Having been in Israel for an extended period of time, I can tell you that just because you read it from a webpage doesn’t make it true.

Israel traditionally shows amazing restraint for a country surrounded by enemies and penetrated by people that would rather blow themselves up than live with a Jew in the same city.

Maybe you should watch 60 Minutes here. The point is that strong intelligence and good police work is where we need to focus. Not torture.

Or do you disagree with that as well?

You’re spinning, right? Because if you were just ignorant, I would assume you would look it up before making such a ridiculous claim that you show yourself to be a lazy tool.

With each passing day Lieberman depends more and more on the least motivated voters. Least motivated to turn out, I mean. A Republican or conservative-unaffiliated who doesn’t like the war, who doesnt like Bush and who is now appalled by the Foley scandal, has less incentive to go to the polls. That voter thinks: Jodi Rell doesn’t need me, and I don’t like anybody else.

Add to that Lieberman’s position on the ballot which is basically a crossword puzzle coordinate. Five down, three across. He is the Waldo of the Connecticut voting booth.

I think the Foley scandal will keep evangelicals home on Election Day, but they’re not such a big factor in this state. Voters who are motivated to save any of the three incumbent Republican congresspersons may or may not hunt around for Joe while they’re in the booth.

If Lamont can make it a little closer by November than it is right now, he will have a better chance than most people give him in the long, strange trip of this campaign.

Anyone remember 1984 the book?

But let’s move away from “talking points” and look to history. Does Israel torture terror suspects? No. Historically has torture yielded valuable information? No. Does strong covert intelligence work pay better dividends? Absolutely.

See, here’s the problem; torture is the exact opposite of how we should conduct ourselves as human beings, regardless of how insane or dangerous the enemy is. This is actually NOT one of those grey areas between black and white and right and wrong. It isn’t. Torturing people is wrong. Just like crashing planes into a building and killing people to prove a point is wrong.

Historic precedents clearly indicate torture is counter-productive in the gathering of intelligence. It’s wrong on so many levels it isn’t worth discussion and the fact that it is being debated is silly.

Let’s go one more step: the fact that we are debating this with these foolish Senate Republicrats tells us that we are on the wrong page with our national dialog. That isn’t shrill, that’s a fact. We aren’t discussing jobs, schools, healthcare, an aging population, infrastructure. Basically all of the hard problems to solve. We’re babbling about talking points that are put forth by the likes of an idiot president that doesn’t read and can’t speak and by ultra-shrill pundits like Ann Coulter and Bill O’Reilly. Until we grow beyond that; I believe it is our job to keep asking questions like Kevin Miner did of every elected official.

I know it’s fashionable to say what you’re saying. . .

Young Freedom Rider Joe must have heard that a hundred times from his uncles, classmates, or people at the temple. And I’d give odds that it made him mad. After all, it’s an insult: “You’re just following the crowd because you have no real courage or real convictions.”

Yet 45 years later, he says the same thing to another courageous young person.

What a schmuck.