I saw the Werner Herzog movie

Stroszek

last year and absolutely LOVED it. Actually, it's one of the best movies ever made. Probably the best movie ever made about a musician.

I find it hard to believe that Stephanie Reviewed THIS Movie Without Mentioning THAT movie. I mean, she mentioned 24 hour party people and didn't mention Stroszek? Honestly, I think Stephanie got her interest in Joy Division from watching The Crow. Love will tear us apart.

As commercial as a grammar rodeo, Stephanie.

"Torture destroys the humanity of more than those tortured. It destroys the souls of those performing the torture."

Pointless rhetoric, Sidney. Torture is an ancient skill practiced for the good of humanity for the salvation of souls, as any Grand Inquisitor would have told you. Sure, like all arts, in the hands of an unskilled practitioner Torture will destroy your soul, as will dancing to rock 'n roll music or reading pornography.

You say "Tomato". I say "Tomato".

I can see Sidney sitting at his computer getting the ACLU memo that explains that they are all going to go all out in print, on t.v. and online for the next week against the Bush administration on this issue. And then Sidney sits there wracking his little brain for some really hard hitting opinions!

We get it. Torture is bad. Karen Hughes is bad. George Bush is bad. But we love our Soldiers and respect the hard work they are doing to keep us safe.

Torture is basically the Abortion Issue of the Left: values based with repercussions in Constitutional Law. Leftists do not like Torture and have great arguments from 18th century French Philosophers about how People Have Dignity. Christians do not like Abortion and have great arguments from The Bible about how Babies Have Dignity. Unfortunately, neither Terrorists-Captured-On-Foreign-Soil nor Embryos have rights.

What's the amateur Constitutional Scholar to do?

Therefore, it is an excellent fundraising and campaign issue. And of course, we can have a Graduate level Seminar on the matter at Harvard, too. Pro and Con. Your literature versus mine. We all have good reasons. We all have compelling arguments. We all have core values. But unfortunately we have nothing in common anymore.

It makes you look like you have solid American values when you speak out forcefully against Torture. Sadly, it's merely another issue that will be debated ad nauseum in a million little permutations in The Supreme Court. The sorts of issues that people will be debating are:

What exactly is the difference between aggressive interrogations and torture? What court will hear the complaint of a person overseas who initially was legally interrogated in an aggressive manner but who later comes to feel that they were tortured? How long after the torture episode can a person legally complain?

It's one of those issues that merely separates "the sheep from the goats" (that's a reference to the Bible). No matter how these cases work themselves out in the courts, people are still being tortured now and for the forseeable future.

Patriotic Americans tend to be "Pro-Agressive Interrogation" whereas Hegemon-Hating Leftists tend to be "Anti-Torture." Both sides think that the other side is totally ruining the country. We need more issues like this that separate the sheep from the goats so we know who is a friend and who is an enemy. But we should not think that issues like Torture or Abortion will ever be resolved. It's Sidney's job to have an opinion about issues like Torture and Abortion. It is not Sidney's job to actually do anything about these sorts of issues other than write about them. Sidney and his friends are not going to put themselves out of a job by resolving these sorts issues at the constitutional level.

Oh, maybe my soul has already been destroyed, Sidney, and there is no point in my even trying anymore. Whatever. So cynical. I don't even recycle aluminum cans, to be completely honest.