The family of Melissa Duckett, who killed herself the day after being "aggressively questioned" (to put it politely) by Nancy Grace on her cable tv show has sued her.

Jay Paul Deratany, the attorney representing Duckett's estate, said Tuesday that Grace encouraged Duckett to appear on her show by saying the goal was to draw public attention to help find Trenton.

"It's not just about the questioning, it's about the misrepresentation with the knowledge that she was emotionally distraught," Deratany said. The attorney said Grace improperly took on the role of a law enforcement officer.

I'd bet a year from now the case will settle with CNN, not Nancy, paying the tab. In the meantime, the publicity probably will result in higher ratings for her show which in turn will bump the ad rates which will mean more money for the network. I doubt she'll change her style.

The "fry them, don't try them" mentality is still a winner with the public.

In a victory for free speech and a loss for those who may be defamed online, the California Supreme Court has ruled bloggers and Internet providers and bulletin board owners can't be sued for for defamation for writings posted by others on their site.

The bottom line:

"Until Congress chooses to revise the settled law in this area" people who contend they were defamed on the Internet can seek recovery only from the original source of the statement, not from those who re-post it."

The text of the decision is here.

How Appealing has a compilation of news articles discussing the decision.

One of my personal favorites, the great film director Robert Altman has passed away:

Robert Altman, the caustic and irreverent satirist behind "M-A-S-H," "Nashville" and "The Player" who made a career out of bucking Hollywood management and story conventions, died at a Los Angeles Hospital, his Sandcastle 5 Productions Company said Tuesday. He was 81.

A five-time Academy Award nominee for best director, most recently for 2001's "Gosford Park," he finally won a lifetime achievement Oscar in 2006. "No other filmmaker has gotten a better shake than I have," Altman said while accepting the award. "I'm very fortunate in my career. I've never had to direct a film I didn't choose or develop. My love for filmmaking has given me an entree to the world and to the human condition."

RIP. Your art will live forever.

This is a cynical and revolting proposal:

Pentagon officials conducting a review of Iraq strategy are considering a substantial but temporary increase in American troop levels and the addition of several thousand more trainers to work with Iraqi forces, a senior Defense Department official said Monday. The idea, dubbed the “surge option” by some officials, would involve increasing American forces by 20,000 troops or more for several months in the hope of improving security, especially in Baghdad. That would mark a sharp rise over the current baseline of 144,000 troops.

We have played this whack a mole, Waiting for Godot game for 3 years. It will not work. The Pentagon knows it. The public knows it. This is not only NOT a serious proposal, it is morally repugnant. It is playing political games with the lives of our troops.

Personally, I do not think there is anything we can do militarily in Iraq anymore. But if one were serious about trying, you would double the troop strength and basically reconquer Iraq and start over. And indeed, you would have to de facto overthrow the existing facade of an Iraqi government which is the biggest obstacle to a political solution. The Myth of the Purple Finger, the celebration of elections for elections sake, with no thought of actual governance and a political solution, has utterly doomed US Iraq policy.

Honestly, I never loved that Chickenhawk line.

But I tell you what did tick me off, who in the heck is Joe Scarborough to speak for our soldiers and their families? How the heck does he know how they feel? That really ticked me off.

That said, at this point in the Iraq Debacle, I think the Chickenhawk argument is politically effective because the country has rejected it, and I bet our soldiers have too. But I do not presume to speak for them.

Criminal cases in New Orleans remain backlogged, yet the District Attorney’s office insists on pursuing possible charges against Dr. Anna Pou and two nurses who are suspected of engaging in mercy killings at Memorial Medical Center during the flooding that followed Hurricane Katrina. Dr. Pou denies the accusation. The evidence against her is flimsy, and the judge assigned to the case thinks it’s time to file charges or move along to other cases.

"With all due respect, I'm tired of this case," District Judge Calvin Johnson said during a hearing on whether documents in the matter should be made public. "This case needs to either go forward or end." He said he was frustrated by the length of time he has spent dealing with the case, since neither Dr. Anna Pou nor nurses Cheri Landry and Lori Budo have been indicted. ...

Johnson's frustration comes at a time when criminal cases in New Orleans remain backlogged because of a shortage of public defenders and other problems created when Katrina's floodwaters destroyed evidence and shutdown the court system.

Prosecutors say they might convene a grand jury next year. Or not.

Upon arrival in Barcelona this summer, a Spanish official glanced at my passport and waved me on my way. Returning from Spain, I encountered a longer line at O’Hare, but I eventually answered a couple of perfunctory questions posed by a bored customs official who then waved me on my way. I was glad that I wasn’t visiting the U.S. from another country, because the “citizens” line made slow but steady progress while the lengthy queue of foreign visitors stood motionless.

It’s no surprise, then, that two-thirds of the business travelers polled by the Discover America Partnership considered the U.S. to be “the worst country in the world” in its treatment of foreign visitors at the border. More surprising, perhaps, is that a similar percentage of respondents fear being mistreated by DHS officials more than they fear terrorism. They viewed U.S. border officials as “arrogant, rude and unpredictable.”

“We deliberately sampled an elite group of business travelers who are more likely to feel positive towards the US than most people in their own countries,” said Geoff Freeman, the director of Discover America Partnership. “All they are asking is to be treated with respect, professionalism and courtesy: they are not asking for America to reduce its security measures.”

Treating guests with respect isn’t too much to ask from DHS employees. Long lines can be alleviated with more bodies at the gateways, but professionalism and courtesy need to be instilled from the top down.

Dean Barnett says:

And Kos is different?

Yes. Although he rips Democrats when he’s of a mind to do so, he also brings something else to the party. He brings volunteers and money and buzz. Although my modem might well explode as I type these words, Jon Tester would not be a senator starting in January if it weren’t for the Daily Kos. Same for Jim Webb. He never would have made it out of the primary.

4) Okay. So we should be more like Kos?

Not me. I have no interest in being a tool for the Republican Party, or at least not anymore so than I already am. But, and again my modem might explode, there is no denying that the Daily Kos is an asset to the Democratic Party in terms of winning elections. Or at least it was this past cycle.

See also James Joyner and Ed Morrisey, and George Allen's blog man Jon Henke.

h/t Conn Carroll.

Tom Schaller is a very bright political observer who has ignited some controversy with his book "Whistling Past Dixie," which discusses the Democratic majority and how the South is NOT a part of it. Today, it becomes Topic A as Markos described.

To me, Schaller's empirical point is self evident, and I thought so and argued so since November 2004. But I think it is time to look forward and discuss how we can absorb the evidence Schaller provides, win now in the Democratic majority part of the country while continuing to work hard to win in all 50 states. Yes, the 50 State Strategy holds the answer:

Devolution of power in the Democratic Party is inextricably tied to Dean's 50 state strategy. . . . [T]he idea of a 50 state Democratic Party is sound, even essential, to its continued relevance. It is no secret that I am a proponent of a politics of contrast for Dems. I am also a proponent of a Big Tent Dem Party. Are these two ideas mutually exclusive? I think not. For example, while I am skeptical of a short term strategy that can deliver significant wins for Dems in the South, the medium and long term offer opportunities. But I think they come from the devolution strategy that Howard Dean is trying to execute, creating strong state Democratic parties that control their own local message. National branding still requires a national message and, more importantly, negative branding of the Republicans.

Republican fundraiser and coin dealer Tom Noe got a heavy jolt today in an Ohio courtroom. 18 years in state prison. Ouch.

Tom Noe, convicted last week on 29 charges for stealing from Ohio’s $50 million rare-coin fund, was sentenced to 18 years in state prison and ordered to pay fines and restitution by Judge Thomas Osowik this morning in Lucas County Courthouse.

The sentence will begin after Noe completes a 27-month federal sentence imposed in September for illegal laundering more than $45,000 to President Bush’s campaign, Judge Osowik ruled.

I'm in court today, so here's an open thread for you.

The Washington Post has a historical review of truth serum. It concludes:

In the 21st century, however, the answer appears to be: No. There is no pharmaceutical compound today whose proven effect is the consistent or predictable enhancement of truth-telling.

It traces the modern day concept of truth serum to the drug scopalamine, and says: