The breathless recitation of right-wing talking points and multiple excuses for skipping out on her job, recited as if her inner tape-recorder were stuck on high speed, could be viewed as a slightly unhinged monologue in the Mark Sanford vein.

Then again, a breathless recitation of right-wing talking points could be just the thing her base wants to hear, and you can already imagine the scenario that’s being shaped for future campaigns: “She couldn’t stand to take part anymore in big-government Obamanomics because she’s a maverick! She’s declaring her independence!”

Never mind that Alaska has been lapping up government welfare for years; suddenly when her erstwhile Democratic opponent was doing the doling out, the money was tainted. And no matter that she’s declaring her independence from a job the voters expected her to complete; she doesn’t play by those conventional rules, people!

See video of the conference after the break. Be sure to hang on for the basketball metaphors.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 on Thursday to deny convicts a constitutional right to DNA testing. It wasn’t a surprise. While acknowledging that DNA can provide powerful new evidence, the majority distinguished between those presumed innocent at the onset of a trial and those already convicted during a trial. In District Attorney’s Office for Third Judicial Dist. v. Osborne, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote, “A criminal defendant proved guilty after a fair trial does not have the same liberty interests as a free man.”

That may be true, but what if the verdict arrived at by the jury was wrong?  Roberts argument is a non sequitur. The purpose of DNA is to provide more certain evidence as to the party’s guilt or innocence. If DNA was not utilized in the court of first instance, how certain is the jury’s verdict of guilty in the first place?

Essentially, the Supreme Court ruling leaves the decision of whether to utilize DNA testing for convicts up to individual states. The real question up for debate yesterday was whether the Constitution’s Due Process clause requires states to offer the DNA testing.

The case heard before the Supreme Court yesterday involved a convict, William Osborne, who’d been found guilty of kidnap and rape in Alaska. The Innocence Project, an advocacy group representing Osborne’s interests before the Court, has noted that subsequent DNA testing has exonerated 240 previously guilty people since 1980.

In dissenting from the Roberts-led majority, Justice John Paul Stevens accused the majority of placing the finding of conviction over and above the question of justice. Stevens noted that Osborne was willing to pay for the DNA testing and that the burden of DNA testing to establish guilt or innocence was minimal.

Stevens dissenting point is well taken. I would prefer allowing a guilty person to go free rather than deprive an innocent man of his liberty.

If the Fourteenth Amendment is a due process clause that applies to states how come Alaska can treat its residents differently than say, Florida? I’m no legal scholar but I thought due process meant equal protection under the law.

• McCain says to leave Sarah Palin out of it.
• Alaska locates missing and uncounted ballots equaling ONE-THIRD of the total votes cast.
• Obama turns a cold shoulder on the lobbyists.
• Up next on the extortion bailout schedule: the auto industry.
• Google starts crossing the “don’t be evil” line, one flu search at a time.
• Exactly how stupid are Americans? This stupid.
• R.I.P. NASA’s Mars rover.
• Cat fight!

• You can see Russia from one part of Alaska; it’s just that Sarah Palin has never been to that part of Alaska.
• Gorilla Theatre in Tampa shut down by fire marshal.
• Big Film vs. RealNetworks’ new DVD copying software.
• Extending the Crosstown across the Gandy Bridge.
• Legs, legs, legs coming to Tampa Bay’s 10 weathercast?
• The “Newt Gingrich of the Left” on the bailout plan.
• Jay-Z to rawk Miami for Obama.
• The Miami Herald declares that independents rule the Ybor City night scene.
• One Orlando land speculator’s personal bailout, courtesy of FLA taxpayers.
• Everything’s that wrong with newspapers.
• Spokane daily is dropping the AP; rips them a new one.
• Double-shot Wednesday for vids: First up, the anti-Palin, anti-hunting spot:

• And the Democratic reaction to Orlando Congressman Tom Feeney’s “rookie mistake” Abramoff admission: