The Pitkin County (Aspen) Sheriff's office has released Ken Lay's autopsy report (pdf). The Sheriff's office states in its press release:

On July 19th 2006 The Pitkin County Sheriff's Office received the full autopsy results of Mr. Kenneth Lay from Dr. Robert Kurtzman. The manner of death has not changed, and is classified as natural. The immediate cause of death was classified as arteriosclerotic cardio vascular disease. Based on these findings this case is now closed, there is no evidence of any criminal activity. The post mortem report is available on www.aspenpitkin.com.

Shorter version: Lay had clogged arteries. The Aspen Daily News reports:

by TChris

While ducking the question of whether Karl Bullock's federal sentence of 100 years for distributing heroin is reasonable, the Seventh Circuit, vacating the sentence and remanding for a new sentencing hearing before a different judge, had this to say (pdf) about the sentence:

One hundred years is a long time--one year longer, in fact, than the standard lyrical shorthand for an unimaginably long sentence.¹

[1]See, e.g., Bruce Springsteen, "Johnny 99" ("Well the evidence is clear, gonna let the sentence, son, fit the crime / Prison for 98 and a year and we'll call it even, Johnny 99."); Bob Dylan, "Percy's Song" ("It may be true he's got a sentence to serve / But ninetynine years, he just don't deserve."); Johnny Cash, "Cocaine Blues" ("The judge he smiled as he picked up his pen / Ninety-nine years in the Folsom pen / Ninety-nine years underneath that ground / I can't forget the day I shot that bad bitch down."); Ed Bruce, "Ninety-Seven More To Go" ("Ninety-nine years go so slow / When you still got ninety-seven more to go."); Bill Anderson, "Ninety-Nine" ("The picture's still in front of my eyes, the echo in my ears / When the jury said he's guilty and the judge said ninety-nine years."); Chloe Bain, "Ninety-Nine Years" ("The sentence was sharp, folks, it cut like a knife / For ninety-nine years, folks, is almost for life."); Guy Mitchell, "Ninety-Nine Years" ("Ninety-nine years in the penitentiary, baby, baby, wait for me, around twentyfifty-five we'll get together dead or alive.").

Continuing the discussion on Israel, Lebanon, Hezbollah and the U.S. from here and here.

Bump and Update(TL): Bush has vetoed the stem cell research bill, exercising the first veto of his presidency.

Action Alert: Sign this petition by Progress Now .

Override the President's veto of HR 810, Stem cell research support

More than one year ago, the House of Representatives passed the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act (H.R. 810). This bill would override President Bush's 2001 decision to limit federal funding of embryonic stem cell research and take the first step toward providing potential cures for many debilitating diseases including Parkinson's and diabetes.

Unfortunately, despite the support of 72% of Americans and overwhelming bipartisan support in Congress, President Bush used the first veto of his term against this life saving research. We urge the US Congress to step in and override the President's veto. Doing so would truly demonstrate compassion for the largest number of Americans.

A federal judge has ordered the state of Missouri to provide transportation to a female inmate who wants an abortion.

The judge held that prisoners have a constitutional right to abortion, just like everyone else. How Appealing has posted the opinion here. The Kansas City Star has more.

"The right to abortion survives incarceration," Rothert said.

From the opinion:

(TalkLeft Guest Commentary by Big Tent Democrat)

In an interview with Baltimore Group Blog, highlighted by majekthise, George Lakoff says:

AE: Let's talk about the underlying debate that is happening. There is always debate in Congress between Democrats and Republicans, but let's talk about them in terms of frames. Are there major opposing frames that you see at work in today's debates?

GL: Well, I do, but what has happened in a lot of cases is that a lot of the frames that determine how progressives come down on a particular issue are unconscious. What happens in Congress very often is that the Democrats go on the defensive and accept the other side's frames.

This seems unquestionable to me. It is the principal political flaw of the Democratic Party. Interestingly, when asked about Barack Obama, Lakoff says:

Barak Obama: Star pupil

AE: You're a professor. Thinking about the Democratic Party as your class, who's your star pupil? Where are you seeing success on the Democratic side in speaking in the proper frames?

GL: I think the person who best understands this is Barak Obama. There are a number of reasons for this.

by TChris

Chicago police tortured black suspects in the 1970's and 1980's. This was no secret at the time, but now that a belated investigation confirms the outrageous misconduct, it's too late to prosecute.

''It is our judgment that the evidence in those cases would be sufficient to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt,'' Robert D. Boyle and Edward J. Egan wrote in a long-awaited report.

Their four-year investigation focused on allegations that detectives under the command of Lt. Jon Burge beat suspects, used electric shock on them, played mock Russian roulette and started to smother at least one man to elicit confessions. ...

Boyle and Egan's report said they found three cases with enough evidence to seek an indictment, including the suspect whose abuse allegations led to Burge's firing. That suspect, who was convicted of killing two police officers in 1982, claimed Burge and two detectives beat and tortured him with electric shocks. The special prosecutors also said they believe there was abuse in other cases that they reviewed but that the evidence wasn't as strong.

by TChris

Ralph Reed, darling of the Christian extremists, was unable to overcome the stink of his cozy relationship with Jack Abramoff in his first bid for public office. Reed conceded defeat in yesterday's Republican primary, ending his quest to become Georgia's lieutenant governor. More on Reed's failed candidacy here, here, and here.

by TChris

After finding excuses for five straight years to skip the NAACP's annual meeting, President Bush decided to attend this year's event, already underway. He'll speak to the gathering on Thursday.

Every president for the past several decades has spoken to the group. Until now, Bush had been the exception.

"The Decider" decided to miss Julian Bond's speech. It would have been harder for him to endure than Stephen Colbert's roast (Google video).

Bond recounted a recent meeting with Bush, during which he invited him to make the mile trip from the White House to the convention.

He then harshly criticized the administration, slamming it for the war in Iraq, for abusing civil liberties, using the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks as an excuse, and implementing an economic policy that gives to the rich and takes from the poor.

"They have continued an assault on our civil liberties and civil rights, orchestrated a mass transfer of wealth from the bottom to the top, increased poverty every year they've been in office, created dangerous deficits, substituted religion for science, ignored global warming and wrecked environmental protections," he said of the current administration.

Think Progress reports the New York Times has retracted its news article that misrepresented comments by Hillary Clinton. Good work by the liberal blogosphere that reported the falsehoods.

This is a victory for the progressive blogosphere, particularly Atrios, who first discovered the error, and Media Matters, which kept the story going. Some questions to consider:

Why did it take the New York Times more than 48 hours to correct the record? Will right-wing news sites that picked up the story like Drudge Report and Newsmax correct the record for their readers?

Here is the retraction, here's the original article.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales testfied before a Senate Committee today about the NSA warrantless electronic surveillance program. He made a startling admission: It was Bush himself who blocked Justice Department lawyers in the Office of Professional Responsibility from obtaining security clearances to conduct the investigation of the program that members of Congress had requested.

President Bush personally blocked a Justice Department investigation of the anti-terror eavesdropping program that intercepts Americans' international calls and e-mails, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Tuesday.

Bush refused to grant security clearances for department investigators who were looking into the role Justice lawyers played in crafting the program, under which the National Security Agency listens in on telephone calls and reads e-mail without court approval, Gonzales told the Senate Judiciary Committee. Without access to the sensitive program, the department's Office of Professional Responsibility closed its investigation in April.

I wrote about Congressman Hinchey's request at length back in May, linking to several of the letters exchanged between the OPR and Hinchey, it's a pretty good backgrounder if you want some history.

Note that the May 11 letter from Hinchey to the OPR directly asks, "Who made the decision not to give you clearance?"

Murray Waas has an excellent article that just came out about today's disclosure by Gonzales.