Friday, Tony Snow dashed any hopes that Guantanamo would be closed during Bush's presidency.

It's highly unlikely that you can dispense with all those cases between now and the end of the administration," White House spokesman Tony Snow said of about 385 prisoners currently at the Guantanamo facility. Asked directly whether the prison would close before Bush leaves office in January 2009, Snow said, "I doubt it, no."

Defense Secretary Robert Gates recently advocated the closure of Guantanamo.

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Keith Olbermann named Bill O'Reilly worst person of the day Friday for cutting his co-host Lis Wiehl's mike during his radio show. What was Lis's transgression? Pointing out there would be no public transcript of White House officials' interviews before a Congressional panel if the White House proposal was accepted.

O'Reilly screamed and yelled and got so mad he demanded Lis' mike be cut for three minutes. What a prince of free speech -- not.

Media Matters has the audio tape, go listen, it's a hoot. Probably was no fun for Lis who you can hear in the background after her mike was cut -- good for her for standing up to him.

And check out her new book.

Remember when Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said he wasn't very involved in the firing of U.S. Attorneys?

He said at a news conference on March 13 that he had not participated in any discussions about the removals, but knew in general that his aides were working on personnel changes involving United States attorneys.

The AP now reports that documents released today show he signed off on the plan.

A Nov. 27 meeting, in which the attorney general and at least five top Justice Department officials participated, focused on a five-step plan for carrying out the firings of the prosecutors, Gonzales' aides said late Friday. There, Gonzales signed off on the plan, which was drafted by his chief of staff, Kyle Sampson. Sampson resigned last week. Another Justice aide closely involved in the dismissals, White House liaison Monica Goodling, has also taken a leave of absence, two officials said.

[Hat tip Atrios.]

Update: The Daily Background provides a review and analysis of the newly released documents.

This piece in TAPPED really worries me:

A FINAL WORD ON HILLARY. For this round of the debate, at least. Let me begin with an anecdote. A bunch of us Tappers went for drinks the other day, and Hillary Clinton came up. It was a mixed crowd, but, reflecting the magazine's writing employees, mainly men. As the conversation turned to '08, a young woman spoke up softly. "I like Hillary," she said. Very quickly, several men raised their voices against her, expounding, at great length, on everything that was wrong with Hillary, and why she couldn't win, and why no one should support her. The young woman said nothing in reply, and, in fact, said nothing more for the remainder of the evening. But I'm not sure that her mind was changed.

I like Hillary too. If she is the nominee, I'll support her. I am not in love with her political instincts frankly. But I am not a big fan of Obama's instincts either. As for Edwards, his record on Iraq was probably the worst at the time of the vote on the war in 2002 AND through the 2004 primaries. But he got himself straight early in 2005. Frankly, Edwards seems the best POLITICIAN of the bunch. But being President is more than being the head politician. Heck, George Bush is a good politician too.

Why am I rambling here? Because I can understand how women like Garance, who wrote the piece I link to, get their radar up with all the Hillary hate. It does seem over the top. Sure, there are problems with Hillary Clinton, but so are there problems with Obama and Edwards. And it is clear that men are not as driven to discuss the flaws in the male candidates. Are they sexists? I doubt it, but the concern Garance expresses seems not unwarranted.

President Bush says the Democrats' bill hurts the troops. He's says there's too much pork in the bill.

The Washington Post reports:

The bill provides about $95.5 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as more than $20 billion in new domestic spending for such items as agricultural subsidies, veterans' health care and rebuilding efforts in Gulf Coast states hit by hurricanes two years ago. Among other things, it provides about $3.5 billion in additional funding above Bush's request to address the health care problems faced by veterans and by returning service members wounded in Iraq or Afghanistan.

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The House of Representatives today passed the Iraq funding bill containing a provision calling for troop pullouts from Iraq by August, 2008.

Bush says he will veto the bill.

Bush said House Democrats had engaged in "an act of political theater" and "voted to substitute their judgment for that of our military commanders on the ground in Iraq."

As to the vote:

216 Democrats were joined by two Republicans in supporting the bill, while 198 Republicans and 14 Democrats opposed it. Voting with the Democratic majority were Republicans Walter B. Jones of North Carolina and Wayne T. Gilchrest of Maryland.

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Attorney General Alberto Gonzales today defended the firing of Seattle U.S. Attorney John McKay, even though a month before the firing, his Chief of Staff, Kyle Sampson, wrote e-mails to the White House Counsel's office urging support for McKay to be named a federal judge, saying "it's highly unlikely that we could do better."

Check the double speak. All of a sudden, Gonzales claims what Sampson writes is "just the opinion of one person."

"That doesn't represent the views of the department, nor does it represent my view," Gonzales said.

So now we have an Attorney General who allowed a loose cannon shooting off his mouth to serve as his Chief of Staff? What does that say about his leadership?

Update: Jane Hamsher at Firedoglake predicts things are going to get worse for the White House in this scandal.

More and more kids are being locked up in adult jails. A new reports finds:

Despite a federal law that prohibits the incarceration of youth in adult correctional facilities, the number of young people held in jails across the country has exploded by 208 percent since the 1990s, according to a new report released today at the national press club by the Campaign for Youth Justice.

States exploit a loophole in federal law, which was designed to protect youth from the proven dangers of adult jails but only applies to youth in the juvenile justice system. Congress is considering the reauthorization of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) this year, and advocates are asking that all youth under 18 be protected from incarceration in adult facilities.

It’s rare to see a lobbyist doing something as useful as advocating for laws that reduce jail populations. Meet former Texas State Rep. Suzanna Gratia Hupp, R-Lampasas, who recently opened a lobbying practice.

Ms. Hupp is the lobbyist for and one of three founders of Texans for Public Safety Solutions. It supports passage of HB 2391, which would let law enforcement officers write citations to -- and not have to take to jail -- people who are found with less than 2 ounces of marijuana, an expired driver's license or in the act of trespassing.

DEA Administrator Karen Tandy testified before the House Committee on Appropriations regarding DEA's FY2008 budget request, describing DEA's significant "successes" over the past year, and of course, asking for more money.

Her proposed $2.4 billion budget represents an increase of $110 million over the FY2007 President's budget.

You can read her testimony here.

I guess the $205 million seized this week was just a drop in the bucket. $2.4 billion for the war on drugs? I bet there's a ton of pork in that amount.

[hat tip to Paul Armentano of NORML.}

TalkLeft has been loading really slowly for me today. Colin at Scoophost says,

"There appear to be issues with a router owned by Time Warner, one of the upstream network providers through which you may access this site. The connectivity is fully redundant so only a small percentage of visitors will experience problems with some percentage of their requests. We are actively pursuing a resolution to this issue."

Update from Time Warner below:

Criminal defense lawyers take note. This year's NORML Aspen legal conference (June 9 - 10th) promises to be outstanding. Tommy Chong, Tony Serra (just released from federal prison on a tax misdemeanor and back practicing law) will be featured, and we will again be spending an afternoon at Hunter Thompson's Owl farm.

[NORML}will be holding another NORML legal seminar in Aspen, CO in early June. Among the many terrific speakers on the Aspen program, we are delighted to announce that Tommy Chong, of the famous duo Cheech and Chong, will be our featured luncheon speaker.

Tommy, as you may recall, was selectively prosecuted by the federal government a couple of years ago for selling pipes on the Internet, for which he ended up serving nine months in prison. His topic for the seminar is titled Why Pot Is Still Illegal and Why Dave Is Still Not Here. This experience has clearly left Tommy feeling a renewed sense of urgency for the need to legalize marijuana and stop arresting responsible marijuana smokers.

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