Our guest columnist this morning is Walter Dellinger, writing in 1994 in his capacity as assistant attorney general of the United States and head of the Office of Legal Counsel. We’ve taken the liberty of highlighting passages for speed-skimmers.

Speaking about the DOMA appeal Tuesday, DOJ spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler said “The Department of Justice has a long-standing practice of defending federal statutes when they are challenged in court, including by appealing adverse decisions of lower courts.”

Presidential Authority to Decline to Execute Unconstitutional Statutes

I have reflected further on the difficult questions surrounding a President’s decision to decline to execute statutory provisions that the President believes are unconstitutional, and I have a few thoughts to share with you. Let me start with a general proposition that I believe to be uncontroversial: there are circumstances in which the President may appropriately decline to enforce a statute that he views as unconstitutional.

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Honestly, we don’t know what it is about billboards. They’re not seen by many people live, compared to the traffic they get when they’re plastered all over the Interwebs. And yet, they’re a part of Americana. Ugly Americana, mind you, but still.

Anti-Obama billboard raises eyebrows [Daily Sentinel, Florida]

Sony’s version of Google TV is making the rounds this week, and alpha geek John Gruber at Daring Fireball has unearthed an old Onion video that explains the new product. Don’t worry if you have no fucking clue what this is about. That’s the point.

Stinque Workplace Advisory: We recommend you crank the audio to 11.

Demrat Governor Not Blago releases the first doggy-snuff video of the 2010 campaign season against Repug opponent Bill Brady, providing us a fresh excuse to revive our once-banned 2008 Swampsow graphic.

The bill in question would have amended a 2009 Illinois law that effectively banned gas euthanizations by shelters, by imposing requirements — particularly against mass dispatches — that made chambers too impractical to use. The bill would have permitted group gassing again, but under vague rules that may or may not be considered loopholes.

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We’ve largely been ignoring the latest episode of Big Shitpile, mainly because, well, it doesn’t involve Bozos or Nazis.

Turns out we were wrong.

If, like us, you’re just tuning in to Dancing With The Banks, foreclosures have largely been put on hold nationwide because of red tape. And by “red tape”, we mean that nobody can prove they own the foreclosed mortgages.

This isn’t just a matter of robo-notaries rushing through the paperwork. It’s a matter of the paperwork itself missing a few papers. Like, oh, deeds:

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Say, how are things about two hours north of our Ancestral Home?

The district attorney in Multnomah County, [Oregon’s] most populous area with over 710,000 residents, announced recently that it can no longer prosecute dozens of crimes thanks to an ever-shrinking budget.

Caught with small amounts of heroin, cocaine or methamphetamine? It’s a ticket. So’s a hit-and-run accident. Small-time shoplifting? You’ll still get arrested, but it’s still just a violation.

For these and other lesser crimes, the district attorney will simply refuse to prosecute.

Golly! We didn’t think Mighty Orygun would lead the nation in meeting teabagger demands, but if they can make small government work there, they can make it work anywhere.

Oregon county decriminalizes heroin, meth, cocaine and shoplifting, among others [Raw Story]

Nazi sympathizer drag queen reenactor Rich Iott defends his naughty cosplay Monday night to Anderson Cooper. “I don’t think we can sit here and judge that today,” says Iott, digging himself a hole faster than the camera can follow him. “We weren’t there the time they made those decisions.”

Rich Iott Defends Nazis He Dresses Up As: ‘They Were Doing What They Thought Was Right’ [TPM]