Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) introduced a bill in Congress Thursday that would clearly establish that online publishers such as bloggers are exempt from campaign finance laws. The text of the bill is accessible here (pdf). From an e-mail we received from Sen. Reid's office:

Today Democratic Leader Harry Reid introduced a bill which would codify the Internet exemption (from FEC Regulations) into federal law. In addition Senator Reid sent a letter (pdf) to FEC Chairman Scott Thomas making it clear that Congress "did not intend to regulate" the Internet. Senator Reid made the following statement:

The Bush Administration scored a victory for faith-based discrimination yesterday. In a party-line vote Wednesday, the House approved changes to the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, a law that "provides funds for training and vocational rehabilitation programs for adults and dislocated workers, as well as activities for low-income youth."

Under current law, religious groups that receive federal money for job-training programs must obey civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination in hiring or firing.

This requirement is removed under the proposed amendment.

The House on Wednesday approved a job-training bill that would allow faith-based organizations receiving federal funds to consider a person's religious beliefs in making employment decisions.

Raw Story reports:

House Democrats say they will force a vote in the House Judiciary Committee to put the Republican majority on the record with regards to investigating discredited White House correspondent Jeff Gannon who allegedly had access to confidential information, including a memorandum naming CIA operative Valerie Plame, RAW STORY has learned.

The procedure, called a Resolution of Inquiry, will be directed to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and departing Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge, senior House aides say. Ridge has jurisdiction over the Secret Service, which is responsible for presidential security; Gonzales oversees the FBI, whose databases are used for criminal background checks.

The resolution requests all documents on how Gannon was personally cleared and repeatedly allowed access to the White House, aides tell RAW STORY. It also calls for any information the departments have on White House policies about how an applicant would go about getting clearance in general.

This is ominous. The The Ohio Senate voted 30-1 yesterday to approve legislation (SB 8) criminally sanctioning any person who operates a motor vehicle if trace levels of marijuana or non-psychoactive marijuana metabolites (compounds produced from the chemical changes of a drug in the body) are present in their blood or urine.

Why is it bad and ominous? Because traces of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana stays in your system for up to a month. So the law will apply to and punish sober drivers who may have smoked weeks or days ago. According to NORML's Paul Armentano (received by e-mail, no link yet):

The preznit thinks he's on a roll today. Not only did he send his judicial wish list in, he's asking Congress to renew the Patriot Act.

The ACLU says " not so fast."

While 10 percent of that act is set to sunset at the end of this year, we should be mindful that Congress specifically designed those controversial provisions to expire so that cooler heads could examine, review, and-- if warranted-- amend and renew them.

Sen. Russ Feingold has introduced a bill in Congress to end the end sneak and peek searches authorized by the Patriot Act:

Section 213 of the USA-PATRIOT Act, the provision of that important statute passed in the wake of the 9/11 attacks that has caused perhaps the most concern among Members of Congress and the public. Section 213, sometimes referred to as the ``delayed notice search provision'' or the ``sneak and peek provision,'' authorizes the government in limited circumstances to conduct a search without immediately serving a search warrant on the owner or occupant of the premises that have been searched.

What's wrong with sneak and peeks?

Raw Story has the details of Sensenbrenner's Real ID bill that passed the house Thursday.

The bill moves on to the Senate. Here's the contact list, get busy. Oppose this turkey of a bill.

The Real ID Act is bad policy and a bad law. It's dangerous and it is set for a House vote on Thursday. The White House threw its support behind the Sensenbrenner-sponsored bill today.

This is the bill that would allow the U.S. to send non-citizens back to countries that employ torture. The ACLU says:

Specifically, the bill would make it easier to send asylum-seekers back to the countries they are fleeing if they cannot provide written "corroboration" of their claims, a move contrary to international law. Federal law already gives officials ample discretion to deny improper asylum claims, and asylum applicants are subject to much more extensive scrutiny than virtually any other pool of non-citizens seeking entry to the United States.

Anytime you see groups as diverse as these uniting to oppose a specific piece of legislation, it's a pretty safe bet it's a bad law.

On January 24, Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold introduced a bill to abolish the federal death penalty. He did the same in 2003 and before that in 1999. While the bill is just as unlikely to pass this year, his remarks are well worth reading. Here's a portion.

Mr. President, today I introduce the Federal Death Penalty Abolition Act of 2005. This bill would abolish the death penalty at the Federal level. It would put an immediate halt to executions and forbid the imposition of the death penalty as a sentence for violations of Federal law.

Since 1976, when the death penalty was reinstated by the Supreme Court, there have been almost 1,000 executions across the country, including three at the Federal level. At the same time, over 100 people on death row were later found innocent and released from death row. Exonerated inmates are not only removed from death row, but they are usually released from prison altogether. Apparently, these people never should have been convicted in the first place. While death penalty proponents claim that the death penalty is fair, efficient, and a deterrent, he fact remains that our criminal justice system has failed and has resulted in at least 117 very grave mistakes.

The Wall St. Journal Friday (free link) has an editorial on federal sentencing, warning of the return of mandatory minimums:

Judges have never liked the guidelines, which from their perspective amount to 1,800 pages of Congressional micromanagement. But somehow we think they're going to like what's coming even less. Congress is not about to sit still and accept what it sees as a power grab by the judiciary.

Hearings on the guidelines are already being discussed, and legislation could follow apace. One quick fix would be for Congress to expand the number of mandatory minimum sentences, a solution that would have the ironic effect of giving judges less flexibility in sentencing than they had before Wednesday's ruling.

We warned of this back in September:

Virginia is seeking to criminalize the non-reporting of a miscarriage . The bill is H.B. 1677 and it provides:

"When a fetal death occurs without medical attendance, it shall be the woman's responsibility to report the death to the law-enforcement agency in the jurisdiction of which the delivery occurs within 12 hours after the delivery. A violation of this section shall be punishable as a Class 1 misdemeanor."

Democcracy for Virgina responds:

Via How Appealing:

The Governor of South Dakota pledges his support for legislation that would ban abortion: The Associated Press reports here that "Gov. Mike Rounds said he would sign legislation making abortion illegal in South Dakota if the 2005 Legislature passes a bill that meets his inspection." The article goes on to explain that the Governor hopes to provide the U.S. Supreme Court with a vehicle for reexamining its holding in Roe v. Wade.