“We are Americans, and we hold ourselves to humane standards of treatment of people no matter how evil or terrible they may be. To do otherwise undermines our security, but it also undermines our greatness as a nation.” Behind Sen. John McCain, who knows as well as anyone why we must set limits on our interrogation policies, the Senate votes 90-9 to rebuke the White House and constrain future interrogation abuses at Gitmo, Abu Ghraib, and around the world. For his part, Catkiller Frist earlier tried to smother the amendment, but ultimately ended up voting for it. Wouldn’t want a vote for torture on our 2008 transcript now, would we?
Men of Gondor (and Baltimore).
King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) enlists backup from Faramir and Jimmy McNulty as David Wenham and Dominic West join the cast of 300 — based on Frank Miller’s graphic novel retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae — along with Rodrigo Santoro of Love, Actually and Lena Headey of The Brothers Grimm. 300 Spartans against a million Persians? McNulty had best call up Omar for this one.
More of the Same.
“President Bush’s speech this morning, billed as a major statement about Iraq and the war on terror, was a sad spectacle — so ripe with lofty principles, so bereft of ideas on what to do with them. He approached the podium amid growing disapproval of his performance as a war president, ratcheting chaos and violence in Iraq, continuing terrorist attacks worldwide — and pleaded for nothing more than staying the course, with no turns or shifts, for a long, long time to come.” Slate‘s Fred Kaplan surveys, and bemoans, Dubya’s “big” Iraq speech this morning.
Black Gold, Black Ops.
“Corruption is our protection. Corruption keeps us safe and warm. Corruption is why we win.” Tim Blake Nelson channels Boss DeLay in the new trailer for Stephen Gaghan’s Syriana (a.k.a.Traffic meets Big Oil), starring George Clooney, Matt Damon, Jeffrey Wright, Chris Cooper, Amanda Peet, Alexander Siddig, and Christopher Plummer.
Karl Marked.
“There is no reason for Rove to make this appearance unless he and his counsel believe he is at serious risk of indictment. None.” On the day after former White House procurement chief David Safavian is indicted on five counts of lying and obstruction of justice, Karl Rove decides to testify for a fourth time before the grand jury delving into the felonious unmasking of Valerie Plame (presumably to stave off his indictment, or that of someone above him.) So…Rove, Safavian, Libby, Abramoff, Frist, DeLay…how many investigations and indictments can the GOP leadership rack up? Is the whole rotten edifice of GOP corporate cronyism threatening to topple? One can only hope.
Marcy to Miers.
“Although it’s obviously too soon to situate the Bush administration in history, it’s possible…that it may be leading us into a period where politics is defined according to the old spoils system rather than the technocratic assumptions ushered in by the Progressive Era.” With the Miers pick in mind, Slate‘s David Greenberg reviews the sordid history of Supreme Court cronyism from Jackson to LBJ.
We’ll always have New York.
Beauty and the Beast share a private moment in this magnificent teaser image for PJ’s King Kong.
Harriet the Spy?
“She may turn out to be the greatest thing since Antonin Scalia, but when will we know that?” Two days after the Harriet Miers pick, and despite news reports accentuating her strong evangelicism, conservatives are still openly perturbed by the choice (George Will is particularly livid.) As for how she stands on the issues, we still know very little, other than her mixed record on gay rights and probable pro-life stance. (Well, presumably, she’s also pro-lottery.) Nevertheless, it sounds like she’s probably already got Harry Reid’s vote.
Covenant of the Ring.
LotR masterminds Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh announce they’ll be executive producing the film version of Halo, with WETA in charge of the FX. “‘As a gaming fan, I’m excited to bring Halo’s premise, action and settings to the screen with all the specificity and reality today’s technology can provide,’ said Jackson.” Halo? I dunno…even as just a production credit, I think it’s a bizarre choice for Wingnut Films, particularly as a follow-up to the Rings trilogy and Kong.
Eddy Hearts New York.
On the the first day of training camp, the Knicks partially rectified their guard-heavy line-up by stealing center Eddy Curry from Chicago (due to the furor over his arrhythmia), along with veteran PF Antonio Davis. And better yet, we got rid of Tim Thomas, who’s underachieved from Day 1. (The Knicks also purportedly give up Michael Sweetney, Jermaine Jackson, and a contingent first-rounder…the only loss there is Sweetney.) I must say, this is a nice catch to start the season, if Curry’s condition is as benign as hoped. Update: ESPN’s John Hollinger disagrees.