Lindsay from Majikthise is the first to spill the beans. Blogads has arranged for about 20 bloggers to go to Amsterdam, all expenses paid, courtesy of Holland.com. The details are here.

All of the trips will take place in February. I'm going on the 16th, as is my pal Ezra Klein, who was such great company at the Democratic convention in Boston. From his comments, I learned that Amanda from Pandagon is going the same day. Even the TL kid has decided to come along.

Many thanks to Blogads for putting this together. I've never been to Amsterdam and have always wanted to go. The Holland.com people are very nice. They asked if there was anything special I wanted to see or anyone I might like to interview. I said I'd like to see the new high-tech prison and interview Joran van der sloot to present his side of the story on the missing white girl in Aruba and provide some balance to her mother who never gets off tv, but that's not what they had in mind.

Which means I just get to have fun, and I'm all for that.

Thanks to those who have noticed that there has been a paucity of advertising on TalkLeft since News Years and put a few dollars in the tip jar. They really help me out and are very appreciated.

Here's the link to TalkLeft's tip jar, if anyone else is so inclined.

It's time for the Tuesday Open Thread. Some things of interest:

• Jane of Firedoglake, Taylor Marsh and Matt Stoller (who often writes at MyDD) have created a blog for comments on Washington Post articles.

• Arianna writes that Hillary is not a lock for the '08 nomination

• Alternet also has a new blog, The Echo Chamber, that will cover how political ideas and issues are communicated and gain traction in the media universe. It aims to spread the word of the progressive community far and wide.

Congrats to three of my favorite blogs who received finalist nominations today to the 2006 Bloggies for best political blog.

Daily Kos, Crooks and Liars, Firedoglake -- those are my top three.

They are only missing Atrios and Huffington Post.

Go on over and vote for your favorite.

Update: The 2005 Koufax Awards for liberal bloggers are moving to the next phase. The initial nominees for Best New Blog and Blog Deserving of Wider Recognition are up. This is a great way to find new and interesting blogs that you don't come across every day.

Here's an open thread to get your weekend rolling.

As for me, I just loved reading Diane Keaton's post on Huffpo about turning 60. I hope I have her attitude when I get there. From Annie Hall, Looking for Mr. Goodbar and Reds through Something's Gotta Give, she has always been one of my very favorite actresses.

And here's John Conyers on the Bush's warrantless electronic surveillance program (received by e-mail.)

Danny Glover has a three part series in the National Journal (available free) on the rise of political blogs and their influence. It really covers the whole spectrum, and I recommend reading all three parts including the interviews with Arianna and Henry Copeland of Blogads.

Bin Laden has released a tape saying there will be another attack but offering up the possibility of a truce. The U.S. has rejected the truce.

Some experts say the tape will boost support for Bush. Why? Won't it just show the ineptitude of his Administration in finding Bin Laden and its misjudgement in expending resources, energies and lives on Iraq?

Update: Excerpts from the tape are here. [hat tip Patriot Daily.]

This is an open thread, all topics, not just bin Laden.

John Amato's Crooks and Liars has just hit #8 on Technorati's list of top 100 blogs. More sites link to him than to Michelle Malkin. 5,879 sites have linked to C&L in the past six months.

Congratulations, John.

As I am in court, literally as I type this, and will be for the rest of the day, here's an open thread for you.

As for how to get wireless in federal court, it's by using a WAN network through Cingular rather than a WLAN network. Or something like that. All I know is it works.

Peter Daou has a depressing but accurate assessment of the efficacy of progressive blogging - borne out by the NSA Scandal and the Alito hearings. We're one side of a broken triangle.

This, then, is the reality: progressive bloggers and online activists - positioned on the front lines of a cold civil war - face a thankless and daunting task: battle the Bush administration and its legions of online and offline apologists, battle the so-called “liberal” media and its tireless weaving of pro-GOP narratives, battle the ineffectual Democratic leadership, and battle the demoralization and frustration that comes with a long, steep uphill struggle.

....Unfortunately for the progressive netroots, the intricate interplay of Republican persuasion tactics, media story-telling, and 21st century information flow seems beyond the ken of most Democratic strategists and leaders. The hellish reality progressive bloggers have acknowledged and internalized is still alien to the party establishment. Dem strategy is still two parts hackneyed sloganeering and one part befuddlement over the stifling of their message.

My recap of yesterday's Alito hearing is up at Altercation, called "Alito Plays Dodge Ball."

Here's some space to vent, on Alito or anything else.

Last Night in Little Rock is off to Africa in the morning for a month, where he will be continuing his representation of defendant Sam Hinga Norman, charged with war crimes in the Special Court for Sierre Leone.

Three alleged leaders of the former Civil Defence Forces were indicted separately on 8 counts of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other serious violations of international humanitarian law. Sam Hinga Norman was indicted on 7 March 2003. Moinina Fofana and Allieu Kondewa were indicted on 26 June 2003. On 28 February 2003 the Trial Chamber ordered the joint trial of Norman, Fofana and Kondewa, and on 5 March prosecutors issued a consolidated indictment.

The CDF trial began on 3 June 2004. On 14 July 2005, the Prosecution concluded its case. On 20 September, Trial Chamber II heard oral arguments on Defence Motions for Acquittal.

Since LNILR updates his 4th Amendment blog daily, even from Africa, he likely won't have time to post on TalkLeft until his return. We wish him a productive journey, and look forward to his return.