The National Spelling Bee is being televised on ESPN. Go spellers! The Finals will be televised live on ABC tonight at 8 pm EST.

This is an Open Thread.

Looks like we're all busy at work today. Here's some stuff to think about:

• Law Prof Corey Young crunches some numbers on Judge Sotomayor's criminal record.

In the be careful what you wish for department, Bernie Kerik has been indicted in Washington for lying to the White House on his 2004 application for Homeland Security Chief. Similar charges were part of his New York indictment, but he had successfully moved to dismiss them.

In December, Kerik pleaded not guilty to another indictment in New York levying similar charges against him, but those charges were dismissed because the incident allegedly happened in Washington, officials said.

Now he faces trial on two indictments in separate districts.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

A little history of Memorial Day:

It was first observed in 1865 as Decoration Day by liberated slaves, who independently set up, decorated and proclaimed an ad-hoc graveyard – a field of "passionless mounds" – to honor dead Union soldiers.

Here's the original Memorial Day Order: [More...]

I'm sure some people are following politics and crime today, but I'm not one of them.

So here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday weekend. The TL kid and I are going apartment hunting (for him, his lease is up). He gets to go to the Nuggets game tonight, thanks to his dad who has a box every season at the Pepsi Center. The local news says they are selling standing room only tickets for tonight. Granted, I know nothing about basketball, but wouldn't you have a better view watching at home on TV or at a local bar?

What's on your agenda this weekend?

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Your turn.

This is an Open Thread.

The Denver Nuggets have a big game tonight. I'll be out for a while, so here's an open thread for any discussions you might want to start.

The Kentucky jury that convicted Steven Green of the Mahmudiya rape and murders, hung today on the death penalty, which means Green will be sentenced to life without parole.

All topics welcome.

Have at it.

Update (TL): Thanks, TChris for all your posting today. I just got back from a very long and painful session at the dentist and am not quite up to blogging yet. BTD is still at his conference but I think he returns tomorrow.

Your turn.

This is an Open Thread.

The TV season is winding down. Tonight is the last competiton on Dancing With The Stars (Go, Melissa!) and the finale of "24." Will Jack Bauer really die or get a last minute transfusion from his daughter?

The new season of The Bachelorette begins tonight with Jillian (#3 from Jason's season) meeting 30 guys and sending 10 home.

What are you doing and thinking about tonight? This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Update: As I've mentioned before, rather than continuing to write about TV here, I decided to start a new site for my tv and movie posts. I just put it up today, so if you're interested, come on over to PopLeft.com. It's a work in progress, let me know what you think.

No TV for me tonight except the season finale of Desperate Housewives. But, finally, it's in the 80's here and we've got our Colorado sunshine back again. I've had the stereo on instead of the TV all afternoon, KBCO has been playing great music. (And you can now get an iTunes HD app for them.)

The TL kid and I are going to grill some thick steaks for dinner, with corn on the cob, salad (arugula, cucumber and strawberries, avocado and mozzarella) and fresh asparagus. And a nice bottle of red wine.

So, you're on your own. This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

BTD is on his way to a conference where he'll be for the next several days. I'm hoping commenters will fill in for him in the open threads.

What's on your agenda this weekend? I'm going to finish reading Eric Boehlert's Bloggers on the Bus. It's fun to read a book with quotes by people you know. It's also filled with details about bloggers' backgrounds I was unaware of.

If you're looking for a good read, here it is:

Bloggers on the Bus traces the online events that rocked the campaign trail and reveals the untold stories of the internet activists who made them all possible. In the tradition of Timothy Crouse's classic, The Boys on the Bus, Bloggers on the Bus investigates the cutting edge of liberal politics to reveal the stories and scandals at its very heart.

[More...]