Whose chestnuts are roasting on an open fire?

It's Christmas eve, just thought I'd add some Christmas cheer.

Seriously, folks, while it should be the president who's feeling the heat, the real damage here will, as usual, be to those around him. After all, he's the great destroyer of reputations.

Now, people around the National Security Agency believe the agency may bear the brunt of the damage, after spending three decades coming out from under the shadow of Watergate.

Speaking of reputations, when is John Yoo going to get his comeupance? He's now a law professor at a distinguished university -- Berkeley -- and all this after a career of writing dangerous and most likely entirely erroneous opinions encouraging torture and spying on U.S. citizens.

If anybody's chestnuts deserve roasting, it's his.

Speaking of lawyers and erroneous opinions, does it occur to anyone that the reason for Samuel Alito's nomination for SCOTUS is because he favored immunity for lawsuits and by extension criminal prosecution for violations of law by members of the executive branch.

Just as Cheney was fighting the torture ban by the Congress not so much because he loves to torture but because the administration had allowed so much of it based on dubious legal opinions and thus may be liable for legal action.

No harm nominating someone to the Court who might later rule the bad guys off the hook. Small side-note: Alito's opinion didn't stand up a year later when the Supreme Court ruled in 1985 that an Attorney General indeed can be sued for illegal wiretaps. Alito on SCOTUS = a more secure future for Gonzales, Yoo, Ashcroft, et al.

Makes sense to me. Oh, don't forget to reference John Yoo's handiwork here.