Bush's Secret Dictatorship.................

The memo issued by the acting director of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel just five days before Barack Obama took office comes across almost as, among other things, a bit whiny. Steven Bradbury wrote to officially retract a series of memos in which his former colleagues secretly rewrote the Constitution. He acknowledged that their reasoning was at various points "unconvincing" and "not sustainable." But Bradbury was also making excuses for them. They were afraid, he wrote: "The opinions addressed herein were issued in the wake of the atrocities of 9/11, when policymakers, fearing that additional catastrophic terrorist attacks were imminent, strived to employ all lawful means to protect the nation." They were rushed, confronting "novel and complex legal questions in a time of great danger and under extraordinary time pressure."

No excuse. Not even close....Link

Letterman shreds Limbaugh............

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Woody Allen's 'Whatever' opening Tribeca...

Woody Allen's "Whatever Works" will open the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival. Allen's latest film, and the first that he has filmed in New York in four years, will raise the curtain on the fest on April 22. "Works," starring Larry David, Evan Rachel Wood, Patricia Clarkson and Ed Begley Jr., will be released by Sony Pictures Classics in the summer. "I fell in love with New York through Woody Allen's movies, and I am excited we are opening this year's festival with Sony Pictures Classics for the world premiere of Woody's 'Whatever Works,' " Tribeca Film Festival co-founder Jane Rosenthal said. " 'Whatever Works' is a uniquely funny addition to his body of work." Allen called his film's selection "a lovely idea ... showing my film in a film festival in my own city. It's very exciting."

The fest is set to run April 22-May 3....Link

One in every 31...................

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - One in every 31 U.S. adults is in the corrections system, which includes jail, prison, probation and supervision, more than double the rate of a quarter century ago, according to a report released on Monday by the Pew Center on the States. The study, which said the current rate compares to one in 77 in 1982, concluded that with declining resources, more emphasis should be put on community supervision, not jail or prison. "Violent and career criminals need to be locked up, and for a long time. But our research shows that prisons are housing too many people who can be managed safely and held accountable in the community at far lower cost," said Adam Gelb, director of the Center's Public Safety Performance Project, which produced the report...Link

Bush anti-terror memos...............

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Hours after Attorney General Eric Holder repudiated anti-terror methods enacted under former president George W. Bush, the Justice Department released nine internal memos and opinions it said gave legal grounding to the controversial policies. The documents -- the first dating from the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks to the last from the months following the US-led 2003 invasion of Iraq -- detail how Bush gave himself sole power over terror suspects.....Link

Donors pledge $4.48 billion to rebuild Gaza...

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (Reuters) – International donors pledged $4.481 billion on Monday to help the Palestinian economy and rebuild Gaza after Israel's three-week offensive, insisting their funds bypass the territory's Hamas rulers. Gulf Arab states, the United States and the European Commission made significant pledges. Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit told a news conference the pledges were new and would be paid over the next two years. The United Nations and aid agencies said rebuilding the coastal enclave was a daunting task so long as border crossings with battered Gaza remained closed. "The situation at the border crossings is intolerable. Aid workers do not have access. Essential commodities cannot get in," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told donors at a one-day conference on Gaza in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheikh....Link