Via FDL, The Hill reports that a Blue Dog staffer is saying the Blue Dogs are planning on committing political suicide:

Bruised by a tough vote on climate change legislation in June, burned by fiery town hall meetings in August, and worried about the midterm elections to be held in November 2010, Democratic centrists and vulnerable lawmakers in the party are signaling that they are not happy with Pelosi's plan. "I don't see how we get to 218," said a senior Democratic aide. "The Blue Dogs are ‘Hell nos.’ The people who voted yes [on energy] want to vote 'no' twice."

Is this true? Nah. Gene Taylor and Travis Childers and folks like that of course will vote no. There was never ever any doubt about that. But other so called "Blue Dogs" are almost certain yes votes. From the Hill article:

In New York where I am today, it is the afternoon. But in Denver, where Jeralyn is today (I think), it is the morning (you mean it is not Thursday morning in Denver? . . .)

The Vuelta de Espana started Saturday. Through Stage 3, Spartacus (aka Fabian Cancellara) leads. But with the Vuelta dedicated to brutal mountain stages, he is not going to win. Probably thinking more about the Worlds. If you need an American rooting interest, Chris Horner is riding for Astana (where it looks like Contador is trapped for the 2010 season.)

In me-centric sports news, the Gators begin their campaign on Saturday for their third national championship in college football in the last 4 years. Go Gators! Yanks still lead the Sox by 6. I remain content.

This e-mail exchange is good. Let's everyone know what Joe Klein is - imo, stupid and no "progressive" and a McCarthyite to boot. But of course, the new Klein (the Ezra variety) is on his way to emulating the old Klein. No one else will say it, but I will. Speaking for me only of course.

This is an Open Thread.

Dan Riehl (and to a lesser extent James Joyner), miss the point Glenn Greenwald was making in his post American Royalty. Indeed, I have used a different title, American Feudalism to describe the phenomenon, because I think it is more descriptive of what Glenn is talking about.

My reading of Glenn is not that he thinks conservative nepotism is the problem, but rather the absurd view espoused by conservatives that America is some pure meritocracy. And it is not limited to celebrity journalists and political pundits. It extends to everyone. Who your parents are, what they provide you, where you come from, all has a huge effect on the opportunities life provides you. It is true for me and it is true for you. And of course it is true for Luke Russert and Jonah Goldberg and Jesse Jackson, Jr.

On a more general basis, it is true for white men versus African Americans, women, Latinos and other minorities. It is the denial of this obvious truth that Glenn is driving at. He uses celebrity examples to drive this point home. Riehl and Joyner get bogged down in the relative merits of particular examples of nepotism. Hell, they left out the most obvious liberal ones - FDR and Teddy Kennedy. The difference is I doubt very much FDR and Teddy Kennedy would have denied the advantages they were given. Conservative beneficiaries of American Feudalism deny it every day.

Speaking for me only

d-day is upset about Bill Bradley's Op-Ed on a Grand Compromise for health care reform. Always having found Bill Bradley to be the emptiest of empty suits, I am amused. Bradley wrote:

The bipartisan trade-off in a viable health care bill is obvious: Combine universal coverage with malpractice tort reform in health care.

In the words of Gail Collins (when she wrote for the NY Daily News) -- "hahahahahahahahahahahaha!" Of course there is no such Grand Compromise available. What liberal would not sign up for it right now? (Except of course any liberal medical malpractice lawyers. We all have our limits. Just ask the Selfish Socialist Seniors who scream about the government keeping its hands off their Medicare.) But what Republican WOULD sign up for it? Precisely none. But there is a lesson in this for the empty suit equivalents in the "liberal" punditocracy - from Jonathan Alter to Ezra Klein - there is no "compromise" (read capitulation) you can offer Republicans (and probably a lot of Democrats) that will get them to support health care reform. These pundits, led by Bradley's old aide Mark Schmitt, are the heirs to the political stupidity of Bill Bradley. They should be ignored.

Speaking for me only

Last week we wrote about the new forensic report establishing that the fire for which Cameron Todd Willingham was executed in Texas was not arson, but accidentally set. Texas now has the dishonor, in addition to being the state that executes the most people, of being the first state we know of that has executed an innocent person.

This week's New Yorker has a must-read article on the case by David Grann.

Barry Scheck, co-director of The Innocence Project, has some thoughts on Grann's article and some suggestions for preventing another wrongful execution in Innocent But Executed. [More...]

We're about to get a big thunderstorm. More Sunday news:

• Marijuana gaining mainstream acceptance

• Dick Cheney lashes out about torture investigations

• The California wildfires are really bad

Whats on your mind tonight? This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

The 1st Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld an award of $101.7 million against the FBI for framing four men in a gangland slaying. One man served 33 years in prison, another 29 years and the other two died in prison. The verdict was initially entered by U.S. District Court Judge Nancy Gertner following a 22 day bench trial.

Judge Gertner found the FBI not only withheld exculpatory evidence, it continued to hide it for decades after the trial. The award is to the families of Peter J. Limone, Joseph Salvati, Louis Greco, and Henry Tameleo. The appeals court wrote (opinion here):

“But when we take into account the severe emotional trauma inflicted upon the scapegoats...we cannot say with any firm conviction that those awards are grossly disproportionate to the injuries sustained.’’

We have learned that the CIA proved itself incompetent at interrogation. Of course, they also proved themselves willing to follow the criminal (yes criminal) directives of the Bush Administration on torture. I am not a fan of Eric Holder's "Abu Ghraib solution" (stick it on the small fish) to investigation of the criminal acts of the Bush Administration on torture. I prefer a Truth Commission, so that we can stamp out, from top to bottom, the view that torture can ever be justified. But I do find it amusing that the Keystone Cop torturers at the CIA are pouting about being called out for their incompetence:

Krongard, one of the few active or retired CIA officers with direct knowledge of the program willing to voice publicly what many officers are saying privately, said agency personnel now may back away from controversial programs that could place them in personal legal jeopardy should their work be exposed. "The old saying goes, 'Big operation, big risk; small operation, small risk; no operation, no risk.'" "If you're not in the intelligence business to be forward-leaning, you might as well not be in it," Krongard said.

[More...]

I heard it last night, and Digby has the critical part of Senator Edward Kennedy's letter to the Pope in the waning days of his life. It was read at his burial at Arlington National Cemetery:

I want you to know, your Holiness, that in my nearly 50 years of elective office I have done my best to champion the rights of the poor and open doors of economic opportunity. I've worked to welcome the immigrant, to fight discrimination and expand access to health care and education. I've opposed the death penalty and fought to end war. Those are the issues that have motivated me and have been the focus of my work as a United States Senator.

I also want you to know that even though I am ill, I am committed to do everything I can to get access to health care for everyone in my country. This has been the political cause of my life. I believe in a conscience protection for Catholics in the health field and will continue to advocate for it as my colleagues in the Senate and I work to develop an overall national policy that guarantees health care for everyone.

Senator Kennedy was expounding on how his Catholic faith imbued his political philosophy. He was explaining his religious values. And how they were central to his political values. Perhaps President Obama can take up THIS values argument.

Speaking for me only

California First Lady Maria Schriver, whom I like a lot, will be on Meet the Press today. She will say that her uncle Teddy Kennedy's death could spur action on health care.

Maria Shriver says the death of her uncle Sen. Edward Kennedy could provide momentum to the senator's lifetime effort to overhaul the nation's health care system.

Shriver says in an interview set to air Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press" that she thinks his passing may reinvigorate people's efforts to get it done.

I hope she's right.

Two Syrian detainees at Guantanamo have arrived in Portugal and are now free.

The U.S. has not released their names. In June, a federal judge ordered the release of Syrian detainee Abdul Rahim Abdul Razak al-Janko. The court's opinion is here (pdf.)

Al-Janko was first captured by al-Qaeda who tortured him, causing him to falsely confess he was an American spy. Then he was imprisoned by the Taliban who thought he really was an American spy. The Taliban abandoned the prison where al-Janko was being held but left him there. The Americans found him, imprisoned him in Kandahar and sent him to Guantanamo where he has remained for 7 years. Hopefully, he's one of those released to Portugal and freed.

[More...]

With every ending comes a new beginning.

From a sad day for America, to a future that remains our's to shape and define. Where should we start?

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.