Paris Hilton is tweeting up a storm about how much she loves Bali. It's her first visit. She tweeted a few hours ago, "Make a wish. 11.1l.11"

Since I've stood up for Paris on TalkLeft so many times during her various legal difficulties, I thought I'd ask her a favor. I tweeted her in reply:

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Law Professor David Cole in the New York Times Review of Books writes about the secret memo of authorizing the extra-judicial, targeted killing of American citizens, Anwar al-Awlaki and drone attacks. Shorter version: We need established defined rules and transparency.

In a democracy the state’s power to take the lives of its own citizens, and indeed of any human being, must be subject to democratic deliberation and debate. War of course necessarily involves killing, but it is essential that the state’s power to kill be clearly defined and stated in public—particularly when the definition of the enemy and the lines demarcating war and peace are as murky as they are in the current conflict.

Secret memos, with or without leaked accounts to The New York Times, are no substitute for legal or democratic process. As long as the Obama administration insists on the power to kill the people it was elected to represent—and to do so in secret, on the basis of secret legal memos—can we really claim that we live in a democracy ruled by law?

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Newt Gingrich, via the New York Times, said in 1995, while he was weighing whether to run for the Presidency:

Speaker Newt Gingrich said on Friday that he would ask Congress to enact legislation imposing the death penalty on drug smugglers, and he suggested that mass executions of people convicted under such a law might prove an effective deterrent.

..."The first time we execute 27 or 30 or 35 people at one time, and they go around Colombia and France and Thailand and Mexico, and they say, 'Hi, would you like to carry some drugs into the U.S.?' the price of carrying drugs will have gone up dramatically."

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Do any of these Republicans know what they are talking about? For whatever reason, there's another Republican debate tonight. Newt Gingrich falsely claimed Anwar al-Awlaki was convicted. When the moderator challenged him on it, he said something like "well he was convicted by a military report given to the President." When challenged that's not what the law means by conviction, he said he's an enemy combatent so that's exactly what it means.

I'd bet he wasn't paying attention and confused al-Awlaki with someone else (a brain lapse), and instead of admitting it, tried to swim out of it. He sank.

We've got big snow in the mountains and fierce winds in Denver. If you're in the neighborhood of either and looking for something to do tonight, and a fan of vintage clothing or the Bachelor/Bachelorette, head up to Breckenridge for the opening party for Vintage Sweet and Chic, at 215 South Main. (photo here).

The store is co-owned by former Bachelor contestant Ann Csincsak, married to former Bachelorette winner and snowboarder Jesse Csincsak, and Katie Meyer. A bunch of former Bach/B'ette contestants will be there, as well as Evel Dick from Big Brother and some current and former Survivor contestants. [More...]

William Cellini, a co-defendant of Rod Blagojevich who went to trial separately and was convicted a few weeks ago, will file a motion for a mistrial based on a juror's lying about her past criminal record. She had two felonies and denied having any both on her questionnaire and in jury selection.

Illinois automatically restores the right to sit on a jury to felony and misdemeanor offenders once they have been released from jail or prison or discharged from probation.

Illinois law does not exclude convicted persons from jury service, nor is a prior conviction grounds for a juror challenge for cause, though jurors must to be “[f[ree from all legal exception, of fair character, of approved integrity, [and] of sound judgment.” 705 Ill. Comp. Stat. 305/2.

Federal law only disqualifies convicted felons from serving on juries if their right to do so has not been restored by the state. This juror's rights were automatically restored.
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Here are my picks:

I've ridden Stanford all year. But I am taking Oregon +3½ today, BEST BET (9 units). In other important BCS games - Oklahoma State -17 over Texas Tech (4 unite) and Boise State -15 over TCU (5 units).

They will play a game today in Happy Valley. Without commenting on whether they should, I believe Penn State will play extremely well and Nebraska will be unnerved. I like Penn St(+4).

Other games-Notre Dame -21 over Maryland, Arizona State -11 over Washington State, Nevada -16 over Hawaii, Alabama -18 over Mississippi State, UCLA +7 over Utah (3 units), Idaho +21 over BYU, Cincinnati -3½ over West Virginia, Louisville -3 over Pittsburgh (3 units),Army +7½ over Rutgers, Missouri +1 over Texas (5 units), Clemson -17 over Wake Forest, USC -12 over Washington, Illinois +1 over Michigan, Colorado +11 over Arizona, Michigan State -3 over Iowa (4 units), Miami (Florida) +9 over Florida State (5 units), Auburn +13 over Georgia, Kansas State +5 over Texas A&M, Baylor -20 over Kansas (3 units.)

Go Gators!

Just another sign Republicans are all about grandstanding. They don't even care about winning the election. The latest CBS News Poll finds Republicans overwhelmingly believe Mitt Romney is the only one who can beat Obama, but they still would rather see someone who thinks like them get the nomination -- like Cain, who they believe only has a 20% chance of beating Obama. Perry and Gingrich's odds are even less than Cain's in their eyes.

Four out of ten Republicans believe Mitt Romney would be the most likely candidate to beat President Obama in the general election, according to a new CBS News poll....

[Romney] led Herman Cain by a 2-to-1 margin with 40 percent support. Cain trailed in the category with just 20 percent, followed by Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry, each with six percent.

58% said it's more important that their candidate agree with them on issues than beat Obama.

They just want to make noise. No wonder I've tuned them out. [More...]

This was inevitable. Former graduate assistant, now assistant coach Mike McGeary has been placed on administrative leave. He will be paid during the leave term.

Some are asking why he wasn't fired outright, given that he didn't stop the assault or call police. Neither the school nor the police are saying.

Via CBS:

Asked if McQueary would be fired, [Penn State's new president, Rod] Erickson said "there are complexities to that issue that I am not prepared to go into at this point." Asked about the status of athletic director Tim Curley, Erickson said, "That's an ongoing topic of discussion. We'll return to that next week."

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The cause of the helicopter crash today that killed Mexico Interior Minister Francisco Blake Mora, the most visible force behind President Calderon's War on Drugs and Mexico's second most important officical, is unknown and under investigation. Some will speculate drug gangs may be responsible, as they did after a similar crash of another Minister a few years ago. The pilots were air force pilots with 20 years experience. This was the first crash of this kind of helicopter, a Super Puma TPH-06 in 6 years. The Mexican Government has six of them.

I saw conflicting reports as to whether Blake Mora was en route to a judicial meeting or a prosecutor's meeting. The answer isn't hard to find. He was headed to a meeting on judicial reform attended by judges and prosecutors.

President Obama today at Arlington National Cemetary:

"My fellow Americans, our troops are coming home..."After a decade of war, the nation we now need to build is our own."

..."the 9/11 Generation will play a pivotal role in rebuilding America...On this Veterans Day, I ask every American: recruit our veterans."

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Billy Crystal is going to host the Academy Awards. He was my favorite host ever.

Who's going home on the X-Factor? I didn't think Stacy Francis was good last night, poor choice of song but I hope she makes it through. Rachel Crow was terrific as was Astro. I really like Josh Krajek. I also hope Chris Rene stays. And Marcus. I think it's time for Stereo Hogz or Lakoda Rayne to go home. Like last week, the bottom two will do a sing-off and the judges will make the final call.

Does anyone have a Vita-Mix? What do you make in it? I got one yesterday and just set it up and now have no idea what to make with it. It's so much bigger and heavier than I thought it would be.

I'm sure there's other news, so here's an open thread, all topics welcome.