too.

Update: California Governor Gray Davis today signed into law a bill to pay Rick Walker $400,000. Walker spent 12 years in jail for a murder he didn't commit.

Just in from AntiPolygraph.Org:

New Mexico is the only state in the United States where polygraph evidence has been routinely admitted in criminal cases. The New Mexico Supreme Court recently directed District Judge Richard J. Knowles to enter findings of fact and conclusions of law regarding polygraph testing. His report, (New Mexico Supreme Court No. 27,915) may be downloaded here.

After reviewing a large body of documentary evidence and hearing testimony from experts, Judge Knowles concluded that "[t]he results of polygraph testing are not sufficiently reliable for admissibility in courts in New Mexico."

No surprise here, but it's official: The 9th Circuit has reinstated the California recall election. Head over to How Appealing for all the details.

You can read the full decision here.

Update: The ACLU says it won't appeal. The recall will go forward October 7.

Neal Pollack is his usual funny self describing the President's interview on Fox News the other night. [link via Atrios.] He begins:

President Bush is too busy to talk to his dad more than once every two weeks. He's also too busy to read newspapers or watch TV, and gets all his information from trusted advisors. The White House has a putting green that he likes. The French need to understand that "our goals and ambitions are noble. We believe in peace. We strongly believe in freedom. Where we see suffering we will help."

And buy Neal's new book:

Never Mind the Pollacks : A Rock and Roll Novel
by Neal Pollack

A group of passengers has sued Jet Blue Airways in court in Utah for disclosing passenger data.

The suit, filed Monday, follows JetBlue's acknowledgment last week that, in violation of its own privacy policy, it had given information from about 5 million passenger records to Torch Concepts of Huntsville, Ala. Torch produced a study, "Homeland Security: Airline Passenger Risk Assessment," that was purported to help the government improve military base security. The class-action lawsuit, filed in Utah's 3rd District Court, alleges fraudulent misrepresentation, breach of contract and invasion of privacy.

Meanwhile, EPIC has filed a complaint against the company alleging deceptive trade practices with the FTC.

We've never flown Jet Blue but everyone we know who has says it's the best of the low cost airlines. The company has apologized for the data release, and stated that it provided "name, address and phone number, along with flight information, but absolutely no payment or credit card information."

The lawyer for the plaintiffs in the Utah suit has said,

"We got the sense that Mr. Neeleman wanted to make this right, so we commented in our lawsuit that we wanted to pursue the matter, but not in a way that would damage the financial viability of the company. It's a good company," McConkie said.

Then why seek compensatory damages? Why not seek a permanent injunction preventing them from doing it again? Between compensatory damages and legal fees to defend the lawsuits, Jet Blue will suffer.....which usually means airfares will rise, and that hurts the consumer. Bad move.

900 immigrants are boarding buses for a national Freedom Ride to raise the country's awareness on problems facing immigrants in the U.S.

Taking a page from the civil rights movement of the 1960s, the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride kicked off Saturday in 10 cities throughout the country, with 18 buses making planned stops in more than 100 communities.

Participants plan to hold rallies calling for improved workplace protections and recognition of immigrants' civil rights, regardless of their legal status. Buses are leaving from Seattle; Portland, Ore.; San Francisco; Los Angeles; Las Vegas; Houston; Minneapolis; Chicago; Miami; and Boston.

Destinations include Washington, D.C., for meetings with members of Congress on Oct. 1, and New York, where organizers hope to draw 100,000 supporters to an Oct. 4 rally.

More bad news for the leadership of the Air Force: a new report says they knew of the sexual assault problems at the Academy and failed to respond:

An investigative panel's report, released this afternoon, says that Air Force leaders at the Pentagon and the Air Force Academy knew about sexual assault problems at the school for years, but failed to respond. The independent commission, led by former U.S. Rep. Tillie Fowler, documented numerous failures by senior Air Force leaders. “The failure of the academy and Air Force Headquarters to respond aggressively and in a timely and committed way to eliminate causes of serious problems was a failure of leadership,’’ the commission’s report said. “Those responsible should be held accountable.’’

The full report is available here. Journalist Dave Cullen at Conclusive Evidence has been on this story since the beginning. Head over and see what he has to say about the new report.

In case you had any doubts that the Administration has not been truthful about its intentions vis a vis the Patriot Act, read this article in today's Washington Post that informs us that Bush is resorting to the Patriot Act in a 16-year-old deportation case . Here's a snippet:

The Bush administration has decided to pursue a 16-year-old effort to deport two Palestinian activists who as students distributed magazines and raised funds for a group the government now considers a terrorist organization, despite several court rulings that the deportations are unconstitutional because the men were not involved in terrorist activity.

A new CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll shows Gen. Wesley Clark tied with President Bush:

The CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll was conducted Sept. 19-21, beginning two days after Clark announced he would become the 10th Democratic candidate for the party's nomination.

Kerry and Lieberman also tied Bush, while Howard Dean and Dick Gephardt fell a little behind him. Bush's approval ratings aren't faring well either:

The president's job approval was 50 percent, with 47 percent disapproving. The public gave Bush high marks for having the personality and leadership qualities of a chief executive. But just over half, 51 percent, said they disagreed with the president on issues that matter most to them, while 46 percent agree.

Massachussetts has long been a state without a death penalty. If Governor Mitt Romney has his way, that may end. Romney announced today he has commissioned experts to draft a death penalty bill for the state.

Putting aside what you believe about capital punishment, this is just stupid in the current economic climate. Are Massachussetts citizens doing that well that they can afford the cost of $1-3 million per death penalty case--as opposed to a cost of $25-$30,000 per year to incarcerate an offender for life?

If we were citizens of Massachussets, we'd vote this Republican Governor out at the next election, and replace him with someone who has a higher regard for our hard-earned dollars.

Update: The Albany-Times Union ran this article on the cost of the death penalty Sunday:

Precise costs are difficult to pin down, but estimates suggest New Yorkers have spent more than $160 million during the past seven years prosecuting, defending and trying capital murder cases, which are exponentially more complex and protracted than ordinary felonies.

Sen. Hillary Clinton blasted the Bush Administration recently, charging he is trying to impose a radical right-wing agenda on the country. She also criticized him for trying to upend social programs, particularly medicare and social security.

We want more, Hillary. Unleash on Ashcroft next time.

Good for Europe! At least they have some sense when it comes to privacy rights.

Europe's willingness to cooperate with a security-conscious United States government appears to have reached its limit. The union's commissioner in charge of data protection issues, Frits Bolkestein, said that while the European Union continues to stand with America in the war on terrorism, it views the latest demands for information about airline passengers flying into the United States from Europe as going too far.