Butch Cassidy sez

I was going to post on yet another GOP outrage (Which one? You pick one. So many to choose from) confirming yet again why we must "Throw the Rubberstamp Republican Bums Out." But we can resume that series later. I have something more important to talk about . . . Barack Obama. (I'm joking.)

Sterling Newberry's harsh critique of Obama allows me to do something I have not done for quite some time - defend Barack Obama. Since I am not likely to get to do that much in the face of the seemingly endless Media worship of The Hope and Audacity Man, like George Washington Plunkett - 'I seen my opportunity and I am taking it.'

The stars seem to have aligned in opposition to hypocrisy. First Mark Foley, now Rev. Ted Haggard:

The leader of the 30 million-member National Association of Evangelicals, a vocal opponent of the drive for same-sex marriage, resigned Thursday after being accused of paying for sex with a man in monthly trysts over the past three years.

Statewide marijuana reform proposals will be on the ballots of three states next week: Colorado, Nevada and South Dakota. NORML has a rundown of each as well as the various municipal ordinances facing voters in other states. Here are the statewide measures:

• COLORADO: Amendment 44, the "Alcohol-Marijuana Equalization Initiative," would revise state statutes to eliminate all criminal and civil prohibitions on the private possession and use of up to one ounce of cannabis for anyone age 21 or older. The measure, sponsored by Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER), has been endorsed by numerous Colorado newspapers, including the Aspen Times, the Boulder Weekly, and the Aurora Daily Sentinel. Last year, voters in Denver passed a similar municipal initiative by 54 percent.

• NEVADA: Question 7, the "Regulation of Marijuana Initiative," would remove all criminal and civil penalties for the private possession and use of small quantities of cannabis by those age 21 or older. The measure would also seek to create a statewide system for the taxation, legal cultivation, distribution, and sale of cannabis to adults by licensed vendors. Question 7 has been endorsed by the Las Vegas Review Journal and more than 30 state religious leaders. A similar proposal was rejected by Nevada voters in 2002.

In a 31 page opinion I have uploaded here (pdf), the Judge in the Scooter Libby trial today denied Libby's request to use a memory expert at trial. [Background here.]

I'm still digesting the opinion, but the shorter version seems to be:

• The studies relied on by Libby mostly pertain to eye-witness identification and don't fit the facts of his case.

• The 13 points of memory principles Libby expert Robert Bjork would testify to are unlikely to assist the jury because the jurors could figure most of them out.

• Libby has not shown that the traditional method of cross-examining the Government's witnesses would not be sufficiently effective.

I wonder whether the Judge has not just handed Libby his first legitimate issue for appeal. I see definite corollaries between the memory principles that affect eyewitnesses and other fact witnesses. It would have been safer for the Government if the Judge had allowed the testimony.

Red State thinks Vice President Cheney is funny:

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Just wait, it gets better. (Laughter.) [Howard Dean] said the capture of Saddam Hussein did not make America any safer. And maybe it should be no surprise that such a party would turn its back on a man like Senator Joe Lieberman, who has been an unapologetic supporter in the fight against terror. (Applause.)

Cheney and Lieberman, laughing at our expense. Where is that darn WMD?

Here's an eye-opening report by Nick Turse at Tom Dispatch on the Bush Planetary Lock Up:

In a remarkably few years, the Bush administration has been able to construct a global detention system, already of near epic proportions, both on the fly and on the cheap."

...."Even with a couple million prisoners under its control, the U.S. prison network lacks the infrastructure or manpower of the Soviet gulag or the orderly planning of the Nazi concentration-camp system. However, where it bests both, and breaks new incarceration ground, is in its planet-ranging scope, with sites scattered the world over -- from Europe to Asia, the Middle East to the Caribbean.

Reporter Ben Smith of the New York Daily News has the exclusive on how the National Republican Campaign Committee participated in damage control talks on Rep. Mark Foley two days before ABC News broke the story of his inappropriate e-mail to a congressional page.

NRCC Communications Director Carl Forti and Reynolds then chief-of-staff Kirk Fordham both took part in the first call the evening of Wednesday, September 27, and one call the next day, Forti and other sources familiar with the call confirmed. Forti's involvement and the NRCC's role in the run-up to the Foley scandal add another link between the disgraced former congressman and Reynolds, who has said he knew only indirectly of questionable emails, and that he reported them to his House superiors. They also reflect another moment at which House GOP leadership was aware of concerns about Foley and pages.

Smith was tipped to the calls by the intrepid Murray Waas:

Amendment 43 isn't meant to change the law. It's meant to change the subject.

As Kos says,

The subject, of course, being Iraq, high gas prices, lack of affordable health care, and so on.

Say no to Amendment 43.

The UK's Timesonline reports:

A diary that appeared to catalogue violent attacks against Iraqi detainees was read out at the court martial of seven British soldiers accused of inhumane treatment towards prisoners today.

The journal was maintained by a former private, Stuart Mackenzie.

... Mr Mackenzie described attacks on Iraqi prisoners, some of whom were dubbed "Ali Babas" in the accounts. The court was told that Mr Mackenzie's unit of the Queen’s Lancashire Regiment became known as "the grim reapers", because it was the first to kill an Iraqi. Julian Knowles, defending Corporal Payne, read sections of the diary to the court.

How bad are some of the entries? Read on.

HBO airs a documentary tonight, "Hacking Democracy," that explores the potential manipulation of electronic voting machines. For obvious reasons, electronic voting machine manufacturer Diebold thinks HBO shouldn't blow the whistle on its hackable machines, leading Keith Olbermann to declare Diebold yesterday's Worst Person in the World.

One reviewer, criticizing the documentary as "torpid," argues that HBO should have made a different documentary focusing on other voting problems that surely merit attention:

According to Reuters and the latest Zogby poll, Democrats have a shot at taking control of the Senate.

With Democrats needing to gain six Republican seats for a Senate majority, extremely tight contests in Missouri, Virginia and Montana could determine the balance of power.

....To gain a Senate majority, Democrats must hold their own seats and win six of seven at-risk Republican seats, including knocking off at least five Republican incumbents. The new polls show that is a viable possibility, pollster John Zogby said.

If Democrats take the Senate, think what it will mean in terms of our federal judiciary. It's the Senate that votes to confirm federal district and appeals court judges and Supreme Court judges. Bush still has two years left in office.

A Democratic controlled Senate will reduce the chances of confirmation for right-wing extremist judges. Federal judges are appointed for life. If you care about maintaining the independence of the judiciary and want to preserve our constitutional rights for your children, get out and vote for Democratic Senate candidates on Tuesday.