I didn't think the photos were a big deal, I'm not confident that US prisons would treat the detainees any better than Gitmo.

And I think it's fairly meaningless to single out one warlord for war crimes prosecution in Afghanistan, which has been at war more or less since the mid-seventies, where every side in every one of their wars has done something prosecutable, including our side, when American taxpayer-funded mujahedin were committing some horrific war crimes against Soviet POWs.

We would have to prosecute ourselves in order to be morally consistent.

That being said, I hope Holder does the right thing.

I was just talking about Isaac Babel today and I was reminded that he died in a Stalinist labor camp in 1941 after confessing under harsh interrogation to terror plots that existed only in the minds of his interrogators.

What WAS the Cold War about?

We're paying so much in so many ways for the nasty blowback of the Cold War right now in Afghanistan that I think we just have to prosecute anyone who brought us down the the level of the thugs who murdered Isaac Babel.

We don't go there. That's supposed to be who we are. We're the country that doesn't go there.

Hope.

"No matter how cynical you become, it's never enough to keep up."

Lily Tomlin

Lily would want you to focus less on slogans and more on policy.

No nation that calls itself free and governed by the rule of law can sweep the crimes of its elected officials under the table; its that simple.

I thought that was what everyone was trying to do around here. But you know better.

Goodnight. The forum is yours, with the stars and the moon and all creation itself.

If Eric Holder cares about the health of the soul of this nation, he will do the right thing.

The word 'sheeple' is ridiculous.

What was wrong with 'sheep' for God's sake? It was well established and everyone knew what it meant - the same as sheeple, presumably. "Let's not be sheep." "Let's not be sheeple."

Anyone who blindly follows the trend by taking up the neologism is a - sh....

You know what? All the liberals on this blog on this blog do is piss and moan,all the radcoms do is snipe.Nobody really tries to change anything. It's political mental masturbation.It's a waste of my time.I'll never know what was next,'cause damn,I'm outa here.

It's the "go along to get along presidency" me thinks.

Obama is the worst torturer of all.

Here it is:

The main contact page:

http://www.usdoj.gov/contact-us.html

The closest thing to a direct email to the AG:

AskDOJ@usdoj.gov

Better, the direct phone line to his office:

Office of the Attorney General - 202-353-1555

There's also this page:

http://www.usdoj.gov/oig/FOIA/WasteReportingForm.pdf

This form doesn't seem to apply to complaints about Cheney (unless the Office of VP is also part of the DOJ? Guess we'd have to ask Cheney himself on that one). I'd not consider Holder's indecision an "abuse," but maybe issuing an official complaint about non-action is the most effective way to communicate our dissatisfaction.

After reading Kevin Baker's commentary in July's Harper Magazine, I was struck by Obama's tactics. I believe he is not only trying to hold on to the middle, but he's also emulating a combination of Hoover and Roosevelt's tactics. He's not been nearly radical enough, in my opinion. He doesn't seem to want to shake up the status quo; he knows the CIA took orders from Cheney (through Bush); he knows that Greenspan, Rubin, and Summers helped push this country into a meltdown. He knows that the American people are confused, disgusted, and worried.

However, he's dodging and weaving, trying to bolster the naive optimism of the people, while doing as little as possible in this almost unique moment in history, where the U.S. is mostly responsible for a world meltdown.

Once, years ago before any of the recent withering of our Constitution's guarantees of civil liberties, in a Parisian bar, the bar-tender told me that Americans are stupid. I replied that all people are more or less stupid; that's why they permit their governments to go to war.

Still, in an isolated way, he was right about Americans, not only about war but about fear of socialism, popular presidents, their own unexercised political power, our relic of a two-party system, and many other aspects of public life.

For these reasons, my bet is on Holder's NOT doing the "right thing". The July Harper's article by Kevin Baker tells why transparency in government and other changes in our presidential behavior were doomed from the start.

A factor Baker did not include was that Obama looks black. Why "black"? Because a black man in such a high office has to keep the number of potential assassins low in order to survive. Not only are Americans stupid but many have guns and are homicidal. Obama would have to have a martyr complex to try to change our system.

You have to look at the United States as a Whole (The Good, The Bad,and The Ugly). From the first meeting of the Plutocrats of the Continental Congress it has been all about compromise. It doesn't matter whether or not a crime has been committed,it is not the first time in our history. If Obama were About Change, he would be for Truth and justice and a Democratic way of Life. Instead he is taken the path of all past Presidents and leaving the door open to more injustice as well as his own.

Does public outrage have to exist before Congress acts to enforce the laws of our country?

Just wondering ....

Mars once had thriving cities and a population that was looking forward to more prosperity. Wars were fought and freedom emerged but the pendulum swung too far and laws protecting the Martian environment were too slow in forthcoming.

A complacent population decried the promoters of scientific evidence of climate change and effectively thwarted all attempts to control pollution.

As the Martian environment slowly approached the tipping point, whereby no amount of environmental repair could save the planet, Martians wondered why this could be happening, given the amount of science and technology available.

Now, as we approach a manned Mars landing, will we be able to look upon planet Earth and wonder if the same fate awaits us?