Strange bedfellows

Okay, so Don King's TVKO pay-per-view network isn't really going to broadcast "The Battle in the Capitol" as Samuel Alito takes on the Senate Judiciary Committee, but I like the idea of the hearings turning into a knock down drag out battle over democratic ideals and the Constitution. Even if many Democrats have given up and assumed Alito's nomination to the Supreme Court is a fait accompli, that doesn't mean we aren't in need of a national conversation about the issues of privacy, race, ethics, and the death penalty. Will Arlen Specter throw the first punch?

Never one to back away from a fight, Condeleezza Rice came out swinging in her defense of secret prisons as a way for the U.S. to promote open democracy. Huh? While not confirming or denying that countries like Poland and Romania may be bases for U.S. torture camps, she tried to say that the U.S. torture of prisoners was actually "saving European lives." Apparently people like Traian Basescu, the President of Romania, are given a choice on whether to host our secret camps. "It is up to those governments and their citizens to decide if they wish to work with us," she said, "and decide how much sensitive information they can make public." What they get in return is still unclear. Perhaps, just the happy knowledge that they're "saving European lives." Somehow, I doubt that's it.