Last year, 5-month-old Daniel Hadley died three days after his mother forgot he was in the car and left him there for two hours. A month ago, a Utah court found the mother guilty of one count of misdemeanor negligent homicide and sentenced her to 18 months' probation. The Salt Lake Tribune's online community, in response to a letter to the editor entitled "Forgetting baby is murder," was deeply split between those who thought the sentence was appropriate and those who thought it was far too lenient.

I argued for the former in my comments about the letter to the editor; I did not participate in the discussion about the original news article. In the month's time that has elapsed, I have since learned that the mother in question did not call 911, but tried to cool him down herself before "eventually" taking him to the hospital. Had I known this earlier, I am not sure I would have argued so strenuously for leniency.

There's a line from a Babylon 5 episode (I'm a big fan of the series) which has always stuck with me.  Several characters are discussing the political situation on Earth following the imposition of martial law.  One character says that people love it - crime is down, things are calm, peaceful.

"Yeah, the peace of the gun," replies another character.

A federal appeals court today upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit accusing U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, former White House political adviser Karl Rove and former Cheney aide I. Lewis Libby of illegally conspiring to reveal the identity of a CIA agent.

It is still a federal crime to knowingly reveal a covert CIA operative's identity.  But as the AG announced while unveiling the new DoJ motto in front of the American Bar Association: "Not all violations of the law are crimes."  So treason is still a violation of the law, but it is not a crime for Bush & Co. because Congress gave them an exemption to infringe on individual privacy.

In keeping with this overhaul of government mottos, Sec. Rice will be unveiling the new State Department motto later today:  Oderint dum metuant.   Next week, the Pentagon will announce the return of human sacrifices to prime time TV.  Asked to comment, Sen. Obama called this "deplorable" and vowed to change it.  Sen. McCain could not be reached by phone.

  Attorney General Michael Mukasey today prevented what would undoubtedly have proven to be the worst case of writer's cramp in human history when he declared that violations of the law are not crimes.

  President George W. Bush immediately called Mukasey and thanked him profusely for eliminating the need for one of the most tedious jobs on the lame-duck president's to-do list: writing out a series of presidential pardons for every person who had ever done anything ever for the BushCheney administration.

So speaks Attorney General Michael Mukasey. The full quote from the article Justice Staffers Won't Be Prosecuted For Illegal Hiring Practices is "not every wrong, or even every violation of the law, is a crime. In this instance, the two joint reports found only violations of the civil service laws."

I agree that not every violation of the law needs to be prosecuted. But to say that a violation of the law is not a crime, is ridiculous. Next I expect to hear Attorney General argue that anyone in the executive branch who violates a law has not committed a crime.

Everyone should be furious about the Attorney General's statements. Yet few have even heard about the statement. Where is the media on this important issue.

Then let's get to what the issue is about, hiring illegally to promote a political agenda as expressly forbidden in the law. So now we know that the Attorney General is upholding the right to uphold only laws illegally hired attorneys decide to uphold. When those attorneys choose not to uphold a law, then breaking the law was not a crime.

Yeah, another short diary. No apologies.

Vallejo, CA, is in the process of going bankrupt.  This is horrifying for a variety of reasons, but mostly because the city is less and less able to provide basic government services, like law enforcement:

Vallejo, already in an economic tailspin, has lost about 20 percent of its police force since the city began its slide into bankruptcy.

About 25 of its 150 or so sworn officers have retired or left for other cities, afraid their pensions or salaries may be slashed if a federal bankruptcy court allows the city to void its union contracts.

"It's a tragic loss for this city," said Vallejo police Lt. Don Hendershot. "We've lost a lot of dedicated, experienced officers. It's very sad seeing these guys go, but I understand why they're leaving."

An investigation by the OIG's San Francisco Area Office led to the arrest and guilty plea of a USMS supervisory deputy marshal on a charge of making a false statement. The investigation determined that the supervisory deputy marshal submitted an application for promotion to the USMS in which he falsely claimed he had a 4-year degree from a university and included false transcripts with the application. When interviewed, the supervisory deputy marshal admitted he purchased the degree and transcripts online from a "diploma mill" for $703. He subsequently retired from the USMS. Sentencing is pending.

OIG Semiannual Reports to Congress

Judge Nottingham should be impeached for violating my Rights Under Color of Law, a felony, so that the public will have confidence in Rule of Law and the Courts

As John Edwards has become the issue du jour and too many people are salivating over whether his political career is over, we now have yet another hypocritical and needless diversion from what is really important.  Just like the recent overexposure of Paris Hilton and McCain’s passing the buck on his increasingly nasty and spiteful campaign, none of this means a damn thing to, oh, 300 million or so Americans.

But since it is a Democrat and since it has to do with sex and since the real horrors of what has been impacting many people on a day to day basis is getting buried and ignored just to create yet another diversion for people to either say "HA" or to get on their moral high horse (all while probably keeping their own skeletons in their closet), that doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t be called for the complete and utter crap that is really is.

Of course, if you want to talk about sex and politicians and the impact on their career, why not look at Larry Craig, David Vitter, Mark Foley and the years of covering up his actions, Newt Gingrich serving his wife divorce papers while she was in the hospital with cancer and of course McCain’s tossing his first wife to the curb and having an affair with Cindy the heiress?  

August 6, 1945 was the horrible dawn of the atomic age at Hiroshima.

It's also the less well-known debut of an equally iconic, equally American killing technology:  the electric chair, which claimed its first victim on August 6, 1890 in New York's Auburn Prison.

This weird hybrid of penal reformism, naive techno-optimism and cutthroat corporate competition between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse made a nauseating botch of its maiden usage upon the person of otherwise obscure wife-murderer William Kemmler.

Cross-posted from Executed Today

...everything looks like a nail.

Via Think Progress:

Today, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) spoke to the National Urban League, a group "devoted to empowering African Americans to enter the economic and social mainstream." When an audience member asked him how he planned to reduce urban crime, McCain praised Mayor Rudy Giuliani's efforts in New York City before invoking the military's tactics in Iraq as the model for crime-fighting:

MCCAIN: And some of those tactics — you mention the war in Iraq — are like that we use in the military. You go into neighborhoods, you clamp down, you provide a secure environment for the people that live there, and you make sure that the known criminals are kept under control. And you provide them with a stable environment and then they cooperate with law enforcement, etc, etc.

Hoping to bolster support for the surge in Iraq, John McCain over the past year has frequently touted the safe streets of Baghdad.  In April 2007, McCain boasted of neighborhoods "you and I could walk through."  By March 2008, he reminded us that "there's problems in America with safe neighborhoods as we well know."  And the solution to urban crime in the U.S., John McCain now tells us, is to bring the surge to the streets of America.

Right now, as I'm typing this, my hands are trembling with anger and sorrow.  A while ago I read a story on the news about young Danieal (pronounced "Danielle") Kelly, a 14 year-old disabled girl, who died from neglect.  For a couple of hours, that story kept staying in my mind.  What with Iraq, the elections, everything, yet this one story stood in my mind.  One word, one single word kept coming back...murder

Even senate Democrats are sounding sympathetic when it comes to Ted Stevens and his recent indictment. Why?

Democratic Senators Barbara Boxer, Sheldon Whitehouse, Amy Klobuchar, and Frank Lautenberg today called for the resignation of Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen L. Johnson and asked the Attorney General to open a perjury investigation of him.

It looks like Johnson may have lied to Congress in his sworn testimony.  He claimed that the decision to deny California's waiver request from the Clean Air Act to set tough standards on global warming pollution from motor vehicles was "mine and mine alone."  Recent testimony, however, shows that Bush ordered it and Johnson may not have told the truth under oath.  The Senators asked Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey to investigate "apparent contradictions" between his sworn testimony and the testimony of other sworn witnesses.

More, after the fold

(Bumped)

From MSNBC:

WASHINGTON - U.S. officials say the Justice Department has indicted Alaska Senator Ted Stevens on charges related to a long-running investigation of business dealings in Alaska.

Stevens has been under federal investigation since 2007, an investigation which has made the 40-year incumbent one of the most vulnerable Republicans in the nation, despite his former popularity.

It is reported that Stevens was indicted on 7 criminal counts. We'll have more, as more is reported.

Update by kos:

Ironically, this isn't exactly good news for us. There is still time for Stevens to withdraw from the race, giving a "cleaner" Republican a chance to try and hold that seat against O2B Democrat Mark Begich. It would've been better for these indictments to hit after the late-August primary.

On the plus side, the obvious replacement, Gov. Sarah Palin, is now facing an abuse of power investigation for using her office to carry out a vendetta against her sister's ex-husband, a cop. And given that the rest of the Alaska GOP is either indicted or facing indictment, and given that Stevens is the most pig-headed stubborn SOB around, let's hope he refuses to bow out.

Update II by kos:

Actually, the filing deadline was June 2 for this race, so perhaps Stevens can't be replaced. Looking into it.

Update III by kos:

Adam B has found the relevant statute:

AS 15.25.110. Filling Vacancies By Party Petition.

If a candidate of a political party nominated at the primary election dies, withdraws, resigns, becomes disqualified from holding the office for which the candidate is nominated, or is certified as being incapacitated in the manner prescribed by this section after the primary election and 48 days or more before the general election, the vacancy may be filled by party petition. The central committee of any political party or any party district committee may certify as being incapacitated any candidate nominated by their respective party by presenting to the director a sworn statement made by a panel of three licensed physicians, not more than two of whom may be of the same political party, that the candidate is physically or mentally incapacitated to an extent that would in the panel's judgment prevent the candidate from active service during the term of office if elected. The director shall place the name of the person nominated by party petition on the general election ballot. The name of a candidate disqualified under this section may not appear on the general election ballot.

In other words, the party can replace Stevens if he withdraws within 48 days of the general election. That would be sometime mid-September. Only problem for the GOP -- they've got no one clean in the state. The Palin abuse-of-power scandal looms even larger today.

Update IV by kos: The 48-days date is September 17. Now looking into whether Stevens can be replaced by his party without his consent. It seems that would be hard to impossible, but much depends on what state law and GOP party bylaws say. Note that no replacement can happen before the primary since there isn't a nominee. In theory, one of Stevens' primary opponents might win, but the anti-Stevens vote is split among 2-3 candidates, and none of them are high profile.

Update V by kos: Here's the indictment (PDF). All seven counts are for false statements.

On the web:
Mark Begich for Senate
Orange to Blue ActBlue page

UPDATE 3 -  Washington Post:

Sen. Ted Stevens, the longest-serving Republican senator and a figure in Alaska politics since before statehood, has been indicted on seven counts of falsely reporting hundreds of thousands of dollars in services he received from a company that helped renovate his home.

UPDATE 5: Feb 2008 interview of Stevens about his personal life at his home (the one that is the root of the investigation):

News conference by US Department of Justice to be held at 120pm.

Will update and supplement.

He was indicted on 7 counts! The charges are anticipated to be solely about false statements he made to investigators in the larger case. I wonder where the corruption charges are in the process and if they will ever truly charge him fully.

I can't say how happy I am that Stevens will finally be removed from the Senate. It should be interesting to hear HIS news conference when it is scheduled. They will probably have to have a "seniors certified" butterfly net on the ready just in case.

Perhaps the most interesting part is the opportunity to capture this seat this fall....

TEXT OF INDICTMENT: