WaPo:

During an interview on "Fox News Sunday," which was filmed after Saturday's rally, Beck claimed that Obama "is a guy who understands the world through liberation theology, which is oppressor-and-victim." "People aren't recognizing his version of Christianity," Beck added.

Beck made the remarks in answer to a question about his previous accusation that Obama was a "racist" who has "a deep-seated hatred for white people." He contended that that statement "was not accurate" and that he had "miscast" Obama's religious beliefs as racism.

Heretic! Burn the heretic! Pretty funny coming from a Mormon. I'm pretty sure Beck has not the first clue what liberation theology actually means. Hell, I doubt it has any political potency (who in the hell in America knows what liberation theology means? I do but that comes from my college days, which were not yesterday.) If he did, he'd know better than to associate Obama with it (for better or worse), but no matter. Ross Douthat fluffed Beck in today's NYTimes. Do we expect any comment on this from Beck from Douthat?

Speaking for me only

As I said earlier, I turned off the Emmys after the Aaron Paul and Bryan Cranston won for Breaking Bad, my favorite show this year. That made my Emmy night.

I've got jails aplenty to visit tommorrow, so in case I won't be around to put up a morning thread, here's one for you , all topics welcome.

Update: I lost interest after the last update. When I heard the incredibly depressing song by Jewel, I turned off the TV. Hope I didn't miss anything good.

Update: 7:33 pm: The first upset: Kyra Sedgwick (Closer) beats Julianna Margulies for Best Actress in a drama. Another good skit: the "Year in Variety" with musical acts, Colbert, and Conan. Jimmy's energy is holding.

Update: 7:04 pm: Hooray! Aaron Paul, the nominee I was rooting for the most tonight, just won Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for Breaking Bad. He was incredible this season as was the show. And Bryan Cranston just won again for best lead actor for the show. I'm so glad to see this show get its due.

Another great call: Archie Punjabe for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama for The Good Wife. This bodes well for Julianna Margulies. The Good Wife started weak, but ended up being a really strong show.

Update: 6:47 pm: Glad to see Edie Falco win for Nurse Jackie, although Season 1 was better than Season 2. She is very good. I also liked the reality skit, especially Snooki taking Obama to task for the tanning tax. Top Chef wins. What's with all the Oprah commercials with her shrieking? Does she really do that on her show? [More...]

The 2010 Emmy Awards will be broadcast live without tape delay across the country tonight. The awards start at 8pm ET, 5pm PT. But the red carpet arrivals and backstage action begin earlier. On Twitter, the official hashtag is #emmys10.

[More...}

Via Sentencing Law and Policy, Steve Sady, chief deputy federal public defender for the District of Oregon who argued the case of Barber v. Thomas in the Supreme Court, writes a commentary, Too Much Time in Prison, in tomorrow's National Law Journal.

In a nutshell: Congress mandated federal prisoners serve 85% of their time, but according to the odd formula the Bureau of Prisons uses to calculate the 85%, it turns out prisoners get only 12.8%, and the Supreme Court has upheld their formula. How? "By finding that the phrase "term of imprisonment" could be interpreted in different ways within the same sentence of the statute." [More...]

Open Thread.

I do not have particularly strong feelings about Sarah Palin. To me she is a fairly standard issue wingnut, with some decent political skills. She may be a force in the Republican Party, but the reality is Sarah Palin will never hold high national office (she could of course be a Senator from Alaska anytime she wants to be - where she can join the likes of Inhofe, Coburn and DeMint in the Know Nothing extreme right wing of the Republican Party, but she will never be President.) Because of that, this column seems startlingly off base:

Since the 2008 election, progressive leaders have done little to address the obvious national appetite for female leadership. And despite (or because of) their continuing obsession with Ms. Palin, they have done nothing to stop an anti-choice, pro-abstinence, socialist-bashing Tea Party enthusiast from becoming the 21st century symbol of American women in politics.

Say what? This strikes me as ridiculous. Palin is a run of the mill extreme right wing Republican Know Nothing, who happens to be a woman. There is nothing about her stances that addresses womens issues, nor could there be in the Republican Party, which finds womens issues to be anathema. Of course many women are Republicans, but not because of womens issues. Sarah Palin is no symbol of women in politics. She's just an extremist in the Republican Party, who happens to be a woman. While the column's thesis that a strong political female figure fighting for womens rights is necessary seems right to me, using Palin as the takeoff point of this argument makes it a silly column.

Speaking for me only

This opinion is significant in that Laura Tyson is a member of President Obama’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board. Tyson writes:

OUR national debate about fiscal policy has become skewed, with far too much focus on the deficit and far too little on unemployment. There is too much worry about the size of government, and too little appreciation for how stimulus spending has helped stabilize the economy and how more of the right kind of government spending could boost job creation and economic growth. By focusing on the wrong things, we are in serious danger of failing to do the right things to help the economy recover from its worst labor market crisis since the Great Depression.

There is some silliness in Tyson's piece, like this -- "By easing capital market concerns about the government’s future borrowing needs, such a plan would permit larger deficits and slower debt reduction while unemployment is still high." There are no discernible "capital market concerns" about the public debt, as Tyson herself implicitly acknowledges when she states that borrowing costs for the federal government are near all time lows. But for the most part, her message is compelling and necessary. Now if only the President and the rest of his economic team would get on board.

Speaking for me only

Already the media pundits are predicting "hard time" for Paris Hilton after last night's arrest in Las Vegas on a cocaine possession charge.

I doubt it. First off, while possession of cocaine is a class E felony in Nevada, the statute mandates probation except in certain instances, and Paris doesn't fit any of the exceptions. Nevada, like most states, also has deferred sentencing for those who are guilty of such offenses, allowing them to end up without a permanent conviction on their record.

Paris' prior conviction in CA was for alcohol-related reckless driving, a misdemeanor. She's no longer on probation. [More...]

It's "Restoring Honor" Day. Bob Herbert:

America is better than Glenn Beck. For all of his celebrity, Mr. Beck is an ignorant, divisive, pathetic figure. On the anniversary of the great 1963 March on Washington he will stand in the shadows of giants — Abraham Lincoln and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Who do you think is more representative of this nation?

This is an Open Thread.

Here's some of the news I missed while at work today:

6,000 pounds of cocaine seized in Florida is worth $80 million. In Sacramento, 475 pounds of meth seized last week was worth $100 million -- until the Sheriff decided it was 600 pounds and worth $200 million. In India, authorities seized a lab and found 16 pounds of meth authorities value at RS 13 crore, around $3 million. (Rs 16 Cr = USD 4 million). Do they just pull these numbers out of a hat?

The India meme: The drugs were made in India, by companies using Iranian and Chinese chemists, and headed to cartels in Central and South America who would then send them to the U.S. [More...]

By now you should know about the offensive Glenn Beck "Restoring Honor" event to take place at the Lincoln Memorial on the 47th Anniversary of MLK's "I Have A Dream Speech." Truly one of the more offensive stunts in recent memory. And no doubt the day will provide us coverage of this:

With this:

Which puts in mind this: