Praise all around for the rapid police response and the brave receptionist who, after being shot in the abdomen, had the amazing presence of mind to pretend to be dead and then call 911 when the gunman had moved down the hallway.

Past Tense?
When Rachel introduced the segment of last week’s Colin Powell interview that covered torture, she mentioned the tension in room when the topic came up. Powell’s office has since contacted the show to say that there was no tension, and that it was inappropriate for Rachel to have mentioned it.

Seriously? I wasn’t in the room, but based on the clip the tension in there was so thick you could have sliced it up and served it with a side of disquiet.

But maybe I’m biased. It is possible that General Powell was not tense and that he answered Rachel’s questions as fully and directly as he could. It is also possible that he was wearing Bermuda shorts and swim flippers below camera range. I’m giving both possibilities the same odds.

DiplObamatic
Rachel showed us footage of France making its O face. The French were so happy to see the President that no mid-level executives were taken hostage for twenty whole minutes.

Bayh-partisan
Senator Evan Bayh (D-Indiana) and one other Conservadem, Ben Nelson (D-Nebraska) voted against the President’s budget.

Air America’s Ana Marie Cox dropped in (hooray!) to speculate with Rachel on whether the voting is based on principle or early betting on the midterm elections. They also took a moment to giggle about Bayh’s raw animal charisma.

Ms. Information
Hooray for solid Midwestern common sense! Judges in Iowa reaffirmed that separate is not equal and legalized same-sex marriage. Iowans, enjoy that influx of marriage tourism dollars. Not to mention some fabulous updates to the interior décor of your quaint little B&Bs.

In less sane news, Sarah Palin is asking new Alaskan Senator Begich (D) to resign so former Senator Ted Stevens (R) can take another swing, now that Stevens’ corruption trial has been thrown out of court for massively bad handling.

Golly. Do you think Palin might be able to further help Stevens and the Republican party by going on the news some more?

New President, Old Europe
President Obama has been pitching his Afghaniplan to Europe, with generally positive results. Rachel decided to clamp down hard on all that fun by bringing up the inconvenient issue of whether or not the plan is actually a good one.

Andrew Exum of The Center for a New American Security checked in for a genuinely interesting conversation on the topic that will only make you want to hide under the coffee table once or twice.

Did you ever think a news story would make you look forward to seeing okra?

GOP in Exile
Tammy Duckworth was a decorated helicopter pilot in the Iraq war and has been a passionate, nationally recognized advocate for veterans.

Senator Richard Burr (R – North Carolina) is personally blocking her nomination for a top job in Veteran’s Affairs department. Burr’s only stated reason is that he’s doing “due diligence,” and, whoa, Rachel is pissed.

Senator, I hope you took note of the set of her jaw after she said “You picked the wrong fight here.” I believe you are about to learn that there is, in fact, such a thing as bad publicity.

Rachel Re:
Journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee are still being held in North Korea. And as upsetting and enraging as that is, Rachel pointed out that our own country’s treatment of its prisoners over the past eight years has left us with frustratingly little to say about that.

Her brilliant and impassioned case about why we cannot brush our country’s shameful history of torture under the rug should be playing on a loop in the ear of everyone, Democrat or Republican, who has done even a single thing to slow down the investigation and prosecution of everyone who had a part in justifying or ordering torture.

And Dick Cheney should have the video feed routed to the inside of his glasses.

Cocktail Moment
The magic of all-girl action squads continues with China’s first graduating class of female fighter jet pilots.

Rachel noted that they are skilled in helmet-and-jumpsuited badassery and, just in case you were worried, at dancing in bubbles and wearing spangles. I think it trains you to be able to see bogeys coming in from any direction. And maybe not to get dazzled by the sun in your eyes?  I’m sure it’s something military.

Until next time, keep your spangles shiny and your corn intake high.

In a brief filed Monday with the Supreme Court the Virginia-based Liberty Counsel says the challenges to Prop 8 have no basis in law.

A day after voters agreed to amend the constitution to ban same-sex marriage, three separate briefs were filed with the high court, arguing the proposition was illegal because it conflicted with existing portions of the constitution.

The American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal and the National Center for Lesbian Rights filed a writ petition before the California Supreme Court on Wednesday, a preliminary move to a suit. They were the lead groups that successfully argued the original marriage case before the court.

The second notice came from Dennis Herrera, the attorney for the City of San Francisco.  The third was filed by Los Angeles attorney Gloria Allred on behalf of a couple married in that city.

The petitions charge that Proposition 8 is invalid because the initiative process was improperly used in an attempt to undo the constitution’s core commitment to equality for everyone. They also say that Prop 8 improperly attempts to prevent the courts from exercising their essential constitutional role of protecting the equal protection rights of minorities.

Liberty Counsel is representing the Campaign for California Families, which organized Prop 8.

In its brief, Liberty Counsel said that the challengers are wrong in their basic assumptions and asks the court for the right to argue to allow Prop 8 to stand when the high court hears the case.

“The proponents of same-sex marriage have thrown a ‘Hail Mary’ pass with no receivers down field,” said Mathew D. Staver, Founder of Liberty Counsel and Dean of Liberty University School of Law.

“The law suit seeking to block Proposition 8 is patently frivolous. The people have a right to amend their constitution,” Staver said in a statement.

“It is amazing how much effort has been put in this battle to keep the people from deciding the future of marriage. It makes no sense that four judges can re-write the historic definition of marriage and more than 5 million people cannot restore it to its common understanding as the union of one man and one woman.”

On Sunday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he hoped the Supreme Court would declare Proposition 8 illegal.