President Bush believes in the War in Iraq but not in the plight facing our own country's farmers.

He's said he will veto the Iraq funding bill passed Thursday night by the House because it's not enough and comes with conditions. He wants more for Iraq. The bill authorizes $42.8 billion over the next two months.

He also says he will veto the $3.5 billion farm aid bill passed by the House today.

How is it that we have a President who wants to spend untold billions helping those in a foreign country but won't help those at home who need assistance, like the farmers and Katrina victims and those without health insurance? Why should we rebuild Iraq before rebuilding New Orleans?

If this is typical of all Republicans, it's time we vote them out for good.

A federal judge has stepped in and granted a restraining order against D.C. Madam Deborah Jeane Palfry prohibiting her from releasing more of her client records, saying the release was a form of witness intimidation.

Related somewhat: Norway is going to follow Sweden's policy of keeping prostitution legal, but criminalizing purchasing sex services, and then prosecuting the Johns.

This is really rich. Via Think Progress:

At today’s House Judiciary Committee hearing, Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) asked Attorney General Alberto Gonzales whether any U.S. citizens are “being held today, for over a month, who have been denied habeas corpus or access to an attorney.” Instead of giving an answer, Gonzales replied, “[Y]ou’re asking me a question I hadn’t really thought about.”

Sherman then followed up and asked whether there any “U.S. citizens being held now by foreign governments or foreign organizations, without access to attorneys, as a result of rendition.” Gonzales again said, “It’s just — quite frankly, I hadn’t thought about this.”

TP has the video. Also, the ACLU is staying positive in the habeas reform battle. Mark your calendars now for June 26:

More...

This is kind of funny. A cop took a suspect's marijuana and baked brownies with it. He and his wife ate the brownies and thought they were dying and called 911 to report they overdosed.

The cop later resigned from the force. Some are complaining the cop wasn't charged with a crime.

Yes, it's bad to take a suspect's pot. But I don't think it warrants criminal charges. Disciplinary charges, to be sure, but the cop resigned first. And, in the grand scheme of things, it's better that someone who overdoses on drugs like heroin not to be afraid to seek medical attention. Some things are better confined to the realm of the doctor-patient privilege.

She went to bed one night, in the bedroom she shared with her boyfriend, and a man she thought was her boyfriend got into bed and had sex with her. It turned out the man was her boyfriend's brother who pretended to be her boyfriend.

Is that rape? The Massachusetts Supreme Court says no. Sex by fraud and deceit that does not involve force is not rape. The state's rape law requires force.

Victims rights groups will be upset by the decision. I think it is the correct legal ruling. All the legislature has to do is change the law if it thinks sex by trickery should be punishable as a sexual assault.

The opinion is here.

Who devised the three-drug cocktail for lethal injections? An Oklahoma doctor and medical examiner named Jay Chapman. 30 years later, and in the face of numerous court challenges, he defends his baby.

A sample of his thoughts:

If states are looking for a way to quickly and painlessly put someone to death, he has a suggestion.

"There is absolutely nothing wrong with the guillotine," he said impatiently. "It can be operated by an idiot and it is a very effective instrument."

A nice get for MSOC, Jeff Huber and Shockwave. They have an exclusive interview with fired New Mexico USA David Iglesias. Well done crew.

The Iraq bills are being debated and voted on. Catch it on C-Span. This is an Open Thread.

The McGovern withdrawal bill got a surprisingly strong amount of support, drawing 171 votes. The new Out of Iraq Caucus looks like it needs to expand its membership. Not surprisingly, Steny Hoyer votes with the Republicans.

Ellen Tauscher voted Yes. Good for Tauscher. Well done Congresswoman. The roll call, thanks to andgarden.

The Short leash funding bill passed 221-205.

The "last round" of the Great Netroots Debate, about which I wrote previously here and here, seems to have taken place at TNR, with Jon Chait exchanging salvos with Chris Bowers, Matt Stoller, Rick Pearlstein and Ezra Klein. There is a lot there but I found Ezra's piece outstanding and was very interested in Jon Chait's response which actually identified two real dilemmas the Left blogs face today. Chait wrote:

[Klein] tries to defend the netroots' treatment of internal enemies, like TNR or the DLC . . . Having decided that TNR and the DLC are enemies, they go on to accuse their enemies of being monolithic institutions, of being tools of the right, and so on. I understand the reasoning. They have decided that their foes are more hindrance than harm. But, from there, they proceed to banish all cognitive dissonance: They wildly inflate the sins and studiously omit any mention of the countervailing evidence. Once you have become an unperson to the netroots, you can do no good. Admitting any countervailing evidence would just complicate their Manichean argument. Klein wants to defend their means by changing the subject to their ends.

First, Ezra did NOT say that but I think the description is somewhat, but not totally, accurate, for a goodly portion of the Left blogs. But there is a good reason for this as I will explain on the flip.

Update [2007-5-10 10:16:43 by Big Tent Democrat]: House Judiciary Committee on the Justice Department starring Gonzo here. I'll add some comment on the hearing below.

Karl Rove, apparently the person most responsible for the firing of the USAs by Bush footstool Alberto Gonzales has got some nerve:

A Republican strategist familiar with Mr. Rove’s thinking said that Mr. Rove, the president’s chief political adviser, “believes it’s in the best interest of the president for Gonzales on his own to resign.” But, this person said, Mr. Rove and other like-minded aides have concluded that “there’s nothing they can do — it’s about the relationship between Gonzales and the president.”

Karl Rove should have resigned long ago, if President Bush's word meant anything. Of course it does not and never will. That is why this charade on Iraq and the GOP we were provied yesterday is so much nonsense. But what kind of a person is Alberto Gonzales? Is he so lacking in personal dignity, lacking in ability to be ashamed, that he will "persevere" in the face of being exposed as an incompetent Bush footstool who is destroying the Justice Department? The answer is yes:

Via Greg Sargent, the House will hold a vote on a proposal by Out of Iraq Caucus member Jim McGovern (D-MA) to set a date certain for withdrawal AND for NOT funding the Iraq Debacle. The bill has some similarities to the Reid-Feingold framework, but, in my view, has too much complicating provisions, such as a prohibition on increasing the number of troops in the interim period. This is of questionable Constitutionality, in my view, and unnecessarily muddies the waters. Better would be a House version of the Reid-Feingold framework, which is a "clean" proposal, so to speak. The focus should be on the date of withdrawal, March 31, 2008 in the Reid-Feingold proposal, not the conduct of the Debacle until the date is reached.

The Moonie Times reports that:

War debate cited as aiding al Qaeda

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates yesterday told Congress that al Qaeda will establish a stronghold in Iraq's Anbar province if U.S. troops pull out prematurely and that the group is reacting to the war debate in Washington by stepping up attacks.

. . . [I]t was disclosed that 11 . . . House Republicans had met unannounced with the president and top aides at the White House on Tuesday. Several participants described a blunt discussion in which lawmakers told the president that the war was unsustainable without public support and was having a corrosive effect on Republican political fortunes.

There you have it. Those 11 Congressional Republicans, including GOP House Leader John Boehner, are emboldening the terrorists. Why do they hate America?

Adding to Big Tent's post last night....

He's flipped and he's flopped on abortion, but now he's ready to take a stand. Rudy Giuliani will be coming out strongly for abortion rights.

Why? Because his campaign has figured out that with the changes to state primaries, he doesn't need the traditionally coveted states.

....they would focus on the so-called mega-primary of Feb. 5, in which voters in states like California, New York and New Jersey are likely to be more receptive to Mr. Giuliani’s social views than voters in Iowa and South Carolina. That approach, they said, became more appealing after the Legislature in Florida, another state they said would be receptive to Mr. Giuliani, voted last week to move the primary forward to the end of January.

....His aides said that in focusing on the Feb. 5 and Florida primaries, they were not writing off Iowa, New Hampshire or South Carolina, acknowledging the historic importance of those states and arguing that Mr. Giuliani could do well in South Carolina and New Hampshire. But they said the events of the past week had reinforced the notion that later states were more promising for a moderate Republican, particularly one who was a political celebrity with a big campaign bank account.

Giuliani, ever the opportunist.