I bet he does now:

South Carolina authorities say they are weighing a criminal charge against Olympic superstar Michael Phelps who was photographed smoking from a marijuana pipe, the Associated Press and other news media report.

Speaking for me only

Tom Daschle, plagued by questions about his failure to pay taxes on a car and driver that an equity firm provided for his use, has withdrawn his nomination as Secretary of Health and Human Services. That decision renders moot this discussion by five tax experts about whether Daschle's erroneous tax filings should have prevented his confirmation (consensus answer: no).

Nancy Killefer announced earlier today that she would not serve as chief performance officer because of her own tax issues.

Harvey the Bum, who hasn't worked and therefore hasn't had to file tax returns for the last decade, remains available for a White House appointment.

WaPo:

President Obama named Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) as his Commerce Secretary on Tuesday, reaching across the aisle to pick a fiscal conservative with whom he openly disagrees on certain issues to round out his Cabinet.

Gregg brokered a deal with the New Hampshire governor that he would be replaced by a Republican in order to not shift the balance of power in the Senate. Gov. John Lynch is expected to name Bonnie Newman, Gregg's former chief of staff, as an interim caretaker in the role.

I assume interim caretaker means Newman won't run in 2010. The real question then is will she join GOP filibusters. I do not know the answer to that question.

Speaking for me only

For those bored by Lincoln, FDR, Obama and "change you can believe in," here is an Open Thread.

My first post at TalkLeft in 2006 was titled "What Obama Needs To Learn From Hofstadter, Lincoln and FDR." A precursor to that piece was a post I wrote in 2004 at daily kos, Lessons from Lincoln. In these posts, I liberally borrowed from the writings of Digby, of "What Digby Said" fame.

Digby returns to that theme in this post:

From the NYTimes:

Mr. Obama on his first day in office imposed perhaps the toughest ethics rules of any president in modern times, and since then he and his advisers have been trying to explain why they do not cover this case or that case. “This is a big problem for Obama, especially because it was such a major, major promise,” said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. “He harped on it, time after time, and he created a sense of expectation around the country. This is exactly why people are skeptical of politicians, because change we can believe in is not the same thing as business as usual.”

(Emphasis supplied.) The Times story continues:

Valentine's Day is around the corner and another season of The Bachelor is underway on ABC. Last season's Bachelorette coincided with the end of the Democratic primary, and probably as a refuge from cable news, I started watching it, rooting for the hometown guy Colorado snowboarder Jesse Csincsak.

Jesse won, he and Deanna got engaged and as I reported here they were happy for a while, but then Deanna ended it,which I was sorry to see happen. A petition drive is now underway to make Jesse the next Bachelor. More than 4,000 signatures have been collected.

This year's Bachelor season hasn't been very exciting, but I've kept up with Jesse, via Facebook, My Space and telephone. I interviewed him recently (he was so patient, it took an hour and a half) and the results are below: Twenty Five Things You Might Not Know About Jesse Csincsak (starting, of course, with who he voted for in November): [More...]

It's official. Eric Holder is our Attorney General, having been confirmed by a vote of 75 to 21. All 21 were Republicans.

As I wrote earlier today, I'm not expecting much positive change in our criminal justice system. But, if there are any, I'll be glad to report on them and thank both President Obama and Attorney General Holder.

Is it my imagination or is Valentines Day a bigger deal this year than in recent years? I think it's a bigger deal. There seems more attention to it, between the ads everywhere for gifts and flowers and magazines around the country promoting their "most eligible singles" issue. My theory as to why: Barack and Michelle Obama.

We haven't had a couple in the White House that represent romance in a long time. The inauguration showcased their warm and close relationship for all to see, and it's impossible not to be moved by it.

So, is romance back? I hope so because I'll have a post up in a few hours on tonight's Bachelor show on ABC with an interview I recently did of last season's Bachelorette winner, Colorado snowboarder Jesse Csinscak, and I'm looking for any way to make it not completely off-topic for TalkLeft. I'm probably the only interviewer who asked him who he voted for in November. (Yes, he answered.)

The interview probably won't generate many comments here, so I'm putting up an open thread now for all other topics.

The New York Times today reported on the huge shift that will take place in the Justice Department under President Obama. He will be breaking with the policies of the Bush Administration.

I sat down to read it anxious to get to the part about our unfair crack-powder cocaine sentencing laws, over-reliance on long prison sentences and need for alternative sentences in the federal system, and ending raids on medical marijuana patients and providers in states that had legalized it.

There were none. Law Prof Doug Berman of Sentencing Law and Policy has the same disappointed reaction as me. Of course, I never expected any as I wrote throughout the course of the primaries. But now that change is here, my hopes went up just like everyone else's. And I'm still hopeful there will be some relief.

I had to pick a topic yesterday for my talk at the NORML Aspen Legal Conference in June. (Link not available yet, here's the one for 2008.) I chose, "High Hopes and Modest Expectations: Drug Law Reform under President Obama and a Democratic Congress." Looks like that was a good choice.

Last week I wrote that the Center for Constitutional Rights questioned President Barack Obama's January 22 orders on interrogation and closing Guantanamo, cautioning that while they in no uncertain terms stated the CIA must close its secret black hole prisons, they may have left a loophole for the CIA to resume them. A secret or extraordinary rendition refers to the practice of the CIA whereby it kidnaps suspects and flies them to a country where they are held in secret prisons and interrogated by non U.S. personnel, where the Red Cross has no access to them and no lists are made available as to who or how many people are victims of the practice. Some of the countries these suspects are shipped to practice torture.

The ACLU, Center for Constitutional Rights and other human rights groups have been campaigning for several years to stop secret renditions. I have always agreed with them that secret renditions must stop. Now there's a question over whether Obama fully ordered it stopped or not. The Timesonline today: [More...]

I asked this question yesterday (I even sent an e-mail to my friend David Sirota with no response) but I am still at a loss about the hubbub over the Buy American provisions in the stimulus package. Is there something that makes this provision necessary considering the fact that the 1933 (yes the one passed 76 years ago) Buy American Act is still in effect and still covering all federal government purchases? Paul Krugman and Matt Yglesias discuss the pros and cons of the policy but no one yet, to my knowledge, has explained why we need a Buy American provision in the stimulus package when we already have a Buy American law that covers all federal government spending? Anyone? Bueller? This is an honest question. What is all this fuss about?

Speaking for me only