Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone:

Requiem for a Maverick John McCain ran one of the most incompetent, schizo campaigns in history — and for that we owe him big-time

Lots of good reading here, I liked this:

In short, McCain entered this election season being the worst thing that anyone can be, in the eyes of the Rove-school Republicans: Different. Independent. His own man. He exited the campaign on his knees, all his dignity gone, having handed the White House to the hated liberals after spending the last months of the race with numb-nuts Sarah Palin on his arm and Karl Rove's c*ck in his mouth. Even if you wanted to vote for him, you didn't know who you were voting for. The old McCain? The new McCain? Neither? Both?

The 8 year old in Arizona who shot and killed his father and father's boarder. First the cops wanted to try him as an adult. They, they learned of ledgers the kid kept of every beating, and the kid said when it got to 1,000, he would have had enough.

Susan Mernit at Huffington Post breaks down the gruesomesome and mathematical tallty of the beatings -- and their impact on the boy.

It's another case of powerless children in our society with nowhere to turn to. This kids' going to have a healthy dose of PTSD as he gets older. Who will be there for him?

Check out Susan Mernit's article on the case today at HuffPo --she's outraged at the parents who were killed. Some snippets below:

You knew it had to be too good to be true. It was.

The Texas indictments against Dick Cheney and Alberto Gonzales have been dismissed.

TalkLeft was fortunate to be named one of the ABA Journal's top 100 law blogs in 2007. Voting just opened up for 2008.

It takes less than five seconds to vote, so if you enjoy Talkleft, please go here and vote for us.

Thanks, everyone!

I'm still at work, but here's the latest news:

• Sen. Dick Durbin goes to bat for former Ill. Gov. George Ryan, asking President Bush to pardon Ryan. I hope Bush listens. His efforts towards a moratorium on the death penalty and his emptying the state's death row due to the large number of wrongfully convicted inmates warrant a pardon.

• PA Gov. Ed Rendell has dropped the moratorium on parole for violent felons. The ban was imposed in September.

  [A] review found the state's evaluation and supervision of parolees were largely effective.

• An autopsy confirms the WalMart worker who died on Black Friday was trampled to death.

• Giants receiver Plaxico Burress appeared in state court on charges of criminal possession of a handgun. Bail in $100k. He has a top notch lawyer, Ben Brafman, who has also represented Sean Combs, among others. Facts below:

I'm busy, but never too busy to fret about the Gators. Let me make one thing perfectly clear (h/t Nixon), if the SEC Champion is shut out of the BCS Championship game, I personally will riot on the streets.

Do something about this Barack!

This too is an Open Thread.

TChris is in trial, I'm off to the jail and BTD is swamped at work. Here's an open thread for you.

For those of you wanting to know more about Eric Holder, here are excerpts from his 1997 Deputy Attorney General confirmation hearing.

Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards lauds President-elect Obama's announcement naming Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State:

Senator Clinton understands that women's quality of life directly affects the major issues confronting the globe: national security, environmental sustainability, and global poverty.

In a speech that, by the standards of the Bush administration, sounds positively radical, Clinton addressed the Cairo Plus Five Forum at the Hague in 1999, saying,

"Women's reproductive health and empowerment are critical to a nation's sustainability and growth ... we now know that no nation can hope to succeed in the global economy of the 21st century if half of its people lack the opportunity and the right to make the most of their God-given potential. No nation can move forward when its women and children are trapped in endless cycles of poverty; when they have inadequate health care, poor access to family planning, limited education."

President Elect Obama is making his announcements. Hilllary, Eric Holder, Robert Gates, Janet Napolitano, Susan Rice, General James Jones.

Update: Hillary gave a great, short speech. Holder makes me nervous. Napolitano stresses securing the border. Susan Rice also wants to strengthen our security. Biden, who spoke after the nominees, was confident.

I think we did get a welcome change from the Bush Administration -- and in thinking about who these appointees would be had McCain been elected, I'll say we did okay with this team.

Questions: To Obama, "Would India be justified in going after terrorists on Pakistani soil?" No direct answer. Next question is about whether the appointees will be a clash of rivals. [More...]

I'm shopped out, but in case you are still going, CyberMonday starts today. Prices will fluctuate throughout the day at most sites, but here's a few that will stay the same until Dec. 7:

• As far as I'm concerned, you can never have too many of these Western Digital My Passport 320 GB USB hard drives. At $90 instead of the usual $170, it's too good to pass up. Shipping is only $2.95 and there's no sales tax.

• If you've been wanting a big screen monitor for your computer, here's a steal: Samsung 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor for $189 with free shipping. List price is $380.

• How about a Panisonic 32" LCD HD TV that for $499? It's a 720 as opposed to 1080p (and I don't buy their "retail price" of $2500., but 720 probably all you need in a 32".

If you found any great deals, let us know (not the link, unless you can put it in html format, but the store and the item.)

Bump and Update: The Swiss voted to make permanent the experimental plan of providing heroin to addicts through doctor's prescriptions. The measure passed by 68%. (But they rejected an initiative to decriminalize pot):

****

Swiss to Vote on Prescription Heroin Policy Sunday

Tomorrow, the Swiss head to the polls. On the ballot: whether to make an experimental program allowing doctors to prescribe heroin permanent.

In 1998 Switzerland introduced an experimental 10-year heroin prescription programme. Today around 1,300 patients across the country are on the programme.

[More...]

Writing in the Washington Post, Former FBI agent Jack Cloonan and Sarah Mendelson, author of a report "Closing Guantanamo: From Bumper Sticker to Blue Print" have a plan to close Guantanamo.

Shorter version: Appoint a "blue ribbon panel" of experts to divide those who are left into two categories, those who can be released and those who should be tried in the U.S. criminal justice system. For those who are tried, no use of information gained through torture.

On a related note, a former leader of a team of interrogators in Iraq in 2006 writes, using a pseudomym, I'm Still Tortured by What I Saw in Iraq.

This is silly. Frankly, it does harm to real and legitimate claims for an Obama mandate

When your mandate measure puts anyone ahead of FDR, it is time to stop.

Speaking for me only

This is an Open Thread.

DemfromCt, who does good work on polling, blithely and unquestioningly endorses the unsupported and empty assertion from Pew:

First, the middle asserted itself. This was not a base election. Independents broke decisively for Obama, favoring him by a 52%-to-44% margin over John McCain.

I do not even know what that is supposed to mean but it worth reviewing these same numbers from 2004:

Bump and Update: It's Offical. Hillary will fly to Chicago tomorrow to join Obama for his cabinet appointments announcement, including her own as Secretary of State. Congratulations, Hillary!

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CNN and other news organizations are reporting that President Elect Barack Obama will name Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State on Monday.

The New York Times reports on the lengthy negotiations between Team Obama and Bill Clinton and the 9 preconditions the former President had to meet. [More...]