[courtesy of Blog for America]

As poorly as the Bush administration has orchestrated the War in Iraq, they have entirely mismanaged military and civilian operations in Afghanistan.  Afghanistan was, of course, the country that did have a connection to 9/11, unlike Iraq which had none despite neocon attempts to make us think otherwise.  The Taliban resurgence has taken an aggressive turn and the country is slipping further and further into chaos.  From The Associated Press:

It's a grim gauge of U.S. wars going in opposite directions: American and allied combat deaths in Afghanistan in May passed the monthly toll in Iraq for the first time. 

And just yesterday in Kandahar, there was a massive prison break.  From The New York Times:

In a brazen attack, Taliban fighters assaulted the main prison in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar on Friday night, blowing up the mud walls, killing 15 guards and freeing around 1,200 inmates. Among the escapees were about 350 Taliban members, including commanders, would-be suicide bombers and assassins, said Ahmed Wali Karzai, the head of Kandahar’s provincial council and a brother of President Hamid Karzai.

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by David Dayen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Frank D. Russo

California Assembly Speaker pro Tempore Sally Lieber advises that legislation authored by her creating an independent California Sentencing Commission charged with devising criminal sentencing guidelines will be debated and put to a vote today on the floor of the Assembly. Lieber's bill, AB 160, is similar to SB 110 by Senator Gloria Romero poised to be voted on by the Senate this week.

Lieber sees this bill in the context of the massive prison construction bill passed in April. Referencing that bill, she said in a statement released late last night: "We have a historic opportunity in the wake of the passage of AB 900 to reform thirty years of piecemeal modifications to California’s sentencing laws. The Commission concept has been used successfully in other states to address this issue. This bill would create a truly independent commission that is carefully balanced and chaired by the Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court."

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Frank D. Russo

There's an old saw that not much happens in the State Capitol in Sacramento until the weather heats up into single digits. The mid 90's are predicted for today, but there is still a lot going on in the legislature that you might not know if you just read your local newspaper.

Take the state's prisons, for instance. There has been a fair amount of coverage about the massive prison bed construction bill that was passed in blitzkrieg fashion by the legislature and signed into law by the Governor last week. That was major news in light of the threatened Federal court takeover of our prisons due to overcrowding and because a solution had been elusive for so long with a two-thirds vote in both houses needed.

But this week a number of bills are up for votes in committees and on the floors of the legislature that will help to make sure that sentences are appropriate to fit the crimes, that prisons fulfill their role in rehabilitating those incarcerated, and that those convicted are in fact guilty.