:: Economist, and New York Times columnist, Paul Krugman, joins the crowd of bloggers and media who are clamoring for Bush and Cheney to be held accountable for their crimes.
On a personal level, I was torn about this, but I have come to believe that they must be held accountable. Without accountability, there really is nothing to prevent a future president from repetition of the acts of the Bush administration, or perhaps even worse.
“Let’s be clear what we’re talking about here. It’s not just torture and illegal wiretapping, whose perpetrators claim, however implausibly, that they were patriots acting to defend the nation’s security. The fact is that the Bush administration’s abuses extended from environmental policy to voting rights. And most of the abuses involved using the power of government to reward political friends and punish political enemies.
At the Justice Department, for example, political appointees illegally reserved nonpolitical positions for “right-thinking Americans” — their term, not mine — and there’s strong evidence that officials used their positions both to undermine the protection of minority voting rights and to persecute Democratic politicians.”Source: NYT
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:: Obama's secret foreign policy dinner.
Last week, pushing back on the presidential bubble closing around him, Obama managed to escape the bubble and hold a secret meeting with outside foreign policy experts.
Unrelated: I am so thankful that we once again, after 8 long and trying years, have a president who is INTELLIGENT.
“Among those who attended the off-the-record dinner: Iran scholar Haleh Esfandiari; Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid (who had flown in from Lahore); Obama friend and foreign-policy advisor Samantha Power of Harvard University (who accompanied PEOTUS to the meeting); incoming White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel; and a few others. Obama told the group, none of whom reached would discuss the details, that he already felt in the bubble and was trying his best to meet with independent experts.
Scholars at the center noted the group leaned toward experts on the Middle East and South Asia. "They talked mostly about what was going on in the world, from Gaza to the financial crisis and its implications," one source summarized.
"It's clear from the nine or 10 people included that the meeting was mostly focused on Middle East issues," said one scholar who witnessed the security goings-on but did not attend the meeting. "It's part of the process that I think Obama wants to do to connect" given the demise of his Blackberry. "It was held here [at the Wilson Center], but from now on, I suspect such things will be held at the White House."”Source: The Cable
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:: The age of Dubya is over. Bush staffers leave. Loud cheering permitted.
I am waiting until Obama is sworn in as the 44th president to cheer. But, a certain strain in my body is beginning to ease up.
“The president will be the president until 12 noon Tuesday, but most of his employees will be gone by the close of business Friday.”Source: POLITICO
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:: The Wall Street Journal and their call to pardon Scooter Libby.
You may recall Libby as the Dubya/Cheney tool who outed CIA agent, Valerie Plame. In fact, I have a hard time recalling many more disgraceful manipulations by any presidential administration.
The conservative machine on the WSJ is claiming that Libby is simply a casualty in the war on terror. I suppose they stole that from Gonzales, who claimed the same thing. Whatever.Personally I believe that Libby should be tried for treason.
Do read Jason Linkins response to WSJ on Huffpost -- hilarious and true, unlike the story on the WSJ. Oh, and I just canceled my subscription, which I've maintained since the days when I had a series 7 license. You should cancel yours too.
“George Washington, in his farewell address, warned against the destructive force of party rancor. Something like that is at stake here again. Serious people in our politics, Republicans and Democrats, would understand that a Bush pardon of Scooter Libby is mainly about closing some of the worst wounds of these long war years. And about giving the nation a chance at refinding that lost unity.
These were hard years, and required hard decisions. It's time to let Scooter Libby get back to work. Like the rest of Washington.”Source: Wall Street Journal
AP photo.
:: Who is Scooter Libby? - Center for American Progress
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:: January 16 on Media Matters: 
This has been a huge day for the WSJ in so far as their lying/revision of past history. Shame on you!
- WSJ editorial falsely asserted "[n]ot a single man, woman or child has been killed by terrorists on U.S. soil since the morning of September 11"
- WSJ falsely claimed that FISA court approved "warrantless wiretapping program" exposed in 2005
- Wash. Post uncritically quoted Bush assertion that "there can be little debate" his policies kept us safe
- Ignoring contrary evidence, CNN's King said of Bush's African AIDS program: "Any liberal will tell you it has been a dramatic success"
- CNN's Sylvester misled on House SCHIP bill's effect on budget and its citizenship verification process
- WSJ falsely suggests that DOJ memos on interrogation were attacked only by "some members of Congress and civil libertarians"
- Rove again mischaracterized quotation -- this time falsely claiming Obama criticized stimulus bill as "deficit spending"
- Limbaugh falsely suggests Planned Parenthood mainly provides abortions
- Fox News' Kilmeade wondered if Browner will "have a hard time getting confirmed" -- but position doesn't require confirmation
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CNN's Brown, Yellin ignore Republican senators' support for Geithner
