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?

Fall weekends are my favorite. While it's still summer-like weather here, the leaves are beginning to turn and I'm heading outdoors.

If you're online, here's a place for you.

Also, check out our new Diaries:

• Randinho, Weldon Calls it Quits.
• Geekesque, The Vote That Counted
• LarryE, Are You Shocked

Sentencing Law and Policy first reported yesterday that Judge Paul Cassell of Utah is resigning from the federal bench to return to teaching and litigating on behalf of crime victims.

That's fine by me. His agenda has always been promoting victims' rights over those of defendants, eviscerating Miranda rights and pushing the death penalty, making light of false confessions and wrongful convictions.

That he wrote a good opinion in a child porn case finding application of the sentencing guidelines unconstitutional in that case, doesn't make up for the rest. He urged in another case that the guidelines be followed in all but exceptional cases and while he criticized the mandatory minimum 55 year sentence for Weldon Angelos, a 25 year old drug dealer, he imposed it anyway. (The Supreme Court later let the sentence stand.)

I bear no ill will towards Judge Cassell, but I'm glad he's going.

Sen. Diane Feinstein and Orrin Hatch's anti-gang legislation, S. 456, more aptly called the "Gang Fear and Pandering Act" has passed the Senate at a cost of $1 billion.

Even though some of the worst provisions were stripped from the bill before passage, this bill is bad . In June, I listed some of the things wrong with it:

Compassionate conservatism at work again. The Bush Administration is telling New York health officials not to approve chemotherapy for undocumented residents because it's not a medical emergency.

The change comes amid a fierce national debate on providing medical care to immigrants, with New York State officials and critics saying this latest move is one more indication of the Bush administration’s efforts to exclude the uninsured from public health services.

Under a limited provision of Medicaid, the national health program for the poor, the federal government permits emergency coverage for illegal immigrants and other noncitizens. But the Bush administration has been more closely scrutinizing and increasingly denying state claims for federal payment for some emergency services, Medicaid experts said.

While states differ on what is or is not a medical emergency, it should be obvious that the states that define it as "any condition that could become an emergency or lead to death without treatment" is the proper one.

More...

New York Governor Eliot Spitzer deserves praise today for announcing a new policy: Drivers' licenses will be granted to all residents without regard to immigration status.

Under the new rules, the Department of Motor Vehicles will accept a current foreign passport as proof of identity without also requiring a valid yearlong visa or other evidence of legal immigration.

The policy, which does not require legislative approval, will be phased in starting in December.

His reasoning: [More...]

John D.R. Atchison, the federal prosecutor from Florida arrested last week when he flew to Detroit allegedly to have sex with a five year old, tried to commit suicide yesterday.

John D.R. Atchison, 53, used a sheet in an attempted hanging around 4 a.m., said Sanilac County Sheriff Virgil Strickler. Another inmate yelled out to jailers, who kept Atchison from hurting himself, Strickler said.

He was placed on a suicide watch when arrested, but it was lifted at his lawyer's request and after Atchison assured the court he wouldn't try and kill himself.

James C. Thomas of Detroit, Atchison's lawyer, had also asked U.S. Magistrate Judge Virginia M. Morgan to lift the suicide watch on Atchison, based on what his client told him.

"We all operate on the best of intentions," Thomas said today. "At the time, I thought it was the right decision. Apparently, it was a mistake. "I feel as bad about it as anyone."

Atchison has been removed from the jail. Hopefully they will take him somewhere he can get a complete psychiatric evaluation. As I wrote last week, he clearly needs help.

Jena Six defendant Mychal Bell was not released on bail today.

The hearing was not open to the public. Yesterday, a Louisiana appeals court ordered that a hearing occur within 72 hours to determine if Bell could be released. The hearing was held today.

I'm wondering whether a probation revocation proceeding is pending that's preventing his release. According to this source, he was put on probation for a Dec. 2005 battery and it's not up until Jan. 2008. Any one of his subsequent convictions for either the July, 2006 or September, 2006 offenses could trigger a probation revocation proceeding.

I'm not familiar with the juvenile statutes in Louisiana, but I wouldn't be surprised if there's no bail on a first appearance on a probation violation, pending a probable cause hearing. Here's Bell's criminal record (same link):

• a battery Christmas Day 2005, for which he was put on probation until Jan. 18, 2008
• criminal damage to property that occurred on July 25, 2006.
• a battery Sept. 2 and criminal damage to property Sept. 3 (probably 2006)

More on today's hearing here.