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.

A Miami federal judge has denied bond for the 7 men accused in the aspirational Sears Tower bombing plan.

Each of the men faces four counts: two counts of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, and one count each of conspiracy to destroy buildings by explosives and sedition against the U.S. government. The counts carry maximum sentences of between 15 and 20 years.

Rush Limbaugh's shrink has copped to writing a viagra presecription for Rush in his own name. So...Rush's deferred prosecution stays.

The state attorney's office said Dr. Steve Strumwasser's name was on the Viagra bottle, not Limbaugh's. Strumwasser, who is Limbaugh's psychiatrist, told authorities he "agreed to have his name on the label in an effort to avoid potentially embarrassing publicity for the suspect," according to a filing by the prosecutor's office.

"Thus, the medication contained in the subject pill bottle was legitimately prescribed to the suspect by his physician," the filing said.

But, what about the doctor?

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld didn't want to answer questions of a congressional committee investigating allegations of a whistleblower at Abu Ghraib. So, Congressman Chris Shays (R-CT) has supboenaed him.

Shays, chairman of the House Government Reform subcommittee on national security, is investigating allegations made by Army Spec. Samuel Provance that his attempts to provide information to investigators about prison abuses were rebuffed and that he then was retaliated against for providing unclassified information to the media.

"The bottom line is it's critical that our oversight inquiries be taken seriously by executive branch departments and that we get timely access to the information we need to do our job," Shays said. "Today we are demanding that the Department of Defense provide information that is critical to our investigation."