They're mostly cowboys. Even torturing takes a bit of finesse, something the former mall cops and special forces wannabes that make up the majority of Blackwater's "staff" probably have in short supply.

They weren't Blackwater. There were smaller, spookier operations -- ex-CIA people rehired by the agency to supply them with deniability.

The CIA's torture psychologists were a tiny shop in Seattle, just those two Mormon PhDs and maybe some support staff.

Where did you get this information?

The CIA's rendition flight planning services were supplied by Jeppesen Dataplan, a Boeing subsidiary. -- teho

This group flies planes. I doubt it has anything to do with this otherwise.

What is most disturbing is a report that came out back in 2004 (I think on Juan Cole's site) that some of the interrogators in Iraq were Mossad. God help us if this was the case and it is proven publicly.

He seems to remain popular in spite of wildly uneven work. For every Philadelphia, Saving Private Ryan and Apollo 13, his contracts apparently stipulates that he must make a Sleepless in Seattle, a Forrest Gump and two movies from shitty Dan Brown novels.

So you think there's some sort of religious or psychological subtext to hating bad books, which almost always make worse movies?

I just have to say that people hate these books and movies so much that I detect a little emotional and religious baggage going on here. What does Brown's horrible prose have to do with whether or not this is a good movie? . . . No, I think a lot of the disdain people feel for Brown has to do with his messing with their programming. -- Bill B

Raised a Lutheran, I'm an atheist with a BA in literature. So my disdain for this kind of thing rises not from a knee-jerk defense of Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular. No, I hate these books and movies because their popularity is symptomatic of our knuckle-dragging culture. At least Jacqueline Susanne had good fuck scenes.

. . . you're a big fan of Dan Brown. That's better than hiding behind nonsense about how his books make Catholics uncomfortable (many of whom think the church's hierarchy is its biggest problem today) or the ridiculous notion that reading a Dan Brown novel is somehow a greater intellectual undertaking than watching "Dancing With The Stars" or "Survivor."

I think the way you end your sentence has as much to do with the state of our culture as does bad fiction. And personally, if Brown's formula gets hundreds of thousands reading a book and visualizing instead of passively sitting in front of the TV, I don't think that's a bad thing. -- Bill B

. . . why did Jackson leave the "Cleansing of the Shire" out of LOTR? That chapter really was the epic's conclusion with the last few pages really an epilogue.

The new and "improved" bill concerning electronic surveillance contains none of the latter. Blogs still matter very little and most Americans get what little news they consume from television and, in declining numbers, newspapers. Dyed-in-the-wool Liberals and conservatives read blogs, the general public does not.

. . . it's a Mars product. Probably contains less than 10% cocoa. So, yes, it is probably a tough sell compared to real chocolate.

You wouldn't think selling chocolate to women would be that hard, . . .

. . . we need something akin to a gun buy back program to get older, less fuel efficient cars and trucks off the road. Make it need based, and then enact a federal tax on engine displacement and curb weight to "encourage" the rich and/or stupid to "retire" their gas hogs. Legitimate business exceptions/allowances would need to be considered (farmers, contractors, landscapers, etc.).

I agree with other writers, however, that we still need to spend a king's ransom on light rail and intercity rail. No one should ever have to drive anywhere in a city or even to get the the next one up the line.

. . . is a threat to the whole Democratic Party. With leaders like her . . .

. . . be getting rid of the Pontiac line entirely. Three of the best vehicles GM makes right now are Pontiacs. Saturns were always a joke and Hummer's are just plain stupid. Hopefully, some enterprising nationalists in Sweden will buy the Saab line and return it to its former glory, with a plug-in hybrid engine, of course.

Since many radio markets switch tracking/polling methods, Limbaugh's ratings have fallen across the country. I believe he's just talking himself into a smaller and smaller corner.

. . . is no more an environmentally positive thing in SE Asia than growing corn for ethanol is in the U.S. In fact, it's probably worse as a lot of the acreage brought under cultivation for palm oil was once forested land.

Unlike temperate forests, it's not really possible to recreate tropical forests. Once they are gone, they can't be remade. At least not in our lifetime.

Yes. Meaningful health care reform is probably doomed as well.

. . . have the slightest idea as to why Lewis wanted Merrill. The company wasn't worth anything even before the true depth of it's indebtedness was know, and BofA already had a private bank division doing essentially the same work.

For Lewis to claim that Paulson insisted that the deal go through regardless makes no sense - Merrill was toast no matter what and no other institution had the capital to absorb their loses, even with TARP money. BofA, however, was in substantially better condition before the Merrill acquisition. So, why not just let Merrill collapse rather than enforcing the merger with BofA effectively destroying two financial firms?

Someone is lying and the obvious questions is when is Paulson going to testify, under oath?