Sunstein’s position is like that of a cop, who, upon seeing the town bully start to beat on his wife, charges them both with a crime because they were both "participants" in the fight. It may be technically correct, but it dumbs thing down to the point where laziness and cowardice trimph over good judgment and common sense.

The bully scenario, by the way, is an excellent model of the current political dynamic. Republicans are boldy abusive and the Dems are too cowed to fight back. And since the cops, the court, and the media are on the bully's side, things are not looking so great for those Dems.

Sadly, American society is filled with people like Sunstein who have either astonishingly poor judgment (even my staunch Republican neighbors could not come up with one good reason to vote for W, and they had a week to think about it) or else refuse to exercise any judgment at all. And it's not limited to the internet.

Sadly, sociopathic behavior in the US isn't rare, at least not anymore. Experts estimate that 4% of Americans have a sociopathic disorder. In other words, 1 in 25 have no functional conscience: they can't empathize with other people, and they lack the ability (or the will) to feel guilt, remorse, or shame for anything they've ever done. Contrary to popular belief, most sociopaths are not in jail and they don't foam at the mouth like Hannibal Lecter; they live next door, or sit in the same pew, or work in the office down the hall. Observation would suggest that quite a few of them have moved to Washington...

One indicator of sociopathy is a person’s attitude towards torture. As demonstrated by an MRI, when a normal person sees a picture or even imagines torture, there’s a marked reaction in certain regions of their brain and the person "feels" empathy towards the torture victim.

When a sociopath looks at the same picture, there is little to no reaction. They feel nothing. In other words, sociopathic people lack the ability to even register something that shocks and repulses the rest of us. The only way a sociopath understands something is if it actually happens TO HIM.

Isn't it interesting that McCain is the one holdout on the Republican side, and happens to be the only Republican who has actually experienced torture?

In an Op-Ed piece in the New York Times on Nov. 13, Martin wrote ... "If we don't act to improve the health of the ... industry," he wrote, "we will see newspapers wither and die ... and have fewer outlets for the expression of independent thinking and diversity of viewpoints."

It depends on what your viewpoint is about "health" of the industry. If health means simply "more profits", then Martin might be correct. But if health is defined by factual reporting and substantive news, and not endless stories about Britney's lack of underwear, then Martin is most certainly wrong.

This is an example of the overt manipulative tactics of the GOP (Greedy Ol’ People), whereby a statement sounds logical on its face, but is intellectually corrupt. In Martin's case, he delivers two spins in one statement. First, his argument is duplicitous and self-serving: he is against fewer outlets if it happens by way of the natural decline of the market, but he is for fewer outlets if it can be done through a consolidation. The difference, of course, is that he and his friends don't make any money on the first scenario, but make handsome profits with the alternative. Second, it is nonsensical to say that consolidation creates diversity. The goal of consolidation, by definition, is to create homogeny through efficiencies, which eliminates - not adds to - independence and diversity.

From the AP story:

Durbin dismissed the CIA's explanation that it was trying to protect the identities of the interrogators.

So is the CIA afraid random people are going to walk in off the street and check out an interrogation tape like they were at Blockbuster?

As anyone who has held a security clearance can tell you, classified information is stored at a level where it is only accessible to the people who have both the necessary clearance and the "need to know". If you don't follow the rules, you could risk losing your clearance, your job, and even going to prison.

Oh wait. What about Richard Armitage, former Deputy Secretary of State who admitted being the source who outed Valerie Plame? That's a crime punishable by five years in prison or even death if considered treason. Yeah... he's a lobbyist now.