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.

I get to celebrate my birthday today in Madrid which is pretty cool. Almost enough to make me forget I'm the same age as Bruce Springsteen and Barry Scheck (although still younger than Susan Sarandon, Diane Keaton, Goldie Hawn, and Bill and Hillary Clinton.)

Have a great day everyone, and here's your open thread.

Jena Six defendant Mychal Bell has been released on bond pending trial.

He will be tried in juvenile court. It's where charges should have been brought in the first place.

Senator Chris Dodd: I happen to believe very strongly that this policy of ours, military involvement in Iraq, is counterproductive. We're less safe, less secure, more vulnerable and more isolated today as a result of the policy. So I believe that we ought to begin that process of redeployment here.

. . . Congress has an obligation here. It's not enough that we just draft timetables. 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. As everyone who's looked at this issue over the last two or three years have concluded, there is no military solution here, and we need to do far more to protect our interests not only in that region, but throughout the world. We're not doing it with this policy.

It is not ordinarily a crime to be in the United States without proper authorization. Police therefore have no right to detain individuals and command them to "show me your papers" when those individuals aren't reasonably suspected of criminal activity. Immigration advocates believe that's exactly what's happening in Irving, Texas.

Father Pedro Portillo, of Santa Maria de Guadalupe Church in Irving, said he's talked to several people who say they were approached by officers without cause and asked for immigration documents.

The suspicion is that Irving police officers are engaging in "racial profiling and overzealously arresting suspected illegal immigrants so they can be deported, a claim the Mexican Consulate takes so seriously it's advising people to avoid driving through this Dallas suburb."

Mexican Consulate staff in Dallas attempt to interview Mexicans being deported, and say that over the past few weeks it appears a disproportionate number have been from Irving. The consulate covers a huge area, from East Texas all the way to the Texas Panhandle, and Hubbard Urrea said about half those interviewed were from Irving, a Dallas suburb of 206,000.

Jon Soltz of Vote Vets responds to Rush Limbuagh's attack on US soldiers who served in Iraq who oppose continuing the Debacle:

Rush Limbaugh, on his show said that those troops who come home and want to get America out of the middle of the religious civil war in Iraq are "phony soldiers." I'd love for you, Rush, to have me on your show and tell that to me to my face. First, in what universe is a guy who never served even close to being qualified to judge those who have worn the uniform? Rush Limbaugh has never worn a uniform in his life - not even one at Mickey D's - and somehow he's got the moral standing to pass judgment on the men and women who risked their lives for this nation, and his right to blather smears on the airwaves? . . .

Time for a Congressional resolution condemning Limbaugh. Yes, I am serious. This is how the game of politics has to be played.

Update [2007-9-27 19:53:3 by Big Tent Democrat]: Dems firing hard at Limbaugh.

In the tpmcafe discussion of Matt Bai's new book,"The Argument," mcjoan writes one of the best pieces I've seen on what the Netroots is. A snippet:

Just about every lefty blogger I know came to online activism because of their core belief in a traditionally liberal governing philosophy. It's best summed up by Matt Stoller in response to Jonathon Chait's thoughtful look at the blogs in TNR from a few months ago.

Basically, we're a group of people who feel very betrayed by the leadership of our country, our media, and our party. We care about ideas because bad ideas implemented tend to kill lots of innocent people, and we don't like that. We are liberal because we believe in liberal ideas, and by and large, we've been proven correct. The Iraq war was a terrible idea. Bush has been a horrible President. Running on Iraq in 2006 was a good idea. Stopping Social Security privatization was possible and necessary. A 50 state strategy made sense because a wave election was foreseeable. Don't trust the telecom companies with the internet. Let's figure out this global warming thing.

. . .More

A big thanks to TChris and Big Tent for posting while I'm in Madrid.

The big news here is the military crackdown in Burma (now called Myanmar)in which Buddhist monks are being beaten and arrested. Eight people have been killed by police firing weapons into crowds of protesters. A Japanese journalist was also killed.

CNN keeps reporting that since journalists aren't being granted entry, it is getting its reporting from citizen journalists.

I'm off to our opening reception and dinner so here's an open thread for those of you with other topics to discuss.

Plane reading: The new Rolling Stone has an oral history of Hunter S. Thompson's early years by those who knew him then. It's great reading and available online here.