Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the right . . . to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

First Amendent to the US Constitution

In Jeralyn's post below, she discusses a Newsweek article that discusses 2005 (when Sarah Palin was the Mayor of Wasilla a private citizen) statements made by the Alaska family court judge handling the divorce and custody dispute between Palin's sister and her ex-brother in law Morgan Wooten. While Jeralyn and other bloggers see this as a strong indictment against Palin, I was struck by the actions of the judge. Some points stand out for me. First was the judge's inflammatory use of the phrase "emotional child abuse" due to complaints by the Palin family to the government about the conduct of Wooten, an Alaska state trooper. Second was the court's admonition to the Palin family to stop their complaints to the government about Wooten.

While the issue of speech from family members to children has been the subject of family court orders (and even these restrictions are not uncontroversial, see, e.g. Eugene Volokh on the issue), it is new to my experience to see a judge in any setting order a non-party to cease and desist from "petitioning the government for redress." I'll explain my concerns in more detail on the flip side.

Newsweek has examined the divorce records of Gov. Sarah Palin's sister and her husband, Mike Wooten, the trooper at the heart of the TrooperGate legislative investigation into whether Palin abused her power as Governor in firing public safety manager Walt Monegan.

The divorce case and ruling cited by Newsweek concerns Palin's conduct before becoming Governor, while she was a private citizen, but is relevant for providing another glimpse into the newly minted Vice Presidential candidate

The Court likened Palin's attacks on the trooper to a form of child abuse:

An Anchorage judge three years ago warned Sarah Palin and members of her family to stop "disparaging" the reputation of Alaska State Trooper Michael Wooten, who at the time was undergoing a bitter separation and divorce from Palin's sister Molly.

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Is anyone watching Fashion Rocks? It's great. Dennis Leary is hosting, Fergie and Debbie Harry just about brought down the house and Keith Urban is totally on his game.

It's on CBS and the proceeds benefit Stand Up to Cancer.

Update: Kid Rock is another standout with "All Summer Long." The audience is on its feet, and then he brings out...Leonard Skynyrd. They're now doing Sweet Home Alabama. Sounds better now than it did then.

This an open thread.

John McCain's phony outrage over Sen. Barack Obama's use of the cliche and oft-used lipstick on a pig analogy in reference McCain's co-opting of his change meme when McCain/Palin will just be a continuation of failed Bush policies.

The Obama campaign, via Politico:

Enough is enough. The McCain campaign’s attack tonight is a pathetic attempt to play the gender card about the use of a common analogy – the same analogy that Senator McCain himself used about Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s health care plan just last year. This phony lecture on gender sensitivity is the height of cynicism and lays bare the increasingly dishonorable campaign John McCain has chosen to run.

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Here's the actual results from the NBC/WSJ poll (pdf) that had good news for both candidates. Here's the article describing the results.

With eight weeks until Election Day, the Journal survey found a dead heat: 46% of registered voters favor Sens. Obama and Joe Biden, and 45% favor McCain-Palin.

...The survey had good news for Sen. Obama as well, showing that he improved his standing with the electorate in areas where he had been seen as weak. More voters found said they were comfortable with him as president that they did in a Journal poll three weeks ago, as did the portion who said they were confident in his ability to be commander in chief.

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Gimme Shelter from the Bridges to Babylon tour.

Here's You Can't Always Get What You Want. So true, but we can get what we need, and that's not John McCain and another 8 years of George Bush policies.

This is an open thread.

US News and World Report has an article on how Sen. John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate has injected the culture wars into the election, positing that it may cost him in Independent votes.

McCain's senior advisers have themselves admitted that Palin was picked to ensure a strong conservative turnout in such decisive battleground states as Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. She should also shore up traditionally Republican western states, including Colorado, which has shown signs of going Democratic. But if Palin draws too much attention to issues such as abortion, if the culture war heats up and comes to dominate discussion, there is a danger that she could weaken McCain's appeal not only to moderates within his own party but also to independents and conservative Democrats—in short, to the vast slice of American voters that decides national elections.

Former New York Mayor Ed Koch, a Democrat who has supported both Republicans and Democrats in the past, today endorsed Sen. Barack Obama for president. The chief reason: Sarah Palin.

I have concluded that the country is safer in the hands of Barack Obama, leader of the Democratic Party and protector of the philosophy of that party. Protecting and defending the U.S. means more than defending us from foreign attacks. It includes defending the public with respect to their civil rights, civil liberties and other needs, e.g., national health insurance, the right of abortion, the continuation of Social Security, gay rights, other rights of privacy, fair progressive taxation and a host of other needs and rights.

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It would almost be funny if it weren't so outrageous. Republicans aren't satisfied with the willingness of some congressional Democrats to negotiate in good faith about a comprehensive energy policy that might permit limited offshore drilling (with environmental safeguards and a requirement that drilling leases actually be used) in exchange for development of wind and solar energy and reduced subsidies for oil companies.

Republicans, who threw this year's appropriations process into chaos by trying to force drilling provisions into spending bills, renewed their calls Monday for an up-or-down vote on lifting the drilling ban.

Why do Republicans believe that only bills of importance to Republicans are entitled to an up-or-down vote? Republicans have set a record in the last two years in their use of the filibuster to obstruct new legislation. Senate Republicans have filibustered something like 80 pieces of legislation in the current session of Congress. Funny how the suddenly sacrosanct up-or-down vote wasn't important on any of those occasions. [more ...]

New election year - same old GOP ballot shenanigans. Kos has the details (and an added thought from me - does this ballot require a Section 5 Justice Department preclearance?)

They're scared and corrupt, and that is a volatile mix. The full email press release from the Musgrove (D) campaign:

Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann today presented an unlawful sample ballot which buries the special US Senate race between Governor Ronnie Musgrove and interim US Senator Roger Wicker. The ballot was approved by Governor Haley Barbour. Hosemann buried the Musgrove-Wicker race below all local races near the bottom of the ballot.

Hosemann could cite no statu[t]e supporting his decision to move the race from the top of the ballot. However, Attorney General Jim Hood did cite election law requiring federal races be placed at the top of the ballot. [ . . .]

Why? To depress voting in the Senate race. Kos again:

Jews for Jesus leader David Brinker in One Day in Wasilia, responds to attacks on the speech he gave at Sarah Palin's church in Wasila. The Palins were in attendance.

The groups mission statement says:

We exist to make the messiahship of Jesus an unavoidable issue to our Jewish people worldwide.

Here are their core values. Here's what it takes to "get saved."

If you know any Jewish voters, please forward this to them. Particularly if they live in Florida. They can assess for themselves the danger of giving any voice in government to these extremist radical right groups. Update below:

Sen. Barack Obama has a strong record of support for veterans' rights, including legislation he passed and supported while serving on the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs and in Illinois. Compare and contrast with that of Sen. John McCain:

• As a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, Obama passed legislation to improve care and slash red tape for our wounded warriors recovering at places like Walter Reed. He passed laws to help homeless veterans and offered an innovative solution to prevent at-risk veterans from falling into homelessness.

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