I think Leon should release the memos, so we can see who is telling the truth. When the woman panelist said that Pelosi better hope the CIA don't release the memos, because it will show Pelosi is lying. It never occured to her that the CIA won't release the memos, because it will show they were the ones lying. The CIA has figured out how to have their cake and eat it too. They can claim our secret memos showed we told Pelosi about the waterboarding. But since these memos are classified, we can't release them. You just have to take our word for it. Pretty neat trick. Yet our "watchdogs" in the media just automatically assume that the CIA is telling the truth. After all the CIA says they are, so they must be. What infuriated me about that panel discussion was the complete lack of critical thought. Without knowing what was in those memos, they were pronouncing Pelosi a liar. Now that may or may not be the case, but we don't have all the information yet. So it's premature and utterly irresponsible to declare anyone guilty. It's like pronouncing the verdict before the charges have even been filed.

The Founding Father's of our country we very wise men. They designed a system of government that has lasted over 200 years. But the one big mistake they made, was in how elections were decided. Instead of doing a proportional system, party A gets 40% of the vote, they get 40% of the seats in congress. They did a winner takes all system, that is the biggest impediment to ever disloding the 2 dominant political parties. In our system, 3rd parties can't win. All 3rd parties do is play the spoiler. Think Nader in 2000. If we had a proportional system of governance, America would be a very different place.

Tom Tomorrow's cartoon yesterday nailed it. Even though the Republican party is actually insane, they are still calling the shots when it comes to "national security". The fact that the democrats just refused to fund the closing of Gitmo, confirms it. I can't believe how spineless our democratic leaders are. When a republican says if we close Gitmo, terrorists will be released into the US, living next door to you. How hard is it to say, Bull Shit? They aren't going to be roaming your streets, they will be in our maximum security prisons. They will be locked up. You have nothing to fear.

What this really shows is the power of labels, over seeing real people. The people at Gitmo are "terrorists", even though none of them have been charged or convicted of anything. But since they've been labeled "terrorists", they aren't seen as human but super powerful villains.

But now that it's becoming more and more clear that people on both sides of the aisle had a part to play in this, everybody wants to play CYA. aescyhlus

So when Pelosi says let's have an investigation and find out who's telling the truth. She's engaging in CYA? No if she said let's move forward and forget about this stuff, that would be CYA. But in 2002 Pelosi was the minority leader, Dennis Hastert was the Speaker of the House. So if Pelosi was told about torture, so was Dennis Hastert. Something Pelosi and the dems need to point out. The republicans controlled congress in 2002. They controlled the legislative agenda. Any congressional investigations, they would have to approve. They did nothing. We aren't going to allow the repugs to get away with changing the subject, once again. Bush & Cheney ordered the torture. That's something we have to keep front and center.

I'll let Glenn respond to your post richardnixon, but I wanted to respond to it as well. It's pretty presumptive to think you know what Glenn or anyone else thinks to be torture. That you think we only object to waterboarding, shows the depth of your ignorance. I think stress positions (shackling a person's arms to the ceilings), sleep deprivation for extended periods, beatings, walling, etc are torture. Plus I read Glenn everyday and know the entire premise of your post is wrong. Glenn to my knowledge has never said only waterboarding is torture, but everything else is just fine. Before you criticize others, get your facts straight. Because when you don't, you end up looking like a fool.

Glenn it's CNN Dude. Do you think they have any self-awareness? I'm sure they wouldn't even understand the hypocrisy of that report, if you smacked them upside the head with it.

I watched the coverage of Obama and Cheney's speech last night on ABC Nightly News. Typical MSM coverage, he said/ she said. What struck me was that Obama's call for holding some detainees indefinetly, merited no response from Jake Tapper or Charlie Gibson. No questions about it. No cause for concern. NOTHING. Even Olbermann let it slip under the radar. So is this how our the police state becomes permanent, without so much as a whimper of dissent?

I've posted it before and I'm going to post it again, a link to the documentary "The Warning". Five journalists (Naomi Wolf, Naomi Klein, Joe Conason, Chris Hedges, and Robert Kennedy Jr.) detail the threats to our to our liberties and freedoms. Our democracy is slidding into a permanent police state. Obama claims to have ended the torture, but he didn't end the wiretaps. The NSA still monitors every American's phone calls, emails, and internet usage without warrants. Now Obama is saying we will have to lock up people without trial or charge, because we know they are "dangerous". Where's the outrage? We need to start writing letters to our local papers, letters to our senators and representatives. If we remain silent, then we deserve what we get.

The righties keep demanding Obama provide his birth certificate, to prove he's an American citizen. I think we need to demand to see Obama's law degree? If Obama thinks "preventive detention" is constitutional and legal, then I have no idea how he graduated from law school.