The Office of Independent Review recently issued a report on their investigations of controversial cases in the Sheriff's Department. The panel of attorneys found that Hilton did not get preferential treatment when she was sent home early. On the contrary, she was treated worse than women at her same offense level when she was made to serve her full sentence in jail.

"The perception was that Miss Hilton was getting a sweet deal, when in fact any woman who comes into the jail is given a sentence that is markedly below what the judge says she deserves," said the chief attorney on the review panel, according to the LA Times.

The panel found that Mel Gibson was given special treatment because of his celebrity status.

LA County is now planning a brand new jail. Sheriff Baca is overseeing the design and he's being helped by the ACLU. The new jail will have better facilities for mentally ill prisoners in particular.

One could attribute this sudden willingness on the part of the county to build a new county jail to the light shed on the problem of jail overcrowding in the wake of the Paris Hilton debacle.

I must be a really forgiving person to think of voting for a Clinton again but gee when Obama says things like that -- that's alienating. I don't like the petty way he's trying to milk the Iraq War for his own political benefit.

Let's face it -- Bhutto chose to play with some very dangerous playmates when she decided to send the Taliban in to "stabilize" Afghanistan. That decision blew up in a lot of faces. Maybe it finally blew up in hers.

I hope Hillary doesn't forget all the certifiably innocent Afghan women whose lives were turned into a daily living hell thanks to that terribly bad decision made by her pal Benazir.

And on the day a woman died for democracy,

If I were superstitious, I might argue that her recognition of the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan put a blood curse on Pakistani democracy.

Since I'm not superstitious, I'll just say "blowback is a bitch."

Mavis Leno was the leader of the first anti-Taliban campaign in America, through the Feminist Majority in Los Angeles. That was back in 1997. Wow, ten years ago. It's depressing to think how well those sociopaths have endured.

So far not one single article on Bhutto has managed to mention Bhutto's role in creating the Taliban and sending them into Afghanistan and then recognizing them as a legitimate government with the right to control their borders.

So it was just some accident that this all happened while she was the leader of Pakistan? And she didn't know a thing about it?

Bhutto apologized for unleashing the Taliban on Afghanistan. When someone apologizes for having done something, it means they probably did it.

If she hadn't tried to control Afghanistan using the Taliban and manipulate the problems there for Pakistan's gain, then she might still be alive.

Now she's got this big reputation as our martyred ally against terrorism.

What a crock. What a shame.

But why aren't American journalists acknowledging this? Are we that infected by politics?

The disaster of the Bush presidency has made everyone nostalgic for the Clinton years. But a lot of bad shit happened in the Clinton years that helped enable the disaster that is Bush.

I remember what bad shit the Taliban was because I took part in the Feminist Majority campaign against them in 1997.

We need to remember that part of the nineties too.

But then look at this country. Look at all the romantic hyperbole being flung right now. You'd think Benazir Bhutto was the Messiah from the way people are airbrushing her memory.

As of now, only the Lehrer News Hour has penetrated the fog of romance around Bhutto and reminded us that the Taliban was formed and sent into Afghanistan under Bhutto's watch.

One of their Pakistani experts brought this up in a panel discussion and the other two experts nodded gravely. Nobody contested this assertion at all.

Where is this past accomplishment of hers mentioned in the rest of the media? They mention nothing of this in her obit anywhere.

How do Americans think the Taliban happened?

Those mujahedin who fought the Soviet Union -- they were not the Taliban. Those old mujahedin were the soldiers the Taliban fought when the Taliban took over Afghanistan.

So where did the Taliban come from, huh?

They came from Pakistan, during Bhutto's second term in office.

Huckabee is not the only one who isn't seeing things clearly right now.

Here is a transcript of the Lehrer News Hour panel discussion where Shahid Husain, who used to advise on economic development under Bhutto's father, said that Benazir Bhutto created the Taliban. Stephen Cohen was on this panel and he did not challenge this assertion. He dipped his head sadly and looked very grieved when it was made.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/asia/july-dec07/reaction_12-27.html

JUDY WOODRUFF: You mean the Musharraf leadership?

SHAHID HUSAIN: Pervez Musharraf, now, actually, Benazir Bhutto. They had their chance. Don't forget that her own government was marred by tremendous corruption. Don't forget that the Afghan rightists, the Taliban were invented by her minister of interior, by her minister of interior.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Invented by her minister of...

SHAHID HUSAIN: Yes, and were patronized by her. They came from madrassas in Pakistan. In fact, the movement of Taliban was started in her -- during her government, patronized by her government.

So, let's not forget that while Benazir Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif talk about democracy, their own parties are undemocratic. They didn't allow new leadership too much.

I was profoundly affected by working on Mavis Leno's campaign against the Taliban in 1997. That was beyond horrific, what they were doing back then. What they had done to this country.

There's no way anyone is going to hear the tiniest bit of romantic drivel about Bhutto dying for democracy from ME.