Good news today from the Supreme Court. Its decision in June in Kennedy v. Louisiana invalidating state laws that allow execution of those convicted of child rape that did not result in death will stand, despite complaints about a factual inaccuracy in the opinion.

In its 5-to-4 decision in June, the court reasoned that, because so few states allowed the execution of child rapists, there was a national consensus against applying the ultimate punishment to such criminals. Not long afterward, it was disclosed that the lawyers arguing the case, and the justices themselves, had been unaware of a 2006 amendment to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, specifically making child rape committed by service members a capital crime.

More...

Matt Yglesias catches George Will blaming LBJ (for privatizing Fannie and Freddie in 1968(!!)) for the Wall Street credit crisis actually caused by the reckless, feckless, rampant Republicanism of the Bush years (the same philosophy McCain promises for the next 4 years.) I was struck by this bit of mendaciousness from Will:

The rising generation of thoughtful Republicans was represented on both sides of Monday's vote. Virginia's Eric Cantor, 45, and Wisconsin's Paul Ryan, 38, supported the legislation because they had helped to achieve substantial improvements in it, such as requiring financial institutions to help finance their bailout, giving the Treasury potentially valuable equity in firms revived by public funds . . .

(Emphasis supplied.) To put it bluntly, Will is lying. That was a Democratic initiative contained in the Dodd bill. The "thoughtful Republican idea" that Cantor wanted and got was the ludicrous government insurance plan that is simply a joke. No reasonable premium could be charged that would make sense or help in this crisis. The "thoughtful" Republicans OPPOSE the government equity plan and wanted the equity plan out. George Will is either ill informed or lying or both.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

Busy day. Hope J and TChris can come along soon. In any event, your turn.

This is an Open Thread.

DKos/R2000 (9/28-30) has Obama up 10, 51-41. Ras (9/28-30) has up Obama up 6, 51-45. The new WaPo poll (9/27-29) has Obama up 4. Battleground (9/25, 28-30) has Obama up 2, 48-46. Gallup (9/27-29) has Obama up 6, 49-43. Hotline (9/27-29) has Obama up 6, 47-41.

Another day and McCain still needs a game changer.

By Big Tent Democrat

As someone who supported the defeated House mortgage/credit crisis Wall Street Bailout, this may come as a surprise, but I oppose the Senate Bailout bill to be voted on today. Why? Because it includes irresponsible sops to the Republicans, corporate tax breaks:

Top lawmakers said the Senate proposal, worked out after a day of behind the scenes maneuvering, would include tax breaks for businesses and alternative energy and higher government insurance for bank deposits.

(Emphasis supplied.) The silly Obama/McCain proposal to raise the FDIC insurance limits does nothing to address this crisis. It is a silly stupid gimmick. And the idea of giving more corporate tax breaks and suspending the Alternative Minimum Tax in the face of record deficits is absolutely outrageous. Harry Reid has produced a travesty. It shocks me to say this, but Steny Hoyer is absolutely right:

The last full month of the campaign and I'll start looking at state polls more closely now. Today we'll look at the latest Q polls for Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania:

FLORIDA: Obama 49 - McCain 43 pre-debate; Obama 51 - McCain 43 post-debate; OHIO: Obama 49 - McCain 42 pre-debate; Obama 50 - McCain 42 post-debate; PENNSYLVANIA: Obama 49 - McCain 43 pre-debate; Obama 54 - McCain 39 post-debate

"It is difficult to find a modern competitive presidential race that has swung so dramatically, so quickly and so sharply this late in the campaign. In the last 20 days, Sen. Barack Obama has gone from seven points down to eight points up in Florida, while widening his leads to eight points in Ohio and 15 points in Pennsylvania," said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

(Emphasis mine.) The economic news has destroyed any chance McCain had in this election, which was slim in the first place imo. I said yesterday this election is over unless McCain changes the game somehow. I stand by that assessment.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

Complaints of racial profiling are multiplying in Seattle, according to the president of the Seattle-King County branch of the NAACP.

"This is a pervasive problem," [James Bible] said, adding that the message to youth has become "you're all perceived as gang members until you prove differently."

A news conference yesterday cited instances of unequal and disrespectful law enforcement targeting black youth. One example:

[Marcus] Whitehurst, who is black, was pushed up against the patrol car, told he was nothing but "garbage" and advised that he was "not welcome in this neighborhood." His white friends were allowed to stand there, untouched.

In an open letter to Sarah Palin, The American Conservative sees in Palin what it once saw in George Bush: a regular person with strong traditional values who champions faith, limited government, and pro-life judges. The AC feels betrayed by a president whose promised “values” agenda was hijacked by neocons.

You see what happened: the president’s entire domestic agenda collapsed under the weight of his failed foreign policy. Social Security reform stalled. Pro-lifers became political orphans. And whatever gains Bush’s tax cuts secured were wiped out by record spending. Everything was subordinated to the war on terror.

It’s doubtful that the president’s failed foreign policy slowed the advance of a conservative domestic agenda. Social security privatization went nowhere because it was spectacularly unpopular. The president was never committed to the right’s values agenda or to a conservative belief in responsible spending and limited presidential power. Lacking views of his own, Bush depended on his corporate political cronies for policy. They happened to be neocons. To appease the religious right, the president said what Karl Rove told him to say, but his real agenda was to redirect the country’s wealth to wealthy countrymen, as well as oil companies and favored corporations like Haliburton.

[more …]

Here's an e-mail that is making the rounds among lawyers today:

How Racism Works:

What if John McCain were a former president of the Harvard Law Review? What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class?

What if McCain were still married to the first woman he said 'I do' to? What if Obama were the candidate who left his first wife after she no longer measured up to his standards?

What if Michelle Obama were a wife who not only became addicted to pain killers, but acquired them illegally through her charitable organization? What if Cindy McCain graduated from Harvard?

More...

The Senate will vote on its own bailout plan tomorrow night.

Majority Leader Harry Reid and GOP Leader Mitch McConnell say, however, that they're going to add a tax cut package already rejected by the House on Monday....The Senate plan would also raise federal deposit insurance limits to $250,000 from $100,000.

Sen. Barack Obama and John McCain today both urged passage of a bill.

CBS News aired another segment of the Katie Couric - Sarah Palin interview tonight.

Twice, Palin described homosexuality as a choice.

But as for homosexuality, I am not going to judge Americans and the decisions that they make in their adult personal relationships. I have one of my absolute best friends for the last 30 years happens to be gay, and I love her dearly. And she is not my "gay friend," she is one of my best friends, who happens to have made a choice that isn't a choice I would have made. But I am not going to judge people.

Other answers: She couldn't or wouldn't name a single publication or magazine she read before becoming the VP candidate. Couric tried three times, and each time she evaded the question.

She is against abortion even for teens who are victims of rape and incest.

More...

I've been writing about Sen. John McCain's intent to attack Barack Obama for his coal position in the battleground states where coal is important.

Sunday, I saw the ad on TV here in Denver.

Newsweek fact checks the ad and finds it false, but I wrote a much longer post over at 5280.com yesterday detailing just how false, based on Obama's coal record since his days as a state legislator in Illinois.