A few items

FBI: INFO CAN BE GAINED WITHOUT TORTURE
US forces hid Iraq prison abuse. Concerned US defence workers were told to keep quiet about the alleged abuse of Iraqi prisoners, memos obtained by a US civil rights group have revealed. Documents released by the American Civil Liberties Union also show that special forces officers ignored FBI fears over their interrogation methods. FBI and Defence Intelligence Agency concerns were ignored or brushed aside by special forces, says the ACLU. The ACLU obtained the documents under the US Freedom of Information Act. More evil work by the ACLU. It's bad enough the expect police to act in a moderately civilized manner in accordance with the law and not like criminals. Now they expect soldiers in non-battlefield situations to? The article added An e-mail to Thomas Harrington, an FB[I] counter-terrorism expert, details "somewhat heated" conversations with Pentagon staff, in which officials admitted that the FBI's less physical interrogation style had yielded similar results.



OLD SOLDIERS NEVER DIE, BUT THEY'RE NOT ALLOWED TO JUST FADE AWAY
Because of a shortage of troops due to the Iraq excursion, the military is calling up anyone who constitutes a warm body. Even if they've already received a discharge. The trick? They had to resign their commission too. (Note: I should remind my brother to make sure he's officially resigned the Marines). Some of those called up are out of shape or in their 50s.

My grandfather (born in 1912; recepient of three purple hearts) is dead. I hope they don't call him up.

Not coindientally, my local paper ran an article today entitled 'Army Reserves See Jump in Resignations.'



BUSY-BODIES GET TO WORK
This article from Mediaweek notes that the number of indecency complaints to the Federal Communications Commission rose from 14,000 in 2002 to 240,000 in 2003. A more than 15-fold increase. Did television suddenly go from a paragon of virtue into a sickening cesspool in a single year?

Probably not. It's just that a group of busy-bodies got to work being busy-bodies. It turns out that of those complaints, 99.8% were filed by a single group: The so-called Parents Television Council. That number is actually 99.9% if you exclude complaints about the Janet Jackson-Super Bowl incident.

This tiny group has had great influence, pushing the FCC to crack down on so-called 'indecency.' (Makes you wonder why the folks who rail against unelected activist judges, don't say a word about unelected, activist FCC commissioners)

The irony is that while the PTC's campaign was surely aimed at folks like Howard Stern and South Park, one of the indecency crusade's more prominent victims was the film Saving Private Ryan, which some stations refused to air because of language.

The PTC would find an unlikely ally: Venezuela's left-wing leader Hugo Chavez. The autocratic populist just signed a new media law which establishes strict rules regarding violence and sexual content, and allows the government to impose huge fines or close down stations that break the rules.