Visa has joined Speedo, luxury Swiss watchmaker Omega and sports and Human Performance Labs in saying it will not drop Michael Phelps because he smoked marijuana.

"We have spoken with Michael, and he has expressed regret for the situation, has committed to being accountable and improving his judgment in the future," Visa said. "We intend to support him as he looks to move forward."

Still undecided: Kellogg Cereal. As to why it's not viewed as a big deal with sponsors, perhaps as Olympic historian Bill Mallon says:

It's marijuana. Our president smoked it. Clinton smoked it. It's not the worst drug in the world by any means."

As BTD noted earlier, South Carolina says its examining whether to file criminal charges. For what? What a waste of resources.

Time Magazine reports on declining death penalty numbers, saying a shift has developed against capital punishment.

Last year saw just 37 executions in the U.S., with only 111 death sentences handed down. Although 36 states and the Federal Government still have death penalty laws on the books, the practice of carrying out executions is limited almost entirely to the South, where all but two of last year's executions took place. (The exceptions were both in Ohio.)

Law Prof Doug Berman of Sentencing Law and Policy isn't as positive about the meaning of the decline:

The last few weeks of January 2009 brought seven executions (five of which were in Texas), the most in any concentrated period since June 2007. In addition, there are two executions scheduled for tomorrow (one in Tennessee and one in Texas). Also, Virginia's legislature recently voted to expand that state's death penalty law.

Death penalty opponents do see a shift. Time notes: [More..]

Murray Waas has a new article up on Talking Points Memo in which he reports that Karl Rove's attorney says Rove will cooperate with the the federal grand jury probe of the firings of nine U.S. attorneys.

Murray has more info on his own site.

Rove has been interviewed by investigators in the internal DOJ probe into the prosecution of former AL Governor Don Siegelman.

The criminal investigation into the firings is being led by Nora Dannehy, the Acting U.S. Attorney for Connecticut.

Luskin said that Rove "has not and will not assert any personal privileges." He also said that in regard to the earlier probe, Rove had not done so, but had rather only "followed the guidance of the White House."

Go read Murray for why he thinks Rove won't cooperate in the Judiciary Committee probe and why Obama won't invoke executive privilege.

Via Instapundit, Professor Darrel Hutchinson argues there is room to worry about potential renditions under President Obama's executive orders on torture. I think there is always room to worry and be vigilant, but I do not see from the reading of the text of the executive order that the worry should come from the executive order itself.

First things first. It is important to remember that the Bush Administration declared (unlawfully I might add) that those persons President Bush declared unlawful combatants were NOT covered by the Geneva Conventions (of course, President Bush could not EXPRESSLY declare that the Convention on Torture did not apply to such persons, even though he de facto did so declare, committing a serious crime in the process.)The most important point to consider when reading President Obama's executive orders on this subject is his reversal of all such judgments by the Bush Administration. To wit, President Obama's executive order states:

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.