Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the President of Iran, is speaking at Columbia today. Many in NYC and the United States find this appalling. I don't.

It gives the public an opportunity to hear him and, if Columbia is doing its job, ask him questions that enables him to attempt to explain his nation's supporting terror in Iraq and maybe elsewhere and why he denies the Holocaust. Indeed, if he attempts to answer questions, he will harm his own cause because he can't rationally answer some questions.

A U.S. District Court Judge in New Hampshire shows his sense of humor, responding to an inmate's lawsuit by writing in verse, a la Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss.

The backdrop: New Hampshire state inmate Charles Jay Wolff doesn't like eggs. When the state prison kept providing them to him, he filed a lawsuit. Along with the lawsuit, he mailed a hard-boiled egg to the Judge.

The Judge's response:

"I do not like eggs in the file," Muirhead wrote. "I do not like them in any style. I will not take them fried or boiled. I will not take them poached or broiled. I will not take them soft or scrambled / Despite an argument well-rambled."

The verse grew heated, exclamation marks were injected, and the egg was ordered destroyed.

"No fan I am / Of the egg at hand. Destroy that egg! Today! Today! Today I say! Without delay!"

Here's the full text (verse) of the Judge's reply.

The Washington Post explores Rudy Giuliani's claim he is the go-to guy in the war on terror. Here's a snippet, to give you the flavor:

But for most of Giuliani's career as a Department of Justice official, prosecutor and New York's chief executive, terrorism was a narrow aspect of his broader crime-fighting agenda, which was dominated by drug dealers, white-collar criminals and the Mafia. Giuliani expressed confidence that Islamic extremism could be contained through vigorous investigation by law enforcement agencies and prosecution in the court system -- the same approach he now condemns.

The LA Times recounts his flip-flopping on immigration.

More...

To accompany this post earlier today.

The number of law-bloggers hesitant to chime in on the Jena 6 case is growing. One reason given: The facts are not only confusing, but in several significant instances, in dispute. ESPN has this pretty good primer but it's hard to get the narrative from just one source, there are just too many variations.

Earlier this week there was Instapundit and Orin Kerr. They are now joined by Ann Althouse.

So, are the facts confusing or too disputed to pass judgment? Yes and no.

More...

The New York Times has a long expose today on how private capital groups are buying up the large chains of nursing home and cutting staff and care. If you have a loved one in a nursing, you should read it. It's very frightenting. First, what the Times did:

The Times examined more than 1,200 nursing homes purchased by large private investment groups since 2000, and more than 14,000 other homes. The analysis compared investor-owned homes against national averages in multiple categories, including complaints received by regulators, health and safety violations cited by regulators, fines levied by state and federal authorities, the performance of homes as reported in a national database known as the Minimum Data Set Repository and the performance of homes as reported in the Online Survey, Certification and Reporting database.

What it found:

As such investors have acquired nursing homes, they have often reduced costs, increased profits and quickly resold facilities for significant gains. But by many regulatory benchmarks, residents at those nursing homes are worse off, on average, than they were under previous owners, according to an analysis by The New York Times of data collected by government agencies from 2000 to 2006.

More...

Earlier I wrote about Attorney General Nominee Michael Mukasey's interviews with Senate Judiciary Committee members in which he professed his independence from the White House.

Michael Isikoff of Newsweek today reports on the same interviews and says Mukasey told the Senators he doesn't think Guantanamo should be closed and he favors enhanced interrogation techniques:

According to three sources, who asked not to be named discussing the private meetings, Mukasey said that he saw "significant problems" with shutting down Guantánamo Bay and that he understood the need for the CIA to use some "enhanced" interrogation techniques against Qaeda suspects. Mukasey also signaled reluctance with naming a special prosecutor to investigate Bush-administration misconduct, according to one participant.

As to Alberto Gonzales, Isikoff reports he's lawyering up.

The departed A.G. is now looking for a private lawyer to represent him, according to two legal sources who asked not to be identified because of the matter's sensitivity.

The big story for Rudy Giuliani today is "The Phone Call"

This site has been very clear where it stands on Rudy Giuliani. But this phone call story demonstrates every thing that is wrong with the Media. Who cares about the stupid phone call?

Rudy's speech itself to the NRA made no sense at all. It is not just that it was a flip flop on the issues, it simply made no sense. But the only political story to come out of that speech is "The Phone Call." The Media is broken and it seems it can not be fixed.

Jeralyn highlights the fool's errand that Howard Dean is on. This should drive home the point. Via Steve Benen and PFAW, here's why:

Newsweek reports Howard Dean is courting Republican evangelicals.

One of those he's met with recently is a Tennessee evangelical named Richard Iband. Can this be true?

"Dean told me how the Democrats were pro-life in that they wanted a country in which abortion was rare. I said, 'I agree, but we disagree how to get there.' Still, it was certainly a change in tone."

Apparently, yes. Dean told Newseek:

"In the past, we've come off as dismissive to evangelicals," Dean tells NEWSWEEK. "But our party has become much more comfortable talking about faith and values.

"Are we going to abandon Roe v. Wade? No. But a lot can be done to prevent teen pregnancy and abortions. There is a lot we do agree on."

If you're not queasy enough yet, keep reading.

The Associated Press reports that in 1988, then-Judge Michael Mukasey issued a 15 page opinion declaring the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines unconstitutional. [via Sentencing Law and Policy.]

In his 15-page ruling, much of it written in a sardonic tone, Mukasey belittled the Justice Department's insistence that the guidelines were a function of the executive branch, while the U.S. Sentencing Commission simultaneously claimed them under the judicial branch.

"A survey of the results thus far calls to mind nothing so strongly as the band of blind men describing the elephant variously as a wall, a tree or a rope, depending on which part of the beast they touched," Mukasey wrote.

More...

If you watch the Sunday talk shows today, you won't miss Hillary. She's going to be on all five: “Meet the Press,” “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” “Fox News Sunday,” “Face the Nation” and “Late Edition.”

The New York Times reports she's also solidifying her lead over the other Democratic candidates.

Even John Edwards advisor Joe Trippi says so:

“You used to be able to say the front-runners — her and Obama — but I don’t think that’s the case anymore. It’s pretty clear that she has sort of pulled away.”

Obama has raised a ton of money but it doesn't appear he's catching on. What you can expect in the next few weeks: Both Obama and Edwards to criticize Hillary. The questions are, are they too late and will their attempts backfire?