It's also important to understand that Andrew Breitbart's timing of the release of the grossly distorted video of Sherrod, which he admits having had for weeks, may not be entirely random. Congress will soon vote on whether to fund part of a settlement between the USDA and African-American farmers who faced acknowledged discrimination -- farmers like Sherrod and her husband used to be. It's a tiny piece of the upcoming war supplemental bill....

For years, and continuing through the 1990s, the USDA denied loans and grants to scores of farmers simply because they were African-American. Timothy Pigford finally sued the department in 1997; the suit became a class action with 400 additional plaintiffs and 2,000 farmers thought eligible; and the result was what's known as the Pigford settlement, decided in 1999.

The Pigford settlement offered two tracks: Track A offered $50,000 (plus loan forgiveness and tax offsets) to each eligible African-American farmer who had complained of discrimination since 1983, subject to applications and reviews; Track B offered the possibility of larger damages, provided plaintiffs could show a preponderance of evidence to arbitrators, prove their losses were greater than $50,000 and, of course, wait out the process. Less than 1 percent of the 22,721 class members chose to pursue Track B.

According to multiple sources that TPMmuckraker has not independently confirmed, Sherrod and her husband, Charles, were two of only 170 plaintiffs that chose Track B. Vilsack acknowledged in his press conference that Sherrod was a claimant in the Pigford settlement.

A money quote...

"America is experiencing an Islamist cultural-political offensive designed to undermine and destroy our civilization."

Really Newt?  Get that man some rubber sheets!

Unrepentant in the face of criticism that she took no questions Wednesday at her first campaign press conference, Nevada senatorial candidate and teabagger darling Sharron Angle this morning announced in a press release that she has hired a new campaign spokesman known merely as "The Freedom Mime."

"From now on, any members of the lamestream media who want to badger me with intrusive questions about my `position' on this or that `issue' can talk not to the hand, but to the mime," Angle said in a statement.

But the silver lining is all this impediment to free travel has put a media spotlight on the Nation...and led to some donors helping out the Nation, including James Cameron coming up with 50 large.

WASHINGTON--Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the Obama administration will allow tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans to expire on schedule despite calls from a small but increasingly vocal group of Democrats to delay any tax increases.

The House ethics committee is preparing to conduct what to amounts to a trial for former House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.).

The committee has concluded that Rangel violated House ethics rules and will release a public statement of violation next week.

It has been eight years since the U.S. House of Representatives conducted a similar review -- that of former Rep. Jim Trafficant, who was later expelled. It is based on 18 months of investigation into Rangel's conduct as a member of Congress and how may have used his House position to influence his private business. That investigation has focused on Rangel's amendment of his financial disclosure forms and his fundraising using official congressional letterhead for a center in his name at City College of New York.

Reporting from Phoenix -- A federal judge on Thursday expressed skepticism that a key part of a controversial Arizona law to control illegal immigration is constitutional.

The judge did not rule on lawsuits seeking a court order to prevent the law from taking effect July 29. Nor did she indicate how she might rule or when.

But U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton noted at a hearing that the U.S. Supreme Court has long barred states from creating their own immigrant registration systems. She said the Arizona measure's stipulation that makes a crime of failing to have immigration documents may violate that.