This year's Muzzle Awards have been announced by The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression. Our favorite: The award to John Ashcroft. Runner up: the award to the 107th Congress.

What are the Muzzle Awards?

Since 1992, the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression has celebrated the birth and ideals of its namesake by calling attention to those who in the past year forgot or disregarded Mr. Jefferson's admonition that freedom of speech "cannot be limited without being lost." Announced on or near April 13 -- the anniversary of the birth of Thomas Jefferson -- the Jefferson Muzzles are awarded as a means to draw national attention to abridgments of free speech and press and, at the same time, foster an appreciation for those tenets of the First Amendment.

link via Patriot Watch.

The New York Times weighs in on the folly of Congress' passage of the Feeney Amendment to the Amber Alert bill:

Just when we should be reducing unfairness in the nation's criminal justice system, Congress is moving in the opposite direction. Last week, lawmakers approved provisions that will prevent federal judges from using their discretion to give prison terms that are shorter than those prescribed by federal sentencing guidelines. The changes were tagged on to the Amber Alert bill that creates a national notification system for child abductions. The amendment will further confine the already sharply limited choices federal judges now have in sentencing.... Chief Justice William Rehnquist, hardly a coddler of criminals, warned members of Congress that limiting judicial sentencing power along these lines "would seriously impair the ability of courts to impose just and responsible sentences." But egged on by the Bush Justice Department, legislators refused to heed that advice, or even hold hearings. Under the guise of protecting children, Congress has badly undermined fairness and judicial independence. It has also upset the balance between uniform sentencing and individualized punishment that the system of sentencing guidelines was supposed to deliver.

The Washington Post Sunday had an editorial aptly titled, Nation Behind Bars.

Immigration organizations are banding together in an effort to fight local police pursuits of immigrants , now being conducted as part of the terror war.

Taking on a job traditionally done by federal agents, a small number of police departments has begun arresting people accused of civil violations of immigration law, like overstaying visas, since the Justice Department announced its new interpretation of existing laws last year, officials say. Officials say the change was necessary to provide assistance to federal immigration officers and to remove criminals and potential terrorists from the streets. But the Justice Department has refused to release the documents on which it based its decision to advocacy groups, who say the decision violates the law and undermines confidence in local law enforcement.

A federal lawsuit against the Justice Department will be filed Monday by seven immigration advocacy groups, seeking to compel the Justice Department to turn over its records.

In 1996, the Justice Department's legal counsel decided that local police officers were precluded from tracking and arresting illegal immigrants. Such matters were to be handled by federal immigration officials. That decision was reiterated in a memorandum in November 2001.

In a letter to the National Immigration Forum last month, Attorney General John Ashcroft said his legal counsel had determined that immigrants who were deportable under immigration law and posed threats to national security could be arrested by local law enforcement.

Mr. Ashcroft said the names of such immigrants were being entered into the Federal Bureau of Investigation's database.

Police Chiefs in Texas, California, Florida and Colorado have opposed the policy saying that it threatens to undermine relations with immigrants and may make them less likely to report crimes.

The ACLU is filing the lawsuit on behalf of the seven groups. Bottom line: "There is no justification for secret lawmaking."

The seven rescued POWS, five of them cooks, supply clerks and mechanics of the 507th Maintenance Company and two of them Apache pilots, described their ordeal to reporters Sunday:

In their first interviews after being freed, all seven former prisoners described a harrowing journey through the Iraq war -- from their ill-fated missions and capture through an arduous imprisonment where death often seemed around the corner. Speaking to reporters aboard a C-130 Hercules transport plane evacuating them from Iraq, they alternated between tears and smiles and hollow gazes as they told their stories.

The article is filled with direct quotes and narratives and well worth reading.

Update: Dr. Robert Atkins died today, April 17, 2003. R.I.P.

Very Off-topic for us:

We received the following report on the condition of Dr. Robert Atkins, founder of the very popular Atkins Diet. We know his diet is controversial, but no one can doubt that Dr. Atkins dedicated his career and much of his life to it. This senseless accident saddens us and reminds us of how fragile life can be.

It is with deep sadness that we must advise you that as of today Dr. Atkins remains gravely ill, in a coma and on life support. As most of you know, on his way to work Tuesday morning following the late-season snowstorm, Dr. Atkins fell on the slippery sidewalk in front of The Atkins Center. He suffered a major blow to his head and has not recovered from surgery to remove a blood clot from his brain. His physician reports that Dr. Atkins' chances of a meaningful recovery are slim. Nonetheless, we are hoping for a miracle and every measure possible is being considered to save his life.

Here is his final column on the evils of sugar, which he put the finishing touches on the night before his accident. As a substitute, Dr. Atkins recommends drinking tea. Tea is healthy for your heart.

Tea and Your Heart The impressive cardiovascular benefits of tea have been shown by a number of recent scientific studies. The well-known Zutphen Elderly Study, for instance, which followed a large group of older men in the Netherlands from 1985 through 1995 showed that the men who drank the most tea also had the fewest incidents of heart disease and stroke. Similar results have been reported from a number of other studies. In a 1999 study of men and women in the Boston area, for instance, the participants who drank at least one cup of tea a day had a 44-percent lower risk of a heart attack than those who drank no tea.

We're going to have a cup now and hope for a miracle for Dr. Atkins.

Texas is joining the growing list of states concerned about the cost of incarcerating low level drug offenders. Two bills have been introduced this session to reduce drug penalties and offer treatment.

Both bills aim to reduce the number of people locked up for such crimes, require treatment for drug addicts, and keep those caught with small amounts of drugs from being saddled with a felony conviction that could impair their ability to get jobs or rent apartments. The Houston Chronicle reported last fall that nearly half of the 15,000 inmates in the state jail system -- lower-security jails established in 1994 to house nonviolent felons -- were there for drug crimes involving less than 1 gram. The bulk of those offenders -- 49 percent -- were from Harris County.

These statistics are mind-boggling. For those of you not familiar with drug quantities, one gram is 1/28 of an ounce--think, a "sweet and low" or "equal" packet:

Of the 58,000 drug convictions won by local prosecutors over the past five years, 77 percent involved less than 1 gram, according to a Chronicle analysis of district court data. Harris County sent 35,000 of the small-time offenders to jail or prison.

John Muhammed, the elder suspect in the D.C. sniper attacks, served in the first Gulf War. His lawyer told the Judge Friday he may have been the victim of a nerve gas or chemical attack.

In Muhammad's case, attorney Jonathan Shapiro said after a court hearing Friday that the defense has specific information that indicates possible exposure to chemical or nerve agents, but he declined to elaborate. "It's not wild conjecture," Shapiro said.

Shapiro mentioned the chemical exposure during the half-hour hearing in which he successfully argued for the appointment of a mitigation expert, who will look for evidence that might aid Muhammad if he is convicted.

Shapiro mentioned Muhammad's service as a Gulf War veteran and "possible exposure to nerve agents and chemical weapons while he was there. There's a whole lot about this man we need to investigate thoroughly."

Shapiro said after the hearing that Muhammad served as an Army engineer during the 1991 war. "

Tommy Franks said this morning we have Saddam's DNA and we will use all forensic techniques available in testing the places he may have been killed by our bombs. Interviewed today, DNA lawyer and expert Barry Scheck said:

With DNA analysis capability, even the tiniest fragment of human remains can be identified, said Barry Scheck, an attorney who specializes in DNA testing.

DNA analysis can greatly simplify the identification process, Scheck said by telephone Sunday.

"It allows them to check blood stains, skin cells, sweat, saliva, pieces of clothing they find, to determine whether or not what they recover at a scene of destruction is Saddam Hussein's DNA," said Scheck. He is currently co-director of the Innocence Project, a legal clinic at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York, which seeks DNA tests to clear people wrongly convicted of crimes.

A hair can yield DNA and is particularly helpful if it contains the root, Scheck said. Tests to determine a match take as little as a day or two, he said.

CNN has some early coverage of the release of POWS.

Army Spc. Shoshana Johnson is escorted by U.S. soldiers to a waiting C-130 transport plane at an air base in Iraq, Sunday

All seven pows have now been released from the military hospital in Kuwait City, only three required medical treatment. That is great news.

Wolf Blitzer is interviewing Tommy Franks live now:

No confirmed weapons of mass destruction but they have found materials they are testing and will be looking for more.

The Iraqi army has been destroyed
There is no Iraqi regime control or command in place

Forensic teams are performing tests of places that were bombed where Saddam may have been. He said we have Saddam's DNA and we will do all available tests. He won't consider Saddam dead until we have confirmation.

Can't declare total victory yet because there are still pockets of people fighting--including mercenaries and small group hit squads and suicide bombers paid by Iraqis. He said many are coming from Syria. They have found a lot of recruiting material. He would not say the recruiting effort was endorsed by any other government, including Syria.

Franks will be going to Baghdad in the next few days but there will be no victory parade in Baghdad.

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We are very happy that the POWs were freed. They all walked under their own power to the waiting transport. Five are described in good condition, two not so good. They may have gunshot wounds. CNN reported the release was at the instance of the Iraqi's who were holding them --they wanted to surrender. Someone tipped a marine.

pdate: CNN has this report on the Franks interview. Our report was typed watching the interview live.

Psychologists for Social Responsibility, opposed the war in Iraq before it began. Now that it is about to conclude, they make these observations:

Now that the Bush administration has implemented this so-called preemptive strike on Iraq, PsySR has reviewed the situation and still considers the war unjust and provocative. While military action appears to have liberated the Iraqis from Saddam's rule, it was done at a tremendous cost without exploring nonviolent strategies for accomplishing the same ends with less damaging means. It is falsely assumed that this was the only way. While military action in Iraq may be successful in the short run, it has the potential to reduce the security of the United States, erode our basic freedoms and civil rights, and ultimately hasten the decline of US influence for good in the world.

In considering what should be done in Post-War Iraq, they recommend the following:

The defense laced into the credibility of the Government's star witness at the Detroit terrorism trial today. First, they attacked his history of credit card scams and other misdeeds. Then,

The lawyers tried to paint Hmimssa, an illegal immigrant from Morocco, as trying to get a shorter sentence on fraud charges he pleaded guilty to last week in exchange for his cooperation. They said he was concocting stories about the men, three of whom were once his roommates.

You have lived a life of lies since you got here, haven't you," Leroy T. Soles, Koubriti's attorney, asked Hmimssa.

"I didn't lie," he responded. "I scammed for money."

Soles repeatedly asked him why he did not tell federal authorities about the alleged terrorism until six months after he was arrested in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Nov. 28, 2001.

....Defense attorneys have portrayed the four defendants as scapegoats in a national effort to show Americans that law enforcement is doing something to protect the nation from future terror attacks.

We'll stay tuned.

Update: The New York Times says the witness' testimony has moved from chilling to confusing.