A Bush in 60 seconds video, sent to me by Will Keenan, who created the TalkLeft video, great Yearly Kos promos and Mission Accomplished Man.

The doldrums of summer? Another FBI disclosure of an aspirational but not operational terror threat on the Holland Tunnel in New York -- why disclose it now?

Sandra Day O'Connor and Stephen Breyer are in Aspen at the Ideas Festival. So is Colin Powell who fell ill while diningat Campo Fiore in Aspen with Bill Clinton. He went to the hospital for a few hours. Katie Couric and Wolf Blitzer and other media luminaries are in Aspen this week as well.

Hillary Clinton will be in Denver tonight for a fund-raiser at a private home for her Senate campaign. I'll be attending, but as a guest, not a journalist, so I won't be blogging about it.

This is an open thread.

by Last Night in Little Rock

Suddam Hussein's lawyers (see Hussein trial blog) have complained to the International Criminal Court that the United States has committed violations of the Geneva Convention various ways that "amount to war crimes" according to a story on AFP on Yahoo.co.uk. This story will evoke universal apathy.

The AFP story mentions several violations of human rights: "'Saddam Hussein has been subjected to degrading treatment, including photographs taken of him unclothed,' it said."

More fundamental, however, is the allegation that Hussein is subject to a certain imposition of the death penalty in violation of international law and he was being denied full access to counsel and his family. Ramsey Clark, one of Hussein's eleven surviving lawyers, complains that the U.S. backed court is a show trial:

Truthout has posted the transcript (pdf) of the May 16 Scooter Libby hearing. Jason Leopold points out the new details, primarily, that Libby's lawyers seem to suggest Miller may have discussed Joseph Wilson's wife before June 23.

According to a May 16, 2006, court transcript obtained by Truthout, Libby attorney William Jeffress told US District Court judge Reggie B. Walton that redacted versions of Miller's notebooks turned over to the defense during the discovery phase of the Libby criminal proceedings show that "Ms. Miller was investigating and focusing on [former Ambassador Joseph] Wilson before the very first time that she met with Mr. Libby, that is before June 23, 2003."

"There are numerous entries throughout those notebooks to 'V.F.,' or 'Victoria Wilson,' or to 'Valerie Wilson,' all of which indicate that she [Miller] is talking to someone else about Mr. Wilson's wife," Jeffress said, according to a copy of the 128-page transcript. "What she learned and when she learned it about Mr. Wilson's wife is extremely - it is right at the heart of this case."

Final Update and thoughts: Considering Lamont is the less experienced debater, he did an excellent job. While Lieberman touted his own trustworthiness and experience, and tried to attack Lamont, Lamont came off as fresh-faced and someone who shares our values and would bring a change to Washington. Lamont talked about policies he supports and Bush policies that need to be changed, while Lieberman defended his past votes. Lieberman was on the ropes from the beginning and he stayed there. Lieberman got repetitive and weaker as the hour went on, Lamont got stronger.

Final word goes to C.L., TalkLeft's graphic artist, who e-mailed in: "Lamont was a little bit of the deer caught in the headlights but likeable and solid. Leiberman just seems petulant."

Update 9: Closing statements: Lieberman is reading his, very distracting. Shorter version: I have 18 years of experience, he served on the Greenwich town council a decade or more ago. He offers negativism. Lieberman stops reading and finally speaks from his heart. His voice almost cracks as he asks the people to support him and elect him to another six years.

Lamont says he will fight for our civil liberties, for social security, he'll bring our troops home to the heroes welcome they deserve. People should vote from their hearts. "My name is Ned Lamont and if you approve this message, I could use your support on August 8." Good close.

Digby on the rape of the Iraqi girl by soldiers in Iraq:

Now I know that rape has often been a common feature of war. But this isn't really a war in the classical sense. It's a hybrid war/occupation/police action/whatever and it seems to me that there is something quite sick about all the psychosexual aspects of it generally. From Gitmo to Abu Ghraib to this horrible rape and killing, it seems to me that there is a very strong desire on the part of Americans to sexualize and feminize the enemy. Maybe it's always been this way. I'm no expert. I can't help but remember Rush Limbaugh's reaction to the Abu Ghraib scandal; he was so excited that "the babes" were meting out the torture and he clearly thinks forced sexual humiliation as all in good fun. There is just something very odd about all this. I wonder if someone is studying it.

While only one soldier as of now is charged with the rape, as I wrote yesterday, according to the affidavit for the arrest warrant, two soldiers raped her and four went to the house, knowing what was intended. Why havent' SO12, SO13 and KP1 been charged?

Comments on the last Duke thread are about to hit 500. Here's a new one to keep the conversation going.

Don't forget to bookmark TalkLeft's separate Duke page, where all the posts and comments since the beginning are on one page.

I'm not seeing much news yet today, here's an open thread for you to chat away.

Good news for Democrats in Texas: a federal judge has ruled Tom DeLay must stay on the ballot, even though he isn't running for Congress.

U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks, a Republican appointee, ruled that DeLay must appear on the Nov. 7 ballot as the GOP nominee for the congressional seat that DeLay abandoned last month. Sparks ruling was confirmed by Texas Democratic Party spokeswoman Amber Moon.

Republicans will now appeal to the 5th Circuit.

Alan Newton will leave a New York jail after being imprisoned for 22 years for a rape DNA has shown he didn't commit. What took so long? New York police kept insisting there was no DNA to test. The Innocence Project took up his case and got a DA to find the evidence the police insisted didn't exist:

The rape kit, it turned out, was in its original storage bin from 1984, Barrel No. 22, in the same police warehouse that the authorities said they had searched at least three times since Mr. Newton first asked in 1994.

The long-delayed DNA tests proved the innocence of Mr. Newton, who had refused to participate in a sex-offender treatment program in prison, ruining his chance for an earlier parole. He plans to come to court today dressed in one of the suits he wore to work half his lifetime ago.

17 more inmates in New York are facing the same dilemna. With viable claims of innocence, police say they can't find evidence to test.

Sens. Joe Biden, Barbara Boxer and Ken Salazar are headed to CT to help Joe Lieberman in his primary battle against Ned Lamont.

Check out what Jane of Firedoglake has been doing in CT to oppose him, along with a group of dedicated local bloggers and Lamont staffers. Some prime quotes from Jane:

"It's all about [Supreme Court Justice Samuel] Alito for me," she said, referring to Lieberman's vote to prevent a filibuster and allow the right-wing judge's confirmation to proceed. "We're this close" -- she took her hand off the wheel to demonstrate just how close with two fingers -- "to having another judge who will seal our fate for the next 20 years. We can wind up permanently stacked and unable to swing the pendulum back.

"This is a fight for the heart and soul of the Democratic Party," she said, the state police headquarters passing in a blur outside her window. "Are we going to rubber-stamp judges like Alito? Or are we going to say that Republican Lite isn't good enough?"

You go, Jane, we're all following and cheering for you -- and Lamont.

by Last Night in Little Rock

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

And, at our southern border, we will build a wall to keep you out. If we can't keep you out, we will jail you.

We will deny you any social benefits, even if you are a taxpayer, until you can pry citizenship loose from the government.

Let's just be honest about it: We should build a wall around the Statue of Liberty, too, to keep people out as a symbol of our suddenly discovered election year "immigration problem."

She is, after all, becoming merely an historical artifact.