Newshoggers: The Bomber Boys, Obama, and strategic ambiguity

Stinque: Financial services racketeer Wells Fargo slammed for larcenous scamming of customers

TalkLeft: What Comes First: Poliitcal polarization or presidential leadership?

Pam's House Blend: Marine Lt. Col. has sued to block his DADT discharge

Kiko's House: Cartoon du Jour

HOLY CRAP: Ground Zero mosque update...Conviction of FLDS leader Warren Jeffs overturned...Dollars for Christ...Happy Hour Gospel...Ordained into the abstract...Changing the script...It was the best of times, it was the End of Times...First Amendment hassles...Immortal Souls?...Pseudo-Christian...Wack...

Thanks for covering the round up, Batocchio, who is a fine blogger (see his latest, a must read) in his own right.

Legal Schnauzer: What does it mean that the Siegelman case was vacated?

Zaius Nation: Best Wedding Picture EVER.

Mock, Paper, Scissors: Guess what this Arizona nut will do if she loses the election?

And the Facebook Page of the Day: Californians for less sucky candidates for governor. h/t Crackpot Press

Mike is currently touring with Joe Cocker; round up by Blue Gal. Send tips to bluegalsblog AT gmail.

Religion and the Founders

The Founding Fathers were not devout by the standards of many of today's fundamentalist Protestants. To carefully examine writings by the principal framers (Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, Washington and Madison) is to note the striking degree to which they all shared attitudes toward religion that would disqualify them as "Christians" in the eyes of the religious right, even though they described themselves as such. All these men emphasized the supreme importance of individual reason and conscience--not ecclesiastical authority and dogma--in shaping personal faith. To be sure, they recognized religion's valuable social role, but the assertion heard so often these days, that America was founded as a 'Christian nation', simply is not true.

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Even the media is starting to call out republicans over their seriously ridiculous protests against President Obama--who dared to give a back to school speech to the children. Usually the teabagger brigade compares Obama to Hitler or a socialist, but Joe Watkins (former Bush 41 guy) came up with a new and even more stupid argument than usual. Parents can't compete with his charisma----ergo he shouldn't speak to the kids. Huh?

Watkins: This president is not an ordinary president. He's one of the most gifted speakers that the world has ever seen. He's gifted, he's charismatic and when he speaks he speaks with tremendous authority and great conviction and with tremendous persuasion. And it's one thing to talk to adult who maybe have the ability to discern between right or wrong or whether they agree or disagree. The challenge becomes the parents when he talks to their kids about the present, he's so persuasive, he's campaigning for the hearts and minds of the kids. Today's speech was fine....but what moms and dads are afraid of is that what happens when kids who can't distinguish what moms or dads can when the Defense of Marriage is repealed or the act comes up to...

Dr. Nancy: Joe, Joe, he didn't slip, there was no gotcha in this speech, you know that, there was nothing like that here.

Watkins: No, but we know they'll be other times when the president will make very strong and compelling arguments for issues that moms and dads don't agree with.

Usually, this would be the perfect trait that American appreciate in a president, so he could be a positive influence on the kids of America. Telling them that cutting class and to study hard is what they need to hear, but not to republicans. And Watkins turns it into a gay bashing segment. Is Joe saying that the president will schedule a speech to school kids in favor and talk about the Defense of Marriage Act? Is he kidding me? Even Chuck Todd looked at Watkins like he had an alien brain.

Todd: Joe, it sounds like you're worried the president's going to be too popular with kids. I guess...is that the concern that if he were less charismatic you'd be OK with him speaking to children?

Watkins: No, not at all....he's so popular and persuasive that parents don't want to compete with that

Say, what? Liar, liar, Watkins' pants are on fire. As long as the president is conservative then that president can speak to the kids every single day. I'm waiting for conservatives to ban their children from ever watching an Obama speech or interview. Republicans have become freaks since they've let the teabaggers take over their party.

I was interviewed a while ago on Mr Media's blog and he asked me about my political beliefs. The idea of what a Centrist means has always baffled me as a belief system. I understand calling yourself that, but not as a bargaining tool. Right wing bloggers like Hugh Hewitt use the word "center/right" to hide their extremism to a guy like Wolf Blitzer.

ANDELMAN: I have one last question: many people find that their political views become more conservative as they get older. Are you seeing any sign of that within your own beliefs?

AMATO: What is the center? Do you know what I mean? Has anybody defined what the center is? I believe that we all through our experiences in life, we all come to decisions and conclusions which we are comfortable with morally, what we think is the right thing to do. So that’s how I’ve developed my convictions, so they are not changing, they’re only getting stronger since I’ve been involved with blogging and in the political process.

As always, Duncan nails the "Centrism" riff:

Let's be clear that "centrism" is, for the most part, a cosmetic pose for the benefit of Beltways journalists who know that The Most Important Thing Is To Be A Centrist.

In terms of what those centrists actually support in terms of policy, I'd say there are roughly 3 kinds of things. Occasionally they live up to their name and push through genuine compromises between left and right. More often than that they push fake "split the baby" compromises which achieve nothing genuine but have the appearance of doing "something."

And, most often, "centrism" is used as a cover for what amounts to bipartisan endorsement of corruption in the name of furthering the Might and Majesty of the establishment powers.

Sen. Larry "I am not gay, I have never been gay" Craig's legal team has opted for a new tactic, given that their initial attempt to have Craig's guilty plea withdrawn was essentially laughed out of court. Now they are opting to try to invoke something that Republicans haven't seemed too concerned about in the last few years: constitutionality.

MN Star-Tribune: Sen. Larry Craig will argue before an appeals court that Minnesota's disorderly conduct law is unconstitutional as it applies to his conviction in a bathroom sex sting, according to a new court filing.

This is the first time Craig's attorneys have raised that issue. However, an earlier friend-of-the-court filing by the American Civil Liberties Union argued that Craig's foot-tapping and hand gesture under a stall divider at the Minneapolis airport are protected by the First Amendment.

Funny thing about that Free Speech argument, you never know who is going to use it...like maybe a man who described a rather crude and fumbling assignation with Craig twenty years ago, culminating in Craig taking out a twenty dollar bill and saying

‘Remember, I can buy and sell your ass ten thousand times over. You were never here. Don't try to come back here. You don't know me.'

Charming to the last, Larry.

It's been said before: "Denial ain't just a river in Egypt," but this might be a whole new low for delusional thinking.

  ThinkProgress:

In Oct. 2004, President Bush finally admitted that Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction: "Iraq did not have the weapons that our intelligence believed were there."

Yet according to former White House chief of staff Andy Card, this statement was just rhetoric. In his new book on Bush, Robert Draper writes that the President continued to privately insist through April 2006 that Saddam had possessed weapons of mass destruction:

Bush, for his part, was not disposed to second-guessing. Througout 2006, he read historical texts relating to Lincoln, Churchill, and Truman - three wartime leaders, the latter two of whom left office to something less than public acclaim. History would acquit him, too. Bush was confident of that, and of something else as well. Though it was not the sort of thing one could say publicly anymore, the president still believed that Saddam had possessed weapons of mass destruction. He repeated this conviction to Andy Card all the way up until Card's departure in April 2006, almost exactly three years after the Coalition had begun its fruitless search for WMDs. [p. 388]

 Oh, help me.  Is he trying to lay a case for utter incompetency?  He certainly has me convinced.

 It's just hitting CNN and MSNBC. Bush just obstructed justice.

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The official said Bush "has commuted the prison sentence ... leaving intact the probation and fines handed down by the court.""That means he is not going to jail," the official said.

The rule of law Conservatives are a joke..

The Bush Statement:

Mr. Libby was sentenced to thirty months of prison, two years of probation, and a $250,000 fine. In making the sentencing decision, the district court rejected the advice of the probation office, which recommended a lesser sentence and the consideration of factors that could have led to a sentence of home confinement or probation.I respect the jury’s verdict. But I have concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive. Therefore, I am commuting the portion of Mr. Libby’s sentence that required him to spend thirty months in prison.

My decision to commute his prison sentence leaves in place a harsh punishment for Mr. Libby. The reputation he gained through his years of public service and professional work in the legal community is forever damaged. His wife and young children have also suffered immensely. He will remain on probation. The significant fines imposed by the judge will remain in effect. The consequences of his felony conviction on his former life as a lawyer, public servant, and private citizen will be long-lasting….

What crap. Marcy Wheeler:

Well, George did it. Made sure that Scooter wouldn’t flip rather than do jail time. He commuted Libby’s sentence, guaranteeing not only that Libby wouldn’t talk, but retaining Libby’s right to invoke the Fifth.This amounts to nothing less than obstruction of justice.

(Photo of some yummy looking cafe con leche y Napolitana via Prioggie.)

The Sunday Talking Head line-up is ready for reading this morning.

I can tell you what I will not be watching -- Meet the Press. I can't think of a show less worth viewing with that line-up: Matalin, Carville, Shrum and Murphy. Lordy. They should start calling it "Meet My Cronies." If Mary Matalin opens her mouth and says "no underlying crime" or "he's a good, good man" like she always does and there is no pushback from her husband (ha!) or Bob Shrum (HA!) about the fact that a multiple felony conviction on a matter of national security is not only serious but ought to be punished to the fullest extent of the law for an officer of the court who ought to have known better...I'd say Russert ought to call her on it, but he's owned by Dick Cheney.

So, what is catching your eye this morning on the blogs or in the news? If you missed Bob Geiger's political cartoon round-up, do go take a peek. Great stuff this week.

TomDispatch: Imperial overreach imperils the American republic and what's left of our democratic system as well as the American economy. Chalmers Johnson considers whether we can end our empire before it ends us. (h/t The Left Coaster)

The Existentialist Cowboy: In 1934, our government had said that the "airwaves" didn't belong to the big corporations or the government but to the people themselves. We want it back.

The Carpetbagger Report: Can anyone explain what's 'moral' about this behavior? The Nazarine didn't talk about homosexuality. He did, however, talk a lot about religious hypocrisy...Sadly, No! has more...

MAL Contends: An official Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) document contradicts the U.S. Attorney's narrative of alleged events that led to the conviction of a Wisconsin Vietnam-era veteran on federal wire fraud charges in 2006.

Pensito Review: The confederate flag still flys in the South...and the North

Connecting.the.Dots: Hillary and All That Jazz

OFF THE BEATEN PATH: Total Information Awareness, The Irate Nation, The Hawke and Dove, Rethink, The FAA Follies