The big news tonight is that Bush has commuted I. "Scooter" Libby's sentence. That is to say, Bush has not pardoned him for his crimes (obstruction of justice, perjury, and making false statements), but he has completely removed his 30-month jail sentence, saying that it was "excessive." It seems that Bush has tried to reward a loyal flunky who has ( Read more... )

Even though my blog is titled "Civil Liberties and World News," I haven't posted on either of these subjects in a month and a half. It's time to return to that theme.

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell has started calling for the closure of Guantanamo. I fear it won't be closed until we have a new president (and possibly not even then), but ( Read more... )

There was a terrorist strike on the Mumbai train system reminiscent of the London and Madrid bombings. Several hundred people are injured/killed. I hope Rishad and his family are alright (edit: they're fine, though his cousin got off one of the trains 10 minutes before the bombs went off. Scary!), though it's statistically likely that they're ( Read more... )