Of course there's more to former U.S. Attorney Todd Graves' tenure and resignation than meets the eye. Had the mass removal of other US attorneys not taken place, we may well have continued to believe that Graves' resignation was his own choice, that is, if we bothered to notice at all.  Graves resignation took effect on Friday, March 24, 2006, and the next Monday he was working in the law firm of Bartle and Marcus, quickly to become Graves, Bartle & Marcus.  Bartle is a Missouri state senator.

Graves is now expected to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on June 5.  Two days later he will conduct a CLE course : Internal Investigations and Real Rules of the Road for the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association.

Today I listened to Brown's Universal James CD. I don't suppose it did very well compared to his other work. It contains a long (8:05) track called Moments. There's no singing; it's all spoken. Percussion, a horn and a bit of piano are in the background in a rhythm symbolizing the passage of time. A flute and back up singer join in at the end.

I don't see the words to this track transcribed anywhere out there, so I've typed them up in a way that I hope reflects the rhythm and feel of the track. The back up singer's words are enclosed in brackets.

This was released in 1993.  Nothing remarkable, just another old guy waxing philosophical. Maybe this is a small way to look through the texture of flaws and humanity and acknowledge the thoughtful, serious side not so much of James Brown, but of the many millions who don't have the skills or educational background to do things like write diaries.

Just for a moment.

Lowell has noted on Raising Kaine that Jim Webb has a solid lead over Allen in the latest Zogby poll.

Here are the WSJ results.

Lowell also reminds us that this poll was run before the latest ad from the Webb campaign.

Great news, but we need to keep the momentum going!

I am a Jim Webb supporter in the race for the Senate seat in Virginia.  Over the last several weeks I have focused rather narrowly on researching the history of Harris Miller, Webb's primary opponent.

Using information collected from various archives and online articles here are some of the major points:

-- As a lobbyist for the high tech industry Miller was very vocal in the media in making it clear that support of the newly powerful lobbying arm of the industry would be shifted to the Republicans going into the 2000 election if Democrats failed to support certain legislation.
-- Miller was very divisive within the local Democratic committee (this diary).
-- When employed at ITAA, the company PAC was primarily a vehicle for his contributions to Republicans.  Casting himself as an active Democrat, his individual contributions were primarily to Democrats (alson in this diary).
-- He ran cover for a group of electronic voting machine companies such as Diebold.  That he switched his position on paper trails is well known.

I am preparing for the funeral of a very dear aunt, and an incredible human being.  She died from progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP).  Research on PSP is ongoing, and I was somewhat comforted to learn some time ago that plans included an autopsy and brain donation.

Ours is a huge extended family, and within it are reflected the spectrum of political and spiritual viewpoints. When it became apparent that our aunt's death was at hand, one particular cousin - I'll call her Tina - became actively involved in the decision making process, lending support to the active caregivers who are understandably extremely bereaved and in that context  it only natural that Tina inject her own personal world view.  

Tina believes that the earth was created 5000 years ago. She also believes that Bibles should be handed out at public schools.  She quotes Rush Limbaugh.  In short, Tina all but glows from gulping the Kool-aid.  Some of her statements are so surreal, that I have found myself waiting for the missing punchline.

Details of a search warrant motivated by an high school email compromise are at Smoking Gun

The messages, all sent on November 26, came from the GDS account of teacher Alison Taylor Fastov without her "knowledge and authorization." One of the messages, sent to a male student, was obscene, while the other two criticized the recipients (rather convincingly) for poor classroom performances. After examining the school's computer logs, federal agents determined that Fastov's account was accessed via a speakeasy.net account. From there, two Secret Service agents and Department of Justice investigators tracked the intrusion to an account registered to Patrice Miller, a well-known D.C. socialite who is married to wealthy real estate developer Herbert Miller.

(was David Englin Goes to Richmond)

HJ41 passed in Virginia House today.  Delegate David Englin gave this amazing speech.  The full text is below.

Marriage Amendment Resolution

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to this resolution.  I'm not going to talk about same-sex marriage.  I'm no fool -- although others might make a different judgement about a freshman delegate rising in this chamber on the third day of session.  But I understand that on the issue of marriage, I'm in the minority, perhaps even in my own caucus.  I also sleep very well at night knowing that at some point in the future of this great Commonwealth, those of us of my opinion will be judged to have been on the right side of history.  But let's for a moment forget about the question of same-sex marriage, because this amendment addresses much more than that.  We need to be clear and honest:  This amendment also outlaws civil unions and domestic partnerships and other similar private legal arrangements.  

If this appeared already, I do apologize; our satellite dish has been acting up a bit over the last couple of days.  

Dyana Mason of Equality Virginia along with many, many committed individuals, has been working tirelessly for the last several years to make Virginia a better place for all Virginians.  We owe them all a debt of gratitude.  Please visit the site and send a thank you note to Governor Warner for the holidays :)

Thanks so much, Dyana!  And thank you, too, Governor Warner!

Meanwhile, George Allen is backing down on hate crime legislation.  Virginians can write him from the EV site, too.
----- (sorry I don't know how to do the box thingie..)

Equality Virginia Statement on Governor Mark R. Warner Adding "Sexual Orientation" To State Workforce Employment Rules

(Richmond, December 16) -- Equality Virginia today applauded Governor Mark R. Warner for amending the equal opportunity policy of the Commonwealth to prohibit workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Each day brings another outrage.  Here the neediest and most vulnerable Americans are human guinea pigs.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/this_world/4038375.stm

The story speaks tragically for itself.

And not to detract from the main story, this is being carried oddly enough on fox:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,140829,00.html

One jaded and unexplored hypothesis is that this will be used to get Guiliani out of any contention in 2008.

Paulos explains Freeman's work on the exit poll stats rather well.  He begins -

"Why did the exit polls taken on election day in the battleground states differ so starkly from the final tallies in those states? As my crosstown colleague, Steven Freeman of the University of Pennsylvania has demonstrated in his paper, "The Unexplained Exit Poll Discrepancy," the pattern is unmistakable. In Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida, the differences between Bush's final tallies and his earlier exit poll percentages were, respectively, 6.7%, 6.5%, and 4.9%."
Here's the link to the rest of the article: Paulos on the Exit Polls

While efforts to publicize both obvious voter suppression as well as the many indications of simply shady activity are certainly necessary, this enormous body of potential crimes needs to be investigated impartially and thoroughly.  From my perspective, it does not appear that the Justice Dept., the FBI, and state and local law enforcement officials are doing their job.

Point out and publicize incidents, yes, but please remember that it is not incumbent upon bloggers to "prove" election related crimes.  This is a job for law enforcement and the court system.  If they are not performing their jobs, they need to be replaced by someone who is capable of doing so.

Not instead of, but in addition to urging the press to take up the stories of these crimes, citizens in the many districts where these irregularities have occurred need to demand that their law enforcement folks perform their jobs and pursue these cases.

The Charlottesville City Council passed a resolution Monday urging the repeal of a state law banning same-sex civil unions.

http://www.dailyprogress.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=CDP%2FMGArticle%2FCDP_BasicArticle&c=MGA rticle&cid=1031779168426&path=!news

The resolution was a symbolic statement against House Bill 751, which was passed during the 2004 session of the General Assembly and prohibits any legal arrangement bestowing the rights and privileges of marriage on couples of the same sex. It also voids civil unions current Virginia residents entered into in other states.