Though as President he could issue a pardon to any CIA officers that he so wishes. I'm still somewhat surprised that Bush didn't issue any such blanket pardons in his final days.

The GOP argued that a simple majority vote could change the rules. So I think you may be right.

I think George W. Bush renominated exactly ONE of Clinton's appointees. If Obama wants to be gracious, he can do the same -- by finding the most moderate Bush nominee possible and putting him on a court where his vote won't make a big difference.

But I didn't work my ass off for Obama to see him appt. a bunch of Heritage Foundation, conservative justices. It's our turn. And as far as the Supreme Court goes, Obama shouldn't flinch. He needs to appoint strong, smart, YOUNG liberals. Preferably a few females to get it closer to 50-50 up there. I just don't believe the GOP could stop them.

is organize a netroots based effort to save California. To put a proposition on the ballot that removes the 2/3 rule would take about 600,000 signatures. If someone could write such an initiative, we could then distribute it through the netroots and get CA voters to download them, sign them, have their friends sign them, attend Obama house meetings and get more people to sign them, and see whether this effort could really take off.

For decades the right wing anti-tax zealouts have used and abused the initiative process. Maybe we could finally use it to save the state from this demented GOP minority?

And trust me, they aren't overpaid. The prison guards and the firefighters, that's a whole other story. They abuse the overtime and pension systems like no one's business, and Gray Davis really gave a lot of concessions to the state unions before he was kicked out.

I think the big boost in spending was for infrastructure. We've been building and refurbishing a lot of schools here in LA the last few years.

Look, property values went through the roof in 2004-2007. Despite Prop. 13, lots of homes were sold which bumped up property tax income big time to the state. With more billions flowing in, the state government finally spent some more money on infrastructure, schools, other projects that had languished.

Now the real estate boom has gone bust, but the state still needs money to continue functioning and finish the projects that were started. Yet these idiot Republicans think they can cut their way to a balanced budget. They're insane.

The Dems and Arnold need to call a special election immediately, and put a few propositions on the ballot that fix this 2/3 supermajority and curtail the power of ballot propositions to affect tax rates. I will be really pissed if we miss out on our transportation money because of this.

As Majority Leader, he was weak. Capitulated to the GOP again and again. Remember, it was under his leadership that the Iraq authorization passed.

I'm not sad to see him go, although you can ask me again if Obama picks someone even worse for the job (cough, Jim Cooper, cough).

Since Brown we've had a bunch of right wing hacks for governor, along with a pathetic do-nothing centrist named Gray Davis. Davis, if you remember, was recalled because he wouldn't stand up to Enron and allowed our state budget to crash. He was too indecisive and seemed out to lunch when we needed a fighter.

Brown was a progressive governor with a fairly strong record. He appointed lots of good judges. He appointed the first black, the first woman, and the first Latino to the State Supreme Court.

The folks slamming his job as mayor leave out the fact that Oakland was a hellhole when Brown got there, and is now slightly less of a hellhole. In fact, Oakland now has some really nice neighborhoods. It's ridiculous to blame a 2008 police shooting on Jerry Brown when he hasn't been mayor of Oakland since 2006.

He ran an aggressive campaign against Bill Clinton, but it wasn't vicious or nasty. I was in favor of Jerry Brown and viewed him as the more liberal of the two. That said, Brown did a fine job as Oakland mayor and has been a pretty good attorney general.

He was also one of the best governors the state has had, despite having to deal with the wreckage of Prop. 13 and Reagan's legacy.

I don't think Newsom could win statewide, the guy is just toxic. Look at how Prop. 8 support boomed as soon as they put Newsom in the ads. I don't think Villaraigosa or Garamendi would play well statewide either.

I think Newsom would lose. Just putting him in the Prop. 8 commercials was enough to piss off half the state. He has way too much baggage. Villaraigosa has not been able to fulfill his promises to L.A. and needs to overcome his baggage as well. Both come across as slick big city mayors who care more about TV exposure than saving the state.

I think Jerry Brown is just the right guy to get the job done. He knows the state govt. better than anyone and might be ballsy enough to fix the constitution so that we can pass budgets with a mere majority like most other states. Also, I think he can win against any Republican.

Go Brown!

The contraceptive funding is just a distraction. The mass transit stuff, the infrastructure programs, those are what really frighten the Republicans.

The big story here is that Obama stripped out the mass transit funding in order to placate the GOP with tax cuts. And the GOP still won't jump aboard!

The Dems really need to trim out the business tax cuts and restore mass transit/infrastructure funding. Otherwise we are stuck with a very expensive stimulus bill that won't create as many jobs as it should. And in two years, the Dems won't have any awesome SUPERTRAIN projects to point to as a sign of progress.

If Obama keeps up with this small ball, defensive playmaking, he'll end up as another Gray Davis. When you have the power, you use it.

The GOP, the Blue Dogs, the corporate lobbyists, and the DC villagers aren't going to keep quiet. In fact, they'll be pressuring Obama from the right every step of the way.

So no, keeping quiet and "letting Obama lead" are not viable options. If he doesn't get some constructive pressure from the left, then we will see more B.S. like the fact that the stimulus bill only has $10 billion for mass transit, and only $85 billion for infrastructure, while having about $300 billion for tax cuts.

I would love to hear her thoughts on why the stimulus bill only has $85 billion for infrastructure, and of that only $10 for mass transit. That seems way, way too low.

I'd prefer $200 billion for infrastructure and $100 billion for mass transit.

On the day that Hillary gave her final farewell speech in the Senate, John Cornyn stood up not five minutes later and started trashing one of Hillary's big priorities -- the Lily Ledbetter Bill.

So no, I'm not surprised that he is doing this.