Via Democratic Daily:

Breaking News: Cindy Sheehan to Leave Camp

This story just off the news wires… Cindy Sheehan’s mother has had a stroke. The grieving woman who started an anti-war demonstration near President Bush’s ranch nearly two weeks ago said Thursday she was leaving because her mother had a stroke.

Cindy Sheehan told reporters she had just received the phone call and was leaving immediately to be with her 74-year-old mother at a Los Angeles hospital. “I’ll be back as soon as possible if it’s possible,” she said. After hugging some of her supporters, Sheehan and her sister, Deedee Miller, got in a van and left for the Waco airport about 20 miles away.

The Associated Press article is here.

Off topic, but what a great trend. If you can't read the words, Norwegianity has them:

My butt is big
And round like the letter C
And ten thousand lunges
Have made it rounder
But not smaller
And that’s just fine.
It’s a space heater
For my side of the bed
It’s my ambassador
To those who walk behind me
It’s a border collie
That herds skinny women
Away from the best deals
At clothing sales.
My butt is big
And that’s just fine
And those who might scorn it
Are invited to kiss it.
Just do it.

Salon has the story behind the ad, and others like it we can expect to see this fall.

If you're going to be in New York August 23, check out the International Film Festival which will be showing "Legacy: I never left my village" as part of the film section "Jewish Experience in Latin America." From its website:

The 72-minute "Legacy" — produced by the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation which tells the story of 820 Jews who escaped the pogroms of czarist Russia in 1889 and landed in Argentina aboard the steamship Wesser. Upon arriving in Argentina, these Russian immigrant Jews, who later became know by some as "Jewish Gauchos," settled in Entre Rios, Santa Fe and Buenos Aires, where they founded colonies with the aid of European Jewish philanthropist Baron Hirsch. Deep religious values, an intense cultural life and a strong focus on educating their children suffused the immigrants' daily struggle to tame the inhospitable brushwood.

Saturday will be the final send-off for Hunter Thompson. 350 of his closest friends will be on hand at his Woody Creek, Colorado home outside of Aspen to witness his ashes being shot from a 153 foot tower. More details are available here.

Here are some additional news articles about the event, including details of the construction of the tower, the hefty security that will be on hand and the sentiment behind it:

• Hunter's Ashes Arriving in Armored Truck
• Hunter's Widow Talks About Send-Off

I'm sure one topic that will be discussed at the event on Saturday will be the outcome of the Lisl Auman case.

Via Romanesko, Court TV held a breakfast roundtable today at Michael's in Manhattan, attended by big name journos, including Time's Norman Pearlstein. Floyd Abrams was on hand, as was Court TV's head honcho Henry Schleiff. Moderated by Catherine Crier, the discussion quickly got down to Judith Miller and sources. Interesting read.

Meanwhile, Robert Dole weighs in. In a New York Times op-ed today, he says it will be a shame if only Miller is jailed and it turns out there was no violation of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act. He urges the passage of the journalist's shield law pending in Congress.

Question for Mr. Dole: Will Fitzgerald's investigation or Judith Miller's jailing be a waste if Administration officials are indicted for perjury, false statements and obstruction of justice, but not the Identity Protection Act? Why is the Identity statute the only one of concern to you? [hat tip Patriot Daily.]

Crooks and Liars has an audio interview up with Tracy of Booman Tribune who is on the scene in Crawford, Texas.

Jesus' General has these hilarious photos.

Gonna stand my ground and I won’t back down ....Tom Petty

Judith Miller is staying put. Five weeks and counting. She misses the Internet. For a different take on her confinement, read this article on the information withheld from her and her lawyers.

Testimonial privileges require a court to weigh the government's evidence as to why they need her testimony. Yet Judith Miller was tried, convicted and sentenced to prison based exclusively upon written evidence from witnesses whose identities and testimony were kept secret from her and her lawyers. They were given no opportunity to defend her against, question, or rebut the secret evidence the courts relied upon exclusively in convicting her. Indeed, a full eight pages of the D.C. Court of Appeals decision discussing and analyzing this secret evidence was redacted from the published opinion.

Editor and Publisher reports that the new issue of Vanity Fair has an article by Michael Wolf, All Roads Lead to Rove, in which Wolf blasts the media for knowing, but covering up, that Karl Rove was one of the Plame leakers.

If they had burned this unworthy source and exposed his “crime,” he adds, it would have been “of such consequences that it might, reasonably, have presaged the defeat of the president, might have even—to be slightly melodramatic—altered the course of the war in Iraq.” In doing so they showed they owed their greatest allegiance to the source, not their readers.

....So in the end, he concludes, “the greatest news organizations in the land had a story about a potential crime that reached as close as you can get to the president himself and they punted, they swallowed it, they self-dealt.” And why did they do it? Well, “a source is a source who, unrevealed, will continue to be a source.”

[link via Buzzflash]

posted by Last Night in Little Rock

The Rolling Stones, a group not known for political advocacy, has entered the political arena with a political track on its newest album, "A Bigger Bang." The album will be released in the U.S. on September 6th.

The track, "Sweet Neo Con," boasts the line, "You call yourself a Christian, I call you a hypocrite/You call yourself a patriot, well I think you're full of s---," according to the weekly newsmagazine[Newsweek].

"It is direct," singer Mick Jagger was quoted as saying, adding that his collaborator, Keith Richards, was "a bit worried" about a backlash because the guitarist lives in the United States and Jagger does not.

I first saw the Stones in concert in 1967. What a flashback.

Busted! Drug War Survival Skills
by M. Chris Fabricant

Brand new, this irreverent and humorous guide (with illustrations by R. Crumb) covers everything from the buy to the bust to begging for mercy. It's a winner. Author (and New York defense lawyer) Chris Fabricant says he hopes to expose a younger audience to the erosion of civil liberties and the racial and social inequities that flow from the prosecution of the Drug War in America. But, politics is only an aside, the real purpose of the book is to help people "stay out of jail and out on bail."

This is one of the best and most readable legal advice guides I've seen. It answers just about every conceivable question that can come up, from cops at your door, the traffic stop, the search, the arrest, through all the court proceedings. And it really is funny. The book does not support or advocate drug use. It's about informing people how to minimize the harm and the pain that goes along with it in the criminal justice setting.

Singer Marc Cohn was shot in the temple during a carjacking last night in Denver. He had been in Colorado to perform concerts in Denver and Boulder. The bullet was removed and his injury is not expected to be life-threatening. He has been released from the hostpital. His wife, ABC news anchor Elizabeth Vargas, arrived in Denver this afternoon.

An arrest warrant was issued Monday for Joseph William Yachteen, 26, in connection with the series of crimes. Police said Yachteen also goes by the name Anthony Andolini.

More details here.

Update : 8/10: Two are in custody for the shooting.

Tonight is the debut for Rita Cosby's 'Live and Direct' on MSNBC. She takes over the 9pm ET slot, formerly held by Tucker Carlson (a show that should go to video already, in my opinion.)

She'll have tough competition up against Hannity & Colmes and even Larry King, but it will be nice to have three choices in that timeslot.

Tonight Rita will have interviews with the two sell-out Jackson jurors who are writing a tell-all about the jury deliberations and now claiming they are sorry they voted to acquit. Yeah, right. It's the only way they could sell the book. I hope Rita gives them a tough time.