Torture Versus War  —  WHEN the Central Intelligence Agency obliterates a dozen suspected terrorists, along with assorted family members, with a missile from a drone, the news rarely stirs a strong reaction far beyond Pakistan.  —  Yet the waterboarding of three operatives from Al Qaeda …

Chavez Gifts Obama With Book That Assails U.S. for Exploiting Latin America  —  At President Obama's meeting with the heads of South American countries this morning, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez stood, walked over to him, and presented him with a copy of “Open Veins of Latin America …

GOP congressman booed mercilessly at Tea Party rally  —  (CNN) - Several Republican members of Congress spoke at Tea Party protests around the country on Wednesday.  Some were applauded.  Others heckled.  But only one, it appears, was booed relentlessly for the entire duration of his speech: Rep. Gresham Barrett of South Carolina.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Was Waterboarded 183 Times in One Month  —  I've put this detail in a series of posts, but it really deserves a full post.  According to the May 30, 2005 Bradbury memo, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was waterboarded 183 times in March 2003 and Abu Zubaydah was waterboarded 83 times in August 2002.

Iran Sentences American Journalist to 8 Years in Prison  —  A revolutionary court has sentenced an Iranian-American journalist, Roxana Saberi, to eight years in prison after convicting her of spying for the United States, her lawyer said Saturday.  —  Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton …

An obscene insult  —  The star hosts of CNN and MSNBC news shows have notoriously derided the tea party demonstrations around the country with reference to the practice of teabagging (which I had never heard of before they brought it up).  As John noted, both networks' “journalists” …

The Journal's missing facts  —  Today's Wall Street Journal carries another editorial ("Minnesota's missing votes") on the recount in Minnestota's Senate election.  It was the Journal's original editorial on the subject that prompted me to write “Minnesota 101” for NRO.

Weekly Address: Efficiency and Innovation  —  With the process of going through the budget line by line in full swing, the President uses his Weekly Address to give some examples, big and small, of how the Administration is working to cut costs and eliminate waste.

It might already be too late for the right-wing blogs  —  The Daily Beast's Benjamin Sarlin follows up on a trend we've been noting at CF for the last couple week; far right bloggers who are calling out Fox News for the doomsday hate speech that's become Murdoch's programming anchor.

It May Be Time for the Fed to Go Negative  —  WITH unemployment rising and the financial system in shambles, it's hard not to feel negative about the economy right now.  The answer to our problems, however, could well be more negativity.  But I'm not talking about attitude.  I'm talking about numbers.

TALIBAN-STYLE JUSTICE FOR ALLEGED U.S. SPIES  —  ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - “I was given $122 to drop chips wrapped in cigarette paper at al-Qaida and Taliban houses,” confessed 19-year-old Habibur Rehman, just before the Taliban shot him dead for spying for the United States.

The Choler of Online Comments  —  Dear Reader:  —  I wish to apologize to you for my behavior last week.  —  On Tuesday, I learned that I am a right-wing hack.  I am not a journalist.  I am typical of the right wing.  I am why newspapers are going broke.  I write garbage.  I am angry with Barack Obama.

NATO frees pirate hostages, Belgian ship seized  —  MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Dutch commandos freed 20 Yemeni hostages on Saturday and briefly detained seven pirates who had forced the Yemenis to sail a “mother ship” attacking vessels in the Gulf of Aden, NATO officials said.

Lawmakers start work on global warming bill  —  Hearings this week could revolutionize how U.S. produces, uses energy  —  WASHINGTON - The last time Congress passed major environmental laws, acid rain was destroying lakes and forests, polluted rivers were on fire and smog was choking people in some cities.