Having just read Judith Mayer's New Yorker article about the American torture policy as run by the C.I. A., and seen Charles Ferguson's new documentary No End In Sight leads me to the inescapable conclusion that the American management of Iraq after the invasion, and our torture polices are both dismal failures and inhumane as well.

When Mike McConnell, Director of National Intelligence, says that he wouldn't want any U. S. citizen to go through what we do to others, I am convinced that we have lost our way. No longer can we say that our policies and values should be respected and emulated. We have become a laughingstock. What a legacy.

For a group such as the APA, which claims, I am sure, to be interested in the well being of all people to fail to come out with a wholesale condemnation of our torture policies would be a deep and bitter disappointment.

It certainly shows how far we have fallen from having good and decent values if we can't declare just how heinous these torture practices are. And if we can't depend on our most respected institutions to speak up for what is right we have sunk pretty low.

For many businesses and politicians there's a powerful misconception about marketing.

The correct concept of marketing is simple: have a good product or service and then tell the right people, in the right way about your product or service. Notice I didn't say lie about it, or spin it, or hype it.

Many people think that the marketing process is the product. It's not; the product is the product.

The problem is not that Ari Fleisher is running ads. It is simply the fact that his ads are lies. No amount of lipstick can obscure the fact that a pig is still a pig.

It's interesting to read the various letters about the upcoming nomination/election.I think it would be wise to take all these predictions about Hillary with a grain of salt. No doubt she is a person who evokes strong feelings. In my family we are split- I like Hillary and my wife doesn't. Yet I know this: she will vote for Hillary as will I, if H gets the nomination.

Writers to this website generally have strong feelings about Hillary Clinton's likability, but if we look back at the various elections(I've voted since 1960) the likability factor has mixed results. George Bush won with likability (what else did he have?) but what seems to matter most is having a savvy candidate. Kerry and Gore were almost politically tone deaf and could have easily won have they been savvy enough to respond to the smears.

Reagan and Clinton had likability; Nixon didn't; Carter -who knows? I think it still comes down to being a smart politician and having a very good campaign.

I think any Democrat will win in '08 if they meet these two criteria. Isn't it interesting that Hillary Clinton has increased her lead over Obama and Edwards despite all of her high negatives? And this lead has come after all the Democratic debates. I do not deny her negatives (I live with someone who is quite articulate about them) but I think we make a big mistake if we don't also recognize the effective way she has managed to win over the people who have actually heard her speak.

I don't believe the ABC contingent (anyone but Clinton) is going to prevent either her nomination and election.Now this is just my opinion- we'll see.

I think it's critical that we view this election in the context of the times. It could well be that Hillary Clinton couldn't win or even get the nomination if the Bush administration had not been so incredibly inept. But . . . they have been. That makes all the difference in the world.

That sex and all its manifestations is complex is well demonstrated by the wide and interesting variety of letters posted.

While I don't believe we'll ever reach consensus as to the appropriateness of his behavior or the police response, I believe another aspect of this whole discussion is that I think Craig is a menace.

We (the voting public) have asked Senator Craig to exhibit good behavior and work to enact compassionate legislation. He has surely failed on both counts. While I don't care what he does with his private life, it seems obvious that nowhere in his public life has he demonstrated much of anything but mean spiritedness and lack of compassion.

To me that makes Larry Craig a menace; someone we can not trust to exhibit good judgment and understanding. This inability to deal with his own dark side makes him unfit to be a guardian of the well being of his constituents, and by extension, the American people.

Larry Craig exemplifies what is always the easy way out: demonize that which we don't like or think is wrong. It seems only fitting that he has truly been caught on the hoist of his own petard.That so many others have joined him only separates rather than unifies our country.