There's a great editorial at the Washington Post about the myth of torture's effectiveness. In case you don't have a WashPost registration, click "Continue reading" to read the article below.
Read full entry...Wired has an article about a new realization in road design: The common thread in the new approach to traffic engineering is a recognition that the way you build a road affects far more than the movement of vehicles. It determines how drivers behave on it, whether pedestrians feel safe to walk alongside it, what kinds of businesses and housing spring up along it. "A wide road with a lot of signs is telling a story," Monderman says. "It's saying, go ahead, don't worry, go as fast as you want, there's no need to pay attention to your surroundings. And that's a very dangerous message."
The Social Security and Medicare Trustees estimate that over the next 75 years, the Social Security shortfall will total $3.7 trillion dollars. (Pretty bad, but consider that in just the past 4 years, the president approved budgets that created a $2.2 trillion deficit.)
But $3.7 trillion is small compared to the 75-year costs of two of president Bush's biggest domestic policy initiatives:
Prescription Drug Benefit: $8.1 trillion
2001/2003 tax cuts, if made permanent: $11.6 trillion
The "looming Social Security iceberg" is a popsicle compared to the two icebergs the President created.
(These numbers are taken from a report at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The estimated Social Security shortfall is from the Social Security and Medicare Trustees (most of whom are members of the President's cabinet), and is actually twice what the Congressional Budget Office estimates the shortfall will be. The Prescription Drug Benefit cost is from the Trustees as well. The tax cut costs are from the Congressional Budget Office.)
Now, if you know the tradition of the United States Army, one thing has been consistent and that is that we are aggressive and tough on the field of battle, but when you take prisoners they are treated humanely and with respect. That's the rule that was set by George Washington in the battle of Trenton on Dec. 25, 1776. The soldiers of the continental army took the Hessians and said these soldiers are mercenaries and we should take retribution on them. They wanted the Hessians to run the gauntlet and they would beat them with sticks. General Washington said we will not do this. He said these people will be treated with respect and dignity and they will suffer no abuse or torture, because to do otherwise would bring dishonor upon our sacred cause. That's one of the first orders given to the continental army and that antedates the United States. It has been military tradition for 240 years, and it was stopped by Donald Rumsfeld.
-- Scott Horton