I really appreciate the Charles Homans discussion being held here on TPMCafe but nobody involved has mentioned a third alternative -- we don't investigate (or do) but at the same time we sign on with the International Criminal Court.

The immediate effect of that would be a long overdue indictment against Henry Kissinger.  But the court would eventually catch up with Bush administration officials as well.  None of them, including the former president, would be able to travel outside of the United States.

Maybe just the threat of this would be enough to compel some former Bush administration officials to speak openly before congress.

One major drawback to this is that we'd be relying on the international community for our own justice needs.  But, that's kind of the point of the ICC.  They step in because local systems are too entangled to sort out their own messes.  It also means that likely only the human rights violations -- the detentions, torture and renditions would be heard about.  The domestic laws that were broken, like the domestic spying, would likely be of less interest to the ICC.

But, you never know.

Let's at least threaten to join if these people won't talk.

...and I'm pretty sure that Bush himself is anxious to end the Bush era.  But why is Tom Friedman on my television saying that we should move up the transition date and basically swear Obama in right now and why is CNN treating that idea like it makes any sense at all?

One problem with it is that Obama actually thinks before he acts, so he'd probably not be for it.  Obama  is working on a transition plan that has him taking over the reigns on January 20th.  Moving that date up by more than a month will needlessly complicate his transition, one that looks like it's going to be the smoothest in history if Obama is allowed to follow his plan.

Another problem is that it's illegal and congress is unlikely to act to change the laws on such short notice so it's a silly thing to be talking about.

A third problem is that all of this talk is unfair to Obama.  This "get in there and save us" rhetoric puts enormous pressure on him as a president.  But he is not going to wave his hand and fix the economy.  He is going to start us on a process that will likely lead us to a better future.  But he needs time to do that.  At the very least we can wait until January 20th for him to take over.