Well, the snow is gone and the rain has stopped and it was a pretty nice day yesterday. Went to B.J.'s and stocked up, then discovered I had left my wallet home. Had to pay by credit card. Later, went to Acme to pick up some stuff for Pat. Yep, those were the high points.
But I still have the life of the mind, so...
Wider: Great hosannas from the denying democrat crowd on O's "outlawing" torture. Directly by us, yes, but I understand the ugly "rendition" practice hasn't been touched. In other words, we can still send suspects--or those who might become suspects, or those who look as if they have a tendency to be suspects or the guy down the street whose looks you don't like--to other countries to be tortured.
Maybe this is actually worse than doing it directly. If you arrange an evil, and pay somebody to commit that evil, and forcibly put a victim in the hands of the evil-doers, yet don't participate yourself, you can pretend you've "outlawed" the evil. Torture by hire is still torture, but it's more politically comfortable to have it at a remove.
It seems there's NOTHING concerning our government that isn't subject to spin, misdirection, sleight-of-hand, and all other forms of falsehood. The road of deceit, mapped out by Orwell, might not have been completed on the day the Department of War was labelled "Department of Defense," but it was already cut into the forest of the national landscape.