Did anyone see Joe Klein’s article this week, “The Bush Administration’s Most Despicable Act”? In it he speaks of Bush signing the memorandum in 2002 which said that the Third Geneva Convention, treatment of military prisoners, did not apply to members of al-Qaeda or the Taliban. This is what led to the torture at Abu Ghraib and the abuses at Guantanamo.
We’ve had several spirited discussions over the past week about anger towards lame duck President George W. Bush, hate in general in Internet discussion (in blogs, comments to stories, discussion forums, et. al) and a desire on the part of many Americans to extract some form of punishment from Bush and his administration.
MSNBC’s Keith Olberman devoted a segment of "Countdown" to the subject Friday night, interviewing former White House counsel John Dean of Watergate fame.
In a little over a week’s time history will be made in the heart of the capital when Barack Obama is sworn in as the nation’s first black president witnessed by millions of jubilant supporters.
Washington will be the proud host of the January 20 inauguration of the 44th president, marking the dawning of a new era ushered in by the wildly popular Obama and drawing the curtain on the controversial reign of George W. Bush.
President-elect Barack Obama wants more transparency and strict guidelines for using the second $350 billion of the bailout fund Congress approved last fall to stabilize the nation’s financial system.
Obama’s economic team has been talking with the Bush administration about having Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson ask Congress as early as this week for access to the $350 billion remaining in the bailout fund. If Congress rejected such a request, a presidential veto could still free up the money, unless Congress overrode the veto.
Out of power, Republicans appear to be retreating to familiar old ground. They’re becoming deficit hawks again.
GOP lawmakers didn’t seem to mind enjoying the fruits of government largesse for the past eight years while one of their own was in the White House. Now they’re struggling to regain footing at a time of economic rout, a record $1.2 trillion budget deficit and an incoming Democratic president claiming a mandate for change.
Roland Burris, buoyed by a favorable court ruling, may return to the U.S. Senate next week and demand to be sworn in to fill the seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama, a Burris adviser said on Saturday.
"Roland is considering going back to the Senate and his advisers are urging him to do so — unless this is suddenly resolved by Monday," the adviser said on condition of anonymity.
On Friday, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled as valid embattled Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s appointment of fellow Democrat Burris to the Senate seat.