The critics hate Harry's Law but viewers are loving it. I like it. Far-fetched? Sure, but so was Ally McBeal and Boston Legal, two of David E. Kelley's other shows. The idea of combining a law office and a designer shoe store in the same space is unlikely to happen in real life, but it sure would be fun.

It's great to have a law show which showcases the human side of defendants and allows the lead character to pontificate against the war on drugs and over-incarceration. It's also very funny and Kathy Bates plays the role perfectly.

It's on tonight, after The Bachelor (you have to change channels though, otherwise you'll end up watching Castle, just another cop show.)

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

What's on your agenda today? I think everyone is having a better day than Jane Hamsher of Firedoglake, who is at Quantico with David House to deliver 42,000 signed petitions to Bradley Manning. They are being detained and their car has been searched, inventoried and now towed. Follow along on her Twitter feed. The latest:

In tow truck, waiting 2 b escorted off Quantico base. No idea how @DavidMHouse & I get back to DC.

Update: Here is statement of what happened.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

President Obama will strike a centrist tone in his State of the Union Address. Doesn't he always?

Bath Salts are the new drug in crosshairs of the war on drugs.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Republican Senator James Inhofe today on Obama's plans to restart military commission trials at Guantanamo:

I knew then that we couldn’t afford to close GITMO, because it is nothing less than a crown jewel.

Charles Manson follower Patricia Krenwinkle has a parole hearing today. At 63, she has a clean record during her 40 years of incarceration. Will she get parole? Highly unlikely. (Update: parole denied.)

Omar Saeed Sheikh, the Briton convicted of killing reporter Daniel Pearl, is likely to be freed, as a new report shows the Pakistanis used tainted evidence to convict him and vein analysis shows Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who confessed during his forced interrogations, was the killer. The report is here. The U.S. does not plan to charge him since it would complicate their 9/11 case. Saeed Sheikh has been appealing his conviction for 9 years.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Is anyone going to watch Kathy Bates on her new show Harry's Law tonight? I am.

Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

I'm working today so here's an open thread, all topics welcome. (I'll be back online tonight.)

For those of you following the news and serious topics, here's an open thread. All topics welcome.

Open Thread.

Open Thread.

I'm just catching up with the news today. Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

One of those days.

Open thread.

It's three degrees outside but I am headed out for dinner.

Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.