A bill has been introduced in Texas that would allow the governor to grant multiple 30-day stays for death row inmates . Under current law, the governor has the power to grant one 30-day reprieve.

"The legislation filed by Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, is designed to give an inmate more time to complete DNA testing or finish pursuing other legal avenues, said Mike Lavigne, a spokesman for Ellis. "This just makes sense," Ellis said in a statement. "We must make sure that when Texas executes someone it is because that person is guilty and eligible to be executed."

Many people, including lawyers, are not aware of the changes the Patriot Act (2001 edition) made in increasing the Government's power to access business records--including those of readers at the public library.

What most lawyers and members of the public may not realize -- but what librarians have to live with every day -- is that § 215 of the Patriot Act actually incorporates and extends the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978. The act now allows the FBI to make searches of libraries for readers' records. It further states, "No person shall disclose to any other person ... that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has sought or obtained tangible things under this section."

While FISA, with its secret intelligence courts, previously gave the FBI the power to execute search-and-gag orders, it was always within the context of foreign counterintelligence, and thus rarely used. "The gag provision was understandable and manageable because it was fairly narrowly applied," Barber says.

The Patriot Act extends FISA's powers to any criminal activity, and has made New Jersey librarians some of the most cautious people in the country."

Here is Section 215 of the Patriot Act:

Brent Staples article in today's New York Times strikes us as both correct and very sad: Protest music is unlikely to be heard on today's radio--because all the radio stations are corporate owned and don't want to take chances.

Pop music played a crucial role in the national debate over the Vietnam War. By the late 1960's, radio stations across the country were crackling with blatantly political songs that became mainstream hits. After the National Guard killed four antiwar demonstrators at Kent State University in Ohio in the spring of 1970, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young recorded a song, simply titled "Ohio," about the horror of the event, criticizing President Richard Nixon by name. The song was rushed onto the air while sentiment was still high, and became both an antiwar anthem and a huge moneymaker. A comparable song about George W. Bush's rush to war in Iraq would have no chance at all today. There are plenty of angry people, many with prime music-buying demographics. But independent radio stations that once would have played edgy, political music have been gobbled up by corporations that control hundreds of stations and have no wish to rock the boat. Corporate ownership has changed what gets played — and who plays it.

Remember the Jefferson Airplane album Volunteers? Paul Kantner wrote the song "We Can Be Together", a song protesting the establishment that included the line, "Up against the wall, motherfu**er."

Don't miss PBS Thursday night when it airs frontline: coming soon: the war behind closed doors .

FRONTLINE examines the hidden story of what is really driving the Bush administration to war with Iraq. The investigation asks whether the publicly reported reasons--fear of Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction or a desire to insure and protect America's access to oil--are only masking the real reason for the war. Through interviews with well-placed sources in and outside of the administration, FRONTLINE unravels a story known only to the Washington insiders.

Former NBA star Jayson Williams' trial on aggravated manslaughter charges has been put on hold by the New Jersey Supreme Court, which has agreed to hear an appeal by Williams' attorneys as to whether the Prosecution violated Williams constitutional rights before the grand jury.

Williams' attorneys, Joseph Hayden Jr. and William Martin, had argued to [trial judge] Coleman that [prosecutor] Lember violated Fifth Amendment and other constitutional protections by repeatedly referring to their client's decision not to speak with police and to his statements that he would remain silent until he consulted with a lawyer. Lember discussed Williams' silence at least five and possibly six times, directly or through law enforcement witnesses. Hayden and Martin filed their appellate brief on Jan. 9, saying the case "involves a novel issue never decided by the Appellate Division or the New Jersey Supreme Court: whether an indictment should stand where a prosecutor repeatedly brings to the grand jurors' attention the fact that the defendant consulted counsel and declined to be interviewed, thereby prejudicing the defendant ... by inflaming its members."

The ADA Watch/National Coalition for Disability Rights, California Foundation for Independent Living Centers and Committee for Judicial Independence say it's still not too late to stop Jeffrey Sutton from being confirmed as a Judge on the 6th Circuit court of appeals.

The three groups are co-sponsoring a protest rally at noon tomorrow to tell Sen. Diane Feinstein to vote against Sutton on the floor of the Senate, even though she was the lone Democrat voting for him in Committee. Here are the locations:

San Francisco: One Post Street, Suite 2450
Fresno: 1130 "O" Street, Suite 2446
LA: 11111 Santa Monica Boulevard, Ste 915
San Diego: 750 "B" Street, Suite 1030

If you can't attend, they ask you to call Feinstein's office.

San Francisco Office: Phone: (415) 393-0707
Los Angeles Office: Phone: (310) 914-7300
San Diego Office: Phone: (619) 231-9712
Fresno Office: Phone: (559) 485-7430

Here's the ADA Watch's action alert on the protest:

On Feb. 13, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved sending the nomination of Jeffrey Sutton (11-8) to the full Senate for consideration. Sen. Feinstein was the only Democrat who voted for Sutton. We must encourage grassroots in CA and around the country to contact Senator Feinstein and express their disappointment. In addition, our friends in the disability community are planning sit-ins in her California offices on Thursday, February 20th at 12 Noon. We are also encouraging scheduled meetings to inform staff of our position and phone calls and Faxes to express our concerns.

CALL SENATOR FEINSTEIN IMMEDIATELY TO PROTEST HER SUPPORT OF JEFFREY SUTTON. TELL HER YOU WANT HER TO VOTE AGAINST SUTTON ON THE SENATE FLOOR!

We are deeply disappointed that Senator Dianne Feinstein was the only Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee to vote in favor of Jeffrey Sutton, an extreme right wing ideologue with a record hostile to disability rights, who has been nominated to the 6th Circuit US Court of Appeals. Sutton is the states' rights ideologue who has aggressively fought against the Americans with Disabilities Act, Olmstead, Age Discrimination protections, the rights of Medicaid recipients to sue for services, and many other civil rights protections.

Update: See Senator Patrick Leahy's Statement to the Senate explaining why he opposes Sutton's confirmation.

Instapundit has an op-ed column in the liberal UK's Guardian on the evolution and increasing power of weblogs. He says mainstream media is now playing catch-up, and must learn to pick up its response time. On the other hand, he says, bloggers have to be careful not to become too full of themselves.

Oliver Willis lets us know the repressive fifties are back--at least in Dearborn, Michigan, where the schools are stifling dissent.

We give high marks to the student who didn't bow to authority and chose to go home rather than change his shirt.

From Kevin, over at Getting In the Game: "It was even for an assignment! That principal should be demoted, this is ridiculous, and unhealthy for the educational environment when a student is told to go home because he was into his assignment enough to make a statement about it?"

A just released Harris Poll shows that Bush's approval rating has dropped to 52%. Right after September 11, he was at 88%. Two months ago he was at 64%. 46% give him negative ratings now, up from 35% two months ago.

Ashcroft dropped from 65% to 51%. The only cabinet member with non-declining poll numbers is Colin Powell who has a 76% approval rating.

Here are the poll results:

* President Bush down from 88% to 52%, a decline of 36 points.
* Secretary of State Colin Powell down from 88% to 76%, a decline of 12
points.
* Vice President Dick Cheney down from 69% to 45%, a decline of 24 points.
* Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld down from 78% to 56%, a decline of
22 points.
* Attorney General John Ashcroft down from 65% to 51%, a decline of 14 points.
* House Speaker Dennis Hastert down from 52% to 33%, a decline of 19 points.
* The Republicans in Congress down from 67% to 43%, a decline of 24 points.
* The Democrats in Congress down from 68% to 38%, a decline of 30 points

Source: PR Newswire.com Feb 19, 2003 15:54 ET

Michael Tomasky is really good today filling in for Eric Alterman on Altercation. Charles Pierce was there yesterday and Eric Boehlert is there tomorrow. We'll be the guest blogger Friday, which is Slacker Friday, so if you have some comments on what the gang has written this week (including Eric on Monday), send it to us at Alterlinks@aol.com.

TalkLeft made the National Journal's Hotline today (subsciption only) for it's interview last week with Gary Hart.

HART: TAKE THIS DEFENSE TO HART

The blogger, TalkLeft, "had the opportunity to sit down with" ex-Sen. Gary Hart (D-CO) "for thirty uninterrupted minutes" on 2/13 "and discuss his recent San Francisco foreign policy speech, and the concerns of some ... that one line of the speech might be construed to be anti-semitic." Hart "doesn't talk in code. If he had a problem with a particular group, he'd come out and say it."

The "focus" of Hart's speech "was not War with Iraq, although Hart certainly mentioned it. The speech was about American's foreign policy role in the 21st century. ... His point was that where there is a difference between what is in
America's best interest and what is in the best interests of the homeland or country of origin of another group, America's interest must come first in shaping foreign policy. "

Hart, a "strong supporter of Israel for over 30 years," was "not referring to Jewish Americans. ... He was talking about America's long-term foreign policy role in the 21st century. His comment applies equally to Cuban, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Greek and Turkish -American citizens. He was talking about all
Americans, wherever we come from" ( TalkLeft, 2/13).

Here's something else that is not being reported in the U.S. Oral arguments began yesterday in the World Court in a long-standing lawsuit filed by Iran against the United States for damages caused by the US Navy's destruction of three Iranian oil platforms in the Persian Gulf during the Iran-Iraq war. (in 1987-88). The arguments are scheduled to continue until March 7. The case is ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

You can access yesterday's transcripts of the hearing here, and all of the documents here.

Iran argues that the U.S. was not neutral in the conflict as it claimed, but was actively helping Iraq to win its war with Iran. It disputes the U.S. claim that the destruction of the platforms was necessary to protect it's "essential security interest."

The U.S. has acknowledged attacking and destroying the platforms. We find a few of Iran's statements interesting (The U.S. isn't presenting its case until later). Specifically, Iran complains

... that the United States consistently provided intelligence and logistical support for Iraqi aggression against Iran, and that the United States was “concerned that Iraq should not lose the war”.