Rudy Giuliani was the only Republican presidential candidate to speak at the Federalist Society meeting today in Washington, introduced by his pal and advisor Ted Olson.

Why? Think, the loyal Rudy:

Giuliani was the only presidential candidate to speak to the group, a testament to his close ties to Olson and other prominent members of the organization. Several of them are advising his campaign and have served as a bulwark for Giuliani against criticism from social conservatives.

As for what he said: He'd appoint more judges like Alito, Thomas and Scalia. He threw in some religion:

"There are some people I think nowadays that doubt that America has a special, even a divinely inspired role in the world," he said.

And of course, some terrorism.

"It was this nation that saved the world from the two great tyrannies of the 20th century, Nazism and Communism," he said. "It's this country that's going to save civilization from Islamic terrorism."

The prospect of Rudy gets scarier every day. The Democrats need to stop their bickering and save their attacks for their Republican rivals.

Saudi Arabia's Qatif General Court has revised the sentence of a 19 year old gang rape victim. The woman was originally sentenced to 90 lashes for being in the company of a male who was not a family member. But, because she and her lawyer publicized her plight, her sentence has been increased to 6 months in jail and 200 lashes.

Her lawyer, civil rights activist Abdulrahman al-Lahem, has been removed from the case, stripped of his law license and told to show up for a disciplinary hearing next month.

No matter how many times I read this article, I just keep shaking my head. How is it possible that Sharia law still exists? Just another reason to keep religion and government separate.

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It's the cover-up that always gets them. Baseball giant Barry Bonds was indicted yesterday on four counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice.

In the indictment, federal prosecutors said Bonds lied when he denied (to the grand jury)using a long list of banned drugs, including steroids, testosterone, human growth hormone and "the clear," the undetectable designer steroid marketed by BALCO.

....Bonds also lied when he testified that his longtime personal trainer, Greg Anderson, had never injected him with drugs, the government contended. The trainer, who was imprisoned for contempt of court after he refused to testify against Bonds, was freed Thursday night, hours after Bonds' indictment was unsealed.

Interestingly, Anderson never flipped. He did three months on his own steroid-related case and a year on the contempt charge for refusing to give up Bonds. Because the grand jury concluded and there was no longer any need for him to testify, the Judge let him out.

Bonds has grown a bit since he entered baseball. [More...]

The Boston Globe fact checks Rudy Giuliani's claims about his record with respect to tax cuts and the budget deficit during his mayoral tenure.

A sample:

Giuliani and his campaign often say that he "turned a $2.3 billion deficit into a multibillion-dollar surplus." But both the Citizens Budget Commission, a probusiness watchdog group, and the Independent Budget Office, a city-funded fiscal watchdog organization, said Giuliani left his successor, Michael Bloomberg, a projected budget deficit equal to or larger than the one Giuliani inherited from David Dinkins, the previous mayor.

Rudy's first term was okay but spending proliferated during his second term.

....in the final years of his second term, as city coffers brimmed with taxes generated by the stock market boom, city spending soared well above the inflation rate and nearly all of the surplus in his last year was spent. Giuliani generated annual surpluses in part by routinely lowballing revenue estimates.

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Friends of former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales have started a trust fund to collect money for his legal fees. They say as a career service employee, he doesn't have the funds to pay his mounting legal fees himself for the ongoing investigating into whether he lied to Congress or obstructed justice about the U.S. Attorney firings.

Jason at Truthout has a new article today on the evidence collected against Gonzales by the fired AUSA's.

If the DOJ's inspector general investigation concludes further investigation into possible federal crimes is warranted and refers the case to the US attorney's office for the District of Columbia to probe the matter, McKay said a special prosecutor should be appointed instead because the US attorney in DC is Gonzales's former chief of staff.

Wayne Barrett of the Village Voice believes the first of the two unnamed senior Fox officials named in Judith Regan's lawsuit is Roger Ailes. He's said so on Countdown, Democracy Now and the Abrams Report. Salon has more.

"The funny thing about Judith Regan's complaint is that she doesn't refer to Roger Ailes by name for the first 16 pages, right?" Barrett told Keith Olbermann of MSNBC on Wednesday. "But Roger Ailes is ... clearly the person she is referring to as this senior executive who made all these suggestions to her." The next day, on "Democracy Now," host Amy Goodman opened her segment with Barrett by stating as fact that "Regan ... was talking about Roger Ailes." Barrett responded, "I'm sure you're correct."

Another Salon article adds more dates to the timeline:[More]

I'm aware of felony murder laws, in which one participant in, say a bank robbery, is held liable for murder if another participant kills someone during the course of the crime or the getaway, but this California case is going a step further.

LAKEPORT, Calif. - Three young black men break into a white man's home in rural Northern California. The homeowner shoots two of them to death - but it's the surviving black man who is charged with murder.

In a case that has brought cries of racism from civil rights groups, Renato Hughes Jr., 22, was charged by prosecutors in this overwhelmingly white county under a rarely invoked legal doctrine that could make him responsible for the bloodshed.

The murder charge is based on California's Provocative Act doctrine --

The Provocative Act doctrine does not require prosecutors to prove the accused intended to kill. Instead, "they have to show that it was reasonably foreseeable that the criminal enterprise could trigger a fatal response from the homeowner," said Brian Getz, a San Francisco defense attorney unconnected to the case.

The doctrine is used so rarely the NAACP is alleging the charges are racially motivated. It's also are asking why the homeowner wasn't charged with murder.

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Headlines after the debate: Clinton Sparkles in Vegas Debate (Guardian); Hillary Makes a Recovery in Las Vegas Debate (CNN); Hillary Shows She Can Take a Punch in Vegas Debate (San Francisco Chronicle); Clinton Calls and Raises in Vegas Debate (CBS News); Hillary Takes Aggressive Tack Against Rivals (International Herald Tribune); Clinton Swings Back Against Rivals (Boston Globe); Hillary Hits Back (Washington Post). After Rough Few Weeks, Hillary Clinton Gives Strong Debate Performance (ABC News).

Obama falters Over Illegal Immigrants (New York Sun); MSNBC: "Richardson, btw, had one of his better performances, possibly his best. Dodd didn't get a lot of time but when he did speak, he seemed to be on message."

My thoughts on the debate:

Winners: Hillary, Dodd, Richardson.

Waffler: Obama playing slip and slide on drivers' licenses for the undocumented. Four chances and wouldn't answer the question.

Least likely to have gained new support: Edwards. But he gave a great answer in response to a question from the audience on racial profiling. Said when he is President, there will be no racial profiling, no illegal spying, no Guantanamo, no torture.

Biden: Displayed a sense of humor, it still doesn't make up for his bad position on issues, particularly on crime. Sample comment: People are afraid their kids are going to run into a drug dealer on the way to school.

More --and a poll -- below the Fold

The Democrats' debate begins in 15 minutes. Big Tent Democrat discussed what you can expect here. He'll also be around to live-blog some of it.

I won't get to see it since I'm off to discuss Judith Regan's lawsuit against News Corp on Dan Abrams'MSNBC Wayne Barrett of the Village Voice will also be on.

I've tivo'd the debate and will add my thoughts after I've had a chance to watch it.

In the meantime, here's a place for readers to discuss it as it's airing.

Updates below:

So sez Greg Sargent:

. . . Here's a bit more detail on what happened on the Judiciary Committee today. Sources say Senator Russ Feingold offered an amendment that would have stripped telecom immunity from the bill, but it was defeated. Then Senator Arlen Specter, the ranking GOPer on the committee, offered a "compromise" amendment saying that in these lawsuits the Federal government, and not the telecoms, would be the defendants. But because of a procedural difficulty Specter's amendment wasn't voted on -- and Senator Patrick Leahy, the chair of the committee, essentially went around Specter's amendment and moved to have a vote to report the bill out of committee without any telecom immunity in it. That passed along strictly party lines. And that's where we are.

Let's see the bill first Greg. If Leahy was able to get this done, then HURRAH for Leahy! Personally, I am not understanding this story at all. If Feingold's attempt to REMOVE telecom immunity failed, then what exactly did Leahy get out of Committee? If the bill did NOT contain telecom immunity, then why did Feingold move to have it striked? Sorry Greg, too many holes in the story as reported to make any sense.

Tonight the Democratic Presidential candidates will be debating in Las Vegas. CNN will televise it (8 pm EST, will live blog it for as long as I can stand to, history shows I'll do the first hour and then bail, hopefully J will be around) and Wolf Blitzer will moderate. It promises to be the most intriguing evening of the campaign so far.

Hillary Clinton was perceived as having taken a blow in the last debate. John Edwards has become an attack dog against Clinton (something we saw too little of when he was actually in the traditional political attack dog role, VP candidate in 2004). Barack Obama has been much less aggressive against Clinton than has Edwards but, imo, has reaped the most benefits from Edwards' kamikaze attacks. The roles the candidates are willing to play will be extremely interesting. And Clinton's response to the last debate perhaps the most intriguing aspect of all.

Substantively, the drivers license issue and how it plays with regard to the immigration issue, will be a big big issue. Nevada has a large Latino population. The wild card on this issue will be Bill Richardson, who as Governor of New Mexico, has ALREADY implemented such an initiative to great success. I expect he will be very aggressive on the issue and immigration generally. The other issue likely to draw attention is Social Security where Obama and Edwards have foolishly adopted Republican talking points, speaking as if immediate action is necessary.

One final thought, after the roasting Russert received in many quarters for his performance in the last debate, I expect Wolf Blitzer to be very aware of how he will be perceived if he allows this to be turned into a Hillary Hate fest. I think it will not.

All the major players will likely have opportunities, both on political tactics and on substantive issues. This will be one to watch.

Working for Fox and its deleterious effects. It makes you blind. Case in point, Juan Williams:

The fact is that (Moulitsas is) not a journalist in terms of someone who knows how to do reporting, someone who reflects balance in what he portrays. To the contrary, he engages in the kind of hyperbole and extreme statements that are represented by that crass and I think offensive statement that he made about those dead people. But you know what? I think that’s just what’s going on in journalism. I think that there’s more and more opinion, less and less people who know how to do the job. All you gotta do is shout, say something on the blog that offends and attacks the other side and suddenly you have the credentials and you’re said to be a journalist. I think it’s a great lie.”

Setting aside that Juan Williams has no idea what Daily Kos is about, does Juan know what Fox News is? Bill O'Reilly Juan? What a ridiculous fool he is.