CHUCK SCHUMER defends torture if “thousands of lives are at stake.”

“It’s easy to sit back in the armchair and say that torture cannot be used. But when you’re in the foxhole, it’s a very different deal. And I respect, I think we all respect, that the President’s in the foxhole every day.”

More here.

UPDATE: Schumer gets strange new respect.

MORE ON THE UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE, from Fritz Schranck.

ANDREW BOLT:

THERE is a reason Iraq has almost disappeared as an election issue.

Here it is: The battle is actually over. Iraq has been won.

Whether that’s good or bad for Howard is another question.

ERIC SCHEIE: When skepticism becomes heresy.

BORIS JOHNSON ON why Hillary should be President.

BLOGGER VS. NEW YORK TIMES. But the blogger has video.

FRED THOMPSON attacked as a “gun nut.” Somehow I don’t think this will hurt his chances of getting the GOP nomination.

ANOTHER DANGER OF THE YOUTUBE ERA: Australian Laments Ear Wax Eating Video.

DEMOCRATS SPLIT on Iran letter.

I WASN’T GOING TO RESPOND when Andrew Sullivan — deliberately, or in unforgivable cluelessness — transformed my statement about leaving the Libertarian Party into something about not being a libertarian at all. Andrew says a lot of silly things about me these days, and life is too short to pay attention to them. But now that silliness seems to be spreading. So let me repeat what I said before: “But note that no longer being a member of the Libertarian Party is hardly the same thing as not being a libertarian. If it were, there would be precious few libertarians left.” Anyone who can’t understand the difference between libertarian ideas and the Libertarian Party probably isn’t smart enough to be blogging, and certainly shouldn’t have his page topped with the words “Of no party or clique.”

AMAZON RECOMMENDS THAT I BUY A Cold Steel scottish dirk. Do they know something I don’t?

Doubtful. If they did, they’d probably be recommending the sword cane. I didn’t realize anybody made those anymore.

Of course, you could always defend yourself with a deadly pickle. And then destroy the evidence, with no trace left behind except for a hint of garlic-breath!

DID ISRAELI JETS prevent World War III?

CONGRATULATIONS TO F.I.R.E.: The University of Delaware has abandoned its controversial “thought reform” program.

THE LATEST EPISODE OF THE PAJAMAS MEDIA XM RADIO SHOW is now online.

PIC OF THE DAY.

BRINGING NEW MEANING to the term “roulette wheel.”

TPM MUCKRAKER: Feds Probing Dem Sen. Relationship to Former Aide.

THE COMING ACADEMIC TITLE WAVE.

But if science and engineering programs are vulnerable because they don’t have enough women, are universities as a whole vulnerable for not having enough men?

The complaint writes itself, and that’s even before we note the absence of Men’s Centers and the frequency of antimale rhetoric from faculty and administrators.

A GO-ANYWHERE KEG COOLER that’s also environmentally friendly! So you can fight global warming by having a cold one, I guess . . . .

DREW CAREY ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA, at Reason TV.

HOWARD KURTZ ON HILLARY’S IMAGE PROBLEM:

She’s a triangulator. A trimmer. A carefully calculating pol who says what people want to hear. A canny candidate who is allergic to specifics. That image could damage Clinton long after everyone has forgotten about her specific answer on MSNBC. Remember the Bush ad that showed John Kerry windsurfing left and right in a flip-flopping metaphor?

The media are piling on, in part because journalists believe White House aspirants should be seriously scrutinized, and in part because they are desperate to turn this into a horse race.

Yeah, it’s gotten pretty dull and there’s still a year to go.

DIPLOMACY IS NOT FOR AMATEURS: And, unfortunately, the professionals aren’t especially good at it either . . . .

LEFT AND RIGHT BLOGOSPHERES UNITE over access to debate footage. Stories here and here.

WHAT’S WRONG with Argentina?

Lovely country, but with a history of lousy politics.

MICHAEL TOTTEN ON what the Army wants you to see.