Yawn:

The G.O.P. has spent the last 40 years insulting, disenfranchising and otherwise stomping on the interests of black Americans. Last week, the residents of Washington, D.C., with its majority black population, came remarkably close to realizing a goal they have sought for decades — a voting member of Congress to represent them.

. . . This is the party of the Southern strategy — the party that ran, like panting dogs, after the votes of segregationist whites who were repelled by the very idea of giving equal treatment to blacks. Ronald Reagan, George H.W. (Willie Horton) Bush, George W. (Compassionate Conservative) Bush — they all ran with that lousy pack.

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David Brooks writes a love letter to Mark Penn:

Clinton has established this lead by repudiating the netroots theory of politics. . . . But Clinton has relied on Mark Penn, the epitome of the sort of consultant the netroots reject, and Penn’s approach has been entirely vindicated by the results so far.

. . . [T]he netroots are losing the policy battles. . . . Democratic domestic policy is now being driven by old Clinton hands like Gene Sperling and Bruce Reed.

And while Clinton may not go out of her way to offend the MoveOn types, on her TV rounds on Sunday she made it obvious that she’s not singing their tune. On “This Week With George Stephanopoulos,” Clinton could have vowed to vacate Iraq. Instead, she delivered hawkish mini-speeches that few Republicans would object to.

Is Brooks right? Hardly. Take Iraq for instance. Hillary said:

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

This is contra to every bit of advice given by Mark Penn and the DLC. As for other policy issues, it would be interesting to know which ones Brooks thinks Hillary is moving away from the Netroots on. Universal health insurance? Global warming? Brooks has let his hatred of bloggers cloud his judgment. More.

Omar Khadr turned 21 in Guantanamo this week. He's been detained there since he was 15.

A military judge threw out the charges against him on jurisdictional grounds in June. Another judge later upheld that decision.

Today, the U.S. Court of Military Commission Review issued its first opinion. It reinstated the charges against Omar.

The ruling reverses a military judge's June 4 ruling that the tribunal system created by Congress did not have authority to try detainees unless they were first determined to be unlawful enemy combatants.

The New York Times has this more in-depth report on the ruling.

My all-time favorite quote on Omar Khadr is by Jeanne D'Arc at her now defunct Body and Soul blog:

He's eighteen years old. When he was captured in Afghanistan, he was fifteen -- a child turned into a soldier by parents from hell. And our government's response to this victim of child abuse was to abuse him further.

His lawyers have alleged he was tortured.

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Clyde Haberman in the New York Times piles on about Rudy Giuliani's wierdness, a trait he says is well known to New Yorkers and the rest of us are getting to see for the first time.

New Yorkers are well acquainted with at least one other version. That would be Rudy the loopy. The weirdness factor, as some have called it, is as much a part of the Giuliani package as 9/11, banished squeegee men and shuttered porn parlors.

After reviewing the NRA call and his comment in London about how he was one of the most famous people in America, Haberman gives some other examples.

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Minnesota prosecutor Christopher Renz has responded to Senator Larry Craig's Motion to Withdraw his Guilty Plea.

Denying Craig's motion "prevents further politicking and game playing on the part of the defendant in relation to his plea," Renz wrote.

Renz wrote that Craig didn't decide to withdraw his plea until after he was hurt by the publicity of the allegations...."The defendant chose to plead guilty and consciously took that risk. The defendant's current pursuit of withdrawal of his guilty plea is reactionary, calculated and political."

Renz also complains that if Craig is allowed to withdraw his plea, there will be a "deluge" of similar requests from other defendants. His support for that belief apparently is a single call received from another defendant.

Renz writes of several calls he had with Craig before the plea. In one, his notes say he advised Craig to seek counsel.

You can read the 41 page memorandum brief here (pdf). His affidavit (with attachments)is here.

Some thoughts:

Christy at Firedoglake writes about Newt Gingrich's lastest announcement that if he can raise $30 million in the next three weeks, he'll hop in the presidential race seeking the Republican nomination.

Perhaps Newt thinks his marital history won't matter. Before examining his political record, let's take a look back at his personal story. From a post I wrote in 2002, Republican Sexual Hypocrisy:

In 1981, Newt dumped his first wife, Jackie Battley, for Marianne, wife number 2, while Jackie was in the hospital undergoing cancer treatment. Marianne and Newt divorced in December, 1999 after Marianne found out about Newt's long-running affair with Callista Bisek, his one-time congressional aide. Gingrich asked Marianne for the divorce by phoning her on Mother's Day, 1999. [Source: New York Post, July 18, 2000, Newt's Ex Wife Aiming to Pen Book by Bill Sanderson, available on lexis].

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A pot-smoker is arrested every 38 seconds in America. The newest figures for 2006 show marijuana arrests are at an all-time high. Via NORML:

Police arrested a record 829,625 persons for marijuana violations in 2006, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's annual Uniform Crime Report, released today. This is the largest total number of annual arrests for pot ever recorded by the FBI. Marijuana arrests now comprise nearly 44 percent of all drug arrests in the United States.

89% of those arrested in 2006 were charged only with possession. And, get this:

The total number of marijuana arrests in the U.S. for 2006 far exceeded the total number of arrests in the U.S. for all violent crimes combined, including murder, manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault.

In the past 15 years, marijuana arrests have increased by 188%. As NORML says,

"This effort is a tremendous waste of criminal justice resources that diverts law enforcement personnel away from focusing on serious and violent crime, including the war on terrorism."

You will read headlines today blaring "Violent Crime is On the Rise." Read the small print.

Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse.... said the overall crime rate -- combining violent and property crimes -- "was the lowest crime rate measured by the UCR in more than 30 years."

Checking the report's table here, there were a total of 11.5 million violent and property crimes in 2005 and 11.4 million in 2006.

Politicians are going to spin this into a need for new crime bills with tougher punishment. Dems will criticize Republicans for cutting law enforcment funds and Republicans will respond pushing the Bush Adminisration's plan for mandatory minumum sentences for all federal crimes.

We already have severe punishments for violent crime, particularly murder and rape in this country. If property crime is decreasing, there's no need to change the law. Don't get fooled. Here's the report.

Update on Giuliani below:

The 100,000 member International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers today endorsed Hillary Clinton for President.

Why? They say she has the best chance to win.

This is the fifth major labor union endorsement for Hillary. She leads the other candidates in overall union endorsements.

Obama got his first union endorsement today -- from a prison guards' union. Thanking the 9,000 member New York City's Correction Officers' Benevolent Association, Obama said:

"It's an honor to have the endorsement of these men and women who put themselves at risk everyday to serve on the front lines of our nation's criminal justice system." he said.

Big news from the DEA today: A major national steroid lab bust. Results: 143 search warrants, 11.4 million steroid pills seized, 29 people arrested.

The countries that assisted in the 18 month undercover operation: China, Mexico, Canada, Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Sweden and Thailand .

Federal agencies: FBI, Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Immmgration and Customs Enforcement and the National Drug Intelligence Center.

News conferences will be held in San Diego, New York City, Houston, Kansas City and Providence, R.I., which I take it to mean those are the districts where Indictments were brought.

Just a few months ago, Gitmo seemed headed for closure, thanks to a bill introduced by Sen. Tom Harkin and another by Sen. Diane Feinstein.

Now, the passage of either bill is in serious doubt. Harkin's bill failed to generate co-sponsors.

The detention facility has been embraced by many Republicans as a potent political symbol in their quest to seize the terrorism issue ahead of next year's elections. GOP presidential candidates have jockeyed to demonstrate their support for the prison. One candidate has called for doubling its use. Another praised the menu and health plan offered to detainees.

Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, who supports closure, says:

This weekend we reported on Attorney General Nominee Michael Mukasey's endorsement of enhanced interrogation techniques and opposition to closing Guantanamo and some of his rulings on federal sentencing guidelines and his promise to be independent of the White House.

Today, the New York Times has a very unflattering article about his conduct and treatment of material witnesses detained after 9/11.

Let's start with the material witness detentions: