They made a respectable profit in the first quarter and have shed thousands of employees. They need to forget about their share prices for a couple more quarters and begin writing off bad debt against profit.

. . . to post this, but they are dragging their feet because they knew all along that it was happening, and may even have given at least tacit approval by not objecting to it publicly so they wouldn't appear weak on terrorism.

I'm pretty sure it's that simple. The Dem members of the intelligence and defense committees knew the details and either didn't have the guts to protest this or didn't want to seem "weak."

Of course, in their acquiescence, they are shown to be even weaker. They all fell in line and will forever be lumped with Colin Powell as not having the character to resist what they knew was wrong. If they didn't believe torture to be wrong, then they are slime of a Cheney hue.

Of all people, he should have been denouncing torture from the roof top. What an asshole. He's never done a worthwhile thing for the nation - lousy pilot, lousy husband, dishonest legislator.

Of all the people behind the Iraq war, Wolfoitz is at the heart of this disaster. He'd drawn up a plan for the occupation of Iraq after the first Gulf War. Even Cheney (once) knew that this would be an enormous mistake. This had been his hope and goal for over a decade. I hope his so-called career never moves beyond his current position at AEI. If we can't put him in jail, he needs to at least be kept away from public service for the rest of his life.

. . . committees was well-aware that all this shit was going on. This is why no one wants this delved into too deeply and is probably why Cheney wants complete disclosure of all memos and documentation involving the CIA's illegal interrogation methods - everyone, right and "left," is then implicated.

Start an illegal war based on lies. Torture people to get evidence you weren't lying. I begin to see the reasons some people don't want to look back. Its really fucking ugly.

-- FilthyHarry

It's probably not. But writing about it should be.

There is absolutely no getting around that, unless someone invents an incredibly cheap, safe and reliable source of unlimited power. -- dartvader

While switching much of existing electrical grid and transportation over to solar power will not be cheap and take a decade or so, the power source itself is free and unlimited. Nearly half the country has more than 250 days of sunshine a year with more than a quarter having 300+ days. Plow about half of our bloated military budget into this, and we just may save ourselves. Otherwise, we are doomed if idiots like Tierney have any say.

The only writer I find consistently worth reading is James Fallows.

And yes, Flannigan's arguments are ethereal and weird, as always. Why does the Atlantic allow this crap? -- African Daisy

I think Fallows is only there as a legacy and because they, apprarently, pay him to live all over Asia.

The Atlantic took a sharp turn to the right around 2000, after Michael Kelly was appointed editor. Look at the roster of contributors over the last eight or nine years - far too many conservatives.

. . . that the U.S. would be better off with McCain as president, so who cares?

Caitlin Flanagan suggests the actor's troubled family would have been better off if they just screamed at each other under the same roof.

A girl can hope!

If Americans didn't get exercised about what went on at Abu Ghraib, something "abstract" like waterboarding (lacking photographic evidence) will not raise a rabble.

There are plenty of cases where waterboarding was used on innocent people. And yes... I know it's wrong no matter who it is used on. But if you think you're going to make that case to the American people, you're ... mistaken. -- jebldmm

. . . certainly most of them. If you could come up with a baker's dozen of Rethugs/conservatives who aren't idiot greed heads, "patriots," or just plain mean-spirited, you'd get a hearing.

The left will go nowhere if it insists that all the right

is stupid. -- Rachmiel

The Most Overrated Writer of His Generation -- English_roG

Though not the quite the same generation (about eight or nine years difference) Norman Mailer was easily the most overrated of the famous who have recently passed on. Furthermore, Ballard was never all that popular and never lionized to the degree a number of other "important" writers have been.

No.