Thursday Open Thread
I've got court in Denver early, followed by the dentist in Boulder and then the jail, in Englewood, yet another county. If readers would take over in this open thread, it would be a big help for me. Many thanks.
I don't know what TChris or LNILR's schedule is, but James the Menace Sensenbrenner and Tom Feeney are pushing a change in federal sentencing laws to establish mandatory minimums for all offenses, in a misguided attempt to get around Booker, and this deserves some coverage. If you don't find it here, check Sentencing Law and Policy for updates. The hearing is today and the witness list is here (pdf).
Update: The Oversight Hearing on post-Booker developments to be conducted Thursday morning by the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security will be webcast live starting at 10:30am .
PlameGate followers: Is there anything new in this Walter Pincus interview from which one could deduce his source of information on Plame?
And last but not least, what is it with Bush that he feels secure enough to tell us that preventive war is still on his agenda? Pew has him at a 33% approval rate and the latest Wall St. Journal poll also finds him slipping--
The survey shows the president's approval rating falling to 37%, a low for Mr. Bush, with disapproval highest for his handling of the war. His party's advantage on handling Iraq has narrowed amid public pessimism about the conflict, helping Democrats open a double-digit edge in voter preferences for controlling Congress.
"At this point in the administration there's one thing that counts, and it's the war in Iraq," says Democrat pollster Peter Hart. ....respondents also say by 50%-28% that the war has weakened America's standing in the world, and by 44%-18% that it has increased the potential threat from Iran.
The survey of 1,005 adults, conducted March 10-13, shows that a congressional candidate favoring withdrawal of all U.S. troops within a year would gain favor by a 50%-35%, while one who advocates staying "as long as necessary" would lose favor by 43%-39%. The margin of error is 3.1 percentage points. ....Some 37% of Americans say they'll use their votes this fall to signal opposition to Mr. Bush, while 20% say they'll signal support for him. Congress's approval rating is even lower at 33%.
The numbers should tell Bush one thing:
Of the 66% of Americans who say they disapprove of Mr. Bush's policies, seven in 10 say that ousting Saddam Hussein from power hasn't been worth its human and financial costs as violence there persists. "For Americans, it looks more and more like...we can't stop or change it," Mr. McInturff says. Some 61% of Americans say it's time to reduce U.S. troop levels; only 21% say they would back an increase in U.S. troop strength in Iraq to escalate attacks on insurgents.
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