Those of you talking about the Fall of 1984 like it was the dark ages are making me feel a tad old. In the fall of 1977, my high school girlfriend and I (now my ex-wife) went off to the same private college. Her parents were of modest means, but she found a way to pay for college. She was the valedictorian of our high school class and got a full academic scholarship. And she worked waiting tables during the previous summer to get spending money. After that, she got jobs and good internships through the university to make money the next three summers. I got partial academic scholarships on the basis on my SAT scores even though I skipped my senior year.

Maybe if Gov. Palin had paid more attention to academics than basketball, she could have had a academic scholarship to college. Those types of scholarships are fairly rare now, but were pretty common in the late 1970's and early 1980's. And, if she were smart enough to get an academic scholarship, we'd all be a lot more comfortable with her being one 72 year-old heart beat away from the Presidency.

Well, as Hamlet said, "'Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished," but I'm nervous as hell. Things are just bumping along too well for Obama. I fear that I'm going to wake up and realize it's a dream and the Dennis Kucinich is really the Democratic nominee and he's 50 points behind Mitt Romney in the polls. Or that someone is going to pull out a picture of Obama in a loving embrace with a barnyard animal or something.

But if it happens, and right now it certainly looks like it will, I'll be so happy I won't know what to do. Nobody deserves what is coming to them more than the Republicans. I just hope for once in my life that all the talk of "bringing the country together" is just that -- talk -- and that Obama treats them with the same contempt that Bush treated the Democrats.

An interesting interview with an interesting guy. Makes me want to read his book.

This entire article reminds me of the wonderful old song by Ruth Brown "Is I Can't Sell It".

IF I CAN'T SELL IT

as recorded by Ruth Brown

(Spoken)

I own a second hand furniture store

And I think my prices are fair.

But this real cheap guy came in one day

Saw this chair he wanted to buy

But he wouldn't — claimed the price was too high.

So I looked him straight in the eye,

And this was my reply...

If I can't sell it, I'm gonna sit down on it.

I ain't gonna give it away.

Now darlin, if you want it, you gonna have to buy it.

And I mean just what I say.

Now how would you like to find this

Waitin' at home for you every night?

Only been used once or twice,

but it's still nice and tight.

So if I can't sell it ... etc.

Now you can't buy a better of legs in town,

And a back like this? Not for miles around.

And that is why

If I can't sell it ... etc.

Because it's made for comfort,

Built for wear and tear.

Where else would you find such an easy chair?

It's lush, plush, slick and sleek

Darlin,' a high-class piece like this

At any price is cheap,

So if I can't sell it ... etc.

Now look at this nice bottom.

Ain't it easy on the eye?

Guaranteed to support

Any weight or size.

Now I have really had my fill

of folks coming around

with their hands stuck out

wanting something and they don't want to give up nothing.

Now put your hand in your stash

and bring up some cash

'Cause if I can't sell it, .... etc.

Very well reasoned and thinking way too much like a lawyer for the general public. Great questions, however.

It seems to me that we're glossing over a very important issue. Isn't it true that in some very rare instances, torture could be justified morally or legally? I'm not talking about the run of the mill, let's torture them all and let God sort it out type of torture that it almost seems that that Bush administration wants to allow.

But Prof. Alan Dershowitz has made cogent arguments that in very limited circumstances there may be a moral justification -- indeed a moral imperative -- to torture. Of course I refer to the old "Ticking Time Bomb" scenario which Prof. Dershowitz discusses intelligently and at length in his book Shouting Fire: Civil Liberties in a Turbulent Age. As I recall Dershowitz article, he posits that it is far better to have the debate in advance, lay out the circumstances in which torture will be allowed, and establish detailed procedures well in advance than to leave open the inevitable temptation that actors faced with such a moral deli ma will feel if placed in that spot. He ends up with a sort of super high standard "Torture Warrant" type process for which I would argue the standards should be almost, but not quite, impossibly high, with either subsequent public disclosure or widespread governmental review.

I am concerned that by attacking any real or perceived variance from a no torture party line, we may foreclose intelligent discussion of this sort which may 1) be truly needed; and 2) which may, if had, strengthen the standing of Democrats and liberals in the eyes of voters on national security issues.