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.

There's been a lot of writing about the 3,000th death of a U.S. soldier in Iraq. But, take a look at who he was and see if it doesn't really bring home the stupidity of this war and the perceived lack of choices facing some of our youths.

Dustin Donica, 22, an army specialist from the 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment....[was] a soccer-loving college dropout from Texas with a weakness for trance music and ham-and-pineapple pizza....

This being the new year, it's time to check in on Schapelle Corby who is serving 20 years in a hellhole of a Bali prison following her conviction for smuggling four kilos of pot into Bali. (Full coverage here.)

The news isn't good. Despite the fact that conditions at Kerobokan prison are disgusting, she has made friends there, is able to visit with her sister who resides in Bali and receive visits from her parents.

That is about to end. She is expecting to be moved to a prison on the remote side of the island:

Indonesian authorities are set to transfer the 29-year-old Brisbane woman to a prison in the East Java city of Malang, hundreds of kilometres from Kerobokan.....Papers authorising the transfer were sent weeks ago from Jakarta authorities to the warden of Kerobokan, Ilham Djaya, who says the transfer must go ahead because the prison is overcrowded.

John Amato at Crooks and Liars wishes everyone a happy new year. He also reminds readers of Atrios' apt comments, with which I agree, on what it means when a candidate takes out an ad on his blog.

I suppose this is as good a time as any for my occasional reminder as we enter the silly season. Ads appearing on this site by candidates are paid ads and do not imply any support or endorsement by me. I actually don't expect to get behind one candidate or another, though that could change, especially if suitcases filled with money appear on my doorstep. I'll try to do my best to avoid at least some of the food fight once it begins, though I'm human and have opinions and happen to write a blog about politics, so I imagine I'll get sucked in at times.

I'll definitely give my opinions about the policies candidates support and the way they try to deliver their message. And, of course, I'll be busy trying to push back against unfair media smears of any of the candidates. But, again, the fact that I praise or defend candidate X does not mean I've joined their team.

The other day I called Saddam Hussein's hanging "barbaric." Criminal defense lawyer David Seth expounds on hanging and barbarism over at Daily Kos. It's well worth a read.

Can a non-profit news network survive without corporate contributions, government funding or advertising?

The Real News thinks so and is set to launch its first daily newscast.

The Real News is a product of Independent World Television. Paul Jay is the Chairman and CEO.

I've had the pleasure of working with Paul in the past (in 2000 on the TNT documentary, Was Justice Denied?, which we spent six months filming part-time around the country) and I would bet that if anyone can make this a reality, he can. Check out his video message on the Real News site.

I hope you will keep your eye out for the launch of The Real News, and make a point to watch.

Denver Bronco cornerback Darrent Williams was gunned down at 2:00 a.m. last night in a drive-by shooting at 10th/11th Ave. and Speer Blvd. in Denver.

The Fort Worth, Texas native, according to team officials, was shot in what police had informed the team was a drive-by shooting. Williams was in a Humvee limousine with several others when it was hit with several bullets fired from another vehicle shortly after 2 a.m. Monday morning. Williams was one of three people in the limousine who were shot. All three, including Williams, were taken to hospitals.

The execution-style murder may have resulted from an altercation at a nightclub earlier in the evening. Another Bronco player may have been in the vehicle. As of this writing, no one has been arrested but suspects have been identified.