A 13 minute video will be released by New York firefighters tomorrow debunking Rudy Giuliani's claim to being a 9/11 hero. ABC News reports:

The nation's largest firefighters union is set to launch a video on Wednesday that seeks to tarnish former mayor Rudolph Giuliani's reputation as a strong leader before and after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

The 13-minute video -- set for distribution to firefighters and the general public courtesy of the International Association of Fire Fighters -- uses interviews with New York City firefighters and families of 9/11 victims to argue that Giuliani has exaggerated his record as mayor.

"He's running on his 9/11 leadership and it was lacking -- and there was none," Jim Riches, a deputy chief in the New York Fire Department and a father of one of the 9/11 victims, says on the video, according to a transcript obtained by ABC News. "I blame Giuliani. He was the leader that day. And he was the leader for the eight years leading up to that."

Last year it seems to me MySpace was big. This seems to be the year for bloggers and Facebook.

Firedoglake has over 700 members. Christy has figured out how to put up her own page. Jane has one too.

Digby has a group. So does Yearly Kos.

They have inspired me to spend an absurd amount of time today updating the TalkLeft page and TalkLeft Group on Facebook. I haven't created a separate page for me, and instead put my stuff on the TalkLeft page.

As of now TalkLeft has only 17 friends and the TalkLeft group has only 8 members, a pretty paltry showing. If you're into Facebook, I hope you'll stop by and connect up with us. You can just click to join the TalkLeft group. I'm not sure how I add you as a friend.

Some questions for Facebook pros below:

Digby again. Raw Story has the Pope saying take that, you heretic Cal Thomas:

The Vatican set itself on a collision course with other Christian faiths Tuesday, reaffirming the primacy of the Roman Catholic Church in a corrective document which it said was designed to clear up recent "erroneous" doctrine. The document's central claim, that only the Catholic Church is "the one true Church of Christ", is likely to revive a debate which has dogged the Vatican's relationship with rival Christian denominations for decades.

You read that right. Harriet Miers, proving herself unversed in the law, accepts her lawyer's erroneous statements:

Ms. Miers has no choice other than to comply with direction given her by Counsel to the president in his letters mentioned above. This is particularly so because, as the members of the Committee are aware, the assertion of the privilege in this circumstance is supported by the thorough and reasoned opinion of the Solicitor General of the United States...

This is wrong in every respect. Ms. Miers can of course choose to not follow the "direction" of the counsel for the President, who ALSO has no power to invoke executive privilege. Only the President can.

Whether Ms. Miers, her attorney or Fred Fielding think executive privilege applies here, only the President has the power to invoke it. A letter from Fred Fielding does not invoke it. And even if it did, neither the President or Mr. Fielding have the final word on this.

Ms. Miers is clearly in contempt of Congress. The House should immediately begin proceedings to enforce its subpoena.

Digby points out what we should all know by now; the Radical Religious Right is intolerant of religious beliefs not in lockstep with their own:

Liberal faith . . . ultimately morphs into societal and self-improvement efforts and jettisons the life-changing message of salvation, forgiveness of sins and a transformed life.

If the newspaper story is accurate, this is where Clinton is on her faith: "In a brief quiz about her theological views, Mrs. Clinton said she believed in the resurrection of Jesus, though she described herself as less sure of the doctrine that being a Christian is the only way to salvation."

This is a politician speaking, not a person who believes in the central tenets of Christianity. . . . Clinton is entitled to whatever faith she wants to practice, but when she uses it as an election tactic, she should not be allowed to alter classic Christian theology.

If it is "classic Christian theology" that Cal Thomas is looking for, how about the Spanish Inquisition? It always makes me smile when Southern Baptists speak in this fashion. Cuz in the "classic Christian theology" - ole Cal Thomas is a heretic. I also wonder when ole Cal is gonna dissect Mitt Romney's Christianity.

Happy 5th blogiversary to Skippy the Bush Kangaroo. Skippy has made me smile with his unique writing voice all that time.

His blogiversary post reads like a Who's Who of the liberal blogosphere, so go on over and read it and check out the many blogs mentioned.

Congrats, Skippy, you've been a great blogosphere friend . I wish you many more great blogging years and hope you hit that 2 million mark soon.

In other blogging news, Heretik is doing a great job with Mike's Blog Roundup at Crooks and Liars. For those interested in the mechanics of blogging (such as the change-over of many individual blogs to group blogs and the concept of short head vs. long tail blogs) Chris Bowers explains all at the new blog Open Left in a post he titles, New Establishment Rising? The End Of the Flat Blogosphere

Arianna writes that Democrats can't wait for GOP'ers to defect to act to end the war.

Let's make this an open thread.

The AP reports that Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton sparred on Iraq today. AP reports that Obama said:

It will be enormously difficult to invest in jobs and opportunity until we stop spending $275 million a day on this war in Iraq . . . I believed then and still do that being a leader means that you'd better do what's right and leave the politics aside, because there are no do-overs on an issue as important as war.

Fine to toot your horn but will it obfuscate the more important message? I think what Clinton said is the important message now:

Our message to the president is clear . . . It is time to begin ending this war — not next year, not next month — but today.

More.

On Monday in Los Angeles, David J. Bershad, a former partner at the huge class action law firm Milberg Weiss, until yesterday known as Milberg Weiss & Bershad, became the first principal of the firm to plead guilty in an investigation into kickbacks. Bershad, the law firm and another partner, Steven G. Schulman, were indicted last year. The investigation is continuing.

The 20-count indictment, which included conspiracy and other charges, detailed a scheme that began in the 1970s and continued as recently as 2005. In that scheme, lawyers inside Milberg Weiss paid $11 million in “secret and illegal kickbacks” to named plaintiffs in more than 150 class-action and other shareholder lawsuits. The lawsuits, according to the indictment, earned the firm more than $216 million.

Bershad, represented by Karl Rove lawyer Robert Luskin, pleaded guilty to conspiracy. He is cooperating with the Government.

Bershad could receive up to five years in prison. His sentencing date is set for June, 2008. Why is it so far away?

More...

I have an op-ed today in the Examiner newspapers taking to task those who criticized Live Earth, including Sir Bob Geldof, the British press and conservative bloggers. A snippet:

Yes, [Sir] Geldof, it was just a big pop concert. It won’t solve the energy crisis any more than your Live 8 concert ended poverty in Africa. But both are worthy endeavors.

Rock music is a great unifier. It transcends race, age, class and even politics. In today’s celebrity-driven culture, rock stars carry a lot of clout. To criticize them for using it to inspire positive change across society as they entertain us rings hollow.

The published piece omits the [Sir] which was in the version I submitted. I'm adding it back in here since I wouldn't have called Bob Geldof out only using his last name. Seems kind of rude.

Update: The AP Style people, Wikipdedia and commenters below point out that "Sir Geldof" would not be a correct appellation. I stand corrected, but again, I meant no disrespect to him.

The House Judiciary Committee has announced the list of witnesses for Wednesday's hearing on "The Use and Misuse of Presidential Clemency Power for Executive Branch Officials.

Via TP Muckraker and Sentencing Law & Policy:

• Ambassador Joseph Wilson
• Roger Adams, US Department of Justice Pardon Attorney
• Douglas A. Berman, William B. Saxbe Designated Professor of Law, Moritz College of Law, The Ohio State University
• Tom Cochran, Assistant Federal Public Defender, Middle District of North Carolina (Attorney for [sic] Vincent Rita, Rita v. US)
• David Rifkin, partner, Baker & Hostetler LLP, former Justice Department official during the Reagan and Bush Sr. administrations.

TP Muckraker quotes Rep. John Conyers on the purpose of the hearing:

"Congress must now look into presidential authority to grant clemency, and how such power may be abused. Taken to its extreme, and possibly in the case of the Libby clemency, the use of such authority could completely circumvent the law enforcement process and prevent credible efforts to investigate wrongdoing in the executive branch."

While I'm pleased Joe Wilson and Prof. Berman, who writes the excellent Sentencing Law & Policy blog are going to be witnesses, I'm concerned that the committee will not be hearing from anyone involved in the Libby commutation process.

There was no clemency petition, the Pardon Attorney was kept out of the loop and I just don't see how these witnesses will shed any light on whether Bush's motive for granting the clemency was proper or improper.

More...

Karl Rove was in Aspen this weekend for the Aspen Ideas Festival. He spoke and answered questions about a range of issues from Iraq to Guantanamo and the leak of former CIA Agent Valerie Plame's identity. His role as Bush's water-carrier continues.

On Gitmo:

"It may not be Gitmo," Rove said about where the prisoners might go. "But it's going to be the brig in Charleston, South Carolina. Or it's going to be the Pitkin County Jail. Or the Florence, Colorado maximum-security facility. We've got to hold them somewhere. These are bad people. These are people who threatened the United States of America."

As Rove tells it, the biggest problem at Guantanamo is weight gain.

On his role in the CIA leak:

The briefs are in and both the Government and Team Libby, as well as White House Counsel Fred Fielding who submitted a letter, agree: Libby's two year term supervised release is valid and he should begin serving it immediately.

Fitz's brief is here (pdf), Libby's is here, and Fred Fielding's letter (which he sent to both sides and filed with the court even though neither side took Judge Walton up on his suggestion and asked for the White House's opinion) is here.

I'd say it's a done deal. Libby will be on supervised release before the week is out.

For what supervised release means for Libby, see my earlier post, Life on Supervised Release. For TalkLeft's analysis of the issue of the validity of the supervised release term in light of the commutation see Suggestions for Judge Walton on Libby's Supervised Release.