The American Bar Association Magazine attempts to predict the lawyers whom Sen. Barack Obama and John McCain are likely to appoint as Attorney General, Supreme Court Justices, Solicitor General, Homeland Security Chief and more.

• Obama's Picks
• McCain's Picks

Cass Sunstein is on the list, but not as Supreme Court Justice -- he's tapped for the White House Domestic Policy Advisor. For Attorney General, the ABA names Eric Holder and Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick. For Homeland Security Director, AZ Gov. Janet Napolitano.

The ABA is right to call their article a guessing game. I don't put much stock in their selections. As for McCain's choices, there are a few laugh-out-louds: [More...]

On television and in the movies, when a police detective wants a killer to confess, he whacks the killer upside the head and the killer obliges with a written admission of guilt. In real life, coerced confessions are prohibited by the Constitution. That doesn't stop the occasional officer from using TV tactics to get what he wants.

Jon Burge is a former Chicago police lieutenant whose interrogation tactics (primarily directed toward black suspects) included beatings, electric shocks, and mock Russian roulette. The torture of suspects in which he and his colleagues engaged resulted in civil rights suits against Chicago and a federal investigation.

Burge lied to the federal investigators and he lied to lawyers who questioned him with regard to the civil rights suits, consistently denying any knowledge of, or involvement in, the abuse of suspects. Today an indictment of Burge for perjury and obstruction of justice with regard to those lies was unsealed. Burge was arrested before dawn this morning in his Florida home. [more ...]

Bob Somerby on Josh Marshall.

I'll make this an Open Thread.

Cite to Somerby on Marshall endorsed solely by me.

The U.S. today moved to dismiss the cases of five Guantanamo detainees facing criminal charges: Binyam Mohamed, Noor Uthman Muhammed, Sufyiam Barhoumi, Ghassan Abdullah al Sharbi and Jabran Said Bin al Qahtani.

Clive Stafford Smith, a civilian attorney representing one of the five, Binyam Mohamed, said he has already been notified that charges against his client will be reinstated. "Far from being a victory for Mr. Mohamed in his long-running struggle for justice, this is more of the same farce that is Guantanamo," Stafford Smith said. "The military has informed us that they plan to charge him again within a month, after the election."

Army Lt. Col. Bryan Broyles, who represents another of the five detainees, said the military might be preparing the tribunals to face increased scrutiny following next month's presidential election. John McCain and Barack Obama have both said they want to close Guantanamo Bay.

The Government's less than credible explanation: [More...]

liburro points us to this in last weekend's NYTimes magazine:

“If voters are similarly polarized and if they’re seeing two different realities, a Sean Hannity reality and a Keith Olbermann reality, then we’re not going to be able to get done the work we need to get done,” Obama said.

He said it, I didn't.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

Obama's lead remains steady and significant. DKos/R2000 has Obama by 8, 50-42. Gallup has Obama up 11, 52-41, among RVs, and up 10 among LVs (Expanded.) Hotline has Obama by 6, 47-41. Ras has Obama by 4, 50-46. The one poll McCain wants to believe in now is Battleground, which has Obama going from a 13 point lead 8 days ago to a 1 point lead today.

Still Obama's election.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

It is a matter of record that I am not a fan of what Keith Olbermann has become. It might interest some to know that I was actually one of the first bloggers (when I FPed at daily kos in 2005) to notice that Olbermann was successfully employing a counter Fox programming idea that many of us, Atrios most prominently, had suggested to the other cable networks (this was when Tweety still saved his tingles for George W. Bush.) The early Olbermann was not Obama's O'Reilly as he is today. Back then, he was more like Rachel Maddow is now.

One fairly predictable result of the success garnered by Olbermann (besides making him a lot of money) is the diminishment of Matt Drudge's influence. Eric Boehlert writes:

Keith Olbermann was certainly correct that giving a liberal commentator a show behind his lead-in would be a sure success. Rachel Maddow demonstrates this. But let me state this - Maddow has been surprisingly effective the times I have watched her in presenting the liberal perspective while retaining a sense of fealty to the facts. Facts good for Democrats of course (and what facts are not these days?), but facts nonetheless.

It seems a good thing for Maddow imo that she did not get a show during the Democratic primaries. When she was a guest on Olbermann's show and as part of NBC's election coverage, she demonstrated every tendency of becoming as hackish as Olbermann. I think she has largely avoided that, at least when I have watched her show. Good show, Rachel

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

The McCain campaign continues to deny reports that it is ceding Colorado to Barack Obama.

"We see the race tightening both internally and in public polling. We are within striking distance in the key battleground states we need to win," said Jill Hazelbaker, the McCain campaign's national communications director.

Gov. Sarah Palin is on to her next stop, leaving Alaska "First Dude" Todd Palin to campaign alone today in Glenwood Springs and Denver.

The Obama campaign, on the other hand, is in full swing. Not only is Sen. Joe Biden here today and tomorrow, but check out the other political magnets holding rallies the next few days .[More...]

The LA Times reports on Gov. Sarah Palin's college years.

In the five years of her collegiate career, spanning four universities in three states, Palin left behind few traces. Not many professors or students even remember her.....interviews with a dozen professors yielded not a single snippet of a memory.

...."Looking at this dynamic personality now, it mystifies me that I wouldn't remember her," said Jim Fisher, Palin's journalism instructor at the University of Idaho, where she graduated with a bachelor of science degree in journalism in 1987.

Palin, he said, took his public affairs reporting class, an upper-division course limited to 15 students. "It's the funniest damn thing," Fisher said. "No one can recall her." "I don't remember her," said Roy Atwood, Palin's academic advisor at the university.

The Times says it's different for the other candidates: [More...]

By a 2 to 1 vote, a three judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has granted the Government's motion for a stay of the District Court's order directing the Bush Administration to release the 17 Uighur detainees held at Guantanamo into the U.S. (Background here and here.)

The government has been trying to find new homes for the Uighurs for years. It no longer considers them enemy combatants and provided no evidence in court that they posed a security risk. The men cannot be returned to their homeland because they face the prospect of being tortured and killed. China considers the men terrorists.

Judge Judith Rogers dissented. Her reasoning: [More...]

AARP has an innovative ad campaign for November 4. It puts you in the ad as being the person who can bring change to Washington by voting.

Here's the one they sent me. If you want to be featured or make one for your friends and e-mail it to them, use this widget:

AARP 08 Video

Enter your name to see who can bring real change to Washington. First Name: Last Name:

Here's one for Big Tent Democrat. Go ahead, it takes about 5 seconds.