Former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman filed a 99 page appeal brief today. I received a copy of the brief but it says "embargoed until tomorrow" so I'm not uploading it tonight.

The part that addresses Karl Rove is contained in a sentencing argument. The Court departed upwards from the sentencing guidelines because of unspecified statements Siegelman made to the media critical of the Executive Branch. (I quote some of that argument at the end of this very long post.)

Karl Rove was subpoenaed today by the House Judiciary Committee. His lawyer will fight the subpoena. From the April, 2008 Judiciary Committee report (pdf): [More...]

A good sign:

[T]his afternoon here in Boca Raton, Barack Obama dropped his strongest hint yet that he'd consider asking Hillary Clinton to--gasp!--join his ticket.

It came in response to a question from a man named Mike, a "50 year" resident of Pompano Beach. "I want to know if you'd consider everybody who is a possible help to you as a running mate," he said. "Even if his or her spouse is an occasional pain in the butt." Obama laughed. No names necessary; he seemed to get the drift. . . .

The Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole granted clemency to Samuel David Crowe today three hours before his scheduled execution. He had already eaten his last meal.

Crowe, age 47, will now serve life without parole. The board found he expressed sincere and exceptional remorse.

At Thursday's hearing, his lawyers presented a dossier of evidence attesting to his remorse and good behavior in jail, according to local media reports. The lawyers also said he was suffering from withdrawal symptoms from a cocaine addiction at the time of the crime.

109 men remain on Georgia's death row.

There are 48 happy mothers in Texas today:

A Texas appeals court ruled today that state child welfare authorities had no right to seize dozens of children living at the ranch of a polygamist religious sect, saying they were in no immediate danger of abuse.

The 3rd Court of Appeals in Austin ruled in favor of 48 mothers seeking the return of more than 130 children who had been living at a ranch near Eldorado, Tex., associated with the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

The ruling is here. It directs the trial court to vacate the orders granting custody of the children to Protective Services. The court should act within 10 days. If the Department of Child and Protective Services appeals, it's not clear whether the children will be returned to their parents before the appeal is decided. [More...]

Ezra Klein joins the legion of ridiculous Obama bloggers with this gem:

[Clinton's] now pursuing a political strategy meant to defeat Obama and ensure the party regrets his nomination. She will do this by convincing voters in Florida and Michigan that his campaign has wronged them and should be severely punished. It's an attempt to poison the well, to deny his campaign 44 electoral votes, or about 1/6th the total needed to win.

Suppose you were silly and stupid enough to actually believe that [More..]

Remember Bob Bauer (PDF) on the Voting Rights Act pre-clearance problem for revotes in Michigan and Florida? Well, some Florida delegates seem to think he had a point. They are suing the DNC:

Three Florida delegates, including the state's Senate Democratic leader have filed a federal lawsuit against the Democratic National Committee claiming the DNC violated their constitutional rights by barring them from the party's national convention.

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While the Obama blogs are having a conniption because Hillary Clinton is talking about counting the votes in Florida and Michigan, it remains striking to me that these same blogs have never expressed much concern about the Media's disgraceful behavior in this campaign. Indeed, any mention of the sexism and misogyny in the Media and elsewhere makes them look down at their shoes, or worse, even defend the perpetrators. I think it is no coincidence that it has been almost exclusively women bloggers who have discussed these issues. Take Digby for instance: [More...]

Thanks to Big Tent Democrat for keeping us up to date on Florida and Michigan.

As for other news, check out the new ACLU blog. Lots of bloggers including Christy of Firedoglake, McJoan of Daily Kos, Marcy (Empty Wheel), Nicole of Crooks and Liars and Glenn Greenwald of Salon have posts up on torture.

My post is "The Unfriendly Skies of Ghost Air."

Colorado is under tornado watches and warnings today. A few have already hit down, the University of Northern Colorado is on lockdown. The city of Windsor so far has gotten hit the worst. At one school, they evacuated the kids and put them in the vault at the bank next door. Baseball size hail is expected. Denver right now is fine, but we're on a tornado watch too and severe thunderstorms with hail are coming. 40,000 are without power. The local tv stations have suspended regular programming to cover it.

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I do not imagine he is inspired by anything but the purest of principles, otherwise the tender sensibilities of Josh Marshall might be bruised, but here is Barack Obama on the Florida delegates:

Delving deeper into Florida's Democratic delegate debacle than he ever has to date, Sen. Barack Obama said Wednesday that "a very reasonable solution" would be to count Florida's disputed primary votes and cut the state's delegation to the convention in half.

I am not sure what principle Obama is defending here, but I am sure Josh Marshall is proud of Obama''s principled stand. Politics is surely not involved in Obama's position. Never. No way. Otherwise, Josh's feelings might be hurt.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

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Just so I understand the Obama blog argument, they say that calling for counting the votes is the most vile, most outrageous, most heinous act in the history of politics. Did I get that right?

But now for the $64 question, does Obama agree?

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I am confident Josh Marshall will tremble in outrage at this blatant violation of the DNC rules. Via Corrente, Marcy Wheeler explains:

The Democratic Party's charter requires that the Party:

Establish standards and rules of procedure to afford all members of the Democratic Party full, timely and equal opportunities to participate in decisions concerning the selection of candidates, ... and further, to promote fair campaign practices and the fair adjudication of disputes. (Charter, Article I, Section 4)

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Can people get more silly than this?

The evidence is simply overwhelming that Sen. Clinton didn't think [Florida and Michigan] was a problem at all -- until it became a vehicle to provide a rationale for her continued campaign. [This is obviously false by the way. she was using this politically since the beginning of January. Ask Markos.]

Now, that's politics. One day you're on one side of an issue, the next you're on the other, all depending on the tactical necessities of the moment. But that's not what Clinton is doing. She's elevating it to a level of principle . . .

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