Former Hackettstown, New Jersey Patrolman Kevin Barbera committed a foolish crime.

Barbera stole two police radios valued at more than $500 from the trash at police headquarters and gave them to a Forks Township man now convicted of drug and weapons offenses and facing a murder charge.

Barbera entered a guilty plea to charges of official misconduct and theft. A judge put him on probation for two years. Sounds about right for a property crime of small value, even with the teaser that the recipient of the stolen property is now charged with murder (a crime that appears to be unrelated to Barbera's misconduct).

The reporter who authored the linked article writes that Barbera avoided imprisonment due to "loopholes" in a recently enacted New Jersey law that applies a mandatory minimum prison sentence to public officials convicted of certain kinds of misconduct. [more ...]

It may have been too good to be true. Earlier today the news reported that Obama planned to close Guantanamo and try the detainees facing criminal charges in U.S. criminal courts or courts using the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Or, in a curious statement, in some kind of new court.

Not so fast. After the reports, Obama released a statement denying he was considering a new kind of court for the detainees, but that also said:

"....There is absolutely no truth to reports that a decision has been made about how and where to try the detainees, and there is no process in place to make that decision until his national security and legal teams are assembled," said Denis McDonough, a senior foreign policy adviser for the transition team, in a statement.

So, the good news is Obama's not planning on creating a new kind of court. The hiccup is he is not prepared to say today "how and where" the detainees will be tried. [More..]

Remember all those missing emails that the Bush administration claims an inability to find -- even though their preservation is required by the Presidential Records Act? Bush and his cronies were hoping to slink quietly out of the White House, leaving the emails in a state of permanent deletion. A ruling today in a lawsuit filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics and the National Security Archives might make that more difficult for the departing regime.

U.S. District Judge Henry Kennedy today denied the administration's request to dismiss the lawsuit.

Meredith Fuchs, the National Security Archive's general counsel, said that because of the ruling, a court order directing the White House to preserve 65,000 computer backup tapes remains in place.

[more ...]

Here's an interesting Republican take on what the GOP should do now:

Now, what about those whom Obama and his supporters vanquished? What the Republican party badly needs is a Night of the Long Knives [Link supplied].

All righty then. I wonder if Deroy Murdock would welcome Joe Lieberman to the Republican Party?

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

I have stated here that I think that Senate Dems should keep Lieberman in the caucus in exchange for a no filibuster pledge from him. So I am not upset nor surprised by this:

President-elect Barack Obama has informed party officials that he wants Joe Lieberman to continue caucusing with the Democrats in the 111th Congress, Senate aides tell the Huffington Post.

What I find hypocritical is Markos' slam of Bill Clinton while he remains silent on the stance of the President-Elect. This is, in a word, ridiculous. Rip them both if you like. But to just rip President Clinton while saying nothing about President-Elect Obama demonstrates one of two things - a blind hatred for Clinton or blind devotion for Obama. Either is counterproductive.

Update - Markos writes about Obama - "I've also heard from a Senate staffer that Obama has sent word that he wants Lieberman in the caucus. . . . The logic is pretty obvious -- it allows Obama to look like he's not vindictive." Well, as long as there is logic, I guess that excludes you from being a "battered spouse." Meanwhile, that was Obama Lieberman was ripping this election, not Clinton. Sheesh.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

The ACLU and Brave New Founation launched their Close Guantanamo campaign today. They also took out this full page ad in today's New York Times, calling on Barack Obama to close Gitmo. The website for Close Gitmo is here. A page of resources is here.

As President, I will close Guantánamo, reject the Military Commissions Act, and adhere to the Geneva Conventions” – Barack Obama, 8/1/07

It is hardly worth mentioning President Bush any longer (when you awaken from a nightmare, do you really want to frighten yourself again by recalling its details?), but it is worth noting that our ambitious outgoing president just set another record. In the view of CNN, Bush is officially "the most unpopular president since approval ratings were first sought more than six decades ago."

Seventy-six percent of those questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Monday disapprove of how President Bush is handling his job. That's an all-time high in CNN polling and in Gallup polling dating back to World War II.

"No other president's disapproval rating has gone higher than 70 percent. Bush has managed to do that three times so far this year," says CNN polling director Keating Holland. "That means that Bush is now more unpopular than Richard Nixon was when he resigned from office during Watergate with a 66 percent disapproval rating."

Good work, Mr. President. Would someone remember to give him a nice commemorative plaque on his way out the door?

Detractors of Howard Dean's work as chair of the Democratic National Committee (all he did, after all, was to deliver strong Democratic victories in two successive elections, ultimately helping the Obama campaign flip red states blue and turn much of the formerly red west a nice shade of purple) won't have Dean to kick around any more.

Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, who rose to national prominence during a failed bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004, will not seek a second term as chairman of the Democratic National Committee, clearing the way for a loyalist of President-elect Barack Obama to be named to the soon-to-be vacant post. ...

Dean's future remains cloudy although he has been mentioned as a possible choice to head the Department of Health and Human Services in an Obama Administration. Former Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) is also being mentioned for that job.

Chris Cillizza handicaps Dean's possible successors.

Racial profiling on the part of many police departments seems obvious to those who are profiled, as well as to many of us who interact regularly with the victims of profiling. An officer's true motivation is easy to conceal since officers are more likely to say "I pulled him over because his tire touched the fog line" than "I pulled him over because he's black and his tire touched the fog line." Statistical evidence of profiling seems compelling to some, less so to others.

In Palo Alto, however, there's no ambiguity at all, thanks to a police chief who made departmental policy abundantly clear:

Police Chief Lynne Johnson [during on October 30 interview on KGO-TV] ... said she instructed her officers "to make contact with African-Americans in Palo Alto," adding: "When our officers are out there and they see an African-American, in a congenial way, we want them to find out who they are."

[more ...]

Huffington Post reports that Barack Obama has added Mike Lux, a blogger at Open Left and advisor to the Clinton transition team (among other accomplishments) to his transition team.

Veteran Democratic official Mike Lux has been tapped by Barack Obama to serve as an adviser and progressive liaison during the transition period, the Huffington Post has learned.

Lux, who worked on the Clinton administration transition efforts in 1992, confirmed the hiring but, citing a need for clearance, declined to offer further information.

More Lux credentials below:

Here's a breath of fresh air:

President-elect Obama's advisers are quietly crafting a proposal to ship dozens, if not hundreds, of imprisoned terrorism suspects to the United States to face criminal trials, a plan that would make good on his promise to close the Guantanamo Bay prison but could require creation of a controversial new system of justice.

Under plans being put together in Obama's camp, some detainees would be released and many others would be prosecuted in U.S. criminal courts.

Here's an interesting twist:

A third group of detainees — the ones whose cases are most entangled in highly classified information — might have to go before a new court designed especially to handle sensitive national security cases, according to advisers and Democrats involved in the talks.

I hope the "new court" has more protections than those set up by the Military Commissions Act.

Very little is more prejudicial in the penalty phase of a death case than a video of the victim's life set to music. Juries are instructed to base their decisions on reason rather than emotion, and then view a video, on a larger than life screen, depicting images of the victim and events in his or her life, as prepared by their family, set to music.

Today, the Supreme Court refused to reject the practice in two cases.

The order Monday comes in two California cases in which jurors were shown video montages of the victims' lives, in one instance set to music by Enya.

Three justices disagreed with the ruling: Stephen Breyer, David Souter and John Paul Stevens. Justice Stevens' statement is here (pdf.)

"The videos added nothing relevant to the jury's deliberations and invited a verdict based on sentiment, rather than reasoned judgment," Stevens said.

You can watch one of the videos here.