Former Guantanamo detainee Ahmed Ghailani, who was transferred to New York for trial on conspiracy charges involving the 1998 bombings of U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, won't face the death penalty. Attorney General Eric Holder released the following statement through a DOJ spokesman yesterday:

“Ahmed Ghailani is on trial for the murder of 224 people, and we are committed to bringing him to justice for his alleged crimes. Other defendants in the embassy bombings case have either already received life sentences or will not be subject to the death penalty because the United States agreed not to seek it as a condition of their extradition. Given those circumstances and other factors in this case, the attorney general authorized the U.S. attorney to seek a life sentence.”

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Roman Polanski has lost his first bid for bail in Switzerland. Swiss Justice Ministry spokesman Folbco Galli said Polanski was too great a flight risk.

Polanski is also seeking release from Switzerland's highest criminal court.

Regardless of the court decision, Polanski will likely have to remain in prison for months as his case in the Swiss courts progresses. The Federal Criminal Court has said it will rule in the case in the "next weeks," and a verdict in either direction can be appealed to the country's highest judicial body, the Federal Tribunal.

In the wake of the botched execution of Romell Broom, and an appellate court's ruling that another scheduled execution, that of Lawrence R. Reynolds Jr., should be postponed indefinitely due to concerns about the state's lethal injection protocols, Ohio Governor Ted Strickland has postponed two more executions.

The state is looking into backup procedures in case the standard execution techniques fail, as they did on Sept. 15, when technicians at the state prison in Lucasville tried for over two hours to maintain an intravenous connection in order to inject Romell Broom with lethal drugs for the abduction, rape and murder of a teenage girl in 1984. A hearing to consider whether Mr. Broom can be executed in conformity with constitutional requirements is scheduled for Nov. 30.

“More research and evaluation of backup or alternative procedures is necessary before one or more can be selected,” Mr. Strickland said in his order.

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Don Henley, 1991, The Heart of the Matter: "How can love survive in such a graceless age?"

The more I know, the less I understand
All the things I thought I knew, I'm learning again
I've been tryin' to get down
to the Heart of the Matter
But my will gets weak
And my thoughts seem to scatter
But I think it's about forgiveness
Forgiveness

...Better put it all behind you, life goes on
You keep carrying that anger, it'll eat you up inside

I wish people would withhold judgment and not put themselves in their shoes. I hope the Lettermans can forgive, forget and and move on.

If you're following the alleged extortion of David Letterman by CBS producer Joe Halderman, tune in to his show tonight. He tells the audience his wife is "horribly hurt," it's not going to be easy to patch things up, but he's going to give it his best shot. He also apologized to his staff.

"She has been horribly hurt by my behavior, and when something happens like that, if you hurt a person and it's your responsibility, you try to fix it," Letterman told audiences, according to a statement from his company, Worldwide Pants.

"And at that point, there's only two things that can happen: either you're going to make some progress and get it fixed, or you're going to fall short and perhaps not get it fixed, so let me tell you folks, I got my work cut out for me."

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Gerry Shargel, the excellent New York defense lawyer for Joe Halderman, the CBS news producer accused of extorting money from David Letterman, appeared on both the Today Show this morning and Geraldo At Large last night. You can watch both interviews here.

He offered more details on the Geraldo segment than the Today show, perhaps because Ann Curry acted like a accusatory prosecutor while Geraldo, who went to law school with Gerry and considers him a friend, was more conversational than inquisitional and didn't start from the premise that Halderman is guilty. [More...]

So the Brett Favre led Vikings face Favre's old team the Packers tonight in Minneapolis. This should be fun. But how much of the result will depend on Favre?

Last week Favre threw a game winning touchdown with 2 seconds left so it is never wise to underestimate his importance. But let's face it, if the Pack can't stop Adrian Peterson (here's saying they can't, he's gone for over 100 yards in 3 of 4 against the Pack), then Favre is somewhat incidental to the Viking offense. The real question will be can Aaron Rodgers do damage to the Viking defense? I think not enough. I like the Vikes tonight (with Percy Harvin scoring a TD.)

This is an Open Thread.

Led by the Obama connected (through John Podesta) Think Progress:

Lawrence O’Donnell [. . .] tells Politico’s Live Pulse that Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) shouldn’t [include a public option.] [. . . I]s O’Donnell right? Does it make more sense to exclude the public plan from the Senate bill and add it during Conference? I think it does. The public plan has become a political wedge issue. Republicans have staked their entire opposition to reform on the public plan, effectively shutting out any meaningful discussion about affordability or insurance regulations.

My gawd. A "meaningful discussion" with Republicans? The Villagers, both "Left" and Right, are really pieces of work. But hey, Alan Grayson is right there with them, despite his bluster.

Speaking for me only

When FDR was running for President in 1932, the base of the Democratic Party was strongly in favor of the repeal of Prohibition. FDR privately agreed, but was concerned about the political implications of that position. His solution? He called for repeal of the federal prohibition but stated that the question should be left to the states to decide individually. Of course FDR won, Prohibition was repealed and in 1935, the federal government took over regulation of alcoholic beverages. A classic case of the camel's nose under the tent working.

Whatever one may think of the strategy employed by the Obama Administration to this point on health care reform, the question we now face is what is the best way to proceed. I come down squarely in favor of a Blue State Public Option as described by Andy Stern of the SEIU - Medicare +5, tied to individual mandates, subsidies funded by a surtax on wealthy individuals. This is a better course, both in terms of politics and policy, than the Schumer level playing field public option. I'll explain why I think so on the flip.

The FTC has changed its rules for the first time since 1980. Indpeendent bloggers who fail to disclose paid reviews or freebies will be fined up to $11,000.

From the FTC press release today:

"The revised Guides also add new examples to illustrate the long standing principle that 'material connections' (sometimes payments or free products) between advertisers and endorsers--connections that consumers would not expect--must be disclosed. These examples address what constitutes an endorsement when the message is conveyed by bloggers or other 'word-of-mouth' marketers.

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Jane Hamsher writes:

I think HCAN has the wrong Nevada senator in its sights [. . .] Ensign is not going to vote for any health care reform bill, especially not one with a public option. As part of a health care reform effort, it's a complete waste of money.

I agree with Jane. But it makes me wonder why all the fundraising for Alan Grayson? He has never joined the Progressive Block in its refusal to vote for a health care bill that does not contain a robust public option. Last week, when asked point blank by David Shuster if he would vote for a health care bill without a public option, he ducked the question. So despite the liberal protestations that the GOP is the Party of Bluster, it seems clear that Democrats like their shiny objects too.

Speaking for me only

In Texas, police used a dog scent lineup to get the perp in a murder case. The dogs got it wrong.

According to the dogs, the perp was one of the cops. He was under suspicion for five months. Then, DNA revealed the real murderer who pleaded guilty.

The Innocence Project of Texas calls the practice "junk science that's being used by prosecutors and judges to convict people." The nonprofit group... wants state governments to ban the use of dog-scent lineups. It says an unknown number of people have been wrongly accused or convicted from the dog-scent lineups.

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