Former democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson has withdrawn as President-elect Barack Obama’s choice for commerce secretary, sources in the transition office tell NPR.
The source confirmed reports from MSNBC that New Mexico’s governor is withdrawing from the confirmation process — and says a full statement will be released shortly.
The reason reportedly involves a pending investigation into [...]

by Charley James
Like tens of millions – and growing – of his increasingly desperate countrymen, he is out of work and cannot find a job; worse, nobody in his chosen profession will even interview him. His previously good friends don’t want to publish his story so he is reduced to keeping a journal for his [...]

 
by Charley James
John McCain lost the presidential election only because the Obama landslide was greater than Republican operatives anticipated and local GOP apparatchiks weren’t vigilant enough in preventing legitimate voters from casting ballots. And when informed by field offices of a potential voting rights problem, Attorney General Michael Mukasey reportedly chose not to do anything.

(reprise article) By Denis Campbell
Throughout the primaries we heard, “it’s 8:00 pm in the east, polls have closed, CNN can now declare with 1% of the ballots counted, Senator Barack Obama is the winner of the South Carolina Primary.”
99% accuracy. How did they know? Exit polling is part of it. But polling places, early voting [...]

 
by Charley James
Overlooked in the frothing about Dick Cheney’s interview with ABC’s Jonathan Karl is a simple truth. Shotgun Dick, Darth Vadar, The Man Who Never Was, Richard Bruce Cheney confessed freely and openly to committing war crimes and crimes against humanity. The Vice President who spent eight years avoiding interviews used what may be [...]

 
– by Charley James
Canadian politics is in the midst of what, for Canada, is a major kerfuffle. The three main opposition parties – the Liberals, the New Democrats and the Bloc Quebecois – formed a coalition to topple the minority Conservative government led by non-entity Stephen Harper.
Harper reacted by asking the Governor General to suspend [...]

 
by Carl Bloice –
A couple of days before Thanksgiving one of my downstairs neighbors matter of factly told me he had lost his job. He’d been abruptly laid off by a local information technology startup company. “They let go so many people I don’t know how they are going to get the work done,” he [...]

A Table showing the pertinent proposed rules changes…
CIVIL LIBERTIES

Rule Description

Proposal Date

Current Status

Domestic surveillance,Department of Justice — The rule would expand the power of state and local law enforcement agencies to investigate potential criminal activities and report the information to federal agencies. The rule would broaden the scope of activities [...]

(As we said about Bill Clinton during the first weeks of the Bush Presidency, “How can we miss you if you won’t go away? -Ed.)
NYT OP-Ed Colmnist Dick Cavett
Electronic devices dislike me. There is never a day when something isn’t ailing. Three out of these five implements — answering machine, fax machine, printer, phone and [...]

by Sharon Kyle
Sarah Palin draws the media like a magnet. Whether we like it or not, judging from the amount of press she got this week, it appears she’ll remain on the national scene for as long as America and the rest of the world continue to tune in or click, searching for “Sarah Palin”-related [...]