Ashcroft has now delivered his first speech aimed at garnering public support for the Patriot and Victory Acts. But he's not stopping there. He announced today a new Government website dedicated to the "success" of the Government in the Terror War.

Democratic Presidential hopefuls Howard Dean and John Edwards were not impressed:

Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean said "(Ashcroft) must not be allowed to compromise our freedoms any further" and called for a rollback of "anti-terror tactics that go far beyond protecting our country and erode the rights of average Americans." North Carolina Sen. John Edwards said Ashcroft's Justice Department "has rolled over our rights for the last two years."

Then there was this piece of dissemination today:

Justice Department spokeswoman Barbara Comstock -- wearing a white t-shirt that said "Freedom" in red letters across the front -- dismissed criticism of the Patriot Act as the work of "a small, vocal minority" spreading misinformation.

Talk about just desserts....A Missouri prison guard has been ordered to scrub toilets during his 15 day jail sentence that was imposed following his conviction for peeing on inmates.

Talk about a lame defense:

Hastings admitted during the trial that he knew prisoners were in the room when he and another jailer urinated through a roof grate.

A DNA expert testified that urine samples taken from the jail roof could be linked to Hastings. But defense attorneys contended there was no proof that Hastings' urine - and not the other jailer's - hit the inmates.

Greene County, Missouri has paid the four inmates $100,000.

The Texas Court of Appeals has stopped Wednesday's scheduled execution of Mark Robertson. Kudos to defense lawyer Randy Schaffer of Houston who obtained the stay.

The trial judge had refused to allow the jury to consider mitigating evidence concerning Robertson's childhood. Because the case had already been rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court, Shaffer looked for a way to get it back to the Texas Court of Appeals, and he succeeded:

Last Friday, the Supreme Court refused to overturn the appeals court decision and Schaffer returned to the state court with "the same issue in a different context," he said

In Robertson's case, appeals attorneys have argued his alcoholic father or childhood abuse or his own drug abuse also should have been considered by a jury as a special circumstance, also referred to as mitigating evidence.

If a jury finds there is such evidence, a life sentence is imposed. "I asked the court to stay the execution and permit me to argue the case when it reconvenes in September," Schaffer said.

Texecutions carried out this year: 20
Two more are scheduled for September.
A record of 40 was set in 2000.
There were 33 in 2002.

Reuters says an unnamed U.S. official speculates the militant group Ansar al-Islam is behind the U.N. headquarters bombing at the Canal Hotel in Baghdad. The group previously has been named as a suspect in the Jordanian embassy bombing. The death toll is currently at 17, according to CNN. Lots of pictures available here as well.

Reuters reports that Sergio Vieira de Mello, the Brazilian who heads the U.N. mission in Iraq, has been killed in the attack. He was alive when first taken out.

Salon excerpts Joe Conason's Big Lies every day this week. Don't miss Salon's picture of President Bush.

Joe Lieberman rejects moving left as a campaign strategy. His loss. Our gain. We predict he'll be one less serious contender shortly.

Tom Tomorrow of This Modern World takes on the Gary Coleman candidacy.

Atrios finds the website We Love Arnold. Here's Arnold's platform.

Stop one on the Victory Tour for Attorney General Ashcroft....

Attorney General John Ashcroft will speak to the American Enterprise Institute on Tuesday, August 19, 2003 at 2:00 p.m. EDT in Washington, D.C. The Attorney General will focus on the progress the Justice Department has made in the war on terrorism.

(Media arrival begins at 12:00 p.m.- All media must check-in by 1:30, and cameras must be set by 1:30 p.m.)

The American Enterprise Institute
Wohlstetter Conference Center, 12th Floor,
1150 Seventeenth Street, N.W., Wash. DC

Here's more on the details of the speech, titled Security and Liberty, How America is Winning the War on Terror.

C-Span will carry it live. We bet there are quite a few hecklers. [thanks to PG at Half the Sins of Mankind for the links]

Markos of Daily Kos racks up the well-deserved compliments:

Christopher Lydon Interviews Markos Moulitsas Zuniga aka Daily Kos. [via Lisa English of Ruminate This]

Daily Kos also gets a great compliment from journalist and Salon and New York Observer columnist, Joe Conason, who also is the author of the hot new liberal book, Big Lies.

We had dinner with Kos and his very pregnant and beautiful wife Elisa (and New Yorker writer and CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin) last week at a vegetarian restaurant in the Mission District of San Francisco. We won't be surprised if Toobin decides to write about Kos too. For newer TalkLeft readers, Kos spent untold hours designing this site and we are forever indebted to him.

Eric Alterman's new Nation column Patriotic Gore invites the British media, particularly the Guardian which is exploring a stateside version of the paper, to "come over and deliver to our media the kick in the arse they have worked so hard to deserve."

Skippy is keeping track of our dying soldiers in Iraq, with words not numbers. He's also changed his endorsement for California Governor.

Pacific Views tells us the Bush Campaign is reaching out to Bloggers. "The site will feature canned e-mail."

Denver journalist Dave Cullen, author of Conclusive Evidence has become the blog of record on gay marriage.

Jeanne at Body and Soul has all the important links to the investigation into the Reuters cameraman's killing by U.S. troops in Iraq.

Politics in the Zeros tells us about the Petition to stop John Ashcroft--on Howard Dean's blog.

Today, John Ashcroft begins a national tour promoting an extension of the USA Patriot Act. Sign the petition to stop Ashcroft's erosion of our civil rights. Add your name to the Stop Ashcroft petition, and pass it on to your friends, family, and co-workers. We will deliver your names and your comments to the Attorney General.

Now that's a good sign. Go read and add your e-signature.

This is a very interesting article about the growing hostility of Jamaicans to the British Justice System with which it is entwined. The death penalty lies at the center of the disharmony, but as you'll see, it's Jamaica, not Britain, that wants to hold onto the archaic past.

The anatagonism began spreading after a Jamaican who was sentenced to death row for killing a policeman had his conviction overturned by Britain.

Poor, young and idle, Randall Dixon was one of the usual suspects when Det. Cpl. Phillip Gordon ended up dead in a chaotic firefight between four bank robbers and four policemen. Despite witness testimony that Dixon wasn't involved in the 1996 Western Union Bank robbery, he was arrested, tried, convicted and sentenced to die by hanging.

Dixon, now 37, has had his sentence struck down by the Privy Council in London on appeal because videotape from security cameras — suppressed by police for the last seven years — proved he wasn't there.

You would think the Jamaicans would be pleased that one of their own who turned out to be innocent was spared the ultimate penalty, right? Wrong.

If you haven't been following the discrimination lawsuit by hispanic federal customs agents against the agency , you should be. Here's the latest from the San Antionio Business Journal.

Law. com reviews the most probable replacements for Larry Thompson, the number two man at Justice who recently announced his departure.