Rex Kickass

Or that he's the completely wrong man for the job. After all, if you advocate simulating the death of a detainee as a means to coerce information of dubious reliability, something tells me that you shouldn't be responsible for enforcing the laws of this country.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Oct 29, 2007 -> 07:32 PM) I've worked with a lot of executives who make similar salaries, and I don't think I have heard them petitioning their bosses for less hours. I'm pretty sure, that unlike the government, you wouldn't be told about what they're petitioning for. Personally, I see no need for Congress to be in session five days a week if things are getting done, or it means that your elected representative is more accessible to the people who elected him or her. Unfortunately, that's too often not the case.

New York does not have a zoned system for Subways, however they do have zoned systems for LIRR and Metro North. However, one reason why they are fiscally more sound right now, has a lot to do with the fact that there is one agency managing all mass transit funding. Berlin does. They're system is also flat broke. However, they are also on the honor system with no turnstiles (common in Germany). It's estimated that 1 in 6 riders is not paying for their ticket. However something like a zoned system is extremely hard to police without retrofitting all the turnstiles.

I don't know why anyone would vote for someone who proposed extending their term in office for six months because of a tragedy that happened two months before an election.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Oct 29, 2007 -> 12:19 PM) You know what, that is a good point, and it occurs to me I wasn't really looking at this exactly right. If they are indeed spending that time out in the field doing their work, in ADDITION to spending 40+ in the capitol proper, then that is a very important point to make. I wouldn't begrudge these folks a 5 hour difference if they are, say, actually working 70 hours a week. If that's the case. I've worked with a number of people who advance and staff elected officials. Good Congressmen - even in safe districts - work a lot. And are doing a lot in district when they aren't on the floor of Congress.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Oct 29, 2007 -> 04:21 PM) I think a zoned fare system is a great idea. I also think that the CTA should look reducing train frequency during off hours, as opposed to just removing it. Add in making that zoned fare structure higher in overall fares, an small increase in gasoline tax, and mandated cuts in the cost of MANAGEMENT, and I think you can get a significant chunk of the way there. Also, something to consider... I cannot find the article now, but the CTA was actually getting less government money per passenger than most transit systems in the country. So while I am sure their management is less than efficient, I don't think that's as big a problem as others indicate. I think the decaying infrastructure should be the biggest cost concern at this point. It's my understanding that the 24 hour lines are only running two trains an hour overnight. I can't imagine that you'd be saving that much by cutting a total of three or four train runs a night. There is a big problem with funding for the CTA. When the RTA was formed in 1982, it poured money into the then basically insolvent Metra system at the expense of the CTA. Unfortunately, as Metra's fortunes improved and its need for excess funding evaporated, the funding schedule was not changed and CTA has been shorted for capital improvement consistently over the last 25 years. Now Metra is talking shortage and eliminating Sunday ridership in a year or so affecting 50,000 people a week. The truth is that Illinois needs to offer better funding for the entire RTA, and Lake County ought to contribute in and of itself. I think the best thing to do is merge Metra and CTA.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Oct 29, 2007 -> 11:07 AM) I agree, that is awfully frustrating to see. If we have turned being a house rep into a full time, job, that is fine - so I expect them to work their butts off for it. They should be honored to have such a privileged position. This reminds me a lot of how a feel about overpaid professional athletes who don't work hard at it - its insulting to those of us who pay their salaries. There's a lot more to being a congressperson than voting. There's a lot of field work that the office handles, and the Congressperson can be an important part of that. I'm fine with them working four days a week in session, if that fifth day is spend working with their constituents.

Colbert attacked by the Edwards campaign.

Or has the same offer for a team that he wants to play for.

One plan for ending the war is leaving. It does end the war, for us. Another plan is to gradually pull back combat brigades by leaving a rapid response residual force of between 30 and 60 thousand people. This is something that has been proposed by Clinton, Edwards, Obama, and John Murtha among others. However, you're too busy ranting that the Democrats have no plan to notice that they actually are out there. Unfortunately, since the administration refuses to paint any strategy other than their own as something that isn't cut and run - it really doesn't matter what the Democratic plan is. Since the Democrats don't have the balls to do what they should do and refuse to fund the war effort until a real shift in strategy is actually acheived, be it a withdrawal or a completely different strategy (maybe say focusing in on what we've done in Anbar where some limited success was acheived without a surge in troops, by the way), this argument won't stop.

Chertoff went off on this over the weekend. He's pretty pissed about it. Which surprises me because the guy is such a hack I figured he would have arranged it.

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Cibo Matto - "Spoon" Can't find the spoon that we once had. The sugar cube will melt no more. Next topic: Sugar

Assuming that's the case, all Mukasey would have to say (and I'm sure it would be found acceptable across the board) would be something like this. Any interrogation technique that simulates death for a detainee would be considered torture under my lead.

Pastrami is spicier, no?

Given that waterboarding is a simulated drowning. And drowning results in death, I think the point you and I are arguing is one of semantics. The way the question was asked, there was a description of the procedure. And Mukasey failed to say if that meets the definition of torture.

Does anyone think that question wasn't going to come up? This has been an issue regarding the Attorney General's office and regarding the Secretary of Defense's office for several years. And this specific technique is the most controversial of them all. To say that this guy didn't see it coming is either incredibly naive or that the administration isn't exactly trolling Mensa when they're looking for nominees. I think its entirely acceptable to ask of an Attorney General nominee who will be dealing with the issue of what consists of torture to ask if simulating someone's death is considered torture.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Oct 26, 2007 -> 02:37 PM) I didn't mean that the technique was hypothetical... the question of it being torture or not is. Its a legal hypothetical. There is no case, no background, nothing offered into testimony other than a name. If he says yes or no, he shows quite clearly he cannot be trusted, since he is no expert on the subject and hasn't talked to the experts yet (as far as I know). I think its entirely acceptable to ask if a specific interrogation technique falls under the definition of what torture is. And the Justice Department does have a working definition of torture. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/artic...-2004Dec30.html

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Oct 26, 2007 -> 02:28 PM) If it is all about national appeal and where they are from, why is Larry freaking Craig such a big deal? Hell he was bigger news than Jefferson who has something like $100k in his freezer! Anyways, its just interesting to me that a guy running for President can do this three times and no one notices. Because Larry Craig never shuts up? And last time I checked, Jefferson was big news for a number of days as well.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Oct 26, 2007 -> 02:30 PM) That debate is not the AG's job. You think what is being done is torture, then take the appropriate legal steps, and they will eventually involve the AG's office. That office can then review the entire situation. You cannot expect Mukasey to have an absolute opinion, out of hand, about such a narrow, unexplained theoretical. If waterboarding was a theoretical, we wouldn't be having this issue to begin with.

Because the administration has a habit of backtracking on the learning that they've claimed to have done. Waterboarding stopped being torture for a while, then it became torture again, now it's unclear on how the administration views the subject. The Attorney General is charged with prosecuting violations of the law. Law is open to determination, especially in issues where it considers things like torture, and what techniques can be expressly not used. If the Attorney General is to say that he doesn't support torture in any form, I think its reasonable to expect the nominee to describe what he would consider unlawful torture in this case.

You're right. Why are we having a debate over simulating death as ever being acceptable as an interrogation technique?

Cake? Cibo Matto - "Birthday Cake" Do you have a headache or heartbreak? Are you made or broken by the birthday cake? You may be slow on the uptake I pour pot in the birthday cake So what! say what! for my own sake Next topic: Butter

At the time, Felix was considered to be not just the favorite for re-election, but also a frontrunner for the GOP Presidential nomination. Biden doesn't poll over 1% nationally, and is a Senator from Delaware, hardly a state with massive national significance. Maybe you can answer the question of why the media isn't investigating the price of Romney's haircuts? After all, what John Edwards pays is ridiculously important to so many people.

So, Mukasey refuses to say that "waterboarding" (simulated drowning) is torture in the second day of his confirmation hearings. What was a path to a smooth confirmation, got thrown off the tracks with that one answer. The judicial committee is drawing a line in the sand. Call waterboarding torture, or no confirmation. http://www.cqpolitics.com/2007/10/democrat...rney_gener.html