Great editorial today in the Miami Herald on how we've turned into the United States of Entertainment. It begins:

Jose Padilla is not a dead buxom blonde, which may help explain why a hearing to determine his fitness to stand trial was no contest for the animated proceedings taking place one county to the north.

Anna Nicole Smith, dead two weeks, drew the cameras, the curious and the commentators. Thursday, a weepy Broward judge ruled on the fate of Smith's corpse as thousands followed the show on national television.

Down in Miami, the still-living Jose Padilla attracted just a couple of earnest reporters, some legal geeks and two cameramen who were stranded outside the federal courthouse because filming was banned inside. So it goes in these United States of Entertainment. Four years into the war in Iraq, torture has become the stuff of TV dramas while justice serves the cause of celebrity.

After a discussion of Padilla's case, it concludes:

There was a time, circa 2005 and 2006, when I argued against Dem plans for Iraq:

With due respect to everybody that wants to play President, Bush is the President and we should concentrate on ripping him to shreds for the Iraq Debacle, including his current failures. Does Warner believe in deadlines or timetables? Clark for training or redployment? Who cares? None of it matters until Dems get some power.

But now Dems control the Congress, and this approach will no longer work. For in 2008, the American People will PROPERLY ask 'what did the Dems do to end the Iraq Debacle?'

The L.A. Times reports:

When the Bush administration shut down the nation's largest Muslim charity five years ago, officials of the Dallas-based foundation denied allegations it was linked to terrorists and insisted that a number of accusations were fabricated by the government. Now, attorneys for the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development say the government's own documents provide evidence of that claim.

In recent court filings, defense lawyers disclosed striking discrepancies between an official summary and the verbatim transcripts of an FBI-wiretapped conversation in 1996 involving Holy Land officials.

The FBI summaries of the wiretapped calls contain anti-semitic comments not found in the transcripts.

More...

There were problems this morning with a juror in the Libby case having seen something in the media over the weekend. The juror has been dismissed.

According to Jane at Firedoglake and Aldon Haynes who is live-blogging at Orient Lodge for Media Bloggers, the defense opted to go with 11 jurors while Fitz wanted to put in an alternate and stay with 12.

If they put in an alternate, the jurors would have to begin deliberations anew. The Judge agreed to go with 11 jurors. That's what they are doing.

The dismissed juror is the retired art curator and lone juror who wouldn't wear red on Valentine's Day:

The woman who was dismissed from jury is an art history expert and scholar who formerly served as a curator of prints at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Congrats to Melissa Etheridge and Al Gore for winning best song for "I Need to Wake Up" from An Inconvenient Truth."

If you're watching the Oscars, let us know what you think.

From the red carpet: Al Gore was funny -- saying his favorite singer was William Hung.

Nicole Kidman's dress is elegant but a miss (unusual for her) with one of those huge bows off one shoulder. Meryl Streep looks matronly once again.

I'm not a huge Celine Dion fan, but she looks great from the front. (From the side, it's not quite so great.) So does Gwynyth Paltrow, Rachel Weisz (changed my mind on them), Jada Pinkett, and Cate Blanchett.

Cameron Diaz, Reese Witherspoon and Beyonce are stunning. I wasn't crazy about Penelope Cruz' dress or hairstyle -- way too severe and her ears stick out. The bottom half of her dress is all feathers.

Rinko Kikuchi from Babel looked so much more grown up and really pretty.

Best dressed guy so far: Leonardo di Caprio. Jack Nicholson has a shaved head. (Update: It's for a part he's now filming.)

I'll be live blogging on and off, please join in.

Updates below the fold:

In TChris' post highlighting Sy Hersh's article, he points to a critical point:

The panel initially focused on destroying Iran's nuclear facilities and on regime change but has more recently been directed to identify targets in Iran that may be involved in supplying or aiding militants in Iraq, according to an Air Force adviser and a Pentagon consultant, who were not identified.

I believe this is confirmation of my view that the road to war with Iran runs through Iraq.

For a number of reasons, the Bush Administration must use Iraq as the excuse for war with Iran. First, Bush has no legal authority to initiate war with Iran. Second, no one believes US intelligence. Finally, the military commanders are opposed to a strike on Iran, so the Bush Administration will need some strong PR to counter this opposition.

My conclusion remains the same, to prevent war with Iran, end the war in Iraq.

Almost a year ago, Seymour Hersh warned of the Bush administration's "intensified planning" for an attack on Iran. Other voices have sounded the same alarm. The White House has consistently denied that it plans to invade Iran. The president said:

"Some are trying to take my words and say what he is really trying to do is go invade Iran. Nobody is talking about that."

Nobody except the president's war planners, who are developing a contingency plan to execute just such an invasion, according to a Hersh story in today's online New Yorker. As distilled by Reuters:

Despite the Bush administration's insistence it has no plans to go to war with Iran, a Pentagon panel has been created to plan a bombing attack that could be implemented within 24 hours of getting the go-ahead from President George W. Bush, The New Yorker magazine reported in its latest issue. The special planning group was established within the office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in recent months ...

It sounds like people actually are "talking about that," Mr. President. Or do they communicate only by email and memo?

It's been a week since I've been wandered around my home town of Denver, almost a month actually if I count three trips to Washington for the Libby trial and one to San Diego. I need to grocery shop, visit the TL mom, do some laundry, etc.

While I'm off doing these non-eventful activities, here's a place for the rest of you to discuss what's going on in the world.

I'll be back in time for the Oscars, so consider this a non-Oscar related open thread.

Steve Gilliard of The News Blog is in the hospital. Go on over and send him some good wishes. Thanks to one of his guest posters, here are the Oscar nominees:

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Leonardo DiCaprio – BLOOD DIAMOND
Ryan Gosling – HALF NELSON
Peter O'Toole – VENUS
Will Smith – THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS
Forest Whitaker – THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Alan Arkin – LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
Jackie Earle Haley – LITTLE CHILDREN
Djimon Hounsou – BLOOD DIAMOND
Eddie Murphy – DREAMGIRLS
Mark Wahlberg – THE DEPARTED

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Penélope Cruz – VOLVER
Judi Dench – NOTES ON A SCANDAL
Helen Mirren – THE QUEEN
Meryl Streep – THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA
Kate Winslet – LITTLE CHILDREN

[Spoiler alert: If you haven't seen Babel, stop reading now.]

The Media has always virtually ignored the issue of money in politics. I have always considered it a major issue, but, like the Israel/Palestine issue, not seeing any readily discernible solution, I don't spend much time on it. The Media does not either, other than using it to extoll how much of a maverick McCain is or covering Abramoff's crimes.

But the Washington Post pays attention now, because it can bash Dems. Clearly, the hire of John Solomon was for this purpose. Today, he joint authors another hit piece:

Democrats took over in January after a campaign that accused Republicans of fostering a "culture of corruption" in Washington and "selling access" to lawmakers. Abramoff has been convicted of fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy and is in federal prison. Now, with the tables turned, Democrats are courting Abramoff's most famous clientele -- Indian tribes.

What a bigoted piece of nonsense - Indian tribes are reduced to being "Abramoff's clients? Outrageous. And wrong.