Watch the trailer for Al Gore’s new global warming documentary.

Fox News hosted a panel discussion on today’s immigration rallies and asked, are the events a “perfect chance to arrest illegal immigrants?”:

Think Progress participated in a massive rally in downtown Washington, DC earlier today. (CNN is reporting “hundreds of thousands” of people were at the rally, and organizers expected approximately 180,000 people to participate.) A photo from the rally: Read more

This weekend, the Washington Post wrote an editorial defending President Bush’s smearing of Joseph Wilson. The Post editors mangled the facts and failed to note — as their political writers did — that Bush deceptively leaked intelligence information despite knowing it had been disproved months before. (Read a thorough debunking of the editorial).

One might be tempted to dismiss the effect that a mere 575-word editorial can have on the public debate. But it is already being peddled peddled by the White House to misinform the public. Here’s the product of the White House’s efforts –

Kelly O’Donnell, NBC White House correspondent, this morning on MSNBC:

To further support the White House view that the president was simply acting within his legal authority — he is able to declassify material at any time — the White House today is circulating some favorable editorials saying what the president did was perfectly fine and they also say what was disclosed was historical in nature and that it had no harmful effect on national security.

Joseph diGenova, former Reagan administration lawyer, on NPR this morning:

I think the Washington Post said it best on Sunday when it said that Mr. Wilson was the one guilty of twisting the truth. In fact his report supported the conclusion that Iraq had sought uranium.

Scott McClellan, this afternoon in the White House press briefing:

[Bush] did authorize the declassification of the National Intelligence Estimate. I think you’ve seen editorials and other comments over the weekend talking about how that was important because it was in the public interest.

And slowly but surely, with an assist from the Washington Post, the White House attempts to turn a falsehood into conventional wisdom.

Right-wing radio host Brian James of KFYI in Arizona recently advocated murder as a way of dealing with undocumented immigrants. An excerpt:

What we’ll do is randomly pick one night – every week – where we will kill whoever crosses the border. Step over there and you die. You get to decide whether it’s your lucky night or not. I think that would be more fun…[I'd be] happy to sit there with my high-powered rifle and my night scope.

The remarks prompted Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard and U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton to send a complaint to the FCC. Here’s a portion:

At no time during this hour did Mr. James disavow violence or indicate he was joking. In fact, when one caller suggested Mr. James did not really mean he wanted to shoot and kill immigrants, Mr. James retorted that in fact he did mean it. Immediately after this exchange, Mr. James engaged the next caller in a discussion about the correct ammunition to use when shooting border crossers to make sure the shots would be fatal.

This type of threatening and inciting speech is dangerous and totally irresponsible for anyone, particularly a licensed body using public airways.

Brian James has not apologized and claims his comments were “satire.” Later, for a story on the KFYI website, James said “KFYI does not advocate shooting illegals. It might be fun, but they don’t advocate it.”

Make up your own mind about whether James meant it or not. You can listen to the audio HERE. (Click “KFYI audio” to start the recording.) You can contact KFYI with your views at chickboss@kfyi.com.

Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman has quietly disbanded the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board (SEAB), the department’s “principal independent advisory board on scientific and technical matters,” reports Nature magazine.

The board, established by President Carter in 1978, is “a mix of distinguished scientists, such as Nobel laureate Burton Richter, and business executives, such as former ExxonMobil chairman Lee Raymond.”

The Energy Department said the board is no longer necessary because Bodman has his own “scientific” background. But Bodman isn’t the first Energy secretary with scientific training. James D. Watkins, President George H.W. Bush’s Energy Secretary who received his masters degree in mechanical engineering and completed a reactor engineering course at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, kept the panel in place during his tenure.

Nature has another theory on why Bodman may have dismantled the board — disagreement with the federal government’s priorities:

The panel’s most recent report, in July 2005, recommended drastic restructuring of the nation’s nuclear-weapons labs. The study riled some in Congress, but [department spokesman Craig Stevens] denies that this had any influence on the decision to dissolve the board.

Even with Bodman’s chemical engineering background, some independent voices are needed in this administration.

This morning on Fox News, Bill Kristol slammed Seymour Hersh’s article about plans being developed by the Bush administration to bomb Iran, possibly with nuclear weapons. Kristol called the article “bad reporting” that was intended to “scare people away from a much more limited and credible military option against Iran.” Kristol also suggested that the only alternative to a nuclear Iran was “military strikes.” Watch it:

Transcript: Read more

could be Rep. Adam H. Putnam (R-FL), Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), or Rep. Patrick T. McHenry (R-NC). McHenry: “I’m blown away … I’m so excited that Tom DeLay would say that about me.”