ODDS & ENDS: Two days after the NBA finals and I got nothing. T-Minus three days until I start posting my grocery lists. Cheetos, Oreos, Fritos....read into that what you will.

Jim Henley today:

"Since September 11, 2001, this country has faced not an existential threat, but an essential one: who will we have the courage to be? Lately, abetted by an administration gone mad with vainglory, we have begun to fail that test. We take it as our right to commit the abuses we condemn in others. Worse, we take it as our right to transgress ourselves, and continue to condemn those who trespass likewise. I myself have been too willing to simply observe and record. This morning I will start making those calls Applebaum enjoins me to make. Please do likewise."

Anne Applebaum article he's talking about here, where she says, regarding American torture:

The military is conducting its own inquiries, of course. But without political support, the military alone will be unable to push further, to uncover who, exactly, gave the military its orders, and which political decisions created the conditions that made abuse possible. The press is hard at work too, at least that part of it that is not supporting the idea that the Constitution somehow permits torture, and always has. But articles, television reports and blogs are useful only insofar as they move the public.

For in the end, it is public opinion that matters, and it is on public opinion that the fate of any further investigations now depends. Voters have some items of information available to them, as listed above. Voters -- ultimately the most important source of pressure on democratic politicians -- can petition their congressmen, their senators and their president for more. If they don't, the elections will be held, the subject will change. Without a real national debate, without congressional approval, without much discussion of what torture actually means and why it has so long been illegal at home and abroad, a few secret committees will have changed the character of this country.

Indeed, if the voters can't move the politicians, and the politicians aren't courageous enough to act alone, we may wake up one morning and discover that torture has always been legal after all. Edmund Burke, a conservative philosopher, wrote, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." It looks as if he was right.

This part being the scary part, of course: "Without a real national debate, without congressional approval, without much discussion of what torture actually means and why it has so long been illegal at home and abroad, a few secret committees will have changed the character of this country." And it's just that easy, turning us into the Romans.

I'll be honest--I can't see myself making the calls like Jim wants us all to. Strongly worded e-mails, that I can handle. Filling up somebody's e-mail box isn't the same as lighting up their switchboard, I'll grant you, but one does what one can.

Mitch Albom wrote the best article in praise of the Pistons (as opposed to writing about why the Lakers lost) I've read. Sports Guy collected his thoughts and is back bringing the random thoughts in his distinct way. His previous Finals article, about Isiah, was more meaningful but less in his distinct voice, if you know what I mean.

He also points out the 1995 Rockets were "something like" 4-to-1 underdogs, making the Pistons the biggest upset since then. The Pistons were 6-to-1 underdogs. I think we'd have to know where those Warriors and Sonics teams were in Vegas terms to settle this.

By the way, Albom had this quote: "'I don't really want to be America's Team,' Hunter said. 'They did that with the Cowboys, and then half the people liked them and half the people hated them and who cares? Forget about being America's Team. I want to be Detroit's team. This is about the people of Detroit.'" I was born in Detroit. We moved three weeks later. I have warm feelings for it, this city I've been to maybe twice in my life besides the first time.

Hey: three of the old MST3K guys have a new website. Via Franklin Harris.

I read this really great article today about how Adult Swim got started because Turner let whoever came up with it do whatever they wanted in the Sunday 11 to 2 spot provided they did it cheap, but I can't remember where I saw it. There's be a link around here if I did, followed by pithy commentary. Perhaps a quote, even. But no--memory fails, and you are burdened with this horrid meta-blogging. Indeed.

As they say on PTI, I'll try and do better tomorrow.