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Tuesday Night Open Thread

It's women's night on American Idol. Two will get sent home on the live results show Thursday. I hope they are Lacey Brown and Paige Miles. Lacey was awful.

Really good: Janell Wheeler and Lilly Scott. I'm waiting for Crystal Bowersox to come on, so far she's been my favorite.

Update: Charlie Sheen goes into rehab, catching CBS by surprise. His show, "Two and a Half Men," for which he gets $900k an episode, is now in production limbo. His next court appearance is March 15. Sounds to me like his lawyers want to continue it and being in rehab is a good justification. If they wanted a rehab certificate to show the DA for a plea bargain, I don't think 3 weeks is going to be that impressive -- and aren't most in-patient rehabs 28 days? Or maybe the DA won't agree to drop the felony or offer a deferred judgment on it unless Charlie does a rehab stint.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

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    Tiger apologizes to kindergarten?! (none / 0) (#1)
    by observed on Tue Feb 23, 2010 at 09:29:35 PM EST
    Did you see that headline?
    Man, talk about groveling!
    And what did he say in his apology to these little kids?

    I have this friend (5.00 / 1) (#33)
    by jondee on Wed Feb 24, 2010 at 12:51:14 PM EST
    named Little Tiger, who makes me do things that get us both in trouble..

    Parent
    This sounds like (none / 0) (#4)
    by weltec2 on Wed Feb 24, 2010 at 04:41:15 AM EST
    something out of The Onion.

    Parent
    He apologized to the other parents (none / 0) (#9)
    by magster on Wed Feb 24, 2010 at 07:59:31 AM EST
    about the paparazzi camping out in fronto of the school and creating the circus atmosphere around it.

    Parent
    I think Paige Miles sings great, hope she stays. (none / 0) (#2)
    by Angel on Tue Feb 23, 2010 at 09:41:11 PM EST
    Of the twelve she shouldn't go home.  I like Didi, too, although her song choice wasn't that great. There were several who were really bad, worse than Paige.  I thought Ellen's critiques were very good, she wasn't intimidated by Simon or the others, she listened to what they had to say but said what she thought regardless.  Loved her!

    28 days was the standard (none / 0) (#3)
    by Makarov on Wed Feb 24, 2010 at 12:47:01 AM EST
    and then many states began requiring health insurance policies cover rehab, but not necessarily for the whole period.

    Many policies today cover only 14 or 21 days of "in patient" rehab

    Do you think (none / 0) (#5)
    by jbindc on Wed Feb 24, 2010 at 07:43:06 AM EST
    Health insurance coverage is a problem for Charlie Sheen?  Do you think he even has health insurance?

    Parent
    If insurance isn't an issue (none / 0) (#8)
    by Militarytracy on Wed Feb 24, 2010 at 07:54:46 AM EST
    rehab can go far beyond 28 days.  Places like Sierra Tuscon will tailor your treatment to whatever time is available.  I'm sure they could come up with a dual diagnosis for Charlie Sheen.

    Parent
    He has health ins through his union (s). (none / 0) (#22)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Wed Feb 24, 2010 at 10:57:19 AM EST
    He probably has supplemental policies as well.

    Parent
    My guess is (none / 0) (#28)
    by jbindc on Wed Feb 24, 2010 at 11:50:44 AM EST
    People who make $900K an episode don't really have health insurance, when it would be cheaper in the long run to pay out-of-pocket instead of paying for insurance.

    Parent
    Fair enough. (none / 0) (#32)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Wed Feb 24, 2010 at 12:31:29 PM EST
    Silliest legal argument of the year (none / 0) (#6)
    by jbindc on Wed Feb 24, 2010 at 07:50:04 AM EST
    Former mayor of Detroit, Kwame Kilpatrick, who went to jail for perjury and who owes the city $1 million in restitution, has not paid back enough in a timely manner because he must live a lavish lifestyle, or at least, so says his lawyer.

    Seriously???  I'm not sure how his lawyer kept  straight face when you know that everyone else in the room was thinking "WTF"?????

    Correction (none / 0) (#7)
    by jbindc on Wed Feb 24, 2010 at 07:53:08 AM EST
    He went to jail for obstruction of justice for perjuring himself.

    Parent
    Forget Kwame... (none / 0) (#10)
    by kdog on Wed Feb 24, 2010 at 08:05:39 AM EST
    how does Lloyd Blankfein sport a straight face...like, ever.  And nary a restitution order to be found. In fact we're paying him restitution!

    Good rule of thumb is if white collar and/or authority figure hustler gets convicted, they're the smallest of small potatos in this big fat con we call a country.

    Parent

    Bankfien and Kwame (none / 0) (#11)
    by jbindc on Wed Feb 24, 2010 at 08:09:04 AM EST
    Have something in common - they both said they were doing "God's work", even as they were ripping large numbers of people off and betryaing their trust.

    Parent
    Too bad... (5.00 / 1) (#12)
    by kdog on Wed Feb 24, 2010 at 08:22:19 AM EST
    they don't share the title of convicted thief in common...but that's the way it goes in the United States of Grift...it's not what you do,  it's who you know that matters.  Kwame's real crime is not being closely connected enough to a "too big to fail".  

    Parent
    Kwame has connections (none / 0) (#13)
    by jbindc on Wed Feb 24, 2010 at 08:29:23 AM EST
    Not connected enough... (none / 0) (#14)
    by kdog on Wed Feb 24, 2010 at 08:34:31 AM EST
    apparently.

    Parent
    Small potatoes (none / 0) (#27)
    by jondee on Wed Feb 24, 2010 at 11:46:36 AM EST
    It's almost a historical rule (none / 0) (#26)
    by jondee on Wed Feb 24, 2010 at 11:40:27 AM EST
    of thumb that when a person in a position of power publicly crows about doing God's work, they aren't.

    The only major diff between the two that I can see is that Lloyd has more grease to spread around - and that if we ever got a Rooseveltian "trust buster" willing to to set an example with someone like Blankfien, it would open a huge can of worms implicating too many others in the Wall St-DC pipeline..

    The real lesson of Madoff was the degree of off-the-charts chutzpah-hubris that reigns in that teflon fiefdom.

    Parent

    Isn't Sheen's show on NBC? (none / 0) (#15)
    by rdandrea on Wed Feb 24, 2010 at 08:52:14 AM EST
    n/t

    Nope... (none / 0) (#16)
    by MileHi Hawkeye on Wed Feb 24, 2010 at 09:02:56 AM EST
    ...it's on CBS (Channel 4) Monday nights--right before the Big Bang Theory.

    Parent
    Interesting case in Texas (none / 0) (#17)
    by jbindc on Wed Feb 24, 2010 at 09:04:15 AM EST
    Seems a man on death row appealed his conviction because the judge who sentenced him had an affair with the prosecutor (granted, it ended 3 years before his case ever came up). His appeal was denied and now he's asking hte US Supreme Court to hear his case.

    Reading the post, the answer doesn't seem as cut and dried as you may think. And I would love to hear Thomas questioning a lawyer about the client's sexual practices.  Popcorn, anyone?

    A follow up (none / 0) (#18)
    by CST on Wed Feb 24, 2010 at 09:09:11 AM EST
    on the article I posted yesterday about cancer treatment.  It is exciting, but also... slow.

    It's the nature of the U.S. health industry beast.  There is a reason this type of progress is being made in the U.S.  There is also a reason that it's being held up.  And the reason for both of those is all about profits.

    great news for movie fans (none / 0) (#19)
    by Capt Howdy on Wed Feb 24, 2010 at 09:24:16 AM EST
    Tarsem Singe, who directed one of the most beautiful movies you will ever see, The Fall, is directing a "new Greek mythology epic" that he describes as Caravaggio meets Fight Club "It's a really hardcore action film done in Renaissance painting style.

    the trailer for The Fall is at that link. if you have never seen it, and probably you havent since it was hardly in theaters, I highly recommend it.
    its stunning.

    his other (none / 0) (#20)
    by Capt Howdy on Wed Feb 24, 2010 at 10:04:17 AM EST
    more widely seen movie was The Cell.
    an average movie with amazing visuals.

    Parent
    Supreme Court decision (none / 0) (#21)
    by jbindc on Wed Feb 24, 2010 at 10:12:22 AM EST
    Out today in Maryland v Shatzer.

    The Shatzer case asked the Court to determine the scope of a 1981 case titled Edwards v. Arizona.  In Edwards, the Court held that police were barred from interrogating a criminal suspect who had invoked his/her right to counsel (which everyone knows now from watching TV).  Sepcifcally Shatzer asked:  does that right apply to an interrogation that takes place 3 years later?

    In an unanimous decision, the Court said "no" and recognized an exception to the Edwards decision and said that a "break in custody" allows police to resume questioning a suspect who had previously asked for a lawyer.  Seven of the nine justices ruled that if the break in custody lasted more than two weeks between interrogations, then the Edwards rule does not apply to suppress a confession.

    Opinion here.

    Anyone see the Dutch speed skater (none / 0) (#23)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Wed Feb 24, 2010 at 11:02:08 AM EST
    blow his Gold medal last night?!

    Crazy stuff. 10K race, 25 laps with lots of switching lanes, and his coach had a brain fart and had him miss a lane switch which disqualified him.

    Dude's won every 10K he's entered since 2007...

    Haeley Vaughn was the worst last night (none / 0) (#24)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Wed Feb 24, 2010 at 11:05:22 AM EST
    on AI, imo.

    Bad night (none / 0) (#29)
    by waldenpond on Wed Feb 24, 2010 at 11:54:19 AM EST
    I thought the whole night was mediocre.  Lacey was pretty bad also.  The only ones I thought were decent were Shioban, Crystal and Katie although I agree with the judges her song was too old.

    Parent
    Speaking of judges, (none / 0) (#30)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Wed Feb 24, 2010 at 12:21:57 PM EST
    why is Ellen DeGeneres involved?

    Parent
    I keep hoping (none / 0) (#25)
    by TeresaInPa on Wed Feb 24, 2010 at 11:09:42 AM EST
    they will get an Opera/classically trained singer on there so I have some one to root for....

    = )

    Thank you, John Yoo! (none / 0) (#31)
    by jbindc on Wed Feb 24, 2010 at 12:30:13 PM EST
    For potentially saving Obama's presidency and away from the likes of Romney, Palin, et al.

    Barack Obama may not realize it, but I may have just helped save his presidency. How? By winning a drawn-out fight to protect his powers as commander in chief to wage war and keep Americans safe.

    SNIP

    Why bother fighting off an administration hell-bent on finding scapegoats for its policy disagreements with the last president? I could have easily decided to hide out, as others have. Instead, I wrote numerous articles (several published in this newspaper) and three books explaining and defending presidential control of national security policy. I gave dozens of speeches and media appearances, where I confronted critics of the administration's terrorism policies. And, most importantly, I was lucky to receive the outstanding legal counsel of Miguel Estrada, one of the nation's finest defense attorneys, to attack head-on and without reservation, each and every one of OPR's mistakes, misdeeds and acts of malfeasance.

    I did not do this to win any popularity contests, least of all those held in the faculty lounge. I did it to help our president--President Obama, not Bush. Mr. Obama is fighting three wars simultaneously in Iraq, Afghanistan, and against al Qaeda. He will call upon the men and women serving under his command to make choices as hard as the ones we faced. They cannot meet those challenges with clear minds if they believe that a bevy of prosecutors, congressional committees and media critics await them when they return from the battlefield

    SNIP

    Without a vigorous commander-in-chief power at his disposal, Mr. Obama will struggle to win any of these victories. But that is where OPR, playing a junior varsity CIA, wanted to lead us. Ending the Justice Department's ethics witch hunt not only brought an unjust persecution to an end, but it protects the president's constitutional ability to fight the enemies that threaten our nation today.


    Obama to nominate Goodwin Liu to 9th Circuit (none / 0) (#34)
    by jbindc on Wed Feb 24, 2010 at 12:52:13 PM EST
    Link

    Reporting from Washington - President Obama will nominate UC Berkeley law professor Goodwin Liu to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday, The Times has learned.

    Liu carries credentials that some conservatives love to hate -- including a leadership position in a progressive legal group and a record of opposing the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.

    But he has conservative admirers too. Liu has supported school choice as a solution to problems in urban education, and has served as faculty advisor to the California College Preparatory Academy, a public charter school. He came to the White House's attention with the recommendation of some conservatives.

    If confirmed, he could be the only full-time Asian American judge on a federal appellate court. A senior administration official revealed his nomination on condition of anonymity.

    In the political world, Liu is sure to be remembered as an Alito critic. When Alito was nominated to the high court, Liu co-wrote a report critical of his record on capital punishment, saying Alito's appellate opinions "show a disturbing tendency to tolerate serious errors in capital proceedings" and "reveal troubling perspectives on federalism, race and due process of law." Liu testified against Alito during his 2006 confirmation hearings.

    Liu, 39, also is chairman of the board of the American Constitution Society, whose mission statement opposes the "activist conservative legal movement."

    "Keeping Faith With the Constitution," a 2009 book that he co-wrote, discusses the shortcomings of "originalism," a conservative legal theory maintaining that the Constitution should be interpreted based on its 18th century framers' intent. Progressive judges tend to see the Constitution as a living document, shifting with the times, and to validate rights that they see as logical extensions of it.

    Even without a possible ideological fight, the confirmation process is highly charged for Obama nominees, with Republican lawmakers stalling votes even on those whom they later support. At the moment, 26 judicial nominees await Senate confirmation, including seven to appellate courts.