Fitzgerald Makes His Move for More Time; Blago Agrees!
Just a few hours ago Marcy hypothesized on Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich's next move. Well, he has made the move. In a pleading just filed, Fitz asks for a 90 day extension. The curious part is that the motion is unopposed by both defendants.
Blagojevich's Next Move
Well, it looks like Blagojevich is intent on playing governor for a little while longer.
GM, TARP and Traveling Down the Road
Okay, a couple of folks have been pining for a post on GM and the TARP announcement yesterday. The story was when the decision was made to make GMAC a bank holding company, and that was over a week ago. Once that was made what was announced yesterday about the injection of TARP funds was a foregone conclusion.
Turnabout Would Be Fair Play: US Seeks 147 Year Torture Sentence
This report from MSNBC is almost sublimely ironic: U.S. prosecutors want a Miami judge to sentence the son of former Liberian President Charles Taylor to 147 years in prison for torturing people. Huh. Go figure. I wonder who will prosecute the denizens of the Bush Administration for the same acts?
Fitzgerald: You Can't Have Witnesses, But You Can Have 4 Conversations
Fitz is doing the groundwork to release four Blago intercepts pertaining to pending IL legislation.
The Squabble over Subpoenas in Springfield
Fitz says that Blago can't subpoena Rahm because Rahm's testimony "overlaps" with his ongoing investigation. What does that mean?
The Gray Lady Calls for a Gas Tax
The NYT has done some really crappy ass reporting on the auto crisis. But, credit where it's due, they're now calling for a gas tax (h/t Atrios). And their editorial not only advocates for what I consider a smart policy, but they hit the key issues: that it's not enough to force manufacturers to build energy efficient cars.
Yet for all the conditions attached to it, the multibillion-dollar aid package for Detroit’s
Trash Talk - Getaway Week
This is the last week of the regular season in the National Favre League, and for those teams headed to the playoffs, or trying desperately to get into the playoffs, we have some key games on tap. Here is the rundown.
Bob Corker's "Screw the Seniors" Plan
Journalists are now figuring out something we've been pointing out for some time: Bob Corker's "plan" to "fix" the auto industry is not so much a plan to fix anything, but a plan to screw retirees.
Hot Rails To Hades
It has been quite the rage on teh progressive internets to discuss trains, trans and super trains. Atrios is the King of all Train Media. Yglesias has climbed on board, and now even a dyed in the wool California suburban guy like Kevin Drum is jawing about them, although he seems to have differing views on short haul commuter (for) than long haul passenger (against for financial reasons).
Did McCain/Palin Obstruct Justice in the Johnston Case?
It seems that Sarah Palin has a newsworthy scandalette for every holiday. For Thanksgiving she was preening in front of a turkey slaughter; for Christmas, she is smack dab in the middle of a felony controlled substances investigation. It appears that the narcotics investigation of Sherry Johnston was delayed to protect the GOP Presidential ticket during the election
Best Gifts Ever?
I once put a live lobster in my father's Christmas stocking.
Happy Holidays And Thanks!
HAPPY HOLIDAYS to one and all. And my thanks to the greatest readers and commenters on teh internets! You folks are the greatest, and none of it works without you. And thanks, most of all, to Marcy for letting me hang around and be part of the fun and excitement.
We Are All Banks Now
The Fed just awarded GM's finance arm bank status.
Shorter Blagojevich:
I'm going to start a running tally of the ways that Obama's stupid treatment of his report on contacts with Blago will backfire. Consider this count number one.
George Bush Spent $4 Billion to Kill Chrysler--on Obama's Watch
George Bush has said that he gave the auto companies loan money so as not to dump the problem into Obama's lap.
But that's a lie.
Dick's Talking Points, Two
Murray Waas proves that Dick Cheney knew he might out Plame when he encouraged journalists to look into who purportedly sent Joe Wilson to Niger.
Cheney's FBI Report
Cheney says he did not order Libby to order Plame's identity. I guess his insinuations that he may have were a CYA invented later to respond to Fitzgerald's investigation, notably Fitz getting Judy Miller's testimony.
Blagojevich Report Timeline
The dates reported in the Blagojevich report, along with dates from the complaint.
The Blagojevich Contacts: Only 5-6 Contacts with Rahm on the Senate Seat, But the Report Does Not Cover Rahm's Seat
The Obama team report on contacts with Blagojevich show--as expected--that there were no substantive discussions about the Senate seat. But Obama's team appears not to have asked whether there were discussions about Rahm's seat--and Greg Craig seem incurious about that entirely.