Top Comments 9/28 - Holy Liveblogging, Batman! Edition

Today has seen lots o'liveblogging, and I paid a fair amount of attention to it, even though I was at work for the majority of that time. Our Senators have shocked and disappointed us yet again by allowing - in the case of certain Senators, ENABLING - the legislative death of habeas corpus. Now, we know that this would not survive legal challenge, but the very idea that our congress could so easily destroy one of the basic ideas of law dating back to the Magna Carta boggles my mind.

Of course, the Magna Carta led eventually to the Constitution of the United States. I love the old parchment, and the beautiful calligraphy of the time, but I am reading it in plain text at the Cornell Law School website. Let us never forget it.

Torture is tops on the radar here at Daily Kos today. There were lots of diaries regarding our attitude toward torture, why we should not torture, and what our lawmakers (and the Lawbreaker in Chief) are or are not doing about it. My views are simple: hurting people is wrong. Hurting people to obtain information is both wrong and ineffective. Representatives of our government (professional torturers?) hurting people to obtain information is more than wrong and ineffective; it is reprehensible, and against all the principles upon which this country was founded.

The next question is: what are WE doing about it? I plan to express my displeasure to my Senators and Representatives. As an Arizonan, I know that my opinion will count for little with McCain and Kyl (the boob), but I will express myself anyway. The Representatives will not escape my letter blitz, either. Additionally, I hope to write a letter to the editor of our Tucson paper, the Arizona Daily Star, and get it published. What's your plan? Let's see some action worthy of our reputation!

Okay, on to the comments!

First, the comments recommended by you!

From carolita:

Dallasdoc has some outstanding answers to the questions posed by Sgt Major Myers in Of Soldiers and Punctuation.

Compound F wants to know where the money for Defense has gone and grapes has some answers in leevank's excellent diary on Our Hollow Army

from BlueinaRedState:

I would like to nominate this comment from slipperytoad: Courtesy is Over

from besiegedbybush:

In Jerome a Paris' diary about Energize America as a model for policy development, there was a comment arguing that we should focus on winning the election and policy can wait.  cathy b responded brilliantly

from cronesense:

Diary: Live Blog: Senate Hearings III: Rockefeller Amendment by
blueinkansas
   Valtin reminds us of lessons from 'The Count of Monte Cristo'
~~~~~~~~~~
Diary: CT - Sen HQ Update..... by ttagaris
   bincbom has a stinging suggestion for Lieberman.

from gloriana:

lipris, in Meteor Blades' heartbreaking diary, on what's been stolen from us

from Dreaming of Better Days:

If you're able, please include cskendrick's comment from my diary today.  I found it amazing and profound.

Here are my choices:

First by nyceve, in her Bill Clinton diary, this comment, a good conversation that starts with her tip jar/first comment.

From dc 2005, in his/her "My First Experience with Socialize Medicine" diary, Any thoughts?, another tip jar that started something!

From the same diary, buddythedog offers up this comparison to healthcare in the US.

Ever heard of inadvertent waterboarding? YellowCanary talks about it in Steven D's Choking to Death: An Analogy to Waterboarding diary.

Papageno offers us a educational comment on real estate sales  in bonddad's diary, NY Real Estate Broker: "Business Has Dropped Dead".

dnta tells us why he/she is angry in his/her moving diary entitled "There's a funeral in my town today".

In Jeff Huber's diary, The "Good News" in the National Intelligence Estimate, wgard offers us a few thoughts worth a read.

angrytoyrobot has two gems today: this comment in blue meme's Doomed to repeat: Germany, 1933 and this comment in LIVEBLOGGING: Senate Debate on Habeas Corpus II.

A reposted rant by silence do good is here, in guyermo's CNN: We fuck ourselves with both fists! diary. Good one!

valtin inspires a good conversation in another Live Blog diary, this one Live Blog III: the Rockefeller Amendment.

An interesting take on the amendment failures today from jonsonwax

And, last but not least, Carnacki and Kagro X have a conversation on canvassing and carjacking in Carnacki's diary, Why not our best?

Top Mojo without obvious tip jars:

1  I told him that he had chosen a bad strategy by stephdray  94
2  It's 2002 all over again by Dump Terry McAuliffe  76
3  Amazing by IndyScott  76
4  KO will pick this up... by electric meatball  73
5  Kennedy's Catch 22 by valleycat  71
6  As the vote wraps up, and the Specter amendment by steve davis  66
7  I think his perspective of ... by Meteor Blades  65
8  Well, let me add this by eugene  64
9  on Fox you can get the view of Earth by sayitaintso  57
10  Thanks from those of us at work by SallyCat  56
11  "We tried" by eugene  55
12  I think we need camera crews that are willing to by Rogneid  51
13  or a huge rescue project by ornerydad  49
14  Good Morning, LS :) by PhillyGal  48
15  Powell by trifecta  47
16  Halliburton has to be part of this by madhaus  47
17  Hamdan was a 5-3 decision by dday  46
18  A friend of mine just got back from Baghdad by lapin  43
19  post humpday omne animal triste est. by khereva  42
20  Happy Thursday by CocoaLove  41

With everything!

1  tips by thereisnospoon  288
2  Tip jar by skralyx  262
3  Tip or flame by Carnacki  184
4  any thoughts? by dc 20005  152
5  Done, and thank you by electric meatball  147
6  Tip Jar by PsiFighter37  136
7  Flower Pot ... Oh! One More thing by ttagaris  134
8  Just an aside . . . by nyceve  119
9  Thansk so much by mikey666  101
10  Jeez. by LarryInNYC  100
11  Sorry by bonddad  97
12  I told him that he had chosen a bad strategy by stephdray  94
13  It's 2002 all over again by Dump Terry McAuliffe  76
14  Amazing by IndyScott  76
15  KO will pick this up... by electric meatball  73
16  Kennedy's Catch 22 by valleycat  71
17  Pray* especially by pastordan  69
18  I think his perspective of ... by Meteor Blades  66
19  As the vote wraps up, and the Specter amendment by steve davis  66
20  Well, let me add this by eugene  65

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