Via Yglesias, this is hilarious:

Gov. Rick Perry, raising the specter of a showdown with the Obama administration, suggested Thursday that he would consider invoking states’ rights protections under the 10th Amendment to resist the president’s healthcare plan, which he said would be "disastrous" for Texas.

Not since Andrew Jackson and John C. Calhoun grappled over tariffs have we seen a State claim the right to "nullify" a federal law. But Republicans seem capable anything these days. Hell, the Roberts Court might even uphold such a claim.

Speaking for me only

Anyone interested in talking health care anymore? Me, I am all about the Tour de France, which travels to the classic ride up Mont Ventoux tomorrow. Contador (as I predicted) is going to win the Tour easily. Contratemps with Armstrong have continued but he has let the cat out of the bag - he and Bruyneel will form their own team with Radio Shack as the sponsor. LA is fighting to hold 3rd. Should be an exciting race tomorrow. Definitely worth watching.

This is an Open Thread.

Hilarious:

Cambridge Police Sergeant James M. Crowley is considering a defamation lawsuit, according to his lawyer.

Who would he sue exactly? Gates presumably. I wonder which statement was "defamatory" in the legal sense. Some thoughts from Turley:

A defamation lawsuit would raise some novel issues. There is no question that the suggestion that Crowley acted with racial prejudice is injurious to his professional standing, particularly given his status as an expert on combating profiling. Impugning the professional integrity of another is a per se category of defamation for slander.

This is bad legal analysis in my view. The opinion protection to defamation is what is in play here. BTW, I hope this ends the notion expressed by some commenters here that Crowley is not doing anything to forward the story. Just heard Crowley is going to have a press conference. Incredible. Great visual at the press conference - a bunch of white men defending Crowley. But Crowley has been advised not to speak. A day late obviously. This is hilarious. Now ripping Obama. Hilarious. That'll help race relations in Cambridge. My gawd, what a clown show. Demanding an apology from Obama. WHITE COPS of the world UNITE! they object to the charges being dropped! Excellent! Gates fires back:

I commented in real time that I thought President Obama made a mistake in his press conference the other night in taking on Gates-Gate. His objective for that press conference was to drive the narrative on health care reform. He stepped on his own message. President Obama acted stupidly there imo. Of course, being a good friend of Gates may have influenced his actions. But that does not make it not stupid.

President Obama of course is not stupid. In fact, he appears to be quite a brilliant man. But even brilliant people do stupid things sometimes. (Even me . . .) But because discussing the Gates matter may have been stupid (we all have opinions, maybe it was brilliant. Who knows?), that does not mean he was wrong in characterizing the behavior of Officer Crowley and the Cambridge Police Department as stupid. In my view, he is right on that. And Officer Crowley continues to act stupidly. As does the brilliant Media critic Bob Somerby. Somerby writes:

Paul Krugman writes:

The talking heads on cable TV panned President Obama’s Wednesday press conference. You see, he didn’t offer a lot of folksy anecdotes. Shame on them. The health care system is in crisis. The fate of America’s middle class hangs in the balance. And there on our TVs was a president with an impressive command of the issues, who truly understands the stakes.

But this is not new. When has the Media ever known anything about any issues? When has there ever been actual substantive discussion of issues in the Media? Never in my adult life. Heck, they do not even know much about politics really.

This is an old theme with me. The problem with the Media is not its bias. We know where they stand - Fox with the GOP. Parts of MSNBC with the Dems. The rest with the Establishment and the status quo. The problem is they have no idea what they are talking about for the most part. In short, the Media is incompetent. At one time, this was a serious, almost insurmountable, problem. But the Media is not very influential anymore. So President Obama should be able to get some things done.

More . . .

Maybe President Obama's new drug czar Gil Kerlikowske was high on some bad drug when he said this in Fresno Wednesday?

[T]he federal government views marijuana as a harmful and addictive drug, he said. "Marijuana is dangerous and has no medicinal benefit."

NORML responds:[More...]

Who polices the police? We do -- thanks to the NAACP's Rapid Report System.

[The Rapid Report System is] a quick, effective way for citizens to report instances of police misconduct, and to help public safety officials move beyond the “tough on crime” policies that have lost their effectiveness.

Witnesses to police misconduct can document their observations by sending text messages and forwarding pictures and videos taken with a cell phone to a central location. Web-based reporting is also available.

Why is the initiative necessary? [more ...]

Looks like Jillian Harris, the Bachelorette, is either going to end up alone or with someone who makes it the most dramatic finale ever in Bachelorette history.(Like they've never said that before.)

Love is a rose but you better not pick it,
Only grows when it's on the vine...

Here's Linda Ronstadt's 1977 version.

Ok, I know you don't care about the Bachelorette, so this is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Via Sentencing Law and Policy, President Obama announced his first appointment to the U.S. Sentencing Commission....and she's a former Federal Public Defender, not former federal prosecutor. Great news and great choice.

The official press release is here.

Ketanji Brown Jackson, 38, is Of Counsel at Morrison & Foerster, LLP in Washington, D.C., where she has worked since 2007. From 2005 to 2007, she was an Assistant Federal Public Defender in the District of Columbia. From 2003 to 2005, Ms. Jackson served as Assistant Special Counsel to the U.S. Sentencing Commission. From 1998 to 1999 and 2000 to 2003, Ms. Jackson was in private practice. Ms. Jackson served as law clerk to the Honorable Patti B. Saris (U.S. District Court of Massachusetts), the Honorable Bruce M. Selya (U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit), and the Honorable Stephen G. Breyer (U.S. Supreme Court).

Ms. Hepatitis C, Kristen Diane Parker, faces an additional 42 charges in the Indictment (pdf) against her that was returned today.

All of the new charges only cover Parker's alleged conduct at Rose and not her last employer, Audubon. Testing on patients continues, and more charges could come in later indictments.

Parker could spend the rest of her life in prison if she is convicted.

Background here.

I'm still working and our morning thread is full.

The pundits are luke-warm on Obama's presser. Bloggers, too, are all over the map.

As to whether Congress should recess or not, here's what he said in Cleveland today.

"We just heard today that, well, we may not be able to get the bill out of the Senate by the end of August, or the beginning of August," Obama said. "That's OK. I just want people to keep on working. Just keep working."

While I finish my motions, here's another open thread for you, all topics welcome.

I'm busy at work today. For those of you interested in Obama's comments on the police action in arresting Professor Gates, here's the police report and some of the police officer's response to Obama's comments last night are here:

Crowley told WEEI sports radio network that it was "disappointing that (Obama) waded into what should be a local issue that plays out here."
Crowley told the radio station that he supports the president "to a point, I guess."

In other news, a U.S. citizen arrested in Pakistan for helping al Qaeda has pleaded guilty and is supplying information.

A new report is out on our overuse of life without parole. Sentencing Law and Policy has the details and links.

Here's an open thread to discuss whatever you would like.

Update: This thread is over 200 comments and now closed. A new one is up here.