Happy July 1! In the Cycle Today: California Schemin,' Sanford has more for ya, drug bans, climate bills, and Wal-Mart's back!

Down Goes California!  California is down! seriously, is there any big state out there who can get together and make state government work?

New York Can! Well, not really . The children in the Senate are still throwing tantrums.

Legal stories of the day: Bernie Madoff faces sentencing, and SCOTUS decides on the Ricci case .

In international news, there was an apparent military coup in Honduras on Sunday, and Iran begins a "re-" count of some ballots in the presidential election.

Finally, Obama advisor David Axelrod refused to rule out the taxing of health care benefits to help pay for the heath care reform bill making its way through congress.  This is a stark contrast to Obama's campaign promise not to raise taxes on middle class families.  Sen. McCain's health care plan did rely on taxing health care benefits, which President Obama called "the biggest middle class tax increase in history ". [edit by stinerman; SL and I posted OTs at the same time]

And now for something really important: Transformers 2 may be the worst-reviewed $400million hit.

The Iranian mullahs are calling for executions .   Such a lovely country.   Methinks the Iranians have a choice to make.  

Not satisfied with the economic situation or the healthcare debate, the President makes some remarks about immigration .   Can we print money fast enough for all his plans?  I guess we're going to try.

The House health care bill has been released.  It creates an opt-in government health insurance plan, individual mandates to have coverage, and subsidies for poorer Americans who cannot afford coverage.

Sorry about the lack of links; I gotta get to work!

The Iranian situation continues to dominate the news.    

". . . Be men, be free men, that your children may bless their father's name."

General Sam Houston, before the battle of San Jacinto

Happy Father's Day to all, and don't forget to call your dad today.

(Yes.  Blatant theft of SL's stinerman's creativity.  But then, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.)

The Iranian situation continues.  This dKos diary is very interesting even if anecdotal, and Iran's attempts to pull the US into this mess have begun.   I'd love to be hopeful.  But I remember watching Tiananmen Square and being hopeful then, too.

And some new gloom to worry about.   Wheat rust.  Who knew.

What's on your mind?

Analog TV is no more; I wonder if we'll live to regret that one.  I know I will, during hurricanes.  The new digital TVs don't receive well on short antennas nor do they last long on battery backups.

The Iranian "election" is going on.  This should be interesting.

It's a pandemic!  Oh boy.  Now, be honest.  Have you asked your primary care doctor for an Rx for Tamiflu, just in case?

I posted a diary about the GOP if anyone is interested in a little navel- or crystal ball-gazing.

Across the pond, British PM Gordon Brown is looking at passing a bill allowing voters the ability to recall their MP in situations of gross financial misconduct.  Brown's Labour Party had a very poor showing in the EU Parliament elections, finishing third behind the Conservatives and the UK Independence Party.

Our favorite Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is in danger of losing his post to moderate Mir Hossein Musavi.  The Iranians vote on Friday to determine if Ahmadinejad will be retained.

Open Thread for Sunday & Monday!

It's International Clothesline Week. Time to abandon that old-fashioned gas or electric clothes dryer and use this amazing new solar-powered device !

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. :-)

While you weren't looking New Hampshire decided to allow same-sex marriage after Gov. Lynch signed the bill into law.

What else?

I posted this to get to the heart of the matter on Sotomayor and the lively discussion regarding her nomination.

I think it would behoove all of us to properly define what exactly an "activist judge" is.  I would define an activist judge as one who does not follow the law and legal precedent when making a legal determination.  Rather, such a judge would substitute what they think the law should be rather than what it is.  However, there is a caveat. 

A judge on the Supreme Court need not follow precedent, as bad precedent needs to be overturned.  A district court or appeals court judge does need to follow any precedent, regardless of how wrong that precedent is.  IIRC, Gonzalez v. Carhart was a model for how judges should act: district and appeals courts struck down the law banning partial birth abortion based on precedent and the law.  The Supreme Court then changed the precedent.

Please offer up your own definitions of an activist judge and whether or not you'd agree that courts inferior to the Supreme Court are beholden to bad precedent.

I figured I'd post it a wee bit early since I'm going to have my hands full with a PC rebuild tomorrow afternoon.

Mike Judge's new animated comedy, The Goode Family , pokes fun at liberals, and has had mixed critical reactions.  Did anyone happen to watch, and if so, what did they think of it?

Hope everyone enjoyed their holiday weekend. In the news today:

Obama set to choose Sonia Sotomayer for the Supreme Court . Let the mudslinging begin! Oh, wait , it began weeks ago.

North Korea is acting up again. Testing Obama? Internal power play? A bit of both?

Just spinning through the news this morning but not finding much of substance.  So, here are a few things that caught my eye.

The wheels of justice turn, as they should; we might all do better at remembering that before we get all incensed by lawlessness.  The US soldier who raped the 14 year old Iraqi girl and then killed her and her family has been tried and sentenced .

Rather than news headlines, I thought I'd post a couple of political cartoons, just for fun.

Hello Swordsmen! Let's get right into it.

I'd like to open this NCR with a this:

ABC News: A white African-American is suing UMDNJ medical school because he was discriminated against because of his..race? ethnicity? Consider me siding with the plaintiff on this one.

We seem to be eating up the Open Threads lately. Here's a fresh one.

Some news items after the jump.

I'm still typing with one hand but we seem to need a new OT so here you go

Cyberbullying.   More thought police or justifable protection in an electronic age ?    Does the power button or the parent no longer have a role?   Must we be protected from pixels?  Since one of my hobbies involves exploring what pixel people do when allowed full freedom, I find this question to be more than it appears.

In the news today:

Bank Stress Test results : Looks like JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs were financially solvent enough to pay for good grades, while Bank of America was not. ;)

Fighting escalates in Pakistan .

Toyota has a bad year . First year losing money since 1963!

Good morning!   In the news......

Michael Savage gets pissed at Britain, calls for a boycott .  I thought the R's said only the D's do that kind of thing ;-)

Got granny's original '69 Mustang?  Convert it to scrap iron and get $4500 .   The law of unintended consequences does work.   Classic car fans are scrambling to save the best before they're gone for good.