We're bumping Activism Job Openings up from Friday -- and note, it pays real money:

"From time to time, we read blogs whose authors mention they are looking for work. This was in our inbox today, and we thought we'd share it. But for the fact that we already have a quite demanding day job, we'd be tempted.

Currently, there are two full-time job openings at the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C.:

* Director of State Policies, who will develop and manage all of MPP's state-based campaigns, including overseeing all lobbying activities, hiring and managing campaign managers for state ballot initiatives, coordinating public education campaigns, including press strategies, and managing MPP's State Policies Department staff and interns.

* Legislative Analyst, who will monitor marijuana-related legislation in the states, maintain MPP's state Web pages, write and e-mail legislative alerts to MPP members, and assist the Director of State Policies with research and analysis.

Please do not reply to this message with questions, and no phone calls, please. Instead, please go here for complete job descriptions and application guidelines. We are accepting resumes until February 7, and we will interview selected applicants from February 3 to 14. Positions will begin on approximately March 3 (but this is flexible).

Both positions are in our Capitol Hill office in Washington, D.C., which is conveniently located near the Union Station Metro stop on the Red Line. Both positions require exceptional written and oral communication skills, professional appearance, and political/policy experience.

Sincerely,

Rob Kampia
Executive Director
Marijuana Policy Project
Washington, D.C.

We (TalkLeft) have no further information, so no need to email us rather than going directly to the MPP's website. We can say that we have known and worked on issues with Mr. Kampia for many years and we are very impressed with his dedication and talent."

The Supreme Court today refused to accept a case that would have allowed them to reopen the issue of juvenile executions.

"The action, taken without comment, seemed to put off for now speculation that the justices would soon bar states from executing juvenile death row inmates."

"A policeman and a farmer were killed in clashes between coca farmers and security forces in Bolivia, where the United States is backing a drive to eradicate illegal crops of the plant used to make cocaine, a government official said Sunday. Thousands of coca farmers, led by leftist former presidential candidate Evo Morales, have set up roadblocks on highways in central Bolivia to protest the anti-coca plan."

This is another place and another war we don't belong in.

Left-leaning groups are opposing Bush's nomination of Carolyn Kuhl to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

"On Friday, a coalition of left-leaning groups met to urge public opposition to Kuhl....saying she was among President Bush's most conservative nominees. She was called anti-consumer, anti-labor, anti-abortion, anti-environment and more."

"Kuhl has been criticized for work she did while a Justice Department lawyer, including arguing for a return to nonprofit status for segregationist Bob Jones University and signing a brief that questioned Roe v. Wade. She was also criticized Friday as being against whistleblower laws and for having represented Shell Oil in a dispute for which Shell was ordered to pay $5 million to clean contaminated land."

"Judge Kuhl's record on women's health and Roe v. Wade are out of step with commonly held views and well-established legal principles," said Carole Joffe of the Center for Reproductive Health Research and Policy in San Francisco. "

"Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, prefaced the first meeting of this Congress' Senate Judiciary Committee by announcing a change in the handling of "blue slips," the traditional consent forms requested of a judicial nominee's home state senators. The move could give Kuhl a hearing even if Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., declines to return her blue slip, a signal of opposition."

We learned something new about Instapundit tonight. If he's not careful, we're going to blow his cover as being a conservative.

In responding to a post by Atrios on the connection between Reverand Moon and the conservative Washington Times, which post included criticism of Instapundit for writing articles for the paper, Instapundit responds:

"I think the only thing I ever wrote for the Wash. Times was a piece entitled "Greasing the Skids at the Start of Death Row," condemning the Habeas Corpus provision of the 1996 antiterrorism bill, which oped I coauthored with GWU professor Bob Cottrol and which was placed there through the efforts of that noted Moonie front group, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers."

We don't know much about Reverand Moon, although if Atrios says he's bad, he probably is, so we'll try and learn something about him, but in the meantime, we are very impressed that Instapundit opposed the Habeas provision of AEDPA (Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996--brought in by Clinton after the Oklahoma City bombing)--

The Habeas provision in that act is what makes it so difficult for those who are wrongfully convicted to get into court. It places a one year time limit on filing the claim. It can take years for inmates to get someone to review their case and try and track down DNA evidence to prove their innocence.

We are hereby extending Instapundit an offer to become a law professor member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. If he accepts, we'll pay his dues the first year.

We won't extend the same offer to Rev. Moon, the Bushes, Richard Mellon Scaife, Ted Olson, John Ashcroft, Judicial Watch, or any of the true conservatives.

Susan McDougal is on Geraldo At Large tonight on Fox.

We'll be on at the end of the show, 9:40 EST discussing Laci Peterson. Geraldo suspects the husband. We think people ought to be slower at rushing to judgment.

Update: Don't miss Media Horse and it's scathing attack on the NY Times Book Reviewer who reviewed Susan's book--they see a libel action coming on behalf of the Clintons and McDougal. You can order her book here.

Two new studies are questioning the viability of a proposal for Gun 'Fingerprinting' . The first study, by the California Department of Justice, concluded that "recording every firearm made and sold in the nation's most populous state could be overwhelming....the number of potential computer matches in the state will be so large as to be impractical," and further, that "a large proportion" of weapons couldn't be recorded, and that each gun's markings change with routine use and can be easily altered.

The report was submitted to the ATF which, not suprisingly, disagreed with it. But it was also submitted to an independent ballistics expert at the National Institute for Forensic Science in Belgium--and their expert agreed with the California study. The Belgian expert concluded that "the system tested was ineffective in a third to two-thirds of test firings," and "the situation worsens as the number of firearms in the database is increased."

Based on the California study and findings of the Belgian expert, California Attorney General Bill Lockyer is expected to tell state lawmakers that "a statewide database for large-scale ballistics comparisons is not currently practical and to recommend more research and development."

Say hello to Balloon Juice who just got a bloglift. He's considered right-wing by most liberals, as he is somewhat hawkish, does not view Bush in an evil light and generally favors international intervention.

But he also matches up with us on a number of issues. Balloon Juice's author, John Cole, tells us,

"I am pro-choice, against the war on drugs and pro-legalization, against the death penalty and mandatory minimums as well as in favor of prison reform and increased rehabilitation, against faith-based initiatives, generally pro-environment while despising most of the environmental groups, and an avowed civil and individual rights supporter (I really appreciate the work you did on the Racine Rave issue). I hate guns but I support the right to own them, and against almost every tax ever proposed."

You can't get too much better than that if you are a liberal crime-related political blog. So you'll find a link to Balloon Juice on the right under "Best of the Other Side."

For anyone not watching football festivities at 5:35 EST, stop by Fox News where we'll be opining about recent events in the Houston trial of dentist Clara Harris, on trial for murder after running over and killing her orthodontist husband in a hotel parking lot (after a physical altercation with his lover in the hotel lobby)-- and in the disappearance of Laci Peterson, who has been missing since December 24 - turns out her husband Scott had been having an affair which the "other woman" has now come forward and acknowledged on national tv. Amber (the "other woman") also said Scott lied to to her and told her he wasn't married.

"Sen. Frank Lautenberg underwent brain surgery Sunday morning related to a skiing accident in Aspen, Colo., a month earlier. Lautenberg, who turned 79 on Thursday, had fallen and hit his head while skiing on Ajax Mountain, said Tim Yehl, a spokesman for the senator. The New Jersey Democrat had had a low-grade headache since then."

He should be back in Washington two days after the procedure. We're impressed that a 79 year old is still skiing --Ajax no less--and glad that his recovery will be so speedy.

Disabled and civil rights groups in Ohio are organizing their protest of Bush judicial nominee Jeffrey Sutton:

The disabled community and civil rights groups are furious that President Bush has nominated to the federal bench a man who they say has worked to weaken federal protections for them. Hundreds of protesters plan a march on Washington followed by an e-mail and phone campaign against Columbus, Ohio lawyer Jeffrey Sutton, who has been named to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati."

For more on why these groups oppose Sutton, see our prior posts here and here.

Singer Billy Joel was flown to a hospital following a car crash on Long Island. He is in stable condition. He was alone in his car and hit a tree.

A news conference will be held in the morning to discuss his condition.

We wish him well.

Update: Joel was released this morning with no comments about his condition. No summonses were issued as a result of the crash and Joel was not given a Breathalyzer test.