I think I have been the most virulently anti-Castro "progressive" (I'm a centrist remember?) blogger you'll find. So, if you read Steve Clemons, you'd think I would favor Hillary Clinton's stance:

Hillary Clinton has stated quite clearly that she is content to stick with past policies -- those of President Bush -- when it comes to Cuba.

You'd be wrong. I oppose the embargo. I prefer Chris Dodd's approach; on the merits:

Hmmmmmmmm:

. . . [Bartlett] and his wife, Denise, were on their way to the shop where he occasionally teaches Wicca and Reiki (RAY'kee) healing when they stopped at a liquor store and bought two $5 Mega Millions tickets for Friday night's estimated $330 million jackpot. On Sunday, he said one ticket was a winner. "If it wasn't for this place I wouldn't have won the lottery," Bartlett said Sunday at Mystickal Voyage, the New Age shop. Bartlett, an accountant from Dundalk, said he made a bargain with the multiple gods associated with his Wiccan beliefs: "You let me win the lottery and I'll teach."

(Photo of Haymarket Square, Chicago, 1886)

Blawg Review has a Labor Day Special Historical Edition. Here's the criminal law bloggers section.

Diary Rescue: Thanks to Edger and Andgarden for posting these new diaries:

• Can The Iraq Occupation Be Ended Before The 2008 Elections?

• "Odd Couple" or Ineffective Couple?

Atrios writes:

I've been saying for along time that Bush's Iraq policy is "staying."

He says Dems are afraid of "Karl Rove." Are they? What will the Dems do about Iraq? September is here. What say you Dems? Will you capitulate again?

My old saw is

Politics is not a battle for the middle. It is a battle for defining the terms of the political debate. It is a battle to be able to say what is the middle.

Stoller points to an LATimes article that demonstrates too many "anonymous" Dem strategists do not understand this central pointt:

Phil and Sue Waters helped organize their suburban Denver megachurch to campaign for an anti-gay-marriage referendum on last year's state ballot. But even these core GOP voters are feeling less excited about pitching in for the party's candidates in 2008. . . . "I'm still a Republican, but I'm very close to being an independent," said Phil Waters. "I'm closer to the middle than I used to be because of the way the Republicans have screwed things up."

Now what would a political consultant garner from this? Here's what the "anonymous" ones in the LATimes article "discovered:"

Democratic analysts say the 2006 election underscored the importance of downplaying partisanship and campaigning to the middle.

Idiots. Downplaying partisanship in AN ELECTION!! But of course this has ALWAYS been their advice no matter if Dems win or lose. Instead of recognizing that this is a great opportunity to redefine Democrat ideals as centrist and Republicans ideologues as extremist, these "anonymous" Dem strategists want to blur distinctions. Another LATimes story demonstrates just how stupid an idea this is:

Paul Krugman:

In February 2003, Secretary of State Colin Powell, addressing the United Nations Security Council, claimed to have proof that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. He did not, in fact, present any actual evidence . . . [b]ut many people in the political and media establishments swooned: they admired Mr. Powell, and because he said it, they believed it.

. . . The administration, this time relying on Gen. David Petraeus to play the Colin Powell role, has had remarkable success creating the perception that the “surge” is succeeding, even though there’s not a shred of verifiable evidence to suggest that it is.

. . . [T]he usual suspects [say], General Petraeus is a fine, upstanding officer who wouldn’t participate in a campaign of deception — apparently forgetting that they said the same thing about Mr. Powell.

. . . So here we go again. It appears that many influential people in this country have learned nothing from the last five years. And those who cannot learn from history are, indeed, doomed to repeat it.

One thing Krugman does NOT say is this - where are the Democrats? So, I will. Where are the Democrats?

This may be the best Keith Richards compilation I've seen yet. I can't believe he was ever that young. Watch the whole thing.

Who cares what one critic in Sweden thinks?

Barristers in Britain are criticizing the country's policy of trying juveniles as adults for serious crimes. In response, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice had this to say:

"When a person under 18 is tried at a Crown Court, special provisions are made to make the proceedings less intimidating. For example, gowns and wigs are not worn, frequent breaks are taken and the defendant is allowed to have a parent in the dock with them."

In a recent murder trial in which five young boys were convicted of killing the father of one of them during a cricket game, the Judge complained during the trial:

More...

(2002 White House Photo)

The New York Times presents some excerpts from "Dead Certain", a new book on President Bush that hits the stands Tuesday. Author Robert Draper (grandson of Leon Jaworski) got Bush to cooperate with his effort and had several long interviews with him.

On his plans after the White House:

“I’ll give some speeches, just to replenish the ol’ coffers.”

....“We’ll have a nice place in Dallas,” where he will be running what he called “a fantastic Freedom Institute” promoting democracy around the world.

On Iraq:

“I’m playing for October-November.” That is when he hopes the Iraq troop increase will finally show enough results to help him achieve the central goal of his remaining time in office: “To get us in a position where the presidential candidates will be comfortable about sustaining a presence,” and, he said later, “stay longer.”

The Washington Post, in its article about the book, reports that it was (now)Chief Justice John Roberts who suggested Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court. Rove was opposed but nobody listened to him, and Harriet didn't want the job but Bush and the first lady talked her into it. [Update: A later version of the WaPo article includes a dennial from Roberts that he recommended Miers to Bush.

On getting rid of Rumsfeld:

Raw Story reports that Sen. Arlen Specter said on Fox News Sunday that Sen. Larry Craig should use the time between now and Sept. 30 to withdraw his plea and fight the case and not resign as planned.

Specter notes that Craig didn't resign, only stated his intention to step down.

"I'd still like to see Senator Craig fight this case. "He left himself some daylight Chris, when he said that he intends to resign in 30 days. I'd like to see Larry Craig go back to court, seek to withdraw his guilty plea and fight the case.

"I've had some experience in these kinds of matters since my days as Philadelphia district attorney, and on the evidence Senator Craig wouldn't be convicted of anything, and he's got his life on the line and 27 years in the House and the Senate and I'd like to see him fight the case 'cause I think he could be vindicated."

RS also provides the video.

More...

Federal Times is a publication geared to federal executives and managers. It has an interesting article this week on Gonzales' resignation and the politicization of the U.S. Attorney's offices under Republican reign.

A February study by professors at the University of Missouri at St. Louis and Illinois State University found that since President Bush took office, U.S. attorneys have investigated or indicted four times as many elected Democratic officials as Republicans.

Joseph Rich, who was chief of the voting section in Justice’s Civil Rights Division from 1999 to 2005, published a column in the Los Angeles Times in March that said his office had been politicized. He said his superiors told him to alter performance evaluations to favor attorneys who supported the administration and punish those who disagreed with the White House.

Rich said that no voting discrimination cases were brought on behalf of black or Native American voters between 2001 and 2006 and that his office was ordered to focus on voting fraud cases instead. This crushed morale in his section, Rich said, and drove more than half of the voting office’s attorneys to go to other offices or leave the department since 2005.

The list of departing DOJ officials so far:

Apologies to Atrios, via Joe Sudbay, President Bush asks:

[T]he fundamental question is, is the world better off as a result of [Bush's] leadership?”

After picking myself off the floor after reading the ridiculous question from Bush, I answer "are you freaking out of your mind?" The leadership of a newborn would have been better than Bush's. Worst President in history.