Tuesday, Barack Obama's spokesperson said the Senator would not give up the donations received from Norman Hsu.

... spokesman Jen Psaki said Obama, who has criticized Clinton for taking contributions that could undermine her independence, had no plans to return Hsu's donations.

Today, he's had a change of heart.

A spokesman for Senator Barack Obama, the Illinois Democrat who is a rival of Mrs. Clinton for the party’s presidential nomination, said Mr. Obama intended to give away $7,000 that Mr. Hsu contributed to his committees.

No one seems to know where Mr. Hsu really lives. I figured since he's a naturalized citizen, he must be registered to vote. But the only voter registration record I could find for a Norman Hsu was in Delaware. There's also a Norman Hsu in Cleveland. (I'm excluding the Norman Hsu who's been on the city council in Hacienda Heights, CA because it doesn't appear to be the same person.)

More....

MSNBC has obtained Sen. Larry Craig's post arrest interview. You can listen to the audio and read the transcript(pdf).

Shorter version: He never confessed.

I'll be discussing whether he can withdraw his guilty plea and other issues in the case on Dan Abrams' MSNBC show tonight, 9pm ET. [Update: video of the segment on plea withdrawal is here.]

Update: Sen. Craig pleaded guilty by mail, not in person. So there is no oral advisement. Check out his petition to plead guilty he submitted by mail. It seems to me to be missing a very important component: advisement of the right to counsel.

More...

I'm sneaking this post by J. cuz I loooooove my college sports, and especially college football. First games of the season tonight, headlined by LSU, a strong contender to challenge the defending national champions the Florida Fighting Gators (also two time defending NCAA basketball champions, yes it's great to be a Florida Gator!) facing SEC rival Mississippi State. Who are your favorites and who will win the BCS championship? My favorite and pick? One and the same - Florida. Tell me yours.

Chris Bowers thinks Bill Richardson has the right focus now on Iraq. I think he has a selfish and unproductive focus now. Richardson says:

All the major Democratic candidates say they are eager to end this war, and they all say they don't believe there is a military solution in Iraq. Why, then, do they maintain that we must leave an indefinite number of troops behind for an indeterminate amount of time to work hopelessly towards a military solution everyone says doesn't exist? It is time to get a straight answer from all the other candidates: how many troops would you leave behind? For how long?

Excuse me Governor Richardson. Excuse me Chris Bowers. Some of us want the candidates to focus on the REAL issues of September, which are not Richardson's self-serving question. The real issues for September, indeed for the rest of the Bush Presidency, are how we get out of Iraq and how can a Democratic Congress accomplish this.

The real question for September Governor Richardson is who will insist on a date certain for ending the Iraq Debacle DURING the Bush Presidency. Who will say 'this will be last funding for this Debacle President Bush?'

Bump and Update: Texas Governor Rick Perry has commuted Kenneth Foster's death sentence.

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Just in... The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles has recommended a stay of execution for Kenneth Foster.

Texas Governor Perry will make the final decision before 6 pm tonight.

Send an e-letter to Gov. Perry now. Background on the case is available here.

More....

While Hillary, Al Franken, Bill Richardson and others are returning Norman Hsu's campaign contributions, Obama is not.

Hsu also made donations to the Illinois senatorial campaign of Barack Obama in 2004. Yesterday, spokesman Jen Psaki said Obama, who has criticized Clinton for taking contributions that could undermine her independence, had no plans to return Hsu's donations.

I'm not going to criticize Obama for not returning the money. I think returning it was premature since it hasn't been determined there is anything illegal about the donations and as I said here, felons should be encouraged to participate in the political process, particularly after they've served their time (yes, I know Hsu doesn't fall in that category but his crime was 15 years ago and he's been law-abiding since.)

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Labor Day weekend is fast approaching. Blog traffic will be down with so many people taking advantage of the outdoors and symbolic end of summer.

I'll be blogging on a curtailed basis, and I'm not sure about Big Tent. TChris is on vacation. LNILR is free to chime in as always, but I don't know his plans either.

I'd like to see if diaries can fill the void. The problem is that they don't get enough attention. To correct that, what I'll do starting tonight (if there are any) is a "Diary Rescue" post like Daily Kos does. I'll read the diaries and then, in a blog post every night through Sunday, post links to those I think TalkLeft readers would enjoy reading.

If you blog elsewhere, you're welcome to cross-post here in a diary. Just note that it's been cross-posted at your site and hot-link your site. Hopefully, you'll get some extra traffic.

On diary topics, please make them relevant to the issues on TalkLeft -- elections, politics of crime, crime in politics, war, civil liberties, etc. The economy and environment, while important, are not TalkLeft topics. Yes, they should represent a progressive point of view. Conservatives have their own sites to post on.

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The reactions and views of Representatives Ellen Tauscher (D-CA) and Brian Baird (D-WA) concerning Iraq are instructive and important.

Rep. Tauscher was a supporter of the Iraq Debacle. Now she has pledged to no longer vote for funding the Debacle. In an interview with ThinkProgress, she said:

[T]he American people don’t want to see some kind of Saigon-like helicopter liftoff trying to remove people out of Iraq,” 2) they don’t want to see “ethnic cleansing and devastation of Iraqis” after we leave, and 3) they “don’t want the status quo.”

Tauscher was criticized, yes by me too, for some statements she made and some views she held. Rep. Tauscher has listened. The DC Establishment will call that pandering. I call that representing. I believe Rep. Tauscher listened to her constitutents, reviewed the facts and came to the right view on Iraq. This is what our representatives are supposed to do. More.

Texas executed Daroyce Mosely last night. It executed John Amador tonight. Tomorrow night, Thursday, it is scheduled to execute Kenneth Foster.

The execution of Kenneth Foster has been drawing loud protests because it is acknowledged that Foster never killed anyone. He was convicted and sentenced to death under Texas' "law of the parties" rule (known as felony murder in other states -- think Lisl Auman in Colorado.) Basically it holds the accomplice liable for the murder, including the death penalty, if the accomplice should have anticipated the murder or was recklessly indifferent to it.

During the course of a robbery and while 80 feet away from him, Foster's co-conspirator took out a gun and killed a law student.

This Dallas Morning News editorial explains why Foster's execution is wrong.

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Looks like the outstanding California arrest warrant for Norman Hsu was the breaking point for Hillary Clinton and other Democrats' campaigns. They are giving his donations to charity.

Clinton campaign spokesman Phil Singer said the $23,000 included contributions from Hsu to Clinton's presidential campaign, her Senate re-election and her political action committee. The campaign did not plan to return any money Hsu raised from other donors, Singer said.

"In light of the information regarding Mr. Hsu's outstanding warrant in California we will be giving his contribution to charity," Singer said.

Also divesting themselves of Hsu's funds: Al Franken and Rep. Michael Honda of California and Rep. Joe Sestak of Pennsylvania. I expect that Obama's campaign will make a similar statement:

Federal Election Commission records show that Hsu has donated $260,000 to Democratic Party groups and federal candidates since 2004. Though a fundraiser for Clinton, he also donated to Sen. Barack Obama's Senate campaign in 2004 and to Obama's political action committee.

One note: The money is not being returned because the contributions were illegal. It's being returned because of Hsu's criminal conviction.

As Rep. Honda's spokeswoman said,

More....

Republicans stripped Sen. Larry Craig of his leadership posts today.

A statement by the Senate Republican leadership said Mr. Craig “has agreed to comply” with a request to step down as the top Republican on the Veterans Affairs Committee, the Appropriations subcommittee on the Interior and the Energy and Natural Resources subcommittee on public lands and forests.

“This is not a decision we take lightly, but we believe this is in the best interest of the Senate until this situation is resolved by the Ethics Committee,” the statement said.

Senators John McCain and Norm Coleman, and Rep. Pete Hoeckstra have called for his resignation.

Craig, in his statement yesterday, said he is now seeking legal advice about his Minnesota conviction for disorderly conduct. As LNILR opined earlier today, that's not likely to do him much good.

If he's really sure he isn't gay and that he never had encounters with men in public restrooms, he might be better off hiring Lin Wood (Richard Jewell and John and Patsy Ramseys' attorney) to bring a libel suit against the media outlets that alleged otherwise. While a settlement or favorable ruling is unlikely to be timely enough to end the calls for his resignation, if he won, he'd get his good name back.

What does it say if he doesn't bring a libel suit? That no lawyer would take it or that he's pulling our leg with his denials?

House Judiciary Committee Chair John Conyers announced today the committee will hold a hearing on FISA on September 5, 2007.

"Warrantless Surveillance and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA): The Role of Checks and Balances in Protecting Americans’ Privacy Rights." The hearing will be held on Wednesday, September 5, at 10:15 a.m. in room 2141 of the Rayburn House Office Building.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had asked for the hearing in an August 4 letter.

Tonight, the House passed S. 1927, a bill approved by the Senate yesterday, which is an interim response to the Administration's request for changes in FISA, and which was sought to fill an intelligence gap which is asserted to exist. Many provisions of this legislation are unacceptable, and, although the bill has a six month sunset clause, I do not believe the American people will want to wait that long before corrective action is taken.

Accordingly, I request that your committees send to the House, as soon as possible after Congress reconvenes, legislation which responds comprehensively to the Administration's proposal while addressing the many deficiencies in S. 1927.