Monday Open Thread

Welcome to your Monday open thread. Welcome to August! This means the year 2011 is creeping closer and closer to the end (it can’t end soon enough for me). What’s going on in your neck of the woods? Share your thoughts below.

I you’re on Twitter, one of the must-follow people is David Waldman (@KagroX). Apparently Politico agrees. They’ve identified him as one of the top 10 political tweeters.

As fire-breathing a liberal as Wilson is a conservative, David Waldman, whose handle is an inside joke involving a misspelling of “kangaroo,” is also just as withering. He doles out comments like: “Do not f—- staff is political advice, not moral.” To the headline “Bachmann Signs Porn Ban,” he tacked on this: “With both hands, thank you for asking.” It’s not all dirty-minded — see such sarcastic, weird-logic koans as: “If you fire enough math teachers, people won’t be able to read bad employment numbers,” “If a fetus is a person, then a mandatory sonogram is warrantless surveillance” or “Because I believe we should run the govt like a business, I oppose the Balanced Budget Amendment. Let the budget self-regulate.” A former staffer for The Hotline — “back when Chuck Todd was an intern” — Waldman got his liberal blogging start with Daily Kos in 2006 and is now a full-time liberal blogger, proprietor of Congress Matters.

Twitter, like anything, is both a blessing and a curse. If you were really, really interested in the debt ceiling machinations, Twitter was the place to be this weekend. If you’re sick and tired of hearing about it, not so much.

Rachel Maddow is being sued for $50M for slander.

Bradlee Dean, a conservative preacher who is known for his incendiary, anti-homosexual rehetoric, and his ministry are seeking damages in excess of $50 million from Maddow and MSNBC for slander and false light.

After announcing the lawsuit Wednesday in New York, Dean and Klayman spoke by phone to the Michele Tafoya Show show on CBS radio.

At issue are comments Dean made on his own radio show last spring:

“Muslims are calling for the executions of homosexuals in America. This just shows you they themselves are upholding the laws that are even in the Bible of the Judeo-Christian God, but they seem to be more moral than even the American Christians do, because these people are livid about enforcing their laws. They know homosexuality is an abomination … If America won’t enforce the laws, God will raise up a foreign enemy to do just that.”

Maddow, the lawsuit says, took those comments and ran with them, claiming that Dean was essentially advocating killing homosexuals. Dean has issued a statement declaring his firm opposition to violence toward gays.

I think Bradlee Dean is going to have a tough time with his lawsuit. Call it a hunch.