TXpolitico 67 says check this out: a school in Texas is allowing guns in the classroom.

Our morning thread is full. Here's another open thread for you.

Chris Cillizza at the WaPo's The Fix puts out his (and I stress the word "his") Friday afternoon line on whom Obama will pick for Veep.

He has Joe Biden in top place and Kathleen Sebelius in bottom place at #5. In between: Jack Reed, Tim Kaine and Evan Bayh. (Big Tent Democrat thinks Obama's smartest move would be to pick Biden. Biden is a dealbreaker for me.)

Gen. Wesley Clark, my favorite, doesn't even make Chris' list.

Who do you think he will pick? Any dealbreakers out there for those of you who are planning on voting for Obama? Anyone who would make you stay home?

I think he will pick Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine. Am I happy about it? No, but I can live with it. Same for Evan Bayh. Sebelius would be better than than either, but he's obviously not going to pick a woman other than Hillary.

In a strange article, Robert Borosage and Katrina Vanden Heuvel "advise" progressives not on how to forward progressivism, but on how to forward Obama's victory in November. The whole article is just strange, but this part REALLY is bizarre:

Progressives generally--and independent media and the blogosphere specifically--can contribute by reminding voters there's a clear choice in this election . . .

Ummm, isn't that Obama's job? There is a whole "poor Obama can't stand up to the Beltway Establishment and we need to prop him up" quality to the article that is just surreal. Let me put it this way, I found this article pretty demeaning to Obama as well as progressives.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

This just in from the DNCC on rules for attending events at Invesco Field Thursday, when Sen. Barack Obama will make his acceptance speech.

Doors open at 1:00 pm. They recommend coming early as while you will be assigned a section, the seats with the section are first-come - first serve.

The list of items not allowed on-site is long, and includes but is not limited to: [More...]

With 5 months to go in the term of the worst President in the history of the Nation, a question must be asked - has the Bush Administration ceded control of U.S. foreign policy to John McCain? Which leads to the next question, is it really possible that John McCain could be a worse President than George W. Bush? The answer seems to be yes and yes imo. Condoleeza Rice, acting on behalf of the interim McCain Administration, talks tough to Russia in Georgia:

With Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice standing by, the Georgian president signed a cease-fire agreement with Russia on Friday. Ms. Rice then declared that all Russian troops must leave Georgian territory immediately. Ms. Rice, who was in Tbilisi to show support for President Mikheil Saakashvili, said that “with this signature” there had to be “the immediate and orderly withdrawal of Russian armed forces and the return of those forces to Russia.”

More....

Will Sen. Barack Obama name his VP candidate today?

The TL kid was notified by text yesterday he received two tickets to Obama's acceptance speech event at Invesco Field. While he was not an Obama supporter during the primaries, he recognizes that it will be an historic event and is excited to witness it in person. I am too.

What's going on in your neck of the woods or your thoughts today?

This is an open thread.

The New York Times reported Thursday that Fred Baron, the Texas lawyer who served as Finance Chair for John Edwards' campaign, not only may have paid money to Rielle Hunter and Andrew Young from his personal funds, but that he might have recommended their lawyers to them.

But what went unnoticed was that the two lawyers shared an important connection to Mr. Edwards that suggests they were part of an orchestrated effort to protect him, one that is continuing even after he admitted last week that he had an affair with Ms. Hunter but denied that he fathered her child. The lawyers are linked through Fred Baron, a wealthy Dallas lawyer and former finance chairman for the Edwards campaign who was a key player in the campaign’s response to the scandal. Mr. Gordon has worked with Mr. Baron on class-action personal injury cases,...

Unnoticed? The Times does not report that blogs such as Deceiver and Riehl World View have been reporting this for days. [Added: Deceiver says it's the McGovern angle it out-scooped the Times on, not this one.)

Yesterday, I brought out another reason to suspect Baron and lawyers for Young, Hunter and even John Edwards had coordinated their denials of the paternity allegation against Edwards to the media: [More...]

You think this is a provocation?

Poland and the United States struck a deal Thursday that will strengthen military ties and put an American missile interceptor base in Poland, a plan that has infuriated Moscow and sparked fears in Europe of a new arms race. "We have crossed the Rubicon," Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said, referring to U.S. consent to Poland's demands after more than 18 months of negotiations.

U.S. officials also said the timing of the deal was not meant to antagonize Russian leaders at a time when relations already are strained over the recent fighting between Russia and Georgia over the South Ossetia region.

(Emphasis supplied.) We are ruled by lunatics. I can think of no good reason for the United States to have a missile defense system in Poland, EXCEPT to provoke Russia. To ANNOUNCE such a deal NOW, given the situation in the Caucasus, is simply madness.

Speaking for me only

This is from Politico so who knows how true it is (messin' is a euphemism for the eff word here), but if it is, then the Obama camp is showing some real stupid now:

The Obama campaign is denying House Ways and Means Chairman Charles B. Rangel a speaking role at this month’s Democratic National Convention — a move those close to the powerhouse Harlem congressman view as a spiteful snub.

As the Rangel confidant states:

“It’s crazy. … This man [Rangel] controls tax policy in the United States [Rangel is Chairman of Ways and Means]. He’s a lot bigger than just a regular member of Congress. He deserves more respect than this,” said a Rangel confidant. “Basically they have told us they can’t help us, that there are too many Obama supporters ahead of Charlie on the line.”

Crazy is right. Full disclosure - Charlie Rangel is one of my favorite pols of all time. I'm a bit of a cultist when it comes to Charlie Rangel.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

The Democratic National Convention Committee announced more added speakers to Wednesday's lineup. Earlier, I reported on Sen. Ken Salazar. Now, there's another press release (no link yet) that says the following have been added:

Governor Bill Richardson and Senators Evan Bayh, Joe Biden and Jay Rockefeller will echo Obama’s call for a new direction in national security and outline his policies and plans to secure America’s future.

I think that means we can cross them off the list. Who's left? General Wesley Clark and Tim Kaine come to mind. [More...]

Kevin Drum points us to this very interesting James Fallows article about the Presidential debates and while Fallows, as always, writes a great insightful article about the debates, he ignores the elephant in the room - the Media's hatred of Hillary Clinton. I think there are two particularly revealing excerpts of the article that demonstrate what Fallows ignores - the Media's persistent, unfair and grinding attacks on Hillary Clinton (which also translated into open rooting for Barack Obama). The first Kevin highlights:

When I'd seen this final [ABC] debate in real time, I'd been outraged by its harsh tone and belated attention to policy matters (including Gibson's little lecture to the candidates on why capital-gains tax cuts always paid for themselves). When I saw its place in the series, I realized it was like a late episode of The Sopranos in which nearly everyone gets mowed down. It was violent and dehumanizing, but it was the culmination of a long process.

More...

Amnesty International will be bringing its Experience Guantanamo Cell Tours to Denver for the Convention.

Visit a Replica of a Guantanamo Prison Cell in Denver, Aug 24 - 26, to coincide with the Democratic National Convention

Urge the U.S. government to do the right thing: stop torture, charge detainees and give them fair trials or release them, and close Guantánamo.

Where: City of Cuernavaca Park, 20th street and Little Raven (across from the skate park); Denver, CO

More about the cell tours here. You can also volunteer.[More...]