“If, in fact, we are treating prisoners this way, it’s not only wrong, but dangerous, and very dumb, and very short-sighted,” said Republican Senator Chuck Hagel on CNN’s Late Edition.

“I just think it’s a terrible mistake,” echoed Democrat Dianne Feinstein.

Senator Hagel, a veteran of the Vietnam war, warned a leadership vacuum at the top of the military hierarchy can end “in disaster for us and humility for this country”.

“If there’s a vacuum, something will fill that vacuum,” he said.

I realize these people are “shocked, shocked” that we are treating prisoners like this. It’s not as if Amnesty International, the International Red Cross, the American Civil Liberties Union, retired military legal officers haven’t been pointing these things out for years. It’s not as if there aren’t memos authorizing these sorts of things out in the public arena. It’s not as if there isn’t a stack of depositions in court cases around the globe from people who have been held in American custody reporting these techniques. Nothing in that prisoner log is new or different. None are so blind as those who will not see.

The defense is that this individual is one of a very large number of people who were supposedly the mythical “20^th highjacker” [as he is a Saudi, he is a better candidate than most for that fabled spot on the roster], and he gave important information on recruiting and logistics. Maybe I’m old fashioned, but if I were planning an attack on an enemy headquarters I wouldn’t be targeting the supply sergeant or the personnel clerk.

A senior White House official has resigned days after he was criticised for allegedly playing down global warming in US government documents.

The White House said Philip Cooney’s sudden departure was totally unrelated to the allegations.
[…snip…]
“[Mr Cooney] had accumulated many weeks on leave, and so he decided to resign and take the summer off to spend some time with his family,” presidential spokeswoman Erin Healy told AFP news agency.

Yet another standard practice to deflect any possible criticism: he doesn’t work here any more, so why are you asking questions.

“Protesters on The World Naked Bike Ride cycled past Piccadilly Circus, Big Ben, Covent Garden, Oxford Street and the US Embassy on the 10km route.”

Old British tradition from the 11^th century, Lady Godiva [probably more traditional than factual]. I noticed they were wearing their helmets.

This was an international protest with rides taking place in many major cities.

This sort of thing used to happen down here: “well-oiled” people riding vehicles with nothing on, mostly during “Spring Break”.

The Busheviki are using “terror related program activity” arrests, i.e. they were swarthy people, to make it seem like they have done something. Only about a dozen people have any link to al Qaeda. A large number are people who were connected to Islamic charities that may have given money to Hamas. Another large group had visa problems.

Aren’t you glad Congress has allowed the government to ignore the Fourth Amendment to pursue foreign college students working at Burger King?