TRULY HEROIC
Alabama residents are wreaking a nasty revenge on the woman who took their state’s chief justice to court over his religious monument
(NEWSWEEK, unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

MOORE'S CHARGES
Here is the JIC complaint filed against Justice Moore
(FINDLAW, unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

DOES THE CONSTITUTION HATE GOD?
One of the hard lessons of the religion cases is that if the public square is going to welcome everyone, it cannot necessarily welcome all of their gods. Perhaps the most American sentiment of all is the faith that somehow, He will be there anyhow.
(SLATE, unearthed by Kate Varner)

DUMB LAWS
Sure, you know you're going to get a ticket for driving over the speed limit or a fine for littering. I'll bet you didn't know though that in Wyoming it is illegal for women to stand within five feet of a bar while drinking; that in Richmond, VA it is illegal to flip a coin in any eating establishment to determine who buys a cup of coffee; or that in Alabama it's illegal to wear a fake mustache that causes laughter in church.
(unearthed by Bill Messick)

Photo by William Blanchard

LE ROCK REDUX
"The Montgomery Advertiser reports here that 'Protesters removed, monument stays.' The Birmingham News reports here that 'Court won't stop monument move.' A related editorial is entitled 'Test of courage: Other state officials must act if Moore will not.' The Mobile Register contains an article headlined 'They came from all over for glimpse of the drama.' And The Crimson White reports here that 'Monument defenders undeterred.'"
This morning's edition of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports here that "Commandments feud spurs arrests; Supreme Court stays out of dispute in Alabama." And CNN.com reports that "Alabama justice not giving up monument fight; Ten Commandments still in place as deadline passes."
(HOW APPEALING, unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

THE ROCK HASN'T MOVED!!!
"Security guards looking worried, police officers here and there around the building, with several motorcycle cops out front. Yellow traffic cones have been placed near the street. I wonder if they are going to cordon off the area when the time comes to move the Rock. I think it will only get busier as the day goes on. I imagine there's no freight elevator that could handle the thing if they (the people charged with moving it) hoped to take it out some other way than the front entrance."
(HOW APPEALING, unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

THE TRIBES OF YALE
Tip O'Neill, the former Speaker of the House, used to say that all politics is local. He learned his lessons in taverns and church basements and political clubs in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His local was a working-class neighborhood where relationships mattered, where promises were remembered, and where memories were long. It was a physical place that changed only slowly over time.
The current crop of political figures—the Howard Deans and Hillary Rodham Clintons, the George Bushes and Karl Roves, already squaring off for the presidential prizes in 2004 and 2008—has a very different sense of "local."
...To the extent that they are the product of a place, a time, and a people, the place would be college campuses and high-powered law schools.
(VILLAGE VOICE)

OH GOD!
Poor God. Just when it seems he finally might make a break from Alabama, another politician grabs the hem of his robe and drags him back in.
(COX NEWSPAPERS, unearthed by W. Anderson Ward)

THE LONG HOT ROAD HOME
Hundreds of Iraqis civilians are being held in makeshift jails run by US troops - many without being charged or even questioned. And in these prisons are children whose parents have no way of locating them. Jonathan Steele reveals the grim reality of coalition justice in Baghdad.
(GUARDIAN, unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

COINCIDENCE OR CONSPIRACY?
Conspiracy websites have been making these points for months. But Kleinberg, in citing them on the floor of Congress, studiously avoids the word 'conspiracy'. This is what creates the sense that the events she relates are astonishingly improbable.
(Pop Matters, unearthed by Lee Ann Waterss)

PANAM GAMES: CUBA AND US CLASH IN BASEBALL
The U.S. team had the lead for the first six innings with a score of one to nothing. Cuba got a base hit and the runner advanced to second. With another base hit, Cuba tied the score. The tie breaker came the next inning, when a base hit knocked in a runner from third base; a homerun in the 8th inning sealed the fate...
(Radio Habana Cuba, unearthed by Cuba News Digest)

GORBACHEV COMING TO MIAMI
The National Summit on Cuba announced that former Soviet leader President Mikhail Gorbachev is coming to Miami to discuss historic perspectives on U.S. policy toward the island at the upcoming Florida National Summit on Cuba Oct. 4 at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables.
(TAMPA BAY BUSINESS JOURNAL, unearthed by Cuba News Digest)

THEY CAN DISH IT OUT BUT....
FOX NEWS NETWORKS, LLC v. PENGUIN GROUP (USA) INC. AND ALAN S. FRANKEN
Fox News sues comedian Al Franken for trademark infringement over the use of "Fair and Balanced" in his new book.
(FINDLAW)

GOP CUBANS THREATEN BUSH
On Monday, 13 Republican state legislators, including 10 Cuban-Americans, sent the president a warning. In a pointed letter, they wrote that if Mr. Bush did not make 'substantial progress' toward fulfilling four Cuban-American demands, 'we fear the historic and intense support from Cuban-American voters for Republican federal candidates, including yourself, will be jeopardized."
(NYT)

TAX PROTESTER WINS ACQUITAL
A woman who said she refused to pay federal income taxes because the IRS didn't respond to her inquiries about tax law has been acquitted of tax evasion.
The whole thing could have been resolved if the government had simply answered her questions,'' Becraft said. ``It didn't happen. I made an argument to the jury that an American has a right to ask the government for answers."
(Guardian, unearthed by beamonk)