Not long ago (though it strangely seems far removed) I wrote a series of posts about the incident surrounding Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates. First, it was an illegal and unconstitutional arrest but with Obama’s gaffe and silly “Beer Summit” we lost that discussion. Continued abuse of police power is a sad result.

As you may have heard, we are on the precipice of the 40th anniversary of Woodstock. What did it mean, and what does it say about our culture, especially the youth, today?

Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom (England), and even Venezuela. What do all these developed first order modern countries have in common?They abolished the death penalty. Conspicuously absent of course is the United States. We are the only country in the Americas, whether North or South, that utilizes the death penalty in anything other

Ari Melber starts by asking Scrapple who is he and why he is here.

Scrapple starts by raising choice.

I was noodling around the intertoobz tonight, and was struck by the thought that the concept of “American Exceptionalism” may refer to our ability to bring teh stupid. First up to bat are the down with browners. From the Los Angeles Times:Walt Staton wanted to help people, and his tool was a water jug.

Short update from Pittsburgh!

As covered here and here, a Motion For Summary Judgment is pending in al-Haramain v. Obama, set in front of Judge Vaughn Walker in NDCA. Just to keep you apprised of the status, there has been a stipulation and order entered to extend certain time limits previously set in the matter.

If his first publicly known rendition case is any indication, there may well be a legitimate question as to whether Obama’s rendition program is even more repulsive than that of George Bush. More evidence will be required for an informed answer, but Obama is off to a very auspicious beginning.

Eric Lichtblau and Eric Lipton have an article on the Purgegate document release in today’s New York Times. There were a few paragraphs by the two Erics that stood out to me and gave me pause.

Adam Cohen of the New York Times is a fairly astute and erudite writer on legal issues, and he has a new article up on the interesting case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission; and it is indeed a cse with many fascinating and troubling aspects to it.