I'm not much more than a semi-fan of John Hockenberry's The Takeaway.  It's a bit too rushed, a bit too sarcastic, and a bit too New York for my taste: but the theme music does serve to jar me awake at 6:00 weekday mornings, and today I heard something which reminded me once again about the power of the spoken word.  I have not read all four memos.  I have read my way through the longest one-looking at the footnotes, even.  I developed an intellectual comprehension of the subject and arguments therein.  But understanding didn't entirely occur until I heard Hockenberry's commentary on this morning's show.  It is devastating: one of the most powerful spoken pieces I've ever heard.  The tone, the nuance, the background music are as close to perfect as I can imagine anything of this sort being.  John Winthrop wrote about the different between "head knowledge" and "heart knowledge".  This short work brought the knowledge from my head and incorporated it into my heart.  I understand better than ever the venality of the Bush administration.  Please do listen to the segment, test your reaction against mine.

I think it appropriate, no, necessary, to bring Jay Bybee and Steven Bradbury before investigative committees of both the House of Representatives and Senate to answer for what they wrote: to defend it not with footnotes and endless legalese, but as if their own humanity was at stake.  I would applaud bringing them to justice as the next logical step.  

Finally, I would love to know if there was at least one operative, with or without knowledge of the memos, who stood on his or her honor and said, "no, I will not do this!".  I'd love to see this person get the Freedom Medal at the same time the names of Bybee and Bradbury (and those who ordered these memos written as they were written) receive the ignominy due them.