At mydd, David Sirota notes:

Sen. Joe Lieberman says the likelihood that he would take a leadership role if the Democrats take control of the Senate on Nov. 7 is helping him in his race against the endorsed Democrat in Connecticut.

David blasts the Dem leadership for this result. I don't agree. If the Dems need Joe for 51, then they have to take him of course, seniority and all. Actually I was struck much more by this:

"There's no question it's better to have seniority in a majority than seniority in a minority," Lieberman said.

What is Lieberman saying? I think it is clear. If the Senate is divided 50-50, or if the GOP retains a majority, he will caucus with the Republicans. What do Conecticut voters make of that? Is that a plus or minus? Do Dem voters in Connecticut relish the idea of Lieberman caucusing with the GOP?

Via digby, a former speechwriter for President Bush writes:

I have also grown to hate certain people of genuine accomplishment like Ted Turner, who, by his own contention, cannot make up his mind which side of the terror war he is on; I hate the executives at CNN, Turner's intellectual progeny, who recently carried water for our enemies by broadcasting their propaganda film portraying their attempts to kill American soldiers in Iraq.

I now hate Howard Dean, the elected leader of the Democrats, who, by repeatedly stating his conviction that we won't win in Iraq, bets his party's future on our nation's defeat.

I hate the Democrats who, in support of this strategy, spout lie after lie: that the president knew in advance there were no WMD in Iraq; that he lied to Congress to gain its support for military action; that he pushed for the democratization of Iraq only after the failure to find WMD; that he was a unilateralist and that the coalition was a fraud; that he shunned diplomacy in favor of war.

Stunning delusion fueling the paranoid tribalism classically described by Richard Hofstadter.

An op-ed in the New York Times today hearts Omaha as a very livable city.

According to the cost of living comparison calculator at CNNMoney.com, if you were earning $229,000 in Manhattan, or $153,000 in Queens, you’ll be able to maintain the same standard of living in Omaha with a salary of $100,000 (and not because rodeos are cheaper than Broadway shows). Your money will go farther, and you’ll find less competition for jobs: Omaha’s unemployment rate (3.3 percent) is lower than New York’s (4.5 percent). While you are job hunting and living off your real-estate profits, groceries, utilities and health care will all cost roughly one-third less than you are paying in New York.

Coincidentally, I happen to be in Omaha for the fourth time since July. It's a very nice city. There's a lot of money in Omaha. It's quiet and peaceful. It's also about as red a state as you'll find anywhere.

Andrew Sullivan:

We can fight over Medicare and hate crime laws another time. But habeas corpus, war, torture and basic fiscal responsibility are the issues now. I will join happily with any liberal, any leftist, any conservative, any Christian, any Muslim, any Jew - to fight for these basic principles. I don't care about these labels as much as I care about this country. And it needs saving right now from the thugs and incompetents who are running it.

Richard Viguerie:

The big-spending, high-deficit, morally-deficient Republican Party hasn't anything to offer conservatives except Halloween scare tactics about the Democrats.

David Safavian, a Bush administration official who enjoyed golfing with Jack Abramoff in Scotland on Abramoff's dime, will be taking an 18 month break from the links. In June, Safavian was convicted of making false statements to government agents and of obstructing the Abramoff investigation. At yesterday's sentencing, Judge Paul Friedman vented his frustration with the culture of corruption in Washington, but resisted the government's pitch for a three year sentence.

The 18-month sentence fell halfway between the defense's recommendation that he serve between zero and 12 months, and a Justice Department recommendation for 30 to 37 months.

The government wanted Judge Friedman to enhance Safavian's sentence for perjury it believes he committed during his trial. Judge Friedman made a generous finding that Safavian might actually have believed his false testimony to be true, saving Safavian from a longer sentence. Safavian's refusal to acknowledge wrongdoing convinced the judge that Safavian deserved a short stint in federal custody.

A good ad from Lamont

Dozens of prison inmates helped fight two fires in Napa Valley this week. One of them suffered respiratory problems as the result of his heroic work. California inmates are also helping firefighters battle a raging fire in Riverside County.

Work release programs (common in jails, less so in prisons) are a useful way to help prisoners remain integrated with society, and inmates who are typically bored out of their minds might relish any opportunity to avoid the mundane life that prisons offer. It's tempting to wonder whether California allows inmates to do this dangerous work because it attaches little value to their lives, but it's reassuring to know that the inmates at least receive training in firefighting before they're put to work.

California's motivation for the program appears to be related less to rehabilitation than to a shortage of California firefighters. Given the overcrowding in California's prisons, the state should consider an early release program for inmate firefighters who prove their value to society -- and communities should commit to hiring them after their release.

George Allen and his campaign hit men this week chose to again attack Jim Webb and his military experiences, this time by taking passages from Webb's novels to try to suggest that the explicit war time experiences Webb writes about are demeaning and repugnant.

I like the fighting instinct but I think Jarding and Saunders miss the negative branding opportunity. James Carville does not:

[B]ook burning is not the greatest tactic in American politics in 2006. And I think it's going to draw attention to the fact that Webb is one of the most decorated veterans of the Vietnam War, and Allen sat it out.

. . . Webb has got some pretty good answers. I'm saying to the Webb people, get out in front of this. Go take every interview you can. Challenge Allen to debate your record. Challenge to debate whether or not literature should be censored. Say: You know what? When I do vote on a Supreme Court justice, I'm going vote on somebody that allows people to write about the horrors of war, without the fear of -- of censorship.

Yesterday, NPR's "Morning Edition" took a non-celebratory look at the twentieth anniversary of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 -- the law that responded to mindless fear about crack cocaine by creating harsh mandatory minimum sentences for crack, and by irrationally designating crack as 100 times more evil than powder cocaine (i.e., a gram of crack gets the same sentence as 100 grams of powder). The story (about four minutes of listening time) quotes Eric Sterling, who helped write the law for the House Judiciary Committee, and who now speaks out (pdf) against the unfair sentences that the law compels.

The U.S. Sentencing Commission wants Congress to fix the crack-powder sentencing disparity (pdf). Even conservative Senator Jeff Sessions wants to implement a partial reform. The ACLU weighs in with this comprehensive report (pdf).

You got to give this National Review guy the chutzpah award:

Stop it Chris Matthews. You and people who share your weird, racial paranoia are poisoning the national debate and hurting the country.

Hahahahaha. The Rich Lowry Loves Race Baiting Magazine can actually print that. Hilarious.

I'm on the road until Monday and will be blogging sporadically. Here's an open thread to keep you going.

Here's Scribe's diary on the Scooter Libby hearing yesterday concerning Libby's proposed memory expert.

700 miles of fence will be built along the Mexican border. President Bush signed the legislation Thursday. But that's not all:

The new law also provides for more vehicle barriers, checkpoints and advanced technology to bolster border security. A previously enacted domestic security spending bill provides $1.2 billion for the fence and the accompanying technology.

A mere $1.2 billion. Republicans must think money grows on trees. Hopefully, the American public will teach them it doesn't on November 7.

The border fence will not keep out the undocumented.