The New York Times has just published a revealing article on Hillary Clinton's meeting with Democrats with whom she is discussing issues related to her possible run for the Presidency. Some of the diners are talking out of school.

Mrs. Clinton told Democrats that she viewed her two strongest potential Democratic opponents as Senator Barack Obama of Illinois and John Edwards, the former senator from North Carolina. They said that she viewed Mr. Obama as her biggest obstacle to the nomination, but that she believed the threat of his candidacy will diminish as voters learn how inexperienced he is in government and foreign affairs.

Without mentioning Mr. Obama by name, Mrs. Clinton and her camp are already asserting that experience will be a key attribute for any successful candidate during difficult times — an argument that her team will no doubt make in a more aggressive way against Mr. Obama if they both jump into the race.

Via Colorado Lib:

On The Chris Matthews Show this morning, one of the 12 regulars opined that Hillary Clinton's best choice for a runningmate would be Colorado Senator Ken Salazar.

Jason Bane provides his analysis over at 5280's Elevated Voices. The show transcript is here.

Whoops. During a lively discussion on Fox News about Barack Obama's teen use of cocaine, a Fox reporter inaccurately said President Bush admitted using cocaine in the past.

Via Raw Story which has more details.

Here's the scoop on Bush's alleged cocaine use.

Duke University has asked Reade Seligman and Collin Finnerty, charged with sexual assault, to return to Duke.

This is a stunning turnaround, since they are still charged with felonies. From Duke's letter to the boys and its public statement:

As circumstances have evolved in this extraordinary case, we have attempted to balance recognition of the gravity of legal charges with the presumption of your innocence," Duke officials wrote to the Seligmann family in a letter obtained by ABC News Law & Justice Unit.

"Now with the approach of a new term, we believe that circumstances warrant that we strike this balance differently. At this point, continued extension of the administrative leave would do unwarranted harm to your educational progress. We decided…to lift the administrative leave," the letter states.

Iraqi officials says they have made an arrest in the investigation into who recorded a video Saddam Hussein's execution on a cell phone.

The adviser to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, did not identify the person. But he said it was "an official who supervised the execution" and who is "now under investigation."

Cell phones were confiscated before the execution. They believe some were smuggled in by bodyguards of those present.

Munqith al-Faroon, an Iraqi prosecutor present at the execution says he witnessed two observers using their cell phones to take pictures of the execution. He didn't know them by name but says he could identify them.

The new Vanity Fair has a ten page article by Todd Purdham on John McCain in which he discusses the war in Iraq, Bush, Hillary Clinton and more.

Purdum, who spent two long stints on the road with John McCain last fall, reports that he kept up a punishing pace. According to Purdum, he is mentally sharp, verbally facile, and perpetually curious, and on one of the trips, he was rereading Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. But he is visibly older, thinner, balder—and, yes, frailer—than he was just six years ago.

On Adam Nagourney of the New York Times:

This is Adam Nagourney, New York Times. They’re a Communist paper, but he’s O.K.”

On Hillary Clinton:

“People underestimate her political intelligence and her antennae. She’s not her husband—no ones’s her husband. But she’s good. And I like her. I know you’re not supposed to say that, but I do.”

Barack Obama may not be my number one choice for a Presidential candidate, but I hardly hold this against him:

Long before the national media spotlight began to shine on every twist and turn of his life's journey, Barack Obama had this to say about himself: "Junkie. Pothead. That's where I'd been headed: the final, fatal role of the young would-be black man. . . . I got high [to] push questions of who I was out of my mind."

....In the book, Obama acknowledges that he used cocaine as a high school student but rejected heroin. "Pot had helped, and booze; maybe a little blow when you could afford it. Not smack, though," he says.

Why did he make the admission?

Google is seeking to hire in a wide range of fields. They are now using psychological profiling, called an algorithm, to weed through candidates.

I love taking psychological profiles. I clicked on their job offerings to see what I might be qualified for, just so I could take the test.

The answer was none. There isn't a single job offering out of hundreds, legal or non-legal related, domestic or international, for which I even remotely have the stated skills.

Maybe you will have better luck. Factoid: If you land a job in their home office of Mountain View, CA, the head chef at the company cafeteria used to cook for the Grateful Dead.

Memo to Google: Think outside the box. Rather than look for people who can sell your product, look for people who can enhance your product.

The FBI has released new documents pursuant to the ACLU's Freedom of Information Act request showing Guantanamo detainee abuse. They detail abuses witnessed (but not performed by) FBI personnel. (You can view the released documents here.)

FBI agents documented more than two dozen incidents of possible mistreatment at the Guantanamo Bay military base, including one detainee whose head was wrapped in duct tape for chanting the Quran and another who pulled out his hair after hours in a sweltering room.

• The BBC reports Bush is on the brink of announcing he will send more troops to Iraq.

• Iraq has announced the launch of a formal investigation into the cell phone video of Saddam's execution. If you haven't seen the video yet, it's here.

• Grits for Breakfast has a list of the top ten Texas injustice stories of 2006.

• Jane Hamsher at Firedoglake is upset that she didn't receive the top award for the 20 Most Annoying Liberals.

• Crooks and Liars is all over Rudy Giuliani's loss of his election playbook.

• Skippy has a rant on unfair press coverage of John Edwards, whom he is not supporting at this time, since he is, like me and many bloggers, waiting to make up his mind on this important choice.

A legislative commission in New Jersey has recommended that the state abolish its death penalty. The recommendation enjoys the support of Gov. John Corzine. It's also supported by experience and common sense.

With just one of its 13 members dissenting, the commission said there was “no compelling evidence” that the death penalty served a legitimate purpose and increasing evidence that it “is inconsistent with evolving standards of decency.” The panel recommended replacing capital punishment with the sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Publicity about the plague of wrongful convictions that DNA evidence has revealed provides a strong impetus for New Jersey to abandon death as a punishment. The question now is whether state legislators will follow the commission's advice. If you live in New Jersey, you can help by telling your legislator that you support abolishing the death penalty.

Between the Denver snow storms and the holidays, it feels like I have done nothing but blog for the past ten days. It's time for me to get back to work.

Those of you at work with time to read the news and blogs and those of you lucky enough not to have to work for a living, likely will have much to opine upon.

Here's your spot.

And, in the spirit of the new year, if any of you readers would like to post diaries here, send me an email and I'll adjust your settings so you can.