Karen Irby settles with Dedousis and Pogue families; Plaintiffs agree to take care of Karen Irby's debts

The Pogue and Dedousis families settled their claims against Karen Irby on August 4, 2010.  Did I miss some discussion of this somewhere?  Google's telling me I didn't.  The interesting part of this is on the second page, where the plaintiffs agree to handle Karen Irby's debts.  Looks like Karen's handing them the keys to both her assets and her liabilities, and saying "have at it."

Karen Irby settles with Pogue and Dedousis Families

This is painful

This has to be one of the strangest interviews I've ever seen.  And I mean worse than poor Basil Marceaux:

http://tv.gawker.com/5621836/providence-mayoral-candidate-gives-worst-on+camera-interview-ever

Report: FEC says no foul in Pickering-Barbour-Vitter contribution circle

The Washington Examiner, not exactly a neutral publication, reports that the FEC has cleared Chip Pickering, Gov. Barbour, and Sen. David Vitter in an alleged campaign contribution shell game reported here in previous posts here, here, here, and here.  The Examiner says:

Federal authorities say there's no reason to believe Louisiana Sen. David Vitter's campaign violated the law by accepting a contribution from a political action committee of Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour.
Louisiana Democrats claimed the contribution from "Haley's PAC" was really from former Mississippi U.S. Rep. Chip Pickering and that it was illegally funneled through Barbour's PAC to avoid publicity.
But the Federal Elections Commission, in a ruling made public Monday, dismissed the complaint.

I haven't seen the FEC ruling yet, but I do note that this was originally made public back on July 16, 2010.  I'll say that this isn't a refutation of the original charge of playing a shell game with the contribution.  Instead, this reads as "neither contribution was over the limit, and there isn't sufficient proof of hijinks":

In its release, the FEC noted that both of the contributions in question were disclosed and that neither was "excessive or prohibited."

A World Without Lawyers

Here's a great video from Consumer Attorneys of California.  It's a short and sweet rebuttal to the years upon years of awful propaganda spewing out of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.  Of course, much more is needed.

Delbert declines to announce, touts need to "reorganize" state government

Delbert Hosemann chose not to make an announcement to run for Governor next year.  He focuses on the need to reorganize state government (whatever that means) and speaks a little about immigration. Now here's the kicker, and what will likely drive speculation for up to another 6 months: Delbert didn't say he was running for Governor, but he didn't say he wasn't, either.

h/t to Patsy Brumfield and her Twitter page, which is the best place for Neshoba updates

WikiLeaks may have just changed the course of American history *UPDATED WITH LINKS*

WikiLeaks.com has just published the "Afghan War Diary," which is described as:

...an extraordinary compendium of over 91,000 reports covering the war in Afghanistan from 2004 to 2010.
The reports, while written by soldiers and intelligence officers mainly describing lethal military actions involving the United States military, also include intelligence information, reports of meetings with political figures, and related detail.

The question is this: if the American public hears the DoD's own accounts of civilian deaths, will the accepted become unacceptable?  How will this affect public opinion on the Afghan war, and on war in general?

*UPDATE* WikiLeaks' Twitter feed is a great source for links to media coverage of the War Diary.  The Guardian has a story up on civilian casualties listed in the War Diary that links the type of stories I was referring to in the body of this post above.  The New York Times has a section of its website dedicated to the War Diary, and its first story focuses on the link between Pakistan and the insurgents. Also, Der Spiegel has a section up as well, and they've subdivided what they've determined to be the most important information from the War Diary.  Topics include the problems with Predator drones, a secret group of warriors known as "Task Force 373", and problems with U.S. intelligence agencies.

Sunday mornin' quick hits

Jerry Mitchell and Molly Parker over at the Clarion-Ledger have several items today on our state's approach to mental health issues.  There's a heart-rending story about the suicide of a patient recently released from Whitfield, a detailed piece on the deep cuts to mental health funding, and an article on the lack of adequate housing for mental health patients.  I've had quite a bit of experience with people suffering from mental health problems, and I can't stress enough how strong the link is between crime and poor mental health.  If you doubt me, ask your local sheriff.

The New York Times has a study on the direction of the U.S. Supreme Court under Chief Justice Roberts.  To no one's surprise, the study concludes that the Roberts Court is the "the most conservative one in living memory."  For those that don't follow the USSC that closely, there's an interactive feature that matches you to a justice based on your responses to several questions.

Dana Priest and William Arkin of the Washington Post have been working on a project for the past two years on our nation's intelligence infrastructure, and the fruits of their labor can now be found at "Top Secret America." The project has been widely praised.  I'd say that I look forward to reading what they've uncovered, but I'm not exactly sure I want to know...

Finally, if you haven't seen Inception yet, you're missing out.  I haven't had that much fun watching a movie in a long, long time.  The hotel hallway scenes alone are worth the price of admission, especially once you find out how it was done.