The American people having no interest in antagonizing Iran, the Los Angeles Times just ran this headline: Bush slams Iran in pro-democracy speech.

By Lara Jakes Jordan and Matt Apuzzo, Associated Press

Washington - Blackwater Worldwide repaired and repainted its trucks immediately after a deadly September shooting in Baghdad, making it difficult to determine whether enemy gunfire provoked the attack, according to people familiar with the government's investigation of the incident.

Damage to the vehicles in the convoy has been held up by Blackwater as proof that its security guards were defending themselves against an insurgent ambush when they fired into a busy intersection, leaving 17 Iraqi civilians dead.

By Lisa Moscatiello

Not pictured among these high quality photos (video coming soon) by Bev Stanton and Michelle Bailey from yesterday's DC impeachment march with John Nirenberg is the ejection of several "Impeach Bush and Cheney" t-shirt wearers from the National Archives' U.S. Constitution display.

After being chased off the grounds of the National Arboretum (USDA property) and Washington Union Station (main rail terminal for DC) by uniformed guards (our crime - standing around, holding signs and carrying props - not even picketing, chanting - just standing there) we were prepared for trouble at the National Archives, so we agreed to stop doing whatever they might tell us to stop doing, e.g., stop marching, stop carrying signs, etc. - until the only thing left for us to do would be simply to go into the Archives and view the Constitution just like all the other tourists.

As we arrived in front of the Archives, a uniformed guard approached us and told us we couldn't stand there (pictured in attachment). We were allowed to march up and down the sidewalk and hold a brief rally across the street from the building. At the end of the rally I announced that some of us wanted to go look at the Constitution, and so we started collecting signs from people, since we already knew we couldn't bring in the signs.

By DEBORAH SONTAG and LIZETTE ALVAREZ, New York Times

Late one night in the summer of 2005, Matthew Sepi, a 20-year-old Iraq combat veteran, headed out to a 7-Eleven in the seedy Las Vegas neighborhood where he had settled after leaving the Army.

This particular 7-Eleven sits in the shadow of the Stratosphere casino-hotel in a section of town called the Naked City. By day, the area, littered with malt liquor cans, looks depressed but not menacing. By night, it becomes, in the words of a local homicide detective, “like Falluja.”

More below the fold.

Activists Pose As Guantanamo Prisoners
By Michelle Boorstein, Washington Post

More than 24 hours after he was arrested while kneeling on the steps of the Supreme Court in an orange prisoner jumpsuit and a hood, Tim Nolan stood before a judge yesterday in D.C. Superior Court Room 202 and said the word he'd come to Washington to say:

In These Critical Times When All Too Many Voices Are Silent: THIS IS OUR TIME TO RESPOND

Come and Hear three courageous individuals who have chosen to speak out resoundingly and now, along with others, are calling for a full-scale mobilization of concerned people to participate in non-violent direct action.

COLONEL ANN WRIGHT: Highest ranking U.S. official to resign in protest of the invasion of Iraq; author of the newly published book Dissent: Voices of Conscience.

That's how long it took John Nirenberg to march from Boston to DC for impeachment. And then he saw an olive branch. Sadly, it was in the hands of a demented Dick Cheney shouting "I have my own branch of government! My own branch!" Read what happened next.

By Chapel Hill News

CARRBORO -- In the tradition of the Lincoln/Douglas Debates, a local group will hold a debate on impeaching the president and vice president next week -- with a twist.

A Republican will make the pro-impeachment argument. A Democrat will argue against impeachment.

Hodding Carter III, who served as assistant secretary of state under President Jimmy Carter, will moderate the debate on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the Carrboro Century Center.

Oil Crisis As Barrels Go Missing, According to Audit
Marcus Baram | ABCNews Blotter

How do you not notice when 308,000 barrels of oil go missing?

That's the question government auditors were asking after they looked into the Department of Energy's management of oil received for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, a critical program to assure energy stability in the U.S. in case of an oil crisis.

Report.

From Time Magazine, June 11, 1973:

Will President Nixon be impeached or forced to resign because of Watergate? Don't bet on it. That's the current advice of Las Vegas Oddsmaker Jimmy the Greek Snyder. He estimates that the odds are 1,000 to 1 against impeachment and a somewhat less staggering 200 to 1 against resignation. Jimmy also says that the odds against convicting former Attorney General John Mitchell are 5 to 1.

Still, times—and odds—change. In the winter of 1971-72, Jimmy was giving 2-to-5 odds that Edmund Muskie would win the Democratic nomination. George McGovern? A 50-to-1 shot.

Thanks to Brian Chambers for pointing this out.

By Nick Egnatz, Munster, Indiana, Veterans For Peace

On Wednesday January 12 a group of activists from Veterans For Peace,
Iraq Veterans Against the War and Code Pink took their impeachment
message to Congressman Pete Visclosky's (D-IN) Town Hall Meetings.
With activists each holding a letter spelling IMPEACH, we stood
witness to the crimes of the Bush Administration at four separate Town
Hall Meetings.

By Dori Smith

Very early research reveals that chronic problems continue with Diebold's AccuVote Optical Scan voting machines in New Hampshire. I made six calls to New Hampshire town officials and in four instances there were reports of voting machine problems. The two other calls turned out to have been to areas where electronic voting is not in use and hand counts were done. A state wide study would likely reveal that the voting machines failed many times during the 2008 presidential Primary.

By David Willman, Los Angeles Times

An Army doctor, a "person of interest" never charged in the deadly 2001 mailings, names three federal officials.

Washington - Attorneys for the former Army physician who was branded a "person of interest" in the deadly 2001 anthrax mailings named three federal officials Friday who they said leaked investigative details that harmed their client.

The physician, Steven J. Hatfill, has not been charged with a crime and maintains his innocence. Hatfill is suing the FBI, the Justice Department and a handful of present and former law enforcement officials. He alleges that the leaks were illegal, damaged his reputation and violated his right to privacy.

Report from Dallas.

Photos from San Diego.

Photos from Rome, Italy.