The Sopranos starts now. It looks like tonight is going to feature Meadow and her fiancee, but the actual description says. "Johnny files a petition to attend his daughter's wedding and Tony hires a new bodyguard." It's called "Mr. & Mrs. John Sacrimoni Request."

I think last week's was the best of the season so far -- so did several commenters. Let us all know what you think of tonight's show. And if you're not into the Sopranos, please just scroll on by.

Raw Story has a scoop on an article to appear in tomorrow's New York Times:

"Just months ago there was cause for optimism about the spread of democracy in the Arab world, with elections held in Iraq, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian areas," the New York Times plans to report in Monday editions, RAW STORY has learned. "But the momentum is fast ebbing, with delays in reform efforts, legal maneuvers and official changes of heart throughout the Middle East."

"The unexpected rise of Islamists, the newfound power of Shiites in Iraq with the implication of growing Iranian influence, and the sense among some rulers that they can wait out the end of the Bush administration -- which has begun facing domestic and Republican criticism for its focus on forcing democracy -- have all put the brakes on democratization, analysts and officials say."

The official British report on the July bombings in London is about to be released. The four suicide bombers were not acting for al Qaeda. They were home grown terrorists who hatched a cheap plan via the Internet.

In an interview with the Observer, Labor MP Ayn Clwyd, who is Tony Blair's personal envoy on human rights, levels some harsh criticism at the U.S. for its prison policies in Iraq, which she says has resulted in missing and abused Iraqi prisoners.

Iraqis arrested by coalition forces have disappeared into a 'black hole' with no records of where they are being held, Tony Blair's personal envoy on human rights has warned. Ann Clwyd said if the scandal of the missing prisoners had been taken more seriously from the start by the US, it could have helped prevent the abuse of detainees in their jails.

Clwyd rarely speaks publicly on the issue. She highlighted two cases in the interview, and told of her attempts to get responses from Stephen Hadley, Paul Bremer and Paul Wolfowitz:

Seymour Hersh, whose new article on Bush formulating a plan to attack Iran I wrote about yesterday, was on CNN's Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer this morning.

Crooks and Liars has the video.

Check out these transcript highlights (received by e-mail from the show):

Why Hersh believes Bush feels compelled to attack Iran

HERSH: The word I hear is messianic. He thinks, as I wrote, that he's the only one now who will have the courage to do it. He's politically free. I don't think he's overwhelmingly concerned about the '06 elections, congressional elections. I think he really thinks he has a chance, and this is going to be his mission.

Is the U.S. capable of attacking Iran now?

by Last Night in Little Rock

In an astonding performance, Rep. J. D. Hayworth, R-AZ, declared on Meet the Press that "Immigration Reform" is the most significant issue facing America today. (Streaming video of "Meet the Press" is posted at Noon ET on MSNBC.com).

In a sound bite laden appearance, Rep. Hayworth, representing a border state, and a Republican up for re-election, apparently feels that the wasteful and distasteful War in Iraq, our fostering civil war in Iraq, and the President's treason by security leak, can all be swept under the rug until after the election.

At UCLA this weekend, attendees at the Faces of Wrongful Conviction Conference, got to hear first hand from those whom the system in California failed.

One by one they ascended the stage and introduced themselves, each an embodiment of the legal system's fallibility in California. My name is Herman Atkins," a tall ponytailed man said. "The state of California stole 12 years of my life for a rape and robbery I did not commit in Riverside."

"Good morning, my name is Gloria Killian," a well-spoken middle-aged woman said. "The state stole 22 years of my life for a robbery and murder I did not commit in Sacramento." "Good morning. My name is Ken Marsh," a third speaker said. "The state took 21 years of my life for a murder I did not commit in San Diego in 1983."

Seventeen people in all reiterated the point to a packed ballroom at UCLA on Saturday: that although they now were free, countless other innocent people are imprisoned in the state. ...They took part in the event, called "The Faces of Wrongful Conviction," to dramatize the flaws in the state's criminal justice system.

Monday there will be another national round of pro-immigrant rallies. This time, it is expected that other ethnic groups will join in what up to now has mostly been Latinos.

Koreans said they will march in Philadelphia and Los Angeles, banging traditional protest drums. Chinese said they will parade out of Chinatowns in San Francisco, New York, Chicago and Philadelphia, led by marchers wearing colorful dragon costumes. Haitians said they will be heard in Miami and New York, and Africans said they will be among the tens of thousands who will gather at the Washington Monument.

While the majority of the undocumented in the U.S. are Latino, other groups have a vested interest in immigration reform.

For the Plameaholics out there, the mainstream media is staying on the story and connecting the dots in Fitzgerald's latest filing(pdf). In addition to the three I talk about below, Christy at Firedoglake has several more while Jane provides snappy analysis and Digby says it smells of Karl Rove.

New York Times: shorter version: Cheney told Libby to leak details of the NIE report to Judith Miller, knowing that it had been debunked.

...the new revelations suggest that long after [Colin Powell] had concluded the intelligence was faulty, Mr. Bush, Mr. Cheney and Mr. Libby were still promoting it.

The Timesonline names the forgers of the documents claiming Saddam was trying to acquire uranium from Niger.

TWO employees of the Niger embassy in Rome were responsible for the forgery of a notorious set of documents used to help justify the Iraq war, an official investigation has allegedly found. According to Nato sources, the investigation has evidence that Niger's consul and its ambassador's personal assistant faked a contract to show Saddam Hussein had bought uranium ore from the impoverished west African country.

....According to the sources, an official investigation believes Adam Maiga Zakariaou, the consul, and Laura Montini, the ambassador's assistant, known as La Signora, forged the papers for money. They allegedly concocted their scheme as reports reached western intelligence agencies, including MI6, that Saddam Hussein had been trying to buy uranium ore, known as yellowcake, from Niger. The agencies had no evidence he had succeeded. The pair are alleged to have copied a real contract to look like an agreement with Iraq under which Niger would supply Saddam with 500 tons of yellowcake.

Josh Marshall is dubious.

Radley Balko has an excellent article up at Slate on SWAT, no-knocks, and the Hudson Supreme Court case that will be decided soon.

As the name indicates, a "no-knock" raid occurs when police forcibly enter a private residence without first knocking and announcing that they're the police. The tactic is appropriate in a few limited situations, such as when hostages or fugitives are involved, or where the suspect poses an immediate threat to community safety. But increasingly, this highly confrontational tactic is being used in less volatile situations, most commonly to serve routine search warrants for illegal drugs.

These raids are often launched on tips from notoriously unreliable confidential informants. Rubber-stamp judges, dicey informants, and aggressive policing have thus given rise to the countless examples of "wrong door" raids we read about in the news.

It's a really important topic and I recommend reading the whole article.

Seymour Hersh' new article in the New Yorker, The Iran Plans, is a must-read. It makes the case that Bush wants regime change in Iran and is making plans for a major air strike against the country.

There is a growing conviction among members of the United States military, and in the international community, that President Bush's ultimate goal in the nuclear confrontation with Iran is regime change.