Miss. Senator Trent Lott has announced his intention to resign his Senate seat by the end of this year.

"It's time for us to do something else," Lott said, speaking for himself and his wife Tricia at a news conference. Lott, 66, said he had notified President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour on Sunday about his plans. Barbour, a Republican, will name someone to temporarily replace Lott.

"There are no problems. I feel fine," Lott said.

His term ends in 2012.

He said he doesn't have a new job lined up and that new restrictions on lobbying that take effect after Dec. 31, 2007 "didn't have a big role" in his decision to retire. The regulations extend the "cooling off" period for lobbying by former members of Congress from one to two years.

He may feel fine, but this is awfully short notice. Is there more to the story or is it just about money? Jerome and Todd at MyDD have some details on the replacement process.

Barack Obama promises a "new politics." Jerome Armstrong wonders:

Is anyone shocked that the Obama campaign re-opened their PAC and started using it to dole out contributions in the early states? If this is not PAC-cynicism of the FEC regulations, nothing is:

in recent months, Obama has handed out more than $180,000 from the nearly dormant PAC to local Democratic groups and candidates in the key early-voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, campaign reports show.

This is a pretty serious issue that Obama is going to have to confront. Maybe it's not a violation of the letter of the law (because since when is the letter enforced?), but it sure is a violation of the spirt of the law-- especially for a candidate that vows to not accept PAC money.
. . . Obama is stretching the rule to claim that his presidential campaign and his PAC activities have "no affiliation", especially given that 68% of the PAC's contributions are going toward officials in the states where his is campaigning 80% of the time.

I always thought the "lobbyists"/PAC nonsense from Edwards and Obama was phony. Now we see that Obama thought so too.

Colorado Congresswoman Diana DeGette has just endorsed Hillary Clinton for President and will co-chair her campaign's Health Care Task Force.

"Hillary Clinton has the strength and experience we need in the next President of the United States," said Rep. DeGette. "Under her leadership, we will finally provide quality, affordable health care for every American. These challenging times call for a leader with Hillary Clinton's ability to hit the ground running on her first day in the White House."

Diana rocks. Seriously. She's the best. This is good news for Hillary. And for those who really care about stem cell research, health care and kids. She's also a former criminal defense lawyer and personally opposes the death penalty.

Antoine di Zazzo, a Taser representative in France boasts he's been stunned more than 50 times and it didn't cause "real pain." He's also tasered France's far-right politician Jean-Marie Le Pen and convinced French President Nicolas Sarkozy of the stun gun's benefit. Sarkozy promised to buy one for all 300,000 French policemen and gendarmes.

But the more frightening news is this:

Di Zazzo's French company is also developing a mini-flying saucer like drone which could also fire Taser stun rounds on criminal suspects or rioting crowds. He expects it to be launched next year and to be sold internationally by Taser.

While Taser continues to insist the stun gun doesn't cause death,

There have been at least three other deaths this week in the United States after police use of the Taser.

If the point is that money corrupts politics, well duh. But the choice of example by the Washington Post bothers me a great deal:

Clinton's success in this unlikely setting is based almost entirely on her friendship with one man, McAllen developer Alonzo Cantu. A self-made millionaire who once picked grapes on the migratory farm labor circuit, Cantu persuaded more than 300 people in Hidalgo County, where the median household income in 2006 was $28,660, to write checks ranging from $500 to $2,300 to the senator from New York. Cantu offers a simple explanation for what he's doing for Clinton. "To me, there's two things that will keep us from being ignored," he said. "Money and votes. I think we've shown we can raise money. That will get us attention, or at least get us a seat at the table, get us in the room."

Gawd forbid a self made Latino, an American citizen, involve himself in the political process by raising money. Does the Washington Post think this is a unique or even an unflattering story? In a way it is, to them.

Look, I am for complete public financing of political campaigns myself. But until that is even remotely a reality, Latinos, just like everyone else, will and MUST participate in the political system as it exists. To single Cantu out, as the WaPo does, is patronizing at best, racist at worst.

Larisa Alexandrovna and Muriel Kane of Raw Story have the first of a multi-part series today on how Republican heavyweights sent former Alabama Governor Don Siegleman to jail.

RAW STORY Investigates has decided to focus a series of reports, interviews, and investigative pieces over the next several weeks on Siegelman’s case. At the very least, the investigation will illuminate an incestuous pool of corruption in Alabama, with government officials, lobbyists, attorneys, and even judges behaving in ways that breach the public trust.

Their timeline of the prosecution is here. Part One is entitled, Don Siegelman, political prisoner.

The idea that a prominent politician -- a former state governor -- could be tried on charges that many observers consider to be trumped-up, convicted in a trial that involved numerous questionable procedures, and then hauled off to prison in shackles immediately upon sentencing would be almost unbelievable. But there is such a politician: Don Siegelman, Democratic governor of Alabama from 1999 to 2003.

Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have introduced health care plans. Hillary says Obama's plan leaves 15 million people uncovered and only provides mandatory coverage for children.

That appears to be the case. Here's Obama's plan (pdf.) There is a mandate that applies only to children.

Nor has Obama been consistent in his statements on universal health care.

Hillary maintains her plan not only covers everyone but also, like Obama's, cuts costs. Her plan is here (pdf).

Both plans are improvements over our current system. I agree with Hillary that mandatory coverage should include everyone, not just children and 15 million uninsured is too many.

Senator Barack Obama's attempt to woo the Beltway Elite is a fool's errand. He is their darling now as Hillary Clinton's main opponent. But if he wins, they will turn on him on a dime. Heck, Fred Hiatt did not even wait:

It's also true that, more responsibly than Clinton, he acknowledges a fiscal challenge for Social Security. But where he used to accept that all possible remedies must be on the table to achieve a political compromise, he now opposes benefit cuts and proposes to solve the problem with, yes, a tax hike on the rich.

Of course, Obama's attempt to woo the Beltway Elite by speaking irresponsibly about Social Security will NEVER be enough for the Hiatts and Russerts of the world. But Hiatt's attack on Obama should be a lesson - the Beltway Elite and the GOP believe "bipartisanship" and "compromise" means Democrats doing what they say.

Will Obama ever learn this? For his campaign, it remains the key question - can Obama ignore the Beltway Elite? So far he has not been able to.

Providence, Rhode Island columnist Froma Harrop today exposes some of the statistics from the War on Drugs, calling it a failure:

Since it started in 1970, American law enforcement has arrested 38 million people for nonviolent drug offenses, nearly 2 million last year alone. The number of people jailed for violent crimes has risen 300 percent, but the prison population of nonviolent drug offenders has soared 2,558 percent.

The culprit, as Harrop says, is mandatory minimum sentences. [More...]

The New York Times has a compelling article today about recent immigration raids in Suffolk County, Long Island, initiated after local police submitted names of those they subjectively believed to have gang affiliations.

Not surprisingly, they were wrong. And some of the Greenport, NY employers of those arrested are helping by providing lawyers and other support.

The raid was part of the two year old ICE program, Operation Community Shield, aimed at undocumented violent gang members. The Long Island raid resulted in 186 arrests. Of the 11 men arrested in Greenport (without warrants while inside their homes) one, a 19 year old, may be associated with a gang -- and even that is hotly disputed.

The 10 others, while accused of immigration violations, were not gang associates and had no criminal records. Instead, they were known as good workers and family men. When they suddenly vanished into the far-flung immigration detention system, six of their employers hired lawyers to try to find and free them.

More...

Barack Obama is not a supporter of medical marijuana. He is a supporter of more research to determine if it helps reduce pain.

When a voter asked Obama if he was for the legalization of medical marijuana, Obama said that he wasn't in favor of legalization without scientific evidence and tight controls.

..."My attitude is if the science and the doctors suggest that the best palliative care and the way to relieve pain and suffering is medical marijuana then that's something I'm open to ..... (my emphasis).....He added that he was concerned that the reasons for the use of marijuana would grow and create a "slippery slope."

There is a plethora of research showing that medicinal pot reduces pain and relieves disease symptoms.[More....]

A great Sunday morning here. Homemade blueberry pancakes, maple syrup, bacon, fresh-squeezed orange juice and piping hot coffee. It's so much fun to have a kid around to cook for -- even if he's all grown up.

We saw Darjeeling Limited yesterday which included the ten minute short Hotel Chevalier. I really liked both (Adrian Brody is outstanding in Darjeeling) although Hotel Chevalier is a much stronger film. Here's an interview in today's Observer with Natalie Portman about it. Next up to see: Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, blogger Brian Linse's (Ain't No Bad Dude)new film.

What's going good in your life today?

And yes, this is an open thread, all topics welcome.