Even President Obama’s new director of national intelligence, Dennis C. Blair, wrote in a memorandum to his staff last week that “high value information came from interrogations in which these methods were used[] [. . .] Mr. Obama and most of his top aides have argued that the use of those methods betrayed American values — and anyway, produced unreliable information.” -NYTimes

Via Atrios (whose title is completely misleading in this context), Media Matters attempts to whitewash the outrageous comments from Obama Director of National Intelligence, and in the process, unfairly criticize NBC News' Andrea Mitchell (who, Gawd knows, has received much merited criticism from MM in the past). Media Matter discredits its body of sound work with these contortions on Blair's behalf. MM writes:

Today is the National Call-In Day for the "Crack the Disparity" National Month of Advocacy, a month-long coordinated push to eliminate the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine. Help flood Congress with calls. Call your federal lawmakers today and tell them that it is time to end the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine.

Tell your elected officials that the current law:

• overstates the relative danger of crack cocaine to powder cocaine;
• contributes to the growth of our prison population, increasing the financial burden on taxpayers;
• disproportionately affects African Americans; and
• uses limited federal resources on low-level street dealers rather than on the major drug traffickers.

Follow this link or visit here to get talking points and contact information for your federal senators and representative.

What happens to the children of the undocumented arrested in workplace immigration raids like the one in Carthage, MO?

The New York Times reports they are being given away to foster families.

One of the 136 illegal immigrants detained in the raid was Carlos’s mother, Encarnación Bail Romero, a Guatemalan. A year and a half after she went to jail, a county court terminated Ms. Bail’s rights to her child on grounds of abandonment. Carlos, now 2, was adopted by a local couple.

Truly a depressing story. [More...]

Ohio State Law Professor Peter Shane served as Attorney-Adviser in the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel from 1978 to 1981.

Today, he provides three takes on the torture memos. He ends with:

When I read the just-released opinions, I felt like throwing up. As an American, as a lawyer, as an OLC alum, I cannot help but take this personally.

Just two days ago, Yves Smith wrote of the "move to clip the wings of TARP overseer Elizabeth Warren."

Smith linked to a Politico piece piece about Warren which had some absurd anti-Warren quotes like "a number of people wonder if this is the new Warren commission or the congressional oversight panel."

Predictably, Joe Weisenthal at Clusterstock joins the anti-Warren chorus with a post titled "TARP Watchdog Elizabeth Warren Blowing Her Credibility, Overstepping Her Bounds." [More...]

I watched some of Secretary of State Clinton's testimony before a House committee today. She was good. TPM has her exchange with Mike Pence (R-IN):

WSJ:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pressed the case for creation of a special “truth commission” to investigate the interrogation of terror suspects during the Bush administration. The California Democrat said several House committees already are examining the issue amid concerns that brutal tactics were used. But in a roundtable meeting Wednesday with reporters, she suggested “it might be further useful to have such a commission so that it removes all doubt that how we protect the American people is in a values-based way.”

Good on speaker Pelosi. Speaking for me only

The other day I wrote about President Obama's exhortation to Cuba to move towards democratic reforms. My conclusion was "[w]ill it happen? No. Will the embargo be lifted? No. I could be wrong of course." the first evidence is that, via Dylan Matthews, I am not wrong:

. . . Obama called on Cuba to release political prisoners and reduce taxes on remittances from the U.S. That appeared to enrage Fidel Castro, 82, who wrote in an essay published Wednesday that Obama "without a doubt misinterpreted Raul's declarations." The former president appeared to be throwing a dose of cold water on growing expectations for improved bilateral relations — suggesting Obama had no right to dare suggest that Cuba make even small concessions. He also seemed to suggest too much was being made of Raul's comments about discussing "everything" with U.S. authorities.

Speaking for me only

ABC:

Sen. Patrick Leahy pledged today that if he cannot get the votes to create a bipartisan commission to investigate U.S. torture policy under former President George W. Bush -- and regardless of calls by President Obama that any inquiry be bipartisan -- he'll conduct his own partisan inquiry in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Good on Leahy.

speaking for me only

From my perspective, this is good news:

The Obama administration and trade advocates in Congress are trying to put a series of long-delayed trade pacts back on the front burner, despite widespread skepticism on Capitol Hill about the benefits of expanded international commerce. On the heels of the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said Monday that a delegation from Panama will visit Washington this week to try to resolve disputes over the U.S.-Panama trade deal. Kirk added that President Obama hopes to clear remaining obstacles to a separate pact with Colombia.

[MORE . . .]

Your turn.

This is an Open Thread.

You know it is bizarre to see Dan Burton, the Republican representative from Indiana, who devoted agreat deal of time in the 90s accusing Hillary Clinton of being behind the "murder" of Vince Foster, questioning Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. You can watch the proceedings on C-Span 3 or at C-span.com. Here is Hillary zinging Cheney on torture.

Greg Sargent and Steve Benen do some incredible contortions to try and spin Obama Administration Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair's inaccurate and inexcusable rationalization for torture. Blair wrote a memo that states:

“High value information came from interrogations in which those methods were used and provided a deeper understanding of the al Qa’ida organization that was attacking this country,” Adm. Dennis C. Blair, the intelligence director, wrote in a memo to his staff last Thursday.

. . . “I like to think I would not have approved those methods in the past,” he wrote, “but I do not fault those who made the decisions at that time, and I will absolutely defend those who carried out the interrogations within the orders they were given.”

(Emphasis supplied.) Blair becomes the first witness for the defense of those who enacted the torture policies, and Sargent and Benen can not wish that away. For Blair, the use of torture is just a "policy difference," proving John Hinderaker of Powerline right. The fact is Blair is unfit to serve. He should resign. More . . .