Stormy weather resulted in the cancellation of six days of hearings for the 911 defendants at Guantanamo, which scheduled to begin yesterday and first postponed until tomorrow.

he U.S. National Hurricane Center’s tracking map shows Tropical Storm Isaac crossing Haiti as a hurricane on Aug. 24 and striking Cuba before arriving at the Florida coast below Cape Coral on Aug. 27.

The hearings have not yet been rescheduled. 25 pretrial motions were on the agenda, including some by the media.

Defense lawyers, journalists and representatives of non- governmental organizations including Human Rights Watch were on hand to watch the proceedings.

The last hearing was in May. One of the defense lawyers said today trial is unlikely to occur until four years from now, due to the hundreds of motions that will be need to be resolved.

I'll be on Daily Kos radio with Jesse LaGreca this morning at 11 Eastern.

Listen here.

One of the topics - what did Akin mean by forcible rape? And what does Romney endorser John Willke have to do with it?

Also too, Oklahoma bans wearing University of Michigan gear. While I agree with the sentiment, I can not support this law. See also Oklahoma principal denies valedictorian diploma for saying the word "hell".

Open thread.

Mitt Romney changes course from yesterday:

"As I said yesterday, Todd Akin's comments were offensive and wrong and he should very seriously consider what course would be in the best interest of our country," Romney said in a statement. "Today, his fellow Missourians urged him to step aside, and I think he should accept their counsel and exit the Senate race."

Reuters reports Akin is staying in the race.

A new WSJ-NBC poll finds Romney's selection of Paul Ryan doesn't have much impact: 22% of voters are more likely to vote for Romney, 23 percent are less likely to vote for Romney, and 54 percent say it won't affect them one way or the other.

Akin's apology:

I'll be on Daily Kos radio with Jesse LaGreca this morning at 11 Eastern.

Listen here.

Open thread.

President Obama today called GOP Senate Candidate Todd Akin's statement about rape and pregnancy offensive. So did Mitt Romney, but he wouldn't join other Republicans in calling for Akin should step down.

What he said (in response to a question about his opposition to abortion, even in the case of rape resulting in pregnancy:)

“From what I understand from doctors, that’s really rare,” Akin said. “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. But let’s assume that maybe that didn’t work or something, I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be of the rapist, and not attacking the child.”

The RNC Chair called his comments "bizzare" and "biologically stupid" and suggested he forego attending the convention. Missouri Republicans can still select a replacement candidate if Akin drops out by tomorrow at 6 p.m.

Here's the reaction of medical experts to his woefully misinformed view of pregnancy and rape. [More....]

If you missed the Ministry of Truth show on Daily Kos Radio, you can listen to the podcast here:

MoT Show 08.20.2012 by Blue Skies Radio

MP3 available here.

Open Thread.

Erick son of Erick speaks:

Todd Akin will withdraw from the MO Senate race.

Todd Akin, GOP candidate for Senate from Missouri, clarifies that he meant "forcible rape", not "legitimate rape." Akin is saying his views are exactly those of Paul Ryan, and that happens to be true:

Paul Ryan also co-sponsored HR 3, the "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion" bill in which Republicans tried to redefine rape so that it only applied to "forcible" rape so those fake rape victims would stop exploiting loopholes to cash in on fabulous gifts and prizes.

This is the real story - Todd Akin's views on this are mainstream Republican - which is to say extreme and radical.

The order from the federal district court in Texas (PDF). Discuss.

Politico:

The Donald is gearing up for Tampa. When the Republican National Convention kicks off next Monday, Donald Trump will have a “surprise” role on its first day, people familiar with the matter said Sunday evening.

Why is Romney having a birther featured at his convention? Also too, was Joe Arpaio not available?

I'll be on Daily Kos radio with Jesse LaGreca this morning at 11 Eastern.

We'll be talking about Todd Akin and "legitimate rape" among other things:

So much to watch tonight: Breaking Bad, Weeds, and a new season of the Great Food Truck Race.

There's also a new BBC in America crime series starting, Copper. It's the network's first original scripted series. It takes place in New York's Five Points after the civil war and features an Irish heavy-handed cop ("He does bad things to bad people") in an era in which the cops were as corrupt as the criminals and there was no such thing as Miranda rights. The series was created by Tom Fontana ("Homicide: Life on the Street") and produced by Barry Levinson. The madam is played by Franka Potente, who starred in "Run Lola Run" (a very strange film that I really liked and have seen a few times.) Anyway, it's getting very good reviews all around.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome, TV related or not.