Sarah Vowell's new column in the NYTimes

[Hamlette]

it's on entertainment but she hates Bush and I was delighted to see her first (that I've seen) column trashes him in the first two paragraphs, before going off on TV shows.

Down With Torture! Gimme Torture!

Whenever I hear the president mention, oh, every 12 minutes, that his greatest responsibility is "to protect the American people," the insufferable civics robot inside my head mutters: "Actually, sir, your oath, the one with the Bible and the chief justice and the Jumbotron, is to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. For the American people are not mere flesh whose greatest hope is to keep our personal greasy molecules intact; we, sir, are a body politic — with ideals."

f the civics robot is feeling particularly nostalgic for that time in America when the word "rendition" was usually followed by the words, "of 'Louie, Louie,' " it continues to nitpick about what some of those ideals entail: Congressional oversight, due process and treating prisoners of war according to ye olde golden rule. Not only because we would hope our captive soldiers would be treated with reciprocal human decency, or because the information gleaned from torture usually turns out to be a Saddam's-in-league-with-Al-Qaeda sham, but mostly, Americans reject torture because we are not satanic monster scum.

(Title is about how we "like" torture on TV. She talks about 24, a show I had to give up after a few episodes in its first year cause I couldn't sleep after watching it.)

Here's the link but its that damned premium stuff at the Times, so unless you're a member, you can see it.

http://select.nytimes.com/2006/02/05/opinion/05vowell.html?hp

(edited to correct spelling of her name, One "l" didn't look right...and is not.)