You state in your piece "...in addition to the fact that no one has been officially charged..." Sounds good, but isn't true. The following is a quote, at length, from the Washington Post article "Ex-Soldier Pleads Not Guilty to Raping Woman and Killing Family in Iraq", by Josh White, which appeared in print in this morning's issue:

"A former Army private who allegedly raped an Iraqi woman and killed her and three members of her family entered pleas of not guilty to the charges yesterday in a federal courtroom in Kentucky.

"U.S. marshals transferred Steven D. Green, 21, of Texas, from Charlotte to a courthouse in Louisville, where he made an initial appearance on one charge of rape and four charges of murder, federal prosecutors said. Patrick Bouldin, a federal public defender representing Green, said last night that Green entered not guilty pleas to all charges. Bouldin declined to comment further."

He has been arrested, charged, and arraigned, and entered a plea. He faces capital punishment or life imprisonment.

Okay, okay, so Katherine Harris is as profoundly ignorant about history and the rule of law as she was about elections. The Florida legislature backed her up on the elections one, but it just so happens that they've passed a new law in Florida, demanding that history be mandatory for graduation from high school, and that it be based on facts. Should be a good test of the new law, which had the facts thing added to counteract the effects of the evil liberals. Back to school, Katherine!

Just wondering. It is the genus of the old world (read Asian) monkeys, as in macaque. He was calling what he perceived to be an Indian man an asian monkey. It isn't a slip-up that can be done without some practice sitting around with the old boys using the word.

As one of the travelers that flew two days after the British liquid explosives plot got busted, I have to plead a mixture of necessity, frustration, and pure unadulterated happiness.

Necessity, because I needed to get to Boston, so I needed to do what was necessary to get on the plane and to my destination. I don't know about your airport, but mine has a sign that prohibits joking about the searches and restrictions, on pain of arrest. Not about to complain and get to Boston from that one.

Frustration, because the airlines (American) emailed us all to be there 2-3 hours early for the flight (read 5:30 to 6:30 AM), and their baggage checking people left us standing in line until 7:15 until they showed up to check our luggage, AND forced a situation where the people who had been waiting the longest had to go to the end of the line and the people who had defied the request and just got there got checked in immediately.

The Pure Unadulterated Happiness? As someone who has travelled a lot both domestically and internationally both before and after 9/11, I can't find the words to express the feelings of elation and freedom at not having to put up with the pushy, aggressive owners of the carry-on steamer trunks who make everyone boarding the plane wait for them, and who absolutely crush my small carry-on bag to fit their should-have-been-checked clothes-for-2-weeks suitcase in to the overhead. I sincerely wouldn't mind if they banned carry-on forever, and if the airlines were forced to figure out a way to let people like me check my laptop without getting it back only able to type 'Q' and '&' with little red rectangles all over the screen.

And maybe it's the last of these that says why I haven't spoken out for your civil rights this time. Nothing personal.

The idea that George W. Bush wants to protect "professionals" who use "alternative methods" from being subject to prosecution is bunk. This whole thing has been one smokescreen inside another since he made his speech and sent his new military commissions bill to Congress last week.

Yes, he does want to increase the fear factor on terrorism before the elections. But, no that isn't why he timed it now.

Yes, he does want to completely change the laws of war, his authorities as Commander-in-Chief, the way we arrest, designate and try people in this country. But, no that isn't why he timed it now.

If anyone thinks he actually cares about the young "professionals" in the field doing alternative interrogations, just remember how quick he was to throw them away when Abu Ghraib broke open. He keeps talking about them getting the protections under the Detainee Treatment Act. He wants everyone involved with the detainees to get the protections under the DTA, he keeps saying it over and over in the press conference, and then reminds Congress that time is running out. For what?

Time is running out to make it the law of the land that anyone in the government or armed forces who violated Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 can get the protection of the Detainee Treatment Act. To whit, that in assessing their guilt, attention must be paid to "Good faith reliance on advice of counsel should be an important factor, among others, to consider in assessing whether a person of ordinary sense and understanding would have known the practices to be unlawful."

As far as I know, your average "young, professional" M.I.Officer at Bagram didn't receive his orders, then call his attorney to get counsel, so this super-important protection must be aimed at those who quite famously did -- the President and his advisers.

And time is running out not because of an al-Qaeda attack but because if the Republicans lose a house or two in Congress, the President and his advisers will never get the immunity *they* need from war crimes prosecution. And that, Virginia, is why the timing is so important, and what's inside of the double smoke screen of scaring the voters and protecting our brave men and women out there fighting terrorism.