As the Supreme Court decides whether to reconsider its decision barring death as the penalty for sexually assaulting a child, the head of Saudi Arabia's Supreme Judicial Council, Sheikh Saleh al-Lohaidan, announced that television station owners could be put to death under Islamic Sharia law if they broadcast Turkish soap operas during the holy month of Ramadan.

[The soap operas became] popular in Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries this year, provoking a storm of anger among conservatives in Saudi Arabia who fear the spread of secular culture. They gained huge popularity partly because they were dubbed into colloquial Arabic and focused on a Muslim country whose culture many Arabs can relate to. The characters would fast in Ramadan but also drink wine.

[more ...]

I'm watching the end of part 2 of the Charlie Gibson - ABC interview of Gov Sarah Palin.

Excerpts here.

What did you think? Did she put any of your fears to rest?

John McCain's latest departures from the truth came on a visit to The View. McCain assured Barbara Walters that Sarah Palin would "reform all of Washington." How?

“By doing what she did in Alaska.”

What, exactly?

“First of all, earmark spending, which she vetoed a half a billion dollars worth in the state of Alaska.”

But she also put earmarks in, Ms. Walters noted.

“Not as governor she didn’t,” Mr. McCain said.

But as governor, she did.

Movie critic Roger Ebert turns political critic in this column noting Sarah Palin's appeal as an American Idol version of a political candidate. He'd rather have the real thing.

I trust the American people will see through Palin, and save the Republic in November. The most damning indictment against her is that she considered herself a good choice to be a heartbeat away. That shows bad judgment.

David Pollitt was convicted of a number of sexual assaults more than a quarter century ago. When he was released from prison, he moved in with his sister in New London, Connecticut -- much to the displeasure of Gov. Rell, who apparently doesn't think anyone with sex offense convictions should be allowed to live outside of prison. Rell was unsuccessful in her attempt to block Pollitt's move.

Pollitt remains on supervision, equipped with a GPS tracking device. For about 15 minutes on September 3, the device did not indicate that Pollitt was at his sister's home. That was all it took for Rell to demand that Pollitt be returned to prison immediately -- no investigation, no hearing, just lock him up. The governor's press release, demanding immediate incarceration for the "apparent" violation, all but accuses Pollitt's family of lying when they said he didn't leave the premises.

It turns out that the GPS device failed (as it often did, exactly as the family explained) and that Pollitt hadn't violated the terms of his supervision at all. So did Gov. Rell deliver the apology that Pollitt and his family deserved? Far from it. [more...]

For lawyers and reporters on legal events, meet Lexis Web. It's a free search engine of legal stuff, but it also gives you the last five years of case law free, through lexisone.com. It's like a google search engine for law, with the added benefit you can access huge amounts of material free, including the last five yars of caselaw.

No sign up required for the search engine. If you do have a lexis account, and you want to do research in greater detail, you can log in right in from your search results.

New operating procedures at the FBI will encourage rogue agents to spy on anyone they want, for whatever reason they want, without obtaining a supervisor's approval.

The changes would give the FBI's more than 12,000 agents the ability at a much earlier stage to conduct physical surveillance, solicit informants and interview friends of people they are investigating without the approval of a bureau supervisor. Such techniques are currently available only after FBI agents have opened an investigation and developed a reasonable suspicion that a crime has been committed or that a threat to national security is developing.

Post-Nixon-era reforms will be undone. Infiltrating groups that lawfully assemble to urge policies of peace and social justice will no longer be seen as off-limits. [more ...]

The Palinpalooza among the shrill Obama blogs and the Media continues and with predictable results, McCain leads by 4 in the AP poll:

[T]he survey — conducted after both parties staged their conventions and picked their vice presidential candidates — conforms with others that have shown the Republicans grabbing the momentum after a summer in which Obama had steadily maintained a slim lead. According to the AP-GfK Poll, McCain leads Obama 48 percent to 44 percent.

Obama needs a new Tier 2 operation.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

During her interview with Charlie Gibson, Sarah Palin denied that she had ever denied the human impact on climate change. Well, not since last year, when she said "I'm not one, though, who would attribute [climate change] to being man-made." And then there's

"I'm not an Al Gore, doom-and-gloom environmentalist blaming the changes in our climate on human activity."

Steve Benen:

But Palin's record is Palin's record, and the fact remains that she's so far out there, she's rejected the connection between global warming and human activity. Indeed, she's done so more than once. This not only tells us something important about Palin's understanding of public policy, it also tells us a great deal about how she perceives and considers evidence that runs counter to her ideology.

Her ideology, it seems, is malleable. Now that she's running for VP, she has to adopt the McCain view. But if tragic circumstances vault her into the presidency a few months after the election, what will she believe then?

The latest ad from the Obama campaign ends by doing what many have asked the campaign to do: emphasizing that John McCain is more of the same. It also suggests that McCain hasn't changed since 1982, although we've seen McCain change quite a bit (all for the worse) this year. That's change we can't believe in.

For non- McCain = Bush's Third Term commenting, use this thread.

This is an Open Thread.

Eric Boehlert writes:

CNN.com announced last week that among McCain's top political priorities for the Republican convention was his "need to make it clear that his first term will not be Bush's third term." . . . [I]f McCain did pull off the great escape, it was only thanks to the press and the way eager journalists pitched in to erase Bush from the political picture.

Boehlert tactfully ignores the main reason Bush went off the radar - Sarah Palin. While it is true that the Media went after Palin, with the loud cheers of the Left blogs in the background, the cost of this obsession is obvious now - George W. Bush became the forgotten man. To the detriment of Obama and Democrats. More . .