Utilizing “a little-noticed provision in last year’s reauthorization of the Patriot Act,” Attorney General Alberto Gonzales may soon have greater influence over death penalty cases in California and other states, “including the power to shorten the time that death row inmates have to appeal convictions to federal courts.”
While former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney “divested from companies doing business in Iran,” financial disclosure reports filed Monday show that “he still holds stock in an oil company that does business in Sudan — where the government is accused of sponsoring genocide.”
“Rudy Giuliani will jump back into the debate over immigration policy today, but don’t expect him to talk about his days as mayor – when his policies were all but lifted from his liberal predecessor, Ed Koch.” “He is repudiating the good things that he did [as mayor], to his shame,” Koch said.
Tomorrow, a three-judge panel will hear arguments on whether a legal battle relating to Bush’s NSA spy program “can go forward.” “The outcome could determine whether the courts will ever rule on the legality of surveillance conducted by the NSA without judicial oversight between 2001 and January 2007.”
The New York Times reports Defense Secretary Robert Gates “keeps his own counsel on Iraq.” Gates has “avoided showing his hand about whether changes will be needed when the Bush administration completes its war strategy review next month.”
“Iraq is generating enough power to meet only half the nationwide demand, and most Baghdad residents are down to an hour or two of electricity a day. The shortfalls are the worst since U.S.-led forces ousted Saddam Hussein in 2003, Electricity Ministry spokesman Aziz Shimari said.”
“More than 30 Iraqi judges have been killed in the line of duty in Iraq, underscoring the need for the new complex in Baghdad aimed at protecting the justice system, U.S. and Iraqi officials said Monday.”
Former Texas Republican Party chairman Thomas Pauken said of Rove: “It is dangerous to put political consultants in charge of policy. … The combination of big-government conservatism and the extraordinary neoconservative influence on foreign policy has been devastating.”
And finally: Scientists have confirmed that Abraham Lincoln had an “unusual degree of facial asymmetry.” The left side of Lincoln’s face was much smaller than the right, an aberration called cranial facial microsomia. “The defect joins a long list of ailments — including smallpox, heart illness and depression — that modern doctors have diagnosed in Lincoln.”
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