(larger version here.)

The LA Times asks whether Hillary Clinton gave Bill Richardson a shrug or a hug Monday while campaigning for Barack Obama in New Mexico.

Here's the video, you decide.

For the seocnd time in three months, a case was dropped in LA due to false tesimony by a police officer. The latest, dismissed yesterday, involved a detective. Saul Edy, the defendnat, spent three years in jail.

Det. David Friedrich, with Los Angeles Police Department radio recordings that contradicted Friedrich's account of a stakeout.

The proseuctor's explanation:

I believe this officer did the best he could, but unfortunately mistakes were made and we lacked confidence in the persuasiveness of our case," Yglecias said. "We still have a belief in Eady's guilt, which made for an agonizing decision."

The defense lawyer's explanation: [More...]

The New York Times reports Obama's campaign says there will be no Veep announcement Tuesday. The Times thinks it's down to Kaine, Bayh and Biden.

The spin for those who don't like the Veep pick will be that Veep picks don't really matter.

“Vice-presidential candidates can make a marginal difference,” said Matt Bennett, the co-director of Third Way, a Democratic advocacy group, “but they rarely matter in terms of winning a state or region — as Mike Dukakis and John Kerry found out. And a weak candidate doesn’t really drag the ticket into the drink — as George H. W. Bush found out.”

Tell that to George McGovern -- Thomas Eagleton, anyone?

Amazing tiebreaker in women's uneven bar gymastics tonight. Nastia Liukin (U.S.)got the silver, He Kexin (China) got the gold. The math that gave He the gold medal is explained here.

The announcers all thought Nastia outperformed He. To my untrained eye, He's mistakes did seem bigger than Nastia's. But, the judges did follow their formula for breaking the tie. By 1/100th of a point, He came out ahead.

So to Nastia, you got the silver, but to many of us, you are the gold.

This is another open thread.

No Olympics for me tonight, I'm watching Weeds, which has been excellent this season.

Here's an open thread, all topics welcome, just keep it civil and free of personal attacks.

With all the fear-mongering that politicians engage in during election years, backed by many in law enforcement, particularly those of the broken windows school who think the key lies in busting and getting petty offenders off the street, it's refreshing to report on a place where a different mindset prevails , resulting in both a low crime rate and a near empty jail.

The place: Aspen, Colorado. The Sheriff: Bob Braudis. Others going along with the program of not making it a policy to lock up low-level offenders: the judges, the prosecutors and the Jail Administrator.

On Thursday there were just three full-time inmates and five people on work release in a facility that can hold as many as 30....Jail administrator Don Bird, however, chalks up the low numbers to what he called an “enlightened system of justice” in the upper valley. From law enforcement on the street, to the district attorney, courts and the jail, there is communication and a common goal of rehabilitation, not just human warehousing and punishment, he said.

[More..]

I'm back to thinking Sen. Barack Obama will pick Virginia Governor Tim Kaine as his running mate.

Drudge quotes a New York Times reporter as saying the announcement could come tomorrow morning, but is more likely to occur Weds. morning. A Washington Post reporter thinks Friday is more likely.

Obama will be in Virginia on Wednesday. Also significant is this WaPo article about Obama's emphasis on Virginia. While some say the Dems wouldn't have given Mark Warner the convention keynote speaker slot if the VP also was from Virginia, I think they might, given how much effort Obama is putting into registering new voters in Virginia in hopes of turning the state blue. [More...]

I've been getting some e-mails that are upset that my support for Barack Obama for President is not blind. Nothing new there, but I was struck by a particular pitch I got from one Obama fan:

I find it disheartening that you contantly choose to bash [Obama] on www.talkleft.com. It is as if he hurt you personally. . . . I have phone banked and attended voter registration. People are a lot more informed of the issues than you think. It is about voter registration to make up for the 10% Clintonites who won't vote for him and getting them out to vote which is what unfortunately what Bush did in 2000. After watching the media bash Clinton and distort her I am seeing them do the same to Obama. He stays consistant, registering more voters, and on message. I know it was hard for me to see Clinton lose but I have met some wonderful and active Obama supporters who will come out and guarantee a win. Please don't believe the media hype. You know what they did to Clinton and what they will constantly do. We don't have any wedge issues to drive out the GOP so we can win it. He is not John Kerry. I have never seen supporters like he has.

(Emphasis supplied.) The e-mailer claimed to have been a Clinton supporter in the primaries and I have no reason to disbelieve that but I was struck by the idea that instead of trying to appeal to other Clinton supporters, this Obama supporter is confident that Obama can ignore them because of his great ground game. I just do not get that - why is there this insistence among certain Obama supporters - I call them "anti-PUMAs", to not try and win former Clinton supporters to Obama. It is an interesting phenomenon.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

The Denver Police Department has issued its final flyer (pdf) with advice for protesters at the Democratic National Convention. Here's a sample:

What should you do if an unlawful assembly is declared and a dispersal order given?

Listen carefully to any police order to disperse. Even if you are not engaged in unlawful activity, you are subject to citation and/or arrest if you do not leave the area defined by the police in their lawful order to disperse. For example, in a situation where some individuals are blocking a street and some individuals are walking on the sidewalk, the police may order everyone to leave the area.

Sally Quinn would like to live in a simple, binary world where the choices between good and evil or right and wrong are easy to make. That's John McCain's world. Unfortunately, she lives in the real world, where nuance matters. That's also Barack Obama's world.

That kind of nuance is hard to understand sometimes -- it's unclear, complicated. Obama's world can be scarier. It's multicultural. It's realistic (yes, there is evil on the streets of this country as well as in other places, and a lot of evil has been perpetrated in the name of good). It's honest.

McCain's message is easier to convey. Binary messages always are. Is there a lesson in that for Obama? [more ...]

Raw Story collects a number of recent incidents of misused tasers, including an appalling account of police who tasered a 16 year old 19 times after he fell from a highway overpass. The boy had a broken back, which might explain why he refused to obey police commands and why he was making incoherent statements that officers apparently regarded as threatening.

The headline story in the Raw Story article concerns a San Marcos, Texas officer who stopped a man for speeding. The driver tried to explain that his dog was choking to death and he was rushing the dog to a vet. The officer's compassionate response:

"It's a dog, it's OK. You can get another one. Relax."

The dog died during the 15 minutes it took Officer Michael Gonzalez to write a citation. Moral of the story: if your dog (or other family member) needs immediate medical attention, don't stop for the police. No jury will convict you of eluding under those circumstances, and your family member is more likely to survive if you don't stop.

It's not just the Republicans and radical right who will bring their anti-choice message to Denver. It's Democrats too. Democrats for Life have three events are scheduled, including a Hall of Fame Dinner at the Hotel Monaco, 17th & Champa Sts.

This year's award recipient is Congressman Lincoln Davis (D-TN). Congressman Davis has been a consistently strong pro-life leader in Congress and he introduced the Pregnant Women Support Act in 2006. In addition, DFLA will organize a Town Hall rally to promote the Pregnant Women Support act in conjunction with the Hall of Fame event.

The Group has a plan:

The 95-10 Initiative is a comprehensive package of federal legislation and policy proposals that will reduce the number of abortions by 95% in the next 10 years.