Morning Constitutional – 9 April 2010

Good morning everybody. In an ultimate injustice, the Jersey Shore \”kids\” have not been welcome at Miami\’s hottest spots. Now, your morning constitutional:

Rep. Bart Stupak, mostly responsible for a compromise leading to the passage of the health care reform bill, has announced he will not be seeking re-election.

Did President Bush, Vice President Cheney and Secretary Rumsfeld cover up the fact that they knew that hundreds of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay were in fact innocent? Lawrence Wilkerson, an aide to then-Secretary Colin Powell, claims that that Cheney and Rumsfeld knew that the majority of the initial 742 detainees sent to Guantánamo in 2002 were innocent but believed that it was “politically impossible to release them.”

Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai remains \”a critical partner\” for the United States, President Obama says in an interview.

In an interview Thursday, President Obama responded to charges by Sarah Palin that the new nuclear weapons strategy would imperil American security. \”I really have no response,\” Obama told ABC News. \”Because last I checked, Sarah Palin\’s not much of an expert on nuclear issues.\”

A Juneau County, Wisconsin, district attorney warns that the state\’s new comprehensive sex education law could lead to charges against teachers for contributing to the delinquency of minors.

How worried should the U.S. be about the recent coup in Kyrgyzstan?

BBC: Why the Tories need a higher share of the vote to win the upcoming U.K election.

Relatedly, Labour has sacked parliamentary candidate Stewart MacLennan for calling old people \”coffin dodgers,\” calling a woman a \”boot,\” and making jokes about slavery on Twitter. Labour came under pressure to do so as the details of MacLennan\’s Twitter activities were highlighted by the Evening Standard.

How much blame for the apparent failure of regulatory agencies falls on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit?

Vegans can apparently eat oysters.

In Kumbwada, Nigeria, a curse has assured that only women will reign. The current queen says that so far it has worked out better this way.

Matt Wald at the Times explains how disposal of plutonium from U.S.-Russia disarmament will likely take decades.

Newt Gingrich declares \”We need a president, not an athlete\” at the Southern Republican Leadership Congress Thursday night. \”Shooting three point shots may be clever, but it doesn\’t put anybody to work.\”

Finally, man arrested after his gun goes off…inside a Walmart.