Newsweek has a feature article on Mike Huckabee's wife, Janet. If he gets the Republican nomination, she may add some spice to the race. Two snippets, the first is how she's remembered in Arkansas:

There, Janet Huckabee, 52, has long been known as a straight-talking, independent-minded good ole gal with a daredevil streak and a passion for the outdoors. Dubbed the "First Tomboy" when her husband was governor, she tracked bears, hunted rattlesnakes, fired a grenade launcher and jumped out of an airplane. To promote a conservation sales tax, she jet-skied down the length of the Arkansas River— a stunt that helped earn her a spot in the state's Outdoor Hall of Fame. She often charmed local residents with her exploits, though she could also alienate them when her plain-spoken style veered into irascibility and crassness. "Janet is going to tell you what she thinks," says longtime friend Anita McCauley Murrell. "She is a what-you-see-is-what-you-get kind of person."

The second is less favorable, concerning her 2002 failed run for Arkansas Secretary of State: [More...]

The Washington Post has a disturbing revelation:

In September 2002, four members of Congress met in secret for a first look at a unique CIA program designed to wring vital information from reticent terrorism suspects in U.S. custody. For more than an hour, the bipartisan group, which included current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), was given a virtual tour of the CIA's overseas detention sites and the harsh techniques interrogators had devised to try to make their prisoners talk.

Among the techniques described, said two officials present, was waterboarding, a practice that years later would be condemned as torture by Democrats and some Republicans on Capitol Hill. But on that day, no objections were raised. Instead, at least two lawmakers in the room asked the CIA to push harder, two U.S. officials said.

Who were they? [More...]

Mississippi has an interesting judicial institution known as a justice court:

The mission of the Justice Court Clerk's office is to effectively serve the public by processing civil actions not to exceed $2,500.00 and misdemeanor criminal charges in accordance with section 9-11-11 of the Mississippi Code.

An individual appearing before a justice court may file either a criminal charge or a civil suit. A plaintiff who seeks only money can start what amounts to a small claims action. If the complaint "involves the violation of a criminal statute," the complaining party can prepare "an affidavit charging criminal activity as defined by Mississippi law."

Where probable cause is shown in the affidavit to believe that the person charged committed the crime, the accused will be arrested, tried, and if found guilty, punished as prescribed by law. The punishment may include fines and/or confinement. Some form of restitution to the victim may or may not be forthcoming if the accused is found guilty.

These are serious consequences, and those unfortunate persons who find themselves charged in a Mississippi justice court must be shocked to learn that the only qualification to be a judge in a justice court is a high school diploma. A task force has suggested "reforms" that fail to address the kind of legal training required to assure that criminal defendants receive a fair trial. The task force recommends that future justice court judges have:

The Times Online has a feature article on how wealthy Al Gore has become in the past seven years. When he lost the 2000 election, his net worth was about $2 million, consisting of his two homes and an investment in an oil company.

Now, he's worth $100 million, earned through stock options in Google and Apple to book advances and speeches to investment firm holdings and investments in green and other tech ventures.

No wonder he doesn't want to be President.

There are more and more articles these days questioning the wisdom of life without parole for juvenile offenders who commit violent crimes.

A recent sampling from this weekend:

• Juveniles Do Hard Time for Harsh Crimes
• Mom Hopes Incarcerated Son Will Be Freed
• 9 Year Old's Murder Changed Law in New Hampshire and Fit for Society?
• Kentucky Court Faces Challenges to Life Without Parole for Juveniles

And from last week,

• States Rethinking Charging Kids as Adults

The CIA's destruction of hundreds of hours of videotapes of detainee interrogations could put several prosecutions at risk.

Officials acknowledged on Friday that the destruction of evidence like videotaped interrogations could raise questions about whether the Central Intelligence Agency was seeking to hide evidence of coercion. A review of records in military tribunals indicates that five lower-level detainees at Guantánamo were initially charged with offenses based on information that was provided by or related to Mr. [Abu]Zubaydah. Lawyers for these detainees could argue that they needed the tapes to determine what, if anything, Mr. Zubaydah had said about them.

Think: Khalid Sheik Mohammed and Ramzi Binalshibh. I'm wondering whether it could also result in reversals of the convictions of Zacarias Moussaoui and Jose Padilla.

The known detainees whose interrogation videos were destroyed are Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri. Undoubtedly, more will come to light as the investigation proceeds. I won't be surprised if interrogation tapes of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Ramzi Binalshibh were also destroyed. In that case, they might be deprived not only of potentially exculapatory information by Zubayah but of their own statements for use at their upcoming military commission trials.

More...

Andrew Young, former U.N. Ambassador, "civil rights icon" and Martin Luther King "lieutenant" says Barack Obama is not ready to be President.

In an interview posted online, Young also quipped that Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton has her husband behind her, and that "Bill is every bit as black as Barack."

....I want Barack Obama to be president," Young said, pausing for effect, "in 2016." "It's not a matter of being inexperienced. It's a matter of being young," Young said. "There's a certain level of maturity ... you've got to learn to take a certain amount of (expletive)."

The interview, on Newsmakers Live, is most likely a few months old. You can watch here. Another snippet:

"There are more black people that Bill and Hillary lean on," Young said. "You cannot be president alone. ... To put a brother in there by himself is to set him up for crucifixion. His time will come and the world will be ready for a visionary leadership."

Hillary Clinton brought her mom and Chelsea to Iowa.

Three generations of Clinton women hit the trail vowing "change across the generations" as Hillary Rodham Clinton stepped up her pitch to the women voters who could hold the key to Iowa's caucuses, which will launch the presidential nominating season in less than four weeks.

Hillary told the crowd her mother lives with her and Bill.

Clinton used the occasion to trot out a plan to bolster long-term care, including a $3,000 tax credit for caregivers, a doubling of the standard deduction for the elderly and a tax credit for purchasing long-term care insurance. She repeatedly pointed to her ability to care for her own mother as she ages.

"I don't think having my mother with me is a burden, I think it's a joy," said Clinton. "It isn't easy to do and a lot of families don't have a lot of options." ...Issues of long-term care and building families will be a focus of her presidency, Clinton said.

More...

Here's a CNN clip of Oprah and Obama.

Oprah Winfrey in Des Moines, Iowa today:

"Over the years, I have voted for as many Republicans as I have Democrats," Winfrey said — one line that didn't draw applause in the partisan crowd. "This isn't about partisanship for me. This is very, very personal. I'm here because of my personal conviction about Barack Obama and what I know he can do for America."

Obama on Oprah:

"You want Oprah as vice president?" he asked the crowd that responded with enthusiastic cheers. "That would be a demotion, you understand that?"

The Obama campaign gave out 23,00 tickets to the event. It said 18,500 people attended.

Obama spoke after Winfrey, and acknowledged that he was under no illusions that the crowd was there to hear him. Indeed, some people left during his speech, although the majority stuck around to hear him.

The New York Times puts attendance at "more than 10,000 screaming admirers." Oprah spoke for 17 minutes and as to why Obama should be President, said: [More...]

Meet Majid Khan.

The first of the so-called high value Guantánamo detainees to have seen a lawyer claims he was subjected to “state-sanctioned torture” while in secret C.I.A. prisons, and he has asked for a court order barring the government from destroying evidence of his treatment.

The request, in a filing by his lawyers, was made on Nov. 29, before officials from the Central Intelligence Agency acknowledged that the agency had destroyed videotapes of interrogations of two Qaeda operatives that current and former officials said included the use of harsh techniques.

An intelligence official denies that Khan was videotaped.

Mr. Dixon, one of Mr. Khan’s lawyers, said Saturday that the admission that officials had destroyed videotapes of interrogations showed why such an order was needed.

“They are no longer entitled to a presumption that the government has acted lawfully or in good faith,” Mr. Dixon said.

Background on Majid Khan is here and here.

As a follow-up to this post about Barack Obama's response to Paul Krugman's column about the failure of Obama's health care plan to include a mandate for universal health care coverage, I thought it interesting that Utah is considering a plan that would require every resident to have health insurance. Advisors to Gov. Gov. Jon Huntsman say it's the way to go:

"This is not government insurance. We don't think that's the solution to these challenges. Individuals are going to have more responsibility," [House Majority Leader Rep. David Clark,] said. "Our goal is to try to find a way for every Utahn to have an opportunity to have access to health care." For the poor, the plan would aim to boost enrollment in existing programs such as Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program and Utah's Premium Partnership for Health, which helps workers pay premiums.

Working residents who do not qualify for those programs but can't afford health insurance would receive subsidies that put coverage within their reach. People who can afford health insurance but don't buy it could be prohibited from enrolling in university classes or getting a job. Nielsen said it's possible they could also someday face a tax penalty, as is the case in Massachusetts.

The Salt Lake Tribune has more on the plan.

Fans of irony will appreciate this:

The second [Supreme Court appeal] was filed by Solicitor General Paul D. Clement, appealing a decision that has blocked the transfer to the Iraqis of another naturalized United States citizen, Shawqi Ahmad Omar. ... The administration’s Supreme Court appeal, Geren v. Omar, No. 07-394, describes the case as one of “exceptional importance,” adding, “As far as the government is aware, no court has previously sanctioned such a far-reaching and internationally unsettling exercise of American judicial power.”

Using the U.S. military to arrest an American citizen at his Baghdad home, holding that citizen in prison (at Abu Ghraib, among other places) for three years, and then turning him over to the Iraqi government for a terrorism trial is not, in the administration's view, "a far-reaching and internationally unsettling exercise of American ... power"? The unsettling use of military power doesn't disturb the Bush administration; it's only the use of judicial power to protect American citizens from the actions of the American government that it finds unsettling.
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