What song is Hillary going to pick? Watch her, Bill and Johnny Sack in the Diner doing a Soprano's ending. Incredibly cool.

And the winner is: Celine Dion, You and I. Not my favorite song by a longstretch, but I'm sure there are other considerations besides music at work -- like which song will have the broadest appeal. Bill was rooting for Smashmouth.

I think the video is brilliant.

In some ways, the uproar over Presidential signing statements is overblown. Sometimes, Presidential signing statements can effectively allow a law to be enacted with the President making a Constitutional reservation regarding any concession of impact on Executive power caused by future interpretations of the law. However, as used by the Bush Administration, signing statements have been invidious extraconstitutional actions:

Federal officials have disobeyed at least six new laws that President Bush challenged in his signing statements, a government study disclosed yesterday. The report provides the first evidence that the government may have acted on claims by Bush that he can set aside laws under his executive powers.

This is the problem. The President can not uniltaerally choose to not enforce a provision of law based on his claim that the provision is unconstitutional. The President must veto such law. He does not have the power of line item veto in any respect, much less within one law.

Sunday, Frank Rich wrote:

What makes these [Libby testimonials]rise above inanity is the portrait they provide of a wartime capital cut adrift from moral bearings. . . . The Libby supporters never acknowledge the undisputed fact that their hero, a lawyer by profession, leaked classified information about a covert C.I.A. officer. And that he did so not accidentally but to try to silence an administration critic who called attention to the White House's prewar lies about W.M.D. intelligence. And that he compounded the original lies by lying repeatedly to investigators pursuing an inquiry that without his interference might have nailed others now known to have also leaked Valerie Wilson's identity (Richard Armitage, Karl Rove, Ari Fleischer). . . . Given that Mr. Libby expressed no contrition in court after being convicted, you'd think some of his defenders might step into that moral vacuum to speak for him. But there's been so much lying surrounding this war from the start that everyone is inured to it by now. In Washington, lying no longer registers as an offense against the rule of law.

Right on cue comes Richard Cohen:

My day job takes me to Telluride today, where I'll be until Thursday evening. I'd love to stay for the Blue Grass Festival which starts Thursday, but I have to be back in Denver for court Friday afternoon and will miss it. Too bad, I even had a ticket.

We are excited to welcome one of the great folk-rock-soul bands of their generation, Counting Crows, to headline the opening night, Summer Solstice. We welcome back two of our all-time favorite performers after a year away: Emmylou Harris and Alison Krauss. Alison Krauss and Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas will be performing both their own set of sophisticated newgrass and a special set with guitar legend Tony Rice featuring a spectrum of material from Tony's 35 year career. Los Lobos, a band that has been in existence for longer than Telluride Bluegrass, makes their debut at the Festival on Friday night.

The full lineup is here.

If you can't make Telluride, you can plan now for the Aspen-Snowmass Jazzfest Labor Day Weekend.

As I always say, 'tis a privilege to live in Colorado. This is an open thread, so please talk about whatever you want.

(Photo by Rashomon)

The Sunday New York Times Magazine ran an extensive feature on the feds busting doctors who in their view over-prescribe pain medication.

It's very long and contains interviews with convicted doctors and their patients. I was left with the sense that the doctors were unjustly prosecuted, that it shouldn't be up to a DEA agent to decide how much pain medication a patient needs, and that pain medication is not as dangerous or addictive as the Government has made it out to be.

As TChris wrote here,

The attorney generals of 30 states have complained that the DEA's confusing and overreaching interference with medical judgment has denied patients necessary pain relief.

And it's not just the doctors who suffer.

At least one group is fighting back -- the Pain Relief Network.

DA Mike Nifong submitted his resignation letter Monday, to take effect July 13, but that wasn't fast enough for Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson. The Judge ordered him suspended immediately and has appointed a special prosecutor, Wake County attorney Robert Zaytoun, to handle a civl removal case against him.

In February, Durham resident Elizabeth Brewer had filed a civil complaint asking Hudson to remove Nifong under a section of state law. She claimed Nifong had exhibited willful misconduct and conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice that brings the office into disrepute.

Orlando put off action on Brewer's motion then pending the outcome of the Bar action against Nifong, and he did the same against in April when she renewed her request.

The New York Times has more details.

Barack Obama called his "Hillary Clinton (D-Punjab)" memo a "dumb mistake" today.

"It was a dumb mistake on our campaign's part and I made it clear to my staff in no uncertain terms that it was a mistake," Obama told the AP in a brief interview in which he referred to the memo as "unnecessarily caustic."

Obama said he wasn't aware of the memo before it circulated and steps have been taken to avoid a recurrence.

The trial of Jose Padilla and two codefendants continues in Miami.

Today, Kifah Jayyousi's attorney, Bill Swor, brought out how his client avoided violence.

William Swor sought to prove his client Kifah Wael Jayyousi was driven by his compassion for his fellow Muslims, a defense that began last week when an attorney for co-defendant Adham Amin Hassoun began cross-examining the case's lead FBI agent, John T. Kavanaugh.

And when Jayyousi was dissatisfied with political situations, his attorney argued, he dealt with it in the most civic-minded of ways.

Jayyousi phoned and wrote newspapers, his congressman and the State Department, Swor said. When he was offended by newspapers' publishing of cartoons he believed were insulting to Muslims, the attorney said, Jayyousi participated in letter-writing and phone campaigns. And when a Lebanese radio station employee encouraged him to threaten the Lebanese government, the defendant did not, his attorney said.

Jayyousi also published newsletters that eschewed violence. He attempted to get a hospital built for refugees in Chechnya.

If you have cable, a 2 hour special is on the Biography channel tonight, The Death Penalty on Trial.

The show examines four cases of people wrongly sentenced to death. The cases show instances of incompetent counsel, biased judges and prosecutorial misconduct.

The House Oversight Committee has issued a report finding that e-mails of White House officials who used their RNC account are missing.

E-mail records are missing for 51 of the 88 White House officials who had electronic message accounts with the Republican National Committee, the House Oversight Committee said Monday.

The Bush administration may have committed "extensive" violations of a law requiring that certain records be preserved, said the committee's Democratic chairman, adding that the panel will deepen its probe into the use of political e-mail accounts.

The full report is here (pdf). Dan Froomkin has some highlights:

More...

Duke University has agreed to a financial settlement with the wrongly charged Duke Lacrosse players. Here is the University's press release:

Durham, NC -- On Monday, Duke University leaders announced they have reached a settlement with David Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann. Below are statements about the settlement.

STATEMENT OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES AND THE PRESIDENT OF DUKE UNIVERSITY:

This has been an extraordinary year for Duke students David Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann, who were accused of serious crimes they did not commit. In April, after a thorough review, the North Carolina Attorney General declared that they were innocent of all charges and that the charges never should have been brought. We welcomed their exoneration and deeply regret the difficult year they and their families have had to endure. They conducted themselves with great dignity during their long ordeal.

No, not Harry Reid. No, as Greg Sargent reports (while wrongly saying Reid called Pace incompetent on the infamous blogger conference call. Sargent does not know that. Bad job Greg. Will we be hearing how Gore invented the Internet next?), it is John Edwards criticizing General Petraeus:

General Petraeus’ comments are just the latest example of the Bush Administration’s disconnect from the reality on the ground. In order to get the Iraqi people to take responsibility for their country, we must show them that we are serious about leaving, and the best way to do that is to actually start leaving. Instead of talking about keeping our troops in Iraq for another decade, the Administration should begin bringing our troops home to the hero’s welcome they deserve."