AV: One Book and Two Outrages

Let's start with the "One Book" part. Bill Moyers is taking votes online for the one book (besides the Bible) you'd like to see the next President take to the White House*. You can voice your opinion on the Bill Moyers Journal site. Me, I'm not sure if it should be James and the Giant Peach (by Roald Dahl), Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything, the classic The 1001 Nights, or Goodnight Moon.

You might have some better ideas.

(* evidently this question was first posed by Katie Couric, so don't blame Bill for the "besides the Bible" part)

Outrage One

Also on Bill Moyers Journal tonight I learned that the White House, in direct violation of law (yeah, so what's new ...), is "missing" emails from key staff (including the Pres and Rove) for a 473-day stretch between 2003 and 2005. They, of course, cover the time of such events as the outing of Valerie Plame and the destruction of the CIA tapes of interrogations. You can watch the whole program on the site.

Outrage Two

Let me just preface this by saying that I'm really looking forward to the day (coming my way next January, I hope) when I am not screaming at my radio while driving. This most often takes the form of me gripping my steering wheel and yelling "What?!?!?" at the top of my voice. It has happened more than I care to admit over the last 8 years.

This time?
I was listening to NPR as they reported on Atty General Mukasey's first Senate hearing (as the Official Atty General) this week.

What did he say that engaged my attention so passionately?
I'll paraphrase.

He said, essentially, that torture is more or less okay depending upon the value of the information one extracts as its result. While torture is defined as something that "shocks the conscience," the activity that shocks the conscience in one instance (asking where the car keys are, for example), may not do so in another (finding out where they're baking up the anthrax).

He said, in so many words, that the ends justify the means.

I'm not shocked that they think this. I guess I'm just dumbfounded that they have the arrogance to really admit it like that. AND that they think we're dumb enough to not notice. Maybe they think they've got nothing left to lose.