The economic downturn has hit private college admission applications:

Admissions officers nationwide point to several possible reasons for the drop in applications. Some students have pared their college lists this year. Many more are looking at less-expensive state universities. Many institutions accepted more students under binding early-decision programs, and each such acceptance drains off an average of 8 to 10 regular-decision applications. And some experts suspect that students are delaying their college plans.

Two interesting points in the article. First, on the availability of financial aid:

I have been ridiculed and ribbed for the use of "speaking for me only" on my posts. But this little incident proves the correctness of my use.

When a mild mannered blogger like Yglesias has his rather innocuous post stir up trouble, imagine what my incendiary pieces might do?

As we all knew, logrolling is not limited to writers and Hollywood - it is a DC pasttime as well. But I do laugh at those folks who think it does not happen at their place. There may not be an official policy, but there are hierarchies and sacred cows throughout the blogosphere too.

And yes, I am speaking for me only.

Vice President Dick Cheney defended himself and the Bush Administration today on Fox News Sunday.

Cheney expressed no regrets in today's interview, vigorously defending the Bush administration's war and counterterrorism policies and saying he was untroubled by opinion polls showing that he and Bush are among the most unpopular White House occupants in modern times. "Eventually you wear out your welcome in this business, but I'm very comfortable with where we are and what we've achieved substantively," he said.

In discussing his views of broad executive power on national security issues, Cheney said Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt "went far beyond anything we've done in a global war on terror," and said that all U.S. presidents since 1973 have viewed the War Powers Act -- which gave Congress the role of declaring war -- as unconstitutional.

He also mocked Joe Biden. The transcript is here.

On Fox News this morning, Vice President Cheney implicated the Congressional leadership, including the current Speaker of the House and Senate Majority Leader, in the Bush Administration abuses regarding civil liberties. In an interview with Chris Wallace, Cheney said:

WALLACE: Let's drill down into some of the specific measures that you pushed — first of all, the warrantless surveillance on a massive scale, without telling the appropriate court, without seeking legislation from Congress. Why not, in the aftermath of 9/11 and the spirit of national unity, get approval, support, bring in the other branches of government?

CHENEY: Well, let me tell you a story about the terror surveillance program. We did brief the Congress. . . . We brought in the chairman and the ranking member, House and Senate, and briefed them a number of times up until — this was — be from late '01 up until '04 when there was additional controversy concerning the program.

MORE . . .

Via Drum, the NYTimes explains how the Obama Inauguaration team chose the printer for the invitations:

According to Mr. Donnelly, Precise Continental was selected over rival printers because it is a union company, it uses recycled paper and it is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, which promotes responsible forest management.

Is Obama not President for all - including non-union, non-recycling, non-Forest Stewardship Council certified printers? How very uninclusive of Obama! How very stigmatizing! My point, for those who missed it, is that the Presidency is a bully pulpit on every issue and every decision made carries important symbolism. The power of the Presidency extends beyond those tangible powers granted by the Constitution. Moral suasion? Or "coercion and pressure?"

Update - Irony is lost on some.

(Speaking for me only)

I read this piece by Andrew Sullivan (Full Disclosure - I have a great distaste for Sullivan from the days that he was engaged in the New McCarthyism (calling war opposers "Fifth Columnists") while he cheerleaded the Iraq War and his days championing racist and sexist pseudo science like "The Bell Curve") and I am not sure what he is trying to say. In it he says some things that make no sense to me. Let me parse it on the flip.

It's too sunny to stay at the computer today, so here's an open thread for you. I'll be back tonight.

With Christmas shopping out of the way (except for those who truly wait until the last minute), shopping online is still worthwhile for great deals on things to buy ourselves.

Amazon is having a blow-out on boxed DVD sets. See, Great Deals on DVD boxed sets. There are 800 DVD Boxed Sets up to 60% Off. From The Wire: The Complete Series in one set to pre-ordering 24 - Season Seven.

Another good one: Amazon's Electronics Sale. From tv's to cameras to blue ray.

There are also big sales on books

What great deals have you found today?

President Elect Barack Obama's report on his staff's contacts with Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich will be release this week. A chiron on Meet the Press read there were 22 contacts between Blagojevich and Rahm Emanuel. George Stephanapoulus says there was one conversation. Politico reports there were four conversations.

Sources also confirm that Emanuel made the case for picking Obama confidante Valerie Jarrett during at least one of the conversations. In the course of that conversation, [Blagojevich Chief of Staff John] Harris asked if in return for picking Jarrett, 'all we get is appreciation, right?' 'Right,' Emanuel responded.

Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown spoke to Blagojevich after his arrest and writes in the San Francisco Chronicle: [More...]

Speaking of police crime labs that produce unreliable results, the Innocence Project recently asked the Maryland state police to investigate the Baltimore police crime lab.

The Innocence Project, a national group of lawyers who try to exonerate convicts based largely on new DNA evidence, wrote in the complaint that "serious negligence or misconduct substantially affecting the integrity of forensic results has occurred at the Baltimore Police Department Crime Laboratory... Recently, the BPD-CL revealed that a lab employee working in the DNA lab contaminated evidence in approximately 12 open cases."

Lab staff didn't wear gloves when handling evidence, and the lab failed to enter the DNA profiles of its staff members into its database, causing staff contaminations to appear as "unknowns." These were among the failures of management that caused the crime lab's director to be canned in August. [more...]

Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt insists his department bears no responsibility for Ricardo Rachell's wrongful arrest, conviction, and incarceration. When the police arrested Rachell for sexually assaulting a minor, they recovered physical evidence that could have been tested for DNA. The department's notoriously unreliable crime lab had been closed, so the evidence wasn't tested. Prosecutors didn't order DNA testing and nobody told the defense that the evidence existed.

While Rachell was in jail, the officers involved in his arrest investigated a string of similar assaults in their district. If that fact caused them any concern for Rachell's innocence, they did nothing about it.

[more ...]

The fact that the NYPost endorses Caroline Kennedy for Hillary Clinton's Senate seat is no reason to oppose Kennedy for the Senate. By the same token, the fact that Geraldine Ferraro opposes Caroline Kennedy for the Senate seat is no reason to be for her. Eventually, my friend Al Giordano provides good reasons to be for her:

Caroline Kennedy's campaign has just answered a few policy questions . . . First, Kennedy "supports full equality and marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples." . . . "Caroline opposed the war in Iraq from the beginning. She supports President-Elect Obama's plan to work with our military leaders to begin a responsible withdrawal."

More on issues, less on personalities please.

Speaking for me only