NYT: "Obama Is Planning to Govern from the
Center-Right"

post from Open Left - Front Page on 22 November 2008 12:58:05 AM. © Open Left - Front Page

Don't blame the messenger (me) - blame reality:Obama Tilts to Center, Inviting a Clash of IdeasBy[...]

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Open Thread for Night Owls, Early Birds & Expats

post from Daily Kos on 22 November 2008 12:37:28 AM. © Daily Kos

Rep. Jerrold Nadler, chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties, introduced H.R. 1531 in Congress Friday. The resolution, according to a press release from the Congressman...

...is in response to President Bush’s widespread abuses of power and potentially criminal transgressions against our Constitution. The Resolution aims to prevent undeserved pardons of officials who may have been co-conspirators in the President’s unconstitutional policies, such as torture, illegal surveillance and curtailing of due process for defendants.

"This Resolution declares that we will not tolerate a last minute attempt by President Bush to shelter his cronies – cronies who may well be guilty of serious criminal offenses – from the full force of the law," said Rep. Nadler. "President Bush must not excuse his own officials from possibly illegal acts committed outside the context of their official duties. Such pardons would merely obfuscate the truth and amount to a gross miscarriage of justice."

Beyond preventing pre-emptive pardons, the Resolution also recommends the establishment of a special commission or select committee to investigate the potentially illegal activities – including abuse of pardon power – of senior Bush Administration officials. It also calls for the next Attorney General to appoint an independent counsel to investigate and prosecute any crimes.

Nadler told the Austin-American Statesman that the goal is to prevent "undeserved pardons of officials who may have been co-conspirators in the president’s unconstitutional policies, such as torture, illegal surveillance and curtailing of due process for defendants."

"This resolution declares that we will not tolerate a last minute attempt by President Bush to shelter his cronies - cronies who may well be guilty of serious criminal offenses - from the full force of the law."

In a commentary at Salon.com on Thursday, Sen. Russ Feingold wrote:

If President Bush were to pardon key individuals involved in the misdeeds of his administration, from warrantless wiretapping to torture to the firing of U.S. attorneys for political reasons, the courts would be unable to address criminality, or pass judgment on the legality of some of the president's worst abuses. Issuing such pardons now would be particularly egregious, since voters just issued such a strong condemnation of the Bush administration at the ballot box. There is nothing to prevent President Bush from using the pardon in such a short-sighted and self-serving manner -- except, perhaps, public pressure that may itself be a window on the judgment of history. Everyone who can exert that pressure, from members of Congress to the press and the public, should express their views on whether it would be appropriate for President Bush to use his pardon power in this way.

You can sign the petition in support of Nadler's resolution and send a copy to your Representative by logging on at Democrats.com.

• • •

The Overnight News Digest is posted and includes the story, Dems look to stop endangered species rule changes.

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Thanksgiving Blogging Break

post from Texas Liberal on 22 November 2008 12:16:21 AM. © Texas Liberal

It’s time for a Thanksgiving blogging break. For the next week or so, I’ll have some new posts and some “encore” posts to share with you the blog reading public. Maybe one day this week I’ll not post at all.Above is Gerald Ford extending a pardon to a turkey just like he extended one to Richard Nixon.Thanks for [...]

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You Can Spend Thanksgiving Anyway You Choose

post from Texas Liberal on 22 November 2008 12:15:03 AM. © Texas Liberal

(Blogger’s note–This is a post I made last year. I’ll be running a few repeat posts this week as part of my Thanksgiving blogging break.)Thanksgiving is coming up. It’s a day we are supposed to spend with family, eating a large meal and watching football. If that’s what you do, good for you. You’ll get no argument here. [...]

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The Week In Blog: Not Me Edition

post from LiberalOasis : The Blog on 22 November 2008 12:14:00 AM. © LiberalOasis : The Blog

My Campaign for America's Future colleague Terrance Heath sat in for me in this week's edition of The Week In Blog at Bloggingheads.tv, where he discussed blogger reaction to Prop 8 with the Heritage Foundation's Conn Carroll. Watch it below.

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Random Japan

Kids these daysIt was revealed that 22 students who passed the entrance exam to Kanda Prefectural High School in Hiratsuka were rejected admission because of their "long nails, piercings or alleged appearance or attitude problems."The Japan Pediatric[...]

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11-22-63

I was in the third grade at Slocum Elementary. Eight years old. A few years before, I remember my dad voted for Nixon because he thought old Joe Kennedy was a crook. My mom liked Kennedy, because he was Irish, he was good looking, he and Jackie had young kids and, like us, they were [...]

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