Andrew Sullivan has no intellectual right to write these words about how the Beltway Establishment cowered before the Bush Administration:

[M]uch of official Washington carried on as normal - and those of us who actually stood up and opposed this were regarded as "hysterics". Something is rotten in a country where this can happen with such impunity - and when, even now, highly regarded and respected journalists and commentators simply move on or roll their eyes or sigh world-weary sighs.

Andrew Sullivan invented the New McCarthyism, as David Talbot demonstrated in 2001:

The NYTimes writes:

We were horrified to be reminded that the nation still has not plumbed the depths of the Bush administration’s abuses. At the same time, it was a relief to see President Obama beginning to make good on his promise of greater transparency.

But what of the Obama Administration's continued assertion of outlandish theories of Executive power regarding the "states secrets" privilege? As Glenn Greenwald wrote about the Obama Administration's brief (PDF) in the al Haramain case:

The brief filed by Obama on Friday afternoon has to be read to believed. It is literally arguing that no court has the power to order that classified documents be used in a judicial proceeding; instead, it is the President -- and the President alone -- who possesses that decision-making power under Article II, and no court order is binding on the President to the extent it purports to direct that such information be made available for use in a judicial proceeding.

More . . .

What's on your mind tonight?

Here's an open thread to tell us, all topics welcome.

Update 12:21 am: If I could be anyone tonight, who would it be? The girl who got to sing Karaoke with Jon Bon Jovi on Jimmy Fallon tonight. Talk about having a fantasy come true, that had to be it for her.

Via Michael Isikoff in Newsweek:

In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, the Justice Department secretly gave the green light for the U.S. military to attack apartment buildings and office complexes inside the United States, deploy high-tech surveillance against U.S. citizens and potentially suspend First Amendment freedom-of-the-press rights in order to combat the terror threat...

The October 23, 2001 memo (from John Yoo to Alberto Gonzales and William Haynes)also said the 4th Amendment could be disregarded:

At another point, the memo advices: "Military action might encompass making arrests, seizing documents or other property, searching persons or places or keeping them under surveillance, intercepting electronic or wireless communications, setting up roadblocks, interviewing witnesses or searching for suspects."

Here's the memo (pdf.)

A pot sting by the DEA has had some dire consequences. The suspect, a 24 year old Canadian, hanged himself in his Spokane, WA. jail cell.

The DEA pretended to be a buyer and had Samuel Jackson Lindsay-Brown, previously unknown to law enforcement, fly 350 pounds of BC bud in by helicopter. As he was unloading it, they busted him. The helicopter turned out to have been reported stolen.

35 years of draconian drug offender sentencing may come to a halt in New York as the Assembly votes today on reforming the Rockefeller Drug Laws.

The New York State Assembly is set to vote today on legislation that would allow judges to send drug offenders to substance abuse treatment instead of prison. The legislation would also allow thousands of prisoners jailed for nonviolent drug offenses to have their sentences reduce or commuted.

It’s the latest step in a long campaign to repeal the draconian Rockefeller laws. The laws impose lengthy minimum sentences on drug offenders, even those with no prior convictions. The laws have disproportionately targeted people of color, while giving prosecutors de facto control over how long convicts are jailed.

The Albany Times Union says Just Say Yes to Drug Law Reform. Our post from last week on this is here.

I'm not seeing a lot of hard news today. In the other news department:

• The Pope has asked Italians to give up text messaging and Facebook for Lent.

• Rocky Mountain News reporters are still reporting via a blog, IwantmyRocky.com. And Congressman Jared Polis says bloggers killed the Rocky.

• Police in D.C. will hold a press conference at 1:15 pm today to announce the arrest in the Chandra Levy case.

This is an an open thread, all topics welcome.

Update: Shorter version: It was a complete trainwreck. Blogger Reality Steve had it right. Here's a pretty good recap of the finale. Show Host Chris Harrison tries to justify Jason's actions and how ABC decided to portray it.

***

Yes, I'm still following the twists and turns on ABC's The Bachelor and Jason Mesnick's seemingly never-ending search for a wife. And I'm still talking to Jesse Csincsak, my favorite contestant and the final, but not everlasting choice of Bachelorette Deanna Pappas last season. (My earlier interviews of Jesse are here and here.)

[More...]

It's Monday night, and as many of you could have predicted, I'm putting the finishing touches on my post about tonight's three hour finale of The Bachelor, which will include another interview with last year's winner Jesse Csinscak.

BTD is still busy preparing for his hearing which, due to the snowstorm on the East Coast, got postponed until tomorrow.

I'll be tivo-ing "24" while watching the Bachelor finale and then Jimmy Kimmel (who has Jason on live tonight) so here's an open thread, the place is all yours tonight.

All topics welcome, and if you think I'm crazy for following the Bachelor so closely, or want to talk about other tv shows, please put those comments here, not in the Bachelor thread. I'll check in during commercials.

The Pew Center on the States and its Public Safety Performance Project have released a new report,One in 31: The Long Reach of American Corrections (Washington, DC: The Pew Charitable Trusts, March 2009) (pdf). The findings:

Explosive growth in the number of people on probation or parole has propelled the population of the American corrections system to more than 7.3 million, or 1 in every 31 U.S. adults, according to a report released today by the Pew Center on the States. The vast majority of these offenders live in the community, yet new data in the report finds that nearly 90 percent of state corrections dollars are spent on prisons.

[More....]

Bump and Update: Attorney General Eric Holder has approved the plea deal his predecessor Michael Mukasey rejected. The death penalty will be off the table when trial resumes for Emile Fort.

Not only does Holder's reversal likely spare defendant Emile Fort his life, but it may signal a less aggressive approach to the death penalty in federal court. And it vindicates the local U.S. Attorney's office: Months ago federal prosecutors in San Francisco had recommended a 40-year plea bargain for Fort to their higher-ups in Washington -- only to be rebuffed by Holder's predecessor, Michael Mukasey.

Original Post below:

BTD is busy at work today. Me too. Here's an open thread for you, all topics welcome.