“Cold Cash” William Jefferson (D-La.) has won a partial legal victory by convincing a court of appeals that the FBI acted unconstitutionally, in part, when it raided the indicted Congressman’s office and seized records:

WASHINGTON (AP) - The FBI violated the Constitution when agents raided U.S. Rep. William Jefferson’s office last year and viewed legislative documents, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.
The court ordered the Justice Department to return any privileged documents it seized from the Louisiana Democrat’s office on Capitol Hill. The court did not order the return of all the documents seized in the raid.

It wa a mixed bag of an opinion. The DC Court of Appeals found the search itself was constitutional, but the FBI went too far in viewing legislative materials without giving Jefferson a chance to argue in favor of their privilege.

“The review of the Congressman’s paper files when the search was executed exposed legislative material to the Executive” and violated the Constitution, the court wrote. “The Congressman is entitled to the return of documents that the court determines to be privileged.”

But, as noted, the court did not require the return of all seized documents, though it is unclear what it is the FBI was allowed to keep. Neither did the court rule whether those unprivileged documents can be used in Jefferson’s corruption trial, or if the partially illegal search will require the exclusion of that evidence. That will be a decision for the trial judge who hears the case.

The FBI’s action has created some very strange political bedfellows:

The case has cut across political party lines. Former House Speakers Newt Gingrich, a Republican, and Thomas Foley, a Democrat, filed legal documents opposing the raid, along with former House Minority Leader Bob Michel, a Republican.

Conservative groups Judicial Watch and the Washington Legal Foundation were joined by the liberal Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington in supporting the legality of the raid.

I’m sure Newt’s support of an indicted Democratic congressman will help him with conservative Republicans if he decides to run for President.

In case you have forgotten the background of this matter:

The raid was part of a 16-month international bribery investigation of Jefferson, who allegedly accepted $100,000 from a telecommunications businessman, $90,000 of which was later recovered in a freezer in the congressman’s Washington home.

Jefferson pleaded not guilty in June to charges of soliciting more than $500,000 in bribes while using his office to broker business deals in Africa. The Justice Department said it built that case without using the disputed documents from the raid.

Let’s face it. Louisiana politicians have been pretty good at engaging in hanky panky while staying out of jail. Will Jefferson follow in that tradition and walk?

The Minnesota bridge collapse happened Wednesday evening. The dust had literally just settled when leftist moonbats began to politicize the tragedy. A sample of immediate-aftermath commentary from the calm liberal minds over at the DailyKos:

We spend billions in Iraq while we fall apart at home.

We have been warned by engineers that our nation’s infrastructure is in dire need of repair and upgrade.

Who needs terrorism when the inept GOP runs our nation into the ground. The “terrorists” can just sit back and watch as our nation falls apart. Mission Accomplished.

god forbid we let a little infrastructure needs get in the way of a tax cut!

All of this, of course, means we need massive tax increases to pay for inspections and repairs, but not a re-ordering of government spending priorities to properly handle the trillions of dollars they already take from us. Interestingly, one of the Kos commenters actually makes this point in response to the “tax cut” complaints.

And if you live here [Minnesota] You’d know that this state just spent three quarters of a billion - that’s billion with a big, f—–’ B - dollars on a light rail whose riders are still heavily subsidized by state and local taxes.

Coincidentally, here in Houston our city has spent millions on stadiums and light rail, but our streets are still very poorly maintained. Yet, and this may be a shock to the Kos Kooks, Houston has been run by Democrats for decades. Democrats in Louisiana failed to come through Hurricane Katrina with their competency intact, no matter how much the loons wish to foist all blame on President Bush, yet such disasters remain a “Republicans are evil” issue for many liberals.

The truth is that government bureaucracy and incompetence transcend party lines, which is one of the main reasons why I am a conservative. Government generally gets worse the bigger and more removed from the governed it becomes, no matter who is running it. It is simply the nature of the beast, which is why good government to me is generally less government. Instead of attempting to do everything for everyone and achieving mediocrity, we would be better served by government that did fewer things but did them well.

Our strident liberal friends, of course, hold the opposite view. When government does something poorly, slowly, or inefficiently, as it usually does, their response is to give government more to do and more of your money with which to do it. Blaming Republicans is simply a convenient vehicle for achieving that goal.

Sadly, this same tune is being played yet again in Minnesota, this time before the rubble of that tragic bridge even had time to settle. When the desire for the acquisition of power is so great that the cries of our fellow citizens in distress are obscured by shouts of political opportunism, there is something seriously wrong in the land.

Very well-done, Sir.

Peter Vernon-Ward had been warned by doctors that he must have his leg amputated or face being slowly poisoned from ruptured wounds sustained when rifle butts were smashed into his legs in a German prison camp during World War Two.

But Mr Vernon-Ward refused the operation three years ago “because he saw it as giving in to the Nazis”.

The poison finally killed him in his sleep on Sunday aged 86.

Mr Vernon-Ward enlisted as a 17-year-old and was sent to Dunkirk in 1940 as part of a decoy operation. But he was captured almost immediately alongside 1,000 other men and sent on a gruelling march to a work camp near Auschwitz in southern Poland.

He was told by the Nazis he would work as a miner but the young soldier refused and was tortured by Gestapo henchmen who smashed his legs with their rifles.

In agony, Mr Vernon-Ward eventually relented for fear of being shot and spent five years working in the mines.

During that time, he and fellow captives forged an escape plan and, one night, burst free from their prison.

After weeks on the run, hiding in farmland barns and being helped by local families, Mr Vernon-Ward was spotted by an American patrol and his ordeal was finally over.

… More than 50 years later the ulcers in Peter’s legs caused by the original injuries perforated.

“[According to his son Bob] He was such a determined and dignified man and there was no way he was going to give in to the enemy and have his legs amputated all those years later.”

[h/t London Telegraph]

Good Rest and God Speed.

What this Friday afternoon pot needs is a little stirring.

QUESTION: Who would you like to see elected president in 2008?

ANSWER: I like Dennis Kucinich when it comes to issues like imperialism and stopping the military industrial complex. I like Ron Paul even though I don’t agree with him on everything.

Cindy Sheehan interview, RADAR magazine, 8/07

(h/t Professors R -Squared)

Thank you, thank you very much.

Oh, those wacky Brits.

International terrorism and the threat to Britain from Al-Qaeda would probably be deemed by most as unlikely subject matter for a musical.

After all, suicide bombing, mass bloodshed and fundamental Islam do not exactly lend themselves to singing and dancing.

But Jihad the Musical by the Silk Circle Production Company has forged on regardless and is already being performed on stage at the Edinburgh Festival.

So who loves show tunes?

The controversial satire about Islamic terrorism includes such classic tunes as “Building a bomb today, what does the manual say” and “I wanna be like Osama”.

Sayid sings to his burkha clad mentor: “I can only see your eyes” and theatre-goers are also treated to a song called “We’re going to rock the righteous, to the Jihad jive”.

While this may seem ridiculous at first glance, there are redeeming qualities to the show.

The story comes to a head on the night of the attack when Sayid must decide whose side he is on.

His sister eventually saves him, along with the French who sing “We turned and ran”.

Might not be so bad after all.

And the Lord said,

Be Fruitful and multiply.

And they did.

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