Our guest columnist is the attorney for Kaye Beach, a good Christian woman from Norman, Oklahoma.

On March 8, 2011, Ms. Beach attempted to apply for a renewal driver’s license at Fusion Tag Agency, a motor license agent of the Defendant Oklahoma Department of Public Safety (“DPS”), in Norman, Cleveland County, Oklahoma.

Notwithstanding her satisfaction or ability to satisfy any other relevant requirements for obtaining a renewal driver’s license, Ms. Beach’s attempt to apply was rejected by the DPS agent Fusion Tag Agency.

The DPS agent informed Ms. Beach it was required by law to take a high-resolution digital facial photograph, and that she could not apply for or obtain a renewal license without allowing the DPS agent to capture her biometric facial photograph or fingerprints.

Ms. Beach requested and was denied an accommodation on account of her sincerely held religious beliefs and religiously motivated practice, which are more fully set forth below…

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The ten most popular items at the new White House petitions website.

• Legalize and Regulate Marijuana in a Manner Similar to Alcohol. (19,901 signatures)
• Call an Investigation into Allegations of Prosecutorial & Judicial Misconduct in the Case of Sholom Rubashkin (12,739 signatures)
• Edit the Pledge of Allegiance to remove the phrase “Under God”. (7,917 signatures)

Read more »

Our guest columnist is Obama for America’s Ann Marie Habershaw, who is getting a little desperate.

As chief operating officer of this campaign, I’m the person people come to when they want to spend the money you’ve donated.

All the budgets, calculations, and planning lead to a simple “yes” or “no.” Yes, you can buy coffee and clipboards for neighborhood organizers in Ohio. No, you can’t have a fancy computer when a cheaper one does the job. That sort of thing.

Every team on the campaign has submitted their plans for the rest of this year — opening field offices, registering voters, building technology. And it all costs money.

I can’t say yes to everything — but what you do right now can help me say yes to more.

We have a critical fundraising deadline coming up on September 30th.

Help me say yes by giving $3 or more today.

[via email]

You’re right. It’s a trick question.

The Management would like to thank Media Matters for providing a soft target after The Management was subdued by four beers during Thursday night’s Republican Preznidential Debate. The Management would also like to thank Apple for programming an adaptive iPad spellcheck function that now suggests “Preznidential” after finger-stabbing only a few characters. Suck on that, Android.

[via Political Correction]

If you missed our One-Man Open Thread — no apologies, we’re just obsessed — the format of tonight’s Fox/Google debate was heavily tilted toward YouTube questions, which leads to a dreadfully dull Who loves America more? vibe. But somehow, this question about DADT from a gay servicemember in Iraq slipped through.

What you’ll hear from lefty blogs — such as the way this TPM clip is packaged — is that the Republican crowd booed an American serving his country. But what struck us in the moment is that the question even got asked — on Fox News.

There were similar examples of interesting questions — tonight and at the last Fox debate — although this was the most notable. The caricature of Fox News is well-deserved and augmented daily, but we’ll give them credit on the rare occasions they see fit to practice journalism.

[via TPM]

So there’s this great new show we’ve been watching, which we think is an SNL spinoff starring a bunch of clever improv comedians as Republican Presidential candidates. In the last episode — get this — one of the fake candidates (Kristen Wiig in a fright wig, we think) accused another (Will Ferrell? Hard to tell) of deliberately infecting Little Girls with STDs and making them retarded, while the “studio audience” whooped and hollered at the thought of a sick young adult being ignored by doctors because he’s uninsured.

We’d swear Michael O’Donoghue is behind it, but he’s dead.

The next episode of the GOP Debate Open Thread/Performance Art Showcase begins in a few minutes. Let’s have a watch party before it’s canceled!

“LA City firefighters are under investigation for allegedly taking part in porn movies on the job, Cpt. Jaime Moore of the Los Angeles Fire Department confirmed to NBC4 LA. This is the second city department this year where employees have been investigated for alleged involvement in porn movies while on duty.” [via TPM]