Downtime with the Trib

My bus broke down on Lake Shore drive today, so I had a little extra time to read the paper while we waited for a replacement. Big news is that the wall the Bush Administration has attempted to construct between the actions of the"few goons on the night shift" at Abu Ghraib and the senior administration officials continues to crumble. As Andrew Sullivan says, "This was Bush's choice. The line from Abu Ghraib and Gitmo to the White House is perfectly straight."

The most surprising thing about the increasing evidence that the White House is directly responsible for the abuse of inmates by our military is that Republicans seem to think that's just peachy. Well, I guess they'll be able to tell their grandkids about how they were statestide cheerleaders for torture.

In a bit of fantastic news, it appears that more Muslims in Indonesia, Jordan, Lebanon, Pakistan, Turkey and Morocco are rejecting the violent ideology of Bin Laden and are alarmed about Muslim extremism. It's hard to know what the root of this shifting ideology is. Perhaps as terrorist violence increases worldwide, more Muslims see how reprehensible it is to kill innocents. In any event, it's encouraging.

In the same article, though, a bit of bad news.

Yet solid majorities in five of the six Muslim countries surveyed -- Indonesia, Jordan, Lebanon, Pakistan and Turkey -- also now have unfavorable views of the U.S. In the sixth, Morocco, views are evenly divided.

Interesting. As Muslims turn away from Bin Laden, they are also turning away from the United States. You would expect quite the opposite, wouldn't you?

In a final bit of news, the Cubs started off the second half of the season right yesterday. We're back at .500 with the lineup we've been waiting for all year: Prior, Wood, Zambrano and Maddux. I'll be at the Friendly Confines this afternoon, having a good time for myself, and watching the Pirates go down.