Booman:

There is going to be a lot of blame slung around next week, regardless of how these midterms play out. I know the administration owns a lot of the blame. But people can only control what they do. And too many progressive opinion leaders have spent the last year sniping and complaining when all the signs were there that the left was in the fight of its life with a new brand of vicious reactionary homophobic xenophobic racist politics. Why they chose to focus so much on our own shortcomings and not too much on the threat we have been facing, I will never know.

A week to go and Booman is focusing on the pre-blame? Shame, Booman! Let's GOTV! Fight! Fight! Fight! (Or whatever the "magic words" for acceptable election "focus" are.) What silliness.

Speaking for me only

A "real Americans"/"non-elites" quiz has been making the rounds. The questions and my answers on the flip.

With a $50,000.00 contribution from Larry Zimmer, CEO of Men's Wearhouse, proponents of Prop 19 have been able to air the above ad, featuring former San Jose Police Chief Joseph McNamara , who explains why he, and other law enforcement officers in California, will be voting Yes on Prop 19.

George Soros has donated $1 million for a final GOTV effort and ad campaign. More at the Atlantic.

Firedoglake says the latest poll numbers show a drop in support for Prop 19. They really need to get young voters to turn out and vote.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

9News, Denver's local NBC affiliate, has pulled an ad against Congressman Ed Perlmutter for being "a whopper." The ad was placed by "American Action Network, an outside group founded by GOP operatives."

The ad suggests that because U.S. Rep. Perlmutter voted for health care reform, he supported convicted rapists' access to Viagra.

The Denver Post and 7News also called the ad false and "fiction."

Convicts out of prison are allowed by law to purchase any health care plan they choose. Some of those plans cover Viagra prescriptions, and some don't. There are no provisions to either prohibit or protect the prescription of erectile dysfunction drugs for qualified health plans in the Act.

More good news: After 9 News yanked the ad, the group canceled all its ads with the network. [More...]

A few hours after the Supreme Court overruled a stay of execution for Jeffrey Landrigan, he was executed.

When asked for any last words, he said in a strong voice with a heavy Oklahoma accent: "Well, I'd like to say thank you to my family for being here and all my friends, and Boomer Sooner," a reference to the University of Oklahoma Sooners.

His last meal was well-done steak, fried okra, french fries, ice cream and a Dr Pepper. He spent 20 years on death row. According to records of the AZ Department of Corrections, Landrigan is a "Native Indian."

Landrigan is the second execution in Arizona since 2000. Today there are 131 inmates on Arizona's death row, and 79 defendants charged with capital crimes awaiting trial. Another 10 are either on trial or awaiting sentencing for first degree murder.

After 8 hours of questioning 91 potential jurors, jury selection was completed in the money laundering trial of former House Speaker Tom DeLay. There are six women and six men.

Nobody wanted to be seen as a Republican. The prosecutor said:

Mr. DeLay is a Republican. I'm a Democrat. This case has nothing to do with that. All that matters is, 'Can you put political feelings you may have (aside) and give both sides a fair trial?'"

DeLay's attorney, Dick DeGuerin, said:

"It's not about whether you like Tom DeLay. I'm a Democrat and I like him," DeGuerin told potential jurors. "That's all we want: a fair jury and a fair trial."

[More...]

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals today struck down Arizona's Prop 200, requiring voters to show proof of citizenship when registering to vote and proof of identification when casting ballots. The opinion is here:

Proposition 200 requires prospective voters in Arizona to present documentary proof of citizenship in order to register to vote, ... and requires registered voters to present proof of identification in order to cast a ballot at the polls.... This appeal raises the questions whether Proposition 200 violates the Voting Rights Act § 2, 42 U.S.C. § 1973, is unconstitutional under the Fourteenth or Twenty-fourth Amendments of the Constitution, or is void as inconsistent with the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA)....

We hold that the NVRA supersedes Proposition 200’s voter registration procedures, and that Arizona’s documentary proof of citizenship requirement for registration is therefore invalid.

The Court upheld the portion requiring voters to show identification when casting ballots. The likely effect: [More..]

The Supreme Court tonight vacated the stay of execution an Arizona federal judge issued yesterday in the case of Jeffrey Landrigan. Landrigan was scheduled to be executed this morning using sodium thiopental that was manufactured by a company outside the U.S. which was not an FDA approved manufacturer of the drug.

Arizona appealed to the 9th Circuit, did not prevail, and the matter was referred to the full court later today. Justices Kagan, Sotomayor, and Bryer would have denied the state's request and kept the stay in place.

Arizona authorities are preparing the execution chamber now, so they can kill him within the 34 hour period set by the death warrant.

Here's what the order says (received by email, no link): [More...]

Your turn.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Did Charlie Sheen violate his probation last night when taken from his hotel room to the hospital? TMZ has more. The New York Post says he was on a cocaine-fueled rampage.

NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said no complaints were made and there was no arrest. Sheen was not expected to face any criminal charges.

Sheen got 90 days of unsupervised probation. The judgement is here. Probation ends on November 2, 2010, if there are no violations. It also states he may not use alcohol in excess or drugs except for prescription medication. He also could not violate criminal laws or ordinances except traffic infractions.

Charlie's rep says:

"What we are able to determine is that Charlie had an adverse allergic reaction to some medication and was taken to the hospital, where is expected to be released tomorrow."

Even if the DA filed a petition to revoke his probation, and he was found to have violated the terms, the judge might or might not revoke his probation. He could also continue it or extend it.

The DA's office isn't planning on commenting on the case.

It only took five years to bring Tom DeLay to trial in Texas on state charges of money laundering and conspiracy. Jury selection begins today in Austin. In August, DeLay lost his bid to have the trial moved from the predominantly Democratic city.

From the Austin-American Statesman:

DeLay and two associates — Jim Ellis and John Colyandro — are accused by prosecutors of taking $190,000 in corporate money collected by a state political action committee DeLay started and illegally funneling it through the Republican National Committee in Washington to help elect GOP state legislative candidates in 2002. Under Texas law, corporate money cannot be directly used for political campaigns.

DeLay has one of the best attorneys in the country, Dick DeGuerin of Houston, who also is a good friend of mine. Dick says there's no crime and the charges are the result of a political witchhunt by former Travis County DA Ronnie Earle. [More..]

14 year old Dakota Eliason shot and killed his grandfather. He said he went back and forth for hours debating whether to kill him or commit suicide, and decided to on the former.

The DA charged him in adult court. Monday, a Michigan judge imposed a sentence of life without parole, finding it violated neither the Constitution nor international treaties. He rejected a sentence of life with parole saying the law didn't authorize it. His opinion is here. His lawyer disagrees:

“Anyone that's spent any time around that kid will tell you he's a loving kid, certainly at his point, people that don't know him are defining him by the one terrible thing he did but he does have remorse he does wish he could take it back,” said defense attorney Lanny Fisher.

[More...]

Child soldier Omar Khadr pleaded guilty today in his military commission trial at Guantanamo.

Mr. Khadr agreed to plead guilty “in exchange for the Canadian government agreeing to repatriate him back to Canada after one year,” said his Canadian lawyer Dennis Edney...

The Harper government, despite its strident denials and years of refusing to intervene, endorsed the deal and made an exchange of diplomatic notes with Washington that should pave the way for Mr. Khadr to serve the remainder of his sentence in Canada, beginning next fall.

A jury will now recommend a sentence length for Khadr, but it only matters if it is less than the 8 years he agreed to in the plea agreement.

The details are sealed for now, but should be disclosed after the jury renders its verdict. Human rights groups quickly assailed the deal as unfair to Khadr: [More...]

The ACLU wrote a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder today about California's Prop 19 that would legalize adult possession of marijuana in the state.

The letter asks Holder and Kerlikowske to stop threatening costly litigation and the deployment of federal drug police to arrest individuals who might use marijuana if the state enacts the proposition, which would allow adults 21 and older to possess and grow small amounts of marijuana for their personal use and allow cities and counties to regulate and tax commercial sales. The letter calls such rhetoric "unnecessarily alarmist" and says it does little to foster a balanced discussion of a legitimate policy issue.

"Proposition 19 would remove state criminal penalties for certain adult marijuana use," says the ACLU's letter. "The new law would not require anyone to do anything in violation of federal law. There would be no positive conflict."

[More...]

Last week we wrote about the impending Arizona execution of Jeffrey Landrigan. Landrigan alleged that the sodium thiopental Arizona planned to inject into Landrigan was not made by Hospira, Inc., the one U.S. company authorized to manufacture it. In other words, it came from a foreign source. He sought a stay and an order compelling the state to disclose the origin of the drug. The Arizona Supreme Court denied both requests.

With only 18 hours left before the execution, a federal judge today granted Landrigan a stay and ordered Arizona to immediately disclose the source of the drug. The court's 19 page ruling is here.

According to the Arizona Republic, the drug came comes from Great Britain. [More...]