[Guest post by Jack Dunphy]

The L.A. Times reports on a defense attorney arrested for drug possession . . . at the downtown criminal courthouse. Priceless.

–Jack Dunphy

[Guest post by DRJ]

Le-gal In-sur-rec-tion summarizes President Obama’s Gulf Coast speech in one sentence.

— DRJ

[Guest post by DRJ]

Joined by Chris Matthews and Howard Fineman, Keith Olbermann declares that President Obama’s BP oil spill speech tonight didn’t aim low … it didn’t aim at all:

Olbermann: “I got the feeling, Howard, that the President would have said “Hey, I was as surprised by this as you were.” He talked how he had approved the expansion of the offshore drilling and said he been assured that everything was going to go all right.

And then he had the analogy, which many people expected would be more contemporary about 9/11, but instead was about World War II and he said something that I found just extraordinary. It’s nice speechifying, but let me read it again:

“… our determination to fight for the America we want for our children. Even if we’re unsure exactly what that looks like. Even if we don’t yet know precisely how we’re going to get there. We know we’ll get there.”

It’s nice but, again, how? Where was the how in this speech when the nation is crying out for how?”

RealClearPolitics also highlights these Chris Matthews’ quotes:

Matthews: Ludicrous that he keeps saying [Secretary of Energy] Chu has a Nobel prize. “I’ll barf if he does it one more time.”

Matthews: “A lot of meritocracy, a lot of blue ribbon talk.”

Matthews: “I don’t sense executive command.”

Click here to absorb the entire segment, and here is the text of President Obama’s speech.

H/T Allahpundit at Hot Air, whose pithy summary you do not want to miss.

— DRJ

[Guest post by DRJ]

Owen at Boots and Sabers likes the NRA’s training and education programs but isn’t impressed with its politics:

“I am not a member of the NRA. While I am a strong advocate for our 2nd Amendment rights, I have always been a bit skittish with the NRA. As a large, powerful lobbying organization, they are susceptible to corruption and acting to maintain their own power despite their stated principles.

Case in point:

Just as opposition was building in the House to the unconstitutional and burdensome DISCLOSE Act, which is intended to help Democrats in the November election by stifling the political speech of corporations and many non-profit advocacy organizations (but not unions), the NRA has apparently sold out.

Politico and others are reporting that the NRA has reached a deal to withdraw its opposition to the bill in exchange for an exemption for the NRA from its disclosure provisions. “

Maybe it was going to pass anyway and the NRA wanted to shield itself from adverse consequences. Then again, some say the “NRA’s support has been deemed necessary to pass the bill.”

— DRJ

MORE: Thanks to jdm in the comments for a link to this rebuttal, a sentiment echoed by other NRA commenters.

[Guest post by DRJ]

A Colorado town with narrow roads has banned bikeriding in town because of a new state law that requires motorists to give bikes 3′ clearance. Black Hawk, Colorado, sits on a scenic route that is popular with bicyclists so Colorado’s cyclists are up in arms (or feet) over being forced to walk a half-mile to get through the town. Cycling associations are urging a boycott of Black Hawk and a Colorado TV channel covered the dispute:

A group opposing the ban, called Dismountblackhawk.com, plans to kill the town with kindness:

“BUT THEY SAY IT’S OK TO DISMOUNT AND WALK… SO LET’S DO IT!! It’s only a quarter mile through town, so let’s get some big groups together and walk our bikes through town. A bunch of bikes on the sidewalk will certainly irritate them more than bikers on the roads! And let’s BOYCOTT THE LOCAL BUSINESSES until this ban is lifted! Instead of avoiding Black Hawk on your cycling adventures, ADD IT TO YOUR ROUTE. Let’s show them how many bikers they are offending and how many bikers are BOYCOTTING THEIR TOWN!!

Let’s KILL THEM WITH KINDNESS THOUGH! Dismount your bike and walk through town without causing any additional problems for the tourists and residents.”

Lots of boycotts going on these days. It’s getting hard to remember them all.

— DRJ

An addendum to this morning’s post revealing the dishonesty of Eric Boehlert:

Boehlert’s Smirking Chimp post now contains the following caveat: “Please note that these Media Matters columns appear here with permission but are not posted by Eric Boehlert.”

Here today

He just added this today, obviously in response to my post.. The cached version shows the language was not present in the original.

Not there yesterday

In other words, he’s trying to cover his tracks by sneaking in a caveat.

Pathetic.

What’s worse is that the caveat doesn’t help him. Remember: Boehlert claimed The Smirking Chimp posted his columns “independently,” writing a long sneer-filled post claiming I knew nothing about “how the Internets work” and posting on Twitter:

If @patterico were any dumber, it would hurt. I didn’t “cross publish” my column at Smirking Chimp, idiot.

And now his big defense is that he authorizes cross-posting, but he doesn’t press the publish button himself? On a blog at The Smirking Chimp called “Eric Boehlert’s blog”?

Are you kidding me?!

Unbelievable.

By the way, that’s how virtually all of my posts work at Big Journalism. I publish posts here, and then authorize them to be published at Big Journalism. Editors there decide whether to publish them. I have never logged in or hit a publish button at Big Journalism. In rare cases I will modify a post for their site; when I do, I e-mail the modifications to the editors.

Although I don’t hit the “publish” button myself, I would never claim that Big Journalism “independently” publishes my posts, or imply I had no involvement in the process.

Because, unlike Eric Boehlert, I am not a weasel.

[Guest post by DRJ]

In 2008, the City of Philadelphia was sued by a local Boy Scout organization over City threats to end a $1-a-year lease of city property improved substantially by the Boy Scouts. The basis for terminating the lease is the Boy Scout’s policy refusing membership to gays.

The attorney for the local Boy Scout group argued the City is using its leverage over the property to force the local group to renounce the Boy Scouts’ national policy toward gays. Instead of making it an argument about homosexuality, however, the local group is apparently trying to walk a fine line between abiding by the national policy and serving local Boy Scouts. Thus, the local group’s first witness will be a former director who struggled with conflicting demands. On the other hand, the City’s first witness is an Eagle Scout who was forced out after announcing he was gay.

One interesting aspect of the case is that the local Boy Scout group sued first, in anticipation of having its lease terminated by the City. Thus, the local group will present its case and the City will respond as defendant.

— DRJ

[Guest post by DRJ]

In an effort avoid violence and tension that arose from the shooting of a 15-year-old Mexico boy last week, U.S. and Mexican authorities announced that Juarez police will join the Border Patrol in some high-profile areas. The joint patrols will be conducted in “spots known for rock attacks, including Downtown, near the old Asarco plant and Anapra-Sunland Park.” The goal is to avoid problems for both sides. Let’s see how it’s working out so far:

“On Saturday, a demonstration turned violent when Juárez protesters crossed the Rio Grande, threw rocks at the U.S. side and ripped a chain link fence. The Border Patrol, including agents in riot gear, waited nearby but did not confront the protesters. There were no reported injuries.

In a statement, El Paso Sector Border Patrol Chief Agent Randy Hill said he has “instructed his agents to exercise appropriate restraint without compromising personal safety or national security to avoid another incident.”

Sounds like the new plan is to respond in force and do nothing.

— DRJ

[Guest post by DRJ]

Star Magazine suggests Laurie David, ex-wife of Larry David, is the other woman in the Al and Tipper Gore divorce.

I have nothing to say about this.

— DRJ

[Guest post by DRJ]

Byron York looks at what went wrong at the scandal-plagued Minerals Management Service. York says that instead of continuing a clean-up begun late in the Bush Administration, the Obama Administration focused on renewable or green energy:

“It started early in the new administration. Salazar’s first department-wide order, issued March 11, 2009, was to declare “facilitating the production, development, and delivery of renewable energy top priorities for the Department.”

Salazar chose Elizabeth Birnbaum to head the MMS in large part because of her record of environmental and green-energy advocacy. “We have changed the direction of MMS,” Salazar told the Senate last month, “by balancing its ocean energy portfolio to include offshore wind and renewable energy production.” Given the considerable size of the existing offshore oil industry, “balancing” the MMS portfolio meant putting a heavy emphasis on new offshore wind projects. “They were more into renewables offshore than they were into oil and gas,” says a GOP Senate aide who works in the area.

Birnbaum, who is so far the only Obama administration official to lose a job over the Gulf oil spill, spent an enormous amount of time working on the controversial Cape Wind project off the coast of Massachusetts. After years of regulatory wrangling, it was approved April 29 — nine days after the oil-rig explosion that set off the Gulf spill.”

Every Administration wants to sweep aside what happened before and concentrate on its agenda, but neither life nor politics works that way. Presidents and their appointees must deal with everything, not just what interests them.

President Obama has long advocated renewable energy and the BP spill has given him a second chance to convince Americans to forgo traditional energy sources like oil and gas. If so, this spill will cost our economy far more than the clean-up costs.

— DRJ

UPDATE — How do you fix a broken Minerals Management Service? Bring in another attorney:

“The White House announced Tuesday that Michael R. Bromwich, a former assistant U.S. attorney and Justice Department inspector general, will lead a reorganization of the Minerals Management Service. The administration plans to break the MMS into three separate entities to eliminate conflicts of interest.”