Glenn, your job, and the job of the ALCU, Maddow, Stewart, Digby, EFF, a few members of Congress, et.al. is to keep torture and illegitimate detention in the public eye; ... to keep us from "moving on" as all good villagers demand that we do.

My job is to bring these issues up to people I communicate with every day, especially in contexts where it is "inappropriate" to do so. Agitating effectively is my challenge.

Tragically (or amusingly, depending on my mood), one of the places where people don't want to hear about torture, habeas corpus, and the rule of law is at gatherings for Democratic candidates. Why deal with issues when one can ride the coattails of a brilliant, charismatic, and wildly popular leader? After all, he doesn't want to deal with it.

You and your cohort are doing your job superbly. Please, don't shy away from the broader recognition you are getting. It helps us all.

The tirelessness, intelligence and precision with which you do your work inspires me to keep trying to do mine.

Thank you.

change we can believe in?

Bail out the billionaires (TARP & FED guarantees) and let the people drown (no support for cram-down). Nominate Dawn Johnsen, then let her twist in the wind. Talk the openness and accountability talk, then walk the "state secrets" and "sovereign immunity" walk. Nominate Sotomayor, then accede to the wingnut right calling her a rascist. Talk up real healthcare reform, then take single-payer entirely out of the discussion. Support EFCA, then allow it to languish. Explicity state you will fight to the end to take the student loan program out of the hands of middlemen and then...let Ben Nelson control the debate. Just to name a few.

More to the point, let AIPAC, Schumer, Lieberman, et.al. kill the Charles Freeman appointment.

Lieberman has been quiet on this because he knows he doesn't have to waste his powder. Obama will fold on substance, even while continuing the brave rhetoric. It is surprising that he's still sending out these bold, progressive test-probes. Guess he hasn't figured out that he's a villager now. Everyone else has. Inevitable.

It's hard to be fair when you feel betrayed. (Actually, I don't feel betrayed, just surprised at the speed and comprehensiveness of the collapse. I was never a true believer.) But there's this: The administration has made substantive changes to the tenor and focus of our foreign policy. That may be due more to HRC than BHO, but it's his watch. The focus on settlements, combined with direct diplomatic openings to Tehran, may take energy out of the "Bomb, bomb, bomb. Bomb-bomb Iran" craziness.

Why is it that your title, lede, and summary blurb make no reference whatever to your final conclusion.

Greider is great and always a fun read, especially on the nexus of economic history and policy, ideology, and political machinations. But he doesn't have the pure, technical economic gravitas of Krugman, and he will defend the thesis of his latest book, won't he. Not to mention that his current analysis might have caused a certain dissonance with his previous political affiliation. Perhaps he is not the best choice to fill in the blank for the old reliable "even the highly qualified liberal economist(fill in the name) disagrees with Paul Krugman's erroneous, vicious, nakedly partisan attack on Reagan."

Don't forget, even the liberal Jeff Rosen says that Sonya Sotomayor is a contentious, irascible, lightweight bubblehead.

I think we're seeing an exciting change to the pattern, Glenn. Dianne Feinstein has preempted steps one through six by simply denying that the abuses occurred. She said something like, "Gee, I hate to say this because the guys who wrote the NYT times story are such good reporters, but they're wrong. I (DF) am not aware of anything like the abuses they report. They're just wrong."

Then Eric Holder tells Russ Feingold that "contravention" of FISA rules is not illegal and that Feingold should STFU.

No need for faux outrage, euphemisms, new enabling legislation, or scare tactics. All fixed.

Who says the Senate can't innovate. There's the change you can believe in.

…of Barack Obama:

1. Deliver a pitch-perfect speech on Iran that balances condemnation of violations of democratic process and violent repression of dissent, with the necessity to affirm that the fate of Iran is in the hands of Iranians. Sprinkle liberally with high-minded morality and quote MLK’s brilliant rhetoric: "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."

2. Take the kids out for ice cream. Sprinkle liberally with nuts and candy bits.

3. Take Eric Holder to lunch. Order up some new, improved, more-powerful-than-ever state secrets doctrine. Sprinkle liberally with "Unitary Executive" attempts to circumvent the judiciary by supporting legislation to preempt SCOTUS on the release of photographs which depict torture of American-held prisoners.

4. Resist efforts to repeal DADT and go above and beyond the call in support of DOMA. Sprinkle liberally with irony by writing a sympathetic personal note to a victim of DADT.

5. Rewrite MLK’s statement to read: “The arc of the moral universe is long, and it bends toward justice in the long run, but sometimes it loops back on itself in order to promote bipartisanship and assuage national security state mavens and neo-con wingers.” Rewrite Iran speech to make it clear that the new caveat applies only to the USA. Other countries will not be permitted to “loop back.” Sprinkle liberally with hypocrisy.

6. Kiss Michelle good-night.

Bob Herbert's article speaks for itself. Made my day. No doubt the blogosphere is having a huge impact on these issues, Glenn very prominently. Drip, drip, drip.

Keep it up.

Amity, thanks. I feel much better now that someone has restored proper perspective. Think I'll go watch FOX.

Ondelette. Agree, again. I also don't understand why Herbert is consistently pilloried from the left for being a purveyor of mush. He's not. Consistently.

NO PAYPAL. Thanks for the mailing address.

That is all.