The Washington Post reports how former Priest John Geoghan died:

John J. Geoghan, the former priest and convicted child molester killed in a Massachusetts prison Saturday, was followed into his cell just after lunch by a fellow inmate who bound and gagged him before strangling him with a bed sheet, according to a union representative for prison guards.

The attacker, whom authorities identified as Joseph L. Druce, jammed the electronically operated cell door to prevent guards from opening it. He tied Geoghan's hands behind his back with a sheet and gagged him. He then repeatedly jumped from the bed in the cell onto Geoghan's motionless body and beat the defrocked priest with his fists.

Only one correction officer was on duty in the protective custody unit at the time, according to an account of the attack provided by Robert Brouillette, an executive of the Massachusetts Correction Officers Federated Union, who interviewed correction officers for seven hours Saturday.

The U.S. military has announced it is building a fifth prison camp at Guantanamo. Seems they need more space to hold detainees, and greater interrogation facilities.

Camp V will make room for 100 more detainees, increasing the capacity at the remote naval base in eastern Cuba to 1,100, Lt.-Col. Pamela Hart said in a telephone interview.

At least the "open-air, chain-link cells that some likened to animal cages" are gone, having been replaced by "trailer-style quarters where detainees have a metal bed, a sink, and flush toilets."

Meanwhile, preparations continue for possible military tribunals, with a courthouse and permanent detention centre for any convicts. The tribunals also have power to impose the death sentence but officials said they have not built an execution chamber, though they have plans for every eventuality.

Construction is underway, but the new facilities won't be ready until next year. Talk about planning ahead....

Remember the website "Turn Left", whose tag line was "the home of liberalism on the web"? Turns out it is no longer being updated and visitors are being directed to the daily blog of its webmaster, Mike Silverman. Silverman's blog, Red Letter Day, links to sites such as Little Green Footballs and U.S.S. Clueless. We couldn't identify any left-leaning blogs on its blogroll.

These were the issues addressed by the old Turn Left. We're sorry it's gone and feel somewhat cheated that it was maintained by someone who apparently did not believe in its core values.

Second Bump and Update: Several news sources reported the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley, MA where Geoghan was doing time and murdered is a medium-security state prison about 40 miles northwest of Boston. See also, this LA Times article.

Other news sources say it's one of the state's most secure prisons.

Which is it? There are two prisons in Shirley, MA, one medium security facility, and the Souza-Baranowski prison, which is maxium security.

The murder occurred at the Souza-Baranowski prison. So the LA Times got it wrong , as did the New York Times when they reported Souza-Baranowski prison in Shirley is a medium-security facility.

Here's some data on the Souza-Baranowski prison:

Officially opening on September 30, 1998, this 500,000 square foot, high-tech, maximum security facility consists of 1024 general population cells, 128 special management cells, and 24 health service beds....Incorporating one of the largest camera matrix systems in the country, 366 cameras record live 24 hours a day. (emphasis supplied by us.)

So let's see the tape. How did this happen? Where were the guards?

And where are the fact-checkers at the LA Times and New York Times?

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Bump and Update: The San Francisco Chronicle reports Geoghan was in protective custody. The inmate who allegedly strangled him was also in protective custody. So the prison apparently allows contact between prisoners in protective custody outside the presence of guards. That's a ridiculous policy--for someone like Geoghan, that's like feeding him to the sharks.

The alleged perpetrator, Joseph L. Druce, 37, was serving a life sentence for murder and armed robbery. "In 2001, Druce was charged with mailing a threatening letter containing white powder and indicating it was contaminated with anthrax. "

The prison where Geoghan and Durce were held was a medium security prison. Why was Durce, a murderer doing life, in a medium instead of a maxium security facility? Surely Geoghan was not the only convicted child molester doing time in that prison. Why wasn't he segregated with other child molesters or high profile inmates (like convicted cops) who need protection from other inmates instead of with a murderer? Why was Geoghan, who was only serving a 9 to 10 year sentence, put in the same place as a violent lifer?

We hope there is an investigation. We hope Durce isn't being framed. We hope there is a good explanation for why guards didn't prevent the attack--and that it doesn't turn out that they turned their heads.

Jails and prisons have cameras all over. The murder should have been captured on video. We hope it's preserved so the facts will come out.

Geoghan is survived by a sister. If she chooses not to sue, maybe someone will bring a class action on behalf of all Massachussets inmates in protective custody against the state Department of Corrections over inmate classification, designation and control procedures. It's tragic this happened to Geoghan. It should not be allowed to happen again.

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(original post, 8/23, 4pm)

Ex-Priest John Geoghan, serving a 9 to 10 year sentence for child molestation was killed in prison today. He began serving his sentence last year and was 67 years old.

We suspect Geoghan knew his sentence would be a death sentence when it was imposed. Child molesters are at the bottom of the prison barrel. We wonder why he wasn't in protective custody. He should have been.

Another report by the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics has been released. Crime Victimization, 2002 finds that,

...overall violent victimization and property crime rates in 2002 are the lowest recorded since the inception of the NCVS in 1973.....

Violent crimes included in the report are rape/sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault and simple assault (from the NCVS), and homicide (from the FBI's UCR program). Property crimes examined are burglary, motor vehicle theft, and property theft.

Some other findings:

The rate of violent crime dropped 21% from the period 1999-2000 to the period 2001-02.

Reporting to the police increased from 43% of all violent crimes in 1993 to 49% in 2002; reporting of property crimes increased from 34% to 40%.

From the Press Release:

The rate of every major violent and property crime measured by BJS declined from 1993 through 2002. Rape/sexual assault was down 56 percent, robbery down 63 percent, aggravated assault down 64 percent, simple assault (no weapon or serious injury) down 47 percent, household burglary down 52 percent, motor vehicle theft down 53 percent and property theft down 49 percent.

The decline in violent victimization between 1993 and 2002 was experienced by persons in every demographic category considered –– gender, race, Hispanic origin and household income. Property crime rates also fell for every demographic group examined –– region, property tenure, location and household income.

The San Francisco Chronicle has this analysis o f the report.

The higher-ups in the national and Colorado state democratic party are urging former Senator Gary Hart to run for U.S. Senate against Republican Ben Nighthorse Campbell. We're all in favor of it. When Campbell first ran, he was a Democrat. He switched parties some years after being elected. We'd love to see the seat returned to the Democrats and think Hart is the one who could do it.

But what is up with the difference in the articles between the print version that arrived on our doorstep this morning and the internet edition? Check this out. From the online edition:

Hart, a Denver lawyer, refused to say Friday how seriously, if at all, he's considering another stint on Capitol Hill. "He won't be commenting on that," his assistant said.

Cinamon Watson, a campaign aide to Campbell, scoffed at the possibility of a Hart candidacy. "It's as simple as this," she said. "It's all monkey business."

Hart's 1988 bid for the presidency was derailed by his dalliance with model Donna Rice - with whom he was photographed sitting dockside in front of a pleasure boat named Monkey Business.

Here's how that part of the article in the print edition reads:

Hart, a Denver lawyer, refused to say Friday how seriously, if at all, he's considering another stint on Capitol Hill. "He won't be commenting on that," his assistant said.

Campbell, in Pueblo on Saturday to participate in events at the Colorado State Fari, said he wasn't aware of efforts to recruit Hart. "I don't think Gary will do it," Campbell said. "It's not prestigious enough. He wants to be President and that's not going to happen."

Hart's 1988 bid for the presidency was derailed by his dalliance with model Donna Rice. Campbell said he expected others would raise questions about the affair should Hart enter the race, but pledged that he would not. "I'm not running for pope. I'm running for Senate."

Why was Campbell's direct quote (and pledge) omitted from the online edition of the article? Why was it replaced by a campaign aide's negative, mocking comment? Do Campbell's advisors want to leave him open to attack Hart on the issue, just in case Hart enters and starts beating Campbell in the polls? And why would the two reporters go with a campaign aide's quote when he they have a first-hand quote from the Senator?

It may be that the online article was written earlier, before Campbell was personally interviewed, but in that case, why hasn't the paper updated the online version?

From retired Drake University journalism professor Herb Strenz, as published in the Des Moines Register, comes this little ditty, "John Ashcroft is Coming to Town," sung to the tune of the Santa original. Here's the gist:

He's making a list,
He's checking it twice,
gonna find out who's naughty or nice:
John Ashcroft is coming to town!

They'll know when you're speaking out,
They'll know when you dissent,
They'll know when you don't salute,
But they won't tell where you're sent!

...Closed trials and secret arrests,
All in store for those he detests:
John Ashcroft is coming to town.

....Wire taps and pen registers,
Just fun toys for justice jesters:
John Ashcroft is coming to town.

....Agents in U-S spyland will have a jubilee,
They're gonna fill their data banks,
With the scoop on you and me.

Ohh.You better watch out, you better not cry,
You better not pout, I'm telling you why:
John Ashcroft is coming to town.

Update: Ashcroft will be speaking Monday at 2pm at the Boise Depot in Boise, Idaho. The speech is open to the media but closed to the public.

We found a section on the Justice Department's new Life and Liberty website that brags about the legal challenges the Government has won in its war on terror:

• Enemy combatant detention authority: SUSTAINED
• Guantanamo Bay detention authority: SUSTAINED
• FISA information sharing authority: SUSTAINED
• Withholding names of sensitive immigration detainees: SUSTAINED
• President’s authority to freeze assets of purported charities that fund terrorists: SUSTAINED
• No provision of the Patriot Act has been held unconstitutional by any court.

Then we found this list of civil liberties abuses on the ACLU website.

• The June DOJ Inspector General report detailing widespread and systematic abuses of the hundreds of Arab, Muslim and South Asian men detained in the weeks after 9/11. The report showed that, even though the men were found to have no connection whatsoever to the attacks on September 11, they were held for extreme amounts of time - in some cases for several months - under a quasi-official "no-bond, no-lawyers" policy. Although the Justice Department’s response has been a pat "we did nothing illegal," it’s clear that most of the detainees were held on pretextual immigration violations such as an expired visa or incomplete paperwork.
• The proposed neighbor-spying-on-neighbor program called Operation TIPS, which would have recruited Americans whose jobs - such as cable repair persons and postal workers - grant them easy access to our homes as government informers, charged with reporting "suspicious activity" to a dedicated tips hotline.
• The plan to base the number of investigations in any given FBI jurisdiction on demographic criteria, including the number of mosques in the area.
• The initiative at the DOJ to force local and state police to enforce immigration laws, a plan opposed not only by immigrants’ advocates but also by law enforcement officials themselves.

We think the lists should be combined. The Justice Department's legal "wins" are nothing more than civil liberties abuses, masquerading as accomplishments. Not one of the legal wins make us feel any safer. All of them make us feel less free.

Add the two lists together, and you have a picture of where this country is headed under Bush and Ashcroft. Protest now, while you still can.

Walter Shapiro says in USA Today that John Edwards is the most anti-Ashcroft Democrat in the presidential nomination race:

...the Democrat who devotes the most energy and passion to challenging the Ashcroft record is John Edwards. On a supporter's front lawn in Waverly last week, Edwards dramatically switched gears in his stump speech to announce, "I want to say this to everyone here who is supporting me or thinking of supporting me. If you think what I'm about to say is wrong or dangerous, you should be for somebody else — don't be for me."

All this was intended to whet the appetite of his audience for what would come next. Edwards thundered, "I want to say this loud and clear: We cannot in this effort to fight this war on terrorism allow people like John Ashcroft to take away our rights, our freedoms."

....when it comes to battling Ashcroft, Edwards boasts a credibility that his rivals lack. As a veteran of North Carolina courtrooms, he instinctively grasps the legal implications of military tribunals and the government's claimed right to declare American citizens to be "enemy combatants." The only Democratic hopeful on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Edwards has been adept in his aggressive questioning of Ashcroft during the attorney general's rare appearances on Capitol Hill.

Next stop on Ashcroft's Patriot Act tour: Salt Lake City, Monday. At least one protest is planned.

Both of Salt Lake City's daily newspapers have criticized the sweeping measure that gives the Justice Department broad investigation powers. Libertarians have protested at the state Capitol -- twice. And Tuesday, K-Talk radio host Barbara Jean Whitely and others plan to ask the Salt Lake City Council to join more than 150 local governments and three states that have adopted resolutions condemning the act. A protest is planned for Monday outside the hotel where the attorney general is scheduled to speak.

Dean Barkley, Arianna's campaign manager, has resigned from her gubernatorial campaign. Barkley had been a tobacco lobbyist in Minnesota, and he and Arianna felt that his past activities might hurt her chances.

Barkley's role in Huffington's campaign was questioned after the Los Angeles Times reported last week that he is a lobbyist for major tobacco, gambling and waste-hauling companies. Huffington said she did not know that when she hired him.

Huffington's campaign has gotten off to a rocky start. The syndicated columnist, who lives in a home in Brentwood reportedly valued at $7 million, also has been dogged by reports that she paid only $771 in federal taxes the past two years. Huffington has called the stories unfair, noting that she paid $98,000 in property taxes and $50,000 in payroll taxes during that period.

Arianna would do better to ignore the tax charges than to give such a lame --and insulting--excuse. Every homeowner pays property taxes and every employer pays payroll taxes. What does that have to do with her obligation to pay income tax? Not to mention a significant portion of the payroll taxes she paid likely came from amounts withheld from her employees under FICA and the like.

If Arianna had so many business ventures that lost money that she ended up with only a $771 tax bill, the citizens of California justifiably might conclude she can't manage her own finances, let alone those of such a big state.

Colorado has backed down on its new law requiring students and teachers to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. The law will be rewritten to comply with findings by the Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court in Colorado last week that led him to declare the law as written unconstitutional. This is quite an about-face for Colorado Governor Bill Owens who angrily attacked the Judge's ruling last week and threatened appeals until the bitter end.

The Guardian has an in-depth report on the the hunt for Osama Bin Laden.

The al-Qaida leader is said to be hiding in northern Pakistan guarded by a 120-mile ring of tribesmen whose job it is to warn of the approach of any troops.

Inside them is a tighter ring, around 12 miles in diameter, made up of tribal elders who would warn if the outer ring were breached. At the centre of the circles is Bin Laden himself, protected by one or two of his closest relatives and advisers. Bin Laden has agreed with the elders that he will use no electronic communications and will move only at night and between specified places within a limited radius.

The article says that Bin Laden is communicating by handwritten notes. The primary source of the information appears to be Mansoor Ijaz, an American financier of Pakistani origin who has spent years tracking Bin Laden and his operations. We've seen Mr. Ijaz many times on Fox News.

The article seems to place great credibility on Mr. Ijaz' theory, but we don't get a sense from it as to whether the U.S. similarly credits his information.