Obama Open to Inquiry in Interrogation Abuses  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama on Tuesday left open the door to creating a bipartisan commission that would investigate the Bush administration's use of harsh interrogation techniques on terrorism suspects, and he did not rule out taking action …

CIA Confirms: Waterboarding 9/11 Mastermind Led to Info that Aborted 9/11-Style Attack on Los Angeles  —  (CNSNews.com) - The Central Intelligence Agency told CNSNews.com today that it stands by the assertion made in a May 30, 2005 Justice Department memo that the use of “enhanced techniques” …

GWS  —  I am not angry Mr. York.  I am afraid.  Afraid of the hatred for this President generated by the likes of FOX news and this newspaper.  I know that MSNBC is in the bed with the Democrats, but FOX is married to the Republicans.  Promoting this tea party is a prime example.

THIESSEN RATIONALIZES MUSLIM TORTURE... Just 48 hours after President Obama was inaugurated, former Bush chief speechwriter Marc Thiessen said Obama “is already proving to be the most dangerous man ever to occupy the Oval Office.”  With a record like this, it's probably unwise to expect …

McCain facing 2010 primary  —  Social conservatives tolerated John McCain as the party's nominee, but never trusted him, and he now appears to be facing a serious primary from the right in Arizona next year.  —  Chris Simcox, the founder of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps and a prominent figure …

America's Newest Profession: Bloggers for Hire  —  In America today, there are almost as many people making their living as bloggers as there are lawyers.  Already more Americans are making their primary income from posting their opinions than Americans working as computer programmers, firefighters or even bartenders.

Civil War Raging in Right-Wing Blogosphere  —  Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, jazz musician and Web designer Charles Johnson has devoted his blog, Little Green Footballs, to exposing Muslim extremism in and outside the United States.  His targets have included the Council …

The OLC “torture memos”: thoughts from a dissenter  —  I first gained access to the OLC memos and learned details about CIA's program for high-value detainees shortly after the set of opinions were issued in May 2005.  I did so as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's policy representative …

EXCLUSIVE: Senator's husband's firm cashes in on crisis  —  Feinstein sought $25 billion for agency that awarded contract to spouse  —  On the day the new Congress convened this year, Sen. Dianne Feinstein introduced legislation to route $25 billion in taxpayer money to a government agency …

Is Cheney Panicking?  —  The one thing you saw most plainly in the Plame affair is how obsessed Dick Cheney is with public image, the chattering classes and spinning stories that might reflect poorly on him.  The act is the elder statesman, authoritatively reviewing the world scene …

Judge tells Blagojevich he can't go to Costa Rica for reality show  —  Rod Blagojevich enters Dirksen Federal Building four a court hearing Tuesday morning.  (Brian Jackson/Sun-Times)  —  A federal judge said that former Gov. Rod Blagojevich cannot go to Costa Rica to film a reality show.

Obama's Outrageous Sin Against Our Kids  —  As I watch Washington politics I am not easily given to rage.  —  Washington politics is a game and selfishness, out-sized egos and corruption are predictable.  —  But over the last week I find myself in a fury.

Why GOP is devouring one book  —  There aren't any sex scenes or vampires, and it won't help you lose weight.  —  But House Republicans are tearing through the pages of Amity Shlaes' “The Forgotten Man” like soccer moms before book club night.  —  Shlaes' 2007 take on the Great Depression questions …

Prosecutors Considering Dropping Espionage Charges Against Former AIPAC Lobbyists  —  Review Comes Amid Reports That Rep. Harman Was Overheard on Wiretaps Agreeing to Seek Lenient Treatment for Them  —  Federal prosecutors are considering whether to drop the charges against two former pro …

Health-Care Dialogue Alarms Obama's Allies  —  As Congress returns to begin an intense debate over reshaping the nation's $2.2 trillion health-care system, prominent left-leaning organizations and liberal House members are issuing a warning to their Democratic allies: Don't cave on us.

Crimes suspected in 20 bailout cases — for starters  —  The special inspector general says TARP is ‘inherently vulnerable to fraud, waste and abuse.’ The risk grows as the plan becomes more complex, he says.  —  Reporting from Washington and Los Angeles — In the first major disclosure …

The Pulitzer-winning investigation that dare not be uttered on TV  —  (updated below - Update II)  —  The New York Times' David Barstow won a richly deserved Pulitzer Prize yesterday for two articles that, despite being featured as major news stories on the front page of The Paper of Record …

Criminalizing Conservatism  —  Many liberals don't just want to defeat conservatives at the polls, they want to send them to jail.  Toward that end, they have sometimes tried to criminalize what are essentially policy differences.  President Obama hinted at another step in that direction …

Our Selective Moral Outrage  —  Why does Israel face more opprobrium than Russia?  —  Few places on earth have been as systematically brutalized over the past decade as Chechnya.  So you might have thought that the Russian government's decision last week to declare an end to its …

The Republicans' Paranoid Style  —  In 1964, historian Richard Hofstadter described “the paranoid style” as a periodic recurrence in American national life, characterized by “the use of paranoid modes of expressions by more or less normal people . . . heated exaggeration, suspiciousness, and conspiratorial fantasy.”

Obama: ‘Shaka’ hang-loose for Navy  —  Proof that Barack Obama is from Hawaii:  —  At a ceremony honoring the Naval Academy's football team today, the president found some pride in the heritage of the team's head coach - Ken Niumatalolo - as well as that of its starting quarterback - Kaipo Noa Kaheaku Enhada.

Justice  —  I'm so old I can remember those ancient days when it was accepted that the Justice Department was independent from the president, that the Attorney General and others should make decisions absent political considerations, and that when it seemed as if independence might not be possible …

Meghan McCain Gives Rave Review to Eminem's Video Depicting Sex with Faux Sarah Palin  —  Okay, I had wanted to stay away from further focus on the Twitter exploits of Meghan McCain, the daughter of the 2008 presidential candidate.  But sometimes you just can't tear your eyes away.

Go Organic — No Artificial Blogging.  Support Marcy Wheeler!  —  Yesterday, Marcy Wheeler made the front page of the New York Times with her scoop about about Khalid Sheik Mohammed being waterboarded 183 times in one month.  Her liveblogging of the Libby trial was one of the seminal moments …