Julie at 65 — Oooooh, what a fantastic photo. Would you mind if I use that for a Talking Head thread some morning, if I credit you with a link? Wonderful stuff!

I would be honored :)

–julie

Is it me or does Donna Brazille have less and less to say every week? Maybe she can do a Carville and self-implode. I am SO ready for new faces on these shows, like maybe Matt Stoller, Christy & Jane, our leader Markos, etc. someone from OUTSIDE the beltway.

Maybe Markos is YOUR leader….. to me he is simply a leftwing gatekeeper….. 9/11 was an inside job. Dems are simply the other side of the wooden nickel…… Let’s see if they actually repeal the Military Commissions Act or Warner’s elimination of posse commitatus, or the atrocious Patriot Act…. or the equally hideou ‘Fatherland’….. excuse me, Homeland Security Gestapo…. Are the Dems ever going to question the false ‘war on terrah’ meme….. Ah, I thought not…..

Or if they do anything against the republican ‘lite’ DLC and their neolibs…. The Dems also buy into the WMD lookalike ‘Iranian Nukes’ meme….. So how many innocent Iranian women and kids are the Dems going to authorize to murder?

Whattawaste of time…..

Should read: (er)x, where x equals g :)

Jeff–I have Folies B—- for 25 across and for 118 across I have Edgar B -en. What is 33 down? If you would be kind enough to type it out for me as it should look, I’ll be on my way. I hate when this happens as I do this puzzle everyday — I’ve been doing it for 30 years so I should know better. Thanks for your patience.

C
L
(er)
G
Y

Chirstie or Jeff–Thank you for coming to my assistance. 10 down and 25 across is the Follies Bergere (sp) also 21 across. What is the formula to solving this puzzle today? Usually I get it straight away but today I am so slowww and I have no excuses!! Thanks for the help.

As is often their wont, the editors are using one letter to represent a syllable or word. Today it’s a syllable, using a first letter and adding two more as in x(er) or y(er). The letters in () are implied, not actually used. It’s Folies (one L).

Off Topic: Does anyone on FDL do the Sunday, New York Times crossword puzzle? I’m a bit stuck and need a push. Thanks.

Just finished. How may I help?

I’ve also seen a subtle ‘compassion disconnect’ when looking at Judge Walton’s other recent rulings. It somehow seems either out of character for his career or the disparity of regard to human suffering seem to lack continuity in thinking.

Hey,…I don’t go looking for conspiracy theories… :-)

(Washington-AP) November 14, 2006 – A federal judge who served as a top drug policy adviser to the first President Bush says the harsher penalties he once advocated for crack cocaine crimes go too far.

Federal Judge Reggie Walton favored longer sentences for crack cocaine compared to the powder form. Now, he calls the disparity “unconscionable” and warns the tougher standards are undermining faith in the nation’s judicial system….full article at
Federal judge: Cocaine sentencing disparity ‘unconscionable’

____________________________________
Bush administration claims detainees can’t disclose how they were treated

…Now the government is arguing that by subjecting detainees to such treatment, the CIA gives them “top secret” classified information – and the government can then take extraordinary measures to keep them quiet about it. If this argument carries the day, it will make virtually impossible any accountability for the administration’s treatment of top al-Qaida detainees. And it will also ensure that key parts of any military trials get litigated in secrecy.

Mr. Khan is one of 14 people transferred to Guantanamo earlier this year from the CIA’s secret prison program. After his transfer, lawyers seeking to represent him asked for an order granting them access on the same terms as lawyers representing other detainees. The government objected on two main grounds. It contended that the court lacks jurisdiction because of two new laws that strip federal courts of authority over detainee matters. That may well be correct, and Judge Reggie B. Walton agreed last week that any consideration of counsel access should wait until the court of appeals rules on the jurisdictional question.

….The trouble is that at least some of the secrets the government is trying to protect are the very techniques used against people such as Mr. Khan – and its means of protecting them is to muzzle him about what the CIA did to him. CIA official Marilyn A. Dorn said in an affidavit that Mr. Khan might reveal “the conditions of detention and specific alternative interrogation procedures.” In other words, grossly mistreating a detainee now justifies keeping him quiet.
…full article at link above