University of Colorado campus police seized two ounces of marijuana from student Edward Nicholson's dorm room. As a result, he was charged with possession of marijuana and suspended by C.U.

It turns out, Nicholson had a caregiver's medical marijuana card, allowing him to distribute to medical marijuana patients, even though he himself wasn't a medical marijuana patient.

His criminal charges for possession of marijuana were dismissed and his suspension by C.U. has been reversed. Now, Nicholson wants his pot back and his lawyer says he believes that will happen. [Update: the local news tonight showed Nicholson leaving the police department with his pot. They gave it back.][ More...]

So the NYTimes reports that President Bush, of the record low approval rating and horrific track record on well, everything, is "urg[ing] lawmakers to act quickly on the bailout legislation [and] resist the temptation to add provisions that, he said, “would undermine the effectiveness of the plan.”

As if Bush has a clue about the what would undermine the "effectiveness" of the plan, or even what the idea of the plan even is. Let's face it, Bush has no effing clue. This is Paulsen's plan. But I have a ready made response for Democrats to President Bush:

Dem Lawmakers Urge Bush and GOP To Pass Dem Bailout Plan

I think they should say that "Bush and the Republicans are jeopardizing the economy by trying to make changes that would undermine the effectiveness of the Democratic plan."

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

Demonstrating what how foolish he can be, Mark Halperin gives last week to McCain.

A few more "winning" weeks like that, and McCain will be in McGovern territory.

This is an Open Thread.

Apparently, Senator Dodd was speaking softly on the Sunday shows while wielding a big legislative stick. Here is the proposed legislation.. Krugman likes the Dodd proposal.

In the end, Atrios gets to the crux of the issue:

[N]o proposal matters as long as the plan is to surrender when Mr. 24% stamps his feet.

Let's hope that is not the plan.

Speaking for me only

As I've written many times over the past 18 months, Sen. Barack Obama and Joe Biden are not my cup of tea on criminal justice issues. Neither are particularly progressive. Today I received an invitation to a conference call with Joe Biden.

Today, the Obama-Biden campaign is holding a conference call with Senator Joe Biden to proudly announce the endorsement of the National Association of Police Organizations (NAPO). NAPO President Tom Nee will join Senator Biden on the call and the two will talk about Senator Obama’s strong track record on law enforcement issues, support for law enforcement officers and commitment to keeping our communities safe.

NAPO represents more than 2,000 police unions and associations, 238,000 sworn law enforcement officers, 11,000 retired officers and more than 100,000 citizens who share a common dedication to fair and effective crime control and law enforcement.

More...

The one thing John McCain is not in short supply of is chutzpah. Last week McCain was lying about former Freddie Mac CEO Franklin Raines advising Obama, both in his ads and on the stump. Just this morning, McCain spokesman Nicole Wallace repeated the lie on Morning Joe (and of course Scarborough did not challenge the lie.)

McCain's chutzpah is evidenced by the fact that McCain campaign manager Rick Davis made millions of dollars lobbying for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac:

Senator John McCain’s campaign manager was paid more than $30,000 a month for five years as president of an advocacy group set up by the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to defend them against stricter regulations, current and former officials say. . . . “The value that he brought to the relationship was the closeness to Senator McCain and the possibility that Senator McCain was going to run for president again,” said Robert McCarson, a former spokesman for Fannie Mae, who said that while he worked there from 2000 to 2002, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac together paid Mr. Davis’s firm $35,000 a month.

(Emphasis supplied.) Lying about Obama's advisors while doing that he claims to criticize. That is John McCain in a nutshell - a lying, unprincipled, incompetent ideologue. McCain is a disgrace.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

I have friends who are far more financially savvy than I am, and they say they are very frustrated with this bailout procedure. They say no one is asking the government what percentage of the dollar they are going to pay for these non performing assets? Is it 100%.....or 20 %? what is it? They say this is very important.

Does anyone know the answer?

One more thing: The AP reports:

"The government could contract with private companies to manage the assets it purchased under the rescue" The proposal does not require that the government receive anything from banks in return for unloading their bad assets. But it would allow the Treasury Department to designate financial institutions as "agents of the government," and mandate that they perform any "reasonable duties" that might entail.

The bailout, as we've mentioned before, would be sheltered from court review. There's something wrong with this picture. Care to fill in what it is?

Sen. Barack Obama's campaign has confirmed he is closing up shop in North Dakota.

An Obama spokeswoman, Amy Brundage, confirmed Sunday that the campaign's North Dakota staffers were being sent to Minnesota and Wisconsin, where recent polls have shown a tight race between Obama and Republican John McCain.

McCain has no offices or staffers in the state, which has gone Republican since 1964 when it voted for Lyndon B. Johnson.

Obama's campaign is stressing the benefits of its presence since July to the downticket races: [More...]

Gov. Sarah Palin drew huge crowds near Orlando, FL today. But consider:

She went to perhaps the easiest place in Florida to get a large Republican turnout, stuck mostly to the themes she's hit since the Republican convention and took no questions from reporters or the crowd.

...But Biden made four stops in his two days, and ventured into Republican strongholds like Fort Myers and Sarasota. He took questions from the audience at each stop and did interviews with local media.

She can rally the base, but the question as I like to frame it is, are there more of them or more of us? Turnout will be key.

Update: The LA Times reports Palin's political capital is eroding in Alaska.

While some of us are watching tv and commenting there, I don't want to leave anyone out.

Here's an open thread for all other topics.

The Emmys are on tonight. Its website is really lame, but AOL already has 341 photos from the Red Carpet up.

The Red Carpet area is really small and they are packed in like sardines. It's also very hot. The interviews are ongoing now on E! There was also some kind of threat so some of the stars had to walk part way. [More...]

Speaking in North Carolina today, Sen. Barack Obama said there should be no blank check for Wall Street.

Obama charged that Republicans have run the economy "into the ground," as he outlined some broad concepts for reform of the financial industry.

"First, there must be no blank check when American taxpayers are on the hook for this much money," Obama said. "Second, taxpayers shouldn't be spending a dime to reward CEOs on Wall Street while they're going out the door."

Obama also said taxpayers must be protected, be able to recoup some of the investment they might make in a bailout and provide assistance for homeowners at risk of losing their homes.

More...