BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

from 'Madam Secretary': John McCain dug deep and found his clichéd maverick side on the Senate floor today, taking the microphone (so to speak) to call for Hillary Clinton to be confirmed this afternoon by unanimous consent rather than by a time-consuming roll call vote. He had, reportedly, spoken to Texas Sen. John Cornyn ( the architect of today's vote, which is designed to embarrass Hillary -- and, by extension -- Bill Clinton ). This isn't the first time that John McCain has praised Hillary. During the primaries last year, they were rarely seen trading barbs , and he famously said of her: Sen. Clinton has earned great respect for her tenacity and courage. The media often overlooked how compassionately she spoke to the concerns and dreams of millions of Americans, and she deserves a lot more appreciation than she sometimes received. "As the father of three daughters, I owe her a debt for inspiring millions of women to believe there is no opportunity in this gre...

US Senate Declares Torture "Peachy," Confirms Mukasey as "Grand Inquisitor" by Bob Higgins Waterboarding is now as "American" as "Mom" and "apple pie" The "distinguished jurist" told them in open hearings and in written communications that he could not call waterboarding "torture," and reportedly, pravately expressed his fear that doing so might open the gates for some executive department and military officials to lawsuits or criminal prosecution. Notice here that what is important to this "distinguished jurist" is not the fact that the laws of the United States regarding the use of torture may have been violated by highly placed government officials, or that subordinates were directed to violate the law, but that those officials must somehow be shielded from civil or criminal sanction. No matter that the practice known as waterboarding has been around far longer than any of the doddering graybeards in the...