I wasn't going to blog this weekend, but this Sunday Times (London) article stands out as too much baloney for me not to make a quick comment. The premise:

FRIENDS of Hillary Clinton have been whispering the unthinkable. Despite her status as the runaway frontrunner for the 2008 Democratic nomination for president, some of her closest advisers say she might opt out of the White House race and seek to lead her party in the Senate.

Here's the tip-off to me it's total spin:

The solution, insiders say, is for Clinton to take over as Senate minority leader in 2009 from the lacklustre Harry Reid, senator for Nevada.

Since the "insiders" are assuming Hillary would be a "minority" leader in 2009, they are proclaiming Republicans will maintain a majority in the Senate in 2008. Now, who would be saying that? Certainly no one who was a "Democratic" insider.

If Hillary wants to run, she'll run. I suspect the only people who know which way she's inclined right now are Bill Clinton and her campaign staff. Even though I don't like this article, there's a line from Terry Mcauliffe that warrants repeating. In describing the effect Bill Clinton's support for Hillary could have on any future election, he states:

He is probably the most popular politician in the world."

I think you can take that one to the bank.

by TChris

Seeking to interview Karl Rove, the New York Times refused the administration's inevitable attempt to control the message:

The White House said that Mr. Rove would consider an interview for this article if it were conducted off the record, with the provision that quotations could be put on the record with White House approval, a condition it said was set for other interviews with Mr. Rove. The New York Times declined.

The Times isn't alone in telling Rove to stuff it.

by TChris

• Whatever his motivation, Arnold Schwarzenegger merits props for his support of legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in California. (Here's what else he needs to do.) What are we to think, though, about his incongruous love affair with the Hummer?

• This is the text of the president's weekly radio address. Ever optimistic, the president is again using the V word. The definitition of victory remained unspoken.

He didn't say what "victory" in Iraq will look like. Given that most of the Iraqi deaths over the past several months have been the result of sectarian conflict, would "victory" require U.S. troops to intervene in a civil war? Nor did the president say how the Iraqi enterprise prevents terrorist plots such as the recently disrupted plan to blow up airliners.

• "This is the time?" Wasn't the time, what, three or four years ago?

This is the time for Mr. Bush to acknowledge serious errors, present evidence that he has learned from them, define clear goals and set a strategy for accomplishing them. Time is short.

• The administration decided to "cut by nearly half the jobs of lawyers at the IRS who audit the tax returns of the richest Americans," while the government sends Ronald Isley of the Isley Brothers to prison for three years and one month for tax evasion. Isley must not be a Republican.

• Opium farmers in Afghanistan are having their best year ever.

by TChris

Ethel Freeman is more than a symbol of the Bush administration's incompetence.

[Ethel Freeman's son] began pushing her toward the Superdome. A passing police officer told them to head instead to the riverfront convention center, where buses were expected to arrive. There were medical supplies, food and water at the Superdome, but people who took refuge at the convention center had none.

"He told me, 'The buses are coming. Wait here so you can get your mom on first,'" Freeman said Friday outside the building where his mother died.

Her last words were a supplication: "She asked me if the buses were coming," Freeman said. "I said 'Yeah, they're coming. And then I said, 'Ma, I'm going to pray to God to help me. And you pray to God to help you," he said.

A few minutes later, he realized she had stopped talking.

At a memorial today, Ethel Freeman's son recalled her death.

A fleet of buses arrived four days after she died - and when they did, Freeman was not allowed to take his mother's body, forced to board the bus at gunpoint. "It was like cutting me open and adding salt in the wound," he said.

by TChris

The military hasn't executed a soldier since 1960. It isn't likely to, and shouldn't, execute four soldiers accused of murdering three Iraqis, despite a recommendation that the death penalty is warranted.

Lt. Col. James P. Daniel Jr. concluded that the slayings were premeditated and warranted the death sentence based on evidence he heard at an August hearing. The case will now be forwarded to Army officials, who will decide whether Daniel's recommendation should be followed.

More details about the alleged murders can be found here.

If the soldiers are convicted after a fair trial, they should be held accountable, just as they would be if their victims had been American citizens. But whether the victims were American or Iraqi, death is not the appropriate punishment. Iraq has seen enough death in the last four years.

by TChris

Search warrants reveal the cause of an FBI raid of state legislators' offices in Alaska this week:

The Associated Press in Alaska reported on Friday that it had obtained a copy of a search warrant that stated that investigators were seeking "from the period of October 2005 to the present, any and all documents concerning, reflecting or relating to proposed legislation in the state of Alaska involving either the creation of a natural gas pipeline or the petroleum production tax." ... The A.P. said the warrant sought information about possible payments to lawmakers by VECO executives. The warrant also said investigators were seeking hats or other items bearing the phrases "CBC," "Corrupt Bastards Club" or "Corrupt Bastards Caucus." Details about the supposed group were unavailable.

How stupid would a corrupt legislator have to be to wear a hat advertising his corruption? Whether the FBI recovered incriminating headgear in any of the searches hasn't been revealed. At least six offices were searched (all but one occupied by Republicans), including the office of State Senate president Ben Stevens, son of Senator Ted Stevens. Here's Ted sticking up for his son:

Aaron Saunders, a spokesman for Senator Ted Stevens, said by e-mail, "We have no comment on this matter."

by TChris

Attention often focuses on the problems of urban America -- and there are problems aplenty, to be sure -- but sparsely populated areas of the country have their own problems, one of which is identified in a study reported today by the New York Times: boredom, an affliction that leads to binge drinking.

A federal government survey recently confirmed what residents of Wyoming, Montana and the Dakotas already knew: people there drink to excess, at very early ages, well above the national average. The survey, conducted over three years by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, said south-central Wyoming led the nation with the highest rate of alcohol abuse by people age 12 and older. In Albany and Carbon counties, more than 30 percent of people under age 20 binge drink -- 50 percent above the national average.

Western red state kids turn to alcohol, and sometimes methamphetamine, to cope with "the boredom of the big empty." Megachurches apparently aren't filling the voids in their lives.

Here's an open thread to keep you going. Comments are open, if you don't see your's, it may be in the "junk" folder on MT, and I'll be clearing them a few times a day in batches over the weekend.

Also check out the great sites on the right on our blogroll. And check back in case TChris or LNILR or Big Tent Democrat has something to say...no promises, it being a holiday and all, but you never know.

It's 50 degrees in Denver and 41 in Aspen. It will be a chilly weekend. But the music will keep us warm. Besides, I never miss a chance to hear this guy. Here's the full roster.

Here's a montage of past years.

Have a great holiday, see you soon.

Matt Yglesias is leaving the TPM conglomerate and returning to solo blogging at his own site.

I've been a big fan of Matt's since he began blogging in 2002 while still an undergraduate. I followed him to American Prospect, where he wrote as a staff writer and for Tapped. For no reason in particular, I didn't follow him on to TPM, but now that he's going back to his own site, I'll be a daily reader again.

Update your bookmarks, and Welcome Back, Matt.

by TChris

The Friday that kicks off a holiday weekend is a good time for the government to release news it hopes will go unnoticed.

In a grim 63-page report, the Pentagon chronicled bad news on a variety of fronts.

Grim indeed:

"Death squads and terrorists are locked in mutually reinforcing cycles of sectarian strife, with Sunni and Shia extremists each portraying themselves as the defenders of their respective sectarian groups," the report noted. "The Sunni Arab insurgence remains potent and viable."

(Guest Post by Big Tent Democrat)

Via TNR, Slate reportsRudy saying no to the New McCarthyism:

As [Rudy Giuliaini] answered the last of the three questions from reporters, he talked about the root causes of terrorism: "oppressive governments that demagogue and blame and project their problems other places and do nothing to solve the problems of their own people."

"Sounds like the Democrats," shouted a man. The crowd roared.

. . . "Time out," [Giuliani] said . . .The other thing we have to learn is that we can't get into this partisan bickering. The fact is that Republicans and Democrats have the same objectives. Democrats are loyal Americans. Republicans are loyal Americans. I think we have better answers, but we have to respect each other."

Say what? No more calling Democrats traitors? No more comparing them to terrorists? What will that leave Rove and Cheney and Rummy and Lieberman? Next thing you know Rudy will be defending gay marriage and the right to choose. I saw that season of the West Wing -- did Alan Alda win? I forget.