Three waystations in Bloglandia

The Kossacks really, really like Russ Feingold this month.

BobcatJH on Bush's presser today:

To watch President Bush's press conference Tuesday morning was to watch a man squarely at odds with reality. We saw Bush the defiant. Bush the angry. Bush the liar. Never has the man seemed less in charge of America.

Taking tough questions from the White House press corps, the president laughed in the face of a grim reality, blamed the media for the disaster in Iraq and boasted of progress that simply isn't there.

The long, slow march toward irrelevance is over. Bush is officially a lame duck. He doesn't matter anymore. Today proved that.

Go read it all; it's good.

R.G. Ratcliffe of the Chronic likes the odds of a cockroach skating:

The appearance of possible bias forced two judges out of the criminal case against U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay last year, and similar issues could taint some judges on two appeals panels that are now considering the charges against the former majority leader.

The two three-judge panels on the 3rd Court of Appeals in Austin are considering appeals that could effectively end the DeLay prosecution. ...

On Wednesday, one 3rd Court of Appeals panel will hear Earle's appeal of a district judge's ruling throwing out charges against DeLay, R-Sugar Land, of conspiring to violate the state's election code.

There are still charges pending against DeLay on money laundering that accuse him of participating in a scheme to convert illegal corporate cash into money Republican candidates could use in 2002 Texas House races. DeLay denies any wrongdoing in the case.

The other 3rd Court panel is reviewing an appeal brought by DeLay's co-defendants, Jim Ellis and John Colyandro. It challenges the legal theory of Earle's original money laundering indictment brought against the men.

The issues are so similar to the charges against DeLay, that if Colyandro and Ellis win, the case against DeLay could evaporate.

The real news here is not whether Republican judges Alan Waldrop and David Puryear will let DeLay off the hook if they can, but that they have Democratic challengers in this election cycle.

Remember the names: Alan Waldrop and David Puryear.

So that you can vote them out in November, irrespective of their bias in this case.

Moneyshot Quotes of the Week

"It takes a lot of degeneration before a country falls into dictatorship, but we should avoid these ends by avoiding these beginnings."

-- Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, speaking of Texas Republican-led judicial intimidation

"My administration was satisfied that port security would not have been undermined by the agreement. Nevertheless, Congress was still very much opposed to it."

-- Bush

"He made that veto threat then he went on the trip to India and went silent basically. Karl Rove calls the people in Dubai two nights ago and tells them pull the plug on the deal, and I think as a result, the president looks weak, frankly."

-- Bill Kristol, Fox News

"My buddy Korg is a lifelong Democrat but he told me he was switching to the Republicans. Why? Because if a Republican shoots somebody in the face, the other guy has to apologize."

-- Rich Miller, writing in the Chicago Sun-Times

Spanking the fundies with their own Bibles

My sincerest apologies to those who've been checking here for something fresh and finding nothing. Between the campaign and maintaining my small but TLC-requiring client base and some rather debilitating vertigo for the past few weeks, I just haven't kept pace.

I did find this today worth sharing.

On March 1st, in Annapolis MD, at a hearing on a proposed constitutional amendment to prohibit gay marriage, Jamie Raskin, a professor of law at American University and candidate for the Maryland state Senate, was requested to testify. At the end of his testimony, Republican Senator Nancy Jacobs said: "As I read Biblical principles, marriage was intended, ordained and started by God -- that is my belief. For me, this is an issue solely based on religious principals."

Raskin replied: "Senator, when you took your oath of office, you placed your hand on the Bible and swore to uphold the Constitution. You did not place your hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible."

The room erupted in applause.

Senator Jacobs could also stand being reminded that the Bible discloses eight varieties of "approved" marriages, including that of a rapist and his victim and assigned marriages among slaves.