Busy work day here. How about an open thread? All topics welcome.

Tropical Storm Isaac has hit the Florida Keys and is expected to turn into a category 2 hurricane.

Miami looks safe, but the latest warning says New Orleans may be in danger.

A HURRICANE WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR...
* THE FLORIDA KEYS INCLUDING THE DRY TORTUGAS
* THE WEST COAST OF FLORIDA FROM BONITA BEACH SOUTHWARD TO OCEAN REEF
* FLORIDA BAY

A HURRICANE WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR...
* EAST OF MORGAN CITY LOUISIANA TO INDIAN PASS FLORIDA...INCLUDING METROPOLITAN NEW ORLEANS AND LAKE PONTCHARTRAIN

Thanks to TL pal Fishcamp who is in the Keys and been updating us in comments. He recommends following the Caribbean Hurricane Network.

Baby Lorenzo arrived just after 3 a.m. Must have been a long night of labor for Snooki. Congrats to Snooki and Jionni LaValle.

The world just got another Guido!!!" a rep for Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi told MTV. Lorenzo Dominic LaValle has entered the world weighing 6lbs, 5oz. Nicole, Jionni & Enzo are doing great!"

MTV shared in Snooki's excitement: "We couldn't be happier for Nicole and Jionni on the healthy delivery of their baby boy! We look forward to Lorenzo's first trip to the Jersey Shore and can't wait to see his first animal print onesie."

Me either, I'm a big Snooki fan.

Pics soon, no doubt. CNN has more: Snooki spin-off 6 pound 'Guido.'[More...]

For Lt. Neil Armstrong.

In other news, Republicans have postponed the start of their convention due to Tropical Storm Isaac.

Tonight on TV: The 2012 London Hyde Park concert is on VH-1 and Palladia ("Hard Rock Calling") with Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, Paul McCartney and more.

Snooki's in labor in New Jersey.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Here is the Republican party platform from 1956. It's very worth reading, for the stark contrast to the party's platform in 2012.

The latest version of the proposed 2012 Republican Platform was erroneously posted on the RNC website yesterday and quickly pulled. You can read it here. Here are summaries by the Washington Post and LA Times.

Shorter version of the comparisons: A party that has gone to hell in a handbasket in the last 50 years. [More...]

NYTimes:

Neil Armstrong was a quiet self-described nerdy engineer who became a global hero when as a steely-nerved pilot he made “one giant leap for mankind” with a small step on to the moon. The modest man who had people on Earth entranced and awed from almost a quarter million miles away has died. He was 82.

Rest in peace.

Update (TL): Video added, at 2:57 seconds in, you can see Neil Armstrong step on the moon and say, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

From an AP interview of the president:

"I can't speak to Governor Romney's motivations," Obama said. "What I can say is that he has signed up for positions, extreme positions, that are very consistent with positions that a number of House Republicans have taken. And whether he actually believes in those or not, I have no doubt that he would carry forward some of the things that he's talked about."

This is a critical point. Mitt Romney is a weak man of little conviction except that he should be President. He will do as he is bid by the extreme base of the Republican Party. No Pat Buchanan primary challenges for him if he can help it. At a conference I attended last May, conservative legal scholar Michael Greve said:

[Liberals cannot] seriously believe that, but for their extravagant positions, we would hand over the country to Opus Dei, bind our wives’ and daughters’ feet, allow George Soros or David Koch to buy their very own Congressmen, or for that matter toss ailing widows and orphans into the streets. The real fear is that the Constitution might pose some limit to progressivism’s anything-goes imagination.

Michael Greve does not call the shots in the GOP, and neither will Mitt Romney. The President has it right - whether he believes it or not, Mitt Romney will implement the extremist GOP agenda.

In a comment in her post defending Romney's birther joke, Ann Althouse writes:

What we're talking about -- or really just feeling -- is that Obama might not be sufficiently American. That's what Romney found a way to say with a smile. It's not about "defending" Romney for telling the joke or explaining the joke. Something has been made a topic: Obama's insufficient commitment to American values.

I see. It's mot an appeal to racists, just a little McCarthyism. All better.

Speaking for me only

Hurricane season is about to arrive in the Southeast. Isaac has hit Jamaica and will be headed to Guantanamo next, and presumably on to Florida.

If you're there, please take extra precaautions.
And try to sing. I hear it's a good stress reliever. To get you started:

This is an open tread, all topics welcome.

The state has filed its response (available here) in the 5th District Court of Appeals to George Zimmerman's request for a Writ of Prohibition seeking to have Judge Lester removed from the case.

Shorter version: The judge gave Zimmerman a well-deserved tongue lashing, but his fear he won't get a fair trial from the judge is not objectively reasonable, and thus his motion to recuse was not legally sufficient and Lester was right to deny it.

None of the comments by the trial court rise to the level of being legally sufficient to establish an objectively reasonable fear by Petitioner that he will not receive a fair trial by the judge. Instead, the judge was simply giving Petitioner a well deserved tongue lashing for allowing others to mislead the court about his passport and his financial situation.

The test is whether a reasonable person in George Zimmerman's position would fear not getting a fair trial from this judge. [More...]

5th Avenue and 34th Street was not a good place to be this morning. 8 people shot, the shooter and at least one other are dead.

The New York Post says the cause was a dispute between coworkers.

He could throw millions at his his lawyers, and in the end, the deck was stacked against him. Sometimes, you just need to know when to hold them and when to fold them. Lance Armstrong folded today. He really had no choice.

The US Doping Agency can take away his medals and titles, and prevent him from competing in the future, but it can't take away his memories and all the good times he had. He's still ahead.