It's time for the Tuesday open thread where you pick the topics. Have fun and stay warm. I'll check in later in the day.

Some stuff I'm reading:

• Media Matters challenges Chris Matthews' statements on Hardball yesterday touting Rudy Giuliani. I happened to catch that segment and just shook my head. Thanks to MM for the real facts.

• Judi Nathan Giuliani touts Rudy's testosterone and his loving side (gag reflex inducing) (hat tip Raw Story)

• Ted Haggard says he's completely heterosexual, he never was gay, just acting out.

Both Balkanization and Beltway Blogroll today discuss a rash of proposed state bills that would hold bloggers liable for defamatory content posted by others on their website -- and why they seemed doomed to fail.

Note that there is nothing wrong with holding bloggers responsible for defamatory content that they themselves produce, as long as the states' rules are consistent with the constitutional rules of New York Times v. Sullivan and later cases. Section 230 only affects state laws that try to hold a blogger liable for content posted by someone else.

I try to delete what I consider defamatory content once it's called to my attention. But sometimes, people don't tell me about it, they e-mail me when I'm too busy to read e-mail and I don't see it in the comments because I can't read every comment on this site. And TalkLeft isn't one of the highest-trafficked blogs out there -- certainly not in the sense of a Daily Kos, Atrios or their right-wing counterparts.

There's no question it's a drag to read something disgusting about yourself on the Internet. But the remedy it seems to me is to go after the person who wrote it or who further disseminates it, not the person whose site it got posted on. And I think we already have laws on the books for that.

I'm heading back to Denver today after three days at the Scooter Libby trial. As always, a huge thanks to TChris and Big Tent for posting in my absence and on other topics.

I'll be popping in and out here as I have internet access, but here's a place for you to talk about what's on your mind.

I'm sitting in the media room at the courthouse in D.C., laptop set up on the table in front of me, my Starbucks in hand. Judith Miller is today's big witness, but first we have to finish David Addington, Cheney's former counsel and current chief of staff. I'm going to watch Addington from here, and then go in the courtroom for Miller.

Marcy will be live-blogging the testimony at Firedoglake.

Here's a place for you to discuss the news of day or whatever else is on your mindws.

One reader has reported the site is not loading properly for him and that the sidebars are loading very slowly and the comments are skewed. I am not having the problem. Is anyone else experiencing this?

Jane Hamsher is back to posting after her surgery, which thankfully, she says went really well. She'll be recovered enough to travel to D.C. to cover the Libby trial beginning Feb. 5th.

What great news, it's great to have her back. Go on over and tell her yourselves.

It's rare for TalkLeft to have open threads two days in a row. But my cable modem crashed today leaving me without internet access except the slowest kind. Comcast is coming to fix it between 10 and 12 Thursday morning, right before I leave for my appontments of the day. So, until I get it all squared away, I won't be blogging.

Has anyone tried having both cable and dsl working in their house? I'm thinking about it, because then when one goes down at least the other would work. The Cingular WWAN on my laptop moves at the speed of dialup, making it impossible to blog enjoyably...I think of blogging as the Internet on speed, or as the difference between skiing and snowboarding, and when I have two desktops and three laptops in my house and all are working at the speed of dialup, it's just no fun.

So, I'll be back as soon as Comcast fixes the problem , which should be 10 to noon tomorrow morning. In the meantime, here's another open thread for you.

With the Scooter Libby trial beginning yesterday, I forgot to put up the Tuesday open thread. So here's a Wednesday open thread.

If you've got something to report or talk about besides Libby and SOTU, here's the spot.

I know that PPJ is just dying to talk about whether Joseph Wilson was right or wrong in his criticism of Cheney and the Administration, which really has no bearing on the Libby trial, so that topic is fair game here.

I've got the dentist in the morning followed by court in the afternoon, so check in with Firedoglake and Media Bloggers if you're looking for up to the minute Libby trial coverage.

[I'll be bumping this to the top for a few days. Thanks to all who have contributed, I'll be sending thank you emails soon.]

I'm leaving Denver Sunday to attend and live-blog the Scooter Libby trial Monday and Tuesday (Jan. 29 and 30) in Washington, D.C., with a press pass graciously provided by Firedoglake. I'll be live-blogging on their site and cross-posting here.

I'll be returning to D.C. on Feb. 19 to live-blog the trial Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (Feb. 20-22)with a press pass from MediaBloggers.org

I'm not being paid for my blogging. I will be paying for these trips (not to mention losing seven working days from my day job.)

The travel expenses will amount to about $1,500.00 for both trips. While contributions from everyone who appreciates TalkLeft are welcome, I'm hoping that particularly you lurkers out there who read TalkLeft almost every day but don't comment or usually contribute, will chip in to help me recoup some of the expenses.

If you'd rather donate anonymously, please use Amazon here.

As always, thanks in advance. Your generosity is really appreciated. As an added incentive, the top three donors will get a free TalkLeft 4th Amendment Subway Tote.

A big thanks to TChris and Big Tent Democrat for posting the past few days while I've been at a seminar in Miami. I'll be home late tonight and back to regular posting Sunday at some point.

If we haven't covered your topic du jour in a few days, here's some space for you.

Finally, an open thread this week. It's a travel day for me, flying across the country. It will be late tonight before I see an internet connection again.

Hopefully TChris or Big Tent Democrat will have something to say, so feel free to check during the day. Some other stuff:

• Scribe has a new diary on current events in Germany and the culture of fear that he ties into our government's war on terror.

• Is That Legal has a a World-War-II counterexample to Cully Stimson's outrageous argument about the lawyers representing the Guantanamo detainees.

• Talking Dog has an interview with H. Candace Gorman, a Chicago based Civil Rights lawyer now representing two North Africans detained at Guantanamo, including one who the U.S. military itself deemed not an enemy combatant, a ruling overruled by the Pentagon higher-ups

• For all things Libby, check out Firedoglake.

• On a romantic note, check out Farrfeed's beautiful anniversary post.

Jane Hamsher, of Firedoglake, is not only an unbelievable blogger who has put together one of the best, brightest and most thoughtful blog communities on the Internets, she's an incredibly humble human being.

Please go give her some blog love as she reveals today she is about to undergo surgery for her third bout with breast cancer. And don't forget to read the 500 comments posted so far. What a community the blogosphere is.

No one has covered the Valerie Plame and Scooter Libby investigations more than Jane. Her insights and writing ability on all Plame topics have been unparalleled in the blogosphere.

How cruel that she worked for months to secure the only in courtroom press pass awarded to a blogger in the Libby trial, as well as a media courtroom pass, arranged for the FDL crew to have a house in D.C. while covering the trial, and now she can't be there because she's going in for surgery.

The only good news is that she expects to fully recover, and get this because it's pure Jane, anticipates being in D.C. to cover the trial beginning Feb. 4.

You go, Jane. You're not only a survivor, but a winner. My hat is off to you. Take care of yourself, listen to your doctors, and I hope to see you in D.C. in February.