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The working-group report elaborated the Bush administration's view that the president has virtually unlimited power to wage war as he sees fit, and neither Congress, the courts nor international law can interfere. It concluded that neither the president nor anyone following his instructions was bound by the federal Torture Statute, which makes it a crime for Americans working for the government overseas to commit or attempt torture, defined as any act intended to "inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering." Punishment is up to 20 years imprisonment, or a death sentence or life imprisonment if the victim dies.

This from the Wall Street Journal, on Monday. The full text of the article has been reproduced elsewhere.

It really makes those articles about our reluctance to employ torture seem naive, doesn't it? "We don't sanction torture, but there are psychological and other ways that we can get most of what we need." Except right around the time Rockefeller said that, Bush's administration decided that it was OK to sanction torture. Egg on his face.

Phil Carter discusses the difference between advice on how to stay within the law and advice on how to avoid prosecution for breaking the law. Bitter fruit.

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One liner framework for an Adventure game:

"Huey Long's Men of Action!"

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Impending WISH deficit! But this week:

Pick three to five genres and name the best RPG for that genre. Why do you think it's the best? What makes it better than others? What are its downsides?

Pulp: Adventure! This is a very close race, because Feng Shui has better core mechanics which are better suited to the genre. Feng Shui really gets damage and fighting and stunts right, which is important for a pulp game... but it's an action movie game rather than a pulp game, and while the genres are similar they aren't the same. So the detailed and comprehensive power list brings Adventure! ahead by a hair.

Action Movies: Feng Shui. That's a freebie. Feng Shui is a really significant milestone for genre-specific rules and it's aged (and evolved) well.

TV Adventure: Unisystem Lite, as presented in Buffy and Angel. I was watching some Alias last night and marvelling at how well Unisystem Lite would work for a campaign in that setting. You could use it for Xena. The key is a) how quickly play flows -- quickly enough to make play-by-IRC viable for me, and I don't usually like play-by-IRC -- and b) the clever use of Drama Points to channel themes. It is amazing how much better Unisystem became when all the excess crap was carved away.

Conspiracy: Over the Edge. Ginger said best RPG, not best rules! Over the Edge is mostly setting, with a nice minimalistic functional set of mechanics. At first glance it's not obvious how the mechanics support the wild surrealistic genre, but I think the pioneering lack of a skill list is absolutely perfect for the world of Al Amarja; it makes it clear how open the setting really is. And the GMing advice is superb.

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Eric Muller may have somehow gotten his hands on the first 56 pages of the March 6th, 2003 memo on torture. I haven't read it yet. Note that there's no pedigree attached, so it should be considered suspect until and unless more evidence rolls in.