Today's stupid question comes from Sen. Tom Coburn, who asks:

"Why is it wrong to shoot the [drug trafficker] after he's been told to stop?"

At least two answers come readily to mind. First, the fleeing suspect is only a suspect, having not been tried or convicted. Second, even if the suspected trafficker is guilty, death isn't the appropriate penalty for smuggling marijuana. We don't leave it up to the police (or Sen. Coburn) to assume the role of jury and executioner.

Here's a third answer:

Johnny Sutton, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Texas, said the Supreme Court has ruled that using deadly force in that way is illegal.

A little technicality like the law doesn't trouble Coburn, who remains confounded by the thought that Border Patrol agents were convicted for shooting an unarmed man and then covering up their misconduct. In the strange world of the GOP, as we learned in the Scooter Libby case, cover-ups deserve no punishment. Neither, apparently, does shooting at unarmed Mexicans.

Matt Yglesias points to this snotty review of the Harry Potter craze:

Along with changing diapers and supervising geometry homework, reading "Harry Potter" was one of those chores of parenthood that I was happy to do -- and then happy to stop. But all around me, I see adults reading J.K. Rowling's books to themselves: perfectly intelligent, mature people, poring over "Harry Potter" with nary a child in sight. . . . Rowling's U.K. publisher has even been releasing "adult editions." That has an alarmingly illicit sound to it, but don't worry. They're the same books dressed up with more sophisticated dust jackets -- Cap'n Crunch in a Gucci bag. I'd like to think that this is a romantic return to youth, but it looks like a bad case of cultural infantilism. And when we're not horning in on our kids' favorite books, most of us aren't reading anything at all. More than half the adults in this country won't pick up a novel this year . . .

My infantile response is to say 'write better novels.' But I think Matt's response is better:

It's a jail day for me which means an open thread day for you.

• Christy's got the latest on the impending Habeas vote.

• Markos of Daily Kos, on his way back from Greece, responds to Bill O'Reilly's attack on Yearly Kos.

• The 9th Circuit has limited the use of the sentencing guidelines firearm enhancement. Sentencing Law and Policy reports:

More...

Salon has a long interview with Elizabeth Edwards today. She says John Edwards is a better candidate for women than Hillary.

Look, I'm sympathetic, because when I worked as a lawyer, I was the only woman in these rooms, too, and you want to reassure them you're as good as a man. And sometimes you feel you have to behave as a man and not talk about women's issues. I'm sympathetic -- she wants to be commander in chief. But she's just not as vocal a women's advocate as I want to see. John is.

And then she says, or maybe her supporters say, "Support me because I'm a woman," and I want to say to her, "Well, then support me because I'm a woman." The question is not so much how she campaigns -- that's theater. The question is, what does her campaign tell you about how she'll govern? And I'm not convinced she'd be as good an advocate for women.

I think they are both good advocates for women. But I'm more interested in them being strong advocates for all Democratic issues than on issues solely affecting women. I don't see how we could go wrong with either Hillary or John Edwards.

Update: Ana Marie Cox weighs in and notes Drudge's false headline on this.

So O'Reilly is upset again, but the why he is upset proves yet again that O'Reilly is really quite the buffoon. This is the comment apparently that set him off:

Yes, the Pope is a Primate
As the cover of Free Inquiry magazine said a few years ago, "Catholic Primate Accepts Evolution."

Also amusing is that O'Reilly compares Daily Kos to Nazis for the comment from one of thousands of users considering the Pope was a member of the Hitler Youth. And no, I am not calling the Pope a Nazi. Just noting the irony.

Another life lesson from the GOP:

[Rep. Richard] Baker took aim at critics who labeled [Sen. David] Vitter a hypocrite for promoting conservative views, talking about family values and advocating sexual abstinence at a time when he was in a touch with an alleged call girl service.

"If a man has values and standards, but does not live up to them, it does nothing to discredit the validity or those values and standards, and he is far preferable to those timid souls who, without values and standards, cannot fall short of them nor ever run the risk of being charged with hypocrisy," Baker said.

So it's more important to trumpet values that one's actions dishonor than it is to lead an honest life that doesn't hinge on "family values" rhetoric? Thanks for setting us straight, Rep. Baker.

(New York Times photo of Plame House )

Hear Ye, Hear Ye, the Yearly Kos Scooter Libby Live-Blogging Panel will soon be in session.

If you are attending Yearly Kos in Chicago, it's time to mark your calendars for opening day, August 2, at 9:30 a.m. You won't want to miss Firedoglake's esteemed co-hostess Christy Hardin-Smith and indispensable FDL contributor Marcy Wheeler of The Next Hurrah provide their behind-the-scenes look at live-blogging the perjury and obstruction of justice trial of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

Also on the panel is Sheldon Snook, the Administrative Assistant to the Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Sheldon (who goes by his nickname Shelly) was the court official in charge of news media at the Libby trial.

I'll be there as well, moderating the panel.

I'm sure I don't need to remind anyone, but I will anyway, that Firedoglake provided ground-breaking coverage of the trial. As the New York Times wrote:

More...

There was big news today in the white collar tax fraud case of 16 former partners and employees of the accounting powerhouse, KPMG. The Judge dismissed the charges against 13 of the defendants, harshly rebuking the Government for interfering with the defendants' 5th and 6th Amendment rights to due process, to effectively prepare and present a defense and to be represented by counsel of choice.

The opinion is here (pdf). For a wrap-up of news reports on the ruling, check out White Collar Crime Blog.

In a nutshell, and I'm coming late to the case, the Government made a cooperation deal with the company and offered it a deferred prosecution for its alleged misdeeds. In exchange, the Government for all intents and purposes demanded KPMG stop its long-time policy of paying legal fees for indicted employees.

The Judge previously had ruled these actions by the Government violated the indicted employees' 5th and 6th Amendment rights. But, he refused to dismiss the Indictment because attempts were being made in other court actions and on other fronts to get KPMG to pay the legal fees.

Those fell through, the Government refused to budge, and today it paid the price. The Court granted the dismissal against 13 defendants. The remaining three, whose legal fees were not subject to payment by KPMG, will go to trial.

The Government likely will appeal.

What's at issue is the so-called "Thompson Memorandum," named for former Ashcroft Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson.

More (advance warning, this is one of the longest posts ever)...

The Georgia State Board of Pardons and Parole has granted Troy Davis, scheduled for execution tomorrow, a 90 day stay of execution.

The stay means the execution will be on hold while the board weighs the evidence presented as part of Davis' request for clemency. The board must rule by Oct. 14.

That's what his lawyers were asking for all along, a chance to present their evidence. The actual order is here (pdf).

Original Post 8:00 am :
Executioner's Clock Still Ticking for Troy Davis

Troy Davis is scheduled to be executed in Georgia on Tuesday. Time is running out as concern grows among his supporters that Davis is innocent. Witnesses against him have recanted, some stating their testimony against him was the product of police coercion.

More...

AP Photo

A man who entered the Colorado State Capitol with a gun claiming to be "the emporor" and announcing his intention to take over the state government, was shot and killed today. At the time, Governor Bill Ritter and his staff were working in their offices at the Capitol.

The good news is Governor Ritter and his staff were uninjured.

Now the questions:

Why aren't there metal detectors in the State Capitol?

Metal detectors were installed at the Capitol after the 9/11 attacks but lawmakers later had them removed.

Was it a necessary or excessive use of force to kill the gunman? Since he hadn't fired any shots and witnesses report hearing multiple shots, all of the shooting appears to have been done by one or more state troopers. One witness recounted hearing four shots.

I have to disagree with Gov. Ritter's spokesperson Evan Dreyer, who said:

"It’s a testament to the State Patrol that this incident ended quickly and that the governor and everyone else is safe."

More...

Senators will vote tomorrow on restoring habeas corpus rights to detainees and others who were stripped of those rights by the Military Commissions Act.

Via the Bill of Rights Defense Committee (received by e-mail):

If your senator were to call you this evening, and ask you what kind of vote she or he should make on habeas corpus on Tuesday, July 17, what would you answer?

[Would you answer]Yes, I want habeas corpus restored for all people from whom the Military Commmissions Act stripped that right--including U.S. residents who are not full citizens?

Or would you focus on the Guantanamo Bay detainees, who have been imprisoned for years without the benefit of this basic mandate of fairness?

The bill that will most comprehensively dismantle the Military Commissions Act is S. 576. The bill that will simply restore habeas, but not touch torture or accountability is S. 185.

More...

You got to give Senator Russ Feingold credit -- not a panderer (unless he is pandering to one person, me):

It is clear that there are many people in this country, including myself, who demand accountability from this Administration for the terrible mess it made in Iraq and its egregious and even illegal power grabs throughout its six-plus years in power. I believe that the President and Vice President may well have committed impeachable offenses. But with so many important issues facing this country and so much work to be done, I am concerned about the great deal of time multiple impeachment trials would take away from the Congress working on the problems of the country. The time it would take for the House to consider articles of impeachment, and for the Senate to conduct multiple trials, would make it very difficult, if not impossible, for Congress to do what it was elected to do – end the war and address some of the other terrible mistakes this Administration has made over the past six and a half years.

The impeachniks are in high dudgeon. It turns out Russ Feingold is a coward, sellout, Vichy, DLC, corporatist Dem too. That leaves the Senate with . . . exactly ZERO potential adherents to the impeachment movement.