9th Circuit Chief Judge Alex Kozinski has declared a mistrial and recused himself from presiding over an obscenity trial following revelations this week that he had s!xually expl!cit material on his own personal website. (TChris' background is here.)

"In light of the public controversy surrounding my involvement in this case, I have concluded that there is a manifest necessity to declare a mistrial," said Alex Kozinski, chief judge for the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. "I will recuse myself from further participation in the case and will ask the chief judge of the district court to reassign it to another judge."

Barack Obama dissed the "New Rochelle train" and commuting to work.

David Mendell's Obama: From Promise to Power, p. 148-149:

"[Obama] always talked about the New Rochelle train, the trains that took commuters to and from New York City, and he didn't want to be on one of those trains every day," said Jerry Kellman, the community organizer who enticed Obama to Chicago from his Manhattan office job. "The image of a life, not a dynamic life, of going through the motions... that was scary to him."

....There's nothing wrong with saying, "that life, taking the New Rochelle train, just isn't for me."

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According to Tim Russert's son Luke, his dad's favorite music was what Russert called "geezer rock" and included “Springsteen, Fogerty, Van Morrison and James Taylor.”

Watching the media coverage tonight, you can't help but feel touched by how much his colleagues respected him and will miss him. This is for them.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Susan Atkins has spent 37 years in prison for her role in the horrific murders of Sharon Tate and Gary Hinman. I've written a few times about why she should be paroled (same for Leslie Van Houton.)

Atkins is dying of brain cancer and had a leg amputated. With less than six months to live, she has received initial approval for compassionate release so she can die outside of prison.

Even former Manson prosecutor Vicent Bugliosi does not object:

"She has paid substantially, though not completely, for her horrendous crimes. Paying completely would mean imposing the death penalty," Bugliosi said. "But given that she has six months to live, and the loss of her leg, I don't have an objection to her being released."

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RIP, Tim Russert.

Tim Russert, NBC News’ Washington bureau chief and the moderator of “Meet the Press,” died Friday after a sudden heart attack at the bureau, NBC News said Friday. He was 58.

Russert was recording voiceovers for Sunday’s “Meet the Press” program when he collapsed, the network said.

Those who follow crime in the news may be interested in the verdict that has finally been rendered in the drawn-out and highly publicized prosecution of R. Kelly:

A jury acquitted R. Kelly on all counts of child pornography after less than a day of deliberations Friday, ending an ordeal for the R&B superstar that began when he was charged six years ago.

Calling all health insurance and math whizzes: As long as I'm on economics today and I don't know much about health insurance, taxes or math, I'm looking for opinions.

Every year my insurance premium rises even though I'm healthy, have no medical conditions and barely use it. This month I was told my premiums are going up $75 a month to almost $600 a month even though my age bracket is the same and I'm healthy. My choices are to downgrade my plan and pay even more of a copay for doctors and prescriptions or go with an HSA (health savings account) with a "catastrophic" insurance plan. [More...]

This sad story is just one of thousands that resulted from the war in Iraq.

Sen. Barack Obama says if elected, he will require people who make over $250k a year to pay FICA (social security) taxes on the amount in excess of $250k. (I think he means he will ask Congress to pass such a law.)

Under Obama's plan, like now, you would pay taxes on amounts up to the cap of $102k. Under his plan, you wouldn't pay taxes on amounts between $102k and $250k. But over $250k, and you pay.

The 6.2 percent payroll tax is now applied to all income up to $102,000 a year, which covers the entire amount for most Americans. Under Obama's plan, the tax would not apply to incomes between that amount and $250,000. But all annual income above the quarter-million-dollar amount would be taxed under his plan.

Obama has talked before of establishing such a "doughnut hole" in the amount of income subject to the Social Security tax. Friday marked the first time he named a restart level: $250,000 and above.

Here's an ambiguity, at least in the news article. Compare [More...]:

Charles Hood will be executed on Tuesday unless a court or Texas Gov. Rick Perry acts to prevent his death. In light of allegations of a blatant conflict of interest on the part of the judge who presided over Hood's trial, the execution should be stayed or the death sentence should be commuted.

Lawyers for a Texas inmate facing execution next week filed court papers on Thursday accusing the judge at his double-murder trial of having an affair with the prosecutor. The papers, filed in the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, argue that the relationship between the judge, Verla Sue Holland, and the man who was district attorney of Collin County, Tom O’Connell, should nullify the conviction of the inmate, Charles Hood, in 1990. ...

The petitions include an affidavit from a former assistant district attorney, Matthew Goeller, who said that the six-year relationship between Judge Holland and Mr. O’Connell was “common knowledge” and that it raised “reasonable doubt on the judge’s capacity to act impartially.”

Even supporters of the death penalty should agree that nobody should be sentenced to death by a judge who is sleeping with the prosecutor.

Here's where I wish I was this weekend. Unfortunately, it's all sold out. But you can watch videos from last years event here.

I'm also thinking this would be a be a great way to recover from the Democratic Convention.

"'Tis a privilege to live in Colorado."

This is an open thread.