CNN reported yesterday that Congress is considering legislation that would legitimize the torture policies which our government has been engaged in. What’s really special about this legislation is that it would be retroactive to 2004. Clearly, this legislation is intended to protect the current administration from actions which were clearly illegal and which they now admit to having engaged in. Of course, Congress is rushing to pass these bills before the makeup of Congress changes in November. I really hope this is a major campaign issue in November, but right now, if ever there was a good reason to filibuster, now is the time! More on this later.

September 14, 2006, 3:10 P.M.

The 9/11 attacks killed a total of 2,973 people. Following those attacks, the Bush administration took us to war in Iraq and tried to suggest a direct link between Saddam Hussein and the al Qaeda operatives who planned and implemented the attacks in the U.S. In fact, most of the 9/11 attackers were Saudis. A Senate Intelligence Committee report released last week confirmed what we already knew and wrote about then: Saddam Hussein despised Islamic fundamentalists, and had no connection with al Qaeda. The war in Iraq has killed 2,671 Americans to date, over 19,910 have been wounded and no end is in sight. What’s worse, because the war in Iraq has consumed our energy and focus, al Qaeda is as strong as ever, bin Ladin is still at large and Pakistan is the new training center for the next generation of suicide bombers and soldiers in the terror campaign against the U.S. and the west. This certainly doesn’t make me feel safer than I felt on 9/10/01.

September 14, 2006, 3:05 P.M.

The 9/11 Commission Report is a massive, complicated and detailed analysis of, among other things, the Intelligence failures that lead to the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. The report is not a flattering portrait of our government’s ability to analyze, anticipate and neutralize threats to our national security. Neither the Clinton nor the Bush administrations come out looking too good. The findings of this Commission are important, but not everyone has the time or inclination to read the report. We found this great, thorough, graphic version of the report on Slate. Check it out here.

September 14, 2006, 3:00 P.M.

We're Back. . . This past spring we stopped posting because we ran out of things to say. Since we stopped posting, we have had a lot of people tell us that they miss the site, and if we would start writing again.

The idea of this website has always been to provide a place where we could put down our thoughts and keep them for the future. Along the way, we found that people liked reading our posts. This development is really a bonus, but it also reinforces our desire to write when we have something to say, and not simply to meet deadlines.

So with all of that explanation, PoP is back, rested and readjusted. Read in good heath.

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