From BushCo torture to a Wikopedia for Conservatives...

From American Progress:

Think Fast

"Eight months after President Bush signed a bill authorizing the CIA to resume using 'enhanced interrogation techniques' on terrorism suspects, the administration has been unable to agree on what constitutes 'humiliating and degrading treatment' of detainees."

Meanwhile, President Bush's nominee for CIA counsel John Rizzo -- who as acting CIA counsel approved the legality of the Bush administration's harsh interrogation tactics and "extraordinary rendition” program -- is expected to face "tough questioning" today in a Senate confirmation hearing.

Several conservative House members who last week "vociferously" (and falsely) attacked Rep. David Obey (D-WI) for weakening earmark disclosure rules have chosen to keep their lists of personal earmarks secret. They include House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Reps. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Dan Burton (R-IN), Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and Patrick McHenry (R-NC).

A truck bomb ripped through a Shiite mosque in central Baghdad today, killing 75 people and wounding more than 200. The thunderous explosion came after government officials on Sunday lifted a curfew aimed at preventing retaliatory violence after last week's bombing of a Shiite mosque in Samarra.

"Sunni families remaining in Shia neighbourhoods of Baghdad are being forced to flee their homes: A 72-hour deadline announced by militants for them to leave these areas or face death" expired yesterday. One aid official said, "Dozens of Sunnis have been assassinated in their homes" since last week's bombing of the Samara mosque.

"Wrangling between Bush administration aides and U.S. intelligence agencies is holding up talks with Moscow on future monitoring of the thousands of nuclear weapons that the United States and Russia still aim at one another."

The Bush administration is using a controversial new study estimating there are 4.9 million low-income children in the U.S. without health insurance -- fewer than other reports have indicated -- to argue that a congressional plans to increase federal funding for children’s health care is "unnecessary."

"U.S. commanders in Iraq are rejecting a recommendation by Army mental health experts that troops receive a one-month break for every three months in a combat zone, despite unprecedented levels of continuous fighting and worsening risks of mental stress."

And finally: A Wikipedia for conservatives. A conservative history teacher was appalled when he went to Wikipedia and found that golfer Zach Johnson's page had no reference to the fact that Johnson gave credit to Jesus Christ when he won the 2007 Masters. So the teacher began Conservapedia.com, "a conservative encyclopedia you can trust," whose entry on Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) says that she "may suffer from...clinical narcissism."

Wrap...