O.J. Simpson: 'I was stupid. I'm sorry' (CNN)

post from memeorandum on 05 December 2008 02:30:01 PM. © memeorandum

CNN:
O.J. Simpson: 'I was stupid. I'm sorry' — LAS VEGAS, Nevada (CNN) — His voice shaking, O.J. Simpson apologized in court for his role in an armed confrontation over sports memorabilia and insisted he was merely trying to recover property that had been stolen from his family.

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http://www.memeorandum.com/081205/p72#a081205p72

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A New Attorney Scandal ... (Faiz Shakir/Think
Progress)

post from memeorandum on 05 December 2008 02:30:01 PM. © memeorandum

Faiz Shakir / Think Progress:
A New Attorney Scandal? Bush-Appointed U.S. Attorney Won't Vacate Office Under Obama — Mary Beth Buchanan was appointed by President Bush to serve as U.S. attorney in Pittsburgh in Sept. 2001. Buchanan has held several significant posts within the Bush/Ashcroft/Gonzales Justice Department …

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http://www.memeorandum.com/081205/p65#a081205p65

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Franken-Coleman Recount: The Home Stretch

post from Firedoglake on 05 December 2008 02:25:28 PM. © Firedoglake

Mark Ritchie, Minnesota's Secretary of State, had said that he wanted the main count of the recount finished by tomorrow, and it looks like he'll get his wish. Eighty-five of Minnesota's eighty-seven counties are done counting, and the last two are both[...]

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http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2008/12/04/franken-coleman-recount-the-home-s
tretch/

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Richard A. Stitt: The Sad Legacy of George W.
Bush: All Glory is Fleeting

post from BuzzFlash.org - Progressive News and Commentary with an Attitude | Fight Ignorance: Read BuzzFlash on 05 December 2008 02:22:52 PM. © BuzzFlash.org - Progressive News and Commentary with an Attitude | Fight Ignorance: Read BuzzFlash

A BUZZFLASH READER CONTRIBUTION
by Richard A. Stitt

"For over a thousand years, Roman conquerors returning from the wars enjoyed the honor of a triumph - a tumultuous parade.... A slave stood behind the conqueror, holding a golden crown, and whispering in his ear a warning: that all glory is fleeting." -- from the movie "Patton".

Like everything else our country has been subjected to concerning Iraq, the Status of Forces Agreement, a unilateral treaty executed by G.W. Bush, is a sham. Supposedly, the agreement allows U.S. troops to remain in Iraq until 2011 but continues some troop presence for an indefinite period. The "agreement" circumvented Congressional input and review in Bush's continued and deliberate show of contempt for the American people.

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MN-Sen: Recount finished! (Kind of)

post from Daily Kos on 05 December 2008 02:19:50 PM. © Daily Kos

With the recount over, the Star Tribune gives Norm Coleman a 238-vote lead, but that doesn't include challenged ballots, which number about 5,400, pending negotiations between the campaigns to reduce the number of challenged ballots. While the official state results site hasn't been updated yet, Minnesota Public Radio is reporting that the official margin will be down to a 192-vote Coleman lead, which would be down slightly from the 215-vote Coleman victory after the first count. Why the discrepancies? Beats me.

The state canvassing board will meet on December 16 to review those challenged ballots. If they were to affirm the decision of local election judges on every one of those challenges, then the Franken campaign claims it would win by four votes. That number does not include the 133 missing ballots from a Minneapolis precinct that have likely cost Franken about 36 votes. A state election official has said that if the ballots aren't found, they would probably stick with the election night numbers, giving Franken a bit more of a cushion. One can't assume that every single one of those ballot challenges will fail.

But if you want more drama, here's some that will make the conspiracy theorists on the Right go nuts:

Minneapolis election officials are still searching for 133 ballots that city officials believe to be missing from one precinct.

During their search this morning in a Minneapolis warehouse, they found a thin plastic bag that contains about 10 uncounted overseas military ballots from another precinct.

Minneapolis elections director Cindy Reichert says it's "clear the ballots were mishandled."

The Coleman campaign is disputing that the city has any missing ballots.

Is the Coleman campaign going to really go to the mat to challenge mishandled military ballots? The problem for the Coleman campaign is that the ballots are from a heavily Franken precinct, so while they may think military ballots lean their way, if the gap is truly four votes, it's a big risk for them to let those ballots into the count without a fight.

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http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/NsjnXEc9VRk/669749

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Friday Afternoon Open Thread

post from TalkLeft on 05 December 2008 02:16:00 PM. © TalkLeft

Your daily dose of non-news on Percy Harvin. Nothing new on Florida all purpose star Percy Harvin's status for the SEC championship game. We'll have to wait until 4 pm Saturday to find out it looks like.

This is an Open Thread.

Update: (TL) If you haven't voted yet for the ABA's Top 100 Law Blogs, please go over and vote for us. It takes less than five seconds. Thanks!

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MN-Sen: 4 Votes

post from MyDD on 05 December 2008 02:12:10 PM. © MyDD

With the statewide hand recount over pending the retrieval of 133 missing ballots, the Franken campaign, in its daily recount press briefing, is claiming a lead of just 4 votes. From TPM: "We are not declaring victory -- we are moving into the next stage[...]

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Jared Bernstein named as Biden economic advisor

post from Daily Kos on 05 December 2008 02:10:03 PM. © Daily Kos

Looks like the first Kossack has been named to the new administration--if you don't count Barack Obama himself.

Jared Bernstein has been named chief economist and economic policy advisor to Vice President-Elect Joe Biden.

Joe Biden issued a statement this morning explaining his appointment:

Jared Bernstein is an acclaimed economist, and a proven, passionate advocate for raising the incomes of middle class families. His expertise and background in a wide range of domestic and international economic policies will be an invaluable asset to the Obama-Biden Administration, It’s an honor to have him on my team and I look forward to his advice and counsel.

The administration's transition office also released the following bio:

Jared Bernstein, Chief Economist and Economic Policy Advisor to the Vice President

Jared Bernstein is an expert in the areas of federal, state and international economic policies, specifically the middle-class squeeze, income inequality and mobility, trends in employment and earnings, low-wage labor markets, poverty and international comparisons. Bernstein has been an economist at the Economic Policy Institute since 1992 and is a renowned author of several books and academic treatises on the economy and the middle class. From 1995-1996, he served as Deputy Chief Economist for the Department of Labor under Labor Secretary Robert Reich. Bernstein is on the Congressional Budget Office’s advisory committee and has been a contributor to the financial news station CNBC. He has also taught at Howard University, Columbia University and New York University. He holds a Bachelors Degree in Fine Arts from the Manhattan School of Music; a Masters Degree in Social Work from the Hunter School of Social Work; a Masters Degree in Philosophy and Ph.D. in Social Welfare from Columbia University.

Bernstein posted quite a few diaries here, mostly in the summer of 2006, focusing for the most part on the debilitating effects of conservative economic ideology--or what he called "Your On Your Own" (YOYO) economics.

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Will Sunstein Stun

Matt Yglesias is "stunned" by Stuart Taylor, who writes:

Obama will have a choice: He can give the Left what it wants and weaken our defenses. Or he can follow the advice of his more prudent advisers, recognize that Congress, the courts, and officials including Attorney General Michael Mukasey have already moved to end the worst Bush administration abuses — and kick the hard Left gently in the teeth. I’m betting that Obama is smart and tough enough to do the latter.

The advisor to watch on this is Cass Sunstein, who is no doubt advising Obama to do precisely what Taylor wants. Yglesias is "stunned" to read this from Taylor - I have no idea why, Taylor has always defended Bush abuses. Will he be stunned to learn that Obama advisor Sunstein has defended Bush abuses too?

Speaking for me only

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Gingrich Says Israel Should Set A Deadline For
Attack On Iran

Last night on Fox News, co-host Alan Colmes asked former House Speaker Newt Gingrich about a Jerusalem Post article yesterday reporting that Israel is preparing options to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities. At first Gingrich gave a measured response, saying “I don’t think we’re prepared to sanction an attack on Iran.” Yet just moments later, Gingrich said the Israelis should set a deadline for an attack on Iran:

GINGRICH: I think that the Israeli government probably would be best served if they created a deadline of sometime next fall and basically told the new American president that they’re willing to do anything they can to help him achieve a non-nuclear Iran prior, say, to September or October, but that there is a point at which they will not run the risk.

Naturally, Sean Hannity concurred. “I agree with that wholeheartedly, Mr. Speaker.” Watch it:

video details and more

It seems that Gingrich has suddenly changed his tune on “deadlines” involving war and peace. In fact, he was one of many conservatives who were strictly opposed to any timeline to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq:

– “I am not for any precipitous withdrawal from Iraq, and I think Senator Kerry was advocating a policy of absolute defeat when he suggested he would set a date, which I think he said could be as early as May.” [4/13/06, Fox News]
– MR. RUSSERT: Senator Dodd, should the United States set a firm deadline for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq? SEN. DODD: I, I believe we should, Tim. […] GINGRICH: I disagree deeply with, with Senator Dodd. [5/20/07, NBC]

So it appears that Gingrich is against deadlines for peace and for deadlines for war.

Read The Full Article:
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/12/05/gingrich-deadline-iran/

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