A cryptic hearing was held in federal court today in Bernie Kerik's case.

Specifics about the disgraced former top cop's behavior were not revealed, but a memo to Federal Judge Stephen Robinson from the medical and psychiatry director of the Westchester County jail detailed concern "that was not ordinary," according to the judge.

Judge Robinson said Dr. Mahler told him there "were symptoms he (Kerik) displayed, that when combined with his circumstances that they thought placed him at risk." "There were things unexplained described to me that were either said or done that raised a level of concern for them," said Robinson.

Another hearing will be held Monday. The Judge is asking whether Bernie will waive his confidentiality rights with respect to his medical records. He also suggested there might be another delay in the trial, now scheduled to start Nov. 9. As one reason, he suggested there may be a new issue regarding a conflict of interest regarding his current lawyers. Why would this be coming up at this late date? [More...]

CREW announced today that the FBI released notes (pdf)of former Vice-President Dick Cheney's FBI interview on the leak of Valerie Plame's identity, purusant to its FOIA lawsuit. In the interview, Cheney is critical of the CIA.

Cheney could not recall 22 things, including, whether he had ever told Scooter Libby about Valerie Plame. Via Mother Jones, A list is below: [More....]

Roman Polanski lost another round in his quest for bail in Switzerland. Further appeals are contemplated.

Following a three week preliminary hearing, Howard K. Stern, Anna Nicole Smith's boyfriend, has been ordered to stand trial on charges of illegally providing her with prescription drugs, providing drugs to an addict and conspiracy. Also facing trial: Dr. Sandeep Kapoor and Dr. Khristine Eroshevich.

Denver is having a beautiful day today, the streets are clear of snow and life is getting back to normal. I'm still at work and BTD is also busy, so here's an open thread for you, all topics welcome.

Good news:

The government of Roberto Micheletti, which had refused to let Mr. Zelaya return, signed an agreement with Mr. Zelaya’s negotiators late Thursday that would pave the way for the Honduran Congress to restore the ousted president and allow him to serve out the remaining three months of his term. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton confirmed on Friday that Mr. Zelaya and Mr. Micheletti had approved what she called “an historic agreement.”

Good. The principle is important and must be upheld. Practically speaking, Zelaya was, in essence, stopped in his campaign to overturn the Honduran Constitution's prohibition on reelection of Presidents. He gets to serve his last 2 months in office. A new President is elected on November 29. And this is all over in January 2010. In a way, this is a perfect ending to this story.

Speaking for me only

It's endgame on health care reform. Credit to President Obama for taking on the issue early in his tenure. While my own view is he has not played his cards correctly in the HCR debate, we must all acknowledge that he took the important step of putting it in play. Of course now, he is a bystander, and will sign whatever bill the Congress produces. In short, it is up to the Congress. Speaker Nancy Pelosi said:

I guess I'm just so busy with what I'm doing that I'm not worrying about what somebody else is doing, and I have confidence in the President of the United States. He wants the strongest best possible bill that will work for the American people. And we have to convince him that what will pass in the Congress is something similar to what we have in the House.

In my view Speaker Pelosi has done a great job on health care reform and I support the bill she has produced from the House. Senate Leader Reid is wokring hard and has signalled that an opt out public option will be in the Senate bill. It looks like that bill can not defeat a filibuster at this time. So in the end, Reid and Pelosi will have to either threaten to or actually, pass HCR with a public option through reconciliation. I want to be clear where I stand at least - health care reform without a public option is NOT worth passing. I do not believe in "reform" absent a public option. Paul Krugman writes:

Over due blogging assignments - (1) post about preemption (over due by one year.) Status - Request for one month extension (promise to extend discussion into federalism and impact of health care reform. (2) Post on Afghanistan (0ver due one week.) - Status - draft is written but being improved. Request for one week extension (promise to include discussion of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's trip to Pakistan and Afghanistan.) (3) post about call with Senator Arlen Specter (over due by one day.) Status - Request for one day extension (post will discuss Supreme Court, antitrust law, Commerce Clause, and SCOTUS' deference to Congressional findings.)

This is an Open Thread.

Verizon's Droid is coming out to raves. Here are the top features. CNET and Gizmodo are among those quite impressed with the smartphone that runs on Google's Android 2.0 operating system. [More...]

It's still snowing. Three days straight now. We're getting buried:

Wind-whipped snows are roaring across the Eastern Plains this afternoon, creating blizzard conditions, forcing road and highway closures, including a 150 mile stretch of Interstate 70 from Denver to the Kansas line....the northbound lanes of Interstate 25 north from Wellington to the Wyoming state line remain closed....Snow totals reported to the weather service at about 1 p.m. today include: 38 inches in Evergreen; 37 inches in Genesee; 26 inches in Golden; and 24 inches in Littleton.

It's been great to have a snow day and stay home, but enough is enough. (Thanks to Skippy for making this graphic last year.) [Update below]

The Colorado Court of Appeals today issued an opinion holding that medical marijuana caregivers must do more than merely provide pot and must have significant responsibility for providing for the well-being of their patients.

The case involved a woman named Stacy Clendenin, who in 2006 was charged with cultivating marijuana in a Longmont home. Clendenin argued that the marijuana she grew in the home was then distributed to authorized patients through marijuana dispensaries.

But the appeals court ruled that simply knowing that the end user of marijuana is a patient is not enough. Instead, the court said, a care-giver authorized to grow marijuana must actually know the patients who use it....In a special concurring opinion, Judge Alan Loeb wrote that Colorado's constitutional amendment legalizing medical marijuana "cries out for legislative action."

Actually, the opinion (available here, pdf) said the trial court ruled the caregiver must personally know the patient, and it was deciding the issue on other grounds. [More...]

Yesterday, President Obama signed the Homeland Security appropriations bill passed last week by Congress that prevents the release of photos depicting torture and abuse of detainees and allows the transfer of detainees from Guantánamo Bay to the U.S. for prosecution -- but won't allow those acquitted to remain in the U.S or those convicted to serve their sentences in U.S. prisons.

Last week, the ACLU sent this letter (pdf) to Defense Secretary Gates on why the photos should not be excluded from Freedom of Information Act Requests. [More...]

Scarecrow at Firedoglake explains the consequential difference between negotiated rates (in the House Health Care Reform Bill) and the Medicare +5% wanted by progressives:

CBO estimated that a Public Option available only to the uninsured, self-insured and small businesses (less than 20 employees) would have saved the federal budget $110 billion over ten years, if the PO paid health care providers at Medicare rates plus 5 percent. The savings would be only $25 billion if the PO were required to negotiate rates with providers. If Congress chooses negotiated rates, it raises budget costs by $85 billion for the limited access exchange(s).

[More...]

Speaker Nancy Pelosi introduced the House Health Care reform bill today. As predicted, it does not have the "robust" public option:

House leaders abandoned an earlier effort to include a public option that would have established reimbursement rates to providers based on Medicare. Although the provision was backed by liberals, it lacked enough votes to pass. Rural Democrats strongly opposed that approach because of the potentially ruinous effect on doctors and hospitals in their districts, where Medicare rates are generally well below the national average.

Instead, Pelosi is offering a more moderate alternative in which rates would be negotiated between providers and federal health officials, similar to the way in which private insurance operates. Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said he would include a similar provision in the Senate bill, though with an "opt out" clause for states that don't want to participate.

A four page summary is here. The full text is here. The top 14 provisions that take effect immediately are here. The top ten changes from the current system are here. The implementation timeline is here. The benefits to seniors and the disabled are here. [More...]