"You can release an innocent man from prison but not from the grave" said Gordon "Randy" Steidl, who spent 17 years in prison, including 12 on death row, after being wrongfully convicted of a double murder.

Thursday, the Illinois House voted to abolish the death penalty. The bill now goes to the Senate, where passage will be difficult, but not impossible.

Thirty-five states now have the death penalty... Three states — New York, New Jersey and New Mexico — have eliminated the death penalty in recent years.

Illinois would be the 16th state to abolish the death penalty.

It's Gorilla Juicehead Heaven as Jersey Shore returns with Season 3 tonight. The group is back in Seaside Heights, minus Angelina, plus Snookie's friend Dina. In Season 1, they all drove beat-up cars to the Shore (they left in big black SUV's.) This year, most are driving black BMW's. Mike "The Situation" has moved up to a Range Rover. Can they still be authentic? Probably, as this season is supposed to be the wildest yet.

Snooki has been on a roll. She has a new book out, A Shore Thing, filled with Snooki'isms. The Daily Beast provides a partial dictionary of terms. The New Yorker pans it here. [More...]

Howard K. Stern caught a break today when the judge threw out the jury's guilty verdicts against him.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert J. Perry dismissed two counts of conspiring to provide prescription drugs against Howard K. Stern, 42, Smith's lawyer and boyfriend at the time of her death in 2007, saying there was "insufficient evidence," despite the fact a jury had convicted him in October.

The judge also dismissed all but one guilty verdict against Anna Nicole Smith's former psychiatrist -- and reduced that remaining count to a misdemeanor.

Judge Perry dismissed the charges at Thursday's sentencing for the two defendants, saying there was no evidence of a conspiracy and that he believed Smith suffered from chronic pain and needed the drugs.

"This case should never have been brought," Stern's lawyer Steve Sadow said outside the court. "It was a waste of time and a waste of effort. And it impacted people's lives in a horrible way."

The prosecution says it will appeal.

Former CIA Agent Jeffrey Sterling has been indicted in Virginia for leaking classified information to NY Times reporter James Risen.

Mr. Risen wrote about a C.I.A. attempt to disrupt Iranian nuclear research in his 2006 book, “State of War: The Secret History of the C.I.A. and the Bush Administration.”

Risen was subpoenaed to the grand jury to disclose his source in April. At the time, he said he would not comply with the request and seek to have the subpoena quashed. The subpoena was quashed and Risen says he did not disclose his source.

“I never testified and never provided the government with any information,” he said. “I never met with prosecutors and never reached any agreement with them.”

This is the 5th case in which the Obama Adminsitration has charged a current or former government official with leaking classified information. [More...]

There are 20,000 Marines in the Helmand province of Afghanistan. Apparently, that's not enough as the U.S. is about to send another 1,000.

Overall, there are 100,000 troops in Afghanistan. What about the Pentagon budget cuts announced today?

Cutting up to 47,000 troops from the Army and Marine Corps forces — roughly 6 percent — would be made easier by the withdrawal under way from Iraq, and the reductions would not begin until 2015, just as Afghan forces are to take over the security mission there.

One way the Pentagon plans to recoup some money: charging vets more for health insurance:

To make ends meet, Mr. Gates also announced that he would seek to recoup billions of dollars by increasing fees paid by retired veterans under 65 for Defense Department health insurance, even though Congress has rejected such proposals in the past.

And what won't be affected by the cuts:

The president’s budget for the 2012 fiscal year, which is due by mid-February, would freeze discretionary spending, but that would not apply to military, veterans and Homeland Security programs.

The Chicago Tribune has completed a review of three years of data on drug detection dogs used in traffic stops. It finds the dogs were wrong more often than they were right. Only 44% of positive alerts led to the recovery of drugs or paraphernalia. The success rate dropped to 27% for hispanic drivers.

Most courts hold that during a traffic stop, if a properly trained dog alerts, it amounts to probable cause to search the vehicle. The problem seems to be that many of the dogs, and their handlers, are not properly trained. Few states require certification and mandatory training and there is a paucity of "best practices" or even uniform standards. [More...]

This post was funny.

Open Thread.

Via Joan McCarter, I have no idea what in the world crazy Republican Steve King means when he says "I hate to tell you but [babies] show up in garbage cans around this country, sir," in the context of the constitutionality of the health bill, but it reminded me of this particularly tasteless Family Guy bit (Full Disclosure I love Family Guy):

It was based on this story. I'm in a weird mood today.

Speaking for me only

Unlike just about everybody else in the blogs, I really do not care that Bill Daley will be the next Chief of Staff. I'm not sure it matters really -- Obama does what he wants anyway. I do think that Greg Sargent has hit on something about the Daley pick though:

Now that Daley has been picked, there will be a fair amount of commentary to the effect that Obama has wisely received this message [that he was too much of a "socialist"] and is in the midst of a course correction.

Indeed, Daley will be Obama's Dick Morris symbolically. I wonder if Daley will try and get credit as Obama's Dick Morris? That is mildly interesting to me.

Speaking for me only

Jed Lewison writes:

Boehner is doing his best to pretend that he has a strong hand, but let's not forget, if he were to actually carry out his threat and block an increase in the debt limit, the United States would go into default on its debt. [. . .] So unless Boehner's absolutely insane, he's running a complete bluff. [. . .] If Boehner ultimately goes along with a hike in the debt limit without securing the spending cuts that he promised to the tea party, teahadists will be furious. On the other hand, if Boehner decides to block the debt limit increase, sending the United States into default and shutting down the federal government, the rest of the country will be even angrier.

Behind Door Number 3 lies the 3rd Hand that apparently Lewison does not think possible - President Obama capitulates to GOP demands to cut spending.

Me, I'll take Door Number 3 as the most likely outcome.

Speaking for me only

Let the end be legitimate, let it be within the scope of the Constitution, and all means which are appropriate, which are plainly adapted to that end, which are not prohibited, but consistent with the letter and spirit of the Constitution, are Constitutional - Chief Justice John Marshall, writing for a unanimous Supreme Court in McCulloch v Maryland

The House of Representatives spent the day reading the Constitution (or parts of it anyway) into the Congressional Record. They might consider reading from this 1819 Supreme Court case that discusses the Constitution and Congressional power created thereunder:

Open Thread.