Sun Times Scoop

It's not Burris.

But to remind us of what a dirt ball Burris is, go here.

Fitzgerald to Announce Another Indictment

Via Wonkette, the Chicago Breaking News Center (the Trib Co.) just posted that U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald will be having a news conference at 2 p.m. to announce the indictment of "an elected official." Could it be Burris? Wonkette did point out, though, that Burris was never elected. Stay tuned!

Sonia Sotomayor

So, what do we know about our latest SCOTUS nominee? I don't have much to add to the e-mail that Seana circulated. We know she'd be the Court's first Latino, it's third woman, and that the Repugs are trying to label her as an intellectual lightweight even though she graduated from Princeton summa cum laude and was an editor on the prestigious Yale Law Review.

From what I've read, she's pretty direct in her opinions, generally writing about law and precedent rather than lofty ideals. However, we'll likely only hear about one of her decisions: Ricci v. DeStefano, in which she and her colleagues upheld a decision to invalidate a promotion exam on which minority firefighters scored disproportionately low. That's the one Limbaugh's pointing to when he calls her a "reverse racist." It could also be overturned by the SCOTUS soon, which would be awkward (granted, Alito also had a big lower court decision overturned). Anyhow, Slate's Emily Bazelon has an interesting analysis of the Ricci case.

For those who want more information on her, Slate has a number of features here and SCOTUSBlog has a series analyzing her decisions: part 1, part 2, and part 3.

Larry O'Donnell on Cheney

I've been a poor blogger lately, but this series of clips from TPM has me back in action. Watch MSNBC's Larry O'Donnell go off about Cheney's demagoguery at AEI today:



Meanwhile, I've heard pretty good things about Barack's speech. Hopefully, he will get the Congressional Dems in line and actually close Gitmo.

Another reason to love the Prez

This is for you, Bridget.

The gift that keeps on giving.

The Bush legacy may screw Republicans for decades. Oh the joy.

Professor Visser: Sounds like Nate is stealing ideas from your research.

The Hideout hits the big time

This will bring the smiles.

Stroger is almost as dumb as the Plumber

From the Trib:

Cook County Board President Todd Stroger said today he wants to talk to his fellow countywide elected officials before deciding whether to veto a measure that would repeal last year's sales tax increase.

“I don’t know,” when asked if he follow through on Tuesday's vow veto the repeal during an interview on WLS 890-AM's Don Wade and Roma morning show. “I may veto it. I may not.”

He went on to say that he would speak to other countywide elected officials, to see if they will wade into the debate.

“My first step is talk to the other elected officials, the treasurer, the sheriff and see what’s on their mind,” he said. “Why do an exercise in fertility (sic) if they don’t really care about what happens. If they don’t think they need the money, than say nothing and let it happen.”

Sam the Plumber please die

Repub poster-boy Sam the Plumber is an awful person. In some ways it's great that he is seen as a viable mouthpiece for that group, because he drags them down into his own mucky place.

I stole most of this from the website of The New Republic. And, really, my entire reason for posting is to cut-n-paste a mini-play some TNR reader penned in response. Here's the gist:

Samuel "Joe the Plumber" Wurzelbacher explains why he opposes gay marriage in Christianity Today:
I personally still think it's wrong. People don't understand the dictionary—it's called queer. Queer means strange and unusual. It's not like a slur, like you would call a white person a honky or something like that.
Wurzelbacher goes on to note that he's "had some friends that are actually homosexual," but "they know where I stand, and they know that I wouldn't have them anywhere near my children."

Stupid is, well, just stupid. But this is hateful and awful and gut-wrenching stuff. Fortunately, someone who posts on TNR redeemed the entire sad story:
===================================================================
Joe and His Friend (a short play)

Friend (Let's call him "Bruce" or some other stereotype): So, Joe how goes plumbing?

Joe: Almost got my license! How goes theatre or whatever you do?

Bruce (or, "Lance"): I'm an accountant.
(pause)

Lance (or "Chase") How are the kids?

Joe: Stay the hell away from them, Bruce!

Chase: My name is Pete

Joe: Are you hitting on me?

Pete: Listen, I have to run.

Joe: More like, have to prance. See ya, my good friend.

Pete: (leaves)

Joe: (fails to pay taxes)

SCENE