I've been rough on Barack Obama. I think, fairly. Many say not fairly. But I am beginning to see qualities that I think are necessary for a successful run for the Presidency. Yesterday in Frank Rich's column, Obama addresses some concerns:

Mr. Obama is well aware of the serious criticisms he engenders, including the charge that he is conciliatory to a fault. He argues that he is “not interested in just splitting the difference” when he habitually seeks a consensus on tough issues. “There are some times where we need to be less bipartisan,” he says. “I’m not interested in cheap bipartisanship. We should have been less bipartisan in asking tough questions about entering into this Iraq war.”

No cheap Broder/Lieberman/McCain "bipartisanship" for Obama.

At dailykos, mcjoan calls attention to this Blue Jersey report of a heartening change of heart:

After all the uproar over Senator Menendez's vote a few months ago for the unconstitutional Military Commissions Act which eliminated habeas corpus and legalized torture, it appears he's had a change of heart. That vote was taken under immense pressure during the campaign, and he's now doing the responsible thing and cleaning up the mess he helped make.

Menendez is reportedly joining Chris Dodd to co-sponsor a bill that would restore the habeas review that the Military Commissions Act prohibits. Raw Story has a video of Dodd's reasoned argument in favor of the bill.

You'd think that FBI agents, of all people, wouldn't lose track of weapons. Or laptops that hold classified documents.

The FBI reported 160 laptop computers as lost or stolen in less than four years, including at least 10 that contained highly sensitive classified information and one that held "personal identifying information on FBI personnel," according to a new report released today.

An undetermined number of the laptops -- between 10 and 51 -- contained classified information.

The bureau, which has struggled for years to get a handle on sloppy inventory procedures, also reported 160 missing weapons during the same time period, from February 2002 to September 2005, according to the report by the Justice Department inspector general's office.

Incompetence is the norm in the Bush administration, but tolerance of such widespread ineptitude in a federal agency is inexcusable.

As TalkLeft reported last year, the Mexican Congress passed legislation to decriminalize the casual possession of recreational drugs for personal use. Vincente Fox vetoed the legislation to placate Washington. A new version permitting possession of smaller quantities is on its way to Fox's successor, Felipe Calderon. The question is whether Calderon has the will to stand up to the "War On Drugs" crowd in the Bush administration.

Ruling National Action Party Sen. Alejandro Gonzalez, who heads the Senate's justice commission and supports the bill, said on Monday that decriminalizing possession of small quantities of drugs and taking some pressure off addicts would free up resources needed to pursue dealers.

As TalkLeft wrote last year:

Smart move. The U.S. should take a look at doing the same.

Kudos to Bill Purcell, Nashville's mayor, for his veto of a mean-spirited and unnecessary ordinance that would have made English the "official language" of Nashville. The ordinance would have required nearly all governmental communications to be in English -- as if the official business of Nashville's government is transacted in any other language.

The mayor said there was the potential for litigation against the city, noting that such cases have reached the U.S. Supreme Court dating back to the 1920s. He also expressed a concern that Metro employees would be put in fear of wondering whether they would get reprimanded if they did communicate in another language with someone in need of services.

Do the residents of Nashville truly believe that city employees should be prohibited from giving directions to a tourist in French?

I'm over at Huffington Post today, live-blogging the Scooter Libby trial. Come on over!

For a blow by blow of the testimony and arguments, also check out Marcy at Firedoglake.

Krugman gets it:

So the administration has always had it in for the Iranian regime. Now, let’s do an O. J. Simpson: if you were determined to start a war with Iran, how would you do it?

First, you’d set up a special intelligence unit to cook up rationales for war. . . . Next, you’d go for a repeat of the highly successful strategy by which scare stories about the Iraqi threat were disseminated to the public.

This time, however, the assertions wouldn’t be about W.M.D.; they’d be that Iranian actions are endangering U.S. forces in Iraq. Why? Because there’s no way Congress will approve another war resolution. But if you can claim that Iran is doing evil in Iraq, you can assert that you don’t need authorization to attack — that Congress has already empowered the administration to do whatever is necessary to stabilize Iraq. And by the time the lawyers are finished arguing — well, the war would be in full swing.

Yes, you have read similar arguments here on a number of occasions.

Rudy is now defending Bush, including his leadership on Iraq. He also mocked the non-binding resolution Congress is considering.

In the business world, if two weeks were spent on a nonbinding resolution, it would be considered nonproductive," Giuliani told the lunch crowd, setting off a burst of laughter.

He called the concept "a comment without making a decision." America, he added, is "very fortunate to have President Bush." "Presidents can't do nonbinding resolutions. Presidents have to make decisions and move the country forward, and that's the kind of president that I would like to be, a president who makes decisions."

Can anyone think of a worse President than Rudy Giuliani? His pandering to Republican conservatives is just so transparent.

Forbes reports that Corrections Corp. of America saw a 37% profit increase in the 4th quarter of 2006.

For the full fiscal year, Corrections Corp.'s profit more than doubled to $105.2 million, or $1.71 per share, from $50.1 million, or 83 cents per share in 2005.

The principal reason seems to be that demand is up at both the state and federal levels. Prison occupancy rates rose to 97%.

Here's more. [Via Think Outside the Cage.]

I'm off to D.C. this morning for the Scooter Libby trial. Until I get my internet access back, here's another open thread for you.

The pleadings flew hot and heavy this weekend over whether Andrea Mitchell will testify at the Scooter Libby trial. Fitzgerald's latest is here and Libby's is here.

Fitzgerald is trying to block Mitchell's testimony. He doesn't want Libby to question her about this statement that she made on Capitol Report on October 3, 2003.

MURRAY: And the second question is: Do we have any idea how widely known it was in Washington that Joe Wilson’s wife worked for the CIA?

MITCHELL: It was widely known among those of us who cover the intelligence community and who were actively engaged in trying to track down who among the foreign service community was the envoy to Niger. So a number of us began to pick up on that. But frankly I wasn’t aware of her actual role at the CIA and the fact that she had a covert role involving weapons of mass destruction, not until Bob Novak wrote it.

Andrea Mitchell has since disavowed the statement, saying she was confused, or it was taken out of context, or she was just wrong. Here's one of her explanations:

I'm leaving Sunday to go back to Washington for week one of the Defense case in the Scooter Libby trial. Thanks to Arianna and Huffington Post, I have a media room pass and will be live-blogging the testimony at Huffpo and providing analysis there and here, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

I'm excited to be going back. Covering the trial from Denver this past week just wasn't the same as being there. I'm also scheduled to return Feb. 20 - 22 for MediaBloggers, if the trial is still going on.

The only downside is the expense, particularly staying in a hotel this trip as the Plame House is full. If you passed on contributing to my first trip, but liked my coverage, it would be great if you'd throw a few dollars in the pot. Here's how.

If you'd rather donate anonymously, please use Amazon here.

T.Chris is in New York this weekend but will be back blogging on other topics next week, and Big Tent Democrat and some diarists may be around, so we won't be all Libby, all the time.

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