Via atrios and Instaputz.

My defenses (kidding) of Joe Klein finally struck gold. He didn't genuflect (a la Mark "Freak Show" Halperin) at the altar of Hugh Hewitt. But Joe can't help but falsely smear Left Blogs saying:

JK: You know, the most recent thing that I did that got them [the Left Blogs] ticked off was in my column not this week, but last week. I reported that there was good news in Al Anbar Province . . . I did this based on a lot of reporting, and including a high-ranking military official in Iraq, and I was accused of taking dictation from the Bush administration by some of the left wing bloggers. . . . [I]t’s because there are, you know, this doesn’t represent everybody on the left. It only represents a small segment. But there are people who just don’t want good news from Iraq. . . . JK: They want us to lose

Come on Joe. Criticizing you is not wanting us to lose. I disagreed with the criticism actually but for crissakes, what is it about your ego that would equate criticism of you with wanting us to lose? Sound like Bush on that one.

But now for the somewhat better Klein:

Jamison Foser details how the Media, especially its political reporters, are simply incompetent. I especially like the Frederick of Dollywood red pickup story:

So when longtime lobbyist and Hollywood actor Fred Thompson -- a man who once rented a red pickup truck in order to campaign in Tennessee as a man of the people -- indicated this week that he would seek the Republican presidential nomination, we knew how the media would describe him: Authentic. Folksy.
Let's back up a moment: Thompson didn't even drive the rented pickup, as The Washington Monthly reported in 1996[.] . . . . The pickup was, literally, a rented prop designed to help a wealthy actor/Washington lobbyist/trial lawyer play the role of salt-of-the-earth populist. . . .

The point of the story is how the political Media will just swallow it all:

As TalkLeft noted here, embattled Eastern District of Arkansas U.S. Attorney Tim Griffin resigned on Friday, reportedly to work for the Fred Thompson campaign, according to ArkansasBlog and CNN.

Griffin was one of those installed in the eight purged U.S. Attorney slots, reported everywhere. His predecessor was dumped December 21st, and Griffin was installed.

He refused to subject himself to Senate confirmation hearings, knowing he would be crucified for participating in Karl Rove's machinations to steal the Florida elections for Bush by the purge of African-American voters in Florida.

The Democrats in Arkansas were outraged.  He was toast.

The Fab Four performing at Abbey Road on the River Festival in Louisville, KY. A medley from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

The album was released 40 years ago today, June 1, 1967 -- just as I was getting ready to graduate from high school and the summer of love was kicking off. The times, they were a changing.

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This is just too good to be true. Listening to Keith Olbermann, the Paris Hilton in jail story borders on the complete breakdown of legitimate news coverage in America.

A few hours ago, the LA Times posted its article about the jails concerns for protecting her privacy in jail: Rules laid down for Paris' jail time. Since it was posted, it is the "most viewed" story on the Times website.

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Finally, something positive to report on California's troubled prison system. They have adopted a new policy of extending the right to conjugal visits to gays and lesbians:

California's prison system is changing its regulations to allow conjugal visits for gay and lesbian inmates in response to a legal threat and a 2003 law that gave domestic partners many of the same rights as married couples.

Facing a complaint from an inmate in a Vacaville prison and pressure from the American Civil Liberties Union, the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has begun to allow overnight visits for inmates with registered domestic partners and is to adopt permanent regulations later this year. The change will allow gay and lesbian inmates the same rights as other inmates, who are eligible to spend up to three days with family members in living areas -- usually trailers -- on prison grounds.

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The time is now to send your Senators a letter opposing Sen. Diane Feinstein's gang legislation bill, S. 456, the Gang Abatement and Prevention Act of 2007. It will hurt our kids.

Primary objections are:

• this legislation defines "gangs" and "gang crime" so broadly that it will drastically increase the number of children and youth who are inappropriately swept into the juvenile justice system -- especially poor children and children of color;

• this legislation places an extremely heavy emphasis on incarceration and punishment, and fails to support what we know really works to reduce recidivism: prevention and intervention; and

• this legislation unfairly and inappropriately targets undocumented individuals.

Republican Senators Orrin Hatch and Elizabeth Dole are co-sponsors of the bill, that should tell you something.

Background on the bill and its predecessor is here and here.

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Atrios focuses on the Bush "plan" for leaving Iraq. I am sadly amused by this from Iraq President Jalil Talabani:

Iraq's president tells ABC's George Stephanopoulos on "This Week" this Sunday that Iraqi forces can take over, but not any time soon. When asked when the Iraqi army will be ready to defend its country, Jalal Talabani said, "I think the end of the next year." But officials have serious doubts about that statement.

I have no doubts. It is a pack of lies. Jalil talabani has been saying next year for the last three years:

2 years ago, Talabani said:

[T]wo years should be enough time for Iraqi forces to rebuild and secure control of the country as well as take over the job currently being performed by some 140,000 U.S. troops.

And two years from now, he'll same the same thing. As will the Generals. As will Republicans. And, sad to say, so will a lot of Democrats.

Matt Taibbi profiles Rudy Giuliani in the current issue of Rolling Stone.

He's cashing in on 9/11, working with Karl Rove's henchmen and in cahoots with a Swift Boat-style attack on Hillary. Will Rudy Giuliani be Bush III?

Wonkette sums up the key points. My favorite:

About the WTC cleanup run by Rudy: “More people will eventually die from the cleanup than from the original accident.”

My answer to the question as to whether Rudy is more dangerous than Bush: Of course he is. He's smarter and more Machiavellian.

A more apt question would be whether he's more dangerous than Dick Cheney. Probably not. But it's also why, happily, he won't be successful in his bid for the Presidency.

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Writing about George Will's column arguing for conservatism and the Republican Party, Greg Anrig points out a too common flaw in most apologias for conservatism and the GOP:

[H]e is reciting exactly the same rig[a]marole that he and other conservatives have repeated since before Reagan was president, as though the failures of conservatives to deliver on their promises while in power during most of the interim somehow isn’t germane to the discussion.

But is it just George Will and conservatives? Consider Rudy Giuliani's national security creds. Or Fred Thompson the tough guy. Actual experience and actual toughness have nothing to do with the way the Media covers these individuals. To quote the philosopher Andre Agassi, "image is everything" it seems.

In Canon City on Saturday, for the first time a tombstone will be placed on the grave of an executed prisoner. His name is Joseph Arridy.

This Saturday, June 2, 2007, at 11 a.m. in Canon City’s Greenwood Cemetery, a dignifying tombstone will be placed on the grave of death row inmate Joe Arridy. Arridy was executed in the Canon City prison gas chamber on January 6, 1939, and buried on top of Woodpecker Hill. The tombstone, which will feature an etching of a replica of Joe’s toy train, is being placed and dedicated by a number of citizens in the Pikes Peak Region who have taken a newfound interest in Arridy’s life and death. Evidence uncovered in the past decade indicates that he was a victim of police and prosecutorial misconduct. This is the first time in the history of Colorado that a personalized tombstone will be placed on the grave of an executed prisoner.

Arridy was mentally retarded and had the mind of a five year old. The warden gave him toys to play with.

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Dan Bartlett tendered his resignation today. At 36, he is Bush's longest-serving staffer, spending 14 years with him.

The reason: to spend more time with his family. But he doesn't have a job lined up. He's hired a headhunter.

Who gives up a paycheck with "twin, 3-year-old boys and another son born in January" before they know another paycheck is coming in? Of course, maybe he's independently wealthy and just wants to spend more time at home.