There are a lot of people in government who help us and allow us to have an economy that works and allow entrepenuers and business leaders of various kinds to start businesses and create jobs. We all recognize that. That's an important thing.

Who said that? Why W. Mitt Romney hisself -- TODAY.

Huffington reports (TV Newswer actually):

Sean Hannity has landed the first interview with Trayvon Martin shooter George Zimmerman. Hannity interviewed both Zimmerman and his attorney, Mark O'Mara, for an episode that will air on Wednesday night. A press release said that "Zimmerman will open up about what happened the night of Trayvon Martin’s death and his experience in the aftermath of the fatal shooting."

You decide. No comment from me.

Jesse LaGreca, the Ministry of Truth, and I, will be on Daily Kos Radio today at 11 a.m. Listen here.

Today one issue we will discuss is Sheldon Adelson - his alleged corrupt foreign practices and his astounding threat to sue the DCCC for libel:

In a scathing letter to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Sheldon Adelson's lawyer accused the organization of "maliciously branding Mr. Adelson as a pimp" and demanded the DCCC either retract and apologize or be sued.

A credible threat? I wish. We'll talk about it on The Ministry of Truth.

Open Thread.

Another beautiful day in Telluride:

Romney appears close to naming his running mate.

I've downloaded the 145 jail calls in Zimmerman to my iPhone and will listen to them tomorrow on the 6 1/2 hour drive back to Denver. [More...]

Here we go:

“I wish this president would learn how to be an American.” - John Sununu, on Romney organized conference call with reporters.

Nice.

I'm on Daily Kos Radio with Jesse LaGreca at 11. Listen here.

Podcast here:

Open Thread.

Just Zimmerman here.

Update: Please familiarize yourself with TalkLeft's commenting rules on this case before commenting.

Update: (Jeralyn): I extended my trip for a few days. I'm now in Telluride and have not been online -- not even to read email. This morning I opened my e-mail and there was one from the State's Attorney saying the Witness 9 calls and jail calls were available and additional money had to be in their office by Weds. Since I was not expecting another payment so soon, I did not bring either my fedex account info or a business check with me. Nonetheless, I made it to a bank to get a money order (they don't take personal checks) and to Fedex.

I listened to 2 minutes of the cousin's calls (added: and having previously heard her 2/28 interview) didn't believe a word she said. She was tentative and her tears sounded phoney. That of course, is just my opinion. I'm pretty surprised Judge Lester ordered their release.[More]

I'm doing Daily Kos Radio with Jesse LaGreca at 11. You can listen here.

No Zimmerman please. I'll post separate Open Thread for that.

Open Thread.

Your turn.

Open Thread.

Despite concerted attempts by the Media and its "factcheckers" to dismiss the Bain story, Mitt Romney has blown it so badly that it is now the Media issue of the campaign. While Romney is clearly suffering badly under the Obama onslaught on Bain (mostly I submit, mostly due to his own political incompetence -- how in blazes does he expect to distance himself from Bain - the company he founded, owned and ran for 25 years? The very company that is basically his "economic" credential? Incredible political incompetence), so too are the "factcheckers", who have become subjects of ridicule and lampooning at this point.

The tipping point was the Boston Globe story on Bain's SEC's filings from 1999 to 2002, which listed Romney as the CEO, Chairman of the Board and sole stockholder of the company whike earning at minimum, $100,000 a year for serving as Bain CEO. Since then other articles and information have come out that pretty much point to Romney having a continuing involvement with Bain during that period. Let me say that that is as it should be given Romney's retention of the titles mentioned above. If he wasn't involved, one would have to question Romney's basic competence. But for whatever reason, Romney has chosen to lie about his role in Bain from the 1999 to 2002 period, making the story much bigger than it would have been -- it now becomes about Romney's character as well as his policies (See Krugman for why discussion of Bain by the Obama campaign makes sense in the larger political narrative regarding the GOP-Romney policy of taking from the poor and the middle class to give more to the rich.)

A somewhat surprising casualty of the Bain story is the "factcheckers", who look like complete fools (or worse.) In particular, Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post, who has been bombarded with ridicule for his assertion that the Bain SEC filings describing Romney as CEO, Chairman of the Board and sole stockholder as not being relevant to whether Romney was involved with Bain. It's gotten so bad that Kessler wrote a personal defense of his writings on the subject:

CBS and Gizmodo are reporting that the Department of Homeland Security has developed a new device which uses laser-based scanning technology to search people for traces of “explosives, dangerous chemicals, or bioweapons.” Explosive and narcotics residue detection is certainly nothing new, but the ability to detect it from 164-feet away and without physical contact is nearly unprecedented in law enforcement investigation.

Developed by the private tech company In-Q-Tel, nicknamed the “Wizards of Langley,” the Picosecond Programmable Laser (PPL) is leaps and bounds ahead of the x-ray machines, millimeter wave scanners, and residue detectors the TSA currently uses in airports across the country. In contrast to the current models, which all require either direct contact or extremely close proximity to the subjects, this new device works:

by blasting its target with lasers which vibrate molecules that are then read by the machine that determine what substances a person has been exposed to. This could be Semtex explosives or the bacon and egg sandwich they had for breakfast that morning.

[More....]

I'm off to Aspen for a 75th birthday party for Hunter Thompson. (Not the live reading of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas going on at the Hotel Jerome. George McGovern and Hunter's son Juan will be among the readers.)

I'll be checking in but not blogging much if at all for the next few days. Maybe BTD will check in, you never know. BTD - Something tomorrow. Promise.

(Thanks to Fishcamp for the photo.)

Enjoy your weekend, whatever you are doing, and this is an open thread, all topics welcome.