I agree that you’re going to start seeing warmongers use these Arab governments as proof that Iran’s nuclear program must be dealt with. The proper response is that this was entirely prefigured by the neocon invasion of Iraq. That’s exactly what Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak told John Kerry in one Wikileaks cable, that “as a result of the invasion of Iraq, Iran is spreading everywhere.” It destabilized the region, just like liberals said it would. And an Iranian invasion to compensate for a failed Iraqi invasion would be just as destabilizing if not more so.

The bottom line is, early odds are on a 2-1 decision upholding Judge Vaughn Walker’s fine decision in Perry. The one stumbling block, of course, is the issue of standing, and on that I still have some concern that Hawkins, who can be a stickler on procedural details, might align with Smith to hold that there is no standing on the appeal. So, while there are still problems with the standing issue and therefore there should be no premature wild celebrations today, it is nevertheless a very favorable panel the Perry appeal has drawn. For that, there should be some joy.

Today could be our last chance to bring medical marijuana to New York for another year, and many patients across the state just can’t wait that long.

If you live in New York state, click here to write a letter to the state senate to pass S. 8427.

The Century Foundation, Demos and the Economic Policy Institute have released a liberal counterpoint budget plan, as a response to the plan put forward by Erskine Bowles and Alan “The Greediest Generation” Simpson on deficit reduction. The counterpoint is fundamentally different in that it demands increased employment levels before spending reductions kick in.

The White House plan for a federal wage freeze is obviously political and only symbolic, because the dollars involved are trivial in relation to the total deficit. But more important, the White House rationale confirms for the umpteenth time that the Obama White House’s economic thinking and priorities are deeply flawed.

Let’s let the fact that the Wikileaks guy isn’t a US citizen and therefore can’t commit “treason” against ‘Merka slide. Pesky details like that are not to be counted against the Quitter, who we elitist liberal book-readin’ types should always grade on a scale. But where would wingnuts be without false equivalences?

It’s sort of like the universe concocted the internet as an antidote to the concentration of power in the hands of a select few who were successfully operating vast, secret government operations secure from any kind of public scrutiny or oversight.

The fact that Wikileaks felt they had to distribute the documents to numerous media outlets to act as a check on one another is telling.

Here’s one of my biggest concerns: that the quickness with which the government slaps a WMD charge on someone experimenting with explosives reflects its interest or disinterest in fully investigating that person’s goals and associates.

I’ll be Sam’s guest at 11:30 am ET today.

Democrats have a flurry of competing positions, from taking the stand from all the way back in 2008 primary season to bargaining and conceding and the like, and Republicans are… right where they’ve always been.