Wisconsin's Green Bay Packers fans live for three things (four if you count wearing cheeseheads): alcohol, football championships, and beating (ideally sweeping) da Bears (in pro football's longest consecutive game rivalry). Although you are free to discuss any of those (and the links) in the comments, this post focuses upon the alcohol link. (Coincidentally, though, native Packers fans defeat native Bears fans in per capita beer consumption. We're number one!)

Wisconsinites loves us some beer. And brandy. The elitist New York Times with its fancy east coast values is aghast to learn that a 12 year old child can belly up to a Wisconsin bar and order a Miller Lite, so long as mom or dad or some reasonable facsimile is present and gives permission -- and provided the bartender will serve the kid (more likely in rural taverns where the bartenders own the place and aren't inclined to lecture their patrons about their parenting skills). Wisconsinites are equally aghast to learn that in other states, parents can't bring their children along on a tavern crawl. What kind of family values are those? [more ...]

An accurate and pointed observation by Scott Horton:

What makes a bad prosecutor? It’s simple: Does the prosecutor’s longing for the public limelight, his aspirations for public office, come to overwhelm his dedication to justice, to simply doing the right thing? It’s said that a famous chief prosecutor from Dallas, Henry Wade, summed up the thinking that goes into a really bad prosecutor like this: “any prosecutor could convict a guilty man, but ... it takes a real pro to convict an innocent man.”

Good prosecutors go about their jobs by blending duty, respect for the law and ethics with compassion and understanding. Average prosecutors just try to muddle through the day without upsetting the boss or a judge. There are many more good and average prosecutors than there are bad ones (although the bad ones are far from a tiny minority).

A few prosecutors stand out in their dedication to justice. Horton and the Wall Street Journal both call attention to a district attorney who has been repeatedly praised at TalkLeft: Craig Watkins in Dallas. [more ...]

Tell us what they are yakking about (Hillary at State). I'll be back this evening hopefully.

Oh by the way, how about them Gators?!

One last thing, here is Glenn Greenwald concern trolling again on John Brennan. (I am joking about the concern trollling. I was attacked last week by the Obama Bots for voicing the same concerns.)

This is an Open Thread.

Your feet are going to be on the ground
Your head is there to move you around

An open thread for you.

At the end of the economic summit, President Bush said:

Those of you who have followed my career know that I'm a free market person — until you're told that if you don't take decisive measures then it's conceivable that our country could go into a depression greater than the Great Depressions.

The conclusion -- that a cause-and-effect relationship existed between his free market philosophy and the present fear of an Extra-Great Depression -- went unspoken and presumably unrecognized. [more ...]

I really do not think Obama should offer Senator Clinton Secretary of State myself but I do not have a strong feeling about it one way or the other. I do have a strong feeling, as I have, since 2006, about Bill Richardson. The man should not be allowed near any job with actual responsibility. He is not smart. He is not rigorous. He is, imo, a fool. John Kerry is 10 times the candidate for Secretary of State that Richardson is. And I am no big fan of John Kerry.

Speaking for me only

DesMoinesDem has a great idea - a cleansing confessional of what we got wrong. You first . . . Oh, you want me to go first. Well, can I start on a few things I got right? Ok, I was right about George Bush, Iraq, Alberto Gonzales, John Roberts, torture, warrantless wiretapping, Samuel Alito, running strongly on leaving Iraq in 2006, "throw the bums out," Lincoln 1860, the emerging Dem majority, no Iraq Debacle funding without a timeline, Social Security privatization, Obama as Media Darling and few others.

What I was really wrong about was thinking the Super Tuesday signalled that Obama's demographic limits would cost him the nomination. Obviously it was very close but as John Cole wrote to me - President Obama says hello (to be fair, I knew the Demo nominee would win the Presidency and ALWAYS said so).

Now its your turn.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

Most people accept the need to detain or quarantine individuals with highly communicable, potentially deadly diseases. Most people accept the need to detain mentally ill individuals who pose a serious risk to the safety of others. Too many people accept the need to detain sex offenders after they've finished their sentences for fear that they pose a substantial risk to reoffend if released.

The concept of preventive detention has prevailed at Guantanamo, albeit in unrecognizable form. When the diseased are no longer contagious, they are released from quarantine. If the mentally ill or "sexual predators" respond to treatment and are no longer dangerous, they're released. It's never been clear what condition, other than an unrecognizable victory in the war against terror, would trigger the release of the Guantanamo detainees. And unlike individuals detained pursuant to civil commitment laws, no Guantanamo detainee has had a hearing the meets even minimum standards of due process to establish a basis for his detention.

A New York Times article today examines whether the Obama administration might adopt a preventive detention law to continue holding Guantanamo detainees. [more ...]

The United States Supreme Court is usually inclined to let states police their own courts, but West Virginia is plainly out of control.

Don Blankenship, the chief executive of Massey Energy Co., spent more than $3 million to help elect Justice Brent Benjamin to the West Virginia high court. Benjamin twice was part of 3-2 majorities that threw out a verdict in favor of Harman Mining Co. in its coal contract dispute with Massey.

The case on which Benjamin's vote provided Massey the margin of victory saved Massey $50 million. Not bad for a $3 million investment. [more ...]

This is the verdict of a Maryland commission that examined the state's death penalty:

capital punishment doesn't deter crime and is affected by racial and jurisdictional disparities. ...

The panel found death penalty cases cost more and that there is "a real possibility" a mistake could cause an innocent person to be executed.

Gov. Martin O'Malley hopes the commission's work will convince the legislature to reexamine Maryland's need for capital punishment.

"I think the proper course of conduct now is for us to take a fresh look at the death penalty, ask ourselves why we need to continue to have the death penalty on the books," O'Malley told reporters today. "It is ineffective. It does not work."

Maryland has executed five inmates since 1978 and has five men currently on death row.

If the Democratic Party had a few dozen more Congressmen like John Conyers and Henry Waxman, the nation would know a whole lot more about its recent past. Conyers has been doggedly pursuing the Justice Department's firing of U.S. Attorneys who refused to bring groundless prosecutions against Democrats, or who brought legitimate prosecutions against Republicans, or who just didn't follow Karl Rove's dictates.

During that investigation, Conyers' Judiciary Committee considered evidence that former Alabama governor Don Siegelman's prosecution for corruption was politically motivated. Today Conyers wrote a letter (pdf) to Attorney General Mukasey detailing startling new information that was leaked by a whistleblower.

Conyers says the evidence raises "serious questions" about the U.S. Attorney in the Siegelman case, who, documents show, continued to involve herself in the politically charged prosecution long after she had publicly withdrawn to avoid an alleged conflict of interest relating to her husband, a top GOP operative and close associate of Bush adviser Karl Rove. Conyers' letter also cites evidence of numerous contacts between jurors and members of the Siegelman prosecution team that were never disclosed to the trial judge or defense counsel.

Unauthorized contacts with jurors? Yikes! [more ...]

This is big news if true:

President-elect Barack Obama offered Sen. Hillary Clinton the position of Secretary of State during their meeting Thursday in Chicago, according to two senior Democratic officials. She requested time to consider the offer, the officials said.