I'm sorry that Dahlia wasn't able to come up with a mathematical equation that PROVES that 24 had anything to do with the increase in the use of torture. Unfortunately outside of the realm of physics and geometry such proofs are unknown. Anyone can argue that something that is not mathematical in nature doesn't meet a high enough evidentiary standard in fact it is the method du jour for arguing against evolution and global warming. Whatever. The point of the article was not to blame everything on 24 but rather to say that it HELPED smooth the transition to legalized torture.

Much of what we do as a country has been known for centuries as torture. You seem to draw some bright line between "enhanced interrogation" (which sounds much more ominous in the original German "Verschaerfte Vernehung") and torture which is just silly. The line is extremely blurry when the enhanced interrogation goes on for months. For the record, sleep deprivation and waterboarding are both torture and are commonly accepted as such. They were both done legally according to Attorney General Mukasey thus it is demonstrated that the Bush Administration worked to legalize torture.

If anyone were to make me stand for 24 hours (or more!) straight with blaring music while being underfed, I would consider it torture and so would you so quit being disengenous.