Morning Update: Investigations Edition

For those of you with fingers thawed out enough to actually use your computer, here are some updates and much bloviating by me.

First, holy crap. Somehow I missed the unbelievable plane in the Hudson story yesterday. That pilot should immediately be offered the job of flying Airforce One.

Second, thank goodness for an AG nominee who flatly calls waterboarding torture. I didn't watch the hearing or read the transcripts, but I found a lot to love in Dahlia Lithwick's summary. She loves that he answered legal questions clearly, showing a clear basis for his decisions. My favorite part, though, is that he refused to acknowledge the whole "but, would you torture someone if you knew they had details of an impending attack?" scenario as plausible. He acknowledged that torture does not yield good information.

I'm not psyched though, that he seriously hedged on the question of investigating abuses by the Bush White House. I understand the fear that it would be divisive, but I think it's too important not to risk that. (Paul Krugman does, too). Yes, Ilsa, I know that they'll all get their karmic payback, but there are also clear Constitutional principles at stake. They should be held accountable.

UPDATE: Looks like Barack will issue an EO limiting approved interrogation techniques for the CIA to those that comply with the Army Field Manual (i.e., no torture) quickly upon taking office. Thank goodness.