And Rove, and DeLay, and Scooter, and Rick Santorum, and Cheney, and Alberto Gonzales, and Rummy, Hasert, and all of the Republicans who can't see the hypocrisy by which they govern.

Last I heard, the presence of these torture prisons in europe and other places didn't exist. Now they want an investigation of why it was reported that they do exist.

If they don't exist, why would we investigate the leak?

Is this investigation by Frist and Hastert therefore verification that the USA really DOES have torture prisons scattered around the world?

Rule 17--You can only leak classified information if you are a good Republican and have a really good reason.

Rule 17A--If you're a very important Republican, anything you do is all right, because you really do know best.

Rule 17B--Anything a non-Republican does is wrong, because those people hate America.

Rule 17C--RINOs revert to non-Republican status when they annoy a very important Republican.

Of course. And now we know the real reason for the mandatory refresher courses on Ethics, especially on handling classified information.

no further comment, your honor.

I'm finding it hard not to rant about the hypocrisy with, I'm sure, a few thousand bloggers. As an Illinoisan, I've gone from marginal respect for Hastert's efficacy to outright disgust at his cronyism. When he suggested that anti-war protesters were no worse than terrorists, I have to admit that I wanted to reach through the TV screen and stuff a copy of the Bill of Rights down his throat.

The sad truth, though, is that this isn't just about Denny Hastert or Bill Frist. This is about a political culture run by strategists and tacticians, a culture personified by the likes of Karl Rove which values winning above everything else. The GOP took damage from the Plame scandal; they lost a battle and now they want revenge. They see the intelligence leak as nothing but a ploy used for political gain, and now they want to add that ploy to their own play book.

Unfortunately, that means that none of them see the truth behind the ploy. Uncovering clandestine CIA prisons isn't the same as outing Plame; the Post didn't name names for political gain or endanger operatives. We all know there are clandestine operations out there, just like we knew during the Cold War about weapons years before the government admitted they existed. The Post is asking the essential question: is what we're doing right and is it in line with our values as Americans? It's truly sad that our politicians no longer feel the need to ask that question.

Here's the deal: we'll investigate the whistle-blower who spilled the beans about the CLA "black sites," as long as Bill Frist, DeLay, Rove, Cheney et al resign immediately.

I too, believe that the GOP is more outraged by the leak than the realization of secret prisons holding

alleged terrorests.

But, I'm also outraged that America stoops to the same level of the worst despots. It's beginning to seem as though we are actually in the "enemy" creating business. How else can the Pentagon and

those who depend/defend our foreign policies justify it's half a trillion taxdollar a year appetite? If there are no enemies, then there is no need for the war machine, right?

It's way past time to rein in the executive branch's

power to make war for fun and profits.

You know, I think this leak should be investigated. In painful month-after-month

detail. Because investigating a "leak about our

secret gulag" for months, would be

a chinese water-torture dripdripdrip of proof

that we do indeed have a secret gulag to

"investigate a leak about".

Now there's a man who can hold a grudge. That's the problem with stabbing your friends in the back; it tends to leave you with very few friends.

I wonder if it was Mccain? It would make sense, but he seems to have more political sense than that (as demonstrated on the Daily Show last night when he refused to really criticize Cheney).