Weekend Update - January 17th

• On January 15, George W. Bush presented his valedictory, desperately seeking thanks and congratulations. So here goes: Thanks and congratulations, W, for showing the world that today’s conservatism is an abject failure. Bye bye to the worst President ever.


• What we need to do is conceptually simple. We need to launch investigations to get at the central unanswered questions of Bush's abuse of power, commence criminal proceedings and undertake institutional, statutory and constitutional reforms. Obama has to hold George Bush accountable for the laws he broke. Period.


• He was elected as the man we'd most like to have a beer with. But when it came time to have that beer, it got really awkward. From The Onion.


• Pastor Rick Warren tells his faithful to follow Jesus like Nazis followed Hitler. Could possibly become the Christian statement of the year, and it's only January.


• Here's a pretty good farewell to Bush from a fellow blogger.


• Hope this isn't a trend. Reporting from Sacramento -- The state will suspend tax refunds, welfare checks, student grants and other payments owed to Californians starting Feb. 1, Controller John Chiang announced Friday. Chiang said he had no choice but to stop making some $3.7 billion in payments in the absence of action by the governor and lawmakers to close the state's nearly $42-billion budget deficit. More than half of those payments are tax refunds.