Midday open thread

• War supporters had argued that showing images of flag-draped coffins coming home from our two wars would be an invasion of the family's privacy. Turns out that was just another excuse used to justify hiding our wars' true costs.

  In the weeks since the Pentagon ended an 18-year ban on media coverage of fallen soldiers returning to the U.S., most families given the option have allowed reporters and photographers to witness the solemn ceremonies that mark the arrival of flag-draped transfer cases.

  Critics had warned that military families needed privacy and peace activists might exploit the images, but so far the coverage has not caused problems [...]

  "I think it was to protect the government's butt," said David Pautsch, who allowed the media to witness the return of his son Jason, an Army corporal from Davenport, Iowa, who was killed with four other soldiers in a bombing in Iraq [...]

  Since the ban was lifted, 19 families have been asked whether they wanted media coverage of their loved one's return and 14 have said yes.

• Seriously, turn this guy's story into a movie.

  The story of FBI interrogator Ali Soufan plays out like a movie. The son of an immigrant from Lebanon, Soufan, using traditional interrogation methods, gleaned from Abu Zubayda a plot to plant a dirty bomb in the United States and the alias of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed. He turned the jihadis greatest weapons against them, citing Qu'ranic verses from memory and using his knowledge of Islam to gain the trust of terrorist detainees, then using the trust he had gained to get information that saved American lives. When he discovered that the CIA was planning on torturing Zubayda, his reaction was that of a lawman: "I swear to God," he reportedly said to FBI assistant director for counterterrorism Pasquale D'Amuro, "I'm going to arrest these guys!"

  Soufan's courage and respect for American values contrasts sharply with former CIA official Michael Scheuer, who insists that the only way to protect America is through torture and that anyone who believes otherwise is anti-American. This contradicts the CIA Inspector General's own 2004 findings that there is no conclusive information that tortured yielded information that foiled "specific imminent attacks." Scheuer's belief in the power of torture is not empirical, but ideological, just like that of James Mitchell, the former Air Force psychologist who helped design the torture program and who, despite having never interrogated a prisoner a day in his life, told Ali Soufan he had no idea what he was doing.

• The GOP crazies get crazier by the day.

  Don Larsen, a Springville delegate, offered the resolution, titled "Resolution opposing the Hate America anti-Christian Open Borders cabal," warning delegates that an "invisible government" comprised of left-wing foundations was pumping money into the Democratic Party to push for looser immigration laws and anti-family legislation.

  Larsen said Democrats get most of the votes cast by illegal immigrants and people in dysfunctional families.

  But it's not the Democrats who are behind this strategy, Larsen said. It's the devil.

  To their credit, Utah County Republicans defeated this resolution.

• The 18-month-old Portfolio Magazine is closing. Conde Nast had invested (gasp!) $100 million in the publication.
• According to the latest audit numbers, here's the top 25 newspapers by daily circulation. Only one -- the Wall Street Journal -- has gained circulation. 11 of them experienced double-digit circulation losses. Worst hit? The New York Post lost over 20 percent of its circulation from the year-ago period, while the Atlanta Journal Constitution lost just a shade under 20 percent.
• There are conservatives who still think Colbert is one of their own. Their stupidity truly knows no bounds.

  I don't know if Colbert does this every show, but the two times I've been on he's warmed up the crowd by taking questions and turning the answers into jokes. Hilarious stuff. Well, he tells them right off the bat that his on-air persona is an act, that way he can do the improv stuff as himself, rather than as the Bill O'Reilly clone he satirizes. Of course, anyone with three brain cells would get that the show is satire after watching for a few minutes, but that's apparently three brain cells more than some conservatives have.  

• Conservatives mock volcano preparedness, volcano erupts. They mock pandemic preparation ...
• As of today, Iowa has marriage equality. And all's running smoothly.
• Eric Cantor promises Obama a list of duplicative and unnecessary government programs that can be cut.

  “You can expect us to have something very soon,” Cantor said, explaining that he’s “looking for wherever there is waste or duplicative spending.”

  John Cole responds:

  When asked for a budget with numbers, the Republicans said “We’ll get back to you.”

  When asked for their plans for health care, the Republicans said “We’ll get back to you.”

  When asked for their plans on energy independence, the Republicans said “Drill, baby drill and we’ll get back to you.”

  When asked for their plans to revive the economy, the Republicans said “Tax cuts and we’ll get back to you.”

  And now, after bitching about the most bloatedest budget proposal evah, after months of masturbatory tea parties and chants of porkulus, when asked what cuts the Republicans would like to make, the answer, as always, is “We’ll get back to you.”

• Every month I check my tire pressure with a tire gauge, and top them off to their recommended levels saving me money on gas. Thanks Obama for reminding me to do that last year!
• Yeah, that column was the stupidest thing I think I've read all year, and given the competition, that's saying a lot.