Open thread.

7-7 last week. 49-52-1 on the season. Yanks out. Gators in tatters. But today begins a new run. Let's start with the Missouri Tigers playing at home against BCS #1 Oklahoma. I like the Tigers (+4) at home. I've now watched 3 Oklahoma games and 2 Mizzou games. Oklahoma is not that good and Mizzou is better than I thought. The emotion of playing at home can carry them through.

I've become a believer in Auburn. I think they are going to win the SEC. And it starts by giving LSU a beatdown today at home. I love Auburn (-6) in this game. A 10 unit play. More . . .

I've endorsed Joe DiSalvo for Pitkin County Sheriff several times over the past six months. Here's one more reason: Di Salvo supports the legalization of drugs for personal use:

DiSalvo, who is currently Pitkin County undersheriff, said he had no interest in whether people in their own homes “fire up a joint or do a line on [their] table.” That means no undercover work would be done by deputies under his command, DiSalvo said, calling the action too expensive and dangerous for law enforcement officers.

“I think adults should be able to do what they want in their own homes and do so safely,” DiSalvo said, adding that that attitude does not apply to children or people getting behind the wheel of automobiles.

Di Salvo shares the views of Aspen's retiring Sheriff (and my personal fave) Bob Braudis: [More...]

The backdrop to this outrageous comment by a prosecutor post is an Aspen Daily News article about how the budget for the DA's office in the four county district that includes Aspen (Pitkin County) is five times bigger than that for the Public Defender's office. (2/3 of the defendants charged in the district qualify for court-appointed counsel. There are 14 DA's and 4 public defenders.) The Pitkin County Commissioners asked Martin Beeson, the elected District Attorney, to cut 5% off his $3 million budget. Instead, he asked for a $600,000. increase.

When asked about the funding disparity, Beeson responded with:

“Public defenders are not defenders of the public,” Beeson said. “They are not serving the public good. They are taxpayer-funded attorneys for criminals.”

Not serving the public good? Someone needs to clue Beeson in to the purpose of the Bill of Rights. It was designed to protect the rights of the individual accused against the power of the government, by restraining the government's power. [More...]

Wikileaks has published 400,000 pages of military documents from 2004 to 2009 revealing details of murder and torture. It's the largest leak of military documents in history.

"There are over 300 recorded reports of coalition forces committing torture and abuse of detainees across 284 reports and over 1,000 cases of Iraqi security forces committing similar crimes," WikiLeaks said in a press release.

"There are numerous cases of what appear to be clear war crimes by US forces, such as the deliberate killing of persons trying to surrender," WikiLeaks said.

Via the LA Times: [More...]

The Nevada Supreme Court today upheld O.J. Simpson's convictions for armed robbery and kidnapping.

The opinion is here.

The Court reversed the conviction of his co-defendant, saying he should have received a separate trial due to, among other things, the prejudice of being tried with O.J. The opinion is here.

When will he be eligible for parole on the 33 year sentence? My best guess, 9 years.

Reason magazine:

These standoffs never end with public broadcasting getting defunded. The point of the exercise isn't to cut NPR loose; it's to use the threat of cutting NPR loose to whip the network into line.

(Emphasis supplied.) In case anyone actually cares about the First Amendment, this is what it is supposed to prohibit. It's not about determining what is on Fox or what it is on NPR. It is about preventing the government from determining what is on Fox and NPR. And that's why I join the Extreme Right in seeking the removal of government funds from NPR. NPR will be the better for it:

NPR can certainly survive without the [government] subsidies. It gets very little direct money from the CPB—less than 2 percent of its budget. [T]he network has been picking up other sources of support, just this month receiving a $1.8 million grant from George Soros' Open Society Foundations—already more than half the amount it got directly this year from the feds. As for the affiliates, nothing quite boosts a public radio station's pledge week like the possibility that those Republican meanies might pump CS gas into the Morning Edition compound and set the place on fire.

Precisely. Members of NPR can have a stronger say in what NPR's mission is. Not the government hacks. This could be a great thing for NPR.

Speaking for me only

Yanks are still on the brink as they return to Texas tonight for Game 6 of the ALCS. If they find a way to win tonight, Cliff Lee will be waiting in Game 7. It will be a spectacular comeback if they can do it. The Phillies go home for Games 6 and 7 after Halladay beat Lincecum. I think the Phillies have the better chance of the comeback, with Oswalt and Hamels lined up. But the Giants just need one.

Speaking of baseball, Marvin Miller is not in the Hall of Fame. That's a disgrace. As Red Barber said, Miller is one of the 3 most important figures in the last century of baseball, with Ruth and Robinson. Here's a cool site, ThanksMarvin.com:

The election of [Bowie] Kuhn [to the Hall of Fame] and the rejection of Marvin was absurd. — Fay Vincent, Commissioner of Major League Baseball, '89-'92

I did not remember Kuhn was voted into the Hall of Fame. What a joke.

Open Thread.

LATimes media critic:

To assure its listeners that this is something more than a careless one-off or the political act its adversaries claim, NPR has two choices: Apply the "Williams standard" across the board and force all its commentators off of opinion-laden cable TV or rewrite its ethics guidelines to recognize the new media landscape where opinion-making is the coin of the land.

Can Mara Liasson, a full-time NPR employee and chief political reporter for the network, continue as a Fox News contributor? Earlier this month she seemed to be offering an opinion when she suggested to news anchor Bret Baier that President Obama needs to be careful to put "the economy No. 1 at all times."

(Emphasis supplied.) Let me get this straight, to "fix this problem," NPR has to sack Mara Liasson, Cokie Roberts, David Brooks, et al. (sorry to see E.J.Dionne go, but what the heck)? Talk about getting thrown in the briar patch. NPR's fundraising would skyrocket and significantly improve the quality of its programming. All in the name of "doing penance" for canning Juan Williams. A win-win. Though Mara Liasson would be pissed - no $2 million "protection" for you, Mara!

Speaking for me only

Via John Cole, a success for the mortgage servicers and the banks apparently ends in foreclosure:

I sent [my loan modification papers] three months ago and was told it was complete. And for the past three months, right up to the last time I checked (last Thursday) they were still at the reviewer. For three months everything has been fine, and suddenly they’re not only not fine we’ve backed up a step.

[. . .] It’s quite apparent BoA doesn’t want to do a workout, and will reject even due to its own mistakes. I expect to lose the house – I’m rather resigned to it, actually. Angry, but resigned. But I will never trust any of the banks that are involved in this mortgage mess again. I cannot trust them to act in good faith.

(Emphasis supplied.) Meanwhile, back in Washington, the Obama Administration says ""Treasury did have a robust and does have a robust compliance system in place," Barr said of HAMP, which was the administration's main effort to help three to four million strapped borrowers stay in their homes. "When we have found problems we have ordered them to be corrected and they have been corrected." You see? This is a HAMP success story!

Speaking for me only

Krugman:

[T]he new British budget announced on Wednesday and the rhetoric that accompanied the announcement might have come straight from the desk of Andrew Mellon, the Treasury secretary who told President Herbert Hoover to fight the Depression by liquidating the farmers, liquidating the workers, and driving down wages. [. . .] The British government’s plan is bold, say the pundits — and so it is. But it boldly goes in exactly the wrong direction. It would cut government employment by 490,000 workers — the equivalent of almost three million layoffs in the United States — at a time when the private sector is in no position to provide alternative employment. It would slash spending at a time when private demand isn’t at all ready to take up the slack.

[. . .] What happens now? Maybe Britain will get lucky, and something will come along to rescue the economy. But the best guess is that Britain in 2011 will look like Britain in 1931, or the United States in 1937, or Japan in 1997. That is, premature fiscal austerity will lead to a renewed economic slump. As always, those who refuse to learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.

Shades of teenager Michael Fay, only this time it's a Florida businessman who overstayed his visa. Sinapore is deciding whether to impose caning as a punishment on Kamari Charlton, 37, a former Florida State University college football player who owns a construction company in Florida.

Charlton's case is unique, his defense team argues. His wife was in the country on a six-month medical visa, while he was on a three-month tourist visa. Unlike most offenders who overstay, Maaran said, Charlton was not in Singapore to take advantage of its strong economy by working illegally. He overstayed by 169 days, according to court documents.

Charlton was arrested as he was leaving Singapore with his pregnant wife. He also faces six months in jail.[More...]