In its unanimous opinion, the [Supreme] court expressed no view on the constitutionality either of lethal injection in general or of the specific procedures and combination of chemicals that a Florida inmate, Clarence E. Hill, and numerous others around the country have recently challenged in federal court.

The justices addressed themselves solely to the procedural route that such lawsuits must take, and chose the route that is by far the more inmate-friendly from the two options that the case presented.

Not that I suspect any of you will ever be on death row, but it might be a good idea to check out this article just in case. Even though you cannot challenge the constitutionality of the death penalty under this case law, you now have the opportunity to challenge procedures deemed inadequately painless.

Personally, I would like to see the Supreme Court tackle the bigger issue here. There have been a lot of problems with the death sentence over the years-like earlier this century, when a black man was sentenced to death for stealing less than $2 from a white woman. If we must use it, we must make sure it is absolutely humane and does not get missapplied. Unfortunately, both inhumane uses and missaplication are still frequent. WITBD?

Prisoners Gain in Suit Attacking Lethal Injection - New York Times

Providing hints that a reduction in coastal sea ice may make life difficult for polar bears, government biologists from Canada and the United States say they observed three instances of cannibalism among polar bears in a three-month stretch in 2004 along Alaskan and Yukon coasts. In the journal Polar Biology, the researchers said that no previous examples had been observed in the region in at least 24 years. Computer simulations project that the Arctic Ocean could become largely free of sea ice later in the century in summers if global warming intensifies

Oh, this can't be true. There's no such thing as global warming! Stupid NYtimes, being all political and making up stories.

Biologists Note Polar Bear Cannibalism - New York Times

Here's Coulter from Chapter 1 of Godless: The massive Dickey-Lincoln Dam, a $227 million hydroelectric project proposed on upper St. John River in Maine, was halted by the discovery of the Furbish lousewort, a plant previously believed to be extinct.

Here's the Portland Press Herald, from the year 2000, in its list of the "Maine Stories of the Century": The massive Dickey-Lincoln Dam, a $227 million hydroelectric project proposed on upper St. John River, is halted by the discovery of the Furbish lousewort, a plant believed to be extinct.

Strangely similar, no? By the way, that's a story from 1976. Coulter doesn't tell you that little tidbit, making you think it happened last week. The next one's from 1977:

Anything that will get this horrible woman out of my face...

Coulter Copying Scandal

Of course you know, this means war.
“They have no regard for life, either ours or their own. I believe this was not an act of desperation, but an act of asymmetrical warfare waged against us.”

Yes, an act of war as asymmetrical as a MySpace haircut — reverse-psychological war, you might call it. It was an act of war so devious, so sneaky, that we can only imagine what the terrorists have in store for us next in this new phase of the Long, Long War. Perhaps a group of anti-American Saudi airline pilots will hijack planes, fill them with fellow jihadists, and run them into their own homes! A group of Iraqi insurgents might assassinate their favorite radical cleric! Al-Qaeda agents in the mountainous Pakistan border areas might detonate explosives at the opening of the caves they’re hiding in, causing a cave-in that will permanently trap them inside and destroy the resolve and morale of international troops attempting to find them. Yes, this clearly was, as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy Colleen Graffy told the BBC, “a good PR move.” If this doesn’t boost Mani bin Shaman bin Turki al-Habardi’s album sales, nothing will.

Guantanamo Prisoners to Fire Edelman - Wonkette

In that old battle of the wills between young people and their keepers, the young have found a new weapon that could change the balance of power on the cellphone front: a ring tone that many adults cannot hear.

A Ring Tone Meant to Fall on Deaf Ears - New York Times

The Senate, as expected, defeated a proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage today in a procedural vote that fell far short of the number required to amend the Constitution.
The 49-48 vote on a motion to end debate on the proposal advanced by Republicans and President Bush was 11 short of the number required under Senate rules. It was 18 short of the two-thirds majority in both houses required for proposed amendments to the Constitution.

Best news I've seen on the front page in months!!!!!!

Gay Marriage Amendment Fails in U.S. Senate

Senior Republican and Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee sharply criticized a Justice Department official yesterday for refusing to say whether the Bush administration has ever considered prosecuting journalists for publishing leaked national security information.
.....
"You're basically taking what would be called a testifying Fifth Amendment. You should be ashamed of yourself, or your superiors should be ashamed of themselves," Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) told Friedrich after he declined to answer questions from committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa

Silence Angers Judiciary Panel

Social Security numbers and other personal information for as many as 2.2 million U.S. military personnel -- including nearly 80 percent of the active-duty force -- were among the data stolen from the home of a Department of Veterans Affairs analyst last month, federal officials said yesterday, raising concerns about national security as well as identity theft.
The department announced that personal data for as many as 1.1 million active-duty military personnel, 430,000 National Guard members and 645,000 reserve members may have been included on an electronic file stolen May 3 from a department employee's house in Aspen Hill. The data include names, birth dates and Social Security numbers, VA spokesman Matt Burns said.

Hotel.com had info stolen too in the last few days. Is there some fancy new trick to stealing info or are these just flukes?

Data Theft Affected Most in Military

The Decider's decision to whip up a phony crisis over same-sex marriage -- Values under attack! Run for your lives! -- is such a transparent ploy that even conservatives are scratching their heads, wondering if this is the best Karl Rove could come up with. Bush might as well open his next presidential address by giving himself a new title: The Distracter

Distracter in Chief

WASHINGTON, June 6 — The Central Intelligence Agency took no action after learning the pseudonym and whereabouts of the fugitive Holocaust administrator Adolf Eichmann in 1958, according to C.I.A. documents released Tuesday that shed new light on the spy agency's use of former Nazis as informants after World War II.

Oh, the list goes on and on...

C.I.A. Knew Where Eichmann Was Hiding, Documents Show - New York Times