Being commander-in-chief is about having to make the tough calls.

There is a huge dust-up right now between the Edwards and Obama bloggers about Obama's call to target terrorists inside Pakistan without Musharraf's prior approval.

I'm curious to see where 'the' dailykos stands on this question.  Poll Time!

You are commander-in-chief and you are told that you have actionable intelligence that bin Laden or senior Al Qaeda leaders have been located in a village in the mountainous border region of Pakistan.  Your analysts tell you that civilian casualties will almost certainly occur and you have roughly a 50-50 chance of hitting the targets before they relocate.  You have contacted the president of Pakistan but he refuses to authorize the strike because he fears it would destabilize his already tenuous grip on power.  Do you authorize the strike?    

I'll be posting election returns for LA-02 when they come in.  Polls close at 8pm Central.  Go Karen Carter!

nola.com Results page

LA-02	474 of 492 precincts reporting
Karen Carter (D)	25,795	43%
William "Dollar Bill" Jefferson* (D)	34,170	57%

Results as of 11:26 PM.

UPDATE:  Stupid Jefferson.  I'll cheer when they haul your ass away.

This practice is morally wrong.  Cut and dry.  I find it utterly contemptible that that is becoming an accepted as a legitimate business.

It is now becoming politically expedient to whisk away prisoners to privately run for-profit detention facilities.  Fueled by mandatory minimum sentences and 'three strikes' laws inmate populations have been soaring across the country.  In order to deal with this some states are choosing to export their problems and the 'incarceration corporations' are raking in the dough:  (from the San Diego UT)

This diary will cover the results of PA-SEN for the Election Results Live Blogging project. Herein we will watch as Santorum circles the toilet bowl on election night.

PA-SEN - 95.78% reporting
Bob Casey (D)	2,251,813	58.7%
Rick Santorum* (R)	1,581,512	41.3%

Join me below to give Senator Rick "the dick" Santorum the proper send-off he so richly deserves!

Other PA races to watch are PA-04, PA-06, PA-07, PA-08, and PA-10.
oysterface is live blogging them.

I'll also be reporting results for PA-Gov as well as longshot house races in PA-03 and PA-09. You can find the full Pennsylvania results here. Here's a link back to the master live blogging diary. To see results of all races, check out jotter's results aggregator.

PA-GOV - 95.78% reporting
Ed Rendell* (D)	2,320,768	60.3%
Lynn Swann (R)	1,528,648	39.7%
PA-03
Steven Porter (D)	81,709	42.1%
Phil English* (R)	104,029	53.6%
PA-09
Tony Barr (D)	76,222	40%
Bill Shuster* (R)	115,169	60%

Results are as of 2:46 AM EST.

UPDATE: THE RACES HAVE BEEN CALLED FOR CASEY AND RENDELL

Another great decision Joe.  Go fundraising with top republican slime-bag associated with Scooter Libby.  Here's the Link.

WASHINGTON - A prominent Republican who chairs I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's legal defense fund co-hosted a fundraiser Wednesday for Sen. Joe Lieberman, who is running for re-election as an independent after losing the Democratic primary.

I guess Joementum really is having trouble fundraising to risk this PR disaster!

Mel Sembler used to be the RNC finance committee chairman. He also refers to Cheney as a "dear friend" in the story.

This story just goes to show you how Howard Dean's vision of a national Democratic Party that fights Republicans everywhere can change things.  When no Democratic candidate emerged in Pennsylvania's heavily Republican 9th Congressional District, a coalition of grassroots organizations refused to allow the incumbent Bill Shuster a free pass.  With the support of several county grassroots Democratic Clubs, schoolteacher Tony Barr waged a successful write-in campaign to qualify for the ballot in November.  This was no small task.  Join me on the flip to hear about it.

The NSA wiretapping story has to this point been debated primarily in terms of its legality.  I agree.  If the President flaunts the law then he ought to get in a lot of trouble.  But another big question is would it even work?

In response to outrage over this program the wingers are invariably responding:  we need these wiretaps so that we can catch Al Qaeda.  In other words they claim that this program is necessary to keep America safe.  If that is their only argument, they are in trouble.

When Elmer "Bud" Shuster decided to resign after 28 years in Congress, he faced a dilemma - which son should inherit his seat?

"Bud" claimed he was quitting the House because of health reasons - but truth be told - he was probably frustrated by his failed attempt to keep those complicated things called "airbags" out of automobiles.  Just too darn complicated...  Or perhaps it was those ethics complaints?  The straw that broke the camel's back was probably the refusal by his fellow Republicans to suspend the term-limit rules on committee chairmanship.  He wasn't going to stay in congress if he couldn't remain uber-powerful.  Yes, probably best to just resign and pass the seat down...but to which son

This is my first diary ever, so I'd appreciate comments for improvement.

A growing scandal: dirty "Duke" Cunningham money also went to two other Republican representatives.

An excellent story in this morning's San Diego Union-Tribune reveals details of how corrupt defense contractor Mitchell Wade illegally coerced employees at his company, MZM Inc., to make PAC contributions. Three unnamed former employees of Wade's MZM told the Union-Tribune how Wade bullied them into making PAC contributions. This PAC money was then funneled to "Duke" Cunningham, Katherine Harris of Florida, and Virgil Goode of Virginia.

See extended entry for more...