Human Rights Watch’s letter to Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi:

We are writing in regard to recent government actions taken against the Ethiopian Free Journalists Association (EFJA), a private association. We believe the government’s interference in the internal governance of the EFJA has been politically motivated and is in violation of the rights to freedom of association and expression guaranteed under international human rights law. These actions seriously undermine your government’s stated commitment to the protection of basic human rights as shown by its ratification of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in 1993.

Guess what the Justice department is up to now:
The Justice Department is demanding that at least six hospitals in New York City, Philadelphia and elsewhere turn over hundreds of patient medical records on certain abortions performed there. Lawyers for the department say they need the records to defend a new law that prohibits what opponents call partial-birth abortions…

But hospital administrators are balking because they say the highly unusual demand would violate the privacy rights of their patients, and the standoff has resulted in clashing interpretations from federal judges in recent days about whether the Justice Department has a right to see the files.

Well, Matt Drudge is clearly very excited about this, as is Andrew Sullivan. Whether there’s something to it remains to be seen.

From the Washington Post:

The documents include payroll sheets never before made public. Summaries prepared by the Defense Financing Accounting Service indicate that Bush was paid for service in October and November 1972 and in January and April 1973. That spans a period — from May 1972 to May 1973 — when Bush was assigned to Guard units in Alabama and Houston and that has been the focus of Democratic critics.

In addition, according to the new documents, Bush was performing service or unit drills at a time when his commanding officers in Houston said they could not evaluate him because “he has not been observed” at Ellington Air Force Base in Houston — as they had written in previously released National Guard records. That report was signed by two officers on May 2, 1973, a day that the new documents show Bush was supposed to have been performing service in Houston.
Meanwhile, LiberalOasis argues that this is one thing that Terry McAuliffe deserves credit for not screwing up.

More good news for civil liberties in the Ashcroft era:

Jose Padilla, an American citizen accused of supporting Al Qaeda terrorists who has been held incommunicado by the military for more than a year, will be allowed to see a lawyer, the Defense Department said today.

But don’t get too excited yet:

A statement by the Pentagon said the department was allowing Mr. Padilla access to counsel “as a matter of discretion and military authority. Such access is not required by domestic or international law and should not be treated as a precedent,” the statement said.

And if you do have the gumption to treat it as precedent – you’re in for it…

Thus ends this round:

Facing growing public pressure from civil liberties advocates, federal prosecutors on Tuesday dropped subpoenas that they issued last week ordering antiwar protesters to appear before a grand jury and ordering a university to turn over information about the protesters.

“We made them want to stop,” Brian Terrell, executive director of the Catholic Peace Ministry here and one of four protesters who received subpoenas, told a crowd at the federal courthouse. “We’re here to make them want to never let it happen again.”

President Bush is headed to my home state to talk up the economy tomorrow. The Center for American Progress argues that he’s got some explaining to do.

From the YDN:

Between 25 and 30 students representing several student organizations held a news conference outside of 55 Whitney Ave. where they voiced their concerns about the amount of money Yale is donating to the Nature Conservancy and the current amount of disclosure about Yale’s investments. Wanting to present a letter expressing their concerns to Chief Investment Officer David Swensen, the group entered the building but was denied entrance to the Yale Investment Office, dispersing after approximately 30 minutes.

Colorado Sen. Wayne Allard met with President Richard Levin when Yale’s involvement surfaced, and within 24 hours Yale had agreed to sell the Baca Ranch to the Nature Conservancy and donate its profits from the sale to the group. Yale currently plans to donate $1.5 million to the Nature Conservancy…

Thing is, Yale originally agreed to donate $4 million to the Nature Conservancy and then, apparently, figured no one would notice if it cut away a little around the edges…

The students protesting yesterday disagreed with Yale’s involvement in what they called an “environmentally hazardous” investment. Naasiha Siddiqui ’05, an organizer of the news conference, said the students had e-mailed Swensen a week ago in an attempt to set up a meeting to discuss Yale’s investments but had received no response. After the news conference the protesters tried to take the letter they had written directly to Swensen, but were not allowed to enter the office. The building facility manager said the building was placed in “secure mode” due to the protestors — a process that includes turning the elevators off and escorting patrons into the building. Approximately 10 minutes after the group asked to gain entrance to Swensen’s office, four Yale police officers arrived on the scene. Yale Police Chief James Perrotti said the officers were dispatched because there was a large group of students in the lobby…

Not your grandfather’s labor movement: Nathan Newman points to an account of the MA AFL-CIO’s description of voting against that state’s gay marriage ban as a “labor vote” and sees “a hopeful sign for broad-based progressive unity.” Me too.

Standing athwart history yelling “Stop!“:

President Bush plans to endorse a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as the union of a man and a woman in response to a Massachusetts court decision requiring legal recognition of gay marriages in that state, key advisers said yesterday.

…The White House strategy, designed to minimize alienation of moderate voters, calls for emphasizing that Bush is for traditional marriage, not against gay people.

Nice of them to clarify that. Because you could see how people could get confused…

Freshman rockstar Helena Herring makes the case for Yale to pay its share to New Haven:

Yale only pays $4 million a year in taxes to the city of New Haven because it is a non-profit institution, and as such, is almost completely tax exempt. This exception is over 100 years old. To compensate cities with large non-profits for the taxes that they lose, the state has a Payment In Lieu Of Taxes (PILOT) program. According to a report published by the Connecticut Center for a New Economy, this program is supposed to reimburse cities for 77 percent of the money lost. However, because of budgetary shortfalls, the state no longer has the money to pay such a large percentage. For example, in 2001 Yale’s property was valued around one billion dollars. Under taxable ownership, that property would have been taxed $37.3 million. However, the PILOT program only paid New Haven $23.8 million, or 63.9 percent of the money that Yale is exempt from paying. This created a shortage of over $11.5 million in the city’s budget.

Asking Yale to pay its fair share of the tax burden is not even a groundbreaking or original idea…

Looks like the end of the road for Wesley Clark. I have to say, what bothered me most about him was the sense that never, in the several months he was in the race, could I have told you what it was that distinguished what was driving this man to run for President. I can’t say it’s surprising that as soon as Kerry started to look like a viable non-Dean candidate (and a military one at that), Clark’s numbers started to tank. I suspect they would have anyway. Most politicians field charges of opportunism, and most elected politicians display sometimes flagrant opportunism, but when you’re spending your time on the stump struggling to find a good explanation for why you’re in the Democratic party – and can’t even summon up a good sound-byte – pretty soon it’ll be time to bow out.