In the Tour de France, today is Mont Ventoux day. You can watch it online here.

This is an Open Thread.

The last thread is filling up and I am off for a while so here is an Open Thread and a Link to my friend Al Giordano's coverage of the "authentic mass movement" for Zelaya in Honduras. I am tweaking Al a little bit but it is an interesting perspective. I do recommend reading him on these (and other) things, though I often disagree with him. (We have disagreed about Chavez for years and years.)

By the way, the Venceremos! also applies to the Yankees, winners of 7 straight and 2.5 games clear of the Red Sox in the AL East. Go Yanks!

This is an Open Thread.

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.

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.

Stage 17 of the Tour de France is being contested in the French Alps and features 6 mountain climbs. While most of the attention is on the battle for the yellow jersey, where Alberto Contador will be attacked by Andy Schleck's team Saxo Bank, a lot of attention will be focused on Lanterne Rouge "leader" Kenny Van Hummel. Can he survive 6 mountain climbs?

Here is more on the Lanterne Rouge Tradition.

This is an Open Thread.

Lawyers working. Your turn.

This is an Open Thread.

Great version that made the rounds of Facebook last night, thanks to Larisa at At Largely. Perfect intro to "Weeds" and "Nurse Jackie" which have new episodes tonight. (And yes, the Bachelorette is on, but it's a rewind episode called the "Men Tell All" with only the early rejected guys, none of the final four and I already wrote about it here.)

What are you watching, or not, tonight? This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Bob Somerby wrote for rubes on Saturday about the Sotomayor hearings. Somerby wrote:

On Thursday morning, [Sen. Kyl] asked Sotomayor, again and again, to identify the precedents which compelled her decision in the Ricci case, or which would have compelled the full Second Circuit if it had addressed the matter. We’re not legal eagles here, and we’re willing to be corrected or further informed. . . . For ourselves, we don’t have a strong view on the Ricci case; we’d love to see better analysis. . . . Bottom line: Pseudo-liberals simply love to name-call southern whites. . . .

(Emphasis supplied.) Bob is writing for his rubes here. Funny how he could not find any "pseudo-liberal" analysis of Ricci. His research on the point was as good as the Media's on "Al Gore invented the Internet." Hey Bob! Here is just one analysis that could have answered your questions on Ricci. More on Somerby playing to his rubes tomorrow. This (PDF) might help Bob also.

This is an Open Thread.

Who's got something to say? It's been a slow weekend for me.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Tom Watson goes for history - trying to become the oldest winner of a golf major, in this case the British Open. The final round at Turnberry (where Watson had his legendary (for golf fans anyway) duel with Nicklaus) is must watching for golf aficionados (Spanish is IN, as Larry Wilmore might say.) You can follow online here. One interesting sidebar - Watson's closest opponent, Englishman Ross Fisher, has said he will leave the final round if his wife goes into labor today (she is due apparently.) Interesting question - is he a mensch for doing this or a louse for playing the tournament in the first place?

The Tour de France heads to the Swiss Alps today with a mountain top finish. Lance Armstrong and Johan Bruyneel (team manager of Astana, the Armstrong team (Contador is ostensibly the team leader, but Bruyneel is working for Armstrong)) spent the night deflecting criticism from George Hincapie. It seems not to have worked. The NYTImes late filing has this: "Rich Hincapie said that his brother was saddened that the Garmin-Slipstream team and Astana had been working out at the front of the pack Saturday, while the breakaway struggled to stay out front. . . . “I don’t think he has called the Astana guys or the Garmin guys to say anything, but there have been an awful lot of excuses flying around,” he said. “Why do they feel like they have to explain anything if they haven’t done anything wrong? They are obviously guilty or worried.”" Yep. Anyway, today's stage should be dramatic. You can watch it on Versus or online here.

Update - Contador explodes up the mountain. Demolishes the field. Takes yellow.

This is an Open Thread. You can even talk about politics or the criminal law if you like.

Tom Watson leads the British Open. If he can hold on tomorrow, he will become the oldest winner of a major championship.

In the Tour de France, George Hincapie, a former teammate of Lance Armstrong, who tipped Armstrong off regarding a move by Hincapie's new team in Stage 3, got scr*wed by Armstrong and his team today (Astana set the pace in the peloton for no discernible reason), keeping Hincapie from the glory of the yellow jersey. Hincapie was quite angry about it. (AP, which apparently does not have access to Versus, where Frankie Andreu interviewed a visibly angry Hincapie, who called out Astana by name), falsely reported that Hincapie had no reaction. The Tour will be decided this week in the Alps. My money remains on Contador.

This is an Open Thread.