Via digby, a bit of pontificating and puffing, from Our Media:

Anonymous: You said that Mayor Giuliani aced the Sunni/Shia question. What event in history was he referring to when he said "and then of course there was a slaughter of Shiites in the early part of the history of Islam, and it has infected a lot of the history of Islam, which is really very unfortunate"

Chris Cillizza: I don't claim to be an expert on the history of the Sunni and Shia. In the coverage I watched following the debate, it appeared as though Giuliani was factually correct about the differences between the two groups. That was all I was referencing. And, from a political standpoint, I think Giuliani dodged a major bullet with that question. I wonder how many of the ten men on that stage last night could have come up with something approximating a right answer on that question.

Now, for all I know, Rudy did ace the question. I do not know the history of the Sunni/Shia split in detail. But the problem is Cilizza and Our Media pretend that they do. Thus, Cilizza claimed "Rudy aced it" when in fact, he has no idea if Rudy aced it. His clarification was most revealing however - Rudy dodged a major bullet even though, for all Cilizza knows, Rudy got the answer completely wrong.

This is what passes for political discourse in our country. We are doomed.

Time magazine gives space to Juan Williams to attempt to shut down criticism of Bill O'Reilly. Jaun Williams, like O'Reilly, is an employee of Fox News. Williams writes two things that struck me as pathetic and ridiculous. The first:

That twisted assumption led me to say publicly that the attacks on O'Reilly amounted to an effort to take what he said totally out of context in an attempt to brand him a racist by a liberal group that disagrees with much of his politics.

Um, so Juan, you feel comfortable smearing poeple while at the same time taking umbrage that you were smeared by ONE commentator on CNN?

But the out-of-context attacks on O'Reilly picked up speed and ended up on CNN, where one commentator branded me a "Happy Negro" for allowing O'Reilly to get by with making racist comments without objection.

Well, shame on that commenter Juan, but shame on you for smearing people yourself. For smearing people like Eugene Robinson:

"24" star Kiefer Sutherland could use a little Jack Bauer intervention right now. He was arrested Sept. 25 for DUI. The complaint is here (pdf) and alleges he was driving under the influence of alcohol and an unspecified drug.

Rocky Delgadillo, the City Attorney that went after Paris Hilton, is also seeking to revoke Kiefer's 2004 probation for a prior DUI.

We have charged Mr. Sutherland with a second DUI offense within 10 years, which we believe also constitutes a violation of the terms of his probation from his 2004 conviction," said Nick Velasquez, a spokesman for the City Attorney's Office.

"Since he is still on probation from this 2004 DUI, we have also requested that the court revoke his probation and set a probation-violation hearing."

Looking at the complaint, Kiefer was charged on October 29, 2004, pleaded guilty 4 days later on November 2, 2004, and was put on 5 years probation.

I'm wondering why he pleaded guilty so fast in 2004 -- and isn't 5 years probation for a DUI a bit excessive? Kiefer finished his alcohol treatment and 50 hours of community service in 2005.

Yesterday's question -- "Will the Supreme Court's decision to review the constitutionality of the death penalty by lethal injection cause states to postpone scheduled executions?" -- has been answered by Texas. Ain't nobody tellin' Texas that it can't be killin' people, it seems.

A day after the United States Supreme Court halted an execution in Texas at the last minute, Texas officials made clear on Friday that they would nonetheless proceed with more executions in coming months, including one next week.

Constitution? Texas don't need no stinkin' Constitution. Sentencing expert Doug Berman suggests that states outside the United States of Texas might be more hesitant to conduct executions by means of a procedure of dubious constitutionality.

“There is a momentum quality to this,” said Douglas A. Berman, a law professor at Ohio State University who has a blog, Sentencing Law and Policy. “Not only the Supreme Court granting the stay, but also the Alabama governor doing a reprieve that is likely to lead to other states with executions on the horizon waiting to see what the Supreme Court does. I’ll be surprised if many, and arguably if any states other than Texas, go through with executions this year.”

Let's hope Doug is right.

Via the Out Of Iraq Blogger Caucus, Alex, a "phony soldier", at his site Army of Dude. A great post. Make sure you read it.

This is an Open Thread.

Via Glenn Greenwald, Fox News contributor retired Col. David Hunt writes:

Top Military Officials are a Disgrace to Those They Lead Friday , September 28, 2007

By Col. David Hunt

Our generals are betraying our soldiers … again

Sorry, but I have to get your attention on this one. In both Afghanistan and Iraq, the United States Army — not the much maligned “LIBERAL PRESS” or BILL CLINTON or the LIBERALS IN CONGRESS — NO, the UNITED STATES MILITARY is prosecuting its soldiers for doing their jobs.

. . . Our generals in both the Army and Marine Corps have cared more about their precious careers and reputations than their soldiers and Marines under them. The Marines have actually prosecuted a Marine for shooting a terrorist too many times and the Army — well, the Army has the Pat Tillman tragedy, the Abu Graib disaster and many more to answer for, and now these courts martial. . . .

I condemn this offensive smear. Will the Right? Will the GOP? Don't hold your breath.

Will the Supreme Court's decision to review the constitutionality of the death penalty by lethal injection cause states to postpone scheduled executions? Alabama stayed an execution that was to have taken place last night.

Gov. Bob Riley said the state would not execute an inmate named Tommy Arthur while it came up with a new formula for lethal injection. State officials said they wanted to make sure prisoners were completely unconscious before they were killed.

Texas would have killed a man last night, but the Supreme Court stayed the execution.

Although the court gave no reason for its decision, the inmate, Carlton Turner Jr., had appealed to the court after it agreed on Tuesday to consider the constitutionality of lethal injection, the most commonly used method of execution in the United States. The decision suggests that until it issues a ruling on lethal injection, the court may be receptive to requests to delay such executions, at least for defendants whose cases raise no procedural issues.

Only a prosecutor with nothing better to do would prosecute an obscenity case. Only a prosecutor who lacks an appreciation of the First Amendment would prosecute a writer for producing an obscene text -- no pictures, no graphics, just words. For those of you who thought that words were protected by the First Amendment, meet Mary Beth Buchanan, the crusading U.S. Attorney in Western Pennsylvania.

Buchanan is going after Karen Fletcher, "a 56-year-old recluse living on disability payments," on "six felony counts for operating a Web site called Red Rose, which featured detailed fictional accounts of the molesting, torture and sometimes gruesome murders of children under the age of 10, mostly girls." Disturbing, yes, but the Constitution protects speech that disturbs -- the only kind of speech that needs protection from censorship.

Fletcher maintains, with some credibility, that her website isn't meant to titillate.

More...

Via Atrios, HuffPo reports:

Although MSNBC did apologize to [Congresswoman Marsha] Blackburn [R-TN] on air, subsequent reporting from the Tennessee Commercial Appeal showed that Bohannon had declared Bon Aqua, TN as his legal residence before enlisting. Bon Aqua falls within Blackburn's district.

Blackburn's spokesman questioned the veracity of the report. "I don't know if he was living there," Lambert said. "I don't agree with that, the Department of Defense notified us that he was a member of the 8th district. We have a document saying that he was living in the 8th district." Lambert said he could not produce the document he referred to out of respect for the family.

Meanwhile, an official casualty identification from the Defense Department's website lists Lambert's home as Bon Aqua.

What remains unchallenged is that Blackburn did not know who the last soldier in her district was who had died in Iraq, while she knew a whole lot about the Move On ad. I think that was Schuster's point. But 'hey, look over there!' is an old
GOP favorite tactic.

Via John Cole, the Weekly Standard leads the Right predictably defending Limbaugh's outrageous and offensive attack on the troops.

IOKIYAR. For the record, I condemned the Move On ad as I condemn Limbaugh's comments:

What I must condemn is the use of the phrase "General Betrayus" by Move On in its ad today in the New York Times. This inexcusable use of the detestable Republican tactic of labelling those who disagree with you as "traitors" is something I have long objected to and I must, in good conscience, strongly condemn Move On's use of this deplorable tactic

Update [2007-9-28 14:2:12 by Big Tent Democrat]: White House Condemns Limbaugh's Remarks

Via rjmac at daily kos, Bruce [Springsteen, for those not in the know] goes political, early, because it's late for our country:

This is a song called Livin' In the Future. But it's really about what's happening now. Right now. It's kind of about how the things we love about America, cheeseburgers, French fries, the Yankees battlin' Boston... the Bill of Rights [holds up microphone, urging crowd to cheer] ... v-twin motorcycles... Tim Russert's haircut, trans-fats and the Jersey Shore... we love those things the way womenfolk love Matt Lauer.

But over the past six years we've had to add to the American picture: rendition, illegal wiretapping, voter suppression, no habeus corpus, the neglect of that great city New Orleans and its people, an attack on the Constitution. And the loss of our best men and women in a tragic war.

This is a song about things that shouldn't happen here happening here.

So right now we plan to do something about it, we plan to sing about it. I know it's early, but it's late. So come and join us.

You can watch it here.

Senator Chris Dodd:

. . . Congress has an obligation here. . . . The Constitution gives the Congress of the United States a unique power, and that is the power of the purse. As long as we continue drafting these lengthy resolutions and amendments here, talking about timelines and dates, we're not getting to the fundamental power that exists in the Congress. And that is to terminate the funding of this effort here, give us a new direction.

Senator Barack Obama:

I hope and will work diligently in the Senate to bring an end to this war before I take office. And I think that it is very important at this stage, understanding how badly the president's strategy has failed, that we not vote for funding without some timetable for this war.

Senator Hillary Clinton:

I have voted against funding this war, and I will vote against funding this war as long as it takes.

MR. RUSSERT: If, in fact, the president does not accept a firm withdrawal date, will you vote to cut off funding? SEN. BIDEN: . . . I will vote, as long as there’s a single troop in there that we are taking out or maintaining, either way I will vote for the money necessary to protect them, period.

Joe Biden can not stand up to George Bush and the Republicans. He will not vote to end the war. He can not be the Democratic nominee.