Bragg instinctively reached upward in an effort to pull the "fire handles" -- a set of four overhead-mounted levers that cut off the supply of fuel, air, electricity and hydraulics running to and from the engines.

How much of a difference would it have made if those had been pulled just before the crash?

A "Caligulan doctor" would presumably live in the first century AD as Caligula did. This is before Galen and can in no way be described as "the late Roman Empire."

The term "cancer" to refer to a medical condition was introduced by the Roman doctor Celsus who was, in fact, a contemporary of Caligula.

Are you seriously suggesting that a Western newspaper should treat the actions and capabilities of NATO powers the same as capabilities of China? If China can attack our networks and we can attack China's networks, the news is that China can attack our networks. The Finacial Times's readership is, justly, more worried about China because it does not share nearly the same level of common political interest. Second, the US military and ecomony are FAR more dependant on networking than their Chinese equivalents.

The Attorney General is a political post, nominated by the President. By contrast, the attorneys vetted on their party affiliations were career employees of the Justice Department who should have been evaluated on performance only. To conflate the two is absurd and right out of the Republican playbook.

Elmore, a resident of DC can give the name of the non-voting representative or is allowed to say "none"

sgv1964, I'm pretty sure a US representative of a district represents all residents of that district, even the ones that have no right to vote due to age, etc.

"Rowling's success is due in no small part to the bustling online community of Potter adherents"

What evidence is there to back this up? I don't remember online fan sites being referenced in any of the many "why I read Harry Potter" quotes that were published in the frenzy leading up to the publication of the last book.

Many knowledgable people believed, correctly, that Iraq's weapons had been destroyed and its programs neutralized long before Podhoretz and his fellow travellers were proven wrong. It's disgraceful that he can still baldly pretend that everyone bought the neocons' fantasies.

But using her death to make a larger argument against the hijab seems willfully misguided and oppressive in its own right. If we were to proscribe anything with the possibility of being oppressive -- without making a distinction between actual and potential oppression -- we would have very little left in this world.

Her death makes an excellent argument that the hajib is a symbol of oppression. It is no more wrong to condemn the hajib for this than it is wrong to condemn a statement that "Christian women should graciously submit to their husbands". I wouldn't support banning the hijab -- that's interfering with a choice that many women do make willingly and knowingly. That doesn't mean that I need to refrain from arguing against it just because I'm in the majority rather than the minority.

It's also a slippery slope fallacy to talk about proscribing "anything with the possibility of being oppressive". We can restrict the discussion to things with a long history of being oppressive.

The U.S. isn't guaranteed the ability to recover from four years of disasters in the war.

He's right. We may never recover from four (plus) years of disasters in the war. Why does that mean we should elect another Republican?

Gimen was reluctant to answer the question of what Ataturk would say if he were standing at the university gate

Given that Atilla Yayla recently received a (suspended) three year jail sentence for calling Ataturk "that man", I'm not surprised that Gimen would want to avoid speculating on what his opinions might be.

This doesn't seem to be a particularly striking case of "parental consent laws run amok." If Cook, as alleged, pressured a 16 year old into not talking to her parents about her pregnancy and abortion, that seems on the face of it morally wrong. It's a generally accepted principle that adults can exert undue influence on minors -- look at age-of-consent laws. I don't support parental notification laws, because I believe that even a minor has a right to bodily sovereignty. However, this is PRECISELY the type of story that people pushing these laws use because it resonates with people.

I agree with you about Obama's appalling reversal on the FISA "compromise" -- I wish there was a good way to pressure him to stick to his original stance.

However, I can't find fault with him criticizing the recent Supreme Court ruling. There are many good reasons to categorically oppose the death penalty. However, the ruling turned on "evolving community standards", and, as such, almost demands attack from those who feel that their standards include treating no crime as more serious than child rape.

Maybe the source of Tumbo's "obvious mixed feelings" was the realization that while America's treatment of him was unjust on the civil level, on the karmic level it was a small price indeed for supporting a regime that was actively engaged in mass murder.